N. A. Dawn, Author
@nadawn.bsky.social
Beauty against barbarism. | Essays, poetry and speculative fiction in New Contrast mag and Catalyst Press: 'Captive' (2024) and 'Disruption' (2020)
Reposted by N. A. Dawn, Author
GM: Charisma check.
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
February 7, 2026 at 5:01 AM
GM: Charisma check.
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
How do we accept the inexplicable? How do we make peace with death, cruelty and our own fragility?
@rati.bsky.social’s not-so-whimsical character study in @uncannymagazine.bsky.social foists us out of every comfort zone, displacing us again and again, until love is all we have left.
#sff #fiction
@rati.bsky.social’s not-so-whimsical character study in @uncannymagazine.bsky.social foists us out of every comfort zone, displacing us again and again, until love is all we have left.
#sff #fiction
ICYMI! Reading 2025 fiction?
Try the short story "The Teleporting Disaster Fairy" by Rati Mehrotra @rati.bsky.social!
You can read it here!
buff.ly/Vx4qdNX
Try the short story "The Teleporting Disaster Fairy" by Rati Mehrotra @rati.bsky.social!
You can read it here!
buff.ly/Vx4qdNX
February 7, 2026 at 7:41 AM
How do we accept the inexplicable? How do we make peace with death, cruelty and our own fragility?
@rati.bsky.social’s not-so-whimsical character study in @uncannymagazine.bsky.social foists us out of every comfort zone, displacing us again and again, until love is all we have left.
#sff #fiction
@rati.bsky.social’s not-so-whimsical character study in @uncannymagazine.bsky.social foists us out of every comfort zone, displacing us again and again, until love is all we have left.
#sff #fiction
Reposted by N. A. Dawn, Author
Writing Tip:
While there are many outside pressures to a writer, you should try and reduce the inner-pressure that you put on yourself. A little pressure to succeed and get something written is good. So much pressure that you want to give up? Not so much. Relax.
#writing #writingtips #Booksky
While there are many outside pressures to a writer, you should try and reduce the inner-pressure that you put on yourself. A little pressure to succeed and get something written is good. So much pressure that you want to give up? Not so much. Relax.
#writing #writingtips #Booksky
January 27, 2026 at 11:34 AM
Writing Tip:
While there are many outside pressures to a writer, you should try and reduce the inner-pressure that you put on yourself. A little pressure to succeed and get something written is good. So much pressure that you want to give up? Not so much. Relax.
#writing #writingtips #Booksky
While there are many outside pressures to a writer, you should try and reduce the inner-pressure that you put on yourself. A little pressure to succeed and get something written is good. So much pressure that you want to give up? Not so much. Relax.
#writing #writingtips #Booksky
Middle-Earth, after all, is not a democracy - tsk, tsk - but a republic. *adjusts monocle and fedora*
i have just gotten off a productive call with sauron where i laid out our requests
- nazgul bodycams
- morgul knife must remain sheathed unless suspect is determined to be carrying the one ring
- shelob will be the new point of contact
- nazgul bodycams
- morgul knife must remain sheathed unless suspect is determined to be carrying the one ring
- shelob will be the new point of contact
January 27, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Middle-Earth, after all, is not a democracy - tsk, tsk - but a republic. *adjusts monocle and fedora*
When the last breaths are drawn, only words remain, and the nightmares we inflicted on others.
@kaunvijaya.bsky.social’s tale in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social restores humanity to the destitute, and hope for those left behind - but not without a price.
Beautiful.
#sff #shortstory #fantasy #booksky
@kaunvijaya.bsky.social’s tale in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social restores humanity to the destitute, and hope for those left behind - but not without a price.
Beautiful.
#sff #shortstory #fantasy #booksky
I have a story out in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social today!!!!
