MechaniChris
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chrisakins.bsky.social
MechaniChris
@chrisakins.bsky.social
1.9K followers 310 following 3.7K posts
Writer, illustrator, comic book reader, movie enjoyer

Author of the novel: GRIM PORTENTS (available now on my website or anywhere books are sold)

Website: ChristianAkins.com
Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/FfI1
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chrisakins.bsky.social
MechaniChris @chrisakins.bsky.social · 25d
Do you like horror? Comedy? Fantasy? Road trips? Ghosts and the paranormal? Satire of government institutions and stories about hope in the face of overwhelming adversity?

Well that’s a lot, but luckily, I have JUST the book for you!

Order Grim Portents today!

#writingcommunity #writesky #booksky
Grim Portents — Christian Akins
www.christianakins.com
chrisakins.bsky.social
What are your top 5 movie genres? Mine are:

1. Hero teams up with villain of last movie
2. ____ Versus ____
3. Unstoppable monster, preferably giant or numerous
4. Heist with “putting the team together” sequence
5. Love is the most powerful force in the universe and worth risking everything over
therock1996fan.bsky.social M @therock1996fan.bsky.social · 18h
What are your top 5 movie genres? Mine are:

1. "I'm pretty sure there was a murder over there"
2. Romance in the style of screwball comedy
3. Mismatched heroes vs. anything bad (bonus points for abandoned island prisons)
4. Blob type invader(s) vs. small town
5. Sex stuff
leahfromsd.bsky.social Leah from South Dakota @leahfromsd.bsky.social · 21h
What are your top 5 movie genres? Mine are:

1. Wet puppets
2. Stuck in remote place with monster (bonus points for body horror elements)
3. Nic Cage
4. Charismatic villain I should hate but 😏
5. Women enjoying satisfying, bloody revenge
November 17, 2025 at 5:12 AM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Our collection of VHS movies has now grown to 381, a ridiculous number that borders on qualifying as a video store
November 15, 2025 at 10:56 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
CW: implied torture & bodily mutilation

Bill manages to break his ribs three separate times, but they’re all in different bodies so at least it’s a fresh set each time

#writingprompt #writingcommunity #indiebooks
I fired at the demon's head, but only managed to put a few pellets in its shoulder. Its eyes snapped wide open and before I could get another shot off, it lunged with lightning speed, thrusting its arm into my chest and propelling me through a surprisingly thin wall, into the kitchen. The force of the blow had knocked the shotgun from my hands, and may have broken a couple of my ribs for good measure. The demon strolled casually through the hole in the wall, reaching into its shoulder to pull out the bloody pellets. "That hurts, Bill," it said. "Not the gunshot, I don't really feel pain, but the betrayal. I thought we were bonding. I was just going to fillet your fiancée a bit, maybe press hot coals to her eyes-you know, classic demon stuff. But now I'm thinking it might be more fun to make you do it yourself. You think you won't of course, but you'd be surprised by what you're willing to do to make the pain stop." Ad for Grim Portents, featuring a print copy of the book and an ebook on an iPhone. A QR code that takes you to my website and the words “Scan to learn more about debut paranormal fantasy novel Grim Portents” below it. Under that, it says “Available online anywhere books are sold!” And above it all is the tagline “Welcome to the first day of the end of your life”
November 15, 2025 at 9:50 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Post the last 4 games you played
Original God of War Metroid Prime Remastered Pokémon Legends ZA on switch 2 Metroid Prime 2 Echoes
November 15, 2025 at 3:37 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
There’s a lot of handwringing about balance in competitive games, and I get that, but I personally love when weapons or characters are insanely over or underpowered. It’s like choosing all slappers or all rockets for the chaos of it
November 13, 2025 at 10:30 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Someone bought my book from the coffee shop???!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉
November 12, 2025 at 2:27 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Obviously I’m being very normal about this
letterboxd.social Letterboxd @letterboxd.social · 5d
The first trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is here 🌟 Brie Larson and Benny Safdie join the voice cast as Rosalina and Bowser Jr.

