Damien
LightNews LightNews
banner
lexreadsandwrites.bsky.social
Damien
@lexreadsandwrites.bsky.social
75 followers 170 following 44 posts
🦐 They/them 🐌

🌈 queer, disabled, latine book lover
📚 mood reader. Speculative fiction + poetry reader
❤️ short stories + novellas
📖 writer (fiction + poetry)
🔪 Diversify your bookshelf or else 🔪

Generative AI users get blocked
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Damien
cupofteawiththatbookplease.com
I am delighted highlight 2026 book titles written by black authors. Celebrating black writers is not a monthly event; it should be year-round. Diversify your reading year with these engaging and enlightening new & upcoming book releases.⁠ @nadinematheson.com @v-e-tirado.com @salomeydraws.bsky.social
January 26, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Damien
wordsiren.bsky.social
💞 AN ARCANE INHERITANCE IS OUT NOW 💞

This book has been mine for so long. Now it's yours.

Thank you to @emilykaitlin.bsky.social and @poisonedpenpress.bsky.social for believing in me and this story.

You can find An Arcane Inheritance wherever books are sold.

Purchase: linktr.ee/kamilahcole
Me smiling in my glasses while holding three copies of AN ARCANE INHERITANCE Me smiling in my glasses, doing a little head tilt, while holding three copies of AN ARCANE INHERITANCE, one of which is up by my smiling face
December 30, 2025 at 8:00 AM
lexreadsandwrites.bsky.social
I clearly need to be on bluesky more often. One of my favorite authors is releasing a new book? 2026 is gonna be a good reading year!
v-e-tirado.com Vincent is a pen name bro 🍉 @v-e-tirado.com · Dec 2
why you should preorder my next novel YOU SHOULD'VE BEEN NICER TO MY MOM :)

#booksky
The novel 'You Should've Been Nicer To My Mom' sitting under a large text that says "WHY YOU SHOULD PREORDER" with arrows pointing to the book. WHAT HAPPENS: "A young woman goes home for the reading of her grandfather’s will. Instead of being told what the family is inheriting, there is a message: “One of you is not who you say you are. One of you is el bacà—the demon I made a pact with years ago.” They have to figure out who it is...or they’ll all be damned." The cover of YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN NICER TO MY MOM sits under the text with a devil horn headband. HOW PREORDERS HELP: - An author’s best chance of ending up on a best-seller’s list - Shows the publisher what kind of stories you want more of - Tells bookstores what books they should keep in stock - Helps me to keep selling books :)
December 11, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Reposted by Damien
rykaaoki.bsky.social
Hi Folks! A lot of things have happened since I first started writing Light From Uncommon Stars. Recently, I've asked Tor to make a change in the book for all future editions. If you've bought a copy, please feel free to make the change on your own. Yes, this is an official retcon. <3 Ryka
February 19, 2025 at 8:26 PM
lexreadsandwrites.bsky.social
If you're able to, my wife and I could really use help keeping our car. We're both disabled and can't not have a car for work, appointments, surgery, etc. It would mean a lot to me if you could share this around 🩷

gofund.me/e17e8b9c
Donate to Help two queer, disabled people keep their car, organized by Lex Peters
Hey! I'm Lex and I could really use some help paying off my wife's car payme… Lex Peters needs your support for Help two queer, disabled people keep their car
gofund.me
July 17, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Damien
v-e-tirado.com
Got some new followers, so here's my new pinned post: Buy my creepy and gay horror books so I can stay alive.

