G.M. Gray
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gmgray.bsky.social
G.M. Gray
@gmgray.bsky.social
1.3K followers 660 following 2.6K posts
they/them

Writer. Artist. Gun metal gray.

I am writing queer normative sci-fi blending literature, genre, and weeby anime fun!

https://linktr.ee/gmgraywrites
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gmgray.bsky.social
If you see this, I IMPLORE you to post a picture from whatever device you're using without explanation.
A Reddit post by FredrickTheOrange. It says: Nero Gear Scaeva A Nero tol Scaeva Game Produced by Nero Scaeva Studios Directed by Nero tol Scaeva
November 28, 2025 at 5:03 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
I'm about to be busy with holiday stuff, so I think I just gotta pull the trigger and get these sent off to the printer, so I have cards as merch for some upcoming events...
A pink card with two creatures that look a lot like cassowaries (they are called kiyu-kiyu in Triple Strike) jumping and screaming at the sky much like how emus play. Purple, pink and blue confetti falls around them and the card says "Ain't no party like a Terror Bird Party" in fun fonts. A picture of Natalia from Triple Strike in an orange coat and hat lined with light gray ruffs. She has a darker orange scarf on and she's holding a steaming mug as she smiles at the camera. It is done as a portrait with a border around her. A picture of Sven and Alan from Triple Strike on a purple card with leaves and flowers inlaid in white. Sven is on the upper right side of the card, leaning back against his elbows and grins down at Alan. Alan is on the bottom left side of the card and he has one leg slightly raised, chin pressed against one hand as he smiles back up at Sven. They have a red string going between their pinkies forming two hearts as it swirls between them. The text says "Love is Love" in cursive font across the whole card.
November 24, 2025 at 8:40 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
Hey all, for anyone who follows me and somehow doesn't know yet, I write and illustrate my own queer normative space opera light novel series, Triple Strike!

www.akula-games.com/projects/tri...

I also have a Discord:
discord.com/invite/HtDtV...

And a mailing list:
eepurl.com/iJTQLg
The front and back cover of the first volume of the Triple Strike light novel. The cover is a picture of Sven and Alan on the bridge. Sven, a purple-haired elf looking guy is seated in the captain's chair and has an iguana on his shoulder. Alan, a human, stands behind him with one hand in his pocket and one hand on the pommel of his sword, which is sheathed and pressed into the ground. Sven is grinning up at him, while Alan smiles tolerantly down at him. A promotional image featuring all four covers of the Triple Strike series: Threads of Fate, Pasts Revisited, A Gathering Storm, Threads Unbound. Beside these images is the title "Triple Strike: A space opera light novel" followed by a list of tropes: Found Family Queer Normative Sunshine x Grumpy World-building Focused Political Intrigue Oblivious Ace Problems Ensemble Cast Swashbuckling Banter Occasional Space Furries A mood board with a background of stars titled "Triple Strike" in purple letters. There are eight images total. The top left is the largest, and it features a schooner sailing across what appears to be a sea of stars into a nebula. It may just be a reflection on the ocean as well. Next to this image are a sequence of three, small images. The top image shows an illustration of a smiling woman's face with dark skin and curly blonde hair against a background of flowers. She has a red bandanna. The next shows the hilt of a silver basket-hilt rapier on a background of wood. The third shows the bottom half of a ma'jenn's face. They have curling ram's horns, silver dreadlocks with bells intertwined in them, and dark skin. They are wearing a blue tunic decorated with silver embroidery. The next image on the middle left is a stock image of a map strewn with money, an old camera, a magnifying glass, and a passport. The image on the middle right is an illustration of Alan and Sven from Triple Strike. They are lying on a bed smiling at each other. Alan has darker skin and brown hair. He is shirtless. Sven has pale skin, lavender hair, and green eyes. On the bottom left, is another illustration from Triple Strike. It is Alan shirtless looking over his shoulder. He has his hair pulled up, and he is sweating. His dragon tattoo on his shoulder is readily visible. On the bottom right is a picture of a landscape with the Milky Way visible in the night sky. The cover of a Dark Fantasy and Sci-Fi anthology called Campfire at the Crossroads with stories by Elly Call, Kathyrn Danette, Bridgette Day, Marlena Dutch, and G.M. Gray. The cover is a stylized picture of flames coming from a campfire in orange, yellow and green.
November 24, 2025 at 8:32 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
Alan prefers to keep his hair long enough to pull back in a ponytail. He'd keep it even longer if not for regulation reasons. Alan would deny caring, but he's 100% fussy about his appearance. Sven cuts his own hair if that's not obvious.

