R. J. Sterling
rj-sterling.bsky.social
R. J. Sterling
@rj-sterling.bsky.social
Hi, I'm Sterling 👋 |she/her
Writer
🗡️Speculative Fiction🪐
Short stories, poetry, zines, collages
"Cassandra and the Changeling" out now in Apex Magazine issue 151.
Nested by the fire with fiction and nonfiction journals, tea, and two novellas by @premeemohamed.com. I love stories about resilience after climate disaster, especially with some speculative fungi weirdness thrown in.
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#theannualmigrationofclouds
December 23, 2025 at 9:37 PM
"Is a River Alive?" by @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social is the most significant book that I read this year. The lyrical writing braids activism, indigenous and western science, and personal narrative, like streams throughout a flood plane joining into one roaring river of a book, full of hope.
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December 23, 2025 at 2:30 PM
"They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace."
On this shortest day, I hope for the end of genocide and of the bottomless greed of pollutocrats.
And on this longest night I hope to be like a bulb under frost: resting and transforming in the darkness.
December 21, 2025 at 3:07 PM
My first professionally published story is available to read now at Apex Magazine! It's less than 1000 words--what do you have to lose?
Thank you to everyone who reads and comments. Your support means so much to me.
"The wide ring of brambles holds the typical detritus of youth—beer bottles, soggy magazines, nicotine pouches. At the center is God." 🚬🚲

New fiction today by @rj-sterling.bsky.social: "Cassandra and the Changeling"

Read it here: www.apexbookcompany.com/a/blog/apex-...
December 10, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by R. J. Sterling
"The wide ring of brambles holds the typical detritus of youth—beer bottles, soggy magazines, nicotine pouches. At the center is God." 🚬🚲

New fiction today by @rj-sterling.bsky.social: "Cassandra and the Changeling"

Read it here: www.apexbookcompany.com/a/blog/apex-...
December 9, 2025 at 4:43 PM
My FIRST professionally published short story is available now in Apex Magazine's 151st issue! Join two adolescents on a collision course with the Strange. www.apexbookcompany.com/a/blog/apex-...

#writersofbluesky #amwriting #newwriters #speculativefiction #QueerWriters #shortstory
October 13, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by R. J. Sterling
On that note:

Trans authors (I mean authors who are trans, NOT cis people who write about trans people), drop your book links here and I'll try to repost as many as I can throughout the day.

Cis people: Repost trans authors' book links.

Cis people who want to complain about being excluded: gtfo
Being a trans author is fucking weird right now. Hell is actively unfolding all around us but I still need to be like, "hey, everyone, wanna buy my silly little queer book? It won't make anything better, but it's kinda fun?"

So....hey, everyone, wanna buy my silly little queer book?
Looking for a supernatural queer read?

🏳️‍🌈 F/F friends to lovers
💀 Evil cult serving a fallen god
🦅 Weird birds
👼 Queers with wings and claws
🌲 Cursed forest
🌎 Lesbians vs god for the fate of reality

Ghost Flower by Jessica Conwell
Available here:

a.co/d/bufFU4f
February 22, 2024 at 4:15 PM
This is a pretty useful resource for folks trying to make it in the magazine circuit (it’s me, I am Folks).
I’m setting the goal of 25 rejections before July (and maybe some publications, too). #amwriting
February 18, 2025 at 8:36 PM
A few hours reading fantasy, a few hours writing fantasy, repeat as the snow falls.

The Last Hour Between Worlds (@melissacaruso.bsky.social) is a hilarious page-turner about a reality-hopping sleuth’s first night off since having a baby. Add a ~tense professional rivalry~, and it’s perfect.
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February 16, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Me in January: I should overcome February doldrums with a self-imposed writing challenge.
Me now: What EVIL, CONNIVING, SADISTIC monster made me start this challenge?! Back, fiend! Leave me to my blankie and ghibli movies! For truly I shall never write again.
February 13, 2025 at 8:24 PM
I am so grateful for indie speculative fiction magazines! I truly enjoyed the strange biology of this story.
New fiction today by @thaisibir.bsky.social: "A Ten Thousand Year Survey Into Seven Stomachs of an Ishta" 🪱🧠

Suspenseful, gut-twisting and punchy, this is a hearty helping of classic sci-fi horror! Fans of Mystery Flesh Pit National Park and Scavengers Reign: you'll love this one!

Read it here! ⬇️
A Ten Thousand Year Survey Into Seven Stomachs of an Ishta
This is Ronit Weiss reporting in for initial mission data entry before descent. Maw of the Ishta has been successfully located...
www.apexbookcompany.com
February 12, 2025 at 8:49 PM
I need all of the gays in my phone to scream with me about Lucy Dacus. youtube.com/watch?v=a90_...
youtube.com
February 11, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Reposted by R. J. Sterling
BEHOLD THE COVER OF ISSUE #7 BY LUIS MELO!
@partyinthefront.bsky.social is one of twenty-seven talented artists contributing to our 2025 issues. Sign up to be alerted when the crowdfund launches: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/b...
February 7, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Snow day goals:
*Write 3 pages
*Call my representatives
*Allow myself to be buried in the snow like a daffodil bulb.
February 6, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Writers who use pen names: how do you introduce yourself when you meet other writers IRL? Pen name forward? Real name? “My names is () and I publish under ()?”
#writers #writing #indieauthors #fiction #shortstory
February 5, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Today I am feeling the challenges of being a writer with a high-energy and time consuming day job. I try to fit in 15 minutes of writing here and there, but the reality is that I write best when I can chew on a story for at least an hour. And yet, at the end of work the doom scroll calls…
#writing
February 4, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Tactile art grounds me. Any opinions on the caption for the eclipse+torch collage?
January 22, 2025 at 2:16 AM