R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author
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rpdunwater.bsky.social
R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author
@rpdunwater.bsky.social
140 followers 170 following 33 posts
Steph (they/them) & Kim (she/her) • 📖 writing queer fantasy • 🌿 pagan • just two nerdy best friends telling stories
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rpdunwater.bsky.social
R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · Nov 24
Hey, we’re Steph & Kim (aka R.P. Dunwater) and we write queer fantasy! 🖤👋

Our first series, Book of Payne, is a sapphic witchy dark fantasy with warring gods, a world torn in two, and one woman who’s had just about enough of it.

You can find it here: www.amazon.com/Blight-Black...
rpdunwater.bsky.social
We have a story featured in the upcoming anthology From Me To You: Anthology of Human Connection. It’s cozy and queer and leans hard into the importance of community through the found family trope!
PREORDERS ARE OPEN!

frommetoyou-anthology.carrd.co

#QueerBooks #QueerAuthor #SapphicBooks
From Me to You
Preorder links for ‘From Me to You’ anthology
frommetoyou-anthology.carrd.co
October 12, 2025 at 1:19 PM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
Today is the Queer Your eReader event hosted by @divinationhollow.bsky.social !

This weekend, you can get the first in our Book of Payne series, The Blight of Blackridge, for free! Check it out if you love dark, witchy, twisty reads!
#QueerBooks

divinationhollow.com/queer-your-e...
Queer Your eReader — Divination Hollow Reviews
divinationhollow.com
September 20, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author
erynmccee.bsky.social
#Horrorwriterschat at the usual time and the usual place. Gird your loins.
Happening today... the usual time 7pm BST 2pm EST
September 17, 2025 at 4:20 PM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
Today’s #WIPSnips word is “practice.” I think I’ve shared this one before but I love it. Always love Nell being ornery.

#QueerBooks #SapphicBooks #DarkFantasy
A quote from The Shadow of Payne, a sapphic dark fantasy with witches and warring gods, “I was well practiced in arranging my features to frighten others. It was a useful skill to have growing up in a village where everyone wanted you dead. As a child, I could settle any argument with only a fierce, unblinking stare. I'm sure it helped that everyone in Blackridge believed my family sacrificed children to the Great Betrayer on full moons. But Hope... Hope knew for sure that I was capable of worse. She shifted back in her chair, and it brought me great pleasure to watch that smile finally fade away completely.”
September 16, 2025 at 2:46 PM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
Today’s #WIPSnips word is “other.”
Nell is plagued by guilt and intrusive thoughts that take on a life of their own in The Shadow of Payne.
#QueerBooks #DarkFantasy #SapphicBooms
A quote from The shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater. A witchy dark fantasy. “"Who is it you speak to?" "No one." The pitying look on her face made me want to bury myself in the cellar, never to see the light of day again. "It haunts you, doesn't it?" she asked sadly. "This darkness. I can feel it like an aura around us. It weighs so heavily." I rolled my eyes. Fiddled with the hem of my shirt. "You make it sound so dramatic. It's nothing." There were several other words I should have used: Infuriating. Maddening. Sickening. Horrible, dreadful, awful. But I couldn't have Hope believing-or recounting to anyone else-that I'd completely lost my mind.”
September 15, 2025 at 9:00 PM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
Today’s #WIPSnips word is “outside.” Nell returns home and is faced with the horrors of what happened that Harvest night.
#darkfantasy #queerbooks #sapphicbooks
September 10, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author
sdsimper.bsky.social
Heyyy want some sapphic ebooks? Check out the 🔗 below 👇
Sapphic scifi and fantasy giveaway
August 4, 2025 at 10:43 PM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #QueerBooks #SapphicBooks #WitchyBooks
A snippet from The Shadow of Payne by @rpdunwater: "Our visits are often cut short, kept to business. She doesn't say much...to anyone, really." I squirmed, hating the need to push the blame. This dreadful secret was rotting me from the inside, as wholly as Nell's power, turning me into something twisted. "But she spoke to you, I see." "We had tea," Hope confirmed. "And I think we might even be able to call our conversation productive." I let out a breathy laugh. "I'm surprised, considering how deeply she hates-" I cut myself off, regretting my word choice.
July 24, 2025 at 11:36 AM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
#WIPSnips word today is “needle.”

