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emkerkman.bsky.social
E.M. Kerkman | 🏴‍☠️☠️🔥
@emkerkman.bsky.social
71 followers 170 following 42 posts
22 | writer of surrealist short fiction, pirate novels, and weird poetry | 2024 Dell Award winner | short fiction appearing in Apex and Asimov’s

DE TERRA AD INFINITUM | #PlanesWIP
SAIL BY DAWN | #PiratesWIP

emkerkman.com
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emkerkman.bsky.social
Hey look, it’s me holding up a copy of my story in this month’s issue of @asimovssfmag.bsky.social! My first publication ever available in a brick and mortar store, too! Check my blog/newsletter for more info :)
A photo of author E.M. Kerkman holding a copy of Asimov’s Magazine issue 48 open to page 146, standing in front of her local Barnes and noble.
October 6, 2025 at 7:15 PM
emkerkman.bsky.social
#SFFChat A4: here’s the opening page of De Terra Ad Infinitum!
01. Inside the cockpit of a Roseway U-07 Firebird, Alexia Terranova flipped through the pages of a handwritten preflight checklist with a scowl on her face. On the dashboard of the single-seater aircraft, the vernier thruster light was still dark. Her in-air stabilizers were offline. Meaning, while she could steer, it wouldn’t be easy. Or fast. At the moment, she really needed easy. And fast. “Thirty seconds to drop!” the race referee announced over the tinny PA system in the hangar outside. Between the guttural rumble of her barely-legal engine and the thick shell of windglass around the cockpit, Terrah almost couldn’t understand him. “Terrah, you need to pull out,” a voice instructed her, and Terrah turned down the volume on her headset. “Not a chance, Rosie.” Terrah reread the ‘Thrusters’ page again in case she’d missed something the first three times. “I can still fly.” “Yeah, and crash. Of all the races for you to be overconfident in, the Spire is not—” “Fifteen seconds to drop!” the referee shouted. “Terrah—” “Auxiliary fuel pump off,” Terrah replied. “Flight controls, free and correct. Instruments, comms, gauges, lights, and docking gear, all checked. Altimeter is set, directional gyro is set, trim is set. Main engine, on. Auxiliary engine, on. Main thrusters, on. Vernier thrusters, not on, but we can work with that. Harness is fastened, rescue float is in here somewhere—” “If you crash my fucking plane, I’m taking what you owe me out of Leo’s estate,” Rosie grumbled.
September 4, 2025 at 5:32 PM
emkerkman.bsky.social
Also also, as a fun little extra, a friend of mine did fan art for Black Gold a while back—here’s her interpretation of the MC!

(Also, please go support her art if you like what you see! You can find her on KoFi here: ko-fi.com/cat_psychic)
A drawing of the main character in my most recently published short story, dressed like a cowboy with robot parts visible through the costume, over a simple blue and tan background
September 2, 2025 at 7:42 PM
emkerkman.bsky.social
#PosterPit #W #SF #SPF #A #NA #PlanesWIP

Racing planes for a living, and newly accepted to the airforce academy, Terrah's living the dream when disaster strikes. Explosions on a flying city always mean trouble.

Especially when you live under it.
Text on poster: "De Terra Ad Infinitum: A new adult science fiction novel by award winning author E.M. Kerkman. One central mystery, Two worlds colliding, Three narrative POVs. Terrah always knew she would fly. She never expected to fall." Along the side, the repeating text reads "Omnes aequales sub astris. Pax diu". The background image is a real photograph of a North Vietnamese MiG-17 aircraft being hit by 20 mm rounds from an Air Force F-105D on June 3, 1967. Photo credits: USAF via National Archives
August 16, 2025 at 9:38 PM
emkerkman.bsky.social
#PosterPit #W #NA #F #R #PiratesWIP

During her world tour, Captain Holloway is captured by pirates. After encountering an assassination plot, a magical curse, an unlikely romance, and an imminent war, she finally takes a side. The wrong side.

It's all Captain Falcon's fault.
The text in the image reads: "Magic, mutiny, romance, and a six-month deadline. What could possibly go wrong?" "Dual POVs, sentient oceans, vengeful ghosts, magical curses, enemies to lovers, and lovers to enemies." "He has a curse to break. She has everything to prove." "Sail By Dawn, a new-adult fantasy novel by award winning author E. M. Kerkman." The background image is of a sailing ship on a stormy sea with dawn light shining from behind it. It is a paining titled "Bird of Dawn" by Montague Dawson.
August 16, 2025 at 5:01 PM
emkerkman.bsky.social
#PosterPit #W #SF #SPF #A #NA #PlanesWIP

On the floating city she calls home, Terrah just wants to race planes and join the air force to make a better future for her family. Then things start exploding.
Text on poster: "De Terra Ad Infinitum: A new adult science fiction novel by award winning author E.M. Kerkman. One central mystery, Two worlds colliding, Three narrative POVs. Terrah always knew she would fly. She never expected to fall." Along the side, the repeating text reads "Omnes aequales sub astris. Pax diu". The background image is a real photograph of a North Vietnamese MiG-17 aircraft being hit by 20 mm rounds from an Air Force F-105D on June 3, 1967. Photo credits: USAF via National Archives
August 16, 2025 at 3:02 PM
emkerkman.bsky.social
#questpit #F #YA #NA #RF #HF

