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karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Karuna Das
@karunadaswriter.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.2K following 430 posts
PGH-based writer, antifascist, tantrika, polyamorous, pansexual, cat dad. He/they. Author of literature flavored by mysticism, including award-winning visionary grounded sci-fi and new adult LGBTQ novels. 🙏🕉️☮️💖 www.karunadaswriter.com
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karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Karuna Das @karunadaswriter.bsky.social · 8d
It's official! My award-winning novels are back in print!

I'm profoundly grateful to Ten16 Press for their support.

To my existing - and future - readers ... heartfelt thanks for going on this journey with me and the characters of these stories. 🙏

#writingcommunity #authorlife #awardwinningbooks
Two books sit side by side on a wooden surface. For the one on the left, the overall color palette ranges from dark to pale green. The main image is a shadowy face, with light exploding from the top of the head, suggesting the birth of a galaxy. A small figure of a woman rises within the light. The title KAT'S CRADLE: WEBOLUTION BOOK ONE appears there as well. At the base of the dark face's neck, the author name Karuna Das appears in pale green. In the background, jagged lines and clouds of light and stars are set against a series of intersecting straight dark lines, suggesting a web and the cat's cradle string game. A silver award decal in the bottom right is accompanied by text at the bottom reading, "2023 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in Visionary Fiction." Text at the top of the cover, a quote from Heidi Ruby Miller, author of The Ambasadora Series, reads, "Kat's Cradle is neuropunk at its mind-bending and truly optimistic finest." For the one on the right, a dark purple cover features a phallic-shaped mushroom, just above which a figure of white light floats in seated meditation posture surrounded by a wide circle of blue and yellow light. The title Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two) is written in neon yellow and blue below the mushroom cap. The author name Karuna Das is in light purple below that. In the upper right corner of the cover are two silver award decals, one reading "CIPA EVVY SECOND PLACE BOOK AWARD" and the other reading "INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD 2024 DISTINGUISHED FAVORITE."
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
It's official! My award-winning novels are back in print!

I'm profoundly grateful to Ten16 Press for their support.

To my existing - and future - readers ... heartfelt thanks for going on this journey with me and the characters of these stories. 🙏

#writingcommunity #authorlife #awardwinningbooks
Two books sit side by side on a wooden surface. For the one on the left, the overall color palette ranges from dark to pale green. The main image is a shadowy face, with light exploding from the top of the head, suggesting the birth of a galaxy. A small figure of a woman rises within the light. The title KAT'S CRADLE: WEBOLUTION BOOK ONE appears there as well. At the base of the dark face's neck, the author name Karuna Das appears in pale green. In the background, jagged lines and clouds of light and stars are set against a series of intersecting straight dark lines, suggesting a web and the cat's cradle string game. A silver award decal in the bottom right is accompanied by text at the bottom reading, "2023 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in Visionary Fiction." Text at the top of the cover, a quote from Heidi Ruby Miller, author of The Ambasadora Series, reads, "Kat's Cradle is neuropunk at its mind-bending and truly optimistic finest." For the one on the right, a dark purple cover features a phallic-shaped mushroom, just above which a figure of white light floats in seated meditation posture surrounded by a wide circle of blue and yellow light. The title Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two) is written in neon yellow and blue below the mushroom cap. The author name Karuna Das is in light purple below that. In the upper right corner of the cover are two silver award decals, one reading "CIPA EVVY SECOND PLACE BOOK AWARD" and the other reading "INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD 2024 DISTINGUISHED FAVORITE."
December 2, 2025 at 10:12 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
My "fictionalized memoir" that won awards for New Adult Fiction and LGBTQ Fiction and releases from a new publisher on 12/2 (see pinned post) take places from '85 to '92, in part in Seattle, home to Nirvana. Of course it includes an allusion to the famous anthem!

#80sculture #writingcommunity #GenX
muellershewrote.com Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com · 19d
This is correct. The 80s didn’t end until Smells Like Teen Spirit.
November 22, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by Karuna Das
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Author copies of the Ten16 Press editions of my novels arrived today! They'll release together in two weeks, on 12/2.

If you're in Pittsburgh, you can buy them at the talk and signing at a local bookstore in January. (Details coming soon!)

