Claudie
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clh2oars.bsky.social
Claudie
@clh2oars.bsky.social
3.7K followers 440 following 11K posts
Québécoise, indie author of platonic queer SFF and Indie Ink Award winner. Creator of the Aroace Database; member of the Kraken Collective. she/elle

Direct shop: https://claudiearseneault.itch.io/
All Links: https://claudiearseneault.com/welcome
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clh2oars.bsky.social
If you fancy short stories from me, I collected some of my early writings into one fun collection. Includes...

⛸️ An ace sci-fi retelling of Quebec's Alexis le trotteur's folk legend
🧡 Buff sapphic fairy saving everyone
🌱 Solarpunk rooted in Quebec City

buy.bookfunnel.com/hywhf3eb6s
A promotional post with a wintry background and the Snowstorm & Overgrowth cover (a big white title on greenery above a winter solarpunk cityscape). The information says: Solarpunk and Fantasy, Aromanticism and asexuality, Québec legends and history. Discover Claudie’s unique storyscape through eight short stories.
November 29, 2025 at 2:18 AM
clh2oars.bsky.social
The team: teenagers with misfunctioning magic
The plan: climb Mt. Kuhri to celebrate the now-banned Keyhole Festival
The "ace in their sleeve": a grumpy war veteran ... from the war they lost

Perfect!

THE KEYHOLE SHRINE is a 8200 queer fantasy story ❄️

claudiearseneault.itch.io/the-keyhole-...
An image with a dark blue background, and the cover for a new “Queer YA Fantasy Short Story” available only on itchio. In which… A group of magical teenagers recruit a grumpy war hero to climb a sacred mountain and hold a now-banned ritual. It has a determined Sushine Trans Girl and an Aroace Grumpy Vet".
November 27, 2025 at 4:03 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
Potential TBR for the rest of the year! I'm mostly a mood reader, so rather than a definite, this is a pool I expect to draw from. All dependant on my library's limited availability, if I already own it, how much it is, etc. Lots of aro/ace books :D
Potential TBR Before the End Power to Yield by Bogi Takács The Map and the Territory by A. M. Tuomala Cascade by Rachel A. Rosen Non-Player Character by Veo Corva Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White A Stage of Ruthless Stars by JJ Clapton Potential TBR Before the End The Reanimator’s Heart by Kara Jorgensen The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy Demon Song by Kelsea Yu Màgòdiz by Gabe Calderón Yoke of Stars by R. B. Lemberg Be the Sea by Clara Ward
November 26, 2025 at 6:30 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
This is the equivalent for Isandor. Book 1 & 2 were published in 2017 and have been around for much longer. Book 3 & 4 (released 2022 and 2023 respectively) also had an extra dev edits to help me split a too-thick book into two (I had a day job at the time, I was happy to pay for it)
A table of Profit and Loss for the City of Spires series. Strife: $6701 Betrayal: $2543 Deceit: -$403 Exile: -$888 Omnibus: $282
November 26, 2025 at 4:23 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
Early books in series almost always carry the rest of them. Nerezia is only in the green because of Can*Con (the little mass market paperbacks sell well in person); it'll be back in red as I keep paying for covers. You can see 8 & 9 have less expenses than 7.
A table with every Nerezia novellas and where they are in profits and loss. The first has a 1972 profit, but it falls right down to 150 afterwards. Most of them are a few hundred dollars in the red. Nerezia7 is at -$465, while 8 & 9 are at -$237
November 26, 2025 at 4:23 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
I am, basically, coasting on *previous books* doing so. I write series, and I do believe you have to evaluate them as a whole, more than by the book? And as a whole, across my entire career, this is my P&L (numbers written The French Way lol)
Isandor : 8235.25 Val-de-mer: 7 587.82 Viral Airwaves: 760.61 Nerezia: 139.06
November 26, 2025 at 4:23 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
Look at the pale green on this graph. That's the furthest from dying out. And that's *my* share (we split between editors). COMMON BONDS is a commercial success. We sold ~400 through Kickstarter, 500 more the following year, 2600 as of this October.
A graphic of my sales since 2019. It has a big peak in 2023. The areas under the line are blocks of colours that represent the series. Isandor has been the gist of it all the way until 2023, after which Nerezia takes a good chunk of the space. Val-de-mer holds steady and well through most of this. Common Bonds holds a surprisingly decent amount for a single anthology.
November 26, 2025 at 4:11 AM
clh2oars.bsky.social
TFW you have enough queer books to make a rainbow.

