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Ross McDermott

@beyondtheonions.bsky.social

700 followers 460 following 990 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

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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

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 32m

#HappyFriday #BlueSky - Signing off for the day. I've got mountains to climb and #fiends that need dusting 🦇 -- my #manuscript awaits!
#writing #wip Sunsetter #amwriting #horror #western #genre-bending

"We know not how. We know not why. Demons dance at crossroads nigh." - Jebediah Stoll, Sunsetter.

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 52m

Startling composition Ray... the depth of this piece is amazing and the craft is damn-near perfect! Bravo! 👏👏👏

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 58m

Thank you Gary! Much appreciated.🙏🙏🙏
From a poet's perspective, sorrow can never be taken for granted... it is, to me, an emotion to be seized upon and confronted, and one that is ripe with creativity.

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 1h

Love is blind! To me, you've captured it perfectly. Excellent craft Philippa👏👏👏

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 1h

#PoemsAbout #poem #poetry #writing #writingcommunity #writing #amwriting #struggles
Thanks to @thebrokenspine.co.uk and @alanparrywriter.co.uk
* This is an older piece I wrote quite some time ago... it fits well with the prompt #ImperfectMe -- as I'm sure it does convey.

~baubles~

my words just baubles, cheap décor hung of the weeping limbs of a dead, dry christmas pine.
crumbling brittle thorns, needles fall in showers to the linoleum – dusty tears from the tormented heart of a poet, squeezed like a lemon, lamenting for eternity.
follow Willy’s weeping words and “strut and fret the hour,” the one that never comes and is always banished when it does…
is all the light a manic mirage, a grand deception of that tortured chamber?
to question is enough, to wonder is divine.
I relish in that wonder and let the query swim, refusing to relent an answer, with an equal air of divinity.
“strut and fret” indeed! not this...
...not this tortured heart.

a poem by Ross McDermott, Beyond the Onions

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 2h

It was an #instance of insanity
to #write such words as these
for one who keeps his company
amidst a den of thieves:

"I stabbeth thee, all vagabonds
"Who come to steal from me
"With serrated teeth on bloodied knife
"I stabbeth thee,
"I stabbeth thee,
"I stabbeth thee."

#2wordprompt #poem #poetry

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 2h

Free from knotted post
#straw man flails his arms and legs
lashing out at crows

#dailyhaikuprompt #haiku #poem #poetry #spooky #horror #halloween

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 3h

#WIPSnips - back to Sunsetter training in this excerpt from my #wip, Sunsetter, a tale of ancient evil in the wilds of the west, sequel to the #novel Weathervane.
*Francis recalls the training & Sara's climb to the top of the class.
#prize #amwriting #writing #novel #books #booksky #read #comingsoon

In the five years since our arrival, we fledglings had advanced in our training to what Mory had called “a satisfactory degree.” We had become well-schooled in not just the history of the Setters, and all their angelic moralities, but in histories in general, and while my schoolmates had excelled at the ‘game of the hunt’ as Percival had called it, my strengths excelled in areas of combat, both hand-to-hand and with all kinds of weaponry; blade or gun, it mattered not. I was the one to bring ‘the game’ to an end.
The tricks of the mind were a slower acquisition, but the wine each day, with our midnight supper, was to aid in acquiring that coveted skill, while connecting us to the Setters in the realm of thoughts and influence. Miss Montgomery had proven quite adept in leading us in our discovery of this dark craft, and Sara was her prize pupil.

~ from the manuscript Sunsetter: continuing the tale of ancient evil in the wilds of the west.
by Ross McDermott.