#QueerBooks #DarkFantasy #SapphicBooksky #Writesky
A snippet from The Shadow of Payne by @rpdunwater: But Nell's progress felt like a fragile thing, like a fine silk prone to snagging, and such things required careful and practiced precision. One slip of the needle-or tongue -and the damage could be irreparable.
July 22, 2025 at 1:08 PM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
Today’s #WIPSnips word is “moon!” Have a sweet little moment for this Sunday 🥰

#queerbooksky #queerauthors #darkfantasy #writesky
A snippet from The Shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater, a sapphic witchy dark fantasy, Those silly tears blinded me again as I recalled the sweet memory Jasper had played for me. It was of him and Nell, seated on the back of their family's wagon, their feet swaying playfully as they bounced down the long dirt road toward home. The glow of a massive bonfire had painted the night sky above them. "He showed me the night Nell and I first met-at the Full Moon Market here in Blackridge. How he teased her when she told him about me." The smile on her face when she'd spoken of me made my heart soar. It had been a while since I'd last seen her light up that way.
July 20, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author
rosie-j-potter.bsky.social
Do you like writing sprints?

The Weekend of Writing Wildly is upon us!

Friday starting at noon eastern time we have 50 consecutive hours of writing sprints on Twitch!

The name at each 2-hour slot is the USERNAME to look up.

Come get some writing/editing done & meet fellow writers!

#WriteSky
Weekend of Writing Wildly, all times in EASTERN Names are usernames on Twitch all streams are two hours Friday July 18th 12 pm / noon - LadyMabes 2 pm - AremisSage 4pm - SometimesRaven 6pm - RangerAlthynia 8pm: TheOutrageousOlive 10pm Wolfkeeper989 Saturday July 19th 12am/midnight - Writersylvi 2 am - CoffeeQuills 4am - Authorcharleshall 6 am - WoxBirdie 8am - Aldus_Ken 10am - NixFlare 12 pm / noon - SagelyBadvice 2pm - TheKidsAreAsleep 4pm - Nyx_Thorne 6pm - EtotheLiz 8pm VCoralSandsV 10pm - Anotherindiewriter Sunday July 20th 12 am / midnight - RustyStarlight 2 am - QueenBoxi 4 am - Desdemona_Rose 6 am - WordiGirl 8 am - TelinArtho 10 am StudyWithUsha412 Noon - RoseEvenstar21
July 15, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author
sewithersauthor.bsky.social
Today’s #WIPSnips word is memory! This story deals a lot with trauma and PTSD. We’ve got memories galore, from the bittersweet to the haunting. 🖤

#queerbooks #sapphicbooks #nonbinarybooks #queerauthor
A snippet from Project Vampire, by @butmakeitsapphic NB/FEMME, ENEMIES TO CONFUSED/CONFLICTED LOVERS • GOTHIC VAMPIRE HORRORMANCE • PROTECT THE GIRL AT ALL COSTS • MENTAL HEALTH REP (PTSD, TRAUMA) “They stared blankly at the word, waiting for it to change. As though this were all just a trick of the mind. But it remained, penned in ink darker than Malachai's void of a soul. "That f&*$ing devil," Xander hissed. Fractured bits of memory rushed to the surface like beading blood beneath the skin-splitting snap of a whip. Xander pressed their forefinger and thumb against their own eyelids until stars twinkled in the darkness beyond. Anything to staunch the onslaught of terrors they'd worked so hard to bury.”
July 16, 2025 at 1:49 PM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
Today’s #WIPSnips word is “sister,” and Nell and Jasper’s sibling reunion is anything but happy. If you’ve read A Vision of Ruin, then you know Jasper has a few secrets of his own!! 😳

#queerbooks #sapphicbooks #writesky #queerauthors
A quote from The Shadow of Payne, a sapphic witchy dark fantasy by @rpdunwater, "Enough, Eleanor!" he roared. Frightened birds took to the sky, fleeing farther east. "I can't-I won't believe it! She loved me, just as much as I loved her." We stood there in silence and seethed-fists clenched tightly at our sides, gazes boring into one another-for an aggravatingly long time. Perhaps he was wondering how his baby sister had come to be so cruel, twisted and gnarled like a stubborn burl. Hardened into this new abomination. I was only wondering how he'd come to be so stupid.
July 15, 2025 at 2:44 PM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
Reuuuuniiiited and it’s weird aaafffffff (you have to sing it).
Nell thought her brother was gone. Soon, she might start wishing she’d been right 👀👀