(Picture of their first meeting for reference lol).
An illustration of how Sven and Alan met. Alan has shoulder length brown hair pulled into a short ponytail, bangs spilling around his face. He's behind Sven, holding his sword to Sven throat, while Sven smiles up at him as if amused. Sven has a mess of spiky hair, longer on the right side than the left and held back by a bandana.
November 24, 2025 at 5:02 AM
gmgray.bsky.social
A movie that takes place where you’re from
Poster for the 1990 movie, Slacker.
November 24, 2025 at 1:38 AM
gmgray.bsky.social
Drop some UNIQUE HAIR 👨‍🎤 🖤 👩‍🎤

(Sorry, gotta shamelessly self-promote Sven for this one :P)
A picture of Sven sitting before an empty beer smiling in a shocked way. He has purple hair that is shaggy and shoulder length on the right side and shorter and spiky on the left. It's held back by a gray bandana. In a thought bubble, he wonders, "Am..I an alien?"
November 24, 2025 at 12:27 AM
gmgray.bsky.social
Went to the Books and Friends Bookish Market and picked up a bunch of books and zines! Including a rare, gratuitous selfie of my outfit because I got so many compliments while I was out. Overalls: queer catnip 😂.
A collection of books and zines on a table. My Dreams Come True and Blood of the Black Thorn by Rocio Carranza, The Barefoot Followers of Sweet Potato Grace by Megan Okonsky, the zine All Work and No Play by Ripley Larue, and the zine literary review The Sneaky Ottoman Review Fall Issue 2025. A selfie of me in a red turtleneck and overalls.
November 23, 2025 at 10:26 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
Preference on which terror bird should be in the front? I still need to rejigger them to fix the perspective/tangents, but I want to decide on who's in front first >_>.
A picture of two kiyu-kiyu, which look like cassowaries but also emus and kinda chocobos. The one on the left is dipped down, head against her back as she screams at the sky. On the right behind her, the other bird is leaping into the air, also screaming at the sky as she flaps her wings. Same picture as the previous one, but now the bird on the right is in front of the bird on the left: A picture of two kiyu-kiyu, which look like cassowaries but also emus and kinda chocobos. The one on the left is dipped down, head against her back as she screams at the sky. On the right in front of her, the other bird is leaping into the air, also screaming at the sky as she flaps her wings.
November 23, 2025 at 4:07 AM
gmgray.bsky.social
I'm tabling in two separate art and book festivals the weekend of the 5th/6th, so I'm making cards just to have more table merch. Started with one of Nat~.
An oval illustrative portrait of Natalia from Triple Strike. She has green eyes, blonde curly hair and pale skin. She's smiling at the camera holding a cup of a steaming liquide. She's wearing a pale orange parka lined with light blue fluff and wearing a darker orange scarf.
November 22, 2025 at 6:59 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
Back in 2019, we had a little Chinese New Year celebration for our guinea pigs (Year of the Pig!) and I drew this to commemorate it. All of these little guys have passed away now, and while I wish they could've made the next Pig year in 2031, that's just not the way of the rodent 🥲
A picture of my three late guinea pigs (and some poops because guinea pigs). On the left is Macchiato, a cream and white Abyssinian standing on his hind legs mouth slightly open. Next to him is Ganache, a mostly black Peruvian with a square white face. He is resting on all four legs, and his brother, Ferdinand, a black and white American with a black face and a white chinstrap, has his front paws on Ganache's back. The background is all red and has the Chinese character for "boar" along with a stylized flower.
November 22, 2025 at 1:40 AM
gmgray.bsky.social
We put Ganache down this morning. It was time and we’ve been doing palliative care for months now but it’s still hard to say goodbye. He was a great little pig.
Ganache, a black Peruvian guinea pig with a white stripe on his nose, eating a mini pumpkin dressed as a bee for Halloween. Ganache, a black Peruvian guinea pig with a white stripe on his nose, wearing a shark hoodie. Ganache, a black Peruvian guinea pig with a white stripe on his nose, in a timothy hay hidie next to his brother, Ferdinand, who passed earlier. Ferdinand is a black and white American guinea pig. Ganache, a black Peruvian guinea pig with a white stripe on his nose, sitting in a timothy hay house.
November 21, 2025 at 6:00 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
If you want to see what's in the bundle and/or read my heartfelt reason without leaving the comfort of your bsky, here's a screenshot ;P.
A screenshot of the itch.io Black Friday "I Hate Consumerism" Book Bundle. Listed are six items for $0: Triple Strike books 1 through 4, a short story Bad Access (set in the Triple Strike universe) and a short story Flowers Grow in Desolate Places (set in a separate post-apocalyptic universe). The description includes the following message: I hate Black Friday. I loathe it. And the modern ethos around consumerism/capitalism? Can't say I'm a fan of those things either. Which is why, instead of putting things on sale (or on "sale" as is often the case), from November 27th through December 1st, I'm giving all my books and short stories away for free. Save your money. Just take 'em! All I ask is that, if you do decide to snag them, please take the time to read instead of allowing them to languish forever as "some day" stories. I gave it my all trying to make these works worthwhile, and I hope at least a few of you find them meaningful. Because nothing I make is "content." For good or for ill, I create from the heart, which is why I want this Black Friday to be about connection -- not consumerism. That said, if you are desperate to engage in some form of exchange of goods and services, reviews here or on Goodreads/StoryGraph are always greatly appreciated, as are shout outs on social media!
November 20, 2025 at 9:11 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
#Novmember 19

