theskeletonprior

[theskeletonprior]

9 Lines, 9 Tags!

I was tagged both by @flowerprose and by @sunset-a-story so I'll supply 18 lines, but I will not be tagging twice as many people. That seems a bit excessive! Thank you both for thinking of me! These are the first 18 lines from a short story that I'm still tinkering with in which a wild king and a chimeric beast do battle and other such intimate things. Coming soon to an itch.io account near you! It just needs, oh, you know. Revisions. Edits. Formatting. Layout. But that's the life, isn't it?

King Pellinore was half-mad with searching. For years, his quarry had eluded him, and this year had thus far been no different. In the blistering summer, the beast had fled before him, its den a mystery as the fall withered all around him, and winter came with blasting ice and snow. It was spring when he picked up its trail again, pressed in the muddy ground. No other creature in all the world left tracks like the Questing Beast, though Pellinore's hunt had brought him across the path of countless others. No bear, no wild cat, no manticore, no dragon had gotten the better of him, but nothing he took mattered, if it was not the thing he had been born to kill. And thus, in this pursuit, though he had seen fen and forest of this beautiful world, it had shrunk, inch by inch, until there was no space in it for anything but himself and his prey. On those rare occasions when he encountered another person, he hardly knew how to speak to them, except to ask if they had seen it. Had they seen a beast with the head of a serpent? With back legs like a hind, and the tail of a lion? "Have you seen," he'd ask, "a monster in these woods?" And as they tried to answer, he could tell by looking at their eyes that they felt they were seeing one at that very moment. Pellinore could not imagine what he must look like anymore. He heard the river long before he saw it, where the beast had sat to drink, before crossing, though he did not see it on the other side. His mount, an old mare whose time was nearly done, snorted and pawed in the mud. "We'll have to find a ford," he rasped, ostensibly to the mare. "I mislike the look of this water. Too deep, and too murky."

Tagging @alexanderflowerbird @carmillasboywife @vacantgodling @void-botanist @ceph-the-ghost-writer @cream-and-tea @wintherlywords and anyone else who sees this and would like to participate! Please feel free to tag me in your response to the prompt.

And for those of you just passing through, a word from our sponsors (aka me in a funny hat with a cup in my hand): If you liked this excerpt and would like to tangibly support me in my work, I do have a ko-fi. I am also available for commissions. Thanks for reading!

[theskeletonprior]

9 lines, 9 people

Thank you to @willtheweaver for the tag! Here are a few lines from what I'm working on for Sunset Vol 3:

"She said [using matches] was part of the ritual, as if the match were part of what destroyed the beasts. And I don’t think she’s wrong, really. There’s a moment when you light a match where you have to pause. You can’t just strike it and toss it in one motion.” Noah held up the needle in his hand level with his heart. “After you spark a match, you have to hold it, watch it catch the wood, and burn down a second. You have to take a moment, say a prayer. The way the priest holds up the host to you and says, ‘The body of Christ,’ and will only give it to you after you have affirmed, yes, yes it is. Watching the match take before you throw was like that to her and it’s like that for me now. Yes, I have faith that this fire will destroy this thing, in a manner that there is no explanation for besides that what we are doing is right. A moment to think, ‘I believe’. And then you toss your match.”

I'm going to no-pressure tag @void-botanist @thatndginger @theskeletonprior @ceph-the-ghost-writer & open tag!

[theskeletonprior]

Nine Lines, Nine People

tyvm for the tag, @sarahlizziewrites! it has probably been a full rotation around the sun since i last participated in a tag game, so thanks for the friendly welcome!

excerpt taken from eiros, a faerie portal fantasy in which the main character seeks to return to her homeland in order to preserve the last of her kind's dying botany. deals heavily with refugees and displacement, extinction and magic as a climate pollutant, monarchies and their dysfunction, and ofc lots of very rotten characters doing very rotten things to each other. some of my usual game paired with some very ambitious challenges.