It's about a letter than demands itself to be delivered through a war torn country, about service and community and more! ✉️
It's about a letter than demands itself to be delivered through a war torn country, about service and community and more! ✉️
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Postman, Soldier, Traitor by Vijayalaxmi Samal
Sometimes the letter wants to go over bridges already burned. The bridge must have been here when the boy passed. The journey becomes a battle then, of convincing and calming the letter. Every time, A...
www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
January 26, 2026 at 12:38 PM
When the last breaths are drawn, only words remain, and the nightmares we inflicted on others.
@kaunvijaya.bsky.social’s tale in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social restores humanity to the destitute, and hope for those left behind - but not without a price.
Beautiful.
#sff #shortstory #fantasy #booksky
@kaunvijaya.bsky.social’s tale in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social restores humanity to the destitute, and hope for those left behind - but not without a price.
Beautiful.
#sff #shortstory #fantasy #booksky
Reposted by N. A. Dawn, Author
I understand recoiling in fear, tuning things out, or retreating — I fully get it, on an emotional level. But I can't imagine not fighting. I simply cannot fathom seeing these forces at work in our world, let alone in close proximity to me, and not saying "fuck that" and throwing down.
January 20, 2026 at 4:14 PM
I understand recoiling in fear, tuning things out, or retreating — I fully get it, on an emotional level. But I can't imagine not fighting. I simply cannot fathom seeing these forces at work in our world, let alone in close proximity to me, and not saying "fuck that" and throwing down.
Literature: a form of music; prose its subtlest key.
In Sing in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social, @julesblywrites.bsky.social treats us to an expansive, original metaphysics, railing against fate so lyrically, it reads like myth - and prophecy.
An ode to love. A manifesto for change.
#sff #fantasy #booksky
In Sing in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social, @julesblywrites.bsky.social treats us to an expansive, original metaphysics, railing against fate so lyrically, it reads like myth - and prophecy.
An ode to love. A manifesto for change.
#sff #fantasy #booksky
my story 'Sing' is in Beneath Ceaseless Skies today! It's one of my favorite things I've written!
www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/sing/
www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/sing/
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Sing by Jules Bly
Sing. Sing the world into being. Every action, every object, in the past and the present and the future, is in the song. As long as these events are known and described by the song of all things, they...
www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
January 20, 2026 at 10:37 AM
Literature: a form of music; prose its subtlest key.
In Sing in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social, @julesblywrites.bsky.social treats us to an expansive, original metaphysics, railing against fate so lyrically, it reads like myth - and prophecy.
An ode to love. A manifesto for change.
#sff #fantasy #booksky
In Sing in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social, @julesblywrites.bsky.social treats us to an expansive, original metaphysics, railing against fate so lyrically, it reads like myth - and prophecy.
An ode to love. A manifesto for change.
#sff #fantasy #booksky
An onslaught of succinct, no-BS exposés is burying #ai #myths.
I cannot wait for this toxic techno-fanaticism to torch itself in front of an increasingly disillusioned public.
In the ashes of #LLMs, #democracy will rise.
#technofeudalism #dystopia #capitalism #mythbusting
youtu.be/dH_UvWmvny0
I cannot wait for this toxic techno-fanaticism to torch itself in front of an increasingly disillusioned public.
In the ashes of #LLMs, #democracy will rise.
#technofeudalism #dystopia #capitalism #mythbusting
youtu.be/dH_UvWmvny0
They Said AI Would Replace You By Now
YouTube video by Vanessa Wingårdh
youtu.be
January 18, 2026 at 3:45 PM
An onslaught of succinct, no-BS exposés is burying #ai #myths.
I cannot wait for this toxic techno-fanaticism to torch itself in front of an increasingly disillusioned public.
In the ashes of #LLMs, #democracy will rise.
#technofeudalism #dystopia #capitalism #mythbusting
youtu.be/dH_UvWmvny0
I cannot wait for this toxic techno-fanaticism to torch itself in front of an increasingly disillusioned public.
In the ashes of #LLMs, #democracy will rise.
#technofeudalism #dystopia #capitalism #mythbusting
youtu.be/dH_UvWmvny0
A #suspense classic.
