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Jae Koyanagi

@jaekoyanagi.com

760 followers 230 following 1.6K posts

SFF author (Ascension, Ninth Step Station, Ctrl-Alt-Destroy), Otherwise Award Honor List, Rep: Russ Galen. Autistic & queer. Pfp by @starace.bsky.social. Banner by @sovka.bsky.social. 🚫genAI/LLM🚫 https://jaekoyanagi.carrd.co

jaekoyanagi.carrd.co

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Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · Jul 16

Intro post! I'm Jae (formerly Jacqueline) Koyanagi, author of the sci-fantasy novel Ascension, among other things: jaekoyanagi.com

Currently, I'm deep into writing the first book of a character-driven romantic fantasy trilogy set in a lush, unusual world where divine magic abounds.

The book cover for Ascension: A Tangled Axon Novel by Jae Koyanagi (credited as Jacqueline on the cover). The illustration features main character Alana Quick, a Black woman with her hand on her hip, looking at the viewer. Behind her is the interior of a spaceship painted in cool colors with a view of a nebula and stars beyond.

The cover for the audio series Ninth Step Station from Realm, featuring a textured background in cool, dark colors. The text reads: In the future, two mismatched cops must work together to solve crimes in a divided Tokyo: Ninth Step Station by award-winning authors Malka Older, author of Infomocracy; Fran Wilde, author of Updraft; Jacqueline Koyanagi, author of Ascension; and Curtis C. Chen, author of Waypoint Kangaroo.

The cover for the audio series Ctrl-Alt-Destroy from Realm. The image features the old title for the series, Alternis, and the former name of the publisher, which was Serial Box. The illustration features main character Tandy Kahananui slicing through a video game foe with a sword, scattering them into digital fragments.

The cover for the anthology Phantasm Japan, from Haikasoru. The illustration features the head of a Japanese woman who is looking up toward the title. Behind her is the Tokyo skyline, while flames emerge from her right eye and winged insects flutter around her.

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Reposted by Jae Koyanagi

Kaitlyn Page @theinnerobserver.bsky.social · Aug 26

"Octocentrism" 🐙🪐

I had a "what if," idea and decided to run with it. What if there was an Octopus at the center of our solar system and he was the sun, manipulating all 8 planets within his 8 arms?

#gouache #art #octopus

Gouache painting depicting an Octopus in space holding 8 planets. The Octopus is the sun and is at the center of our solar system. There is a gold ring behind his head and a white egret below him.

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Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 10h

It is, but people are publishing their books there, too. I've bought a fair few!

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Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 10h

Have you looked into itch.io?

Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 11h

Definitely not chill 😂

Reposted by Jae Koyanagi

Cass Morris @cassmorriswrites.com · 11h

This entire thread is worth the read but thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis

I've said before how much I do not understand this attitude. I never hate writing. I hate when things get in-between me and writing. I hate when something about *me* is keeping the writing from working. But I never hate the work.

chira 🎋 @artofchira.bsky.social · 12h

I've always been annoyed at the performative self-hatred a lot of artists/writers do of their own work. if you've followed me for a while, you've seen me counter-argue against it often. but I think now I want to impress it's praxis to talk about why creativity feels GOOD to do. because it does.

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chira 🎋 @artofchira.bsky.social · 12h

for me personally: art is the reason I find a point to being alive. and that sounds intense and dramatic but I really can't emphasize enough it's not an exaggeration. the despair and nihilism and pain the world offers all vanishes when I draw. nothing compares. absolutely nothing.

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Neev @restlesshands.bsky.social · 12h

This whole thread is gold - this really zeroes in on something important about the disconnect between AI users and those who are against it.

chira 🎋 @artofchira.bsky.social · 12h

in a session with my therapist, she was commenting how she can't draw a stick figure -- then recalled a time when she could envision exactly what she wanted and it came out easily on the canvas. and she had no idea how she did it.

I was like, yeah, the flow state. you know, like athletes and gamers

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Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 13h

SAME. The reactions are where the good stuff is!