alternatively, you can buy me a ko-fi: ko-fi.com/vincenttirado
An image of the novel "We Came To Welcome You: A Novel of Suburban Horror". The novel image shows three people greeting the viewer, their faces overshadowed. The central figure, a woman in a maroon dress holds a pie that has roots growing out of it and a single eye looking outward. The novel is put against the backdrop of a sepia-toned suburban home. Around the novel are the words "assimilation as horror", "Black, queer and mentally ill", "evil H.O.A." and "Adult Suburban Horror". An image of the novel "We Don't Swim Here". The novel image is of a Black girl underwater. She looks to the right while a blurred mirror image of her looks to the left. The novel is placed against a cool water background with rising bubbles. All around the novel are the words "swimming horror", "dual P.O.V.", "revenge", and "YA Ghost story". An image of the novel "Burn Down Rise Up". The novel cover shows a Black girl in a mesh top and orange sweat pants looking back over her right shoulder toward the viewer. She holds a bat over her left shoulder. Behind her is the opening of a train in which large insectoid legs point out. The novel is placed against a fire background. The words around the novel reads "sapphic", "creepypasta game", "NYC history" and "YA Horror".
April 24, 2025 at 1:42 AM
lexreadsandwrites.bsky.social
Also read We Don't Swim Here!
v-e-tirado.com Vincent is a pen name bro 🍉 @v-e-tirado.com · Jun 6
Day 1 of me posting my Black queer novel until people remember I exist: WE CAME TO WELCOME YOU follows the story of a butch lesbian moving into a gated neighborhood and grappling with an evil H.O.A and assimilation tactics that run as deep as roots. get it now wherever you find your novels!
#booksky
An image of the novel "We Came To Welcome You: A Novel of Suburban Horror". The novel image shows three people greeting the viewer, their faces overshadowed. The central figure, a woman in a maroon dress holds a pie that has roots growing out of it and a single eye looking outward. The novel is put against the backdrop of a sepia-toned suburban home. Around the novel are the words "assimilation as horror", "Black, queer and mentally ill", "evil H.O.A." and "Adult Suburban Horror".
June 6, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Damien
michaellaborn.bsky.social
Two of the authors in our community just dropped ARCs in the discord. Come join for free so that you can give them a read/review! ❤️
Bindery Books | Do you want some ARCS?
Want some ARCs from authors in our community? Head over...
leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com
June 6, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Damien
graceverything.bsky.social
Audiobook Review 🎧 | NetGalley ARC 3.75⭐️

I was pleasantly surprised by this fast paced paranormal urban fantasy.
If it wasn’t for the fact that I started this book late in the day I would’ve finished it in one sitting! #booksky #audiobooksky
The ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery by Clarence A. Haynes
June 6, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Damien
ezeekat.bsky.social
I think a big problem is that a lot of people truly believe that “reading critically” and “reading for fun” are opposing ideas.
December 20, 2024 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by Damien
riverriverbooks.bsky.social
Today is our co-editor Amorak Huey’s (@amorak.bsky.social) birthday 🎉 🎉🎉 Share a poem to celebrate?! River River is two people and a trenchcoat of poetry…we could not work without his generous, kind, brilliant attention 📚💙🌊🌊 HBD, Amorak! 🎈
All Weather Wants to Be Some Other Kind of Weather A boy lies on top of his sheets in Alabama, his skin glazed with sweat and wonder. The late-summer air is soup, swamp, tongue. The boy suspects he was kidnapped as an infant. Suspects he does not belong, here or anywhere, has no home to return to, and if once he had some other name it has long been forgotten. The darkness is a promise. The quiet is a promise. He opens his eyes. Closes them. And for the rest of his life he will pretend there was a time when he was comfortable in his skin a season that was not about waiting for the wind to change— a moment unshaped by hunger.
December 17, 2024 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Damien
mynameismarines.bsky.social
Anyway, I’m finally continuing the Throne of Glass series, starting with updating my Throne of Glass review and most importantly talking about the harm of the Magical Negro Trope and how easily SJM fans dismiss it:

youtu.be/EYI2HbF7qCQ
December 12, 2024 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Damien
whitakergr33n.bsky.social
"Once you know who you are, you don't have to worry anymore."

~Nikki Giovanni 🕊️
December 10, 2024 at 3:02 AM
Reposted by Damien
maggietokudahall.bsky.social
I return to this poem often, and have posted it around my neighborhood when the times call for it.

