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mkdbail.bsky.social
mkdbail
@mkdbail.bsky.social
3.2K followers 2.2K following 1.6K posts
Author of romance, mystery, SFF, writing as Margaret Madigan and MKD Bail. English Instructor. Donut and pastry addict. Raging against the patriarchy and fascism. she/her. Repd by @aka_terrie. #indieauthor
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mkdbail.bsky.social
Post a book you love from the 80s. No explanation, no reviews, just covers. #booksky
Cover of The Gunslinger by Stephen King
November 29, 2025 at 3:54 AM
mkdbail.bsky.social
HEART AND SOULS x PRACTICAL MAGIC - Seeking #editor for my agented cozy witchy murder mystery Summer in Paris. For a family of #witches, solving the murder of one of their own, and helping her cross over, is the trickiest #magic of all. #questpit #cozymystery #mystery #paranormal #onsubmission
November 5, 2025 at 9:51 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Oct 30 - Snip from my agented #witchy #cozymystery Summer in Paris, looking for an #editor or #publisher #ghostpit #MM #M #OS #PN
October 30, 2025 at 6:35 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
HEART AND SOULS x PRACTICAL MAGIC - Seeking #editors for my agented cozy witchy murder mystery Summer in Paris: For a family of #witches, solving the murder of one of their own, and helping her cross over, is the trickiest #magic of all. #ghostpit #MM #M #PN #OS
October 30, 2025 at 3:51 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Sept 13 - There are many instances of "pocket" in my #fantasy Hero at Heart bcuz Robyn's weapon of choice is a slingshot and her pockets are always full of ammo. But this snip uses pocket differently. #RobinHood #retelling #zombie #apocalypse #fairytale #newrelease #indie #author #booksky
snip from my fantasy Hero at heart using the prompt "pocket": Robyn led the team down and out onto the street, her heart hammering as usual anytime she had to leave the Tower at night. The zombies may be slower at night, but they were also harder to see, and her biggest fear was walking head-first into a bunch of them and ending up their next meal. With the death of electricity, for the most part, darkness was a lot darker. Sure, there were pockets of people throughout the city using candles or, if they were lucky, solar or wind power. But it was nothing like it had been. Nighttime cities used to be lit like midday, but now, downtown Chicago at night was as dark as the remotest, uninhabited island, and flashlights were out of the question because they painted targets on their backs.
September 13, 2025 at 5:56 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
Rufus wishes you a happy #caturday. He's my elderly diabetic sweetheart boy.
September 13, 2025 at 5:46 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Sept 10 - In this snip from Hero at Heart, my #fantasy #RobinHood #retelling set in the #zombie #apocalypse, Robyn and Mac share an intimate moment in the dark. #newrelease #fairytale #indie #author #booksky
snip from my fantasy Hero at Heart using the prompt "outside": “I shouldn’t be attracted to you, Robyn. You’re a thief and an outsider. I shouldn’t have been impressed by your leadership, or by how much you care about everyone around you. I sure as hell shouldn’t have noticed—or liked—that flaming hair of yours, or your lips, or eyes or any of the rest of you. It’s not a good idea. But I can’t seem to help myself.” Robyn couldn’t see anything more than the shadowy outline of him hovering above her, but she did hear him wishing things were different. She did too. Before the infection that changed the world, they could have had a future together. Now, he was a Parker, she was a Tower girl, and despite living just across the river from one another, they may as well have lived on different planets.
September 10, 2025 at 3:26 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Sept 6 - In this snip from Hero at Heart, Robyn is holed up at an old Chik-fil-A. #fantasy #RobinHood #retelling #zombie #apocalypse #fairytale #newrelease #indie #author #booksky
snip from my fantasy Hero at Heart using the prompt "dust": She glanced longingly at the dusty old menu board. It seemed like decades ago she’d gone to restaurants just like this, stood in line and stared at similar boards before ordering a cheeseburger and fries, or chicken, or a burrito, or ice cream—all things of fading memory. Her body remembered, though, because her mouth watered just thinking about it.
