I recently made a storybook all on my own (besides my cousin designing the cover art and my partner @magicalgrrrl helping to put all the pages together into an ebook).

https://ko-fi.com/s/a100cf0ae0

“Lost Kitten Finds a Way” is an illustrated book, about my experiences with homelessness and DV trauma, from the perspective of a cat (so it’s more palatable to a wider audience). It’s currently only available in ebook, on my Ko-Fi and Patreon. Hopefully sooner than later I’ll be in a position to order physical copies to send out.

For now, though, I’m just trying to meet my family’s basic needs (shelter, food, and meds) so I’d appreciate if anyone decides to get the book or simply buy me a coffee (on Ko-Fi). My partner talks more about our current situation on her page, too

#DisabilityPrideMonth #DisabledArtist #lgbtqia @actuallyautistic #ActuallyAutistic #CPTSD #CPTSDSurvivor #PTSD #ptsdrecovery #SelfPublished #AuthorsOfMastodon #IndieAuthor #KidsBook #Storybook #Author #TransArtist #DisabledAuthor #TransAuthor #WritersOfMastodon #Writer #illustrator

Back in March, I read my haunted-tree story "The Last Trench" for Strong Women Strange Worlds. The video recording is now available. I'm the first reader of the event. If you don't already know about this reading series, check it out! It's fantastic. https://youtu.be/bRbj4CclmPQ #AuthorsOnMastodon #AuthorsOfMastodon #IndigenousCreatives #GhostStory #ShortStory #CanLit #SpeculativeFiction

You can now preorder the first Moonlit Getaway anthology: Harvest Moon. My story "Sirens Don't Sing Underwater" is one of the stories. https://www.moonlitgetaway.com/category/harvest-moon #anthology #SpeculativeFiction #IndigenousCreatives #AuthorsOfMastodon #WritingCommunity #mythology

My tiny tale of terror was published on Flash Flood.
https://flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2025/06/overdrawn-by-shantell-powell.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky&m=1
#FlashFiction #AuthorsOfMastodon #ShortStory #IndigenousCreatives #WritingCommunity

What if your protagonist is also your antagonist? In the words of Marty McFly, “woah, that’s heavy.” #writing #writingcommunity #amwriting #author #authors #authorsofmastodon @bookstodon

The print editions of: “You are a Strategist: Use No-BS OKRs to Get Big Things Done” are now available via independent retailers!

Because eBooks are great and all, but there’s just nothing like that “new book smell.”

#NewBook #BookLaunch #BookWyrm #BookLover #BookLife #AmWriting #AuthorLife #AuthorsOfMastodon #IndieAuthor #SelfPublished #Bookish #MustRead #BookClub #AuthorsHelpingAuthors #BookishCommunity @authors @bookstodon @books @autisticbookshop @autisticbookclub

@bookstodon it's pub day for my JEHANNE DARC:BOOK ONE, and four days from my launch reading at the
Rainbow Book Fair in the West Village. Those who pre-ordered the ebook will find it on your devices. But this week is a test. #AuthorsofMastodon

Okay, after chewing on this topic for a few weeks, I've worked up the courage and wrote the blog. Authors, we need to talk about Substack (and leopards).

https://eponaauthorsolutions.com/authors-lets-talk-about-substack/

#Blogging #Newsletters #Enshittification #Substack #AuthorsOfMastodon @bookstodon #WritingCommunity #bookstodon #WritersCoffeeClub

Time for an updated intro:

Greetings!

I'm an author of speculative fiction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I currently have eight published novel-length books, with a ninth on the way in early 2026!

You can find all sorts of info about my written works on my official website: http://michaelshotter.com

I am also the co-host of "The Post Mortem Report," a unique speculative-fiction authorcast that made its debut back in 2022: http://postmortemreport.com

I did plotting for book 2 of my current WIP and no matter how hard I try the dynamic for this couple is so fluffy: 'I want to hold your hand as the entire world spits and curses us' type of vibe. It'll be a while but wow will this be a shift from my typical 'the love interest is also the villain' novels.

Question: Are other authors dragged around by the wills of their characters?

I've found a literary agent who loves the #GhostAssassinsOfBijou as much as I do! I'm going over the draft contract for representation and have fired back one question. Anything I should be looking out for?

I have written a cheesy slow burn romance story in space, because the current times call for it: "Three-Year Mission".

OCs, LGBTQ, trans woman protagonist, slow burn, hurt/comfort, spaceship & a cat. Content notes in front of each chapter.

And please take a look at this gorgeous cover art the lovely @mariibyrd made!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62608714

I think I'm finally going to redo my 4thewords account. For those that don't know its where you defeat monsters by writing words. Really been losing my motivation and I do want a book out by the end of the year or early next year.

What are some things you guys do to help you write when feeling down?