Preorder links in the thread.

#writingcommunity
Two open boxes of books. Both show the author name Karuna Das near the bottom of their covers. The title of one is Kat's Cradle. The title of the other is Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two). The Kat's Cradle cover features a shadowy face, with light exploding from the top of the head, suggesting the birth of a galaxy. A small figure of a woman rises within the light. The overall color palette ranges from dark to pale green. The cover for Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two) features a phallic-shaped mushroom, just above which a figure of white light floats in seated meditation posture surrounded by a wide circle of blue and yellow light. The base color is dark purple, with neon yellow and blue text.
November 19, 2025 at 1:05 AM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Author copies of the Ten16 Press editions of my novels arrived today! They'll release together in two weeks, on 12/2.

If you're in Pittsburgh, you can buy them at the talk and signing at a local bookstore in January. (Details coming soon!)

Preorder links in the thread.

#writingcommunity
Two open boxes of books. Both show the author name Karuna Das near the bottom of their covers. The title of one is Kat's Cradle. The title of the other is Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two). The Kat's Cradle cover features a shadowy face, with light exploding from the top of the head, suggesting the birth of a galaxy. A small figure of a woman rises within the light. The overall color palette ranges from dark to pale green. The cover for Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two) features a phallic-shaped mushroom, just above which a figure of white light floats in seated meditation posture surrounded by a wide circle of blue and yellow light. The base color is dark purple, with neon yellow and blue text.
November 19, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Reposted by Karuna Das
aaronparnas.bsky.social
NEW: Epstein survivors release the most powerful PSA I have ever seen.

Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.
November 16, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Reposted by Karuna Das
marcelias.bsky.social
Like you I am celebrating Tuesday's victories. However, my job is not to sugarcoat things and tell you it's all fixed. It is to warning about what to expect next and fight back.

That is why I wrote this and why I hope you read and share. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/what...
What Comes Next After the 2025 Elections
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Reposted by Karuna Das
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
On a podcast last summer, I performed an original 17.5-minute work of creative nonfiction: "My New Tattoo, or, The Incomparable Lightness of Being."

I've now uploaded the audio recording to my YouTube channel as video with a still image of the titular tattoo.

If you listen, enjoy the journey. 🙏🕉️☮️💓
youtu.be
August 11, 2025 at 9:57 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
A long but worthwhile read!

#resist #fuckice #nokings #antifa #antifascism
I Went to Watch the Tiny Operation That’s Making ICE Lose Its Mind. A Lot Can Happen in 24 Hours.
At the headquarters for Donald Trump’s darkest work, a few people are getting under the administration’s skin.
slate.com
October 27, 2025 at 8:24 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Name an album with zero skips.

"The Unforgettable Fire" by U2
Album cover for U2's "The Unforgettable Fire" with a black and white image of band members and instruments in front of a distorted image of a castle and blurred sky, with red and gold borders above and below.
October 24, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Reposted by Karuna Das
youranoncentral.bsky.social
A step by step guide on how to dismantle a dictatorship by philosopher Heather Marsh. #3E #EndImpunity #EndOligarchy #EndAutogenocide #EpsteinFiles mustread.press/how-to-disma...
How To Dismantle A Dictatorship by Heather Marsh
What does it take to fight against a much greater power? To overthrow the untouchable without destroying everything you live for? It takes deliberate and unfaltering action and a calculated strateg…
mustread.press
October 17, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Reposted by Karuna Das
marisakabas.bsky.social
block this shit
October 17, 2025 at 10:06 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
If you haven't seen Freaky Tales, I found the entire film quite entertaining. As a bonus, it will likely vicariously fulfill any desire you have to commit violence against Nazis!

Streaming on HBO MAX and available on other platforms.

#antifa #iamantifa #antifascist #fucknazis
Movie poster for Freaky Tales with the tagline, "In 1987, Oakland Was Hella Freaky." The central images shows the three top-billed actors, Pedro Pascal, Jay Ellis, and Ben Mendelsohn, standing in a trio, each holding a weapon: a hatchet, a samurai sword, and a sawed-off shotgun. Behind them appear the other half dozen or so actors in the ensemble cast. A freaky green neon lightning bolt descends from above and illuminates the background and the eyes of one actor at the rear of the image.
September 24, 2025 at 12:26 AM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
This seems like a good time to be crystal clear about something:

I am Antifa.