A day late, but this was already sitting around so...
A one panel omake titled "What if...Triple Strike had a typical light novel title?" It show's a picture of a short Alan blushing as a very tall Sven grabs his arms from behind, leering at him. It says "I was kidnapped by space pirates...and they turned me gay???!!!" Below the normal versions of Sven and Alan look up at it. Alan looks like =.= and he's saying "..." while Sven looks like :D and he's saying "Wow, so tall!"
November 20, 2025 at 3:38 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
They're not in a river/lake, but the sveltnas are an endemic species on the ice moon of Vodnee. They are an apex predator/deep ocean dweller, and the Vodneel tribe both consider them gods (in an animistic sense) and hunt them ritualistically/as a highly prized resource.
An illustration of a sveltnas being hunted by a submersible along with two drones in otherwise pitch black waters. The sveltnas is a serpent-like creature with bioluminescent markings down its sides along with spikes and translucent fins.
November 17, 2025 at 6:47 AM
gmgray.bsky.social
Even if they’re not true wolves, can Ethiopian wolves still attend this school? 👀
A photograph of an Ethiopian wolf standing amid flowers. It is looking forward, ears cocked. It looks somewhere between a wolf and a fox — slender and red colored fur with white markings.
November 16, 2025 at 3:28 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
For most people, it seems to be a pretty even split between Sven, Alan, and Valtra, but @marlenadutch.bsky.social's willingness to love a niche character in a niche fandom counts for so much, I gotta go with Ragnar 🤣.
A picture of a pyrean goth man sitting in a futuristic-looking chair and grinning cheerfully. He has long black hair in a high pony tail wearing an all black sleeveless shirt, skirt and boots. He's also wearing black fishnet gloves and black nail polish.
November 16, 2025 at 1:04 AM
gmgray.bsky.social
On a lark, I applied for a booth at my local grocery store co-op's arts festival and got accepted! So while I'm taking the rest of November off from event-ing, looks like I'll be back at it in December! Please come by (I will try to have more art-oriented non-book merch before then 😅).
A graphic that says Arts Festival with a picture of a tattooed hand reaching for a present below a Wheatsville food co-op logo. The tag line says It's a parking lot take over! Join us Saturday, December 6 from 10am-5pm at our South Lamar location for our biggest event of the year -- the Wheatsville Arts Festival!
November 15, 2025 at 12:20 AM
gmgray.bsky.social
I'm actually editing a scene with him and Tris right now dealing with exactly this haha. Took five books for Alan to deal with his feelings, but we're getting there lol.
“I thought I could find a cure,” Tristan said. “It was far too late by the time we realized what was happening to Izzy, but we noticed Syl’s symptoms so much earlier. I thought there must’ve been a cure somewhere out there. Some medical institute on some planet who might know something.” “I know,” Alan replied in a tone that left his words short and clipped. “Mama told me. She never blamed you.” The way Alan trailed off, an unspoken but I do hung in the air, and Tristan must have heard it, because he winced, rubbing the back of his neck in a rueful gesture. “When your dad made the call to return to Earth, Lindy and I agreed it was the right decision, even if…even if it meant we couldn’t come with you. But the truth is…” Tristan trailed off before taking a deep breath. “I’ve always worried about you, Alai. I always worried that you’d —” “Alan.” Alan’s hands clenched into fists. Tristan blinked, the confusion plain on his face. “W-What?” “You can call me Alan, or Inspector, or Inspector Beringer — whichever of those you prefer — but you have no right to call me Alai.” Alai. Alan’s Drakiel name. When they’d come to Earth, Alan had left it behind that name along with his friends, Nibel’s misty forests, and his mother’s beloved aviary.
November 14, 2025 at 7:12 AM
gmgray.bsky.social
As promised, I'm using Sven for both green and purple haha. Pyreans get cool hair colors, because I am a free agent and no one can stop me. Also I was watching a lot of anime when I designed Sven (and still watch a lot of anime who am I kidding). Sometimes you gotta make your own fun, right?
A picture of Sven and Alan on a bed. Alan is shirtless and giving Sven a soft smile while Sven is fully dressed and touching the side of Alan's cheek with his gloved hand. He has green eyes and messy purple hair.
November 5, 2025 at 3:27 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
#Novmember Day 5

lol Steele is a narcissistic piece of shit. He's power-hungry, cruel, and way worse at managing a separatist movement that he thinks he is.

