V. Rendina (they/them)
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vrendinawrites.bsky.social
V. Rendina (they/them)
@vrendinawrites.bsky.social
36 followers 46 following 48 posts
Fix your hearts or die.

💜 Writer + Professor
💙 current query: FISH BOY
🩷 current WIP: IN DREAMS SHE NEVER DIES

https://linktr.ee/vrendina
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vrendinawrites.bsky.social
Faced my fears in Derry, Maine yesterday (and got my heart racing at just the photo op alone, as per the first two pics when they decided to scare the shit out of me with an air blaster and a good ol fashioned Pennywise laugh). Sometimes New York Comic Con is fun.
October 11, 2025 at 7:01 PM
vrendinawrites.bsky.social
Day 6: WIP for #DVParty

IN THE DREAM HOUSE x CRIMSON PEAK

In Dreams She Never Dies: When a romance writer rents a room in a Victorian mansion, they must confront the ghosts of their past to free themselves from writer’s block.

🥀 gothic memoir
🏳️‍🌈 disaster bisexuals
👻 trauma as haunting
#A #H #LGBT
Collage of four photos with the text: “In Dreams She Never Dies: a horror memoir by V. Rendina.” The background of the collage is a black and white photo of a silhouetted femme presenting person behind a sheer curtain. On top of this photo are three pics (left to right): black & white photo of a silhouetted masc presenting person and femme presenting person near kissing with smoke around them, a black & white photo of a decaying Victorian mansion, and a black and white photo of a femme presenting person draped in sheer fabric with their eyes closed and mouth agape in pleasure
October 7, 2025 at 12:21 PM
vrendinawrites.bsky.social
Day 5: Theme Song + Playlist for #DVparty!

Tons of music inspired Fish Boy, but if I had to give it a theme song, I think the Smashing Pumpkins’ cover of Landslide does it justice. In addition, several times in the book I mention “Max’s angry music” so I compiled a playlist of his “angry” songs. 🎶
Collage with the text: “Fish Boy: a horror novel by V. Rendina.” The background is a grainy picture of a silhouetted teenage boy smoking a cigaret with curly hair, a hoodie/jacket, and skinny jeans (I think, it’s hard to tell with the silhouette). Behind him is a body of water and clouds. Transposed onto the picture is the album cover for the Smashing Pumpkins’ Pisces Iscariot, which is a picture of a blurry face, the text “Landslide - The Smashing Pumpkins” with a music play button, a forward and rewind button, a shuffle and loop button, and a time bar for the song with 19 seconds on the left of it, and 3 minutes and 11 seconds on the right. Collage with a background of a body of water with light rays poking through the surface and the text: “Fish Boy: a horror novel by V. Rendina.” On the picture is a screenshot of an Apple Music playlist labeled: Max Delvin’s “Angry Music. The playlist is comprised of 13 songs, and the songs are as follows: 1. Boy Division - My Chemical Romance 2. Zero (Remastered 2012) - The Smashing Pumpkins 3. The Sharpest Lives - My Chemical Romance 4. Flood of ‘72 - Title Fight 5. Ian Curtis - Thursday 6. Headfirst for Halos - My Chemical Romance 7. Absolution - Ghost 8. It’s Not a Fashion Statement It’s a Deathwish - My Chemical Romance 9. Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying - Fall Out Boy 10. I’m Not Okay (I Promise) - My Chemical Romance 11. Circe - Ghost 12. Desert Song - My Chemical Romance 13. Landslide - The Smashing Pumpkins
October 6, 2025 at 12:57 PM
vrendinawrites.bsky.social
Day 4: memes for #DVparty!

Memes kept me sane in every part of the writing process for Fish Boy (especially revision), so enjoy 4 of the greatest hits I have saved in a folder specifically for Fish Boy memes.

#NA #H #LGBT #MH #amquerying

(Previously deleted for a typo)
Screenshot of a tumblr post of a picture of soccer players standing or huddling on the field. One team wears white, one team wears blue. The five players in white are standing/squatting in ways that look like the five stages of grief and are captioned as such: anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The four players in blue are intimately celebrating their win. Two of these players hug lying on the field cupping each other’s face and the other two hug lying on the field in a position that can only be described as missionary. Between these blue players is the caption: “Italian manwhore summer I guess.” The post is by user proxima-d with their own caption: “I can see it.” Screenshot of a tumblr post and interaction. Tumblr user fiddlepickdouglas posts “Why don’t they make stained glass fish tanks? Give those fish Catholic guilt.” Tumblr user orcboxer reposts the original text and adds “fascinated by the implication that it’s the stained glass that gives Catholics the guilt.” Screen grab of three stills from the movie The Matrix with the meme being credited to a user named bookish.laugh, though the post features added text by V. Rendina, the author of this post. The first still is of two white hands palm up with a red pill in the left palm (from viewing the picture) and a blue pill in the right palm. Over the red pill is the text “Romantic fluff books.” Over the blue pill is the text “The goriest books about death and people losing their sanity.” In the second still is a picture of Keanu Reeves’ Matrix character Neo; he is a white man with short black hair and a conflicted look on his face. Over his head is the text “Fish Boy” added by V. Rendina. In the third still is a picture of Laurence Fishburne’s Matrix character Morpheus; he is a black man with a bald head wearing small round sunglasses and a black trench coat. At the bottom of the still is the text “Did you just take both pills?” Screenshot of a website called “queeringthemap.com” and a Google maps rendering of a map, mostly of water, with some land points on the left and right of the picture. Across the map are black location dots, which is part of the websites point. In the middle of the ocean on this map is a text bubble over one location dot that says “all fish are gay now sorry straights I don’t make the rules up.”
October 5, 2025 at 2:05 PM
vrendinawrites.bsky.social
Day 3: Opening Lines for #DVparty!