September 6, 2025 at 7:20 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Sept 5 - This snip is from my current #WIP, working title Schooled in Magic, bk 2 of a #witchy #cozy #mystery series I'm working on. Bk 1 is with my agent. This snip is from the first couple of pages when Dr. Spring Fox, the MC, is about to be hit by the inciting incident of the book.
snip from my witchy cozy mystery WIP using the prompt "event": It had been less than two months since Meadow’s death, and a mere six weeks since Twelfth Night when we’d sent her off into the unknown with the most spectacular magic event that Quartermoon Hollow, my family’s coven of wisewomen, had experienced in recent memory. The ramifications of everything we’d learned about spirits, the afterlife and Otherworld, and especially the extent of our combined magical power still rippled through the coven like a tsunami.
September 5, 2025 at 4:00 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Sept 5 - closest I can get to "event" is "incident" in Hero at Heart. In this snip, Robyn and her crew attempt an incursion deep in the night to rescue Mac. #fantasy #RobinHood #retelling #zombie #apocalypse #fairytale #newrelease #indie #author #booksky
snip from my fantasy Hero at Heart subbing "incident" for the prompt "event": Robyn took point and John brought up the rear. They moved like the well-oiled machine they’d learned to be, and all the Monroe folks they’d brought along followed directions, though Robyn still winced at the slightest slap of shoes on pavement, heavy breathing, or accidental noise of any kind. These people weren’t used to the city or the consequences therein. Despite the less-than-silent crossing, they were able to navigate down the middle of the bridge without incident, and then down the middle of Wacker Drive with the moon-sparkled river on their left and the wall of skyscrapers on their right without the slightest trouble. Still, the quiet made her nervous, especially since the walk had so far been thankfully zombie-free.
September 5, 2025 at 3:53 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
Your last save pic is your moral philosophy.
September 5, 2025 at 1:57 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Sept 1 - In this snip from Hero at Heart, Robyn reflects on some American irony as she and her crew prep for a #zombie battle on the next day. #fantasy #RobinHood #retelling #apocalypse #fairytale #newrelease #indie #author #booksky
snip from my fantasy Hero at Heart using the prompt "excuse": Robyn and the boys found nobody inside the house—either human or formerly so—and she lucked out when she found a bag of marbles in one of the bedrooms, which were perfect for her slingshot. Alan found a gun cabinet with a rifle and a couple of handguns, along with some boxes of ammunition. Before the end, Robyn had been a staunch supporter of gun control. The thousands of annual deaths from gun violence were unacceptable in her mind, and there was absolutely zero excuse for a civilian to own weapons of war. If she had to explain to a class of college students—who should know better—one more time why the right to not be slaughtered by an asshole with either an agenda or a death wish outweighed the right to own those kinds of weapons, she might just have screamed. Now, though, it was like Christmas finding them, and the biggest goldmine was ammunition because guns were, of course, useless without it. If it weren’t for all the zombies, Robyn would appreciate the irony that the shortage of ammo had finally rendered America’s obsession with guns moot just at the moment when surviving Americans actually needed the guns for the protection they never had before.
September 1, 2025 at 6:27 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Aug 30 - In this snip from Hero at Heart, my #fantasy #RobinHood #retelling set in the #zombie #apocalypse, Robyn and her people head out on a scouting mission. #newrelease #fairytale #indie #author #books #booksky
snip from my fantasy Hero at Heart using the prompt "nose": Robyn checked around the west corner of the building, “Clear,” she said, although some undead shuffled along several blocks north. It was a small group, and if Robyn and her people were quiet, they wouldn’t attract any attention. The route west looked good. Even after two years, and countless encounters with them, the undead still freaked her out. They looked mostly recognizable as the people they’d once been, but with a grayish tint to their skin, filthy tangled hair and often tattered clothing after wearing the same outfit they’d died in for two years, but the blank, hungry eyes always made her shiver. They were human, but…not. Some of them had clearly been through a lot, missing small or big bits of themselves, but apparently losing a hand, a nose, an arm couldn’t kill the already dead, so they just continued their endless, shuffling hunt for their next meal.
August 30, 2025 at 5:09 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
How about a little self-promo cowboys? Gambling on the Outlaw is book 1 of my Nevada Bounty western romance series. Go check 'er out: amzn.to/2ROVmac. #cowboys #cowgirls #western #romance #outlaw
collage of images representing my western romance novel Gambling on the Outlaw including snow-capped mountains, a black horse, a blonde woman, the interior of a barn, playing cards, a noose, and the book cover.
August 27, 2025 at 6:59 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
Without downloading any new images, where are you mentally?
