Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

C A Malin

@camalin.net

270 followers 390 following 540 posts

I'm a fledgling author, in the process of writing and self-publishing my first novel, a Regency/Fantasy crossover titled #Ellamir 🇬🇧 | He/Him | 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Ally | AI-phobic More socials & content | linktr.ee/c.a.malin

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

C A Malin @camalin.net · Sep 1

It's so exciting to be writing my first novel: #Ellamir, a #Regency adventure #romance, featuring characters exceedingly similar to some of the most memorable #JaneAusten creations, trying to maintain decorum in an increasingly chaotic high #fantasy world. Coming in 2026!

#Fiction #BookSky #Authors

On the left, a portrait of a young woman in Regency dress looks out at the viewer, while on the right, the novel's tagline reads: "Handsome, clever and rich, Miss Ellamir Oakhall lacks neither fortune nor consequence and is decidedly not in want of a husband..."
Below this, the novel's title: "Ellamir" by C A Malin - the Bluesky tag @camalin.net and the hashtag #Ellamir

1 2 24

C A Malin @camalin.net · 13h

...to maintain the door. About 20 years before the start of Ellamir, however, there was a clanstrife, an intra-familial conflict, and The Door was shut. The nearby villagers, who fear the Elves and know little of them, thought they were gone for good, so their reappearance is most unwelcome!
4️⃣/4️⃣

C A Malin @camalin.net · 13h

So the Elves brought forth their power (which over trees is extremely potent) and threw up the forest to hide the city. At the time of #Ellamir, the city is far less important to most Elves, and is somewhat tumbledown, but both city and forest are beloved by certain clans who are permitted...
3️⃣/4️⃣

C A Malin @camalin.net · 13h

...was an important regional capital for the Elves in this part of the Material Plane, so important that a portal was located there (these portals are collectively known as The Door). But when water levels decreased, the city was left high and dry and rather exposed atop the steep banks.
2️⃣/4️⃣

C A Malin @camalin.net · 13h

I can't wait to start working on it again!! Real life has been badly in the way for a few weeks now, but I'm planning to get back to it after the weekend!
The area that is now the Faewood lies on one bank of a valley whose river was once much greater. The city they built there in antiquity...
1️⃣/4️⃣

C A Malin @camalin.net · 22h

Absolutely! A forest is at the heart of the story of #Ellamir - known either as the Fairwood, Fearwood or most accurately the Faewood, it is the location of a Door to the Elven realm and often a habitat for them on the material plane. Humans beware!

1 1

C A Malin @camalin.net · 1d

I really want to watch the tragic episode of Saved By The Bell before TNG...

Reposted by C A Malin

Tara S Ghoul @tarasgeir.bsky.social · 5d

From ‘an untouched journey’ about a space pilot taking her telepathic wife on a secret, galactic, anniversary trip.

Gloria tries to safely fly through a field of cast off diamonds without destroying her ship. #writingcommunity #writesky #writingprompts

3 7 23

C A Malin @camalin.net · 4d

Hi hi, WIPperSnippers! 😊

Happy to be able to use this exchange again from my #JaneAusten x #Fantasy crossover WIP #Ellamir: it's the first explicit discussion of the Elves, a race largely misunderstood and maligned by the villagers.

#WIPSnips #WritingPrompts #Romantasy #SFF #IndieAuthors #Elves

A snippet from Ellamir by C A Malin:
Hannah listened, but at first she heard nothing; then suddenly, as if brought to her by the sunset breeze, she caught the softest strain of a long, high chord suspended on the air. It was joined by another; Hannah realised then that it was voices, singing somewhere in the distance.
"Who is it?" she asked.
"Elves," said Maqine.
"Oh! goodness! What shall we do?!"
Maqine looked at her quizically. "What d'ye mean, what shall we do?" she said.
"Elves," said Hannah in an urgent whisper, "Are they coming? Should we run?"
Maqine's puzzlement was quite reasonable: she had no fear of the elves, had a certain amount of experience of them, even called a few of them friends; but among the citizens of Upthorpe, of all the outsider creatures that surrounded them and posed a threat to their - to any - civilised community, elves were the most dreaded and reviled. They were unnatural, supernatural in fact, quite inhuman; they sought only to trouble the lives of good people, taking their livestock and even kidnapping their children; they carried magic within them, dreadful wild magic of terrible power, quite uncontrolled; it was said that they could destroy your mind if you should happen to look at them in the wrong way.
"Everyone is afraid of them," Hannah explained, when Maqine seemed unconcerned, "they say they are dangerous."
"Well, I suppose they can be," said Maqine, "but there's elves and elves, if you know what I mean. Most of them are quite harmless, unless you get too close to their settlements. It wouldn't do at all to wander into their world, but out here we're quite safe. Listen… isn't it beautiful?"

3 29

Reposted by C A Malin

Jan Karlsson @jangoeswriting.bsky.social · 12d

Stretchy synonym again. ‘Claws’ instead of ‘paw’. S’all I got.🤷🏻‍♂️

From ‘Prophet Hearing’.

#WiPSnips

“Well, I could always pay someone else to do it. They do say two mages are better than four.” None was better than any, but Tibias didn’t have the time. “The mage is Hugot Muckleflup. Are you going to do it, or should Cribb, here, put away this bag of Coin he happens to be bouncing on his palm in a nonchalant fashion?”

He was, too. Tibias had taught the boy the technique to make it just the right amount of enticing to the right person. Of course, he’d had to have the boy steal the Coin purse earlier, but he couldn’t get around to it himself at the moment. If this were some kind of projected sequence of images, created by brilliant minds to entertain the masses, pictures of Coins would flash in Gulpor’s eyes, but it wasn’t, so they didn’t. He did lick his lips, though, fingers reaching, tentatively, like claws, toward the bouncing bag.

