Sal O'Shea (they/them)
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neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
Sal O'Shea (they/them)
@neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
210 followers 320 following 240 posts
The best description of my gender is "Nerdy Lesbian Ken." AuDHD. Working on a queer horror novel set in rural New England. They/them
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neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
“When I Walk Through That Door, I Am” by Jimmy Santiago Baca is an incredible book/epic poem that is extremely relevant to the ICE and immigrant-detention crisis in the United States. Highly recommended for everyone even if poetry isn’t normally your thing. #BookSky 💙📚
The cover to the book: “When I Walk Through That Door, I Am: An immigrant mother’s quest” by Jimmy Santiago Baca
September 11, 2025 at 6:22 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
Fantastic collection of short stories by Kim Fu. Fascinating, powerful, unsettling. Highly recommended for folks who like speculative fiction. #BookSky💙📚
August 19, 2025 at 1:27 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
I finished “All the Hearts You Eat” by @haileypiperfights.bsky.social yesterday and I’m still in my head about it. Powerful and twisty and moving. I definitely recommend it for horror readers who are looking for queer (especially trans) protagonists.
Cover of the book “All the Hearts You Eat” by Hailey Piper
August 10, 2025 at 1:24 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
I have never felt more seen by a book of horror stories. Thank you @thirdestatebooks.bsky.social @aquinoauthor.bsky.social @lormaggot.bsky.social 💙📚 #Autistic
Cover of the book “An Autistic Horror Anthology”
July 20, 2025 at 11:57 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
White text on a black background. The text reads: They turn back to the car. Becky gasps and Laurel screams when they see her: a woman with hair the color of wet straw framing a pale, emaciated face. She’s sitting in the back seat, watching them through the window, smiling as if she’s been there since they left the church. Becky stumbles backward, slipping on ice and breaking her fall in the snowbank on the opposite side of the road. When she looks up, the woman is gone.
June 27, 2025 at 6:01 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
"Theme" is implied here, not stated.

#WriteSky #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
White text on a black background. The text reads: The shift from September to October seems - as it always does - to flip a switch somewhere in town. Every building on the main stretch, and every other one off it, has sprouted something overnight: a scarecrow with a jack o’lantern for a head, a pair of ghosts waving at the road with friendly smiles, plastic gravestones with sayings like “Rest in Pieces” and “Ken Useemie.” One of the few perks of second shift is that no one expects Jenna to help decorate the porch or the lobby.
June 25, 2025 at 5:10 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #QueerWriters
June 23, 2025 at 11:17 AM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
This snippet takes place pretty soon after yesterday's, but it's the only use of "whisper" that 1) doesn't give away anything important and 2) makes a modicum of sense out of context.

Speaking of context: Jamie is 11 years old.