#writer #qotd #writers #authors @indieauthors #authorsofmastodon

In "When the Cattle Gun Touches Her Forehead" by Ben Serna-Grey, trillionaires get the Nobel while a father slaves on a tower to reduce atmospheric CO2 and his wife submits to in utero genetic engineering to make the baby eat plastic. Satiric treatment of eco-fascism. Strongly recommended

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1N6MGDV

#Kafka
#kafkaesque
#satire
#sciencefiction
#Amreading
#Amreadinsscifi
#Amreadingfiction
#AmReadingFiction
#WritersOfMastodon
#AuthorsOfMastodon
#WritingCommunity
#Bookstodon

One of the more challenging types of scenes for me to write are crowd scenes. The challenge comes with where to focus the attention and how to have conversations among multiple people. It’s especially challenging now because I’m working with new characters, after spending 2 previous books with a different cast. What aspect of writing do you struggle with? #writingcommunity #authors #authorsofmastodon #author #amwriting @bookstodon

Last year, I was the featured author on the Write, Publish, and Shine podcast. Host Rachel Thompson says,

Welcome to the first interview in my series of episodes on writing with disabilities and limitations.
I sit down with a wonderful Writerly Love membership community member, Shantell Powell, a two-spirit author, artist, and self-described swamp hag who grew up on the land and off the grid. Her publication credits include Augur, Solarpunk Magazine, MetaStellar, The Deadlands, and honestly keep racking up—we talk about how she does this in the episode, and she has an excellent hack for writers with ADHD to track submissions that I think is brilliant and would be helpful to many writers, myself included.
We get into her often very visceral writing; she reads a piece that I would describe that way, visceral, and speculates a little about why that flavour comes out in her work. For this series and focus, we talk about how she works with her various limitations and disabilities, which include neurodivergence and now long COVID-19, among other conditions and limitations.
Listen in to hear from a singular writer whose writing practice shows that there is not one way to be a writer.
https://shows.acast.com/writepublishshine/episodes/91-shantell-powell-on-visceral-writing-and-writing-with-adhd

Oh nice. Looks like I have a paid hour-long public reading later this month. I did an hour-long reading last year for the Cabbagetown festival. Too bad this will be indoors. Reading aloud while wearing a mask is physically taxing. #AuthorsOfMastodon #MaskUp #reading #performance

Just squeaking in under the wire, my poem Angakkuq was published today by On Spec Magazine. https://onspec.ca/2024/12/30/issue-130-now-available/

I had an excellent year for publications. Twenty-one separate publishers shared twenty-five of my poems, essays, short stories, and plays. I was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Aurora Award. I placed in a flash fiction contest, and was longlisted and shortlisted for a few more. I received a scholarship I received two grants for my writing. I wonder how next year will go? I can't imagine beating that! My hope is to polish up my novel and send it out for publication.

“Angakkuq.” Poetry in On Spec Issue 130. December 2024.
“Sirens Don’t Sing Underwater.” Fiction in Moonlit Getaway. December 16, 2024.
“Wolf Mother.” Fiction in Inner Worlds. December 13, 2024
“The Anxious Writer.” CNF in Breath and Shadow. December 2024.
“Daisy Chain.” Fiction in Against the Wall, Under the Armor anthology. November 30, 2024.
“Monsters.” CNF in Ex-Puritan. November 2024.
“The Yolk of the Moon.” Fiction in LSUA Flash Fiction Booklet and website.
“The T-Bone.” Flash memoir in The Masters Review. November 2024.
“Scarred.” Fiction in Meetinghouse Magazine. October 2024.
“The Snow Hath No Queen.” Fiction in MetaStellar. September 2024.
Excerpt from “The Tupilaq.” Fiction in Kinsman Quarterly. September 2024
“A Time For Dolls.” Play in Native Voices: A Literary Collection of Emerging Indigenous Writers.  
“The Last Trench.” Fiction in Bitter Become the Fields. Horns and Rattles Press. July 2024.
“Exile of Nuliajuk.” Poetry in NonBinary Review: Heredity Issue,  June 2024
“Keswick Valley Memorial, 1984,” “This is How to Not Give Up,” and “Salt Water Strider.” Poems in Event Poetry and Prose. Issue 53-1.
“Tom Thumb of the North'' & “Blubber Boy: A Traditional Inuit Tale Then and Now.” Fiction in Mihko Kiskisiwin/Blood Memory: An Anthology.
“Saddles in the Kitchen.” Memoir in Redivider. Nominated for Pushcart Prize.
“Hiding in Plain Sight: Life With and Without Masks.” Personal essay in Knee Brace Press.
“Saved” and “Wrassling’s Object Lesson.” Poetry in Eavesdrop Magazine.
“Thumbing to Sugar Daddy Oberon.” Short fiction in MetaStellar.
“This is the Time Just Before Spider Woman Meets Kiviuq.” Poetry in West Trestle Review

#PoetsOfMastodon #Author #AuthorsOfMastodon #WritingCommunity #publishing #Writer #IndigenousCreatives #poetry #essay #ShortStory #playwright @indigenousauthors

In news I've been itching to tell you:

My provocative short story 'Seed' has been accepted for inclusion in Midnight Echo, Issue 19, edited by Dan Rabarts and published by the Australasian Horror Writers Assoc.

The theme was 'wilderness', I took it in an unexpected direction and approached it from many angles.

I'll post the link when I have it.