2 9 44

Reposted by C A Malin

Tara S Ghoul @tarasgeir.bsky.social · 12d

I had paw in 'First to Fall' but it was a spoiler so here's one from it's sequel, about a group of companions trying to find a cure for a terrible plague. Alitzah is wondering who the wizard could be. #writesky #writingcommunity #writingprompts

1 9 25

C A Malin @camalin.net · 14d

It is kinda stressful right the way through, which usually I would find off-putting, but something about the way it's written instead made me not want to stop reading. I was expecting a lot more trauma TBH, I think because of the film being so terrifying (much more than the book, I felt)

C A Malin @camalin.net · 15d

I was pretty blown away by it, to be honest. I had avoided it for decades because of the shadow of the film, which is waaaay bleaker than the book it seems.

I felt that the mythical story passages served as a respite from the tension for the reader, as well as cheering up the rabbits! Very clever

C A Malin @camalin.net · 15d

Best of luck! I know how hard it is.

I went over to vaping a few years ago, and because I make my own liquid, I've been reducing the nicotine in it - it didn't make me want to vape *more*, but the idea of stopping completely terrifies me. But I must do it some day...

C A Malin @camalin.net · 15d

This was on my mind when I commissioned some art and changed my PFP.

Interestingly, I don't find a moot's PFP change on BSky disruptive generally, but it does throw me a bit when it happens on Discord. Wonder why that disparity?

1 1

Reposted by C A Malin

Jan Karlsson @jangoeswriting.bsky.social · 15d

It sounds like a plan … a terrible plan, but a plan …

From ‘Prophet Hearing’.

#WiPSnips

“So, correct me if I’m wrong, but your solution is to let this worm crap information into my brain that could, possibly, be the catalyst for the End of All Things? To allow the prophecies to be spoken and thus usher in a time of great darkness and suffering for, at the very least, this city and, quite possibly, the entire world?” It was a good thing his walking stick was by the door, because he could see it walking its way around the back of Hugot and Gulpor’s heads. “Is that what you’re saying.”

“Absolutely not!”

“Not in the slightest!”

“It would be utterly ridiculous to even countenance such a thing. Beyond ridiculous. Utter nonsense that …” Hugot’s shoulders slumped and his hat nearly tumbled from his head, saved by a swift hand. “Yes. That's what we’re saying.”

“And the jar and butterfly net?”

7 30

C A Malin @camalin.net · 15d

No "swift" for today's #WIPSnips so it'll have to be "fast"

Hannah gets a most peculiar feeling upon meeting a new neighbour, and it's not just because she has red skin, horns and a tail! ❤️‍🔥

So begins the #sapphic subplot of #Ellamir, my #JaneAusten / #Fantasy crossover novel

A snippet from Ellamir by C A Malin:
"Oh! why, I suppose I am… Miss Wright, Miss Hannah Wright… very pleased to make your acquaintance I am quite sure," she blustered, for her heart was now beating awfully fast, "I suppose I am a local, certainly, for I live at the school… in the village... yes, very bright, very bright indeed, and so hot that… goodness! I am quite at a loss to… that is… you seem awfully busy… have you been working very hard, and under this very hot sun…?"
"Oh, only for half an hour," said Maqine brightly, "I'm always this colour."
Hannah swallowed and caught her breath, blushing even harder, because even though she had never met anyone who looked quite like Maqine - had never met anybody who looked very different from herself, in fact - she was certain that it was deeply impolite to allude so openly about someone's appearance, even if you hadn't meant to. But Maqine apparently did not care; rather she seemed to think it extremely funny. Laughing heartily, she swiped at Hannah playfully with her tail and cut off her stammered apology by saying "Well now, never mind it! Just my bit of fun. A person ends up with a whole sackful of icebreakers when they look like I do!"
"Oh! goodness, well, yes, most amusing," tittered Hannah, trying desperately to look like she enjoyed the joke, "I suppose you do, but I think you look very nice! I mean, very… oh! forgive me… very nice…"

1 25

C A Malin @camalin.net · 15d

Of all the remarkable things about Watership Down, this is the one that really impressed me - how the reader is, like the rabbits, held in a state of constant apprehension even when they're doing something cosy like homemaking or nestling together.

Aud Connelly @audconnelly.bsky.social · 15d

I actually really love some cozy stories and admire the authors who can keep up the tension/interest in those plots, cuz sometimes I struggle to maintain story tension when characters aren't screaming and fighting for their lives. 😆

Probably the biggest skill area I'd like to improve upon.

2 1 9

C A Malin @camalin.net · 15d

There are some very pretty editions out there... the Penguin cloth-bound is particularly lovely...

C A Malin @camalin.net · 16d

I'm sorry!! It's so compelling I raced through it 😆

1 1

C A Malin @camalin.net · 16d

Yeah, I already decided I can't read Plague Dogs

C A Malin @camalin.net · 16d

This. I just finished WD and found it a lot less traumatic than I expected - so the question is, why make the movie so upsetting?!

1 2

C A Malin @camalin.net · 16d

I just read your favourite Bigwig deliver the best line in the entire book (all in Lapine)

C A Malin @camalin.net · 16d

Same! He's the rabbit I most identify with, I think, though I also identify with Hazel as he has a leadership style I really like and try to use myself, recognising others' strengths and helping them contribute to the whole with kindness and encouragement

C A Malin @camalin.net · 16d

Do you have a favourite rabbit from WD, @tarasgeir.bsky.social ?

I'm trying to decide mine...

1 2

C A Malin @camalin.net · 16d

Yep, turns out they're a militant bunch, generally speaking...