Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd
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mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd
@mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
2.7K followers 1K following 5.5K posts
Writer of epic fantasies. Lover of cities and odd words. Just here to tell stories.
NO AI
🏳️‍⚧️they/ him
https://mcburnell.itch.io/
https://books2read.com/mcburnell
https://payhip.com/AuthorMCBurnell
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mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 'system'
yikes
Ramsu opened his mouth to respond, and he was back in Pathmelon beneath a hotter sun with a dry wind scraping across his skin. He felt a horrible jolt like a shock to his entire nervous system when he took in the body right in front of him, almost close enough to touch, sprawled in a puddle of blood that still had a wet sheen to it. Cursing, he scrambled to his feet. He had fleetingly forgotten about this, but here he was, returned to the middle of a massacre that was his fault. He slapped both hands on the top of his head as he turned in a circle, taking it in again. Reminding himself how awful it was and how totally he was responsible. Then he set off north at a brisk walk.
November 25, 2025 at 2:46 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#NovemberWorldbuilders 23
A few get mentioned but I had to reach for Tisirat because I love this moment: Sathriel is watching a major city be destroyed around him by mysterious means. Tisirat razed a city. Modern Barrachites tend to glorify the bloodthirstiness of their antecedents. The power of
“‘The children screamed and the women wailed and the men fell to their knees,’” Habera quoted, “‘as the city of Op disintegrated before the anger of Tisirat.’” Feeling as if he had been punched in the gut, he finished for her, “‘And the emperor said: you rebelled against my will, let the flames rise and the stones of your houses separate one from the next until there is nothing built by your pride left.’” “Never knew what that might look like ‘til now.” Her tone was wry, but Sathriel couldn’t share her clinical interest in this catastrophe. She had mentioned the fate of Op offhandedly, she didn’t know how right she was. But Sathriel knew what was happening now, and so he knew that it was happening for him. There weren’t earthquakes in this part of the world, but there was something else here, Habera had brought it within the walls herself. As they started down the stairs to the street, he told her, “Please remember this moment. Promise me.” “I’m not likely to forget.” She glanced at him sidelong, and all humor left her. “I promise.”
November 23, 2025 at 4:15 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
Slightly tardy, but happy #Caturday y'all, have some toes!
If you're wondering, no, the new kitties aren't old. They're 2 and have so much energy it's shocking to us! All the pics are sleepy bc when they're awake, I'm interacting with them. Very social ppl!
A ginger with a banded tail and tiger stripes on his legs is fast asleep. His tummy and paws are white with orange freckles. He sleeps curled up on one side, leaning up against a throw pillow, all 4 legs extended. He has extra toes on his forepaws. The same ginger in the same place, bathed in sunlight now. He lies on his side/ partially on his back to show off his white tummy and beige chin. He is still blissfully asleep. His nose is a dark pink color, his (multitudinous) beans a paler pink. A little kitty whose fur is a mix of gray and beige with stripes of black and startling umber sleeps on a light-blue kitty bed. She is lying on her side but has her head turned so she's face-down. Her beans are a mix of pink and black. The same dilute tortie conked out on a bed still tangled in the hoodie-string she just wrestled to submission, showing off her belly-cowlick. Her face is turned up so you can see her chin is cream-colored, her nose a dark red. She also has extra toes on her forepaws!
November 22, 2025 at 10:05 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 'crystal'

Ramsu, returned to the site of The Dream. Sadly, not with Mairid on his arm this time
When he reached the tower’s foot, he looked up at it, taking in the stolid mundanity of the structure. In the dream, he had felt impressions about this place, as if the building had an aura, and that was no longer the case. Now, it was a pile of stone, remarkable only for its presence way the hell out wherever this was, not in company of any people who might have built it. He crossed his arms and tugged at the lobe of one ear as he remembered something interesting: it had not been a tower in truth but a disguise. Something strange and unexplained hidden inside. “Threads,” he muttered, and like that, the mass of stone was gone. He looked upon the vibrant lines of [um, something], but they were not as he recalled. Familiar strands of thick, straight, textured, luminous mystery like impossibly thick thread made out of light-catching crystal, as before, but the cables had strayed off each in their own direction; now, they were roped together. This man-thick braid of [honestly, what even?] rose unerringly into the heavens, straight as a rule. Again, that unwelcome conclusion formed, that he was looking on something more complete than it had been when last he witnessed it. He hated the idea but couldn’t think how he might have been to blame, for what comfort that might be.
November 22, 2025 at 3:25 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 'direction'

