Xan van Rooyen
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xanwriter.bsky.social
Xan van Rooyen
@xanwriter.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1.1K following 900 posts
South African in Finland. Tattooed story-teller, climber, and peanut-butter connoisseur. Non-binary & autistic. They/them. WAYPOINT SEVEN is out now!!

https://linktr.ee/xanvanrooyen
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xanwriter.bsky.social
Calling all horror fans! If you'd like to see this collection full of dread, doom, and decay out in the world (featuring a story by me), please consider supporting it at the link below!

www.indiegogo.com/projects/of-...

#writingcommunity #horror #booksky
Promo image in black and red for the anthology titled Of Dread, Decay, and Doom by Stars and Sabers publishing. The image features the book on the left with a black and red cover with the title in gothic style text against a black and white illustrations of a monstrous mouth with feathers and flames. The text on the right reads Oct 15, 2025. A horror anthology edited by Jendia Gammon and Gareth L. Powell. Cover art by Niail C. Grant. Crowdfunding now!
July 8, 2025 at 8:18 AM
xanwriter.bsky.social
In case anyone is looking to add an audiobook to their TransRightsReadathon TBR pile, My Name is Magic is currently 50% off and is about a nonbinary teen racing against the clock to save their crush from a deadly force draining the magic from young mages!

Link below

#TransRightsReadathon #booksky
Promo picture with the nonbinary flag in the background (colors are yellow, white, purple, and grey) with the audiobook cover for My Name is Magic by Xan van Rooyen in the center. A banner in black overlaid with a ribbon in the trans colors (blue, pink, and white) reads 50% OFF! in bubbly white text. The text at the bottom reads: From now until April 15.
March 17, 2025 at 3:05 PM
xanwriter.bsky.social
Here are the books I'm planning to read for the #TransRightsReadathon challenge. I actually already finished The Woods all Black by Lee Mandelo and Arielle Twist's poetry collection. I'm about 70% done with both Metal from Heaven (audio) and I Feed her to the Beast (hardcover).

#booksky
An illustrated graphic with a trans flag in the back ground. Black text reads March is the time for the #TransRightsReadathon. White text reads Here are some of the books I plan to read this month. The book covers are staggered across a blue and pink paint smears in the background. The covers are for the books: The Woods all Black, Dear Mothman, Dissociate/Disintegrate, Fine, The Tea Dragon Tapestry, Taproot, I Feed her to the Beast and the Beast is Me, Metal from Heaven. In the bottom right corner is a teddy bear waving a trans flag, wearing a trans bow tie. Text at the bottom reads Join me on the Storygraph for the Trans Rights Readathon Challenge.
March 6, 2025 at 7:24 PM
xanwriter.bsky.social
In case you're looking for books to add to your #TransRightsReadathon TBR list, here are mine! Many are currently on special - link below!

www.smashwords.com/profile/view...

#booksky
An illustrated graphic with a trans flag in the back ground. Black text reads My trans and Nonbinary Books #transrightsreadathon. There are 5 books on the graphic with a pink and blue paint smear behind them and a cute green frog holding a trans heart in the bottom right corner. Each book has descriptors as follows: By the Blood of Rowans - YA fantasy, Celtic inspired, Nonbinary protagonist, Ace love interest, Murder mystery, Horses. Waypoint Seven - science fantasy, found family, trans man MC, aliens, theocracy, Afrocentric. Silver Helix - adult aetherpunk, siblings, Finnish mythology, medical research, futuristic Helsinki, city steeped in rotting magic. Anthem for the Chemical Youth - companion novelette, vampire, magic through music, defund the police, righteous vengeance. The Other Me - contemporary YA, South Africa, music, complicated families, school politics, coming of age.
March 2, 2025 at 5:43 PM
xanwriter.bsky.social
Now, more than ever, is the time to support LGBT+ authors and their books. Please check out this awesome indie promo feat. a bunch of free/discounted queer books.

divinationhollow.com/queer-your-e...