In theaters April 2026.
November 12, 2025 at 2:18 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Bill doesn’t live under a rock, but he also can’t be expected to know the names of ancillary Sonic characters

Check out the book here: ChristianAkins.com/GrimPortents

#writingcommunity #Wipsnips #writesky #booksky #indiebooks #sonic #goku
We were down the stairs and back in Maya's minivan within seconds. I was about to pull out of the parking lot when I saw those kids playing with their Super Soakers again. "Hey, kids!" I shouted out my window, pulling up to the two boys. Sonny looked at me like I was crazy, but kept quiet. "We're not getting in that car, weirdo," said the boy in the T-shirt featuring a black Sonic the Hedgehog wielding a handgun. He and his friend lifted their plastic weapons, ready to fire if I tried anything suspicious. "No, I was just admiring your water guns. What would you say if I gave you twenty bucks for both of them?" "Man, one of these costs more than that," the other boy in the Dragon Ball Z shirt said. "That can't be true," I protested. I looked at Maya in the backseat who just nodded to confirm the validity of their claim. "Fine. How much do you want for them?" "Fifty." "Fifty bucks?" I exclaimed in disbelief. "Each." Ad for Grim Portents, featuring a print copy of the book and an ebook on an iPhone. A QR code that takes you to my website and the words “Scan to learn more about debut paranormal fantasy novel Grim Portents” below it. Under that, it says “Available online anywhere books are sold!” And above it all is the tagline “Welcome to the first day of the end of your life”
November 12, 2025 at 1:19 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Predator Badlands absolutely rips, and I love seeing the Alien world brought in, but my biggest desire is somehow to get Terminator in this franchise. I read an AvPvT comic that always stuck with me and I’d love to see it realized
November 9, 2025 at 10:31 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
It’s actually illegal to make a movie look this good today
November 9, 2025 at 2:15 AM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Prepping for Badlands
Predator on VHS on a big CRT TV
November 9, 2025 at 2:06 AM
chrisakins.bsky.social
We all know that superheroes are the modern mythology, but it really is funny that the Greeks had all their greatest heroes teaming up and calling themselves The Argonauts as like the damn Avengers
November 8, 2025 at 7:09 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Being flooded with the knowledge of an infinitely expanding library is enough to make anyone a little strange

Read more: ChristianAkins.com/grimportents

#writingcommunity #writesky #WIPSnips #Booksky #indiebooks
Widdick was silent again, so I continued. "Yeah, I guess, but he didn't even flinch at you. I mean, no offense, but you scared the ever-living shit out of me when you first showed up." "I do have that effect." "And why can he see spirits anyway? Don't you have to be dead for that?" "Not necessarily," Sonny said. "Once you open your mind to what's really out there in the world, you can see just about anything." "I guess. I mean, I did see the demon that attacked me." "Right. As for old Widdick here, the knowledge of the lost books must have made him wise, seeing-" "And crazy." "Yeah, and a little crazy" Ad for Grim Portents, featuring a print copy of the book and an ebook on an iPhone. A QR code that takes you to my website and the words “Scan to learn more about debut paranormal fantasy novel Grim Portents” below it. Under that, it says “Available online anywhere books are sold!” And above it all is the tagline “Welcome to the first day of the end of your life”
November 8, 2025 at 4:06 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Bought 6 more today
chrisakins.bsky.social MechaniChris @chrisakins.bsky.social · 10d
Our VHS collection was starting to get a little out of hand, but rather than scale back, we just got new bookcases
Three white bookcases filled to the brim with VHS tapes
November 7, 2025 at 10:54 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
I think genre can is a tool to guide readers to what they may like, but I don’t even consider genre boundaries when I write. I tell the story in the most interesting way that I can and then determine what genres it falls in after the fact
#writingq #writingcommunity
susansavagelee.bsky.social Susan Savage Lee @susansavagelee.bsky.social · 10d
What draws you to blur or break genre boundaries? My stories just don’t fit neatly into one genre #writingq #WritingCommunity
November 7, 2025 at 6:36 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Well I WAS nearly 10,000 words into my WIP, but now I’m basically scrapping an entire chapter to rework the story from 3rd person omniscient to 3rd person limited. Pacing was all off!
#writingcommunity #writesky
November 7, 2025 at 3:37 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Our VHS collection was starting to get a little out of hand, but rather than scale back, we just got new bookcases
Three white bookcases filled to the brim with VHS tapes
November 7, 2025 at 3:50 AM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Captain Crunch Oops All Berries invented an entire category of joke without meaning to. I can say The Rise of Skywalker is Oops All Fan Service, and we all just know what that means
November 6, 2025 at 5:00 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
GRIM PORTENTS

HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE X CONSTANTINE

A man is murdered by a hell-beast on his wedding day. Now, with the help of the reaper who collected his soul, he must uncover who is releasing monsters from Hell if he wants to return to the life he was robbed of.