#sapphicbooks #queerbooks #WIPSnips #queerAuthors
I rushed forward and took him by the shoulders. I squeezed them as tightly as I could. Jasper nearly jumped out of his skin, but at least I knew that he was solid. He was warm and alive. Not a ghost at all. "Nell, what are you doing?" "I don't understand," I said, shaking my head in disbelief. "You weren't home that night? The night of the Harvest?" A quote from The Shadow of Payne, the final installment of the witchy dark fantasy Book of Payne series by @rpdunwater
July 11, 2025 at 1:09 PM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
Nell playing the wonderful hostess once again. So trusting.

#WIPSnips #QueerAuthor #QueerBooks #SapphicBooks
The herbs I chose for the tea that evening-primrose, lavender, and thyme-would make whoever drank it feel more open and truthful. I held my breath as I poured Nyla's cup, focusing all of my energy into that intention. Without hesitation, Nyla brought the tea cup to her lips and sipped. She tested it on her tongue before swallowing, and a knowing smile spread her lips wide. "Your mother taught you well." I smiled bitterly. "My mother never got the chance to learn." A snippet from The Shadow of Payne, the final installment of the Book of Payne series, a sapphic witchy dark fantasy
July 9, 2025 at 11:33 AM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
Today’s #WIPSnips word is yell. Here is maybe the only instance of Nell controlling her temper haha

#queerbooks #darkfantasy #queerwriters #queerauthor
The SHADOW OF PAYNE • final installment in the Book of Payne trilogy • witchy dark fantasy • villain arc • For fans of Slewfoot & The Year of the Witching "Mariela," I pleaded. She ignored me, busying herself with the senseless task of rearranging the food on the table. I wanted to yell, to demand she stop acting like a child. But then I remembered other moments like these-back before all of this mess. And I remembered the softness required to soothe the unruly fire of her heart. I stepped forward and took gentle hold of her wrist, guiding her back toward me. "You promised you wouldn't lie to me."
July 8, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author
elainebuckner.bsky.social
My Darling Dreadful Thing X The Wicked Deep

When Clover's empathic abilities awaken, a ghostly presence visits her dreams, offering escape from others' emotions. But as kindness turns to obsession, Clover suspects they want to inhabit, not liberate.

#WIPPIT #YA #DF #H #PR #Q
May 23, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author
elisawinther.bsky.social
A Healer’s Scars #WIPPIT #F #H #OWN #LGBT #POC #A

Brielle's team sets out to save a haunted orphanage. Will they succeed or succumb to the malicious magic born there?

🖤MultiPOV
🖤Twisted Morals
🖤Lore-dense
🖤Escaping toxicity
🖤Healing from trauma
🖤Blood Magic for healing
🖤Complex Character Dynamics
Moodboard for a novel which is a work in progress by Elisa Winther, with the working title "A Healer's Scars". It will be the first book in a series, written in third person limited through multiple points of view. The image includes a square with the working title "Healer WIP" and it's genre "Dark Fantasy", but it also includes a romantic subplot. At the top, from left to right, there is an image with someone sitting by a wall with their head in their hands, cloth draped about their waist that trails on the floor towards the camera. There are masks on the cloth. The second image has arms breaking free from cobwebs in a dark setting. The third has paper with the text "the past" on it, burning. Below those last two describe images is one of a skull laying among green moss. The bottom row of images is one of bottles reading "Forget", one of dark robed people holding one in a white gown up as if in sacrifice, and a black background with "I can't go back" repeated all over the image.
May 23, 2025 at 4:50 AM
Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author
elisawinther.bsky.social
A Healer’s Scars #WIPPIT #F #H #OWN #LGBT #POC #A

When the only help Erika finds to fix her home’s faulty barrier is the hag who's been bullying her, she relents. Unaware of the hag’s ulterior motives, Erika welcomes her fixers, but will they survive the festering that lays at the barrier’s core?
Moodboard for a novel which is a work in progress by Elisa Winther, with the working title "A Healer's Scars". It will be the first book in a series, written in third person limited through multiple points of view. The moodboard includes the text "Haunted by a past so unforgettable", "A Healer's Scars -- book1", "Healing isn't linear", "You make me feel like a person", "I pray to the shattered god", "These lands have not been allowed to heal", I bleed in order to heal", and "time to break the cycle". The images include a circle of dark robed people, one holding a dagger, and a person caught in the middle, a skull dripping honey with honey combs and bees on it, a shadowy hand reaching from the depths, and two pictures with text, reading "No, I'm not human, I'm a with the rest of the text blurred out", and "the chains are broken, but are you truly free?"
May 23, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author
bmfwriter.bsky.social
On a dark island where women gain power by killing men, a reluctant huntress defies her deadly rite by falling for the prince she was meant to sacrifice.