Today is as good as any day to return to it.
Allowable any Nikki Giovanni I killed a spider Not a murderous brown recluse Nor even a black widow And if the truth were told this Was only a small Sort of papery spider Who should have run When I picked up the book But she didn't And she scared me And I smashed her I don't think I'm allowed To kill something Because I am Frightened
December 10, 2024 at 3:47 AM
lexreadsandwrites.bsky.social
I'll admit, I hate that follower count is visible here. I'm used to tumblr, where the # of people who follow you isn't visible and doesn't matter anyway. This whole "I'll follow you but if you don't follow me back I'll unfollow" is fuckin weird.
December 9, 2024 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by Damien
omarsakr.bsky.social
In January, Israeli historian Lee Mordechai released a 124 page report with 1,400 footnotes detailing evidence of Israel’s genocide, which he continues to update. How many of you heard about it? witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/wp-content/u...
Screenshot of Middle East Eye article: “Israeli historian produces vast database of war crimes in Gaza”; Lee Mordechai says his country is committing genocide, as his report documents a wide range of atrocities committed by Israeli forces
December 6, 2024 at 10:27 PM
lexreadsandwrites.bsky.social
Anthologies are a fantastic way to discover new poets, especially if you're new(er) to poetry and want to see what might interest you. I highly recommend Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color. Skillful, emotional, and amazing variety!
#booksky #poetsky #poetry #diversepoetry
White and Black book cover with the words "Queer Poets of Color" over the top white block. The middle and bottom of the cover is framed in black and features a person topless with black hair, bending at the waist.
December 6, 2024 at 8:12 PM
Reposted by Damien
chenchenwrites.bsky.social
god i love books. yes, reading them. but sometimes, just holding them. and i wish they could hold me. and then i see (again) that they do.
December 6, 2024 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by Damien
problematicotter.bsky.social
Why didn't they just put the photos inside a glass case that only the manager can open
unusualwhales.bsky.social Unusual Whales @unusualwhales.bsky.social · Dec 6
BREAKING: CVS removes photos of executives from its website in wake of UnitedHealthcare CEO’s assassination
December 6, 2024 at 6:50 PM
Reposted by Damien
amalelmohtar.com
FWIW: I genuinely & firmly believe that Palestine is one of very few instances where Posting About It actually makes a material difference (because of Palestine Exception bullshit, ironclad media silencing of Palestinian voices, & the COST of speaking up), so if you haven't? Maybe consider it?
amalelmohtar.com Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · Dec 5
Just one of several moments in the last 14 months where I wonder whether this is when ostensibly progressive people in my life confront their indoctrination & experience the soul-shaking horror of their own mealy-mouthed complicity
Amnesty International concludes Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza
Amnesty International’s research has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.
www.amnesty.org
December 5, 2024 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Damien
chenchenwrites.bsky.social
nothing makes me feel as alive—or as dreadfully anxious—as writing
December 5, 2024 at 3:01 PM
lexreadsandwrites.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 6: bone by Yrsa Daley-Ward
A red cover with the word bone written along the left side. There is a quote on the cover from Florence Welch that reads "Yrsa's work is like holding the truth in your hands. It sweats and breathes before you. A glorious living thing."
December 1, 2024 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Damien
simeonberry.bsky.social
“When I went to prom I had a ten p.m. curfew, / look where that got me. I hung dead roses / in my room for years. Later when the phone / never rang, I dreamt of boys in T-shirts / that read I RESORT TO LONG LAPSES OF SILENCE.” — Bethany Schultz Hurst, “The Last Undeveloped Land”
THE LAST UNDEVELOPED LAND His mother is getting over pneumonia and still smoking. I say, “There’s nothing worth slaving over anymore. This vacuum, for instance, who’s to say it even works? When I went to prom I had a ten p.m. curfew, look where that got me. I hung dead roses in my room for years. Later when the phone never rang, I dreamt of boys in T-shirts that read I RESORT TO LONG LAPSES OF SILENCE. They were intentional. The boys came around later when I’d stopped thinking of them. We kissed behind the hospital in a Colorado wheat field, the last bit of prairie still in view of the mountains.” —Bethany Schultz Hurst
November 30, 2024 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Damien
x-syenite.bsky.social
This post is so right. This line especially was a banger but I think you should go click through and read the whole thing (and then follow on Bindery, too)! "It's a problem, however, that we don’t even know if these ARE men of color, really, and our best evidence is a list of harmful stereotypes."
mynameismarines.bsky.social marines @mynameismarines.bsky.social · Nov 29
We've all got our list of publishing trends that need to die in 2025. For me, near the top is ambiguously described men of color in fantasy romance—and the constant cycle of white women arguing about them online.

NEW POST: mareas.binderybooks.com/item/Db59xLg...

Pleaaaase follow! It’s free!
Bindery Books | the ambiguously described maybe man of ...
And why I'm over it.
mareas.binderybooks.com
November 30, 2024 at 7:08 AM