A #Murakami -esque protag drifts through the detritus of a souring #romance, where dalliances in #polyamory seem to conceal something considerably #darker.
Tatam considers #love as appetite, #sex as hunger, violence as kink, intimacy as threat.
#horror #shortstory #fiction
A #Murakami -esque protag drifts through the detritus of a souring #romance, where dalliances in #polyamory seem to conceal something considerably #darker.
Tatam considers #love as appetite, #sex as hunger, violence as kink, intimacy as threat.
#horror #shortstory #fiction
New Fiction at NIGHTMARE: “Backseat Kiss” by James Tatam, with a podcast narrated by Stefan Rudnicki.
www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/back...
www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/back...
January 15, 2026 at 8:38 AM
A #suspense classic.
A #Murakami -esque protag drifts through the detritus of a souring #romance, where dalliances in #polyamory seem to conceal something considerably #darker.
Tatam considers #love as appetite, #sex as hunger, violence as kink, intimacy as threat.
#horror #shortstory #fiction
A #Murakami -esque protag drifts through the detritus of a souring #romance, where dalliances in #polyamory seem to conceal something considerably #darker.
Tatam considers #love as appetite, #sex as hunger, violence as kink, intimacy as threat.
#horror #shortstory #fiction
What resplendent defiance.
What radiant vitality.
Formal innovations become mesmerising incantations in this comet of a #poem, lighting up a dark sky, and leaving a trail of power and possibility in its wake.
#sff #poetry #poem #literature #aflit
What radiant vitality.
Formal innovations become mesmerising incantations in this comet of a #poem, lighting up a dark sky, and leaving a trail of power and possibility in its wake.
#sff #poetry #poem #literature #aflit
New poem! "Time loop for the day I die." by Abdulrazaq Salihu! buff.ly/aaYBYJF
January 13, 2026 at 7:36 AM
Morris’s understated #characterstudy teases out the quiet #horror of #pandemic isolation through questions of virtuality and escape, the gaps between ourselves and others; gulfs between who we are and who we wish we were - between our world and one beyond predation.
#sff #scifi #shortstory #fiction
#sff #scifi #shortstory #fiction
Reading 2025 fiction? Try the short story "The Island with the Animals" by Stephanie Malia Morris!
You can read it here!
buff.ly/bAeschv
You can read it here!
buff.ly/bAeschv
January 13, 2026 at 7:31 AM
Morris’s understated #characterstudy teases out the quiet #horror of #pandemic isolation through questions of virtuality and escape, the gaps between ourselves and others; gulfs between who we are and who we wish we were - between our world and one beyond predation.
#sff #scifi #shortstory #fiction
#sff #scifi #shortstory #fiction
“The Night Heron” by Alice Towey in @asimovssfmag.bsky.social is a case study in elegance without ostentation: unassuming #prose lit by the innate vividness of her characters’ words and actions.
#Simplicity is an #art, and Towey is a master.
#writing #sff #scifi #shortstories #fiction #booksky
#Simplicity is an #art, and Towey is a master.
#writing #sff #scifi #shortstories #fiction #booksky
January 9, 2026 at 6:03 AM
“The Night Heron” by Alice Towey in @asimovssfmag.bsky.social is a case study in elegance without ostentation: unassuming #prose lit by the innate vividness of her characters’ words and actions.
#Simplicity is an #art, and Towey is a master.
#writing #sff #scifi #shortstories #fiction #booksky
#Simplicity is an #art, and Towey is a master.
#writing #sff #scifi #shortstories #fiction #booksky
@annewilkins.bsky.social’s “A Good Brother” in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social’s looms over the heart, despite its unassuming size.
Its pathos - the imminence of grief and the resilience of devotion - lingers like a shadow long after the final words.
#booksky #sff #fiction #fantasy #shortstory #flashfic
Its pathos - the imminence of grief and the resilience of devotion - lingers like a shadow long after the final words.