#IAmAntifa #antifa #antifascist #defenddemocracy #nokings #resist #wethepeople
September 20, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Reposted by Karuna Das
sexworkhistorian.bsky.social
(1/3) Sept. 14 is #SexWorkerPrideDay! Sex Worker Pride Day is one of four significant days in the sex-working calendar- the other three include International Sex Workers’ Rights Day (March 3), International Whores’ Day (June 2), & the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (Dec. 17).
The Sex Work Historian Sex Worker Pride Day infographic. The image features the words “Loud and proud!” on a red umbrella (the international symbol for sex workers’ rights). The image background also contains glittery hearts and the Sex Work Historian logo (a grey peach)
September 14, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Reposted by Karuna Das
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Galleys for the Ten16 Press editions of my novels arrived today! One's dedicated to my mother's memory. This would've been her 88th birthday. The other's dedicated to my life partner. The books will be released on the anniversary of our first date, 12/2.

#writingcommunity #authorlife #synchronicity
The overall color palette ranges from dark to pale green. The main image is a shadowy face, with light exploding from the top of the head, suggesting the birth of a galaxy. A small figure of a woman rises within the light. The title KAT'S CRADLE: WEBOLUTION BOOK ONE appears there as well. At the base of the dark face's neck, the author name Karuna Das appears in pale green. In the background, jagged lines and clouds of light and stars are set against a series of intersecting straight dark lines, suggesting a web and the cat's cradle string game. A silver award decal in the bottom right is accompanied by text at the bottom reading, "2023 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in Visionary Fiction." Text at the top of the cover, a quote from Heidi Ruby Miller, author of The Ambasadora Series, reads, "Kat's Cradle is neuropunk at its mind-bending and truly optimistic finest." A book dedication reads, "In memory of my mother, who taught me to ask big questions and to embrace the mystery, and who nurtured my inclination to tell stories." A dark purple book cover features a phallic-shaped mushroom, just above which a figure of white light floats in seated meditation posture surrounded by a wide circle of blue and yellow light. The title Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two) is written in neon yellow and blue below the mushroom cap. The author name Karuna Das is in light purple below that. In the upper right corner of the cover are two silver award decals, one reading "CIPA EVVY SECOND PLACE BOOK AWARD" and the other reading "INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD 2024 DISTINGUISHED FAVORITE." A book dedication reads, "For Tiffany Joy, Whose Patience, wisdom, and love, Bolster my courage and strength, To keep becoming the man I want to be"
September 11, 2025 at 9:38 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Galleys for the Ten16 Press editions of my novels arrived today! One's dedicated to my mother's memory. This would've been her 88th birthday. The other's dedicated to my life partner. The books will be released on the anniversary of our first date, 12/2.

#writingcommunity #authorlife #synchronicity
The overall color palette ranges from dark to pale green. The main image is a shadowy face, with light exploding from the top of the head, suggesting the birth of a galaxy. A small figure of a woman rises within the light. The title KAT'S CRADLE: WEBOLUTION BOOK ONE appears there as well. At the base of the dark face's neck, the author name Karuna Das appears in pale green. In the background, jagged lines and clouds of light and stars are set against a series of intersecting straight dark lines, suggesting a web and the cat's cradle string game. A silver award decal in the bottom right is accompanied by text at the bottom reading, "2023 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in Visionary Fiction." Text at the top of the cover, a quote from Heidi Ruby Miller, author of The Ambasadora Series, reads, "Kat's Cradle is neuropunk at its mind-bending and truly optimistic finest." A book dedication reads, "In memory of my mother, who taught me to ask big questions and to embrace the mystery, and who nurtured my inclination to tell stories." A dark purple book cover features a phallic-shaped mushroom, just above which a figure of white light floats in seated meditation posture surrounded by a wide circle of blue and yellow light. The title Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two) is written in neon yellow and blue below the mushroom cap. The author name Karuna Das is in light purple below that. In the upper right corner of the cover are two silver award decals, one reading "CIPA EVVY SECOND PLACE BOOK AWARD" and the other reading "INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD 2024 DISTINGUISHED FAVORITE." A book dedication reads, "For Tiffany Joy, Whose Patience, wisdom, and love, Bolster my courage and strength, To keep becoming the man I want to be"
September 11, 2025 at 9:38 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
I got a handful of suggested revisions for my 5k-word story "The Bubble" from the editors of the anthology in which it will appear soon. They were good ones: changes from pronoun to the noun being referred to and other simple clarifications.

