Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 2h

I like how you think

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 2h

I have decided to measure my cats in books. Random is a healthy average-sized boy (with extra toes). Fiona is as tiny as she is fiery (also with extra toes). According to CACC, they're 2.

A ginger kitty with a white tummy and feet lying on his side on a sage-green duvet. Near his feet is a 6x9 paperback; its cover shows a shadowy figure looking along a path that leads off into a snowy forest of evergreens. It's called The Bull at the Start by MC Burnell but the kitty is sleeping and doesn't care.

A little dilute tortie with a coat of great complexity combining spots and stripes of gray, beige, brown, and deep orange is sleeping on her side on the same duvet. A 6x9 paperback is by her feet. Its cover shows a woman in a cowled robe looking over one shoulder as she crosses a garden, trees leafless for the winter, a fountain in the background still for the season. The book is called The King of Ill-Omens by MC Burnell, and the kitty is gazing at it doubtfully.

1 4

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 2h

Have you ever had to get in contact with KDP's customer service? They are so fricking nice and helpful and can be reached by chat or phone instead of throwing an email into the void... 😔

1 2

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 3h

Since we're going to my folks' for T-day, we're celebrating the true spirit of the holiday - getting to eat stuffing - by making the meal today. I knocked out the veggie and a pie and am knackered. 😅

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 3h

Fair. Huge or not, don't tell me: I like to speculate and be surprised!

1 1

Reposted by Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd

Ronove (aka S. Jean) @earlronove.bsky.social · 9h

BE NOT AFRAID, my fast-paced survival horror novella about a very bad night and violent angels, is fast approaching! You still have time to pre-order!! (And, if you like goodies with your pre-orders, check out the signed physical copy bundle on ko-fi!)

👁️ books.earlronove.com/benotafraid
🩸📚

12 13

Reposted by Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd

Septimus Brown @septimusbrown.com · 9h

😄👍

Assigned in the bookstore. Fuck social media. Marry books. Kill ai.

2 26 120

Reposted by Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd

🜄 greybriar 🜁 @greybriar.art · Nov 16

Study | Dream

A digitally painted , detailed study of a resting wild boar, lit in a surreal way as if in deep moonlight.

10 150 510

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 9h

#WIPSnips 'care'
Oh yay! I love this sequence. 😅Everyone else goes off to wage war, leaves the 2 smart guys behind to take care of things. Then they find themselves in a life-or-death situation unexpectedly. Also, they don't get along.

“You should have left when I gave you the opportunity, my lord Ivantreste,” Kurch Junior called from beyond. He wasn’t the one at the door, but he was close. “I can’t imagine what you think is being proved by your intransigence: it’s an open secret you detest each other.”
“Well I’m not sure how this comes as news to you,” Ivantreste retorted furiously, “but the two of us aren’t the only people here!”
Silence followed, and Kairfir imagined the fellow scratching his head as he wondered what this meant. Kairfir himself was a useless little no one like the rest of these people, but Ivantreste had been expected to know better than to care for the lives of mere soldiers and secretaries. The man knelt over one of the civil guards, examining the arrow in his back, and Kairfir felt another flash of heat as he recollected that this was his city and these were his people. He ought to be the one taking care of them.

3 17

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 9h

🤣🤣🤣

1

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 9h

@mjqwrites.bsky.social you are returned!

a little boy is walking down a sidewalk while holding a bottle of water .

Alt: Classic gif of two small children running down a sidewalk toward each other, arms outstretched, bc damn are they excited to hug each other.

media.tenor.com

1 1

Reposted by Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd

Adam Holcombe @adamholcombe.bountyink.com · 9h

Oh hey, look at the day! It's release day!

If you want an action packed, sci-fi adventure that meshes the heart of Guardians of the Galaxy with the weird of One Piece and the vast galaxy of Mass Effect wrapped into a love letter to Star Wars Legends, then look no further than Bounty Inc!

Out now!

Graphic featuring a mockup of Bounty Inc with text reading "Out Now!"

9 27 41

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 9h

Do *you* actually know the answer and just keep it to yourself? Or does the mystery go all the way down to the bottom?

