Karuna Das
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karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Karuna Das
@karunadaswriter.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.2K following 430 posts
PGH-based writer, antifascist, tantrika, polyamorous, pansexual, cat dad. He/they. Author of literature flavored by mysticism, including award-winning visionary grounded sci-fi and new adult LGBTQ novels. 🙏🕉️☮️💖 www.karunadaswriter.com
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karunadaswriter.bsky.social
It's official! My award-winning novels are back in print!

I'm profoundly grateful to Ten16 Press for their support.

To my existing - and future - readers ... heartfelt thanks for going on this journey with me and the characters of these stories. 🙏

#writingcommunity #authorlife #awardwinningbooks
Two books sit side by side on a wooden surface. For the one on the left, the overall color palette ranges from dark to pale green. The main image is a shadowy face, with light exploding from the top of the head, suggesting the birth of a galaxy. A small figure of a woman rises within the light. The title KAT'S CRADLE: WEBOLUTION BOOK ONE appears there as well. At the base of the dark face's neck, the author name Karuna Das appears in pale green. In the background, jagged lines and clouds of light and stars are set against a series of intersecting straight dark lines, suggesting a web and the cat's cradle string game. A silver award decal in the bottom right is accompanied by text at the bottom reading, "2023 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in Visionary Fiction." Text at the top of the cover, a quote from Heidi Ruby Miller, author of The Ambasadora Series, reads, "Kat's Cradle is neuropunk at its mind-bending and truly optimistic finest." For the one on the right, a dark purple cover features a phallic-shaped mushroom, just above which a figure of white light floats in seated meditation posture surrounded by a wide circle of blue and yellow light. The title Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two) is written in neon yellow and blue below the mushroom cap. The author name Karuna Das is in light purple below that. In the upper right corner of the cover are two silver award decals, one reading "CIPA EVVY SECOND PLACE BOOK AWARD" and the other reading "INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD 2024 DISTINGUISHED FAVORITE."
December 2, 2025 at 10:12 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Author copies of the Ten16 Press editions of my novels arrived today! They'll release together in two weeks, on 12/2.

If you're in Pittsburgh, you can buy them at the talk and signing at a local bookstore in January. (Details coming soon!)

Preorder links in the thread.

#writingcommunity
Two open boxes of books. Both show the author name Karuna Das near the bottom of their covers. The title of one is Kat's Cradle. The title of the other is Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two). The Kat's Cradle cover features a shadowy face, with light exploding from the top of the head, suggesting the birth of a galaxy. A small figure of a woman rises within the light. The overall color palette ranges from dark to pale green. The cover for Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two) features a phallic-shaped mushroom, just above which a figure of white light floats in seated meditation posture surrounded by a wide circle of blue and yellow light. The base color is dark purple, with neon yellow and blue text.
November 19, 2025 at 1:05 AM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Name an album with zero skips.

"The Unforgettable Fire" by U2
Album cover for U2's "The Unforgettable Fire" with a black and white image of band members and instruments in front of a distorted image of a castle and blurred sky, with red and gold borders above and below.
October 24, 2025 at 12:32 AM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
If you haven't seen Freaky Tales, I found the entire film quite entertaining. As a bonus, it will likely vicariously fulfill any desire you have to commit violence against Nazis!

Streaming on HBO MAX and available on other platforms.

#antifa #iamantifa #antifascist #fucknazis
Movie poster for Freaky Tales with the tagline, "In 1987, Oakland Was Hella Freaky." The central images shows the three top-billed actors, Pedro Pascal, Jay Ellis, and Ben Mendelsohn, standing in a trio, each holding a weapon: a hatchet, a samurai sword, and a sawed-off shotgun. Behind them appear the other half dozen or so actors in the ensemble cast. A freaky green neon lightning bolt descends from above and illuminates the background and the eyes of one actor at the rear of the image.
September 24, 2025 at 12:26 AM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Thanks for the suggestion! ☺️
Karuna grins wryly at the camera while holding an open jar of Trader Joe's Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce with a spoon handle sticking out the top of it.
September 12, 2025 at 10:14 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Galleys for the Ten16 Press editions of my novels arrived today! One's dedicated to my mother's memory. This would've been her 88th birthday. The other's dedicated to my life partner. The books will be released on the anniversary of our first date, 12/2.

