banner
LightNews
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas
@ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
64 followers 66 following 20 posts
Writer of speculative fiction. Querying MALUS (90k) — Adult Fantasy Horror — Ninth House x Fleabag. @ashtonofwords on tiktok she/her ashtonjthomas.com
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 9d
#agentsguide to MALUS, an adult dark academia fantasy.

Currently #amquerying
A London building sits against a cloudy sky. White text reads: An Introduction to MALUS, An Adult Dark Academia Fantasy, 90K Words A London building with white text overlayed, reading: Pitch - Devon March has spent the last decade in exile, hiding at a small American museum and keeping the monster in her head a secret. Her anonymity ends when she witnesses the first magical breach in centuries, forcing the University of Velum to send Alastair—her former rival, now a Host already breaking under the strain—to drag her back to London. All Hosts end the same way: deteriorated, disabled, and dead before thirty-five. All except Devon. Ten years ago, she fled Velum after the night her best friend Clementine died. At Velum, students are bound to maluses, sentient parasites drawn from the realm where the creatures humans once called fairy tales still kill and breed. On Earth, their remnants are bottled and displayed: unicorn horns under glass, fairy wings pinned like insects. Clementine was chosen to guard the Veil between worlds. Shortly after, she died. And Devon awoke with a malus in her head and Clementine’s severed finger in her throat. Now breaches multiply and Velum rots from the inside. Alastair suspects Devon knows more about Clementine’s death than she admits. And the deeper Devon digs, the more she questions whether the echoes of Clementine are memory, madness, or the parasite whispering through her veins. To survive, Devon must expose Velum’s secrets before the Veil collapses—or before her malus convinces her Clementine might still be alive. She insists she wants to save the world. But she’s lied before. Especially to herself. A London building against a cloudy sky, overlayed with images of the show Fleabag and the books Ninth House and Katabasis. White text details: For fans of - Fleabag (arrows pointing to text reading fourth wall breaks, unreliable narrator, and messy grief), Ninth House (arrows pointing to text reading outsider in elite spaces, magic is real and studied in our world), and Katabasis (arrows pointing to text reading UK based dark academia, magic is real and studied in our world) Statue in London, white text overlayed reads: Excerpt - It was easy to tell when the university grew close, its extended outer wings of Victorian ashen stone slowly becoming more imposing. To me, the students at Velum looked more like pastiches of students in glossy catalogues than actual fully formed complex individuals. Wool sweaters, argyle, and leather satchels tripled in occurrence as the taxi approached the iron gates. There are articles written on the subject I’m sure you could read, something about how an “appreciation for the past” the students possessed reflected in their garb. But when I was a student it was simply that we were all pretentious assholes who liked that we were distinguished from the corporate office workers on the streets of the city. The city itself thought of us a peculiar sight, a den of monks in the midst of a forest of glass trees. Uniquely devoted, largely ignorant of all outside our boundaries. In the center of cosmopolitan life and yet inextricably venerating the beyond, the unknowable. There was nothing for us outside Velum’s walls, not in the skyscrapers or the old bombed-out churches long ago turned into gardens. We were placeless people who had found our place, a decaying monument to mystery. We studied dead languages, and dead bodies, and the dust of dead artifacts. Mortician school was the slang term in the UK for Velum, as we studied the already dead and decaying. A study of rot. But I was an optimist of a sort. I saw Hosts and maluses and saw proof of the ethereal, magic made manifest. They were living, they were passed down, they were immortal. A way to cement yourself in history. In a field of decaying dreams, of history dying, what do you do when you see the living, see the heartbeat of it all carrying on? If you were me, you wanted to be a part of it, a cog in the living thing that ceaselessly ran onwards.
1 14
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 2d
unfortunately😬
1
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 2d
🤞keeping my fingers crossed we get to read each others in the future💖💖💖
1
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 2d
🩸NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG🧠

Once, fairy tales were alive. At Velum, their remnants are dissected and studied. Now the Veil between worlds is fracturing, and Devon, the dropout hiding a monster in her head, insists she wants to stop it. She’s always been good at lying to herself.