1 3

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 9h

Strange kitty I've got here. 2nd night in a row Random woke me up with a hairball. Not only did he promptly hop down off where he was sleeping - my pillow - he keeps choosing to yak on the hardwood instead of a rug or upholstered furniture. Is that even allowed??

5

Reposted by Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 1d

⚔️talk to ghosts!
⚔️kill rebels!
⚔️fight assassins wearing other people's faces!
⚔️break free from mind control!
⚔️accidentally create a monster!

#SFF 🪐📚
books2read.com/Bells-Begin-...

8) Background is a photo of a snowy trees. Cover of a book called Bells Begin to Ring depicting a man kneeling and hunched forward in a posture conveying pain on a sandy beach at night, by MC Burnell. Text reads: DRUMS IN THE DEEP. Bells Begin to Ring, The Tipping World Vol. 8. All the world’s mages dance on the bitter scapegoat’s strings. A block of text: "She sat in the strange glow of the wish-lights, pondering questions whose answers couldn’t possibly matter while the world burned. What held her here was what held all of them: a conviction that she had uncovered, in this spooky subterranean space, a connection she had been searching for all her life without ever being able to articulate it. Every other people had a legend telling where they came from. Everyone but mages. Here, at last, a link to the past and the people who created them."

10 10

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 21h

I actually have a chapter where Alia flies the Mage-Corps the width of the continent on a pair of fancy carpets. 😂
It's from Horus's perspective, and he's enthralled by the scenery. It's the first time he's ever been abroad and he spends the whole trip quizzing her on what he's looking at

Charlie Delta (has been a ghost this whole time! 👻) @charliedeltawrites.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

Ok about to have a long drive. Might post this and dip for a bit (but I will be back!)

So, tell me how your characters keep themselves occupied during a long horse/car/ship trip!

Games? Stories? Podcasts?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

1 1 2

Reposted by Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd

Ness 🎃🇨🇦 @vriccithode.bsky.social · 21h

I have gotten especially bad about promo. Anyway hi I write books and I'm especially proud of this one! It's got disaster gays and a hilarious baby dragon 👀 🌈📚

Ness 🎃🇨🇦 @vriccithode.bsky.social · Jun 19

everything's a lot, but i think this silly little book centring queer joy and fighting for what (and who) you love is a light in the dark we're all going to need. available now!
#PrideBookFair #QueerWriters #QueerAdultSFF #romancelandia #booksky #readersofbluesky 🌈 📚 💙 📚
books2read.com/u/bpVEQ6

A trope card with cover art featuring two women and a dragon in the centre surrounded by white text on a blue night sky background that reads: friends to lovers*, *they’re ace, found family, loveable rogue, big magic, secret baby**, **she’s a dragon, sword lesbian (she’s bi), queernormative. Art by @leeshahannigan

11 27

Reposted by Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd

Kai Zeal 🐱📘🔮 | Author of Riyati @kaizeal.aquakatpublishing.com · 1d

Hey you. Yes you. Do you want some traumatized teenagers in your life? Well have I got the book for you, fresh to your ereader on Nov 14th and ready for pre-order!

Direct: riyati.ink/store
itch: riyati.ink/itch
Other retailers: riyati.ink/ripple

📚📢📚💙 🌈📚🌎 🪐📚⚔️🌈🚀 #queerAdultSFF #QueerSFF

Header text that reads, “Every act of defiance steers you into the person you were always been meant to become.”

A 3d mockup of an ereader with Riyati Ripple’s cover is on the left. On the right, the following bullets are listed:
Third book in series
Dark Fantasy
Contemporary & low fantasy with urban fantasy elements
Buffy x Persona 4 Vibes
1st Person & Multi PoV
Classism & effects of generational poverty
Demi, ND fMC
Found Family
Reincarnations
Intricate Elemental Magic
Childhood Friends Slow Burn
97k words (~320 pages)

Retailers Logos for the itch.io, ko-fi, Campfire, Payhip, Apple Books, Kobo, Smashwords, Google Play Books, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon Kindle are listed. Underneath says "+ more @ riyati.ink/ripple"

There are faded yellow particles and a yellow faded glyph on a black background. On top of the particles and glyph is text that reads:

I just needed the damn piece of paper. That’s all that mattered. I could do this, would do this. Yet despite telling myself that more than once in the past few weeks, I still wondered if this had been nothing but a massive mistake. I pulled my jacket tighter around myself. Outside was like a humid swamp hell, but they must’ve had the AC running full blast inside. It worked for the best since I preferred long sleeves, but outside of work, I hadn’t been in an AC’ed environment in weeks now — nearing a month. It brought me back to the question I’d asked myself so many times now: how was I going to do this?