This sequence is funny. 2 of my smart people (who hate each other) find themselves in a life-or-death situation with none of the badasses around to do those parts for them. There is quarreling
They piled in the doorway at his direction, panting as if they had run the length of the city, rather than the width of a street. As soon as they were in, he slammed the door. He ran a hand across the latch, which became a solid piece of metal. It wouldn’t hold indefinitely, but it would hold long enough for them to come up with a plan. They could hear the thunder of footfalls overhead as the men who had come here to kill them made for whatever ladder or stair they had used to ascend.
November 21, 2025 at 2:12 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
Ever wonder which child is my favorite?

His mission wasn't: adopt an orphan and stop obeying orders.
🪐📚💙🌈📚 #Booksky
buy.bookfunnel.com/udtol5v0ok
Against a background of pale bricks, a bookcover showing a cobbled city street. Title: The Three Faces of Dissatisfaction. Arrows point to text over images reading: ‘Laugh-out-loud dark comedy/ complete tetralogy/ a city so real it must be/ (heartwarming) found family/ unconventional heroes/ boss magic, asshole gods/ scheming, intrigue, ancient secrets/ more twists than this arrow.’ A collage of images, from top left: the elaborate front of a towering cathedral; a lonely figure in a shadowy hall, impossible to see because they're brightly backlit by the window they're looking out of; a basket filled with scrummy rolls; a plate of toast and roast tomatoes, a delicious fried egg; vividly-colored crystals; books spread out and badly lit by candles; the frontage of a tall gray stone building in a city; a library shelf packed with books; a misty, creepy, ambiguous figure; a boy walking alone through a gloomy space that draws attention to how small and alone he is.
November 21, 2025 at 1:48 AM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#SFFChat Q4
Since I shared that picture. They discover months later, when they meet, that both of them had this dream. Ramsu was very embarrassed about having a smutty dream about a stranger but Mairid found the whole thing quite funny.
“I should like to ask a question of my own.” Miran’s eyes were closed, and Ramsu had foolishly hoped he might have drifted off. He tensed. “Yes?” “I was recently savagely beaten. Whilst I lay in a stupor, I had a peculiar dream in which I chatted with a fellow I can’t recall in detail. The only parts I managed to hang onto were young and mannered. Not ‘mannered’ in the sense of good breeding and courtly etiquette, but respectful. A handsome young man who treated me with respect. You are how old?” “One-one-six.” “There was something about a sheet…” He choked, which everyone must note. The Atsises ignored this bald confession. He hadn’t opened his eyes, but Ramsu wasn’t willing to bet he hadn’t heard and interpreted the blunt declaration of guilt. “When I woke, it was the strangest thing. I was still riddled with broken bones but was no longer in pain! All of my bruises were gone! Is that not odd?”
November 20, 2025 at 11:59 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#SFFChat Q1
Ramsu is the last narrative character in TW to be introduced. He was fun to write bc he's sweary; I gave him a slightly more modern voice than the other characters bc it vibed with his snarky humor and cynical, world-weary perspective. Have a picture of him! (with Mairid)
Black and white drawing of 2 figures, not quite full-length, with no background. A very pretty man with messy dark curls clutches a sheet in the center of his chest. It's definitely the only thing he's wearing. He holds the upper arm of another man all in trim black with a sword at his waist and tall boots. His skin is a darker color, his hair cut off right at the scalp, and he has a 5 o'clock shadow. The man in the sheet wears a tiny, sly smile and walks with his eyes on his feet; the other man looks dismayed and has a hand resting on his hilt.
November 20, 2025 at 11:27 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 'special'

