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Alex Pendragon

@alexp336.bsky.social

1.9K followers 500 following 5.5K posts

m/m fiction/romance/erotica writer. he/him 🌈 I believe in ALL the letters in #lgbtqia Generally confused but trying my best www.alexpendragon.com

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Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · Sep 14

Hi! I'm Alex! I suck at introductions!

🌈 I self-pub m/m romance & erotica
🌶️ It's usually open-door/high-heat
😵‍💫 Common themes are gay-awakenings & overcoming self-doubt
🐈 I like cats, MCM design & kink-positivity
🌎 I'm a gay guy from the UK, but live in the US now
💻 More at www.alexpendragon.com

😁👋

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Reposted by Alex Pendragon

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 21h

Should add really that if you're a smol newsletter bean who would dearly love to NOT be on Substack, then I will happily roll (and manage) a Ghost install for you for cost + a small maintenance fee.

I'll talk you through setting up your own mailgun and stripe. Do that and you keep ALL your revenue.

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 21h

Okay, Ghost V6 integrated with Tinybird for analytics is pretty damn filthy.

Been running @theupfront.media on Ghost for a while as part of our "No Nazi platforms" stack. Very happy with it (and with our Germany-based email hosting instead of Google Business)

The technology you use is a choice.

In many instances, the choice of platform or technology that a publisher makes can no longer be seen as neutral. Nowhere is that more clear than in journalism in the 2020s.

We are proud that The Up Front and all of our supporting digital infrastructure (like our email servers, data storage and collaboration tools) are either self-hosted and managed, or use trusted third parties who have policies that align with our values.

We reject platforms and technologies where our use would represent tacit support for — or tolerance of — the views of their owners or major funders where we disagree fundamentally with those views and the impact they have on the world.

We’re very selective in the socials we operate: we’re on Bluesky as our network of choice and use its atproto as our commenting system, curating a community of thoughtful feedback on our work and elevating other voices. We also have a LinkedIn page, because we understand its importance for our industry audience.

Perhaps more importantly, we don’t use toxic socials like Instagram, Facebook, Threads or X, which drive really unproductive behaviour in media outlets, journalists, readers and companies.

We choose our technical backend and partners carefully, selecting independent European vendors rather than US-based Big Tech, for ethical reasons, for data privacy, and because we care about supporting the good parts of the digital sector in the same way we know our subscribers care about supporting the good parts of the media sector.

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Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 22h

We gallop, together, through the leaves, shrieking with childlike glee 🍂

Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 1d

I always forget that I have a (free!) Halloween-themed story. It's definitely more sexy than scary, though 🧛

"Trick And Treat" by Alex Pendragon - Alex Pendragon

Trick And Treat Jonathan is used to demanding clients. Getting left handcuffed in bed after accompanying his latest date to a Halloween party is a new experience, though. If that wasn’t inconvenient e...

alexpendragon.com

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Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 1d

Did you watch Penny Dreadful? It's been a while, but I remember that being very entertaining.

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Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 1d

"Luke's buttocks - here represented by the peach emoji - are moved into a key position"

Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 1d

I make sure to tag all participants in my complicated sex scenes with a QR code, so at any point you can pause and scan them to see who's doing what, to who, and with how many fingers.

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Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

5k words in, and you know the "it's just the author's barely disguised fetish" meme? 😳

Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 6d

I have an idea for a fairly silly, still hopefully sexy short story but my brain is currently uncooperative when it comes to actually writing it down.

Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

If they didn't want us to mess with the tropes, then they should've locked them in display cases 😂

Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

Do it! I would rather read people who fight for a brief-and-potent-even-if-eventually-doomed HFN - gimme characters who've been driven delirious with need, even if they realize they can't necessarily keep that feeling forever.

Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

😂 I oscillate between that and "shit, I'm doing this terribly, people are gonna be LIVID"

Even though I'm not entirely sure who "people" are in that scenario, or the downside to their being livid!

Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

I also do completely believe and respect in peoples' desire to read about something lasting, and foundational, and which persists despite everything: even if that may not be a true reflection of how reality is. Escapism is good, and I don't want to harsh anyone's pleasures!

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Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

Honestly, your "it's just metadata" description is really refreshing to me, because I do agonize about this stuff. I still feel like a guest in Romance As A Genre sometimes; like I'm not doing it "right" in structure or content or whatever. Like there are rules you don't know until you break them.

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Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

Part of it, I suspect, is because I often write about "young love" and that feels fraught to me: it can be intense and wonderful, but people are still changing. A relationship can come to an end, and that doesn't invalidate how special the HFN was at the time.

Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

I think there's an agency element to it, which makes me feel like HFN requires more conscious acknowledgment and work that "we stay together because we want to be together" by the characters. But I may very well be overthinking things 😂

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Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

Ah, no, I got that 😁 And I agree! I was just trying to dig into what makes me feel uncomfortable, personally, with it, even though I totally see it's a "romance has a HEA" structure. Like, fundamentally, you could read my HFNs as HEAs, so why does that make me uneasy?

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Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

Oh, that one's definitely less likely 🤣

Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

Right! I just find myself feeling generally uncomfortable with the idea of "HEA": things change, people evolve. Personally, I find there's something more powerful in the idea of people choosing to be together for as long as that works, and then choosing differently when it stops working.

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Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

I *could* just be a cynic 😂

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Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

There is no such thing as a HEA, only a Promising HFN.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 2d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

I had the option to order pancakes on the side of my lunch yesterday, and didn't, and am still filled with regret 24 hours later.

Don't be like me. Don't make the same mistakes I did.

Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 2d

Pancakes, Megan. Pancakes.

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Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks Jamie! I hope you enjoy it 🤞

Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 3d

Hi Jamie! You liked my pitch (thank you!) but I just wanted to make sure it was appropriate for what you're looking for, as it's an adult romance rather than the YA/MG your MSWL covers. Obviously I'd love for you to read it, but I don't want to waste your time.

Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 3d

It was the perfect Sunday-morning-with-coffee read!

Alex Pendragon @alexp336.bsky.social · 3d

I love Felicia's essays, because not only do I invariably learn something interesting, but her voice is just so pleasing to read.

Felicia Davin @feliciadavin.com · 3d

This Word Suitcase is about the word "condom," the novel Beast by Judith Ivory, and a couple of lines of poetry by Baudelaire

French letters and English hats

condoms, romance novels, rivers of forgetfulness, and loving monsters

www.feliciadavin.com

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