✨️🖤☠️

Love was never part of the ritual.

#wippit #RF #H #NA #A #agentsguide
The Women of the Wile mood board Dark forest Creepy Just Beach at night Eerie castle Pitch and word count Tropes and playlist Comp titles
May 23, 2025 at 4:14 AM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
Today’s #WIPSnips word is “power.” This entire series is about witches with nature-inspired magic so we had a lot to choose from. But here’s a lil somethin’.
#queerbooks #sapphicbooks #bookofpayne
My great-grandmother's old books spoke of intention. That a Priestess's power took its shape in accordance to her will. So as I knelt there, the ache of the opened blisters on my palms forcing me to stay present, I wondered what exactly I'd intended to accomplish that night. Surely, I hadn't /intended/ to wipe Blackridge off the map. A quote from The Shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater
May 16, 2025 at 2:54 PM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
In this book, our cast are dealing with three different villains: a spy in their ranks, a Prophet they’ve wronged, and an army set on wiping them from existence. Things are looking grim.

#bookofpayne #darkfantasy #wipsnips #queerbooks
"Uh, High Priestess?" I blinked and returned my attention to the room. "My apologies. I was somewhere else for a moment." Samuel offered me a polite smile and began again. But outside, Edmund unleashed a warning bark so vicious that everyone in the room turned to look. Through the window, a group of strangers in dark clothes and tattered old cloaks descended upon the children playing in the square outside. I stepped away from the meeting, ready to intervene. Then a familiar grating voice called out a command, and I froze. A chill raked down my spine. I turned back toward the table. "She's here." A quote from The Shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater
May 13, 2025 at 1:59 PM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
Today’s #WIPSnips word is “pant.” Pant>Panted
Poor Nell is haunted by guilt at the start of this book.

#writesky #queerwriters #queerbooksky #darkfantasy
/Wise of them not to heed the counsel of a monster/, hissed a voice to my left. Fury surged through me like a northern wind. I took up the ax and sprang to my feet, ready to cleave those damned shadows in two. But all that I found were a few dead leaves skittering across the forest floor, their scraping hiss like a long, drawn out taunt. My limbs twitched with newfound frustration. "I'm not...a monster," I panted into the stillness of the woods. But there was no one there to listen save the towering pines, the bleached skeletons of the winter birches. A quote from The Shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater
May 11, 2025 at 12:08 PM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
#wipsnips the Book of Payne series reads like a villain origin story, and I’m having so much fun exploring Nell’s darker side.
#bookofpayne #queerbooksky #sapphicbooksky #darkfantasy
"I won't ask a third time, Priestess." I leaned forward in my seat and stretched each syllable as menacingly as possible, "Why are you here?" I was well versed in intimidating others. It was a useful skill to have growing up in a village where everyone wanted you dead. As a child, I could settle any argument with only a fierce, unblinking stare. Of course, it likely helped that everyone in Blackridge thought my family sacrificed children to the Great Betrayer on full moons. But Hope... Hope knew for sure that I was capable of much worse. A quote from The Shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater
May 10, 2025 at 1:46 PM
rpdunwater.bsky.social
Today’s #WIPSnips word is “force.” 😉 Nell is definitely one with the force, but she’s using it in all the wrong ways.

#darkfantasy #queerfantasy #queerauthor
"You said last night that you were looking for a sigil. Something to help protect Blackridge." She forced herself to meet my gaze. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed nervously. "Could I help you?" So, that was it then. There'd be no more discussing it. Nell was an unlovable monster and I was just the fool chasing along behind her, begging for scraps. "Sure." I frowned, throwing my hands up in defeat. "If that's what you'd rather do." A quote from The Shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater
May 4, 2025 at 1:57 PM