#DVpit #DIS #A #F #H
2 1
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 2d
👁️NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG🪞

At the University of Velum, brilliance and nepotism are a parasite’s favorite meal. The best students are meant to rot first. Devon swore she’d never return—but Velum always calls its monsters home.

#DVpit #DIS #A #F #H
2
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 2d
from the comps to halloween gone wrong? 10/10 no notes need to read
1 1
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 2d
💀 NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG 🩸
- with #DIS rep

Parasites in skulls. Ghosts in lecture halls. A rival collapsing before her eyes. Devon March fled the University of Velum once; she won’t escape twice. The only Host who survives has returned—and Velum always collects its dead.

#DVPit #A #F #H
3 1
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 3d
really loving this
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 3d
🩸 unreliable narrator with a parasite in her head

📚 a university where fairy tales are dead specimens

🫀 disability woven into the cost of magic

⚔️ academic rivals bound by secrets & decay

👻 a best friend’s ghost that won’t let go

NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG with #DIS rep

#DVPit #A #F #H
4 2
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 3d
I want to read this so badly!
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 3d
NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG

Ten years ago, Devon fled Velum the night her best friend died. She awoke with a parasite in her skull and Clementine’s severed finger in her throat. Now she’s dragged back to the university that rots its brightest students alive.

#DVPit #DIS #A #F #H
6 1
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 3d
I love the premise and comps!
1
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 3d
I need to read this asap!
1 1
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 3d
NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG

Haunted by a magical parasite whispering in her head, a dropout returns to the university where her best friend died, while the remnants of fairy-tales rot in jars and the failing barrier between worlds demands the truth she’s buried.

#DVPit #DIS #A #F #H
7 4
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 4d
My next project, THE WIZARD’S CHAMPION, currently #amdrafting:

UPROOTED x THE KNIGHT AND THE MOTH
In a realm where champions bleed for their wizards, Leocadia must fight as a knight for the man whose magic is fueled by the goddess who cursed her.

So excited for #DVPit tomorrow!

#DVParty
Collage of 9 pictures, top left is three veiled women in pastel colors, top middle is an illustration of a knight's tear filled eye through a helmet, top right is a photo of a woman laying down in flowers wearing a suit of armor. Middle left is a woman in a suit of armor, sitting on a church pew and leaning over. Middle center is the image of a suit of armor with someone holding a sword in front of them. Middle right is a dark grey slide saying "The Wizard's Champion". Bottom left is the image of a hand holding a sword, bottom middle is a group of women, some veiled but all wearing pastels, tulle and with flowers in their hair, bottom right is of a dark haired woman in a dark dress, holding a dark hand up in the air as she faces away from the camera.
3 31
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 7d
I present the opening line of MALUS, my adult fantasy horror. 🩸📚👻

#DVParty #DIS #A #F #H
Image of a London church against a cloudy sky, white text overlayed saying - Opening Line: The monster in my mind accompanied me to my mother's deathbed.
8 1 45
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 7d
gorg! the pink hair🤏🤏🤏
1 2
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 8d
this is gorgeous😍
1 1
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 8d
Introducing Devon, and the ones she can't stop thinking about:
🩸Empty skull, nothing to see here.
🩸No really, why would you think there's something in her head?
🩸Definitely over her ex-best friend's death
🩸Did you see that flash of blonde hair out the window too? Oh, nevermind...

#DVParty #DIS
Four images in a collage, top left image of a woman with dark hair turned away from the camera, in a misty field with trees in the distance. Text reads- Devon: Dropout. Liar with a parasite. Top right is an image of a man in a suit sitting in a wheelchair. Text reads - Alastair: Rival. Reluctant ally. Almost dead. Bottom left is the image of a shadow with claws reaching towards someone's head. Text reads - The Malus: A magical parasite. Bottom right is a picture of a blonde woman with her face away from the camera, surrounded by darkness. Text reads - Clementine: Best Friend. Dead, or maybe not.
5 14
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 9d
Here is my moodboard for my adult fantasy with horror elements, MALUS 🩸📚👻