I guess he has a nice (stolen) weapons collection and is hot?
Steele, a pale pyrean man with a long braid, a cool coat and a lot of scars on the right side of his face, looks at his tablet from a very opulent captain's quarters with a number of antiques in the back along with a stash of weapons.
November 5, 2025 at 3:22 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
#Novmember Day 4

My partner picked cars to match the personalities of the main cast, and he chose a Jaguar for Hildegarde, which is perfect imo. This is a bit of world building dialogue that nods to that, as the Crimson Hummingbird was her first ship 😁.
Hummingbirds were warbirds, the smallest of the fighting-class vessels. In a dead sprint, they were almost as fast as the scout-class Swallowtails, and when it came to a skirmish, they were just slightly less armed than their larger predator-class cousins. Thus they made for a perfect vessel in a fire fight. Yet Hummers used a disproportionate amount of energy, both for Gating and propulsion, in addition to their even bigger drawback: a comically short range. Unlike other Navy ships, designed to be self-sufficient as they traveled between stars for months without dock maintenance, Hummingbirds spent most of their careers being serviced in port. This led to the joke that Hummingbird captains needed two Hummers — one to sail while the other was getting repaired in the shop.
November 4, 2025 at 4:48 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
I'm going to double dip on green and purple with Sven lol. Green eyes are pretty uncommon in humans at this point in the future, but there's more variance among pyreans as bright colors are less recessive. Notably all of the Jiordson siblings have extremely vivid green eyes.
I picture of Sven's face. He has pale skin, green eyes, gradated purple hair, and is smiling kinda hornily at the camera as he adjusts his tie. One one of his suspender straps is visible.
November 4, 2025 at 3:38 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
A day late, but who's counting? Yellow is the color used by search and rescue, so it's an extremely lucky, beloved color in star sailing culture!
Through the haze of blood, the shades before her coalesced into space suits and helmets. Despite the room’s red tint, the yellow trim of their suits shone bright and clear. A beacon of hope for star sailors. Search and rescue.
November 4, 2025 at 3:20 PM
gmgray.bsky.social
Thank you for the opportunity to share! I do all my own covers/illustrations for the Triple Strike light novel series~

www.akula-games.com/projects/tri...
Cover of Triple Strike: Threads of Fate, the first book in the series. It shows Sven, a purple-haired elf-looking guy with an iguana on his shoulder, seated at the captain's chair of a space ship's cockpit, while Alan leans on his sword behind him, one hand in his pocket. Sven is grinning up at Alan, while Alan smiles tolerantly down at him. Cover of Triple Strike: Pasts Revisited, the second book in the series. Alan and Sven are on an airship. Sven is leaning again the railing as he grins up at Alan. Alan is seated behind him, arm slung through a rope, as he faintly smiles as well. Cover of Triple Strike: A Gathering Storm. Alan and Sven are in a ship's garden overlooking a red planet. Sven is pulling Alan closer to him by his shirt, looking serious, while Alan has his sword in one hand, the other on Sven's back. The cover of Triple Strike: Threads Unbound, the fourth book in the series. Sven and Alan are walking down a street toward Natalia, a girl with curly blonde hair, who is waving at them. The city is an older looking city with brightly colored tiles and houses. It appears to be an oasis in an otherwise desolate area, and bright kites fill the skies above. Sven is waving at his sister, while Alan smiles down at him, one hand on his back.
November 4, 2025 at 7:12 AM
gmgray.bsky.social
General Hildegarde Jiordson's epithet is quite literally The Crimson, so I have to go with her on this one lol. Red is the color of Fate and freedom, as pyreans consider them complimentary ideas rather than opposites. Freedom comes from accepting Fate without fear or regret.
Hilde from Triple Strike. She is wearing a high collared red military-style coat gold trim with a white cravat and brown thigh high boots. She's seated in a wrought iron chair, legs crossed, holding a small white and red tea cup. She has dark skin, green eyes, and kinky blonde hair held back with a bandana.
November 1, 2025 at 4:46 AM