val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈
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spacevalkyries.bsky.social
val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈
@spacevalkyries.bsky.social
4.3K followers 930 following 4.3K posts
📝sci-fi/fantasy writer V.M. Ayala (she/they) 🎮streamer, indie games, TTRPGs ✨anxiety/ADHD, chronic pain 🏳️‍🌈queer biracial Mexican American 🪐🗡️co-founder of @othersidespec.bsky.social

🌈 https://www.spacevalkyries.com/
💌 [email protected]
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spacevalkyries.bsky.social
Made a little vlog style video of my wandering through the PAXU expo hall (my first attempt at this format and style!) looking for solo/GMless/ general TTRPGs to stream with my chat!

I hope bsky doesn’t eat the quality but #PAXUnplugged was great this year and I met so many lovely TTRPG creators 💜
November 25, 2025 at 12:46 AM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
Some assorted photos from PAXU so far! I tried to also get video for a cute vlog but we’ll see how that worked out 😂

Feels like this PAX Unplugged I’ve been running around the expo hall a bunch! If you briefly saw me I’m glad—sometimes I’m too shy to say hi long but I always cherish the meeting 💜
PAX sign on a table in the trans flag color scheme of light blue, pink, and white. Photo of coffee on a table with my PAXU 2025 badge wound around it and a goose wearing a rainbow ribbon with a butter knife in its beak pin on the lanyard. A plushie of the grumpy leafy grass type Pokémon Swadloon. A cute hedgehog woodblock/handcrafted friend at the Snowbright Studio booth
November 22, 2025 at 9:05 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
Saturday wandering the expo hall of PAXU! If you spot me or my new fun goose pin, yell VAL and wave!!

Also if you have any solo, two player or GMless 1-2 playable TTRPGs, I’m hunting around for some for streaming potential 👀
Selfie of me against a wall wearing a mask with a goose pin on a purple lanyard
November 22, 2025 at 5:45 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
IT’S DAY 1 OF PAXU!!

If you spot me in the expo hall yell VAL!! and I will maybe not hear you so please just come up and wave if that doesn’t work 😂 EXCITED FOR DAY 1 OF PAX UNPLUGGED!!
Me doing the awkward bisexual peace sign in a mask and purple hoodie with the expo hall wall in the background
November 21, 2025 at 3:27 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
it's award nomination season! here is my award eligibility post for 2025. I had one short story out, and I'm so proud of this queer cyberpunk/anti-corporation piece.

🌆"To Access Seven Obelisks, Press Enter" by V.M. Ayala - Lightspeed, Aug 2025 (Issue 183)

www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/to-a...
V.M. Ayala's award eligibility 2025 image. short story information in white text over a blurred cityscape background. story quote says "None of them knew Zan wasn't trying to climb up to meet them. Zan was the hammer, mid-swing towards glass."
November 13, 2025 at 4:25 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
thank you again for the support and hype during #DVpit 💜

I wound up not using two moodboards, mostly because I couldn't quite figure out how to tie them to my pitch. But if you like flirty moodboards and/or atmospheric ones!! Please enjoy my DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN x PACIFIC RIM extra moodboards 👀
A romance focused moodboard for my novel! In the middle of the moodboard are two longer images. The top one is of two people dancing, their faces not shown. The bottom image is a woman dramatically lit looking down, a slice of light showing only part of her face and arm. On the diagonal top right and bottom left are black and gold then white and purple/blue texture photos to symbolize the characters as those are their dragon's color schemes. Then there is a black hole and two hands reaching out. The text on the top left and bottom right reads: "You lead, I follow," she said, the traditional call and response." "You lead, I follow," he echoed, and prepared for the dragonrider dance. Moodboard of the solar system in my book! Text says Tour the Queztira System Today! Our New Home! Myriad Free For Over 150 Years! There are then five images from stock photos (mostly from Unsplashed). The first is for the closest planet to the suns, Ssyr, and has lava for the image. Next is Azon, with tall karst pillars, followed by Ondesar, a beach with deep blue water. The next line is The Abyssal Planet, with purple quartz to represent Abyssal crystals. Then Diratus, which has a jungle canopy from the floor up so the trees look like river systems. And lastly Medus, which is a beautiful blue glacier since it's an ice planet.
October 9, 2025 at 8:30 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN x PACIFIC RIM