SAIL BY DAWN

Andrew has a curse to break. Lior has everything to prove. When pushed together by the whims of the sea, the problems from their pasts become all too present. Mutiny, magic, and a sixth-month deadline. What could go wrong? Everything, it seems.
A collage relevant to Pirate WIP (also known as sail by Dawn) 1) golden sunlight on water 2) a male pirate silhouette looking at a gray stormy sky 3) a red and yellow sunset streaming through the clouds 4) a pair of masculine blue eyes looking at the viewer 5) an image of the sea and sky superimposed with the text “I’ll be in the sky, I’ll be in the sea” 6) a golden female eye peering through black curly hair at the viewer, 7) a pirate ship sailing at sunset 8) a female figure silhouetted by a tall bonfire behind her, 9) a stormy sea as seen from a beach at dawn
August 7, 2025 at 3:48 AM
emkerkman.bsky.social
#questpit #SF #SFF #A #NA #W #agentguide

DE TERRA AD INFINITUM
💫 ~90k
🌟 Adult/New Adult dieselpunk sci-fantasy
💫 currently standalone, open to sequel
🌟 contains romance, but not romance-centric
💫 knock off pod racing from Star Wars in unique dystopian setting
🌟 bisexual FMC (who gets the girl)
Title page: De Terra Ad Infinitum, Adult/New Adult science fiction by E. M. Kerkman The Pitch: Alexia “Terrah” Terranova moonlights as a pilot, illegally racing planes beneath Helix City, a massive dieselpunk city floating in Earth’s lower atmosphere. During the day, she’s a model student at the Academy of Aeronautics. Terrah is content with her life, but when planes begin exploding during races, she finds herself unwillingly involved in trying to solve the mystery. Forced to unite the two halves of her world—her friends at the academy and her racing team—to survive, the six of them evade blackmail, sabotage, and even an attempted kidnapping to chase the mystery to its source. When the team finally uncovers the secret at the mystery’s core, they realize it could reignite the war between Helix City and their long-dormant enemies. Before they can reveal it to the world, Terrah’s group is violently fractured, and her story becomes one of survival against insurmountable odds. Will she make it back to Helix City in time to save it, or will her home be destroyed before she can warn them about their literal downfall, hidden in plain sight? For fans of: bulleted list: Dieselpunk/Retrofuturism Near-future alternate-Earth and post-apocalypse settings Military Academy inspired settings Cold-War-inspired politics Complex and divided societies New-Adult-aged characters Forgiveness as a tool for growth Losing and regaining friendships Escaping a familial legacy Messy romantic relationships Queer love triangles Found family Multiple POVs Comp titles: moral engines by Phillip reeve, retribution falls by Chris wooding, airborn by Kenneth oppel, skyward by Brandon Sanderson, and leviathan by Scott westerfield Excerpt from chapter 6 Callum stepped inside the Admiral’s office and closed the door softly behind him. The Admiral gestured for him to sit in one of the empty chairs in front of her desk, not looking up as she leafed through a pile of papers. Brilliant white light streamed in through the arched industrial window at the back of her office, casting everything in a ghostly gray. “I have a task for you, Callum,” she said as he sat, finally looking at him. Callum ran his sweaty palms down his thighs. “The girl from the entrance exam.” It was a statement, not a question, and Admiral Astara’s expression softened a bit as she watched him squirm. “Correct. You’re smarter than you look.” She handed him a dark green plasticine folder. “I pulled her file. You might be interested in what’s inside.” Callum didn’t bother to question the legality of it and opened the folder, scanning through it quickly. It was emptier than other files he’d seen, and though the photo in the upper left corner was old, her cold, brown eyes and difficult scowl hadn’t changed at all in the years since it was taken. The name next to the photo gave him pause, even though he expected it. Alexia Terranova. Terranova as in TerraCorp. She really is alive, he thought, and he must’ve said it aloud, as Admiral Astara sighed and leaned back in her seat. “She is,” she replied, “and that poses problems.”
August 7, 2025 at 3:09 AM
emkerkman.bsky.social
#questpit #SF #A #W

AIRBORN X MORTAL ENGINES

Terrah always knew she would fly. She never expected to fall.

🌟dieselpunk floating cities
🌟man-made apocalypse
🌟political intrigue plot
🌟flight school setting
🌟queer love triangle
🌟messy relationships
🌟new-adult characters
A collection of nine images reflective of the themes of the book De Terra Ad Infinitum. In order: 1 beams of light erupting from below a layer of low clouds, 2 a circular solar system structure in black and gold, 3 a grainy image of a jet plane as seen through a targeting scope, 4 two jet aircraft flying upwards in high contrast black and white, 5 one jet aircraft flying leftwards in bright red on a black background, 6 a black and white galaxy, 7 planetary orbital calculations behind superimposed text reading “and we’ve barely begun”, 8 a hand with strings tied around each finger like a puppeteer, 9 a disc shaped floating city in the background with a lone figure silhouetted in black in the foreground.
August 6, 2025 at 8:13 PM
emkerkman.bsky.social
Y’all know what time of year it is—renaissance faire season! New year, new profile photo, as always. Costume hasn’t changed much since last time, but I did dye my hair. On to another year of writing silly pirate books :)
August 4, 2025 at 6:03 PM
emkerkman.bsky.social
Here’s my writing buddy Hazel! She’s in her teenage years where she’s basically just teeth with legs, so she’s not *that* helpful, but she is cute. #weeknightwriters
August 4, 2025 at 6:00 PM