Purple Toga Publications
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purpletoga.bsky.social
Purple Toga Publications
@purpletoga.bsky.social
1K followers 620 following 32 posts
A micro-publisher of quality speculative fiction: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction - often blurring the boundaries between them.
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purpletoga.bsky.social
Purple Toga Publications @purpletoga.bsky.social · Nov 14
G'day Bluesky!
We're a micro-publisher of speculative fiction (Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Historical Fiction - and often books that blend the boundaries!)
See our works on PurpleToga.com, or find them at the bookstore of your choice 📚😍
Purple Toga Publications
Specialised niche publishing services
PurpleToga.com
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assaph.bsky.social
Ah, yes, the first short short mystery for Jack - the ultimate crossover of ghosts and puns 👻
November 24, 2025 at 9:56 PM
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assaph.bsky.social
Folding a few book & TV/movie reviews into an exercise in critical thinking about the art of storytelling, using comparisons to learn about each medium’s rules, strengths, and weaknesses
egretia.com/2025/10/29/o...
On Screen Adaptations (four reviews in one!)
I’ve read The Survivors by Jane Harper and watched the Netflix TV series at the same time, so — rather than a plain review — I thought I’d do a post on comparative observati…
egretia.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:14 PM
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assaph.bsky.social
No 4 or a character name generator -- at which point it becomes no. 4 😅
the 4 types of writers 1. spent hours carefully choosing character name 2. can't decide so is using "placeholder" name that they'll inevitably not be able to change 3. named character after like, a street sign 4. character crashed onto page already named and you cannot change it
October 30, 2025 at 11:57 PM
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assaph.bsky.social
#BookReview : An entertaining adventure tale based on a lesser known Greek 🏺 mythological character, and I’ll certainly be looking for future installments by Sidiropoulos in that world.
egretia.com/2025/10/15/b...
Book Review: Autolycus the thief, by Michail Sidiropoulos
A lesser known bronze-age character as a basis for mythical story – of course I jumped on the chance to read it. What to Expect An embellished telling of the life of the grandfather of Odysse…
egretia.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:08 AM
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cindytomamichel.bsky.social
Snap up a copy of a great, feel good anthology.
Link: amzn.to/42pE2ww
#booksky
October 9, 2025 at 3:53 AM
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assaph.bsky.social
My latest newsletter: a short story. Can you guess which mountain?
egretia.substack.com/p/mountain-v...
Picture of a mountain
October 3, 2025 at 11:06 PM
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assaph.bsky.social
May not work if you like writing in cafés.
1. Victor Hugo wrote naked. To meet deadlines, he locked away his clothes so he couldn't leave home. Naked at his desk, he forced himself to face the page. It worked: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame was finished on time. [The image also shows a photograph of Victor Hugo and a title page of "Les Misérables"]
October 3, 2025 at 4:58 AM
purpletoga.bsky.social
Been there... 😅
Picture on an elephant peeking over a wall, captioned: when you give someone some of your writing and you watch them read it from across the room.
September 14, 2025 at 11:20 PM
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assaph.bsky.social
I always imagined them as gremlins, but this works too 😅
Happy man: authors ready to publish their book Menacing psycho behind: Typos
September 14, 2025 at 7:25 AM
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assaph.bsky.social
From years of experience in both Roman practices and Australian wildlife, I can attest this is true 😂😂
yknow it's a real shame that romans didn't have access to australia specifically for augury reasons. i really wish i could have seen a roman augur have to deal with australian birds. like imagine trying to properly interpret an omen from a fuckin. cassowary loving that the general consensus here is that "the omen when you see a cassowary is that you are about to die of cassowary"
September 12, 2025 at 5:37 AM
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assaph.bsky.social
Apparently I need to tell people after I wrote and published a novel 😱 How else would they find out about this ancient-Roman occutl detective Historical-Fantasy Mystery blend?
The good news: I still have a few In Victrix copies, for anyone who'd like a signed copy 😍
Paperback copies of In Victrix, by Assaph Mehr
August 25, 2025 at 10:19 PM
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assaph.bsky.social
The Zon know what the readers want 🤣
Today under ‘recommended for you’ Amazon suggested me a manhole cover, which I take as a hint to write another short story with Felix going down the sewers
August 21, 2025 at 9:44 PM
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assaph.bsky.social
One of these is fantasy, the other historical. Can you guess? 😜
egretia.com/2025/08/20/f...

#fantasy #history #fashion
Female torso armour Male codpiece armour
August 21, 2025 at 9:12 PM
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assaph.bsky.social
The surprising truth about Aliens and Egyptians - latest flash fiction below 📚😜👽🏺
Read for free on my newsletter: egretia.substack.com/p/the-egypti...
