Dale Stromberg
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stromberg.bsky.social
Dale Stromberg
@stromberg.bsky.social
3.2K followers 950 following 2.4K posts
Castigator of texts and poor devil of letters.

Debut high fantasy novel Mæj pub’d 2024 by @traumbooks.bsky.social. My paperbricks: https://mybook.to/strombergish

Quiet immigrant. Oya-baka. Regular fugly. S-class awkward. He/him.
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stromberg.bsky.social
I newslettered.

“If life is a cloud, and a story is a face in the cloud, then a storyteller is one who feels compelled to stare at the cloud until they find a face.”

dalestromberg.substack.com/p/the-seldom...

#booksky #author #speclit #specfic #fantasylit #sffh
White text on a brownish background: The Seldom, №14. Unremembered stories betwixt lunar parentheses. Stories tend to be more organised than reality. Perhaps this is one driver for telling them. A tentative thesis: If life is a cloud, and a story is a face in the cloud, then a storyteller is one who feels compelled to stare at the cloud until they find a face. They cannot leave that cloud alone…
November 25, 2025 at 2:50 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
AND the same xenolinguistics article ALSO made me covet SOLARIS by Stanisław Lem, so I scored a copy.
#BookHaul #BookSky
My hand holding a copy of the novel SOLARIS by Stanisław Lem.
November 13, 2025 at 8:59 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
You and @zillanovikov.bsky.social and everybody also raved about VITA NOSTRA by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko, so I grabbed it.
#BookHaul #BookSky
My hand holding a copy of the novel VITA NOSTRA by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko.
November 13, 2025 at 8:57 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
@zillanovikov.bsky.social interviewed @darklylem.com for Night Beats and made me want to pick up their TRANSMENTATION.
#BookHaul #BookSky
My hand holding a copy of the novel TRANSMENTATION by Darkly Lem.
November 12, 2025 at 8:57 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
Everybody was also singing the praises of THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR by @amalelmohtar.com and @maxgladstone.bsky.social so… identical logic.
#BookHaul #BookSky
My hand holding a copy of the novel THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.
November 12, 2025 at 8:57 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
Everybody was singing the praises of THE MEMORY POLICE by Yoko Ogawa, so I snagged it.
#BookHaul #BookSky
My hand holding a copy of THE MEMORY POLICE by Yoko Ogawa.
November 12, 2025 at 8:57 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
The same article made me want @ursulakleguin.com ’s ROCANNON’S WORLD, and I was lucky to find a three-in-one edition.
#BookHaul #BookSky
My hand holding a copy of WORLDS OF EXILE AND ILLUSION by Ursula K. Le Guin.
November 12, 2025 at 8:57 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
This article on xenolinguistics in sci-fi:
aeon.co/essays/is-it...
…lit a fire under me to get NATIVE TONGUE by Suzette Haden Elgin.
#BookHaul #BookSky
My hand holding a copy of the novel NATIVE TONGUE by Suzette Haden Elgin.
November 12, 2025 at 8:57 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
My collection of Ryszard Merey books is now (I think) complete: his novel H (from @traumbooks.bsky.social ) is in my awestruck hands.
#BookHaul #BookSky
My hand holding a copy of the novel H by R Merey.
November 12, 2025 at 8:57 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
It was either @darkerthanvanta.bsky.social or @zillanovikov.bsky.social who told me that I needed to read ESCAPE FROM INCEL ISLAND by @margaret.bsky.social .
#BookHaul #BookSky
My hand holding a copy of the novella ESCAPE FROM INCEL ISLAND by Margaret Killjoy.
November 12, 2025 at 8:57 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
@darkerthanvanta.bsky.social raved about COUNTESS by @sillysyntax.bsky.social so I knew I had to get it.
#BookHaul #BookSky
My hand holding a copy of the novella COUNTESS by Suzan Palumbo
November 12, 2025 at 8:57 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
MÆJ is 1 year old.

Happy birthday to my preposterous wyrdforsaken novel.

“Unsparingly detailed, rich in history, culture, exotic customs and languages, and every other seasoning possible for the highest of high-fantasy writing.”
—Adrian Howell, author of the Psionic Pentalogy

traumbooks.com/maej/
The cover of MAEJ, a high fantasy novel. The cover art looks like it has been carved or sculpted. In the upper left, a whirlybug flies over a tentslum. In the upper right, a gryphon sits regally. The bottom half shows a frieze of five women. In the centre, two lines of text: Dale Stromberg, MAEJ. Copyright © 2024 by Rachel A. Rosen, designer extraordinaire and author of the Sleep of Reason series.
October 22, 2025 at 2:14 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
Rice bowl, guaranteed no poisonous mushrooms
A sign outside a restaurant in Petaling Jaya: “A I. Chef rice bowl. Crafting exceptional flavour with AI.”
September 1, 2025 at 7:32 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
Rice bowl, guaranteed no poisonous mushrooms
A sign outside a restaurant in Petaling Jaya: “A I. Chef rice bowl. Crafting exceptional flavour with AI.”
September 1, 2025 at 7:15 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
I newslettered.