#writingcommunity #booksky
Promo image featuring a rainbow flag circle against a black background. Black serif font reads Queer Your E-Reader, All Free Books, Various Genres
January 25, 2025 at 8:50 PM
xanwriter.bsky.social
I read (not counting the 4 DNFs) 140 books this year. These were my favorites. What were yours?
A graphic in muted browns and greens with red text reading: My Fav Reads of 2024: Titles in order left to right, top to bottom are: Mirrored Heavens, Legends & Lattes, Starling House, Map of the Otherlands, The City in Glass, Every Wickedness, The Fragile Threads of Power, The Bruising of Qilwa, The Tea Dragon Society, The Moth Keeper. On the bottom left there is a book dragon reading a purple book with a thought bubble saying very word, many wow. On the bottom right is a steaming cup of black coffee and a pile of vari-colored books.
December 31, 2024 at 1:50 PM
xanwriter.bsky.social
Here's the music that got me through November. Can't believe this month is already over, and at the same time I'm so glad it is. I do not like November for all the reasons.

#Music
10x10 table of most listened to albums/artists for November. Top artists include Crywolf, Zeal&Ardor, Bad Omens, and the Arcane season 2 soundtrack.
November 30, 2024 at 9:22 PM
xanwriter.bsky.social
This very special and deeply personal collection of essays is now available wherever you buy books. It features a foreword written by none other than Poppy Z Brite! Considering it was Brite's own Lost Souls that inspired me to become a writer, this feels like a full circle moment❤️

#WritingCommunity
A blue and black cover with bold, chrome-like text saying You're not alone in the dark at the top. There are dark, sea-serpent like monsters writhing on each side (they have large teeth and red eyes) with a pale blue center where people are floating. At the bottom of the cover there is a single dark, floating finger surrounded by ghostly white figures. The text in white at the bottom reads Edited by Eugene Johnson and Eric J. Guignard.
November 23, 2024 at 9:39 AM
xanwriter.bsky.social
When your agent encourages you to comment with the soundtrack to your WIP in your outline 😍😅😊

#WritingCommunity #amwriting
Screenshot of comments on a word doc indicating songs to match certain scenes in a novel. songs include Free to Die by Health, Claws in your back by Julien Baker and Conspiracy of Silence by The Swoons.
November 21, 2024 at 6:36 PM
xanwriter.bsky.social
A sort of space western tale about love in the multiverse. I couldn't put this one down.
Book cover featuring a orange side and blue side showing two distinct cityscapes with one more rugged individual on one side and another more serene figure dressed in white on the other with the title done in an overlay style down the center: The Space Between Worlds. The author name is in smaller black font across the top: Micaiah Johnson
November 21, 2024 at 3:36 PM
xanwriter.bsky.social
Another fantastic audiobook! A rich and deeply moving story about inter-generational queerness, identity, love, and trauma.
The cover features a white background with the body of a small bird with blue, black, and white wing extended. The title is in red text over the feathers: The Thirty Names of Night. The author name is small in black and across the top: Zeyn Joukhadar
November 21, 2024 at 3:31 PM
xanwriter.bsky.social
Recommended to me by @clhellisen.bsky.social this book was such an immersive and introspective read with exquisite prose. Highly recommend for fans of quiet fantasy.
Cover features a close up portrait from nose to chest of a young person wearing a high-collared blue coat and white Victorian shirt. There is honey on their mouth and a bee and a pearl-studded broach on their cravat. The title in yellow gothic script reads Their Heart a Hive, author name is smaller and in the same font: Fox N. Locke
November 21, 2024 at 3:29 PM
xanwriter.bsky.social
One of the first books (and one of the first YA books) I ever read featuring a bisexual protagonist. It's been years and I still think about this book where music is a drug used to manipulate the masses.
Black cover with white title in the center reading Coda where the O is the coda music symbol. Grey, white, and blue musical cables are tangled around the edges of the cover. The center background looks like a speaker. Author name: Emma Trevayne is at the top and in white serif text.
November 21, 2024 at 10:38 AM
xanwriter.bsky.social
One of the best epic fantasy series I've ever listened to. The audiobook is exceptional! The world-building is rich and complex and I adored the protagonists.
Black cover with a gold half sun arced above a dark blue/black face that morphs into a crow with outspread wings on the right. Gold text across the left and middle reads Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse.
November 21, 2024 at 10:34 AM
xanwriter.bsky.social
A lush and gorgeous queer novel by one of my all-time favourite authors. This is slow burn and all about character development.
A burgundy cover featuring uniqye orangey gold text reading The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue and VE Schwab with a star constellation connected across the text.
November 21, 2024 at 10:33 AM
xanwriter.bsky.social
Absolutely brilliant and hilarious military(ish) scifi that is super accessible and relatable.
Cover for All Systems Red novella by Martha Wells featuring an illustrated monochrome cover showing a heavily armoured cyborg/robot soldier front and center against a washed out tree-lined background.
November 21, 2024 at 10:31 AM
xanwriter.bsky.social
Never expected to love this hopeful solarpunk novella as much as I did.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built illustrated novella cover featuring a flowery background with winding gold roads. Top left corner features a robot holding butterflies. Bottom right features a person perched on a wagon holding a cup of tea.
November 21, 2024 at 10:30 AM
xanwriter.bsky.social
Can't not mention Lost Souls, easily my favourite book of all time and the one that got me into writing. The prose, the characters, the vampires, and Ghost of course who I related to so damn hard long before I had the words to describe my gender and neurodivergence.
Cover features red border, background and author name text at the top. There is a face obscured by hair and shadow with one eye peering out intently from the middle of the cover. White title text reads Lost Souls at the bottom.
November 21, 2024 at 9:05 AM
xanwriter.bsky.social
I adore Shakespeare and this book had me absolutely enthralled from page 1.
Book cover featuring an illustrated human skull with white cursive text reading If We Were Villains. There is a yellow croow that looks like a sword separating the title from the author name, also white cursive: M. L. Rio. The background is black and red and quite dramatic.
November 21, 2024 at 9:02 AM
xanwriter.bsky.social
This is one of the most exquisite and moving reads.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, cover is in black and white and features a photo of two bodies viewed from behind with arms wrapped around each other placed off center. Title and author name is centered and in white serif font.
November 21, 2024 at 8:59 AM
xanwriter.bsky.social
I love all of Cat's books but this one has stuck with me. Lush fantasy about being an outsider and fighting colonial power.
The cover for Empty Monsters by Cat Hellisen: the cover is dark blue and watery with the title text in gold cursive at the top and the author name in similar gold all caps non-serif font at the bottom. The center features a glowing illustrated moth in pale green/white.
November 21, 2024 at 8:54 AM
xanwriter.bsky.social
Anthology 3 of 4 is coming out this week!! 🎊

