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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author

@rpdunwater.bsky.social

150 followers 170 following 33 posts

Steph (they/them) & Kim (she/her) • 📖 writing queer fantasy • 🌿 pagan • just two nerdy best friends telling stories

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · Nov 24

Hey, we’re Steph & Kim (aka R.P. Dunwater) and we write queer fantasy! 🖤👋

Our first series, Book of Payne, is a sapphic witchy dark fantasy with warring gods, a world torn in two, and one woman who’s had just about enough of it.

You can find it here: www.amazon.com/Blight-Black...

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · 10d

We have a story featured in the upcoming anthology From Me To You: Anthology of Human Connection. It’s cozy and queer and leans hard into the importance of community through the found family trope!
PREORDERS ARE OPEN!

frommetoyou-anthology.carrd.co

#QueerBooks #QueerAuthor #SapphicBooks

From Me to You

Preorder links for ‘From Me to You’ anthology

frommetoyou-anthology.carrd.co

R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · Sep 20

Today is the Queer Your eReader event hosted by @divinationhollow.bsky.social !

This weekend, you can get the first in our Book of Payne series, The Blight of Blackridge, for free! Check it out if you love dark, witchy, twisty reads!
#QueerBooks

divinationhollow.com/queer-your-e...

Queer Your eReader — Divination Hollow Reviews

divinationhollow.com

Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Sep 17

#Horrorwriterschat at the usual time and the usual place. Gird your loins.

Happening today... the usual time

7pm BST
2pm EST

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · Sep 16

Today’s #WIPSnips word is “practice.” I think I’ve shared this one before but I love it. Always love Nell being ornery.

#QueerBooks #SapphicBooks #DarkFantasy

A quote from The Shadow of Payne, a sapphic dark fantasy with witches and warring gods, “I was well practiced in arranging my features to frighten others. It was a useful skill to have growing up in a village where everyone wanted you dead. As a child, I could settle any argument with only a fierce, unblinking stare. I'm sure it helped that everyone in Blackridge believed my family sacrificed children to the Great Betrayer on full moons.
But Hope...
Hope knew for sure that I was capable of worse. She shifted back in her chair, and it brought me great pleasure to watch that smile finally fade away completely.”

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · Sep 15

Today’s #WIPSnips word is “other.”
Nell is plagued by guilt and intrusive thoughts that take on a life of their own in The Shadow of Payne.
#QueerBooks #DarkFantasy #SapphicBooms

A quote from The shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater. A witchy dark fantasy. “"Who is it you speak to?"
"No one."
The pitying look on her face made me want to bury myself in the cellar, never to see the light of day again. "It haunts you, doesn't it?" she asked sadly. "This darkness. I can feel it like an aura around us. It weighs so heavily." I rolled my eyes. Fiddled with the hem of my shirt. "You make it sound so dramatic. It's nothing."
There were several other words
I should have used: Infuriating.
Maddening. Sickening. Horrible, dreadful, awful. But I couldn't have Hope believing-or recounting to anyone else-that I'd completely lost my mind.”

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · Sep 10

Today’s #WIPSnips word is “outside.” Nell returns home and is faced with the horrors of what happened that Harvest night.
#darkfantasy #queerbooks #sapphicbooks

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Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author

SD Simper | Author @sdsimper.bsky.social · Aug 4

Heyyy want some sapphic ebooks? Check out the 🔗 below 👇

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · Jul 24

#WIPSnips #QueerBooks #SapphicBooks #WitchyBooks

A snippet from The Shadow of Payne by @rpdunwater:
"Our visits are often cut short, kept to business. She doesn't say much...to anyone, really." I squirmed, hating the need to push the blame. This dreadful secret was rotting me from the inside, as wholly as Nell's power, turning me into something twisted. "But she spoke to you, I see."
"We had tea," Hope confirmed. "And I think we might even be able to call our conversation productive."
I let out a breathy laugh.
"I'm surprised, considering how deeply she hates-" I cut myself off, regretting my word choice.

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · Jul 22

#WIPSnips word today is “needle.”