August 26, 2025 at 1:37 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Aug 20 - In this snip from Hero at Heart, Robyn and Mac reminisce about what they did before the #zombie #apocalypse and before survival was the job 😉 . #fantasy #RobinHood #retelling #newrelease #fairytale #indie #author #booksky #books
snip from my fantasy Hero at Heart where Robyn and Mac talk about their previous careers without using the actual prompt "career"
August 20, 2025 at 3:41 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Aug 19 - This snip from my #fantasy Hero at Heart is from Ch 1 when Robyn meets Mac as she's breaking in to steal some much-needed meds. #newrelease #RobinHood #retelling #zombie #apocalypse #fairytale #indie #author #booksky
snip from my fantasy Hero at Heart using the prompt "trap": He was at the door and inserting the key, but his eyebrow went up. “You’re a little young to have high blood pressure, aren’t you?” Robyn gave him a half-hearted shrug and a shy smile, hoping he was one of those guys who got off on protecting helpless girls. “Well, we can’t have you suffering, now can we?” His understanding smile reassured her, especially when he turned the key, then held the door open for her. But she wasn’t keen on getting herself trapped inside the building with him. He may or may not believe she lived there, but she wasn’t willing to take the chance. There weren’t as many people left in the world as there used to be, and while she’d spent more of the last two years dealing with the undead than the living, she hadn’t, however, become a fool. She didn’t trust him.
August 19, 2025 at 3:01 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Aug 9 - Just a silly little interaction from my #fantasy Hero at Heart. #RobinHood #retelling #zombie #apocalypse #fairytale #newrelease #indie #books #booksky
snip from my fantasy Hero at Heart using the prompt "brush": Mac shifted his gaze to John and held for a few beats. Robyn had no idea what kind of secret boy communication passed between them, but Mac finally nodded and broke the gaze before dropping her hand and brushing past John as he left the room. “What was that all about?” she asked. John managed a one-shoulder shrug. “Just a guy thing.” Robyn rolled her eyes. “Men are so ridiculous.”
August 9, 2025 at 6:13 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Aug 9 - In this snip from my #spaceopera Thief of Gods, Jaska's frustration with Miklos and Rohun is at a boiling point. #scifi #sff #amquerying #booksky
snip from my space opera Thief of Gods using the prompt "brush": Before Jaska could lay into Miklos, Rohun sauntered into the cockpit, brushing her hands together and looking mighty proud of herself. “You’re welcome,” she said, climbing into the seat at the nav center. “For what?” Jaska asked. Irritation at both of them gnawed at his gut. If not for Miklos stowing away on The Dream Chaser, and Rohun defrosting and complicating the situation, Jaska would have already returned the ship to Otho and collected his payment. But instead, he was still shackled to these two and so deeply tangled up in complications, he could barely see a way out.
August 9, 2025 at 6:02 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Aug 6 - Snip from my #spaceopera Thief of Gods wherein Jaska faces the utter cruelty of classism. #scifi #sff #sf #amquerying #questpit #A #Q #booksky
snip from my space opera Thief of Gods using the prompt "complete": “You’re obviously guilty of an egregious crime that my son was unwittingly swept up into.” “Oh, right,” Jaska said. “And it doesn’t hurt that his boyfriend’s dad is some church bigwig, and between the two of you, you can put in the fix to get your kids out of trouble.” Jaska fumed. Rage burned in his chest, and the utter frustration of complete helplessness stung behind his eyes. Once again privilege beat the shit out of justice and won the godsdamned day. Xandus sniffed, looking down on Jaska. “You’re nobody important, and once this trial and judgment is over, you’ll still be nobody important. My son doesn’t deserve to be caught up in your crimes.” collage of pics for my space opera Thief of Gods including the interior of a cathedral, a shrine, a cell door, a frozen woman, a space ship, a gavel, a murky hooded man, a South Asian looking man, a mocked-up cover for the book.