✨mecha dragons
🪐disabled protagonist
💜Mexican American diaspora worldbuilding
🌈bi love interest + an ex-BFF
🌌epic space opera
🐉a hivemind of corrupted dragons somehow back after centuries in an entirely new solar system—it's fine!

#DVpit #A #SF #Latine #DIS #LGBT
Moodboard of the evil hivemind of corrupted dragons. Everything is in red, there are three rows of three images, with a middle row having a text box in the middle. First row: a broken red crystal, red filter spacescape, and a close-up of red crowing crystals. Second row: red filtered snakescales (to stand in for robot dragons), text box that says: beware the Myriad, beware their crystals bright and red. Survive, survive, but don't let the Myriad take you alive. Third is a canyon crevasse in the shape of a menacing looking eye. Third row: more angry red space scape and then a red filtered texture effect.
October 8, 2025 at 8:18 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN x PACIFIC RIM

A disabled mecha dragonrider steals a prototype egg—and runs into a hivemind of corrupted dragons, an ancient enemy unseen for centuries. She must work with this irascible dragon and move past old grudges to save the solar system.

#DVpit #A #SF #DIS #Latine #LGBT
A moodboard for my DVpit pitch! Made from stock photos from Canva and Unsplashed and one NASA art render. Three rows of images. The first row is a zoom in of a snake's eye, edited a bit purple. The middle is a hyperspace-y purple light, the third is a NASA artist render of a water planet with two suns. The middle row is a purple crystal followed by a center box of text that reads: "I am Crescent Scar. And I am no one's dragon, I am not yours to command. We work together, or we don't work at all." After that is white outlines of butterflies. The third row is a closeup of a stone statue's scales meant to represent dragon scales, followed by space photo with a purple filter and the outline of a woman looking up.
October 8, 2025 at 6:15 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN x PACIFIC RIM

A disabled mecha dragonrider struggles in an ableist society. When a hivemind of corrupted dragons threatens her people's very existence, she must team up with 3 riders—her lying would-be lover included—to save the solar system.

#DVpit #A #SF #DIS #LGBT #Latine
A moodboard with 9 tiles. The first row has purple spacescape streaks of light like hyperspace, a dragon egg, and a Latina staring at the egg. The second row has purple crystals and middle text that has crossed out "star-scarred, dragonrider, etli's claw, wave rider" then, underlined "me", followed by a person underwater. The third and final row has a closeup of a snake's eye to represent a dragon's eye, a solar system, and scale pattern to represent mecha dragon scales.
October 8, 2025 at 3:02 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
Flights of Foundry started 30 minutes ago so here is my panel schedule! On time and not late at all!!

Seriously though @dreamfoundry.bsky.social puts on the best virtual convention and I love Flights of Foundry every year! Hope to catch some of y'all at a panel or at OTHERSIDE's chill-n-chat!
Flights of Foundry schedule for V.M. Ayala. Saturday, September 27: 10am A New Spring for Persephone and Hades?; 11am Love, Lust, and Relationships: How BioWare Changed Our Perspectives on Romance in Games (Dragon Age Edition); 12pm OTHERSIDE chill-n-chat; 6pm Romance in Games. Sunday, September 28 12pm Play Again to Find Out: Storytelling Through Iteration; all listed times are Eastern Time!
September 26, 2025 at 5:28 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
thank you thank you thank youuuu seriouslyyyyyy. getting so close to the kickstarter has me so emotional, the interest and support already means so much 😭💜🪐🗡️
Screenshot of OTHERSIDE's pre-launch campaign on Kickstarter reaching 240 followers.
September 25, 2025 at 2:10 AM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
It's a stream day, yay! AND we are playing the Little Kitty Big City Picture Purrfect update!