#QueerBooks #DarkFantasy #SapphicBooksky #Writesky

A snippet from The Shadow of Payne by @rpdunwater:

But Nell's progress felt like a fragile thing, like a fine silk prone to snagging, and such things required careful and practiced
precision. One slip of the needle-or tongue
-and the damage could be irreparable.

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · Jul 20

Today’s #WIPSnips word is “moon!” Have a sweet little moment for this Sunday 🥰

#queerbooksky #queerauthors #darkfantasy #writesky

A snippet from The Shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater, a sapphic witchy dark fantasy,

Those silly tears blinded me again as I recalled the sweet memory Jasper had played for me. It was of him and Nell, seated on the back of their family's wagon, their feet swaying playfully as they bounced down the long dirt road toward home. The glow of a massive bonfire had painted the night sky above them.
"He showed me the night
Nell and I first met-at the Full Moon Market here in Blackridge. How he teased her when she told him about me."
The smile on her face when she'd spoken of me made my heart soar. It had been a while since I'd last seen her light up that way.

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Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author

Rosie is ✨MANIFESTING✨ @rosie-j-potter.bsky.social · Jul 15

Do you like writing sprints?

The Weekend of Writing Wildly is upon us!

Friday starting at noon eastern time we have 50 consecutive hours of writing sprints on Twitch!

The name at each 2-hour slot is the USERNAME to look up.

Come get some writing/editing done & meet fellow writers!

#WriteSky

Weekend of Writing Wildly, all times in EASTERN
Names are usernames on Twitch
all streams are two hours

Friday July 18th
12 pm / noon - LadyMabes
2 pm - AremisSage
4pm - SometimesRaven
6pm - RangerAlthynia
8pm: TheOutrageousOlive
10pm Wolfkeeper989

Saturday July 19th
12am/midnight - Writersylvi
2 am - CoffeeQuills
4am - Authorcharleshall
6 am - WoxBirdie
8am - Aldus_Ken
10am - NixFlare
12 pm / noon - SagelyBadvice
2pm - TheKidsAreAsleep
4pm - Nyx_Thorne
6pm - EtotheLiz
8pm VCoralSandsV
10pm - Anotherindiewriter

Sunday July 20th
12 am / midnight - RustyStarlight
2 am - QueenBoxi
4 am - Desdemona_Rose
6 am - WordiGirl
8 am - TelinArtho
10 am StudyWithUsha412
Noon - RoseEvenstar21

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Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author

Steph | Queer Horror Author @butmakeitsapphic.bsky.social · Jul 16

Today’s #WIPSnips word is memory! This story deals a lot with trauma and PTSD. We’ve got memories galore, from the bittersweet to the haunting. 🖤

#queerbooks #sapphicbooks #nonbinarybooks #queerauthor

A snippet from Project Vampire, by @butmakeitsapphic
NB/FEMME, ENEMIES TO CONFUSED/CONFLICTED LOVERS
• GOTHIC VAMPIRE
HORRORMANCE
• PROTECT THE GIRL AT ALL
COSTS
• MENTAL HEALTH REP (PTSD, TRAUMA)
“They stared blankly at the word, waiting for it to change.
As though this were all just a trick of the mind. But it
remained, penned in ink darker than Malachai's void of a soul.
"That f&*$ing devil,"
Xander hissed.
Fractured bits of memory
rushed to the surface like beading blood beneath the skin-splitting snap of a whip. Xander pressed their forefinger and thumb against their own eyelids until stars twinkled in the darkness beyond. Anything to staunch the onslaught of terrors they'd worked so hard to bury.”

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · Jul 15

Today’s #WIPSnips word is “sister,” and Nell and Jasper’s sibling reunion is anything but happy. If you’ve read A Vision of Ruin, then you know Jasper has a few secrets of his own!! 😳

#queerbooks #sapphicbooks #writesky #queerauthors

A quote from The Shadow of Payne, a sapphic witchy dark fantasy by @rpdunwater,

"Enough, Eleanor!" he roared. Frightened birds took to the sky, fleeing farther east. "I can't-I won't believe it! She loved me, just as much as I loved her."
We stood there in silence and seethed-fists clenched tightly at our sides, gazes boring into one another-for an aggravatingly long time.
Perhaps he was wondering how his baby sister had come to be so cruel, twisted and gnarled like a stubborn burl. Hardened into this new abomination.
I was only wondering how he'd come to be so stupid.

