Ross McDermott
LightNews LightNews
banner
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
Ross McDermott
@beyondtheonions.bsky.social
790 followers 470 following 1.2K posts
I write ✍
Author
TUSK: A Beringia Story - https://a.co/d/eJgOYf1
The Murderous Villain Rosco Pitt - https://a.co/d/fx8xng3
Weathervane - a.co/d/3iPzhvE (horror)
(poetry) - Beyond the Onions https://a.co/d/j1SWuiC
https://gravatar.com/beyondtheonions
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · Mar 25
"Words lament, pages weep,
Never written if never read."
~ Ross McDermott - Beyond the Onions

TUSK: A Beringia Story - #historicalfantasy
a.co/d/9owR2nQ
The Murderous Villain Rosco Pitt - #western
a.co/d/4dskZHv
Weathervane - #western / #horror
a.co/d/eymNU43

#booklovers #storytime #booksky
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
"You'll find no mirrors in Setter Manor, only blurred #reflections in clouded panes of windows' glass, forever hidden by heavy drapes."
- #wip Sunsetter 🦇🧛⚰️

#vss365 #amwriting #writing
November 26, 2025 at 1:12 PM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#2wordprompt #tomorrow #champion #poem #poetry #writing
No eyes see her depart just the empty slip she leaves behind We whisper of her passage; a ghostly ship we'll never find resting in a port, far beyond horizon's line We board her sister ship, Today While dry-dock stores the Yesterday. May fair winds champion us on our way, as we search for our Tomorrow. ~Beyond the Onions~ Ross McDermott ~
November 26, 2025 at 12:46 PM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #impede (vibe) #writing #horror #western #genre-bending #fiction #wip Sunsetter - an ancient evil in the wilds of the west.
*Short snippet today. Francis takes a fall. ⬇️
I crossed the dry creek and tripped, stumbling on winter’s deadfall buried in the snow, then stumbled again up the opposite bank. I took refuge behind the widow’s willow, foolishly feeling better with its bark at my back. #wip Sunsetter by Ross McDermott
November 26, 2025 at 12:26 PM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
"Is the darkness so offensive?" he asked,
leaning to the flicker of the flame
"You seem apprehensive. Are my eyes to blame?"

"Your eyes are mine!" the man exclaimed,
shocked how mirrors lacked restrain
turning back to his #reflection
to stare with empty eyes again

#vss365 #poem #poetry #writing
November 26, 2025 at 11:26 AM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
In the time it takes to perceive a thought
It swiftly slips 'till it's forgot
but just a moment's quick review
recalls the thought you knew you knew

~ you knew ~

#vss365 #timed (a moment) #poem #poetry #amwriting #writing #writingcommunity
November 25, 2025 at 1:23 PM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
woke up in #Toronto
in an elevator shaft
blamed it on Van Halen
and their rock-and-rolling craft
would've just went home
but a #ride it seemed I #lack
so in the shaft I spent the night
rolling green buds from a sack

#2wordprompt #poem #poetry #rhymetime #truestory #the80s 😉
November 25, 2025 at 12:19 PM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #writing #amwriting #wip
No #system in current #wip but found one example in my #historical/fantasy #novel TUSK: a Beringia Story
*This snippet from TUSK comes from the end of the #prologue - archeologists debate the mysterious markings on a newly discovered mammoth tusk- #books
The Russian laughed softly. "Perhaps," he conceded. "But again, unprecedented. That would mean we have evidence of three ancient human species residing in a single cave system, perhaps at the same time, perhaps not, over hundreds of thousands of years. An interesting development that will require further study." "Mon Dieu! Pourquoi? Why etch a tusk?" a French caver moved forward to photograph the tusk's mysterious marks. “Why the telling of a story of course,” replied the Russian, his glasses slipping down his nose as he peered bright-eyed at the Frenchman. “Humanity has always loved the story. We love to hear them, and we love to tell them. This,” he continued, glancing around at the faces, “is such a story, told around an ancient fire but not unlike the campfires we gather around today. What tale does it tell? I can not say.” He shrugged, then his eyes sparkled as he concluded, “But I’ll bet it's a good one.” excerpt from the #novel TUSK: a Beringia Story by Ross McDermott
November 25, 2025 at 11:54 AM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #debut (vibe) #writing #amwriting #horror/western #genre-bending #fiction #wip Sunsetter - continuing the tale of ancient evil in the wilds of the west. #Sequel to the #novel Weathervane.
*Noah's fledglings make their #debut under the light of a slivered moon.
#books #booksky #read
Crumbs, a trail left to follow? I caught the glistening humps of horses, dead and prone on their sides, skinned and glaring white beneath the intermittent light of the slivered moon. Noah had left a trail – his disturbing calling-card, and again was sending a strong warning with each of the seven dead horses we passed. Seven mounts, seven men, all lost to the dead of the night. The shadows that were swallowed by the depths of the snow were new to my Sunsetter’s eyes – no shadows such as this had ever been mentioned over all the years of my training. Though winter’s bite caused tears to pool, it was shadows my eyes caught now. As intermittent as the flash of the moon, they stood among the trees, still, dark and foreboding – hooded cloaks blacker than the sky, sentinels in the night. They did not move, but populated the dark forest, back among the trees, seeming to line the path I followed, watching my flight, their numbers appearing as too many to count. excerpt from #wip Sunsetter by Ross McDermott
November 24, 2025 at 12:03 PM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#Strong fingers flexed
#relevant in the early days
of pounding #type to page
when my words came of age
on my #Underwood-Olivetti