I also have a couple keys to give away AND a kind gift from the devs to open. Huge thank you to the @littlekittybigcity.bsky.social folks for that! So come hang out? 👀

🐾 www.twitch.tv/spacevalkyries 🐾
The Little Kitty Big City Picture Purrfect key art. A black cat with green eyes is running through a city with various animals in the background and food items to the sides on a street. The cat is holding a stolen phone that says The Picture Purrfect Update on the screen.
September 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
It's been a minute since I've been able to stream BUT today we're playing Henry Halfhead from @lululu.games! I played the demo for this one and adored it and now the full game is heeere!!

I might even have a couple game keys to give away 👀

✨ www.twitch.tv/spacevalkyries ✨
They key art for Henry Halfhead. A bunch of objects with eyes and an adorable long nose, all things Henry can turn into, look at Henry, a white balf half a head in a cute cartoonish style.
September 17, 2025 at 2:31 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
being a writer is so silly sometimes. I was trying to write on my phone earlier while on a walk and I WAS LIKE HELL YEAH. I WROTE THE FIRST SENTENCE OF THE NEW PROJECT.

the sentence, once I check it on my PC and noticed the typo:
A screenshot of a sentence, black background with light gray font. The sentence is a silly typo. It says: In the depths of space there unfolds a complex grasp for powee. That should say power. But... powee.
September 16, 2025 at 8:53 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
today we are playing Herdling! I LOVED the demo for this one back during Steam Next Fest and can't wait to play further.

thank you @popagenda.co for the code and chance to check this one out 💜

✨ www.twitch.tv/spacevalkyries ✨
Herdling key art. A child herds tall furry horned friends in the foreground with mountains in the background.
August 27, 2025 at 2:39 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
Happy birthday AND happy seven year anniversary to my partner Ian. He is the kindest person ever while also being extremely New Yorker and yelling at cars to turn their lights on (this happened at Worldcon twice) 😂

Couldn’t ask for a better person to exist in this hellish timeline with ❤️
Ian and I at the dock at the Seattle Aquarium. We are smiling in the bottom left with the open water on the right. Ian at the Seattle Aquarium taking the photos of fishes through this giant bubble window. He is masked and holding a camera in the left, with the fish beyond the bubbled glass to the right. Me and Ian in the bottom right corner at the end of a dock in Seattle with the Puget Sound behind us. I am kissing his cheek, eyes closed, while he smiles at the camera. This is one of our favorite silly photo poses to do. Me and Ian hilariously cropped with only our eyes wide and visible at the base of the Space Needle, sticking out to the left.
August 26, 2025 at 11:19 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
please perceive these amazing headshots @itsamia.bsky.social did! I have a lot of gender/body image anxiety and yet I felt so so happy with these, she did such an amazing job. the "Ophelia" one is absolutely going to be book jacket photo someday ✨
A professional headshot of me. I am smiling on a gray backdrop holding light purple flowers. A professional headshot of me. Similar to the first image, except this time I am holding a blue and orange fan. Like the other two, a professional headshot! This one is an "Ophelia" pose, with greenery around my head on a floral print couch. I am holding dark purple flowers and staring away pensively.
August 19, 2025 at 2:37 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
This photo doesn’t quite do this moment justice hold on I have an additional angle
MR flat on a wood floor of the Seattle Convention Center overlooking I-5 traffic at night. She is wearing black and clearly exhausted with her badge over her face giving a peace sign with both hands
August 18, 2025 at 4:26 AM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
doing some touristy things before diving into Worldcon shenanigans later today with my first panel at 4:30pm Pacific (the found family panel)! the Space Needle is so neat! featuring Mothman ✨
Ian and I and my plushie Mothman on the Space Needle overlook wearing masks with what I believe is the Puget Sound in the background!
August 13, 2025 at 5:45 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
Getting on a plane to Worldcon!! First time traveling on a plane in like 7 yeaaaars so exciiiited 🛫
Ian and I wearing masks in front of planes at airport. I have messy wavy shoulder length hair and he is wearing a blue shirt and a ball cap.
August 12, 2025 at 4:28 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
BEHOLD! MY WORLDCON SCHEDULE GRAPHIC AT LAST!