#P #F #H #PR #Hu #OWN #questpit
Grim Portents cover featuring a skeleton hand holding a feather and emerging from an open book. The title is on a burning banner that envelops the feather and a large beast looms over it all. At the top, the tagline reads: Welcome to the first day of the end of your life… Black and white sketch of characters Bill and Sonny. Bill is a dark featured man in a suit and kind of a Mark Ruffalo vibe. Sonny is a rotting corpse man with a cardigan. "I HAD ALWAYS TOLD MYSELF IT WAS A FIGMENT OF MY IMAGINATION, THE MIND PLAYING TRICKS. IT WAS JUST A SHADOW. BUT NOW THE MONSTER HAD BEEN GIVEN A NAME, AN IDENTITY. IT WAS REAL." Bill Baker wants nothing more than to marry the woman he loves, but when his wedding is interrupted by a rampaging hell-beast, his life is thrown into disarray. Desperate for a second chance, he will do anything to set his future back on track. Now, with the help of a soul-collecting reaper named Sonny, he must uncover who is releasing monsters from Hell, in order to earn back the life that was stolen from him and prevent the oncoming end of days. Faced with the choice between what is right and what is easy, Bill may have to sacrifice all he holds dear for one last shot at life. Ad for Grim Portents, featuring a print copy of the book and an ebook on an iPhone. A QR code that takes you to my website and the words “Scan to learn more about debut paranormal fantasy novel Grim Portents” below it. Under that, it says “Available online anywhere books are sold!” And above it all is the tagline “Welcome to the first day of the end of your life”
November 5, 2025 at 3:15 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Remember remember the 5th of November… to check out a copy of Grim Portents!

Get it here: www.christianakins.com/grimportents

#writingcommunity #wipsnips #writesky #Booksky #indiebooks
I rushed through the front door, immediately reminded of the difference between uncomfortable heat, and unsurvivable heat. Thankfully, I was already dead, as the smoke would likely kill me in minutes. "Professor!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, but the fire raged so loudly, that any reply would be lost in the noise. I ran through the house, straining to see through the smoke for any sign of life. When I reached the bathroom-hoping to find Widdick huddled in the tub-I instead spotted a thin trail of blood on the tile, leading away as if someone had been dragged out. This fire was no candle accident. Someone else had been here. Ad for Grim Portents, featuring a print copy of the book and an ebook on an iPhone. A QR code that takes you to my website and the words “Scan to learn more about debut paranormal fantasy novel Grim Portents” below it. Under that, it says “Available online anywhere books are sold!” And above it all is the tagline “Welcome to the first day of the end of your life”
November 5, 2025 at 2:54 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Remember when people complained about posting pictures of food? Why did people do that?? I LOVE seeing people’s food

Everytime someone posts a picture of a sandwich I stop scrolling immediately and just stare longingly
November 3, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Reposted by MechaniChris
chrisakins.bsky.social
Guess whose book qualifies right under the wire!

And even if you haven’t read it (yet) I hear there’s a best cover category 👀

indiestorygeek.com/story/10310
#writingcommunity #booksky #indiebooks #indieinkawards
November 3, 2025 at 4:21 AM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Imagine getting to the afterlife and still having to deal with capitalism

Book link: www.christianakins.com/grimportents

#writingcommunity #booksky #writesky #wipsnips #indiebooks
"Food?" I asked. "Do spirits need to eat?" "We don't need to, but you can't imagine how gratifying it is to have a sandwich after years of no taste at all. It's all imported from upstairs, and it's the only thing us spirits can actually eat. Of course, it's not free. Every purchase could add weeks or months to our service" My eyes went wide. "Weeks or months? Who would do something like that? I mean it's not like spirits need new clothes." "Bill, look at me. I died in 1847. Do you think I was wearing this?" He gestured to his cardigan and tight-fitting khakis. He wore slip-on shoes and had colorful patterns on his socks. "But why?" I asked him. Sonny removed one of his gloves to display his rotting hand. "After looking the way I have for so long, it's nice to feel like a human being every once in a while." His gaze lingered on his fingers for a few more seconds before he pulled the glove back on. Ad for Grim Portents, featuring a print copy of the book and an ebook on an iPhone. A QR code that takes you to my website and the words “Scan to learn more about debut paranormal fantasy novel Grim Portents” below it. Under that, it says “Available online anywhere books are sold!” And above it all is the tagline “Welcome to the first day of the end of your life”
November 3, 2025 at 4:08 PM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Got to use the term Alien Karate in my WIP tonight, so that’s fun
November 3, 2025 at 6:24 AM
chrisakins.bsky.social
Guess whose book qualifies right under the wire!

And even if you haven’t read it (yet) I hear there’s a best cover category 👀

indiestorygeek.com/story/10310
#writingcommunity #booksky #indiebooks #indieinkawards
November 3, 2025 at 4:21 AM