Just as predictably, there was only one answer as well: it didn’t matter; I had no other option.
-Maya

On the bottom left, there is a picture of a teenage girl with dark brown hair and light emerald eyes pensively looking to the side. To her right, retailer logos are listed as follows: itch.io, ko-fi, Campfire, Payhip, Apple Books, Smashwords, Google Play Books, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon Kindle. A plus sign with “more @ riyati.ink/ripple” is under the retailer logos.

There are faded yellow particles and a yellow faded glyph on a black background. On top of the particles and glyph is text that reads:

Mom had been an anxious wreck, as bad as when I’d come back from being kidnapped by Asuza. But unlike then, there was no Sia to block emotions; I knew how terrified and exhausted she felt, how she cried when she didn’t think I was awake to hear.

If I’d just died back then, she could’ve moved on, not be put through this again and again.

Instead, all I could do was lie in bed, barely able to go to the bathroom without her trying to help me. Really, it was worse than after I’d been kidnapped because I couldn’t even sit at my desk to work on stuff and had no Sia to talk to, only my thoughts that never stopped anymore. Exercising was definitely off the table with my actually non-existent injuries, something further destroying any sense of normalcy I might’ve had. Mom had requested emergency leave, had groceries delivered in, never left. How much stress had I put on her? How many lives had been destroyed because of me? I’d finally managed to sneak my spell book into bed with me, hidden it to my right, underneath my comforter. But after having it beside me, I lost any drive to actually skim through it despite knowing I needed to figure out what that “anti-magic” thing was. Another sign of disrespect to those that’d died and suffered because of me.
-Kylie

On the bottom left, there is a picture of a teenage girl with reddish-brown hair and teal eyes anxiously looking at the viewer. To her right, retailer logos are listed as follows: itch.io, ko-fi, Campfire, Payhip, Apple Books, Smashwords, Google Play Books, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon Kindle. A plus sign with “more @ riyati.ink/ripple” is under the retailer logos.

8 9

Reposted by Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd

Rob MacWolf, Werewolf Hitchhiker @robmacwolf.thevoice.dog · 1d

When we write or draw porn or erotica, we get banned from having a bank account and our livelihoods get seized even if we give it away for free.

When billionaires steal what we've written or drawn to churn out a slop-approximate of porn, they're allowed to charge for it.

Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 1d

Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.

47 3.8K 6.8K

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 21h

first attempt to use color
literally ever
(I chose Mairid bc I knew if anything could keep me motivated it would be him)
I'm not happy really but do feel now like yeah this is something I'm going to be able to figure out how to do with enough practice
#authorart

Drawing of a man's face from the front. In color! His skin is very pale, his eyes hazel, his hair dark brown and curly.

6

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 21h

That was me last year. This year... I think it's time to suck it up. My eyes get so tired after a day on the computer

1 2

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 1d

I have decided today is the day I figure out blend modes. NOT listen to someone explain it in a vid or read a paragraph and go '...okay' and try it and can't attach the explanation I was given to what's happening and give up.
Figure. It. Out.

2

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 1d

I just realized wikipedia has dark mode and I'm quietly weeping in gratitude. Does this happen every time I stumble across dm on any site or app I use a lot? Yes. Does it help me to remember to just *check* for it? guess

6

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 1d

⚔️talk to ghosts!
⚔️kill rebels!
⚔️fight assassins wearing other people's faces!
⚔️break free from mind control!
⚔️accidentally create a monster!

#SFF 🪐📚
books2read.com/Bells-Begin-...

10 10