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blackcatbooks.bsky.social
Black Cat Books
@blackcatbooks.bsky.social
190 followers 66 following 33 posts
We publish YA-leaning genre stories by mid-level writers and comic artists from across Western Canada.
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kaiewrites.bsky.social
Our WEST COAST HORROR event was AWESOME~ Thanks to Fireside Books Parksville for hosting & to all who made it out!🎃

50% of our lineup fell to the very-on-theme event planning curse, but we welcomed surprise special guests Shanon Sinn & Haley Healey💞

[photos credits: Kim Bannerman, Shanon Sinn]

🧵1
Photo of Nicola Kapron, K.A. Wiggins & Kim Bannerman with a copy of The Kindread Coast inside Fireside Books in Parksville BC View of Nicola Kapron reading from her story in The Kindread Coast alongside contributors Kim Bannerman and K.A. Wiggins, surrounded by costumed attendees, Halloween decor and candy, and book shelves and displays during West Coast Horror at Fireside Books in Parksville, BC.
November 10, 2025 at 1:18 AM
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kaiewrites.bsky.social
PROGRAM UPDATES:
🎃Spooky scavenger hunt (first 20 arrivals)
🎃Chat local cryptids & ghost lore w/ folks who've lived, unearthed & reimagined coastal horror!
🎃Haunting & horrifying (short) readings!
🎃Interactive storytelling—let's invent our own bookshop cryptid/urban legend/local creepypasta!
Promo graphic reads: Spooky scavenger hunt (first 20 arrivals)—enter to win an eerie prize pack! Chat local cryptids & ghost lore w/ folks who've lived, unearthed & reimagined coastal horror! Haunting & horrifying (short) readings! Interactive storytelling—let's invent our own bookshop cryptid/urban legend/local creepypasta! Horror & dark fiction anthology for teens & up available for purchase now at independent bookstores across Vancouver Island & online! Indulge in an eerie night out: West Coast Horror, 7-8:30 pm October 29 Fireside Books, Parksville, BC Dark blue background with silhouettes of a bat, evergreens, tentacles, and ghostly smog/smudges, clouds, and a claw reaching down from the sky. The Kindread Coast anthology cover also on the graphic.
October 23, 2025 at 2:56 AM
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kaiewrites.bsky.social
Indulge in an eerie night out at WEST COAST HORROR at Fireside Books in Parksville BC with the authors of THE KINDREAD COAST @blackcatbooks.bsky.social feat. 13 stories of supernatural beings set in the haunting landscapes of British Columbia🎃

www.facebook.com/share/1Du3bx...
Promo graphic reads Indulge in an eerie night out: West Coast Horror, 7-8:30 pm October 29 Fireside Books, Parksville, BC Joshua Gillingham K.A. Wiggins (Kaie) Kim Bannerman Nicola Kapron Sheena Robinson. Dark blue background with silhouettes of a bat, evergreens, tentacles, and ghostly smog/smudges, clouds, and a claw reaching down from the sky. The Kindread Coast anthology cover and photos of participants are also on the graphic. Promo graphic reads: 13 terrifying tales of supernatural beings—shapeshifters, water monsters, black cats, undead cyborgs... They inhabit misty forests, murky depths, ominous city streets, deadly mountain vistas—the haunting landscapes of British Columbia—evoking your darkest fears... Welcome to the dreadful coast—may you walk out unscathed! Including works by Aleighsha Parke, K. A. Wiggins, Derek Wagner, Konn Lavery, Jade Greive, Sheena Robinson, Kim Bannerman, Bevan Thomas, A. D. Greenlees, K. D. Kulpa, Joshua Gillingham, Shanon Sinn, and Nicola Kapron. Cover by Lydia Avsec. Interior by Derek von Essen. Horror & dark fiction anthology for teens & up available for purchase now at independent bookstores across Vancouver Island & online! Indulge in an eerie night out: West Coast Horror, 7-8:30 pm October 29 Fireside Books, Parksville, BC Dark blue background with silhouettes of a bat, evergreens, tentacles, and ghostly smog/smudges, clouds, and a claw reaching down from the sky. The Kindread Coast anthology cover also on the graphic.
October 20, 2025 at 4:08 AM
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kaiewrites.bsky.social
2025 Release 🧵4: Powerhouse in THE KINDREAD COAST @blackcatbooks.bsky.social