#writingcommunity #authorlife #ampublishing #scifi #clifi
September 11, 2025 at 3:19 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
On a podcast last summer, I performed an original 17.5-minute work of creative nonfiction: "My New Tattoo, or, The Incomparable Lightness of Being."

I've now uploaded the audio recording to my YouTube channel as video with a still image of the titular tattoo.

If you listen, enjoy the journey. 🙏🕉️☮️💓
youtu.be
August 11, 2025 at 9:57 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
If you thought the creators of South Park would tone it down after the season premiere ... think again. The new episode might even take it up a notch. If you haven't see it, find a way to watch!
From puppy murder to racist podcasts: South Park’s anti-deportation episode is utterly ruthless TV
Rightwing media mouthpieces and ICE get both barrels in South Park’s latest zeitgeist-capturing satire. You can feel Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s disdain in every frame
www.theguardian.com
August 7, 2025 at 2:35 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Ummm ... "Shall we play a game?"

IYKYK
August 6, 2025 at 2:03 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
In doing a light edit to Kat's Cradle for the forthcoming Ten16 Press edition, I've fallen in love with the characters all over again.

Given that the second book in the Webolution series is my next project, this is an inspiring development.

#writingcommunity #amwriting #scifi #authorlife
A book cover for Kat's Cradle, Webolution: Book One, by Karuna Das, in shades of green, black, and white. The central image features a silhouetted head facing forward with light exploding from the skull suggesting a solar flare or some other cosmic burst. The tiny figure of a woman floats upward in the blast. Behind, a series of crisscrossed, straight black lines suggest a grid and a web, while jagged white lines suggest electricity in the form of lightning or perhaps neural firing, with a greenish glow in the background akin to an aurora. A silver Independent Press Award decal adorns the lower corner, accompanied by the text, "2023 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in Visionary Fiction." At the top of the cover, a blurb from Heidi Ruby Miller, author of The Ambasadora Series, reads, "Kat's Cradle is neuropunk at its mind-bending and truly optimistic finest."
August 5, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Karuna Das
heardislandgov.bsky.social
JUST IN: Heard Island Government responds before the midnight Tariff deadline with what can only be described as ice cold diplomacy. @cnn.com @msnbc.com @foxnews.com.web.brid.gy @nbcnews.com @theguardian.com @australia.theguardian.com @bbcbreaking-bot.bsky.social @us.theguardian.com @theonion.com
E OFFICIAL STATEMENT Government of Heard Island Office of the Prime Minister To the White House, The Government of Heard Island acknowledges receipt of your so-called "tariff ultimatum," issued under the pretentious pretense of economic strategy. This is not a negotiation. This is not a plea. This is not a request for exemption from your performative trade tantrums. This is the final frostbitten word from a sovereign Antarctic territory that refuses to be economically colonized by a reality TV reject. Flip off, you block-headed kiddiediddlers. Respectfully disinterested, PM Tuxley Prime Minister of Heard Island
July 31, 2025 at 9:15 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
What movie did you see way too young?
July 7, 2025 at 12:00 AM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
I often write about the *ineffable* -- experiences that cannot be expressed in words. I had such an experience this morning while sitting in the Hanuman Temple at the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram in Taos. Om Shanti! 🙏🕉️☮️💓
June 21, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Reposted by Karuna Das
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Of all the great moments at today's No Kings Day #protest in #Pittsburgh today, this one was the most quintessential demonstration of the Steel City character. Make sure your sound is on for the video!

#NoKings #June14 #wethepeople #peacefulprotest #50501movement #fiftyfiftyone #50501pgh #steelcity
June 14, 2025 at 9:17 PM