Ellen Starsmore
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ellenstarsmore.bsky.social
Ellen Starsmore
@ellenstarsmore.bsky.social
270 followers 170 following 660 posts
🌟 Indie fantasy author https://ellenstarsmore.com 🌟 Beyond the Humming Downs (high fantasy with a dash of hopepunk and forbidden love) https://books2read.com/hummingdowns 🌟 Loves coffee, cats, carnivorous plants. 🌟 Lives in Melbourne, Australia
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Hi, I’m an 🇦🇺 indie fantasy author whose debut fantasy novel, Beyond the Humming Downs, is now available in PAPERBACK (wide) and Amazon KU.

It’s character-driven fantasy with a dash of adventure and all the feels. Huzzah!

Get it here: books2read.com/hummingdowns

#indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
The amazing Helen Stubbs interviewed me for her blog a short while ago. We're celebrating the launch of Beyond the Humming Downs in paperback!

🌟 High fantasy with a dash of hopepunk, earth magic, forbidden love & all the feels. 🌟

#indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
Hi, I’m an 🇦🇺 indie fantasy author whose debut fantasy novel, Beyond the Humming Downs, is now available in PAPERBACK (wide) and Amazon KU.

It’s character-driven fantasy with a dash of adventure and all the feels. Huzzah!

Get it here: books2read.com/hummingdowns

#indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
#wipsnips - ‘river’

... it wasn’t a safe pace. The road descended steeply, following the contours of the headland as it dipped towards the river and the town. Adehl concentrated on riding: best not cut this escape short by tumbling headfirst off the cliff.

#writesky #indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
Reposted by Ellen Starsmore
🎃 #FantasyIndiesSpooktober 🎃

All genres welcome! You can use the prompts for WIPs or published books.
Feel free to ask the hosts questions!

Love,
Faeries at Fantasy Indies
@lvrussell.bsky.social @chesneyinfalt.bsky.social
#wipsnips - ‘paw’ (vibes — claws are near paws, right?)

Chanti’s brow wrinkled as the little tortoiseshell cat dug her claws into his bare leg. He sat cross-legged in the straw, knee to knee with Adehl, holding his llirah steady as a shield against the heartstorm.

#writesky #indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
This month has been all about wrangling the paperback of my debut fantasy, Beyond the Humming Downs.

Back cover design… rookie mistakes… a gazillion interior PDFs… Proofs received…

Later today I will hit go. Yesss!

#FantasyIndiesSeptember — 30
#indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
#wipsnips - ‘bear’ (alas, no ursines)

Muttering under his breath, Frahto pulled out a pouch from the front fold of his mahgan and dug around inside. After withdrawing a tangle of leather and beads, he thrust the mess at Adehl as though he couldn’t bear to touch her.

#writesky #indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
This will be interesting.... 😆
#wipsnips - ‘ink’

found the relevant box sandwiched between two others, but the sanded-and-oiled timber helped it slide out. Inside lay a pile of loose parchments, all different thicknesses and sizes, some pinned together. The inked writing on all was thin and faded.

#writesky #indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
My debut fantasy book, Beyond the Humming Downs, is available in Amazon KU and will sooooon be out in paperback wide. Received proofs yesterday!

My current WIP is a bonus epilogue. Then there’s a part-written novel I’m keen to get back to.

#FantasyIndiesSeptember — 28
#indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
Thank you so much. Surreal! ☺️
Thank you! I’m a bit excited! 😆
All the excitement! Today, I received my first proof copies of the paperback of Beyond the Humming Downs. Squee!

It’s pretty surreal having the actual physical copies, even if they do have “not for resale” plastered across them. Not long to go now, folks…

#indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
#wipsnips - ‘swift’

It was the fear he tried to hide that seared Adehl. She’d always known the Vuusah must never learn her true lineage. Their retaliation against her would be swift and brutal. To her shame, she hadn’t considered what they might do to her family.

#writesky #indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
Happy weekend! Here’s a short snippet from my fantasy book, Beyond the Humming Downs.

It’s a moment of retail therapy after they’ve fled their homeland to a foreign city.

#FridaySpark ~ “match”
#FantasyIndiesSeptember — 27
#indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
#wipsnips - ‘mire’ (vibes)

The resonant mesh engulfed Adehl’s llirah, swamping her rhythm. She took a sharp breath. Her sense of self was flattened, overwhelmed by the artificial rhythm enforced by the zehla. It was like drowning without knowing which way was up.

#writesky #indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
Something I’m *really* looking forward to is the paperback edition of my debut fantasy novel, Beyond the Humming Downs, being available.

Not long to go, now… I’m expecting proofs on Monday. It’s been a journey, that’s for sure!

#FantasyIndiesSeptember — 26
#indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
Back for #FantasyIndiesSeptember – huzzah!

Hi, I’m an 🇦🇺 indie fantasy author who released my debut novel, Beyond the Humming Downs in July — character-driven fantasy with a dash of adventure.

Available now from Amazon & KU. Paperback pending.
books2read.com/u/mlgWrP

#indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
Now available for pre-order: Son of Osivirius, a science-fantasy novella from Cathryn deVries @eclecta-perennial.bsky.social

books2read.com/son-of-osivi...

Giant flying cats! Avatar vibes.

📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
I wrote 1000 years of history (at least 20k words) for the fantasy world I’m writing in.

It covers the colonisation of indigenous peoples, the rise and fall of various powers and dozens of named historical figures.

#FantasyIndiesSeptember — 24
#indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
#wipsnips - ‘leave’

The tepid welcome and reluctant hospitality made her wonder what was going on.

She told herself to ignore it. Best to keep her head down and leave first thing in the morning. She’d betrayed too much of herself already.

#writesky #indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
#wipsnips - ‘skill’

Wide, terrified eyes found Roh. “I can’t — I need Sapling!”

Roh’s empathiser skills were not as honed as Adehl’s, but he wove ellir and attempted to head off the boy’s panic. “Deep breaths, now. In… out…”

#writesky #indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
Depending on where you are in the world, I wish you a joyous Wintersmorn or Summersdawn, aka the Autumn/Spring equinox in my fantasy world.

Downunder where I am, it’s Summersdawn today. Our sunlight hours are extending, plants are blooming, weather is warming. It’s wonderful.

#indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
#wipsnips - ‘flurry’

She writhed and twisted like a mad thing, rolling into the doyen’s withered leg. Palvemah toppled, cursing, in a pile of bones and braids. There followed a flurry of kicks and blows and bellows. A zehli flung himself across Adehl’s legs…

#writesky #indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️
#wipsnips - ‘disagree’

“We need the Vuusah precepts to guide behaviour, or people could get hurt. But…” She caught his gaze in hers, challenging him to disagree with her. “But I don’t think it’s fair or valid to exclude me — or anyone — because of lineage.”

#writesky #indiefantasy 📚🪐💙🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️