Avalbane Maxwell • medical hiatus
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avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
Avalbane Maxwell • medical hiatus
@avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
130 followers 89 following 1.2K posts
🕯️they/them/iad🕯️neurodivergent🕯️megafauna enthusiast🕯️pan🕯️🗣️ ah-VAL-bahn🕯️tha Gàidhlig agam (learning & reconnecting)🕯️dèan an t-olc 's feith ri dheireadh🕯️🚫NO AI🚫🕯️

Curious? Check out my project at https://www.patreon.com/WhimsikilnProductions
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avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
Where the Heartwood Sleeps has a ton of spicy tropes 👀🌶️🔥

#amquerying
September 7, 2025 at 10:51 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
CW medical stuff, cancer

Back in the hospital for a solid week.

But look at my view!
September 2, 2025 at 1:25 AM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
In high school and college, I got really into linguistics and developed my own written and spoken language for my fungipunk fantasy. I have two words tattooed on my right wrist.
July 9, 2025 at 7:31 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
CW medical stuff, cancer

Here we go....

(Marked sensitive content for those who need it)
July 2, 2025 at 10:35 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
Almost to 70 followers on Kickstarter!! Because of my seizure, I had to delay the campaign until July first (very grumpy because I really wanted to run it during #Pride, but oh well).

Also...hehe 69~

If you're interested in the project, please give it a follow!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/whe...
June 2, 2025 at 3:51 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
Please help spread the word! We're getting into the final countdown for prelaunch, and things are heating up!!

Enjoy my silly lil animation 🔥❤️

www.kickstarter.com/projects/whe...
May 27, 2025 at 1:26 AM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
Turns out hell on earth does exist, and it's an occipital seizure followed by an 8-day migraine that lands you in the ER, and in the middle of THAT nightmare, you slip a disc and rotate your hips 🫠

All while you have less than 30 days to finish prepping for your debut Kickstarter campaign 😭

Why tf
Lisa Simpson staring at her plate and disbelief
May 23, 2025 at 8:21 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
New graphics just dropped!

Check out what's going on down Where the Heartwood Sleeps. I've posted some beautiful new graphics PLUS an entire chapter!!

Oh, and did I mention that the first 24 hours will have an early bird sale? No? Well it will 😉

Check it out 👇

www.kickstarter.com/projects/whe...
Picture of the special edition hardcover of WHERE THE HEARTWOOD SLEEPS.
May 8, 2025 at 11:43 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
Um, yes? Hello? SPRAYED EDGE DESIGN COMPLETE??? I'm OBSESSED.

The gold sections will be GOLD, so there should be a shimmer under the other colors.

Idk. Sometimes, I blow myself away. How do I art? It's a fuckin' mystery, man.

Anyway, hoping the sprayed edges get funded, because they are LIT.
May 7, 2025 at 12:14 AM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
No notes, honestly
May 4, 2025 at 6:10 AM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
Hey, #writingcommunity! I'm an indie author who is preparing to launch their debut, and I need your help. If you love #romantasy and want to support #queer authors, please help me spread the word w a repost! This book has spice, cottagecore, and MORE!

Thank you!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/whe...
For a brief heartbeat, Logan didn’t hear anything coming from outside. Cautiously, he leaned closer and pressed his ear to the cold wood. Snow shuffled and shifted beyond. The spirit groaned and muttered, “Shit. He’s here. I don’t have a choice.” That raspy voice rattled through the door, something dark and dangerous echoing beneath it. “Let. Me. In.” Before he could stop himself, Logan wrapped his hand around the doorknob. His chest tightened. The pull sang. He squeezed his fingers, the weight of the brass knob making him lightheaded. Then, he turned the knob. Behind him, the fire snapped, “No, wait! Don’t—and, you did.” Logan threw the door open. It all happened so quickly. He hadn’t meant to open the door, but he had. He had, and now, he had to face the consequences of letting a spirit into the cabin. Outside, darkness clung to the freezing landscape. Snow blasted inside around him. The air smelled sharp and cold and fresh. The pitch of early nightfall haloed a mountain of a furious man. But he wasn’t quite a man. Not in the traditional sense. Logan’s stomach dropped into his shoes and blood rushed up to his face so fast he almost fainted. “Uh.” The spirit—because he was, in fact, a spirit—scowled at him from beneath thick, dark lashes. Red hair cascaded down his shoulders to mingle with a collar of dark russet fur. The collar wrapped around sun-kissed, golden-freckled shoulders and draped down his back like a cloak. His chest was bare, and the sight left Logan speechless. Cut gems strewn about his hips, fastened in place by glittering golden chains, glinted in the firelight. A sash of midnight blue with golden embroidery wrapped about his hips beneath the chains and stones. A white-tipped russet tail swished behind him, making the gemstones shimmer. Snowflakes coated his tail and shoulders. The spirit didn’t wear pants, just the embroidered sash. Honeyed skin disappeared beneath soft fur at his navel, his thighs melting into the long, powerful legs of a fox. Bla…
April 29, 2025 at 6:27 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
🫀🦊 COVER REVEAL 🦊🫀

OMG!! IT'S DONION RINGS! After more than two months and 100 hours of painstaking work, the special edition cover is COMPLETE!