I really liked writing this friendship. They started out enemies.
The special people cleared off the instant Dyafer set about cleaning up the mess, although everyone had had a hand in making it. She felt a stir of resentfulness and went over to her friend. Rested an arm across the shorter woman’s shoulders while Mercuria issued orders to their mages. Dyafer wasn’t the only one who didn’t have miraculous powers from the ancient world; she wasn’t the only one who felt responsible for dealing with the damage; she wasn’t the only one still here, doing the unglamorous.
November 20, 2025 at 8:24 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 'third'
“You’re the third Anyimari.” “Ren Tashit.” He held out a hand. She didn’t want to make nice with these people after everything they’d done, but he must have three thousand mages at his back, and she was still holding several tons of broken masonry and a dozen falling houses in the air. If she told him to go to hell and he took offense, it would get bad fast. She had seen how touchy the other man was, how swift to anger, and aside from his willingness to stand beside Giloren Radir, he had appeared to be rational. She wasn’t sure about this one, and it made her warier than she already was.
November 19, 2025 at 2:19 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
Random is being especially obliging, so have a gander at his feet! I'd heard of polydactyl cats ofc but totally failed to get what it would look like. His sister is polydactyl as well (and has an entire extra bonus 7th toe on her right foot!) but she's not in the room.
A precious little ginger with a white chest lying curled up on his side and looking into the camera. He's not fully loafed - he's on his back hip - but he's in the stand elbows-under-the-chest, forearms-curled pose. His extra toes are pointed up conspicuously, like he has thumbs and is giving you thumbs-up. Ginger boy sitting on a flat surface elevated over the camera so his feet are at eye level. He's sitting on his haunches, looking over you. His chest and belly are white, his feet mostly white with ginger spots and freckles. His extra toes are prominent, not aligned with the standard four, stacked up on the side of the foot. Ginger and white foot, upside-down, held carefully in a human hand. Circles have been drawn onto the foot to highlight its anatomy. There are not one but three 'heel' pads, circled in blue, while each toe, highlight in yellow, has its own bean. There are 6 toes. A precious ginger lad with tiger stripes and white feet spotted by orange dots and freckles is curled on a ball on one side, turned toward the camera. His front paws are very large with prominent extra toes on the inner face, far enough back from the other toes that it looks more like a thumb.
November 19, 2025 at 4:10 AM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 'retrograde'

I was contemplating doing something silly and using reprobate since it sounds similar despite having nothing whatsoever in common meaning-wise. Then I decided to be lazy and use 'reverse'
Ramsu nodded a few times, not looking at him. “When it happened. The bottle smashing. I felt a wave of dizziness, but my mind was filled by an image. It was you, which didn’t strike me as surprising: I’d just seen your face for the first time, that was all the explanation I required. But everything was reversed.” “Polarized, you mean? So that I was wearing black? That is suggestive from the vantage of the present.” So, the framework of this fascinating mechanism had been set up long in advance. Back before they had been separated, they were being drawn to one another but couldn’t do more than send calls because the nature of their powers wouldn’t allow for more. Mairid broke them apart, and it thrummed to life, powered by two different brands of magic unimmune to one another. This machine of curious beauty he had crafted for reasons he did not comprehend.
November 18, 2025 at 9:47 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
THE TIPPING WORLD IS FINISHED
and it has everything you want in an epic

✨political intrigue
✨big battle sequences
✨new heroes coming into their own
✨morally gray ancient adepts
✨unique magic system
✨complex plot
✨vivid worldbuilding
✨terrifying villains

🌈📚🪐 #Booksky
books2read.com/Symbols-End
Cover of a book called Symbols’ End by MC Burnell depicting a slender young woman seated on a bench in a fine gown in the rain; the walls of the garden are close and too tall. Text reads: THE GRAND FINALE. Symbols’ End, Vol. 9 of The Tipping World.
November 18, 2025 at 5:55 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 'spend'

This is what happens when you let me pull quotes from the last book in an epic
The sword in [his] back arrived first as a sense of shocking pressure, and it had passed clear through him by the time the pain arrived. He didn’t feel the cuts, but rather a tearing sensation in his lungs with each breath he drew. The [villain] let out a shout and tried to pull away, but [he] clung to him with every scrap of strength he had; he could afford to spend it all, he had little time left. His father staggered, going to one knee, and [he] followed him, still clinging to him. Holding him hard with the last of both of their lives, so that he could make certain he was there to drag the man to the underworld when they died.
November 17, 2025 at 4:15 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
I have 2 books in this: Zimanges, about a handful of screwups who wind up roommates and are asked to save the day.