The manor of Adrienne Van der Leif sat upon the end of a private gravel road, the grounds bisected by a hymning brook and embraced by a legion of coniferous trees, standing tall as titans, their branches bowed beneath snow in winter, ornamented by squirrel kits and flowering pinecones come spring. At dusk, the trees devoured the dwindling light, as if determined to shadow your path and entrap you in the arms of the forest forevermore. I had explored the fringe of this wood in countless adventures with the local children, until my unearthliness had warded them off like all monsters do. Aunt Adrienne had desired a cabin-style dwelling but settled for baroque at the behest of the Sanctuary’s council. European designs often reminded them of home: gilded facades and domed ceilings, brocaded silk upholstery and pastoral tapestries, dramatic windows with curved archways that invited passage, like the portals they had danced through in their youth centuries ago. We wanted our grandeur strangled in ivy and wisteria, marred by murmuring mushrooms and walls that pulsed from bee hives and bird's nests. A palace surrendered to the whims of nature: that was a faerie's home. Northern dwellings could only host blooms for a small window of spring and a splash of summer each year; then they were entrenched in a merciless clutch of snow and magic hibernated along with it, but not mine. Only I could make winter cower when it reached the threshold of the garden walls, leaving a moat of frost around the manor like a delicate membrane.

tagging some beloveds and new faces (but no pressure if tag games aren't your thing!): @bebewrites, @samplewriting, @ivorygrace, @theskeletonprior, @imbrisvastatio, @megarywrites, @lycaens, @narastories, and @transman-badass

[theskeletonprior]

I don't know who needs to hear this, but you don't have to hate the things you create. It's okay to feel good about your art! Give yourself permission to love your own work, and develop your skill as a creator out of love instead of out of dissatisfaction.

[theskeletonprior]

‘you put that cig out, you can hold her’

[theskeletonprior]

Emblematum libri II, 1556

[theskeletonprior]

Banquet of Mermaids - Ryoko Kimura

[theskeletonprior]

Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831–1889) - “Dancing Skeletons”

hanging scroll, ink and colour on silk, n.d.

source

[theskeletonprior]

Heyoooo I drew a thing! Zephrinus and Jane Pact, cosmic multiverse soulmates that you are… I got grabbed by my throat by Sleep Token’s Fall For Me thinking of these two and Vessel would not stop singing in my brain microwave til I finished lol

Jane belongs to me

Zephrinus belongs to @theskeletonprior

[theskeletonprior]

Wanna Join A Writing Group?

Hello hello writeblr!

I'm Alexander, and I am in charge of a writing group aptly called WRITING HOLDING HANDS on discord. Currently we're interested in opening up a few slots for new writers to join us and become part of our fun and supportive writing community. It is important to note that this is a writing group that is focused most of all on community building and support; many of our writers fight tooth and nail to create their work while having day jobs, daily struggles and Adult Responsibilities[tm], and we have built a culture where motivating each other to write, to believe in our work and to be inspired by other people creating right beside us is the purpose of the collective.

Many of us have had the experience where you enter a writing group and the cycle goes like this: You post your work, you hold your breath, and you feel disappointed that no one reads your work while holding out on reading anyone else's work because you are resistant to supporting others before you are supported first. This is not the group for that, we all hate that, we want to work against that. As such, in entering our group, you will be expected to take the initiative and dive headlong into reading other people's work with the trust that you will be met with the same enthusiasm and fascination for your work.

There's plenty of room as well for the times where you can't write anything, but having friends who write will keep your work fresh in your mind and you will always know there's a group of people who truly believe your work is worth creating, because it is. Slowly, inconsistently and imperfectly we are all creating stories that only we can tell. We have writing sprint nights, we have calls where everyone comes to talk about your work specifically to gas up your confidence or fix plot holes and slumps, we have movie nights where we share media that inspires us, we have dedicated channels for you and your work so you always have commentary and support to look back on when you're feeling uncertain.