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
White text on black background. The text reads: “Do,” Jamie’s voice comes out as harsh and ragged as a whisper. She swallows once and tries again. “D’you know why you’re…here?” The man looks at her with a suddenness that makes Jamie flinch. “No.” He says. “Do you?” Jamie can only shake her head. “The woods won’t let me leave,” she says. Again, she immediately regrets it, even more so when the man laughs. And there’s the shame again, the realization that he’d been asking about himself, not her. Self-centered, Mom says in the back of Jamie’s mind. “I bet not,” the man says. “They do that sometimes.” Another pause. “Am I the first one you’ve seen?” Jamie doesn’t know how to answer.
June 22, 2025 at 11:32 AM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
Going with vibes and similar first syllable: "deflect." #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
White text on a black background. The text reads: "She doesn’t know what to do, what to think, what’s supposed to happen or how she’s supposed to react. Everything feels twisted and surreal, like a dream she hadn’t realized she was having. The man’s brow furrows in confusion and he says, “Why are you dressed like that?” This time it’s not fear that courses through Jamie’s blood but cold, hard shame. This, she is familiar with: weaponized confusion, humiliation designed to course-correct her thoughts and reactions. It sounds like something Dad would ask, scoffing in dismissive amusement, or Mom, pointed and edging into disgust. Or Angela. Angela has asked this exact question more than once. Before Jamie can construct a reply to deflect, to reassure, the man says, “Aren’t you roasting in all that?” Suddenly it makes sense: his clothing, the light in his face, the way he steps silently through the snow without leaving a mark. It’s not hunting season, Jamie thinks, and the idea nearly sends her into hysterical giggling. Adrenaline continues to flood her system but she still doesn’t know what she’s supposed to feel. “It’s January,” she says, and instantly regrets it. The man draws back, startled, then looks around as if seeing the snow-covered landscape for the first time. His face falls. “Right,” he says. Then quieter, almost to himself, “right.” He looks at Jamie. “No wonder you ran.” There’s a tense pause as Jamie fumbles for something to say."
June 21, 2025 at 2:11 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
#QueerPrompts #QueerWriters #WritingCommunity
White text on a black background. The text reads: "A layer of mist has congealed on the surface of the pond, with delicate white tendrils rising and dissolving in the first rays of the morning sun. The water is still and unblemished under a soft, cloudless sky. When I reach the edge of the water I find myself able to see into its shadows: weeds curled and knotted, minnows darting in and out of them. The rest of the world stands as still and silent as a congregation holding its breath.
June 21, 2025 at 1:40 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
Summer reading rec: The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas. #Booksky 💙📚 #QueerPrompts
Cover of the book “The Sunbearer Trials” by Aiden Thomas.
June 20, 2025 at 5:37 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
Moodboard for one section of my WIP #QueerWriters #Writesky #Writingcommunity #LGBTQWriteAThon
Moodboard with a light gray background. Pictures in three sections sorted into columns. Leftmost section: a pair of old hiking boots in snow, trans flag, adolescent walking in snow with his back to the camera, misty woods with a barbed wire fence in front of a shed. Middle section: five pictures of snowy woods, each with a lot of fog. Color schemes are dreary and desaturated. Rightmost section: Hunting clothes from the 1970s including a tan jacket, red and black checkered cap with ear flaps, aviator glasses, tan-green pants with suspenders, a man in brown flannel clothing and faded jeans carrying a vintage rifle.
June 20, 2025 at 2:13 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
#Poetry #Writing #Nonbinary #LGBTQ
A poem titled "SOME ANALOGIES FOR MY GENDER." The text reads: Referring to me as a woman And referring to me as a man Evoke the same image in my head: A near-perfectly spherical person With a top hat and monocle Coughing out “preposterous” In an accent that turns itself inside-out Sometimes I think I’m missing a page in a packet passed around while I was in the bathroom You want to round me to the nearest gender Refusing to understand that I am not on the number line
June 20, 2025 at 1:43 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
#WriteSky #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
Screencap of white text on a black background. The text reads: It sits in a polished wooden frame, with just enough small blemishes to give it an air of authenticity. Anyone who knows anything about mirrors and time will recognize that the glass has been thoroughly resilvered, if not replaced, but the brass plaque beneath it reads: “Property of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Bridge, donated to the Inn in 1806.”
June 19, 2025 at 1:31 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
The interior was dim and smelled like mildew and rotting leaves. Jamie was thrilled to discover that the metal sheets were newspaper presses, with splotchy photographs of old men, headlines about local farming laws and ads for used trailers. 1967, one of the presses said. Almost thirty years old, to a five-year-old nearly unfathomable.
June 18, 2025 at 8:19 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
Two books on American black history that I just finished. “Wayward Lives” is vivid, powerful, and *gorgeously* written. “Discovering” is important for anyone who has been fed the “oops all whites” narrative about northern New England. #booksky 💙📚
Cover of the book “Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate history of riotous black girls, troublesome women, and queer radicals” by Saidiya Hartman. Cover of the book “Discovering Black Vermont: African American Farmers in Hinesburgh, 1790-1890, Second Edition” by Elise A. Guyette.
June 12, 2025 at 12:22 AM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
He’s not wrong.

