Liz Vaughan
creaturewriting.bsky.social
Liz Vaughan
@creaturewriting.bsky.social
-they/them
-NC writer of speculative fiction
-MFA student
-literary designer
-my writing has appeared in 100-Foot Crow, Lambda Magazine, Coffin Bell Journal, & more!
💚🧡
Pinned
i’m very pleased to share that my short story “The Hollow Sea” was selected by judge Erica Simone Turnipseed for an honorable mention in The Vincent Brothers Review’s “Waves” contest last week!

kaws4tvbr.substack.com/p/congratula...
Congratulations to the “Waves”-Themed Short Story Contest Winners
“Life is a wave, which in no two consecutive moments of its existence is composed of the same particles.”—John Tyndall
kaws4tvbr.substack.com
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
"I can't afford to support my favorite author right now, I—"

Reviews.

Reviews are free AND they are a gift to authors that can keep on giving (i.e., exposure, marketing, algo boosts, etc.)

Please, give the gift of reviews to your authors this holiday season. It really can make a difference!
December 9, 2025 at 11:04 PM
a short story of mine was recently nominated for the AWP intro journals project!!

i received this news as i was feeling disheartened about this particular story’s chances of publication, given that it’s fairly niche + weird, but not strictly speculative either. now i’m feeling much more hopeful :)
December 2, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
BCS Patreon has fallen below the monthly amount we need to pay our authors a pro rate and our First Readers a worthy honorarium ($125/mo). Sometimes folks need to lower or pause their support; we understand. But less than 1% of BCS readership donates or supports. www.patreon.com/beneath_ceas... 1/3
Get more from Beneath Ceaseless Skies on Patreon
creating an online fantasy magazine & podcast
www.patreon.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
What if buying a book was like a magic spell, and every time you did it an awesome social movement space got its wings, or could pay its water bill or something 💫 That would be pretty incredible, right?
Today: 15% off most items with code INDIESFIRST + free shipping on orders over $50! 🫶📚🎁✨🏴 firestorm.coop
November 29, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
Some of you may know that I curate a huge reading list if Palestinian fantasy, science fiction, and horror. It is not up to date… Please comment if you identify as Palestinian, or if you know of something that should be in the list! Please share for visibility. soniasulaiman.com/readpalestin...
Read Palestinian Speculative Fiction Reading List
The following is a growing reading list for the #ReadPalestinianSpecFic challenge. This is a work in progress to create a list of all available Palestinian speculative fiction. Novels: Novels by Na…
soniasulaiman.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
Friends, this is a low hanging boycott action.

Similar to Hulu and Disney+ actions.

You can help turn the tide and it will make other platforms think twice.

The working class has much more power than they think.
Spotify is helping ICE recruit more agents to infringe our rights and terrorize our communities. Stop paying for or using the app until Spotify stops running ads for ICE: indivisible.org/cancel-spotify?source=bluesky
November 21, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association has announced @nkjemisin.bsky.social as the 42nd recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. Congratulations!!
SFWA Names N.K. Jemisin the 42nd Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master - Reactor
The Broken Earth trilogy author joins a prestigious group of past recipients.
reactormag.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:04 PM
yallfest 2025 was very fun! met some lovely authors & collected some exciting arcs. i haven’t been since i was a teenager myself, so i enjoyed participating in the event with a deeper understanding of the book publishing industry :) & i got to accompany my partner to her first book festival!!
November 17, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
Vajra Chandrasekera (@vajra.me)'s Rakesfall recently received the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction. In this new interview, Senior Books Editor @cxorlando.bsky.social asks him the author about genre boundaries, violence in fiction, and how Le Guin has inspired his writing:
A Conversation With Vajra Chandrasekera, Author of Rakesfall - Reactor
"I think writers, like all artists, have a responsibility to act as human cultural workers in an actual society"
reactormag.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:36 PM
i’m reading the 2019 anthology right now, the one guest-edited by carmen maria machado—it’s making me want to collect the rest of the series! exciting that submissions are open for this year :D
If you wrote an SF/F/H story that was published in 2025 (or read a story that you thought was great), tell me about it in this thread!