🐈‍⬛Gen-Alpha slang attempt (feel free to laugh!)🫡
🐈‍⬛Much horror, many monsters, also cryptids🐙
🐈‍⬛Nature is SO over us💀
🐈‍⬛He likes to neg, she likes to watch (her bullies get eaten)👀

books.kawiggins.com/kindread

#ecopunk
Silver and gold tone text on dark mottled background with sketchy pen-and-ink or tattoo-style accent images of talons clutching a radiating eye and a skull overrun by tentacles under the text West Coast Weird. Remaining text reads: Powerhouse in The Kindread Coast (Black Cat Books, Oct. 2025) YA+ brainrot ecopunk cryptid horror "You grow up afraid of the water here. Doesn’t matter if you ate in swimming lessons, the glacier-fed waters have these hidden currents. They’ll freeze your balls off and leave the rest of you on ice. We spend every summer throwing shade at the latest drownings while trading horror stories about what lurks in the depths. Those stories have me tucking my knees now, flinching at every lap against the pilings and straining to make out the chittering beneath the loon-call echoes of voices in the distance..." Ecopunk cryptid horror meets the manosphere/toxic masculinity with a side of anticolonialism/anticapitalism & a splash of mid-2020s-era brainrot in this 6k word short in a dark speculative/horror anthology for teens and up featuring 13 haunting stories set on/near the British Columbian coast by Western Canadian authors. Reader Advisory/Content Alerts: bullying/hazing/harassment, implied assault, death-by-monster, racism/colonialism/white supremacy, sexism/patriarchy, terminal capitalism. The Kindread Coast, edited by Caroline Lavoie and Monique Riel. Cover art by Lydia Avsec of a blue water monster reading a red book under a full moon with a black cat walking below the painted title.
October 3, 2025 at 3:08 AM
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joshuagillingham.bsky.social
Received my contributor copy of The Kindread Coast from @blackcatbooks.bsky.social 🎃

It was an absolute thrill to write for this collection - thanks to the editors and look forward to reading these haunting tales by firelight tonight…
October 15, 2025 at 3:55 AM
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kaiewrites.bsky.social
All the 🖤 to @factorfourmagazine.com Ansible Press @blackcatbooks.bsky.social @thedailytomorrow.bsky.social PULPHOUSE(x2) @tenebrouspress.bsky.social for giving 🇨🇦weird SFF/H a home in 2025 (it's been a whirlwind few months~)