Reposted by Jae Koyanagi

Abigail Larson @abigaillarson.com · Jun 22

Abbraccio 🖤
I've been drawing a lot of embracing couples lately

illustration showing a female Death figure kissing a woman in a graveyard

illustration of a woman straddling a demon in front of a fireplace

illustration inspired by "Beauty and the Beast" showing a goatman monster hugging a woman in a garden

Illustration of a winged male vampire embracing a human woman in a room with an arched doorway

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Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 13h

Make them wholesome, make them toxic, I don't care as long as it's believable and interesting.

Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 13h

I also feel this way with the social dynamics between characters. If a character is being irritating, then I want to see the other characters being irritated by them. Believable responses to annoying behavior. I can't tell you how often I DNF because the social dynamics aren't believable to me.

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Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 13h

Not every novel needs these kinds of stakes, of course, but if you set it up that way, then yeah, I want to see the villain be villainous. Back up their reputation with action. Or set up your story differently if you don't actually want to go there.

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Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 13h

One of the worst things to encounter in a novel (to me!) is a lack of believable consequences.

If the MC spits in the face of the evil despot mage villain, I expect a truly villainous reaction. Serious, terrifying consequences. Otherwise you've already lost me bc there are no stakes.

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Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 15h

Me, two weeks ago: I've put my fear of falling from great heights into this novel, but at least there's no claustrophobic crawling through tight underground tunnels. I don't think I could make myself write that haha

Me, today: so about that

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Chris Newell @chrisnewell.bsky.social · 1d

Sorry I’m late, there was a weird tree

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Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 19h

I don't know what adult fantasy fiction you're reading, but over here in marginalized voices land, fantasy is doing incredible things. Stunning narrative styles and structures, intriguing characters, powerful themes. This feels like a you problem than anything indicative of the genre as a whole.

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Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 18h

I have a huge number of shows/movies/books/topics muted for no reason other than lack of interest. 🤷‍♀️ Seems reasonable to me!

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Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 20h

The next two books shouldn't take three years to develop and write, given the work I've already done. But I cannot fathom writing the kind of work I now create at a pace any faster than one book every year or two.

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Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 20h

Given the break I took from publishing novel-length work since my debut ages ago, it's hard to say. But what I can say is that my current novel has been about three years in the making, if you count the work done before drafting began. But I've been drafting/revising since March.

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 21h

Happy world squid and cuttlefish day!!

Text your friend a squid fact. Watch a video of a cuttlefish doing something cute.
Doodle a squid and then show it to me.

The world is cruel but squid are good.

A giant Australian cuddle fish swims up from the Moy seafloor and looks at the camera. She is red with w shaped curious pupils

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Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · 2d

can someone just make a "does the dog die" but for "did this movie/series/videogame/book use gen AI" so i can avoid them

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Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 21h

Ew yes. Creepy.

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Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · 1d

Day 8 #Invertober2025 - Flamboyant cuttlefish (Ascarosepion pfefferi) ✨

#SciArt #invertebrates

semi realistic drawing of a flamboyant cuttlefish, a small cuttlefish with prominent ping purple tentacles, dark red body with yellow and white banding, on a black background.

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Jae Koyanagi @jaekoyanagi.com · 21h

Lovely! Thank you for this feature! Do you think a light mode toggle may ever come to be? There are some eye conditions (I have one) that makes dark mode painful. A toggle would really help out some of your potential users. Either way, thanks so much for your hard work!

Reposted by Jae Koyanagi

Dragons of Wales @dragonsofwales.bsky.social · 22h

A new portrait of Monolophosaurus. The crest here is more voluminous than most reconstructions, exploring the idea that the underlying bone might have been anchoring a larger pneumatised casque.
#SciArt

A digital portrait of a large carnivorous dinosaur in a forest setting. The dinosaur has a large boney crest above its snout and eyes, and large folds of skin hanging around its neck and jaws. The dinosaur is mostly earthy brown, but with brighter blues and pinks around the eyes and throat.

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