This isn't even all of them, it would have made the images too small to fit everyone in! I do need to get a proper yellow cover !!

claudiearseneault.com/my-books/

💙📚 🌈🚀💫 #QueerAdultSFF
Six bands of colour forming a rainbow, from purple to red. The image is titled “My Books as a Rainbow!” In purple, there is Ruined History, City of Deceit, and Lost Traditions. In blue there is The Sea-Spirit Festival, Flooded Secrets, Painted Flock. In green: Viral Airwaves, City of Deceit, Common Bonds. In yellow, Stories from the Deep and City of Strife. In orange, Awakenings, City of Betrayal, Common Bonds 2 In red: Motes of Inspiration and Baker Thief.
November 26, 2025 at 12:49 AM
clh2oars.bsky.social
So. For funsies. Here is what it looks like for me since 2021, by series.

The bump is when I decided to quit to try to make a living out of this. Chart is in USD, does not include CB1/CB2 Kickstarter, or expenses.
A graphic of my sales since 2019. It has a big peak in 2023. The areas under the line are blocks of colours that represent the series. Isandor has been the gist of it all the way until 2023, after which Nerezia takes a good chunk of the space. Val-de-mer holds steady and well through most of this. Common Bonds holds a surprisingly decent amount for a single anthology.
November 25, 2025 at 10:35 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
We hope these will make you laugh, and tense, and cry, that they will make you feel seen and loved, that they will give you the strength to love in your own way, on your own terms, in all the queer glory you desire.

Here is our full list of authors and stories! (ALT text to have it written down)
An autumnal leafy background titled Common Bonds 2 Title of Contents Page 1/2 and the following list: “At the end of forever” - Aiste Grice, “Black Box” - Alistair Robinson, “Will Lamplight Illuminate Your Face?” - M.A. Acosta, “Screw Everybody” - Anna Stein, “Sap and Marrow” - Cyrus Amelia Fisher, “Witchcraft is Not a Love Story” - Emmanuel Kibet, “Love Hungry” - Hannah Baxter, “venante umbras” - JD rivers, “Well-Worn Pockets” - K.J. Isley, “Wish, Wish” - Lisobel Tang An autumnal leafy background titled Common Bonds 2 Title of Contents Page 2/2 and the following list: “Behold! These are the Pastries that Were Prophesied!” - Matthew Taber-Hanson, “The Woman in the Snow” - Nico Martinez Nocito, “The Husband Stitch” - R.F. Daniels, “The Hunger Who Wears His Skin” - Ren Oliveira, “Sowing Constellations” - S.H. Marr, “Terra secunda” - S.M. Pearce, “Flurries and Flames” - Sophie a. Katz, “Anise, Lozenge, Sugarplum” - Tunvey Mou, “PastPort to Franchesca and Luna of Brooklyn” - Yelena Crane
November 25, 2025 at 4:03 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
The time has come! Today is our Table of Content announcement for COMMON BONDS 2!

You can get all details directly on our Kickstarter Update: www.kickstarter.com/projects/cla...

But I'll also thread them below!
An autumnal leafy background with a mockup of Common Bonds 2, and the title “Common Bonds 2 – table of contents announcement”
November 25, 2025 at 4:03 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
You don't have to trust social medias to hear from me! Depending on what you prefer, there are two good ways to stay in touch 💚

Patreon: patreon.com/claudiearseneault
Newsletter: buttondown.com/ClaudieArsen...
Stay in Touch Patreon (ramble hours): free members get biweekly updates on projects and life, paid members get all extras, sneak peeks, essays! Newsletter (short & straightforward): big releases, cover reveals, and important updates. Sales, bundles, and other discounts.
November 24, 2025 at 9:01 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
BAKER THIEF and PAINTED FLOCK can each stand on their own, but they have a connected arc! While the 1st is more mystery and action oriented, the 2nd is an aftermath story, with thorny relationships and science!