Many of our writers are exploring horror right now, but we have fantasy writers in our mix, comic artists in our mix, romance writers [Hi, it's me, I'm bitches], fanfic writers are welcome too, and we'd love love love to have new stories to read and support and fresh eyes to help us continue to create. This is an 18+ Writing group! All of us are in our 20's and 30's, so if you're also looking for a community that is able to explore adult themes or your work is mature in nature, you're also welcome here!

Many of our writers have intersectional identities and are telling stories with their experience in mind. We have... SO MUCH AMAZING QUEER HORROR HAPPENING lol. So if you are looking for community with many people of color who are queer, this is an excellent place for you. Many of us take comfort in each other because our stories as we work on them don't necessarily have a place to call home in the publishing world. That discouraging reality must be pushed against, because your stories are worth telling whether a publishing house thinks it'll make a bajillion dollars or not. So if you're seeking diverse stories and diverse perspectives of your work, this is a good group for you.

If you find that you really don't have the time to write or read after joining our group? There's also grace for you in that situation. Members who are not reading or writing for more than a month at a time will receive a check in and if it seems for the best will be removed. This removal in every instance so far is a TEMPORARY MEASURE. We want to support you when you're ready, so while we've had a few members go, they're always welcome to return and rejoin our community when they have the capacity to read, write, and participate.

If this sounds like it's of interest to you and you'd like to join, please email me at rosieartsie16@gmail.com answering the following questions:

1: What are you writing currently? Tell me a little about it. 2: What's your process like? How often are you finding time to write and read? 3: What do you feel you would bring to a writing group that would benefit your fellow writers? 4: What do you need most when it comes to community as a writer? What would make you feel supported and confident as you work? 5: How comfortable are you with criticism of your work as it's being created? 6:Do you have capacity to support others by reading their work and engaging in the chat along with working on your own projects?

7: If supporting others and engaging with the server becomes difficult, how will you address this difficulty?

I know this seems over the top for a discord group, but the culture I have created is very important to me. I have been honored and blessed to have these writers participate in my group, to read their work, to have my work examined, admired, and critiqued by them, and I would like to maintain this positive and supportive culture at all costs. I look forward to hearing from you and hopefully welcoming you into our group! I'm currently looking for 3-5 new members and I suspect I won't get more than that many emails, if that, but if by some fluke I receive and influx of interest please know that I will respond to let you know if you are not a good fit for our group or if I will be adding you in at a later date. Thanks so much for reading, I hope to hear from you! Alexander

[theskeletonprior]

Books on Libby have started disappearing.

My friend pointed it out first, and then I started noticing too. Why would books that multiple libraries definitely, 100% had digital access to a couple of months/weeks/days ago disappear?

Amazon is getting exclusive rights to them.

Ebooks that the public library once had digital copies of are now only available through Amazon. Audible boasts on their covers about Audible-exclusive audiobooks that did not used to be Audible-exclusive. Entire series and collections are disappearing overnight.

Keep your eyes on the privatization of media and your libraries.

[theskeletonprior]

Art by Zp Zhang

[theskeletonprior]

And that's a wrap! Time to go hot tubbing. ♡

Put out some cute x-folds for @bishopofblack at Yeticon this year! ♡

Come by booth A-75 to grab one and check out some sick sick jewellery!

[theskeletonprior]

Put out some cute x-folds for @bishopofblack at Yeticon this year! ♡

Come by booth A-75 to grab one and check out some sick sick jewellery!

[theskeletonprior]

TO MY BLACK QUEER AND TRANS FOLK!

Since it's Pride AND Juneteenth is coming up: Mutual aid call! Feel free to reblog or comment on this post with any fundraising needs you may have this month 🙏🏾 If you're a creator and you have commissions in exchange as well, make sure to note that!

[theskeletonprior]

One day a billionaire will beg at my feet for my mercy and offer me money, and power, all that I desire and more. And before I kill him, I will say, "I want my LIFE back, you son of a bitch."

[theskeletonprior]

SINNERS 2025 — dir. Ryan Coogler