#DVparty #DIS #A #F #H
Moodboard featuring nine images, including: top left is the shadow of a monstrous hand grabbing a person's head, top middle is foggy Big Ben on Westminster Bridge, top right are two blurry people running down a marble staircase, middle left is a tube station with a train waiting, middle image is a group of five people standing in the shadows of an old archway, middle right is a room with old oil paintings on the walls, and a marble bust head, bottom left is a man laying on the floor next to a table and papers in black and white, bottom middle is a London street with two double decker red buses and bicycles, bottom right is an artitst's interpretation of fairy taxidermy, pinned similarly to an insect within a shadow box.
10 3 70
ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 9d
#agentsguide to MALUS, an adult dark academia fantasy.

Currently #amquerying
A London building sits against a cloudy sky. White text reads: An Introduction to MALUS, An Adult Dark Academia Fantasy, 90K Words A London building with white text overlayed, reading: Pitch - Devon March has spent the last decade in exile, hiding at a small American museum and keeping the monster in her head a secret. Her anonymity ends when she witnesses the first magical breach in centuries, forcing the University of Velum to send Alastair—her former rival, now a Host already breaking under the strain—to drag her back to London. All Hosts end the same way: deteriorated, disabled, and dead before thirty-five. All except Devon. Ten years ago, she fled Velum after the night her best friend Clementine died. At Velum, students are bound to maluses, sentient parasites drawn from the realm where the creatures humans once called fairy tales still kill and breed. On Earth, their remnants are bottled and displayed: unicorn horns under glass, fairy wings pinned like insects. Clementine was chosen to guard the Veil between worlds. Shortly after, she died. And Devon awoke with a malus in her head and Clementine’s severed finger in her throat. Now breaches multiply and Velum rots from the inside. Alastair suspects Devon knows more about Clementine’s death than she admits. And the deeper Devon digs, the more she questions whether the echoes of Clementine are memory, madness, or the parasite whispering through her veins. To survive, Devon must expose Velum’s secrets before the Veil collapses—or before her malus convinces her Clementine might still be alive. She insists she wants to save the world. But she’s lied before. Especially to herself. A London building against a cloudy sky, overlayed with images of the show Fleabag and the books Ninth House and Katabasis. White text details: For fans of - Fleabag (arrows pointing to text reading fourth wall breaks, unreliable narrator, and messy grief), Ninth House (arrows pointing to text reading outsider in elite spaces, magic is real and studied in our world), and Katabasis (arrows pointing to text reading UK based dark academia, magic is real and studied in our world) Statue in London, white text overlayed reads: Excerpt - It was easy to tell when the university grew close, its extended outer wings of Victorian ashen stone slowly becoming more imposing. To me, the students at Velum looked more like pastiches of students in glossy catalogues than actual fully formed complex individuals. Wool sweaters, argyle, and leather satchels tripled in occurrence as the taxi approached the iron gates. There are articles written on the subject I’m sure you could read, something about how an “appreciation for the past” the students possessed reflected in their garb. But when I was a student it was simply that we were all pretentious assholes who liked that we were distinguished from the corporate office workers on the streets of the city. The city itself thought of us a peculiar sight, a den of monks in the midst of a forest of glass trees. Uniquely devoted, largely ignorant of all outside our boundaries. In the center of cosmopolitan life and yet inextricably venerating the beyond, the unknowable. There was nothing for us outside Velum’s walls, not in the skyscrapers or the old bombed-out churches long ago turned into gardens. We were placeless people who had found our place, a decaying monument to mystery. We studied dead languages, and dead bodies, and the dust of dead artifacts. Mortician school was the slang term in the UK for Velum, as we studied the already dead and decaying. A study of rot. But I was an optimist of a sort. I saw Hosts and maluses and saw proof of the ethereal, magic made manifest. They were living, they were passed down, they were immortal. A way to cement yourself in history. In a field of decaying dreams, of history dying, what do you do when you see the living, see the heartbeat of it all carrying on? If you were me, you wanted to be a part of it, a cog in the living thing that ceaselessly ran onwards.
1 14