#writingcommunity #authorlife #synchronicity
The overall color palette ranges from dark to pale green. The main image is a shadowy face, with light exploding from the top of the head, suggesting the birth of a galaxy. A small figure of a woman rises within the light. The title KAT'S CRADLE: WEBOLUTION BOOK ONE appears there as well. At the base of the dark face's neck, the author name Karuna Das appears in pale green. In the background, jagged lines and clouds of light and stars are set against a series of intersecting straight dark lines, suggesting a web and the cat's cradle string game. A silver award decal in the bottom right is accompanied by text at the bottom reading, "2023 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in Visionary Fiction." Text at the top of the cover, a quote from Heidi Ruby Miller, author of The Ambasadora Series, reads, "Kat's Cradle is neuropunk at its mind-bending and truly optimistic finest." A book dedication reads, "In memory of my mother, who taught me to ask big questions and to embrace the mystery, and who nurtured my inclination to tell stories." A dark purple book cover features a phallic-shaped mushroom, just above which a figure of white light floats in seated meditation posture surrounded by a wide circle of blue and yellow light. The title Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two) is written in neon yellow and blue below the mushroom cap. The author name Karuna Das is in light purple below that. In the upper right corner of the cover are two silver award decals, one reading "CIPA EVVY SECOND PLACE BOOK AWARD" and the other reading "INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD 2024 DISTINGUISHED FAVORITE." A book dedication reads, "For Tiffany Joy, Whose Patience, wisdom, and love, Bolster my courage and strength, To keep becoming the man I want to be"
September 11, 2025 at 9:38 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Yep. With love. (For humanity.)
August 11, 2025 at 11:17 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
In doing a light edit to Kat's Cradle for the forthcoming Ten16 Press edition, I've fallen in love with the characters all over again.

Given that the second book in the Webolution series is my next project, this is an inspiring development.

#writingcommunity #amwriting #scifi #authorlife
A book cover for Kat's Cradle, Webolution: Book One, by Karuna Das, in shades of green, black, and white. The central image features a silhouetted head facing forward with light exploding from the skull suggesting a solar flare or some other cosmic burst. The tiny figure of a woman floats upward in the blast. Behind, a series of crisscrossed, straight black lines suggest a grid and a web, while jagged white lines suggest electricity in the form of lightning or perhaps neural firing, with a greenish glow in the background akin to an aurora. A silver Independent Press Award decal adorns the lower corner, accompanied by the text, "2023 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in Visionary Fiction." At the top of the cover, a blurb from Heidi Ruby Miller, author of The Ambasadora Series, reads, "Kat's Cradle is neuropunk at its mind-bending and truly optimistic finest."
August 5, 2025 at 5:18 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Quintessential Pittsburgh moment! Sound on!
June 15, 2025 at 4:05 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Of all the great moments at today's No Kings Day #protest in #Pittsburgh today, this one was the most quintessential demonstration of the Steel City character. Make sure your sound is on for the video!

#NoKings #June14 #wethepeople #peacefulprotest #50501movement #fiftyfiftyone #50501pgh #steelcity
June 14, 2025 at 9:17 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
The rain should clear just in time for us to take to *our* streets in #Pittsburgh today. Such a shame the #DC forecast still calls for T-storms to disrupt Dear Leader's birthday parade!

#nokings #june14 #wethepeople #50501movement #fiftyfiftyone #50501pgh #peacefulprotest #riseup #democracy #antifa
A Weather Channel screenshot for Pittsburgh shows the text "Outlook: Rain continuing through 12 PM" and a radar map of a large green mass mostly to the east of Pittsburgh.
June 14, 2025 at 1:28 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Front and back of my sign for tomorrow's protests. The former courtesy of @iwantyoustudio.bsky.social and the latter of Dave Loewenstein.

#nokings #june14 #wethepeople #50501movement #fiftyfiftyone #50501pgh #peacefulprotest #riseup #democracy #defend #resist #remove #impeach #antifa #antifascist
On a white background the word NO is written in red and the word KINGS in blue, with a blue crown inside the O of the NO and a red line drawn across it. Twin images of a hand holding a pen vertically are side by side in the top half of the poster. Beneath the left-hand one, the Spanish words "La Pluma" are written in red and "Es Mas Ponderosa que la Mentira" in blue. Beneath the right-hand one, the English version reads, first in red "The Pen," and then in blue, "Is Mightier than the Lie."
June 13, 2025 at 8:41 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
My one-two punch for Nazis!
A pair of fists: the left, slightly forward, has a tattoo of the peace symbol; the right, following close behind, has a tattoo of a stylized heart.
June 10, 2025 at 6:43 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
I'm Being Here Now in Pittsburgh at the moment. In a few hours, I'll do it in Boston.
Karuna, wearing a shirt printed with the cover image from the iconic Ram Dass book Be Here Now -- a wooden chair surrounded by the words REMEMBER and BE HERE NOW -- stand in front of an airport gate sign for a Delta flight to Boston that notes it's boarding in 29 minutes and departing in 74 minutes. He also wears glasses, a KN95 mask, and a necklace with a chakra stone rainbow pendant.
June 3, 2025 at 8:13 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
The first of two new hats arrived today, just in time for summer protest season!