I avoided this for so long sorry! I've never done in person panels!!

I'm terrified AND excited to talk about all three topics—because I love yapping about found family, cyberpunk, and solo/GMless TTRPGs as idea generation. hope to see you there 💜
My worldcon panel schedule in graphic form. My panels are as follows: - Found Family: The New Social Paradigm; Room 423-424, Wednesday 4:30–5:30pm Pacific Time - Where Does Cyberpunk Go From Here?; Room 321, Thursday 6–7pm Pacific Time - Solo TTRPGs as Writing Exercises; Room 420-422, Saturday 3–4pm Pacific Time
August 11, 2025 at 12:43 AM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
I'm also really happy with how the stream layout worked out! We'll definitely be doing more of these solo/2 player/GMless TTRPG streams in the future 💜
My stream layout for the TTRPG stream! There is a cute pastel cloudy sky background with my PNGTuber in the bottom right. There are two windows, a wide one to the left for the TTRPG pages and one to the right of the Canva pages for text and images of the shenanigans we were getting up to!
July 10, 2025 at 5:32 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
Well this first stream went amazingly and hilariously well. We created the Conservatory of the Immaculately Sculpted Butt—which feels on brand for the type of chaos chat creates. Have some choice sections 🍑

As you can see The Conservatory is a fun tarot-based TTRPG that's great for worldbuilding ✨
A blue and green gradient background with text and two images. The two images are on the right and in black and gold, with the second image being a dark blue and gold. They are the Knight of Wands and the Page of Wands. The text to the left reads: BEGIN ERA 1 Val Turn: Drew Knight of Wands The Bellwether: Discovers Pilates, which leads to new, slightly scandalous sculpted butt positions and poses; targeted and more accurate butt sculpts What adverse effect are they having? It’s too targeted, some people can’t handle it and are upset. The booties are too uniform and vascular now Chat Turn: Drew Page of Wands The Empiricist: Discovers the golden ratio of booty. Intensely sculpts all types of butts. What disaster did they inadvertently cause? New Neophytes and Practitioners don’t feel they’ll live up to that perfection; butt insecurity; impossible ass-pirational goals A blue and green gradient background with text and two images. The image is on the right and in black and gold. It is the Ace of Cups tarot card. The text to the left reads: Chat Turn: Ace of Cups - Creation of The Cheeks, a Butt Schism/Crack/Cleft/you get what we’re doing here A Keeper becomes a focus of adoration, who are they and why are they cherished? Radicalized Neophyte, inspired by the Empiricst, but believes all butts are beautiful; creation of the Cheeks. The Immaculate Cheek and the Individual Cheek; a butt schism, if you will. This leads to the beginning of The Great Cleaving
July 10, 2025 at 5:25 PM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
it's a bit late—sorry for not keeping up with Mini-Spaces lately! here's a tl;dr of what I did this Pride Month! from the Wholesome Direct, fundraisers and TTRPGs, indie game demos, and almost being done with my novel 💜

as always complete with a picture of Bella ✨

🌈 www.patreon.com/posts/mini-s...
My tortie cat Bella curled up on her cat tree asleep.
July 1, 2025 at 1:17 AM
spacevalkyries.bsky.social
today we are playing Date Everything!

because who wouldn't want to smooch a D20? or a door? or—well, everything in your house. also the voice acting is amazing??? list of voice actors incredible??? so this'll be great 🏡

🌈 www.twitch.tv/spacevalkyries 🌈
the Date Everything! key art with all of the dateable characters spilling out in a rainbow from a cartoonish house.
June 18, 2025 at 2:39 PM