#booksky #sff #fiction #fantasy #shortstory #flashfic
BCS of 2025! "A Good Brother" @annewilkins.bsky.social BCS #447 "A thick grey fog hugs the castle’s stone, and blackened trees climb its walls trying to escape. One of the walls is starting to crumble into an oily moat. “Not long now.”" www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/a-go... #BCSof2025
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - A Good Brother by Anne Wilkins
As we get closer, the land turns dark, the shadows grow longer, and the wind picks up in a ghostly howl. A thick grey fog hugs the castle’s stone, and blackened trees climb its walls trying to escape....
www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
January 5, 2026 at 6:01 AM
@annewilkins.bsky.social’s “A Good Brother” in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social’s looms over the heart, despite its unassuming size.
Its pathos - the imminence of grief and the resilience of devotion - lingers like a shadow long after the final words.
#booksky #sff #fiction #fantasy #shortstory #flashfic
Its pathos - the imminence of grief and the resilience of devotion - lingers like a shadow long after the final words.
#booksky #sff #fiction #fantasy #shortstory #flashfic
#Uncanny imagery. #Existential ruminations. A quasi-apocalyptic #retrofuturist meditation on collective #trauma.
@ramirosanchiz.bsky.social’s ‘Trees at Night’ in @clarkesworldmagazine.com sublime tragedy of our suffering, the nightmares we can’t escape.
#Librarians rule.
#sff #scifi #fiction
@ramirosanchiz.bsky.social’s ‘Trees at Night’ in @clarkesworldmagazine.com sublime tragedy of our suffering, the nightmares we can’t escape.
#Librarians rule.
#sff #scifi #fiction
January 5, 2026 at 5:05 AM
#Uncanny imagery. #Existential ruminations. A quasi-apocalyptic #retrofuturist meditation on collective #trauma.
@ramirosanchiz.bsky.social’s ‘Trees at Night’ in @clarkesworldmagazine.com sublime tragedy of our suffering, the nightmares we can’t escape.
#Librarians rule.
#sff #scifi #fiction
@ramirosanchiz.bsky.social’s ‘Trees at Night’ in @clarkesworldmagazine.com sublime tragedy of our suffering, the nightmares we can’t escape.
#Librarians rule.
#sff #scifi #fiction
Reposted by N. A. Dawn, Author
Here's your regular reminder that Steven Pinker is -not- some centrist wise man.
He's a conservative who whitewashes far-right talking points, a long time participant of the Bari Weiss/Heterodox anti-"woke/progressive" disinformation network, who boosted grifters from science racists to Orbanists.
He's a conservative who whitewashes far-right talking points, a long time participant of the Bari Weiss/Heterodox anti-"woke/progressive" disinformation network, who boosted grifters from science racists to Orbanists.
January 2, 2026 at 12:47 AM
Here's your regular reminder that Steven Pinker is -not- some centrist wise man.
He's a conservative who whitewashes far-right talking points, a long time participant of the Bari Weiss/Heterodox anti-"woke/progressive" disinformation network, who boosted grifters from science racists to Orbanists.
He's a conservative who whitewashes far-right talking points, a long time participant of the Bari Weiss/Heterodox anti-"woke/progressive" disinformation network, who boosted grifters from science racists to Orbanists.
Empathy, physicality, ambiguity.
Also beauty, love and true creativity.
@gregegansf.bsky.social’s bold, intricate, startlingly smart and expertly told ‘Understudies’ in @clarkesworldmagazine.com, like a real human, is rich in all of it.
My first tear-jerker of 2026.
A triumph.
#sff #scifi #ai #llm
Also beauty, love and true creativity.
@gregegansf.bsky.social’s bold, intricate, startlingly smart and expertly told ‘Understudies’ in @clarkesworldmagazine.com, like a real human, is rich in all of it.
My first tear-jerker of 2026.
A triumph.
#sff #scifi #ai #llm
January 2, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Empathy, physicality, ambiguity.
Also beauty, love and true creativity.
@gregegansf.bsky.social’s bold, intricate, startlingly smart and expertly told ‘Understudies’ in @clarkesworldmagazine.com, like a real human, is rich in all of it.