#defend #resist #remove #impeach #nokings #peacefulprotest #wethepeople #50501movement #fiftyfiftyone #watchlistapparel
Karuna wears a hat with the words "We The People" and the numbers "8647" printed on it with stars and wavy lines in the design. He smiles at the camera. He also wears a t-shirt that reads, "Just Love," with the letter O as a stylized heart.
May 24, 2025 at 6:25 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
A cartoon image of a guillotine with a raven peering down from the top toward a hooded executioner below. Along the top of the graphic, text in white reads, "Liberty and Justice for All?" On the lower left, words are aligned on top of each other in red with their first letters suggesting MAGA but spelled out to say, "Make America Guillotine Awakened." In the lower right corner, text in blue reads, "No king, no oligarchs, We the People."
May 24, 2025 at 2:41 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Cover reveal for the new edition of my #sci-fi novel, which will be republished by Ten16 Press later this year, release date TBD (September?).

#writingcommunity #amwriting #ampublishing #bookcover #visionaryfiction #consciousness #electromagnetism #solarstorms #spirituality #awakening #seriesbook
Cover for Kat's Cradle, Webolution: Book One, by Karuna Das. The overall color palette ranges from dark to pale green. The main image is a shadowy face, with light exploding from the top of the head, suggesting the birth of a galaxy. A small figure of a woman rises within the light. In the background, jagged lines and clouds of light and stars are set against a series of intersecting straight dark lines, suggesting a web and the cat's cradle string game. A silver award decal in the bottom right is accompanied by text at the bottom reading, "2023 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in Visionary Fiction." Text at the top of the cover, a quote from Heidi Ruby Miller, author of The Ambasadora Series, reads, "Kat's Cradle is neuropunk at its mind-bending and truly optimistic finest."
May 22, 2025 at 8:37 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
What better way to commemorate this occasion of the Insurrectionist-in-Chief's first 100 days as the worst president in history than with the purchase of this volume of work (including an essay I wrote) put together in the wake of his November election?

Order at this link: nettirw.com/publications/
The cover of a book called FUMPTRUCK with the first and last two letters in bold text to make it clear that the actual title is "FUCK TRUMP" written in a way to be suitable for bookstore shelves. Below the title reads, "Open letters, essays, fiction, poetry, artworks & other creations for & inspired by the 47th president of the Divided States of America." The black-and-white front cover also features an upside-down US flag. The back cover is the Intersex Inclusive Pride Progress Flag with a list of the contributing author names.
April 30, 2025 at 5:55 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
On this anniversary of the birth (and death) of Shakespeare, I'm thrilled to announce I've finalized agreements with Orange Hat Publishing to reprint my two award-winning, orphaned novels with its Ten16 Press imprint. We hope to release them by September!

#ampublishing #writingcommunity #authorlife
Two books rest on a wood surface. One has a light blue cover featuring a woman's head and shoulders in slight profile as the main image. She stares ahead as her longish hair streams behind her. Interconnected lines and points of light across her head suggest both neurons firing in her brain and constellations. Wavy white-ish blue light along the top and bottom of the cover suggests auroras. "Karuna Das" appears near the top. "Kat's Cradle: Webolution Book One" appears near the bottom. The book has a silver award sticker. The other cover is purple and features a phallic-shaped mushroom, just above which a figure of white light floats in seated meditation posture surrounded by a wide circle of blue and yellow light. "Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two)" appears in neon yellow and blue below the mushroom cap. "Karuna Das" appears in light purple below that. The book has two silver award stickers.
April 23, 2025 at 1:54 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
Before and after today's #50501pgh #StandUpForScience Rally and March. We had a terrific turnout on a warm spring day.