Picture from an ancient Egyptian wall depicting Anubis preparing a mummy. Titled: The Egyptians Were Wrong! by Assaph Mehr
August 10, 2025 at 8:42 PM
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assaph.bsky.social
In my latest newsletter I address the misconceptions of Egyptians and aliens - but probably not in the way you expect 😜🏺
egretia.substack.com/p/the-egypti...
The Egyptians Got It All Wrong!
Who would have thought?
egretia.substack.com
August 9, 2025 at 8:03 AM
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bookspotlight.bsky.social
I require a timeline cleanse. Please post in my comments (or quote) all your lovely human-made character art. Can be original characters, commissioned, made yourself, fan art, etc. GIVE ME ART AND FLOOD MY MENTIONS PLEASE. I am tired of the tomfoolery, bad faith takes I'm getting harangued with.
August 5, 2025 at 12:09 AM
purpletoga.bsky.social
Life hack: don't buy more books first and then stress about where to put them. Buy extra bookshelves first and then the only PRACTICAL thing to do is fill them up with more books
August 5, 2025 at 6:05 AM
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assaph.bsky.social
What is this "planning" thing you speak of? 😅📚
The plot the writers planned bs the plot they wrote
August 5, 2025 at 2:17 AM
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bookspotlight.bsky.social
And the third dragon is actually wearing a stolen dragon suit that’s powered by planet polluting, water guzzling machines that still can’t make it look like a real dragon no matter how many times it tells yeah, ‘I’m a real dragon now!’ And the first two dragons are just exhausted, fam.
July 29, 2025 at 1:32 PM
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assaph.bsky.social
Oldie but goodie - the accompanying short can be taken as either escapism or social commentary... 😜📖🐉
egretia.com/2016/05/30/m...
Modern Dragon
I’ve been busy lately, working of the first draft of In Numina – the second full-length Felix mystery. Which means that whenever I have time to write, I concentrate on that. The mind of…
egretia.com
July 27, 2025 at 10:05 PM
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assaph.bsky.social
Accurate 🤣🗺️📚
Do you have a history of mental illness in your family? I have an aunt who things fantasy books don't need a map.
July 22, 2025 at 12:36 AM
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assaph.bsky.social
When your fans catch up on reviews 🥰📖
Glowing reviews by Sarah Sanrope of "In Numina" and "In Victrix" by Assaph Mehr.
July 19, 2025 at 4:39 AM
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assaph.bsky.social
To which I would add: "Yes, you're going commando. There is no effing way I'm teaching you how to put on a loincloth."😳🏺
swingsetindecember tv shows with time travel organizations/bureaus/police/ agencies/whatever should have a department with instead of a tech genius eating candy, it's a harried seamstress or fashion designer who sits there like "1450 italy? does it look like I have the time to dye you wool? no. YOU'RE GOING TO THE 1980s" and throws shoulder pads at the hapless time agent nonlinear-nonsubjective "I literally made three- THREE- 18th century corsets last week. You can wait until one of them gets back, or you can go sometime post-1920s, because if I have to sew one more god damn channel I will literally lose my mind." "Upper middle class?!?!? You told me upper class! FUCK YEAH THERE'S A DIFFERENCE!!!" "How about kimoNO." "Look me in the eyes. I do not care what you want. This is the 1500s. You absolutely cannot wear trousers." "Another court gown?? Here's a novel idea: go as a peasant for once in your life. Why do you do this to me? You're fucking sadists that's why." "Don't mind me, I'll just be up all night hand painting silk." "THE POLICY IS ONE MONTH'S ADVANCE NOTICE ON PRE-1900s WOMEN'S FASHION FOR A REASON, DEBRA."
July 19, 2025 at 6:31 AM
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assaph.bsky.social
Still one of my absolute fave stories 🥰 You never know where inspiration would come from (aka the mind of an author is a strange thing 🤣). It also ended winning awards 📖🎖️ and stuff.
egretia.com/2016/06/22/g...
"Girl on Fire" a story by Assaph Mehr
July 15, 2025 at 9:39 PM
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assaph.bsky.social
My favourite review of MIA, for an author of ancient Roman mysteries I admire 😊 Ruth Downie was even kind enough to let me borrow her main character when Felix needed a medic 📖🧑‍⚕️🏛️🏺⚔️🪄
A glowing review of Murder In Absentia by Assaph Mehr, by Ruth Downie, the author of the Medicus Roman Mysteries series: "Mehr's imagined world based on ancient Rome feels at once familiar and dreamlike."
July 14, 2025 at 11:33 PM