dalestromberg.substack.com/p/the-seldom...
The Seldom, №13. A library chin-wag & many news & yet more linguistic larking for lucky thirteen.
August 24, 2025 at 1:14 PM
stromberg.bsky.social
MAEJ sighting at the public library.
A copy of my high fantasy novel MAEJ on the shelf at a public library amongst other books. Description of MAEJ cover art: the art looks like it has been carved or sculpted. In the upper left, a whirlybug flies over a tentslum. In the upper right, a gryphon sits regally. The bottom half shows a frieze of five women. In the centre, two lines of text: Dale Stromberg, MAEJ. Copyright © 2024 by Rachel A. Rosen, designer extraordinaire and author of the Sleep of Reason series.
August 23, 2025 at 2:25 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
traumbooks.itch.io/maej
A line drawing in colour of Aunhma Cairnhand musing over a cracked cup of liquor. Aunhma is a fjanding (a magic-enhanced fighter) and an alcoholic. Art copyright © 2024 by Rysz Merey for tRaum Books.
August 21, 2025 at 11:24 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
Advertise your book with cover and content warnings only.

Ableism
Bioessentialist language
Child abduction
Child abuse
Classism
Gore
Murder
Rape, mentions/threats of
Self-harm
Sexism
Slavery
Suicide
Torture
Violence

&c &c &c…

traumbooks.com/maej/
The cover of MAEJ, a high fantasy novel. The cover art looks like it has been carved or sculpted. In the upper left, a whirlybug flies over a tentslum. In the upper right, a gryphon sits regally. The bottom half shows a frieze of five women. In the centre, two lines of text: Dale Stromberg, MAEJ. Copyright © 2024 by Rachel A. Rosen, designer extraordinaire and author of the Sleep of Reason series.
July 21, 2025 at 6:41 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
4/4: “Such magniloquence! Have we a cleric and a barrister in our midst?”
The stouter djanizary, incensed, menaces Taræntlere with his weapon. “Come thou here, my maister’s cur.” Taræntlere holds her ground. “Such magniloquence! Have we a cleric and a barrister in our midst?” All present know she is dancing with death.
July 14, 2025 at 9:35 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
3/4: “Thou bumptious instrument.”
“Well spoke, thou bumptious instrument.” Taræntlere dodges another clumsy grab, dancing out of the man’s reach.
July 14, 2025 at 9:35 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
2/4: “Thine arrant foolery could collapse economies—speak no more, lest thou debase the coinage.”
“Wilt prate still? Such witlessness offends decency.” Taræntlere and the man stand nearly nose to nose now. A crowd of Ilas is forming. “Sooth, thine arrant foolery could collapse economies—speak no more, lest thou debase the coinage.”
July 14, 2025 at 9:35 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
A few choice Taræntlere insults from MAEJ.

1/4: “Sure, thou art as nimble ’tween ears as an even pound of fishgut.”
Taræntlere clucks her tongue at the second djanizary. “Sure, thou art as nimble ’tween ears as an even pound of fishgut.” He is stunned at this direct insult—infuriating from an Ilas, mortifying from a wife. Taræntlere turns again to the f irst. “Get thee gone, city man. Thou hast no business here.”
July 14, 2025 at 9:35 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
One of my favourite unhinged rants from MAEJ.

traumbooks.com/maej/
“The arrant clodpoll! The veriliest of scoundrelly imbeciles! I’ll drum a tattoo on his sconce; I’ll play march-music on his knave’s pate with an iron poker. Foh! Wait till he come here again—I’ll give that nitbitten bitchson rascal a beating that shall echo in the marketplace. The lackaday lump of turf! Past useless, he is, as certain as I breathe, and fat as a tick from neglect of huswifery—why, he ne’er moveth him withal but to tilt at passing fanny. Bootless as bollocks on a bride. That rogue! That pinpoint of wit! That—phenomenon! Pulls me a simple trick, then dances off to dodge the dinderex, the absconding picaroon. I’ll freeze the piss within him! I’ll thwack the varlet so strongly, the water he makes shall shiver in the pot; aye, three days hence it shall!”
July 10, 2025 at 1:45 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
Here’s what the multitalented and luminous @darkerthanvanta.bsky.social had to say about MAEJ.

She has an awesome new book out called BLIGHT, so go read it now, and after you’ve read it, maybe give MAEJ a try?
“A shining example of what high fantasy can be, and what it so rarely is—a stunning exploration of a radically different world that holds a funhouse mirror up to our own. At once an ambitious, densely plotted adventure, a commentary on gender and class, and a linguistic tour de force, this is a true work of art.” —Rachel A. Rosen, author of Cascade and Blight
July 5, 2025 at 6:17 AM
stromberg.bsky.social
One more book for the #BookHaul
My hand holding a paperback copy of George Saunders’s novel Lincoln in the Bardo.
July 4, 2025 at 1:08 PM