#resist #remove #reverse #reclaim
Karuna is seated on a bus. He wears a baseball cap and sunglasses and a t-shirt that reads "revolution" with the letters "evol" in another color and e and l printed backwards to appear as "love" backwards within the other word. Below that, a masked figure in the posture of a bomb-thrower holds flowers. Karuna also has a Guy Fawkes mask associated with the group Anonymous, a US flag, and a sign that reads "The Redcoats Are Coming" with words crossed out and new ones written in as "The Red Caps Are Here!" Karuna stands on a grassy area. He wears a baseball cap and sunglasses and a t-shirt that reads "revolution" with the letters "evol" in another color and e and l printed backwards to appear as "love" backwards within the other word. Below that, a masked figure in the posture of a bomb-thrower holds flowers. Karuna also has a Guy Fawkes mask associated with the group Anonymous around his waist, a US flag in a bag over his shoulder, and a sign that reads "The Redcoats Are Coming" with words crossed out and new ones written in as "The Red Caps Are Here!" He wears long shorts and Doc Martens. People mill about behind him near a tent-like structure.
April 19, 2025 at 11:12 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
A film that takes place where you're from
Movie poster for A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon as the older version and Jennifer Elhe as the younger version of Emily Dickinson. In this image, Nixon faces a window with light streaming in from outside illuminating her partial profile and leaving the rest of the space in shadow.
April 16, 2025 at 7:40 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
My strategy for filling out this NCAA men's tourney bracket after not following college basketball at all this year? I made picks intuitively right before the first game and chose the top seed I *least* wanted to win as champ. (Other than Duke, that is, which I just couldn't.) It worked fairly well!
Text reads "DocK's Quicker Picks" is accompanied by a flame emoji, an image of the Florida Gators' logo, and numbers indicating an overall rank of 827,846, representing the top 96.7 percent, and 1540 total points. Text reads "Your Pick Won!" with a green check mark and an image of the Florida Gators logo. Below that information gives the score of the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game won by Florida over Houston 65-63 in San Antonio, Texas, on April 7.
April 8, 2025 at 2:55 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
At the end of the new president’s first week in office, Bodie bought a gun.

On his way to campus that Friday, he locked his bike to a lamp post and stepped into the gun shop he’d located not far off his regular commute route.

“Do you carry the Glock 23?”

BODIE'S SATTVA

#1stLinePit #A #T #MR #WIP
The top row of a collage of photos features the upper half of the face of a bronze Buddha statue emerging from thick green water. Below that, the middle row consists of a side-by-side panel. The left shows the torso of man wearing a black shirt and army jacket with the Guy Fawkes mask associated with the hacker group Anonymous hanging from his neck. He holds a sign that reads, “Remember, Remember, the Sixth of November.” The right side shows a red stop sign. Below the white lettering a sticker has been positioned so the sign appears to read “STOP The Trump Kleptocracy.” The bottom row depicts a narrow slice of a man’s face from the front, with his eye peering toward the viewer through what seem to be the crosshairs of a rifle scope.
April 5, 2025 at 7:48 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
We celebrate my birthday on the equinoxes, days with twelve hours from sunrise to sunset anywhere on Earth. Equal parts light and darkness.

My birth took place on the September one, 137 days after my conception, about half the time of a typical human pregnancy.

SOLAR MAX

#1stLinePit #A #SF #WIP
A three-panel collage of photos shows from top to bottom: a pensive teenage girl sitting on a large stone in a mist-covered, rocky expanse with the lights of the aurora behind and overhead; a close-up of the Sun magnified to show its blotchy surface and fiery prominences extending from its corona; a female figure (possibly or probably the same teenage girl in silhouette in front of the setting sun and a reddish-orange sky with her long hair curved overhead as though she's flung it upward with a snap of her neck.
April 5, 2025 at 6:33 PM
karunadaswriter.bsky.social
*Drip.*

Not how I imagined the relentless approach of death sounding.

*Drip.*

The steady trickle of morphine, bringing relief to aching bones.

*Drip.*

But not total relief, with the beat punctuated now and then by an agonized moan.

*Uhnnhh.*

PLAYING BY EAR

#1stLinePit #A #MEM #HF #R #MR #WIP
A collage of photos depicts three generations of a family over a century: In black and white, a young couple stands in front of a road sign indicating motorists are leaving Key West; also in black and white, the same young man, even younger, is dressed in a suit and fedora; in color, the young woman stands on a sidewalk in stylish shorts and sleeveless blouse and sunglasses, with a purse hung on her arm; in black and white, a young girl with pig tails looks at the camera as she reaches under a rock in a yard with a basket of Easter eggs in her other hand; in color, the couple stand on opposite sides of a young woman in graduation attire; in black and white, that same young woman, a bit older, holds a newborn baby; in color, the man, now middle aged, reads with a young boy; in color, the first woman, now middle aged, hugs the young boy; in color, the couple, now elderly, rides in a golf cart; in color; an adult man and an elderly woman sit together smiling.
April 5, 2025 at 5:11 PM