Book 1 of The Foreign Sorcerer, about an antihero who adopts an orphan on a whim.

2 very different stories in 2 very different cities. Monsters, weirdness, scenes set in kitchens ❤️
Against a background of pale bricks, a bookcover showing a cobbled city street. Title: The Three Faces of Dissatisfaction. Arrows point to text over images reading: ‘Laugh-out-loud dark comedy/ complete tetralogy/ a city so real it must be/ (heartwarming) found family/ unconventional heroes/ boss magic, asshole gods/ scheming, intrigue, ancient secrets/ more twists than this arrow.’ On a gray background, the cover of a book depicting a man walking away down a shadowy city street, a spooky orange handprint behind him. Title: Zimanges, author: MC Burnell. Text on the cover reads: ‘A city this unique can’t be saved by heroes. What it needs is an oddball band of weirdoes.’ Arrows point from the cover to the phrases: Cozy slice-of-life/ a dashing wizard set to self-destruct/ a nifty fantasy city/ the ringleader is a pile of leaves/ a heist pulled off by novices!/ sweet queer romance, no tragedy guaranteed.
November 17, 2025 at 3:59 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
Found family is a trope I can't quit and don't want to. Come bask in the warmth of choosing who you love and what they mean to you!

🌈📚🪐
itch.io/b/3334/not-a...
Pale purple blotches with text on top. Text: Not all family is blood an itchi-io bundle with found families/friendship November 17 to 21
November 17, 2025 at 3:55 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 'run'
“You have got to be joking,” the man beside him snarled, grabbing him by the arm again like he was a child that might run off. “This is your plan?” Kairfir tried to shake him off, which accomplished nothing but to embarrass him: Ivantreste was half a head taller than him and quite a lot bigger and barely even stirred when Kairfir jostled him. They never had a chance to have a conversation about whether his life was worth all the rest of theirs: the new Lord Kurch called down, “A rich jest, boy! Why would I spare the traitors and knaves who gather at your skirts? Every man who serves you owed my family fealty, why should they not be made to pay for their treachery?”
November 16, 2025 at 2:30 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
Needed to do my contribution to #Caturday and it got here!!! Fiona and Random have both smelled the proof and declared it their favorite whatever ever!
A tiny little dilute tortie with striking umber mascara marks around her eyes and a pale chin sniffs a book. The book shows a young woman in a dress with a sword, sitting on a bench in a garden in the rain. The kitty is tentatively interested. A ginger with white feet and white chest lying in a kitty bed on a desk. The same book is lying in front of him and he's not sure why. He has pretty tiger stripes and a white garter on his left rear leg.
November 15, 2025 at 10:58 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#NovemberWorldbuilders (last week)
Hokay, I was not ready to address any of this stuff at the time and other shit was happening anyway but I'm going to sit down and have a think about these now.
Posting as a thread instead of individual cards so as not to clog the # with old news.
Week 2: Good and Evil. 8. Famous heroes in the world's past. 9. Villains in the world's past. 10. A morally grey act/ event/ historical figure that people in your world debate about, 11. MC's (or other important character's) ethics. 13. Teachings of the church/ moral authority in MC's society. 14. Any morals different from Eath's societies (generally speaking)?
November 15, 2025 at 5:44 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 'progress'
He vanished, and Alia was too upset to curse. That had better mean progress, not further falling-apart; she did not want to be trapped on this island in the middle of literally nothing with a faceless man in a sheet who blamed her for misplacing his star-crossed whatever the word was for whatever was between them. The hand that had gripped Taile by the arm was still extended as if to touch, like Miran hadn’t noticed the man was gone, and she didn’t want to be here waiting when he got back. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on her task.
November 15, 2025 at 2:18 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 'week'
Know without looking that I won't have this bc I don't use the word in this world 😅
so, you get my substitute
“Katha! How do you get rid of a devil? When it’s inside someone, how do you make it go away?” It was their monster, they ought to know how to deal with it. His heart sank when the boy shook his head. “Uncle taught me, you tie them up and stake them to the ground and leave them there. Then you come back in a mark-day and check.” “Shit,” he muttered. There was nothing for it, he was going to have to pull a devil-banishing ritual out of his ass.
November 14, 2025 at 3:21 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
Thanks for hosting! Fun questions tonight.