The Kickstarter is officially in prelaunch! Please follow to be notified of when it goes live 🤩

Spread the word!!

👉 www.kickstarter.com/projects/whe...
The special edition hardcover image with the full wrap behind it and tropes listed pointing at the cover. The tropes include (left to right, counterclockwise): frotting & knotting, sunshine & grump, fated mates... or are they?, himbo mc (he means well, really!), SPICE!! (open door), and gay main pairing. The image shows Logan and Kardyn lying on a snowy forest floor, gazing longingly into one another's eyes. They are part human, part skeleton. Kardyn's skeleton half is covered in mushrooms. Logan's skeleton half is covered in lush plant life. Title: Where the Heartwood Sleeps Author: Avalbane Maxwell
April 27, 2025 at 10:32 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
I spent TWO DAYS drawing nothing but mushrooms for this cover art,and if I never have to draw another mushroom again, it'll be too soon 😭🍄

The good news is I'm REALLY FUCKING CLOSE to finishing the special edition hardcover. Just have a few more plants and shading! Then it's DONION RINGS AHHHHHH 😭🤩
April 25, 2025 at 10:13 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
Brushed one of our shorthair cats and almost got a whole 'nother cat 😳

Anyway, here's your reminder to brush your pets for spring!! I bet my baby feels so much better 🥰
A calico tabby with a pile of fur that ALL came from her She's impressed 😁
April 11, 2025 at 6:30 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
The trade paperback cover is DONION RINGS AHHHHHH!!! 😍❤️ Omg look at it! I'm so proud of how it turned out, and I can't WAIT to share the special edition cover next week 👀❤️
A book cover with purple and blue hues. A heart with tree branches is in the center.
April 6, 2025 at 5:39 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
"A mountain map will be so easy," I said. "Barely an inconvenience," I added. "No problem at all compared to a world map," I assured myself.

Me two weeks later: fuuuuuck mountains
A mid render of a snowy mountain at sunset. It's a WIP, clearly, but the artist (me) needs way more practice.
April 3, 2025 at 11:29 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
Hear me out....
Post 1: They're taking Persephone out of the public domain because every possible version of that story has already been told. You have to do a modern queer feminist retelling of the scorpion and the frog now. Post 2: What if I was the scorpion and I stung you while you were carrying me across the river, dooming us both, and we were both girls? Post three is an image of Utena and Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena
April 3, 2025 at 6:57 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
It's really happening 😭🤲🦊🫀
A title page spread showing a fox with porcupine quills lying under a tree. There's a heart in front of him. The heart has roots because I'm weird. The title, Where the Heartwood Sleeps, is visible on the right side under the byline
April 2, 2025 at 12:09 AM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
I love them, Your Honor 😌🤲❤️
March 30, 2025 at 12:52 AM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
There can be only one!!!
March 29, 2025 at 2:58 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
CW body horror, human heart

Interior design is coming along! Chapter spread is close to being done 🤩🫀

The chapter will begin on the right-hand page. I'll likely fade the lower branches a bit to ease reading, but I'm quite pleased with it so far! Just a few final bits too add, then it's done!
Two-page spread of a heart with a tree growing out of it. Snow covers the tree branches and the heart
March 27, 2025 at 4:16 AM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
I spent WAY too long on this piece. It's based on a vintage pinup going around of a woman reading in bed with her legs up, and I HAD to draw Kardyn--the fox spirit love interest in my upcoming debut--in that pose.

I adore this grumpy idiot (╥ ᴗ ╥)

#writingcommunity #comingsoon #booksky
A cozy forest with moss and grass. A fox spirit with a humanoid upper half is relaxing against a mossy tree, eating mushrooms and reading a book. His legs are up in the air, his tail swishing around. He's blushing and biting his lower lip. Wonder what he's reading?? Text reads: Avalbane Maxwell Where the Heartwood Sleeps Autumn 2025
March 21, 2025 at 9:00 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
If Where the Heartwood Sleeps were a meme 🦊🌲🫀
An image of a glowing person in a grove of trees with the caption, "I speak for the trees and they hate you bro"
March 16, 2025 at 3:48 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
Let's fucking GOOOOOO!
A meme with two images. The left one shows a blonde woman pointing to someone off screen while screaming and crying; the right one shows a white cat looking completely flabbergasted while trying to eat a salad. The text above the woman reads: Me blaming my characters for the 20k I'm about to add to my book The text above the cat reads: My characters realizing they're about to go through another 20,000 words of bullshit
March 12, 2025 at 5:13 PM
avalbanemaxwell.bsky.social
Nothing's going to stop me

Those stars are mine ✨
Ryusui from Dr Stone reaching toward the stars
March 12, 2025 at 3:03 PM