My first tear-jerker of 2026.
A triumph.
#sff #scifi #ai #llm
Also beauty, love and true creativity.
@gregegansf.bsky.social’s bold, intricate, startlingly smart and expertly told ‘Understudies’ in @clarkesworldmagazine.com, like a real human, is rich in all of it.
My first tear-jerker of 2026.
A triumph.
#sff #scifi #ai #llm
Capitalism commodifies #beauty, reducing it to vapid, cosmetic #spectacle and #kitsch.
What if beauty were more?
The force of experiential meaning.
The care of fragile things.
Solace in the arc of a life.
Clarity in a world of chaos.
Harmony amidst suffering.
Beauty is the lifeblood of the soul.
What if beauty were more?
The force of experiential meaning.
The care of fragile things.
Solace in the arc of a life.
Clarity in a world of chaos.
Harmony amidst suffering.
Beauty is the lifeblood of the soul.
December 31, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Capitalism commodifies #beauty, reducing it to vapid, cosmetic #spectacle and #kitsch.
What if beauty were more?
The force of experiential meaning.
The care of fragile things.
Solace in the arc of a life.
Clarity in a world of chaos.
Harmony amidst suffering.
Beauty is the lifeblood of the soul.
What if beauty were more?
The force of experiential meaning.
The care of fragile things.
Solace in the arc of a life.
Clarity in a world of chaos.
Harmony amidst suffering.
Beauty is the lifeblood of the soul.
Favourite reads of 2025:
Asunder by @kerstinhall.bsky.social
Starling House by
@alixeharrow.bsky.social
The Emily Wilde Trilogy by Heather Fawcett
The Lost Spells by Jackie Morris &
@robgmacfarlane.bsky.social
And too many phenomenal stories and poems to name.
#reading #books #sff #booksky
Asunder by @kerstinhall.bsky.social
Starling House by
@alixeharrow.bsky.social
The Emily Wilde Trilogy by Heather Fawcett
The Lost Spells by Jackie Morris &
@robgmacfarlane.bsky.social
And too many phenomenal stories and poems to name.
#reading #books #sff #booksky
December 31, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Favourite reads of 2025:
Asunder by @kerstinhall.bsky.social
Starling House by
@alixeharrow.bsky.social
The Emily Wilde Trilogy by Heather Fawcett
The Lost Spells by Jackie Morris &
@robgmacfarlane.bsky.social
And too many phenomenal stories and poems to name.
#reading #books #sff #booksky
Asunder by @kerstinhall.bsky.social
Starling House by
@alixeharrow.bsky.social
The Emily Wilde Trilogy by Heather Fawcett
The Lost Spells by Jackie Morris &
@robgmacfarlane.bsky.social
And too many phenomenal stories and poems to name.
#reading #books #sff #booksky
How tedious is this spectacle of excellence: of awards won, units sold, rankings & net worth.
Celebrity has no #soul.
Seek and share your #wisdom.
Make and celebrate #beauty.
Cultivate #virtue and nurture bonds of #love.
Build #justice with your #comrades, and savour the fleeting #miracle of life.
Celebrity has no #soul.
Seek and share your #wisdom.
Make and celebrate #beauty.
Cultivate #virtue and nurture bonds of #love.
Build #justice with your #comrades, and savour the fleeting #miracle of life.
December 30, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by N. A. Dawn, Author
Regularly recharge the negative energy that builds up inside you by spending time in nature.
#Illustration
#LineArt
#CommentPls
#Illustration
#LineArt
#CommentPls
December 30, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Regularly recharge the negative energy that builds up inside you by spending time in nature.
#Illustration
#LineArt
#CommentPls
#Illustration
#LineArt
#CommentPls
Fill your day with holiday cheer this festive season, just like the Cape rain frog. Hoppy #Christmas and a Hoppy #NewYear.
December 25, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Fill your day with holiday cheer this festive season, just like the Cape rain frog. Hoppy #Christmas and a Hoppy #NewYear.