#2wordprompt #vss365 #poem #poetry #youth #writing #amwriting #typewriter #origins #writingcommunity
November 24, 2025 at 11:29 AM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
Stains on the pillow
drips of tears that slowly #fade
come the morning light

#haikufeels #haiku #poetry #poem #writing #amwriting
November 23, 2025 at 2:05 PM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
We watched his eyes #travel,
up and down the ridgeline trail
the summit loomed #achievable
in his mind he could not fail
His #decision to ascend
was a prideful one at that
for he never came back down
and we only found his hat.

#2wordprompt #vss365 #poem #poetry #writing #amwriting
November 23, 2025 at 12:47 PM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #global (world) #writing #amwriting #western/horror #fiction #wip Sunsetter - continuing the tale of ancient evil in the wilds of the west
*The OG - Percival teaches the fledgling Sunsetters the true origins of Noah - the #original #vampir
#sequel to the #novel Weathervane - available now!
“He knew not then what he had done,” Percival again took up the telling. “The blood of fallen angels had been passed to one not meant to feel the pulse of that power. No ha had become the vessel of that tainted blood, the accidental ark of an unholy covenant. “He was now , like his creator, immortal and driven with an incessant hunger to feed on the blood of humans.” Percival moved closer to our line of desks, catching each of our eyes and emphasizing the importance of his words. “He was now, Noah, the child fiend who would slaughter his clan, his own mother, and carry on to spread the plague around the world as death corrupted. This he continues to do today, feeding indiscriminate, seeking the hearts of innocence. This, Sunsetters, is your foe. This, Sunsetters, is the true destroyer of all flesh.” excerpt from #wip Sunsetter by Ross McDermott
November 23, 2025 at 11:49 AM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
If only they'd been #solid
the silver would have left a mark
but the #utility of incorporeal is mere shadow
and no wound was #measurable
in the false flesh of the fallen.

#2wordprompt #vss365 #writing #amwriting #poem #vsshorror
November 22, 2025 at 11:40 AM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #writing #amwriting #horror/western #fiction #wip
No #crystal in current #wip Sunsetter, so today's snippet comes from the #preqel, the #novel Weathervane.
*Rosco receives assurances from the fallen one, V'ar kielius (Arakiel).
#books #booksky
“The mountains you hold so dearly were of my making. Even the silver with which you now hunt was delivered to your kind by me. Your world has been my dominion since before it was your world. No ha is my folly, god of the steppe I was then, but I am to be sure, Earth of God, and my folly is now my lot. I tell you this, Mr. Pitt…” Again he spoke my name, and though it wrang as crystal in the air, I did not like the sound. “I tell you this so you will know, down there,” Arakiel pointed, “in the dark. That you are not alone.” The ghost vanished. The stable erupted in the utter silence that followed and the flame of the torch in my hand bent sharply, as if blown or sucked, so it seemed, by a sudden draft where none had been, where Arakiel, the fallen, had just stood. excerpt from the #novel Weathervane - prequel to current wip Sunsetter - coming soon.
November 22, 2025 at 10:57 AM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
live in the #present
#specific to our species
not #outside the 'now.'

#vss365 #2wordprompt #haiku #poem #poetry #writing #amwriting #writingcommunity #HaikuSky
November 21, 2025 at 12:28 PM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #writing #amwriting #horror/western #wip excerpt from Sunsetter...sequel to #novel Weathervane and continuing the tale of an ancient evil in the wilds of the west.
*Francis consults the weathervane for #direction
#books #comingsoon
I had not drawn it in some time and now felt a dire need to know if Noah lurked near. The weathervane answered ‘yes.’ The star spun wildly in its frame against the backdrop of a sparkling black of the sky. The etchings flared, ending with the horns of the ram, as it always did. The weathervane pointed northwest, towards the meadow of the Widow’s Weeping Willow. Though them cattle-company boys didn’t know it, they were riding headlong towards ‘the destroyer of all flesh.’ I tapped my heels on the underbelly of Mr. Andrews and her response was immediate. She knows this game well. We left Randy River behind us, galloping at pace, catching up to the posse, that now tempted fate in the dead of the night. ~from wip Sunsetter by Ross McDermott Weathervane cover design by Emma McDermott
November 21, 2025 at 11:53 AM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#PoemsAbout #DogTags #poem #poetry #writing #writingcommunity #amwriting @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk
Composed this piece in July - but it fits well. #HappyFriday #BlueskyPoetry
~ Broken Wings ~
They found him on the sand where waves lapped the land and foamy surf told fables only they could understand. They thought perhaps he'd fallen a god from lofty heights or perhaps emerged from inky black that always ruled the night. They knew he fell in battle the metal was the tell its silver-chain; the tarnished tag and broken wings on his lapel ~Beyond the Onions~ Ross McDermott ~
November 21, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Reposted by Ross McDermott
scifansat.bsky.social
Authors! If you still have a manuscript of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and More you want to send in, it’s time to burn the midnight oil because #SciFanSat submissions close at 11:59 PM EST tonight at scifansat.com/landing.html!