Link: www.facebook.com/share/18tZmb...
Markey: Trump & Musk Attack on National Institutes of Health Funding Is Targeted Attack on MA Bay State ranks #1 in per capita dollars awarded by NIH 2/8/25 Senator Edward J. Markey, top Democrat on the Primary Health & Pensions Subcommittee of the Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions Committee, released the following statement after the Trump administration announced significant cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to support hospitals, Universities, & research institutions conducting lifesaving research. The drastic limits on this funding would reduce the amount that these institutions are able to spend on researchers laboratories, & students. Last night, Trump & Musk took drastic steps to make it harder to find a cure for cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, heart attacks, strokes, & other debilitating diseases that devastate millions of American families by illegally cutting National Institutes of Health funding. NIH funding is the lifeblood of Massachusetts' innovation economy, creating jobs & fueling the engine for delivering lifesaving care & treatment across the country, & this is a direct attack on the Bay State. NIH isn't just the National Institutes of Health, it's the National Institutes of Hope, giving hope to patients & families for lifesaving medical discoveries. Instead of working to keep the American economy on the cutting edge, the Trump administration is bullying the Bay State & hamstringing U.S. leadership in medical research. Trump & Musk are cutting the research to cure the diseases that will soon overwhelm our ability to pay for treating millions who will be afflicted by these very same diseases. That's not efficiency, that's stupidity. It's not just bad values, it's bad budgeting. This budget cut action is illegal. With billions in NIH funding going to both red & blue states, I urge all of my colleagues to join in opposing this overstep of presidential authority — driven by & for unelected billionaires - & not let these cuts stand
February 8, 2025 at 8:21 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
No cheating. Your last saved celebrity pic is your therapist.
Julie Andrews as Maria in The Sound of Music, singing “The hills are alive.” Both of her hands are photoshopped to look like they’re giving the middle finger.
January 31, 2025 at 1:06 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
Reskeet with your favorite meme you've ever made

(For context: I’m a school-based speech and language therapist)
A grid of 4 pictures. The caption reads: “Observing students in classrooms.” The top left picture shows Kim Possible wearing a black bodysuit for stealth and climbing along a ceiling like a badass. Its caption reads: “What I want to do.” The top right picture shows a cartoon character looking nervous as he tries to blend in with a wooden fence and fails miserably. Its caption reads: “What I actually do.” The bottom left photograph shows a man hiding behind some bushes, looking through binoculars. Its caption reads: “What older students see.” The bottom right picture shows the Kool-Aid man bursting through a wall shouting “Oh yeah!” Its caption reads: “What younger students see.”
September 7, 2024 at 11:15 AM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

#BookSky 💙📚 #Books

#BookChallenge

Day 20
Cover of the book “Among Others” by Jo Walton
August 25, 2024 at 12:20 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
Got this graphic novel at Flame Con too. It’s cute, witty, and fun, with lots of twists and surprises. A great queer, middle grade read, from one of the creators of Lumberjanes. 💙📚
Cover of the graphic novel “Hollow” by Shannon Watters, Branden Boyer-White, and Bernice Nelle.
August 24, 2024 at 7:02 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

#BookSky 💙📚 #Books

#BookChallenge

Day 19
Cover of the book “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.” Authors and illustrator not listed
August 24, 2024 at 2:19 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

#BookSky 💙📚 #Books

#BookChallenge

Day 18
Cover of the book “All the Weight of our Dreams: On living racialized autism,” edited by Lydia X. Z. Brown, E. Ashkenazy, and Morénike Giwa Onaiwu.
August 23, 2024 at 1:58 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
Bought this graphic novel at Flame Con and finished it today. A queer retelling of an old Korean folk tale, written and drawn by Robin Ha. Highly recommended. 💙📚
Cover of the graphic novel “The Fox Maidens” by Robin Ha.
August 22, 2024 at 5:51 PM
neuroatriplicate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

#BookSky 💙📚 #Books

#BookChallenge

Day 17
Cover of the book “Doomsday Book” by Connie Willis
August 22, 2024 at 1:43 PM