BT: claudiearseneault.com/baker-thief/
PF: claudiearseneault.com/painted-flock/

🌈📚
An image split in two. At the top, Baker Thief with "First you expose the corporate conspiracy to stick people in little power gems..." and in the bottom "but then you've got to get the victims out of there, into new bodies"
November 23, 2025 at 2:27 AM
clh2oars.bsky.social
Never forget you can get all of my books through a Kobo Plus subscription! And there's a -lot- of them, too, if you're the type of reader who loves to dig into a series all in a row.

www.kobo.com/ca/en/plus

🌈📚
All my books are in Kobo Plus. The image shows covers for 13 different books by Claudie Arseneault, from three series: Val-de-mer, City of Spires, and The Chronicles of Nerezia.
November 22, 2025 at 2:18 AM
clh2oars.bsky.social
Just three newly-met friends going on an adventure that will change their lives.

THE CHRONICLES OF NEREZIA is a classic quest story full of all the things I love: queer found families, board/card games, side quests, and funky worldbuilding!

buy.bookfunnel.com/1fbixxop4u

#QueerAdultSFF ♠️🌈📚 💙📚
A picture with an orange background and the cover for Awakenings, on which three friends look out at a red-sand desert road, towards a domed city. Your story is my story… In which … an optimist with countless failed apprenticeships, an anxious lizard artificer, and an amnesiac elf traverse a haunted world in a magical, sentient Wagon to unravel the mystery behind the elf’s missing memories (and play lots of board games). An earnest love letter to JRPGs steeped in an aro/ace -normative world
November 20, 2025 at 4:01 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
Just going to post part of the bit where they discuss Alleaze's gender system. It's missing Aliyah's response to it but it's long enough already it. :D #SFFChat
“The simplest way to explain is that they use four different pronouns, associated with four … global perceptions of genders, you could say. It’s not well defined, though I suppose it is more so than Trenaze’s whatever-floats-your-desires approach. Each of these four has a corresponding colour, along with a pronoun set, and you’ll see people wear various pins of all sorts—animals, plants, geometric motifs and so on—to mark which to use. Masculine, green, he/him. Feminine, orange, she/her. Many or fluid, purple, they/them. None or undefined, teal, e/em.” “So I’m … undefined? None?” That was a strange thought. Horace wasn’t certain what it was supposed to mean. E’d not chosen eir pronouns to mean anything at all. E’d just … liked the shape of the sounds. Rumi only shrugged. “Look, masculine is an ill-defined concept for me too, so I get. It’s just not how we conceive these things where I’m from. But I put the green pin on because I like he/him, and I’m fine letting them think what they want, as long as I recognize when they’re talking to me. At least all of our pronouns are in the lot. I’m sure you’ve met plenty of people in Trenaze with sets that don’t match these four.”
November 20, 2025 at 1:46 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
Tiny?? 😮
Two avocado halves with a super small pit in the middle
November 19, 2025 at 10:25 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
AWARD ELIGIBILITY -- PAINTED FLOCK

- Self-published June 2025
- Eligible as a novel
- Canadian (Quebec) author
- Fantasy

I poured my little aro heart into this one. The setting is deeply rooted in my love for Quebec City. I think it's some of my best, most mature work. It would mean A LOT to me. 💙
The cover for Painted Flock, in which a masc person and a child stand in a city street with their back to the viewer. The child is pointing towards a flock of birds swooping through the sky. At the end of the street is an open space with a tall pineless larch tree in front of fortifications, and the figure of a fat woman waving at them. The entire cover is in tones of blue, and it is clearly set in winter.
November 19, 2025 at 3:22 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
A brilliant engineer must work with the scientist who trapped thousands in small gems to save them, but to do so, they will need to learn to trust one another—with the science, with their loved ones, and with their confused aro hearts.