Read/links: kaie.space/standalones

Details in 🧵
Silver and gold tone text on dark mottled background with sketchy pen-and-ink or tattoo-style accent images of talons clutching a radiating eye and a skull overrun by tentacles under the text West Coast Weird. Remaining text reads: K.A. Wiggins 2025 Mid-Year Fiction Round-Up Originals "Geosapiology: a brief history of geogenesis, the Stones, and the Theory of Appeasement" (The Daily Tomorrow, JUL 2025), thinky eco-apocalypse sci-fi serial—3.8k words "Crumbling of the Sandwich Generation" (Factor Four Magazine, SEP 2025), lit-spec flash nightmare—900 words "Powerhouse" in The Kindread Coast (Black Cat Books, OCT 2025),YA brainrot ecopunk cryptid horror—6.1k words "The Mistletoe Matchmaker Is Wilting" (Pulphouse, TBA 2025), seasonal tragicomic fairytale horror—5.5k words Reprints: "The Tangle (Did Not Kill Kitsault)" (Strange Horizons, 2024; Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror Volume 3, Tenebrous Press, 2025) "The Patron Saint of Flatliners" (Mysterion, 2024; Year's Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 3, Ansible Press, 2025) "The Pink Slime's Appointment With Destiny" (Pulphouse, 2024; Really Big, Pointy Teeth, WMG Books, 2025) Links in bio or at kawiggins.com Silver and gold tone text reads K.A. Wiggins 2025 Mid-Year Fiction Round-Up, Links in Bio or at kawiggins.com on dark mottled background with sketchy pen-and-ink or tattoo-style accent images of talons clutching a radiating eye and a skull overrun by tentacles under the text West Coast Weird. Six book or magazine covers/graphics are arranged across the background: The Kindread Coast, edited by Caroline Lavoie and Monique Riel. Cover art of a blue-and-teal water monster with red accents and a black cat by Lydia Avsec. Year's Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction Volume 3 edited by Stephen Kotowych. Cover illustration of space craft "Repair Station 73" by Pascal Blanché. Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror, Volume Three edited by Alex Woodroe. Cover art of a green skeletal zombie with coral brains on a cereal box by Matt Blairstone. Factor Four Magazine 50th Issue. (50 in orange tone text over blue clouds, designer unknown.) Really Big, Pointy Teeth: Stories from Pulphouse Fiction Magazine edited by Dean Edward Smith. Yellow cover with googly-eyed fanged face in center, artist unknown. The Daily Tomorrow, text over newsprint background, designer unknown.
October 3, 2025 at 1:23 AM
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folklorethursday.bsky.social
Dates for the Diary!
The next hosted #FolkloreThursday dates and themes are as follows:
Thur 4th September: Folklore of the Stars, Skies and Heavens
Thur 2nd October: Folklore of Ghosts, the Supernatural, and all things Spooky!
Painting, The Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh. a painting of a deep blue night sky filled with swirling white clouds, yellow stars, and a yellow crescent moon over a stylized village nestled in the midst of some hills. Missouri History Museum. Halloween postcard, with text "A Merry Halloween" at the top in capitals, with three figures made from pumpkins below. Each has a pumpkin body and a carved pumpkin for a head. Two are smiling, the one on the right is frowning.
August 12, 2025 at 2:15 PM
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shanonsinn.bsky.social
We are having another Art Jam Night on Thursday July 3rd, at 7 pm at the Drake in Victoria. Anyone who sees this is welcome to join us.

Either sign up on Meetup, or message me directly (a few people confirmed who don't use the Meetup app).

www.meetup.com/boho-victori...

#Victora #DrinkandDraw
Art Jam Night at the Drake, Thu, Jul 3, 2025, 7:00 PM | Meetup
Sketch, paint, or just doodle, at our monthly drink and draw like event open to everyone, including first time artists and non drinkers. Please sign up on Meetup if you ha
www.meetup.com
July 1, 2025 at 12:32 AM
blackcatbooks.bsky.social
“A black cat that comes aboard carries a gale in her tail”

In 1898, the Victoria Daily Times said the sealer Dora Sieward brought 648 pelts in even with a “hoodoo” in the form of a black cat. Many sailers believed black cats were lucky to have aboard #FolkloreThursday

Image family collection
A black and white photograph showing a black cat sitting on a tire in front of a tug boat, most likely on the boat itself. Water can be seen in the background on the left with a shore in the distance. Personal image, not free for use in the public domain.
June 12, 2025 at 5:51 PM
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shanonsinn.bsky.social
A few of us are meeting tomorrow, May 8th, at 7 pm at the Drake in #Victoria BC for a drink and draw. Anyone who sees this is welcome to join

Either sign up on Meetup, or message me directly (five confirmed on Discord, etc. who don't use Meetup)

Art Jam at the Drake www.meetup.com/boho-victori...
Art Jam Night at the Drake, Thu, May 8, 2025, 7:00 PM | Meetup
A "drink and draw" like event open to everyone -- from those new to art to established professionals. Join us to sketch, paint, work on your hand lettering, or even just d
www.meetup.com
May 8, 2025 at 5:05 AM
blackcatbooks.bsky.social
Black Cats are often associated with Witches. They might be familiars, carrying out tasks, or a witch in her animal form. Sometimes, as in Lady Wilde's accounts of Irish folklore, Black Cats were used in witchcraft. Hopefully, never true. #FolkloreThursday #Witchsky