Conversation types that match my #neurotype:
1. Special interest geek-out / show n tell
2. Deep analysis of moral/ societal issue
3. Vulnerable emotional sharing/ bonding
4. Personal development / lifestyle design game-plan
5. Goofy musical wordplay
#autism #adhd #neurodivergent #neurospicy
1. Special interest geek-out / show n tell
2. Deep analysis of moral/ societal issue
3. Vulnerable emotional sharing/ bonding
4. Personal development / lifestyle design game-plan
5. Goofy musical wordplay
#autism #adhd #neurodivergent #neurospicy
December 24, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Conversation types that match my #neurotype:
1. Special interest geek-out / show n tell
2. Deep analysis of moral/ societal issue
3. Vulnerable emotional sharing/ bonding
4. Personal development / lifestyle design game-plan
5. Goofy musical wordplay
#autism #adhd #neurodivergent #neurospicy
1. Special interest geek-out / show n tell
2. Deep analysis of moral/ societal issue
3. Vulnerable emotional sharing/ bonding
4. Personal development / lifestyle design game-plan
5. Goofy musical wordplay
#autism #adhd #neurodivergent #neurospicy
What can’t be co-opted?
Who can’t be corrupted?
What does it take to make a lifestyle - a philosophy - out of defiant, gritty hope?
@phoebebarton.bsky.social’s “In Luck’s Panoply, I Stand” in @clarkesworldmagazine.com, we find our answer: never kneeling. Inspired.
#sff #scifi #shortstory #fiction
Who can’t be corrupted?
What does it take to make a lifestyle - a philosophy - out of defiant, gritty hope?
@phoebebarton.bsky.social’s “In Luck’s Panoply, I Stand” in @clarkesworldmagazine.com, we find our answer: never kneeling. Inspired.
#sff #scifi #shortstory #fiction
December 22, 2025 at 6:56 AM
What can’t be co-opted?
Who can’t be corrupted?
What does it take to make a lifestyle - a philosophy - out of defiant, gritty hope?
@phoebebarton.bsky.social’s “In Luck’s Panoply, I Stand” in @clarkesworldmagazine.com, we find our answer: never kneeling. Inspired.
#sff #scifi #shortstory #fiction
Who can’t be corrupted?
What does it take to make a lifestyle - a philosophy - out of defiant, gritty hope?
@phoebebarton.bsky.social’s “In Luck’s Panoply, I Stand” in @clarkesworldmagazine.com, we find our answer: never kneeling. Inspired.
#sff #scifi #shortstory #fiction
@carrievaughnco.bsky.social’s The Job Interview in @clarkesworldmagazine.com comes in hot as an armed unionist, slicing red tape all the way to my S-tier of stories for the year.
Gum-grinding office politics and a smooth, hard reboot of the epistolary form. Masterful. Bullseye.
#sff #fiction #scifi
Gum-grinding office politics and a smooth, hard reboot of the epistolary form. Masterful. Bullseye.
#sff #fiction #scifi
December 17, 2025 at 9:36 AM
@carrievaughnco.bsky.social’s The Job Interview in @clarkesworldmagazine.com comes in hot as an armed unionist, slicing red tape all the way to my S-tier of stories for the year.
Gum-grinding office politics and a smooth, hard reboot of the epistolary form. Masterful. Bullseye.
#sff #fiction #scifi
Gum-grinding office politics and a smooth, hard reboot of the epistolary form. Masterful. Bullseye.
#sff #fiction #scifi
Praise Osawaru’s “moth boy” wrenches at the soul, in search of a serenity in the face of mortality, but awed by the magnitude of loves lost and tragedies too close.
It falls to us to Mercy in a world of pain, Wisdom before suffering, Beauty against violence.
#sff #poetry #poem #scifi #fantasy
It falls to us to Mercy in a world of pain, Wisdom before suffering, Beauty against violence.
#sff #poetry #poem #scifi #fantasy
December 15, 2025 at 5:32 AM