Authors, also send your story to me here: johnjosephadams.com/basff-submis... (Please read the guidelines before submitting.)
November 8, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
After hundreds of hours of reading and research, my 2025 Starter Guide to transfeminine literature is finally live!

No matter your experience level, there's a book for you! 🏳️‍⚧️📚 #transbooks

The list covers a vast range of genres. There are 78 handcrafted recs on this list, and I've read all but two.
Start Here (2025 Edition)
Are you questioning your gender and searching for fiction that’ll help you figure out what a transition might look like? Are you a trans woman or a femmeby who’s never seen herself on the tradition…
thetransfemininereview.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:11 AM
i got to meet carmen maria machado today!! :)
November 7, 2025 at 4:25 AM
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
I know a lot of people are already spreading this info, but hoping to spread it a little further: donating to a food bank, food pantry, or food distribution mutual aid group is really important right now, as TFG and the fucking GOP are shutting down snap benefits on November 1. I'll link to a few
October 29, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
Congratulations to Vajra Chandrasekera (@vajra.me), recipient of the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for Rakesfall!

Chandrasekera's book was chosen by authors Matt Bell, Indra Das, Kelly Link, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Rebecca Roanhorse.
October 21, 2025 at 4:18 PM
since august i’ve been working in a publishing lab & i’m gaining SO much respect for designers; there are so many aspects to book creation that most writers don’t think about—not just cover art, but also like. paper thickness, text formatting, the evil beast that is indesign. designers do so much :)
October 17, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
REMINDER: Today is the last day to submit for our HAUNT and YARD SALE themes! 100footcrow.com/submission-g...

Speak your 100 words now or forever hold your peace.
Submission Guidelines - 100-Foot Crow
Drabble submissions are open through October 15. We're looking for stories that fit the themes YARD SALE and HAUNT. You may submit one story per theme. All submissions must be submitted via our Google...
100footcrow.com
October 15, 2025 at 9:30 PM
i’m very pleased to share that my short story “The Hollow Sea” was selected by judge Erica Simone Turnipseed for an honorable mention in The Vincent Brothers Review’s “Waves” contest last week!

kaws4tvbr.substack.com/p/congratula...
Congratulations to the “Waves”-Themed Short Story Contest Winners
“Life is a wave, which in no two consecutive moments of its existence is composed of the same particles.”—John Tyndall
kaws4tvbr.substack.com
June 23, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
The devastating, shortsighted attack on literature continues. List from Magic City Books. Who'd they miss? Note: the small publishers selected here for financial attack include (among other very worthy and important presses) @transitbooks.bsky.social, publisher of 2023 Nobel laureate Jon Fosse.
May 6, 2025 at 10:51 AM
some poems about gender + love that came out a few weeks ago in lambda magazine :)
May 5, 2025 at 12:35 PM
i’m officially going to grad school next year for an mfa in fiction & publishing!! :D
April 21, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
Today states evidently began receiving letters cutting off IMLS grants to states. A reminder that these grants help fund or organize things like Libby ebooks, student databases, recording for the blind, broadband to rural communities and more. Call your Congress. Use the 5Calls app script.
April 3, 2025 at 7:19 PM
one of my favorite musical artists is publishing a folk horror novel this year,,, this is going to fix me (& Maybe make up for them not releasing an album in the last four years)
March 28, 2025 at 2:41 PM
i have to write ~2k more words of a weird little swords & sorcery story by tomorrow in order to submit it to a magazine before the window closes. this is a completely advisable deadline that i will surely not regret
March 14, 2025 at 4:50 AM
Reposted by Liz Vaughan
If you want to fight fascism? Wear a mask.

If you want to show solidarity with disabled people? Wear a mask.

If you want to protect your own health? Wear a mask.

If you recognize that no one is coming to save us? Wear a mask.

My ultimate guide to respirators:
We’re Witnessing the Fall of Public Health… and Your Best Tool is a Mask
Measles in Texas, bird flu in Louisiana, tuberculosis in Kansas and Covid everywhere. Public health has been dying a slow death for years, we can’t count on it anymore. What can we count on? A mask!
www.disabledginger.com
February 22, 2025 at 2:56 AM