Arthur Rackham 1924
A group of witches in cartoon-like form with two trees and several black cats. Many of the witches are carrying brooms. There is a crescent moon in the sky. Some of the witches and cats are climbing the trees
March 13, 2025 at 6:56 PM
blackcatbooks.bsky.social
There is an old German proverb that says a person who makes a cat his enemy will be attended at his funeral by rats and rain #FolkloreThursday

1903 image Théophile Alexandre Steinlen. Proverb from 1885 Legends and Superstitions of the Sea and Sailors by Fletcher S. Bassett
A painting of two cats with very little background. A striped cat is stretched out on its side with its eyes closed, likely in the corner of a room. A black cat is walking up to it looking somewhat mischievous
February 27, 2025 at 6:54 PM
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travisearl.bsky.social
go.bsky.app/51MFsXj
February 12, 2025 at 9:06 PM
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kaiewrites.bsky.social
Awesome, more friends making it over here! Can I put my hand up for the next wave of additions & also nominate 🇨🇦 indies @kimberbannerman.bsky.social @babellec.bsky.social @blackcatbooks.bsky.social @shanonsinn.bsky.social ?
February 21, 2025 at 4:44 PM
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lormaggot.ca
Was lovely to see @blackcatbooks.bsky.social in Coombs today!
February 2, 2025 at 7:38 AM
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shanonsinn.bsky.social
Black Cat and That Witch Whispers! Looking good at Russell Books in Victoria, BC. I was happy to hear both were bestsellers over the holidays 🐈‍⬛

#booksky #vancuverisland
January 21, 2025 at 8:25 PM
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curiousordinary.bsky.social
'Black Cat' - Inagaki Tomoo.
#Caturday #JapaneseArt
Woodblock print of a the head and chest of a black cat in profile on a blue background.
January 11, 2025 at 7:56 AM
blackcatbooks.bsky.social
2025 is off to a great start ✨

Our third anthology is manifesting into something extraordinary! Caroline and Monique have already approved eight story pitches about supernatural beings by some of Western Canada's most exciting genre authors. More to come.

Image: Alchemy 1977
January 8, 2025 at 7:58 PM
blackcatbooks.bsky.social
Wishing you and your family a happy Holiday Season! Merry #Christmas to you and your loved ones 🎄

1880 Louis Wain. Be good, silent, kind, and brave 😅
December 25, 2024 at 2:46 AM
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oliviaarmstrong.bsky.social
European folklore said animals knelt and prayed on Christmas night and, as they did, the planets would stand still... 🎨Erina Star #FolkloreThursday
A dog sits amid a swirling lake and sky of purple and red and blue and yellow circles.
December 19, 2024 at 6:32 PM
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readingwithcats.bsky.social
“Nothin' wrong with havin' a cat in the house. They can see what most people can't, like the folks in the Otherworld when they cross back over - the good ones and the bad. And they get rid a mice.”
~ Kami Garcia, Beautiful Darkness
December 9, 2024 at 9:45 PM
blackcatbooks.bsky.social
Editing and answering emails from the Island of Flores this afternoon. Grateful to have some time in this peaceful space, as we head back to Guatemala City tonight #writing #workspace
December 10, 2024 at 9:19 PM
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shanonsinn.bsky.social
We had our first team meeting for the next Black Cat anthology on zoom yesterday! The editors are building a list of unagented, prev pub (for pay), Western Canadian authors so they can invite them to pitch their story in the next few weeks.

The theme is Supernatural Creatures.

#BCLit #writing #BC
November 29, 2024 at 5:13 PM
blackcatbooks.bsky.social
"Childlore is one of the great cultural inheritances of humanity, and one of the most enduring"

nevermindgenx.substack.com/p/will-nosta... #substack #childlore
Is nostalgia killing childhood?
Childlore is one of the great cultural inheritances of humanity, and one of the most enduring. But it's a fragile ecosystem, and whether it can survive the algorithm is an open question.
nevermindgenx.substack.com
November 25, 2024 at 4:02 PM
blackcatbooks.bsky.social
Black Cats are lucky to have aboard a ship.

Stories of misfortune following a cat's mistreatment were common in the old newspapers. Some say their reputation came from eating rats, others that they warded off evil spirits.

Alchemy England images #FolkloreThursday #BlackCat
November 21, 2024 at 4:26 PM