IT FOLLOWS X CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON ft bi panic as monster!

Fish Boy starts off with a first kill prologue in monster POV, but I’m also including the opening lines for the first Max and Jack chapters just for fun 🎣

#NA #H #LGBT #MH #amquerying
Photo of an underwater scene with rays of light poking through the surface and text that reads: “Fish Boy: a horror novel by V. Rendina” and “The monster sense an intruder on the land above the waters.” Photo of a white teenaged boy plunged underwater with curly hair, a t shirt, shorts, and untied Chuck Taylor low top sneakers and text that reads: “Fish Boy: a horror novel by V. Rendina.” On the photo, there is screenshot of text that reads: “Max Devlin wasn’t much of a runner. But if he didn’t start that year, he never would have found the body. Per his therapist’s request after his stint in the looney bin, Max needed a hobby. Like running, she stressed. With no excuse to disagree, he laced up his Chucks and ran with her only suggestion.” Photo of a white teenaged boy plunged underwater wearing a t shirt and shorts with text that reads: “Fish Boy: a horror novel by V. Rendina.” On the photo, there is screenshot of text that reads: “Jack Harding wasn’t superstitious. But leave it to a Friday the thirteenth for a run-in with Max Devlin. The freak of the class. The fuckup with a death wish. And a former friend Jack longed to forget.”
October 4, 2025 at 1:44 PM
vrendinawrites.bsky.social
Hi new followers!!!!! I figured I should introduce myself:

The name is V. Rendina (they/them). I’m a queer (bi+enby) horror/spec writer from NEPA. I’m slated for publication in F&SF Magazine. I love writing bi panic and body horror, but gothic has a special place in my heart and stories.

(1/3)
Portrait of a femme presenting white person with shoulder length brown hair, nose ring, septum ring, stretched ears, and large black glasses. They are standing in front of a body of water with some greenery in the background too.
October 4, 2025 at 1:22 AM
vrendinawrites.bsky.social
Day 2: MC pt.2 for #DVparty!

Jack Harding never meant to morph into a monster. But saving his swim career from rumors over his feelings for Max demanded sacrifice. Now, with classmates dying and Max at the center of it all, Jack finds himself begging for absolution from the boy he bullied.
Collage of four pictures with the text “Fish Boy: a horror novel by V. Rendina” and “Jack Harding prays for absolution.” The collage has a background of a teenage boy swimming professionally in a swim pool lane wearing a yellow swim cap. The other three pictures are (top to bottom): the side profile of a teenage boy wearing a red baseball cap overlooking a body of water, a teenage boy plunged under water in shorts and a t shirt with a bright light behind him, and a teenage boy with his head tilted back, his hand over his face with thick dense smoke from pot obscuring his face.
October 3, 2025 at 9:20 PM
vrendinawrites.bsky.social
Day 2: MC pt.1 for #DVparty!

Bitter and jaded, Max Devlin dreams of revenge on his bullies. Unbeknownst to him, an ancient river monster has latched onto his rage for its own retribution. There’s just one bully Max struggles to sacrifice to the monster: his former best friend, Jack Harding.
Collage of four pictures with the text: “Fish Boy: a horror novel by V. Rendina” and “Max Devlin dreams of revenge.” The collage includes a background picture of a silhouetted teenage boy with curly hair smoking a cigarette with clouds and a body of water behind him. The three other pictures include (top to bottom): the face of a teenage boy behind glass with water streaks, a teenage boy plunged in water wearing shorts, a t shirt, and converse, and a blurry photo of a teenage boy with dark hair and glasses.
October 3, 2025 at 9:08 PM
vrendinawrites.bsky.social
Day 1: Mood Board for my horror novel Fish Boy for the #DVparty!

IT FOLLOWS X CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON featuring bisexual panic as monster

#NA #H #LGBT #MH #amquerying
Collage on a greenish cloud background of 7 photos with the text Fish Boy: a horror novel by V. Rendina. Left-Right photo collage description: distorted photo of teenage boy plunged underwater, silhouette of boy with shaggy hair and glasses in front of a yellow background, silhouette of boy with holding a chain necklace in front of a blue background, torn picture of two boys in a boat on a body of water, three photos of a river with a bridge and greenery in the background.
October 2, 2025 at 9:55 PM