August 6, 2025 at 4:49 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips Aug 6 - This snip from Hero at Heart is from the 3rd act wherein Mac is in a pickle and Robyn and her crew are out to rescue him. #fantasy #RobinHood #retelling #fairytale #zombie #apocalypse #newrelease #indie #author #genderflipped #booksky
snip from my fantasy Hero at Heart using the prompt "complete": With a little searching, they found the stairway and followed it downward, exiting two levels below into a dank hallway. Robyn took point and followed the passage around a corner to another door with a small, square window through which she saw a corridor where the Parkers had taken a large, open room and built four cells complete with steel bars on each side of a central walkway. Several naked lightbulbs glowed weakly overhead enough for her to pinpoint a single male form laying on a thin mattress in the corner of one of the cells. It had to be Mac. Will peeked over her shoulder. “Jeez. Looks like an honest-to-god dungeon. Where’d they find the jail cells?” Robyn stepped back for John to get a look. “There are plenty of places they could have pilfered them from,” John said. Robyn huffed a laugh. “They’ve scavenged the city for everything else, why not jail cells too?”
August 6, 2025 at 4:30 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
No cheating. Your last saved celebrity photo is your therapist. Who is it?

This is as close as I can get to a celebrity photo, from way back in Jan:
August 3, 2025 at 2:15 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#sffchat - Just discovering this prompt list on the last day, of course. But I'll play along - My WIP is a witchy cozy mystery called Schooled in Magic wherein the HS principal dies in the MC's classroom, and she, her witchy sisters, and a cow cat named Moo dive into solving the crime.
July 31, 2025 at 6:00 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips July 31 - In this snip from ch 1 of Hero at Heart, my new #fantasy #RobinHood #retelling, Robyn and Mac meet as she's breaking in to steal much-needed meds for a friend. #zombie #apocalypse #fairytale #newrelease #indie #author #booksky
snip from my fantasy Hero at Heart using the prompt "drop": Robyn had memorized the list of meds that Maggie, their resident nurse, had told her Peter could take for his blood pressure if Robyn couldn’t find his regular drug. She was glad, though, to find a nice healthy supply. She scooped half the bottles from the shelf into her satchel then clicked the flashlight off and dropped it in the bag, too. She tiptoed out of the pharmacist’s area and into the main aisle again, then hurried toward the door. Almost home free. Halfway down the aisle, though, she bumped into something tall, solid, warm, and human. He grunted and she squealed. Her night vision hadn’t completely recovered from the flashlight, but it didn’t matter when he clicked on his own light. “Hello again,” he said, grabbing her upper arm in a firm grip. “I figured you’d head back this direction.” Damn. “Well, aren’t you brilliant?” she quipped. He ignored her sarcasm and pulled her toward the door. “Come on. I’ve got a nice cozy jail cell waiting for you.” “Seriously? You’re going to lock me up? You’re crazy.”
July 31, 2025 at 4:38 PM
mkdbail.bsky.social
#wipsnips July 28 - Subbing "garbage" for "trash" in this snip from Hero at Heart wherein Robyn and Mac are stuck in unfamiliar territory overnight and must find a safe place to sleep (and definitely nothing else...). #fantasy #RobinHood #retelling #zombie #apocalypse #newrelease #indie #booksky
snip from my fantasy Hero at Heart subbing "garbage" for the prompt "trash": “So, what do you suggest?” Robyn asked, planting her fists on her hips. Mac scanned the area, scrutinizing it with a meticulous eye. With a serious squint and lips set in concentration, he rubbed his chin while he thought. “Really, one of the garages in the alley behind the houses would be best. There’s probably only one exit to secure.” “But you can’t see outside, so while we sleep, we could be surrounded and we wouldn’t know until we walked out into the middle of a horde.” He nodded. “Fair enough. Since a whole house is too difficult to secure, the other option is to sleep in a car. We can see outside, but the windows are safety glass, which makes them harder to break.” That made some sense. “As long as we can find some blankets and pillows from one of the houses, I’m okay with a car. Take your pick,” she said gesturing at the slim pickings parked along the curbs. They were mostly sedans, which would be painfully uncomfortable, with a couple of SUVs, and a handful of minivans. “Minivan’s probably the most practical,” he said. “That’s what I thought.” She hustled over to the closest one, parked halfway down the block, to check it out. Mac followed, and on closer inspection it was unlocked, empty, and in surprisingly decent condition if they ignored the vanload of old fast-food wrappers. After removing all the garbage, a car seat and a booster seat—Robyn tried not to think about what had happened to the kids who used to sit in them—and reclining the bench seats in the back, they had a cozy little place to sleep.
July 28, 2025 at 5:42 PM