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Joseph Brassey

@josephbrassey.bsky.social

1.1K followers 320 following 7.4K posts

He/Him. Author of a buncha books. PRINCE OF CLAY out now. Serialized novel GLASSBLADE starting in January 2026. Swordsman. Repped by Laura Zats of Headwater Literary. https://linktr.ee/josephabrassey?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=d0b33b14-

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Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · May 8

Okay y'all, my Beehiiv is up. The first post wont go live till June as I'm still working out the kinks of the platform and that first post will cover May. Sign up now, though, so that you get that first newsletter when it drops. #booksky

Notes from the Scribble-Box

My personal newsletter on fiction, life, art, and eventually serialized storytelling

josephs-newsletter-41aee1.beehiiv.com

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Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 6h

You do not need to write for people who don't like what you like.

John Wiswell @wiswell.bsky.social · 16h

Tell me your most life-affirming literary opinion.

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Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 11h

Put on Arming clothes just to see if they still fit as well as they did a year ago. Definitely want to start making my own.

A dark haired bearded man with a sword takes a photo in the mirror of himself wearing a 15th century arming doublet and hosen.

Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 16h

I’m not a baseball follower but this is for my Mariners fans out there.

A depressed wojak in a mariners hat says “stop giving me your toughest battles” and a Jesus Chad opposite him says “how are you still alive.”

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Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 17h

And tying this altogether is that these type of performative confessions leave me with the impression that the man not only cares overmuch about his good name, but cares about it MORE than the privacy and/or reputation of his girlfriend/spouse.

And that leaves me feeling big ick. /End

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Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 17h

The third, tangential reason this bothers me is probably rooted in the fact that I am a very, VERY private person, and can’t imagine dragging out such a humiliating piece of dirty laundry that hits my partner as much as me, into the public eye. How embarrassing is it for the person you betrayed? 3/

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Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 17h

Both things make me feel ick because they reek of two primary motivations: the first is a desire to control the narrative around themselves and to protect their reputations.

The second is it tells me they are more invested in keeping that reputation than they are in their partners feelings. 2/

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Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 17h

I’ve had a a few acquaintances publicly admit to having had affairs in the last few years, and there’s something weird about how it always seems to happen:

1. They rush to publicly admit it before their partners can say anything.

2. They performatively apologize to everyone.

It’s offputting. 1/

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Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 1d

Should I put three different translations of a medieval German text next to each-other with the most recent English translation so that I can cross reference them and maybe attempt a new translation just because I don’t like the current one?

Is this an insane level of hyperfocus?

Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 1d

Another few:

-There is no such thing as objective quality. There is work that accomplishes its goals and work that doesn’t, and this is as much a matter of timing and luck and the nature of the audience as the skill of the author.

-Cowardice kills fiction.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

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

Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 1d

When he wrote that book, Matthew Stover broke prose conventions in ways I’m still struggling to articulate.

Prince of Clay owes a lot to that man.

Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 1d

-Most “rules” of fiction are breakable by someone who’s audacious/skilled enough, and these are the works that usually redefine a genre. If you want to shake the industry, break rules.

-Dumbing down your work for a wider audience always makes your work shittier.

-ROTS novelization is the GOAT.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

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

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Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 1d

The last time I weighed myself I was 225 with my clothes on. I just hit 225 on my 20 rep backsquat, which means I’m now squatting my body-weight 20 reps without stopping.

Reposted by Joseph Brassey

Rick Gualtieri @rickgualtieri.com · 1d

Straight Male authors, be sure to stand up for your female and LGBTQ author friends. Trust me when I say they take a lot more shit than we ever do. So, if you see it happening, speak up as a friend and ally. Online bullies become a lot less bold when they see their target isn't alone.

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Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 2d

Plz, Edward the Black Prince, stop shitting yourself to death in my bathroom.

Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 2d

The Ricardians are on my doorstep, throwing their pamphlets at my windows. I am surrounded by dioramas of the battle of Townton. Sir Anthony Woodville is jousting on my lawn. The Smithfield tournament is here and the viewers in the stands will not be silent. Plz. I just want to sleep.

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Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 2d

I made a comment about Richard III and a Facebook post about the black prince and now all of a sudden Facebook is flooding my feed with Yorkist Propaganda. I’m living in a parallel world where the Wars of the Roses matter more than than contemporary politics. Just white roses errywhere.

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Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 2d

This was a good morning.

A longsword and a messer on a wood table dusted with pine needles, next to a leather bound journal.

Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 2d

Two of my students looking like a renaissance painting.

Two HEMA fencers face off in a grove of trees.

Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 2d

This is a good place to fight.

A wooden palisade wall against a cloudy sky with green grass in front of it and evergreens behind.

Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 3d

Me trying to explain to my wife that I can’t come to bed yet because it’s Spooky Lake Month on TikTok and Geo is doing a video on lake Baikal again.

A gathering of flailing figures excitedly around a laptop

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Reposted by Joseph Brassey

Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 3d

found exactly the one use of “evil recoils in the presence of Christ” I am willing to sign off on, HOOOOOOOOLY SHIT

Father Larry did not come here to fuck around

Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 3d

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

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Reposted by Joseph Brassey

Sunny Moraine @dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social · 3d

They get snobby about the resistance wine moms; meanwhile the resistance wine moms are organizing up a fucking storm

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Reposted by Joseph Brassey

Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 3d

I have fucking had it with the edgelord leftists who quote post my shit with incitements to violence, like I'm sorry either you're the fucking feds or you're somehow even dumber than they are.

the frogs & the wine moms are doing 100x the work y'all are by dooming and posting nonsense.

Sunny Moraine @dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social · 3d

Like I know there are edgelord leftists out there who look down their noses at shit like No Kings but sorry you guys, the more mass protest looks fun and family-friendly, the bigger it gets and the better its chances of being broadly effective

Sunny Moraine @dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social · 3d

Portland does not own the patent on inflatable animal costume protests, come on people

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Reposted by Joseph Brassey

Sunny Moraine @dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social · 3d

Portland does not own the patent on inflatable animal costume protests, come on people

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Joseph Brassey @josephbrassey.bsky.social · 3d

Five years ago, the funniest archeology meme ever was posted.

mummy voice

YouTube video by kmlkmljkl

youtu.be