Evelyn reached into her pocket and found the ring: smooth and black, cold to the touch, and heavy in the hand. "You left this on the pyre at my mother's funeral. Why?"
"A debt was owed. Your mother died before I could repay it."
"So you gave her this?"
"That's right. My most precious belonging."
"What is it?"
"A binding ring. Used by faeries in their weddings. It allows the wearer to travel between our world and the lands of the fairy courts."
Evelyn felt the weight of it. She didn't know such a thing existed. "How did you get it?"
"It was given to me by the Prince-in-Spring--long ago when I was young and beautiful and full of bad ideas."
"You met the Prince-in-Spring?"
"Met him and married him. In the manner of the woods."
"He didn't skin you?"
"No. Not Salamandra Hedge. Too clever for any man, immortal or otherwise. I am Skraefolk--like you--chosen by the stars. The stars wanted a story from me, so I gave them one."
"Tell me your story!" Evelyn begged, edging closer. Salamandra Hedge grinned slyly in her direction. The old woman's milk-white eyes, blind as they were, brimmed with laughter.
"You want to know about how I came to marry the Prince-in-Spring?"
"Of course!"
"And what will you give me."
Evelyn did not hesitate. "The most precious thing of all."
Salamandra Hedge clucked her tongue. "Most precious, eh? And what is that?"
"Time."
The blind seer flashed a crooked, toothless smile. "Ahh--a good and clever girl. You are Skraefolk, aren't you? That was the very deal I made so long ago--traveling with a caravan on the Ostern Road. I lived as a boy then, and made my living as a scout in the service of the merchant legion."
Evelyn regarded her with some skepticism. "You were a boy?"
"Mm. A disguise--nothing more. You cannot always tell with people."
"What happened?"
The old woman laughed. "Youth. Lust. I caught the eye of two men traveling with the caravan. Tomas, a merchant prince, soft and sweet and smart as could be--and Asmer, an older man--a falcon handler, with tough, strong hands and a thirst for danger."
"You loved them both?"
"I loved the attention. Loved to be chased. I was raised to be a hunter; it was nice to be hunted. Of course, I think that was what called the faerie prince to us. Deep in his barrows he smelled love thickening the air--and because the Prince-in-Spring cannot resist competition, he joined the hunt."

#writing #microfiction #transwriter #indiefic

Writing keeps the panic at bay. I'm working on a new essay, "No True Scotsmen: The Tragedy of Sysmedicalism in Plural Communities," exploring how we pathologize systems that don't fit the trauma model.

Here is a preview:

"One might have to consider if it could be possible for a consciousness to fail to integrate without trauma. TSDP can tell us a lot about the consciousness if there had been trauma. Without it? TSDP doesn’t say no. TSDP merely gives us a justified and unabashed shrug.

'I dunno, man. I’m friends with the crazy ones. Why, what you got?'

TSDP knows everything about the dude building their house on a fault line. It never really cared about the one who built all their micro homes in a valley meadow between two old, sturdy mountain ranges. It didn’t dislike the dude. It just thought the dude building on the fault line was way more interesting.

No one calls 911 when a house doesn’t collapse."

Right now, in the physical world, I am trying to make the best of things. I am waiting on my license so I can work, but until then, I am stuck in a financial valley without supplies.

I received a kind donation of $20 today, but I am still critically short for groceries and basic survival while I wait for the state board to do their job. If you value the work I do and the words I write, please help me stay standing.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/ellis-emergency-fund

#Plurality #Syscourse #Psychology #MentalHealth #MutualAid #AmWriting #Essays #Crowdfunding #TransWriter

Me as a writer, trying to explain how my Queer fantasy novel Fractured Rune connects to Norse mythology, but I can’t because… massive spoilers.

#FracturedRune #TheAeldstormSaga #QueerFantasy #NorseMythology #FantasyWriter #IndieAuthor #LGBTBooks #TransWriter #BookTok #Bookstagram #FantasyReaders #WritingCommunity #Worldbuilding #MythicFantasy #AuthorLife

--Update: I just Googled this writer and her name is Garielle Lutz. Which of course, completely makes sense bc only a trans woman could write this fucking pretty like this--

Just discovered this writer, Gary Lutz. omg these are some of the prettiest sentences. Like just read this, then read it again and even a third time and just admire how this sucker is structured and these layers of context:

"There was a time I would not hear of women, and a time I looked to them as my betters, and months when my heart went out to anyone done up as a person, but it was usually men I suited: men who liked to keep their words a little stepped back from their meanings and mostly wanted to know whether I was still in school or was hard on shoes."

#lgbt #trans #writer #amwriting #transwriter #books #fiction #shortstories

-- America’s Mouth Is Full of Blood --

Metal scrapes enamel. That specific sound teeth make when hygienist finds the tender spot. My mouth stretched wide by latex fingers and chrome instruments. Can’t speak. Can’t swallow. Can’t look away from the ceiling TV where CNN scrolls red banners about political assassination.

“Just a little pressure here,” she says, digging deeper.

Minnesota lawmaker dead. Husband dead. Second lawmaker critical.

The suction tube gurgles pink water. Taste of iron and mint. My tongue trapped under dental dam while democracy bleeds out on mute television. Perfect fucking symmetry.

Phone in pocket buzzes against hip bone. Can’t check it. Hands gripping armrests like I’m falling out of a republic.

“You’ve got some buildup on the lower incisors,” hygienist continues, oblivious or indifferent to the news crawl. “Have you been flossing?”

Assassination at 2 AM. Man dressed as cop. AK-style weapons. The details drip into consciousness like novocaine, numbing everything they touch. I try to nod about flossing but the tools prevent movement. Democracy’s molars crumble while I can’t even close my jaw.

Melissa Hortman. Dead at scene. Multiple gunshot wounds.

The overhead light burns retinal afterimages. Hygienist hums something unrecognizable. Country music or hymn or both. Her gloved fingers taste like institutional latex, that specific medical flavor of enforced vulnerability. I breathe through my nose. Count ceiling tiles. Try not to think about how this same helplessness scales up to continental collapse.

Read More:
https://pixelnull.substack.com/p/americas-mouth-is-full-of-blood

#politics #uspol #collapse #longform #writing #transwriter #transexperience #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqia #gonzo #news

@orionkidder

If the person has truly transitioned and is portrayed that way, it is not perpetuating the "trap" trope. To avoid confusion, that person should not be involved in fraud or other scams. Try to seduce or make sexual advances on the POV character, unless they have cleared the air.

Instead, this is a normalizing statement that says, "You never know who might be trans."

If it matters, I am trans, so that is one data point on the trans side. I do not speak for the community, however.

#trans #TransWriter #TransWriters

-- Constitutional Spitroast --

The legal language glows on my laptop. Bloodless. Technical. “The Secretary of Defense may determine those military activities that are reasonably necessary and appropriate.”

Reasonable…

Appropriate…

Words still dressed in their Sunday best while weekend passes expired for constitutional separation of powers.

Weather alert flashes. Storm warnings. Barometric collapse. Democracy depression incoming from the southwest. Pressure dropping inside my skull in time with atmospheric systems.

Trump’s order hands federal land to the military. Creates “military installations” on US territory. Gives Pentagon jurisdiction over American soil with rules of engagement drafted by generals, not legislators. Legal document reads like necropsy report for republic that died without anyone noticing. Constitution didn’t flatline dramatically. Just got quietly rewritten in bureaucrat-ese while Americans argued about gas prices.

Read More:
https://pixelnull.substack.com/p/constitutional-spitroast

#politics #uppol #collapse #longform #writing #transwriter #transexperience #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqia #gonzo #news