#SFF #AmWritingScifi #AmWritingFantasy #WritingPrompts
SciFanSat: The Monthly Magazine for Science Fiction, Fantasy and More! November’s theme is FIRE. The deadline for submissions is November 20th, 2025.
November 20, 2025 at 1:04 PM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
sulfide attraction
a chemical reaction
tarnished over time

#vss365 #action (reaction) #haiku #poetry #amwriting #science
November 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#2wordprompt #winter #wear #poem #poetry #rhymetime #amwriting #writingcommunity #blueskypoetry
She sleeps to the tones of winter's whispered drawl She weeps and she groans wearing winter's shall From jagged cliffs she clings tenacious in her wonder and sings an unheard song of winter's chilling thunder finally taking wing to break the spell she's under so in spring her frigid tears spill sweet. ~Beyond the Onions~ Ross McDermott
November 20, 2025 at 11:52 AM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #writing #amwriting #horror #western #wip Sunsetter - a tale of ancient evil in the wilds of the west
*Nothing #special in my #wip... but I do have plenty of "particular"
*Noah breaks the illusion. Francis sees the fiend.
#books #comingsoon - #sequel to the #novel Weathervane.
#booksky
I shifted in the corner but remained quiet on the floor. I was horrified yet gripped by the tale he was telling, and while fantastical it was, after all I had seen, heard and felt in recent days, I was inclined to believe him. Besides, as I looked at him deep in his contemplation, the physical boy Noah was in every other way a man. At least, that’s how he struck me at this particular moment. “No. No, Sunsetter” he laughed softly, his lips parting from that usual straight-lipped smile, he drew them back and showed his fangs. “I am no man.” excerpt from Sunsetter by Ross McDermott
November 20, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by Ross McDermott
jason-h-abbott.bsky.social
“Fireside”

Art by me for November’s upcoming #SciFanSat issue and its theme of FIRE! Writers, submissions are due tonight by 11:59 pm EST for the new issue next Saturday. Full details available at scifansat.com/landing.html!

#SFF #AmWritingScifi #AmWritingFantasy #WritingPrompts
A science fiction-fantasy illustration of a young cavegirl and her triceratops companion beside a campfire.
November 20, 2025 at 11:04 AM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#vss365 #option (choice) #poem #poetry - I may have posted this piece previously... not sure... but I chose to repost, as that is my #option. 😉
#writing #amwriting #writingcommunity
~ The Chamber ~ Beyond the Onions, Ross McDermott I know not of the wind's caress. Although I've heard its whispered words I know not of its touch. Within these walls, forged not by the hands of men but by those of gods I am held captive. Though it seems safe, so safe it seems, to try and dwell among the dreams what choice have I? These walls of flesh dictate to me the feelings that I feel. The feelings that they judge unfit it seems they choose to steal. Deep within these confines there is a place where passage starts, but for now, it seems, I dwell in dreams a prisoner of the heart.
November 19, 2025 at 1:41 PM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
The gremlin of ironics
#offers tight-lipped grin, sardonic
prideful of the craft that he has honed
His eyes gleam like black onyx
As he smokes his hydroponics
and #interrupts these lives we call, with pride, our own.

#2wordprompt #poem #poetry #irony #life #amwriting
November 19, 2025 at 1:27 PM
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #third #writing #amwriting #horror/western #genre-bending #wip Sunsetter - the continuing tale of ancient evil in the wilds of the west. Sequel to the #novel Weathervane.
*A tense moment for Francis and the Triple C posse.
#books #read #booksky
“Who are you?” Sandy said, stepping forward and flipping back his coat to show me the iron. He was a formidable shadow in the night, but not one to cause me, a Sunsetter, any worry. “That’s the man who claimed the Pitt bounty,” another man answered. “I seen him in the mercantile earlier today. ‘Slayter,’ Joe had called him.” I looked at the man, who’s name I did not know, then turned my eyes to Sandy. “My name is Frank. Frank Slayter,” I nodded at the four men collectively, still looking over my shoulder, then stood to face them, meeting all their eyes in a sweeping glance. “But you boys can call me Frank.” I let the ashes fall from my hand, flipping my own coat back to show off my iron, matching metal dangling ready on each opposing hip. I eyed Sandy’s pistol, and watched his hand descend to rest calmly on the buckle of his belt. I relaxed my stance a measure, sensing the immediate threat had passed. “You’re a bounty hunter,” a third man declared. “Why yes, yes I am,” I smiled. excerpt from #wip Sunsetter by Ross McDermott
November 19, 2025 at 1:09 PM