I guess I'd like to tell everyone the FINAL BOOK of Tipping World is going to be released soon. 😀😭
buy.bookfunnel.com/68clr2ik2x
A young woman in a flowing dress sets upon a bench in a garden in the rain. She wears a sword at her waist and her back is to you. The garden walls are tall and uncomfortably close. The book is called Symbols' End by MC Burnell.
November 14, 2025 at 12:28 AM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
page 69! not remotely steamy, but such is life
(the 'boy' is Horus)
With a choking gasp, Giloren surfaced from his thoughts, where he had been fighting that infuriating boy who kept killing him. Over and over and over again, until it felt as if there were no outer limit to his ingenuity. Those had to be the mages of Feinzad, and the mystery of their presence, here on the far side of the world, was insignificant compared to the mystery of their skill. Their talent was astonishing, and every time Giloren thought he had stopped up a gap in his defenses, the boy just found another one. He had been told by someone who claimed to know them that they were lazy and entitled, and he felt as if he had been misinformed.
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 'build'
“Your theory is, if we try to return Radir to his natural state by use of our conviction that he is simply another mage, this will cause ripples,” the Atsises supplied. “Our beliefs and their beliefs must coexist and yet cannot, so what is actually true will vary place to place and moment to moment until these inconsistencies…” He laced the fingers of both hands together, then pulled them partially apart, so that what had been neatly interwoven was now riddled with holes. “How can we ‘coexist,’” Alia demanded, throwing up her hands, “when he’s trying to kill us?” “Perhaps we cannot,” the older mage replied. He had turned away from them, gaze straying south, and Sparud had the sense that he wasn’t looking at the forest closer-to. “They put themselves on an island…” “You think we could… build a wall to keep them away?” She sounded excited. It was the first suggestion any of them had had that even approached a workable strategy. Miran turned back to face them, head rotating to one side as he considered it. “If we build a wall, they can tear it down. Then we are faced with the same damning situation, in which the wall both exists and does not.”
November 13, 2025 at 2:53 PM
mcburnellauthor.bsky.social
Tired of lying awake at 3 am raging about how shit everything is? Like to have something to read instead?

How about a bundle of great fiction about authoritarian regimes and heroes who stick knives in evil systems?

📚🪐 #Booksky
itch.io/b/3348/burn-...
A background of flames. Text reads: BURN IT DOWN! Bundle 17 books for $16 November 13-16th Thumbnail book covers line the top, bottom, and left margins of the image: Now and Then and Back Again by A.P. Howell Fruits of the Gods by William C. Tracy Rise of the Resistance by Niranjan Into The Forest by Natasha O’Connor The Killing Song by Felix Graves Birthright by M.A. Vice Heirs of Hyarch Book One: The Spellking's Heir Chriss Mitchell Shadows Dark and Deadly by Andrea Marie Johnson The Backwards Knight by Matthew Siadak Loyalty to the Max by Maya Darjani What May Rise From the Ashes by Susanne Schmidt Their Village, Their Fortress by Dylan Madeley Gift of Snow by C.L. Carhart When In Erebus by Paris Vivian Kotov Syndrome by S. Morgan Burbank Wherever the Stars Call by S. Jean A Path of Endless Crossroads by M.C. Burnell
November 13, 2025 at 1:43 PM