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · Jul 11

Reuuuuniiiited and it’s weird aaafffffff (you have to sing it).
Nell thought her brother was gone. Soon, she might start wishing she’d been right 👀👀

#sapphicbooks #queerbooks #WIPSnips #queerAuthors

I rushed forward and took
him by the shoulders. I squeezed them as tightly as I could. Jasper nearly jumped out of his skin, but at least I knew that he was solid. He was warm and alive. Not a ghost at all.
"Nell, what are you
doing?"
"I don't understand," I said, shaking my head in disbelief. "You weren't home that night? The night of the Harvest?"
A quote from The Shadow of Payne, the final installment of the witchy dark fantasy Book of Payne series by @rpdunwater

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · Jul 9

Nell playing the wonderful hostess once again. So trusting.

#WIPSnips #QueerAuthor #QueerBooks #SapphicBooks

The herbs I chose for the tea that evening-primrose, lavender, and thyme-would make whoever drank it feel more open and truthful. I held my breath as I poured Nyla's cup, focusing all of my energy into that intention.
Without hesitation, Nyla brought the tea cup to her lips and sipped. She tested it on her tongue before swallowing, and a knowing smile spread her lips wide.
"Your mother taught you
well."
I smiled bitterly. "My mother never got the chance to learn."
A snippet from The Shadow of Payne, the final installment of the Book of Payne series, a sapphic witchy dark fantasy

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · Jul 8

Today’s #WIPSnips word is yell. Here is maybe the only instance of Nell controlling her temper haha

#queerbooks #darkfantasy #queerwriters #queerauthor

The SHADOW OF PAYNE
• final installment in the Book of Payne trilogy
• witchy dark fantasy
• villain arc
• For fans of Slewfoot & The Year of the Witching

"Mariela," I pleaded.
She ignored me, busying herself with the senseless task of rearranging the food on the table. I wanted to yell, to demand she stop acting like a child. But then I remembered other moments like these-back before all of this mess. And I remembered the softness required to soothe the unruly fire of her heart. I stepped forward and took gentle hold of her wrist, guiding her back toward me.
"You promised you wouldn't lie to me."

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Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author

Elaine Buckner @elainebuckner.bsky.social · May 23

My Darling Dreadful Thing X The Wicked Deep

When Clover's empathic abilities awaken, a ghostly presence visits her dreams, offering escape from others' emotions. But as kindness turns to obsession, Clover suspects they want to inhabit, not liberate.

#WIPPIT #YA #DF #H #PR #Q

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Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author

Elisa Winther @elisawinther.bsky.social · May 23

A Healer’s Scars #WIPPIT #F #H #OWN #LGBT #POC #A

Brielle's team sets out to save a haunted orphanage. Will they succeed or succumb to the malicious magic born there?

🖤MultiPOV
🖤Twisted Morals
🖤Lore-dense
🖤Escaping toxicity
🖤Healing from trauma
🖤Blood Magic for healing
🖤Complex Character Dynamics

Moodboard for a novel which is a work in progress by Elisa Winther, with the working title "A Healer's Scars". It will be the first book in a series, written in third person limited through multiple points of view.

The image includes a square with the working title "Healer WIP" and it's genre "Dark Fantasy", but it also includes a romantic subplot. At the top, from left to right, there is an image with someone sitting by a wall with their head in their hands, cloth draped about their waist that trails on the floor towards the camera. There are masks on the cloth. The second image has arms breaking free from cobwebs in a dark setting. The third has paper with the text "the past" on it, burning. Below those last two describe images is one of a skull laying among green moss. The bottom row of images is one of bottles reading "Forget", one of dark robed people holding one in a white gown up as if in sacrifice, and a black background with "I can't go back" repeated all over the image.