Aromantic fantasy novel! buy.bookfunnel.com/prdyz5509q

🌈📚
An arrow trope image where several elements point to a central cover. The cover features a masc person and a child stand in a city street with their back to the viewer. The child is pointing towards a flock of birds swooping through the sky. The entire cover is in tones of blue, and it is clearly set in winter. The surrounding information includes: the evil scientist who betrayed ols community, fixing what’s broken / aftermath story, three arospec leads with messy relationships to romance, the chaos of a six cats household, may contain Baker Thief characters, the gender feels of choosing a body for yourself, fantasy city and spring traditions inspired by Quebec City
November 19, 2025 at 12:49 AM
clh2oars.bsky.social
I have ~5 auto posts slots on Buffer, which will be 20-25 per month. I'm trying to get enough posts ready that you wouldn't see the same twice in a month.

Honestly if I made individual posts about the Nerezia novellas I would be golden!
a buffer screenshot that shows Claudie has 19 drafts for Bluesky
November 17, 2025 at 4:27 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
🥐 Queer fantasy that'll make you hungry! 🥐

With bits of mystery, bits of cozyness, BAKER THIEF brings you into the lively city of Val-de-mer, a setting that truly has my whole heart.

buy.bookfunnel.com/xtyrwsdcf6

🌈📚 #QueerAdultSFF #fantasy
An image with a prune-coloured background over which is a white croissants and the cover for Baker Thief. The latter pictures a fat person with a cape, skirt, and long hair billowing in the wind while she overlooks a city scape from a rooftop. The entire cover is in tones of pink-purple. Next to the cover is the following information: aromantic bigender MC, enemies to QPR, secret identities, setting inspired by Québec, bilingual puns. At the top of the image is a short blurb for the story: baker by day, thief by night, Claire must unravel the secret of the exocores while escaping the investigator on her case who just happens to be her cutest customer.
November 17, 2025 at 4:04 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
❄️SNOW IS HERE, TIME FOR A WINTRY SHORT STORY!❄️

I wrote this for Rainbow Crate's December box last year. It's got a grumpy mentor trying to corral teenagers through a heist-ish, and is frankly some of my funniest writing.

You can get it for a tiny $1!

claudiearseneault.itch.io/the-keyhole-...

🌈📚
An image with a dark blue background, and the cover for a new “Queer YA Fantasy Short Story” available only on itchio. In which… A group of magical teenagers recruit a grumpy war hero to climb a sacred mountain and hold a now-banned ritual. It has a determined Sushine Trans Girl and an Aroace Grumpy Vet".
November 17, 2025 at 3:44 PM
clh2oars.bsky.social
Welcome to the City of Spires, where gold flows up and shit flows down ~

A fully completed series with criss-crossing storylines, plenty of politics and action, but all centered on a core of kindness and trying to build a better world.

Start here: buy.bookfunnel.com/z3rnytsnvi

🌈📚
A spread of four books with covers that all depict towers in different architectural styles with a colourful sky as the background (pale blue, orange, purple, and green respectively). Above is the title “Isandor, the City of Spires”. Below, in a pale green rectangle, is the blurb for the series: Bickering merchant families vie for power through eccentric shows of wealth, their tower homes and magical gardens a stand-in for the gold in their vaults. When an idealistic noble challenges the newly-arrived Myrian Empire, he provokes a trade war that will ripple through the fancy towers, magical gardens, and dirty underbelly. Another purple rectangle indicates this series is a mosaic-style POV, every narrator is queer, many of them are aro and/or ace, and it’s a finished series of 4 books. Finally, under that in an orange rectangle is a simple pitch: “Games of Thrones meets Mr. Rogers”
November 16, 2025 at 2:27 AM
clh2oars.bsky.social
What happens if you try to structure a prose story like a long JRPG?

A semi-episodic series of novellas!

Unblock the road, visit a new city, struggle to cross an ocean, unravel your party's backstory, and find lore at the mysterious organization's secret base~

claudiearseneault.com/nerezia/

🌈📚
The covers for seven novellas (+two white rectangles with future titles) that make the entirety of The Chronicles of Nerezia series. They are linked by white dotted arrows, and under it is written “Your story is my story…”, the series’ tagline.
November 15, 2025 at 2:18 AM
clh2oars.bsky.social
Winter. Pretty. Outside my window
An image of countless tree branches with multiple offshoots covered in a thin layer of snow. Some have a slight ice line under, from rain freezing. The overall effect is a glittering tapestry
November 11, 2025 at 6:57 PM