You're Not Alone in the Dark will be released November 22! It's a charity anthology about finding solace and taking comfort in the darkest places while writing as a way to cope/live/thrive with disability and mental illness.

Pre-order link below:
A blue and black cover with bold, chrome-like text saying You're not alone in the dark at the top. There are dark, sea-serpent like monsters writhing on each side (they have large teeth and red eyes) with a pale blue center where people are floating. At the bottom of the cover there is a single dark, floating finger surrounded by ghostly white figures. The text in white at the bottom reads Edited by Eugene Johnson and Eric J. Guignard.
November 17, 2024 at 6:23 PM
xanwriter.bsky.social
Today's the day!!

This incredible collection is now available wherever you buy books. If you want to learn more about speculative fiction from an African perspective, please consider reading this anthology of excellent essays on a wide array of topics.

#WritingCommunity #Africanbooks #afrofuturism
The cover for Afro-centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction editing by Eugen Bacon. The cover is bright red with a side profile of a Black person rendered in artistic, geometric shapes with a nod to African design.
November 14, 2024 at 12:26 PM
xanwriter.bsky.social
I HAVE A NEW BOOK COMING OUT NEXT WEEK AND I AM SO EXCITED!!!

#nonfiction #anthology #afrofuturism #africanSFF
The cover for Afro-centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction editing by Eugen Bacon. The cover is bright red with a side profile of a Black person rendered in artistic, geometric shapes with a nod to African design.
November 10, 2024 at 3:29 PM
xanwriter.bsky.social
While I find self-promo distinctly uncomfortable, I am also immensely proud of every single one of these stories, so here's my award eligibility post:

#shortstory #awardeligibility #WritingCommunity
2024 award Eligibility list for Xan van Rooyen: Threnody of the Tetekute (A Sauútiverse story), BFS Horizons Helsinki in Winter in the City, Ruadan Books The Heretic Harmonic (A Sauútiverse story), Andromeda Spaceways Magazine Skin to Skin, Trembling with Fear The Silence of Broken Things in Spectrum, Third Estate Books Shadows in the Blood in Folkloric, Sentinel Creatives
November 4, 2024 at 5:39 PM