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Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author

Elisa Winther @elisawinther.bsky.social · May 23

A Healer’s Scars #WIPPIT #F #H #OWN #LGBT #POC #A

When the only help Erika finds to fix her home’s faulty barrier is the hag who's been bullying her, she relents. Unaware of the hag’s ulterior motives, Erika welcomes her fixers, but will they survive the festering that lays at the barrier’s core?

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Reposted by R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author

Beth Michaela...querying writer. @bmfwriter.bsky.social · May 23

On a dark island where women gain power by killing men, a reluctant huntress defies her deadly rite by falling for the prince she was meant to sacrifice.

✨️🖤☠️

Love was never part of the ritual.

#wippit #RF #H #NA #A #agentsguide

The Women of the Wile mood board
Dark forest
Creepy
Just
Beach at night
Eerie castle

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · May 16

Today’s #WIPSnips word is “power.” This entire series is about witches with nature-inspired magic so we had a lot to choose from. But here’s a lil somethin’.
#queerbooks #sapphicbooks #bookofpayne

My great-grandmother's old books spoke of intention. That a Priestess's power took its shape in accordance to her will. So as I knelt there, the ache of the opened blisters on my palms forcing me to stay present, I wondered what exactly I'd intended to accomplish that night.
Surely, I hadn't /intended/ to wipe Blackridge off the map.
A quote from The Shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · May 13

In this book, our cast are dealing with three different villains: a spy in their ranks, a Prophet they’ve wronged, and an army set on wiping them from existence. Things are looking grim.

#bookofpayne #darkfantasy #wipsnips #queerbooks

"Uh, High Priestess?"
I blinked and returned my attention to the room. "My apologies. I was somewhere else for a moment."
Samuel offered me a polite smile and began again. But outside, Edmund unleashed a warning bark so vicious that everyone in the room turned to look. Through the window, a group of strangers in dark clothes and tattered old cloaks descended upon the children playing in the square outside. I stepped away from the meeting, ready to intervene. Then a familiar grating voice called out a command, and I froze.
A chill raked down my spine. I turned back
toward the table. "She's here."
A quote from The Shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · May 11

Today’s #WIPSnips word is “pant.” Pant>Panted
Poor Nell is haunted by guilt at the start of this book.

#writesky #queerwriters #queerbooksky #darkfantasy

/Wise of them not to heed the counsel of
a monster/, hissed a voice to my left.
Fury surged through me like a northern wind. I took up the ax and sprang to my feet, ready to cleave those damned shadows in two. But all that I found were a few dead leaves skittering across the forest floor, their scraping hiss like a long, drawn out taunt. My limbs twitched with newfound frustration.
"I'm not...a monster," I panted into the
stillness of the woods.
But there was no one there to listen save the towering pines, the bleached skeletons of the winter birches.
A quote from The Shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · May 10

#wipsnips the Book of Payne series reads like a villain origin story, and I’m having so much fun exploring Nell’s darker side.
#bookofpayne #queerbooksky #sapphicbooksky #darkfantasy

"I won't ask a third time, Priestess." I leaned forward in my seat and stretched each syllable as menacingly as possible,
"Why are you here?"
I was well versed in intimidating others.
It was a useful skill to have growing up in a village where everyone wanted you dead. As a child, I could settle any argument with only a fierce, unblinking stare. Of course, it likely helped that everyone in Blackridge thought my family sacrificed children to the Great Betrayer on full moons. But Hope...
Hope knew for sure that I was capable of
much worse.

A quote from The Shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater

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R.P. Dunwater | Queer Fantasy Author @rpdunwater.bsky.social · May 4

Today’s #WIPSnips word is “force.” 😉 Nell is definitely one with the force, but she’s using it in all the wrong ways.

#darkfantasy #queerfantasy #queerauthor

"You said last night that you were looking for a sigil. Something to help protect Blackridge." She forced herself to meet my gaze. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed nervously. "Could I help
you?"
So, that was it then. There'd be no
more discussing it. Nell was an unlovable monster and I was just the fool chasing along behind her, begging for scraps.
"Sure." I frowned, throwing my hands up in defeat. "If that's what you'd rather do." A quote from The Shadow of Payne by R.P. Dunwater

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