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 19h

a man in a suit and hat is holding a gun in front of the words what we 've got

ALT: a man in a suit and hat is holding a gun in front of the words what we 've got

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Ross McDermott

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 1d

#smooth #witing #prose #scifi #amwriting #writingcommunity #prose #blackskywriters

I completed this piece just yesterday. I've added to it to accommodate the #WIPSnips word prompt #battery, and the #2wordprompt #station -- excerpt from the #shortstory:

~Finigan's Crater~

Larry tapped the side of his helmet, bringing the battery back to life. The telecoms crackled suddenly emitting a familiar voice from the distant moon station, Lunar Base Campfire.
“Long-Drive! Long-Drive! Come in please. This is Darkside over.”
The voice pulled Larry’s thoughts from the enormous object that now blocked the black and filled the module’s windows.
It had risen a full kilometer in seconds, Larry estimated, and while he saw the top edges and side of the craft as it rose, flashing a smooth, silver neon as it caught the light of the sun, the bottom of the massive vessel began edging into view.
Larry gasped. The underside of this ship appeared a reflection of the Moon’s surface, pock-marked, cratered, a luminescent shade of grey.

by Ross McDermott

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Reposted by Ross McDermott

Dripping With Words | Intuitive Writer @drippingwithwords.bsky.social · 22h

..magical ross 🌙🌸

..your words i read.. and heard pink floyd's 'time':

"..and you run, and you run.. to catch up with the sun.. but it's sinking.."

Pink Floyd – Time (Official Audio)

YouTube video by Pink Floyd

www.youtube.com

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 21h

Time... yes!
One of my all-time favourite Pink Floyd tunes, from perhaps my favourite band... Metallica is up there too. 😊
Now i gotta listen to Time...
"Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day..."
Thanks for the prompt, DWW.

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 22h

I don't have any dots
but lots of moon shots
here's a peek at one
running from the sun.

The moon falling in the fall, fleeing the rising sun, as do I.
Photo by Ross McDermott

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 22h

#dailyhaikuprompt #misty #writing #amwriting #poem #poetry #haiku

Misty river bends
to drifting golden leaflets
going with the flow.

Reposted by Ross McDermott

MechaniChris @chrisakins.bsky.social · 1d

Widdick has his priorities in order.

Also? GRIM PORTENTS IS OUT RIGHT NOW: www.christianakins.com/grimportents

#Writingcommunity #WIPSnips #Writesky #Booksky

"It's pretty clear that you've seen other spirits
in your house," I said. "What can you tell us about them?"
Widdick didn't answer immediately. He shuffled through the trash strewn room and peered between his boarded windows. He picked up one of the candles and carried it out of the room, beckoning Sonny and I to come along. We followed Widdick down a hallway, past the living room, and into a tiny, pitch black space. Once inside, he closed the door and turned on a battery powered lantern, allowing
me to see where he had led us.
"It's a bathroom," I observed.
Sonny looked around, irritated. "If you have
these lanterns, why do you even use all those candles? There's loose paper everywhere!"
"I don't want to waste the batteries," Widdick
replied. "I keep this one in here so I don't miss the toilet."
"Why did you bring us here?" I asked, trying
to get back on track. Widdick looked around again, as if someone else could be hiding in this cramped space with the three of us.
"I'm being watched," he spoke in a hushed
tone.

Grim Portents cover featuring a skeleton hand holding a feather and emerging from an open book. The title is on a burning banner that envelops the feather and a large beast looms over it all. At the top, the tagline reads: Welcome to the first day of the end of your life…

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Reposted by Ross McDermott

TheDevilsTuna @thedevilstuna.bsky.social · 23h

It's a play on the word The Devil Has The Best Tunes, I was looking for a name for my music blog & the Devil Has The Best Tuna seemed perfect 🤣

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 23h

Awesome! Now I'm craving tuna for lunch... not the roadkill kind...LOL.

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Reposted by Ross McDermott

TheDevilsTuna @thedevilstuna.bsky.social · 1d

My effort

#vss365

ThI s
p0em
iS
rEVoLT
i N G

it's A

L
I B
E R
T I
N E

k!ck!ng
w
a
l
l
s
spr @ ying ink
t
u
m
b
l
i
n
g
!n the
thr0at
of any poet who
axcepts
rules

#libertine

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 1d

Mr. Tuna! I must confess, this is the first time I've seen an actual post from you... other than the word prompts. Well done
👏👏👏
Also... I've been pondering your moniker... TheDevilsTuna... it makes me smile and think of roadkill in various stages of decay. ☺️ - just thought I'd share that with you.

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 1d

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 1d

#vss365 #libertine #blueskyrelay #sonder #poem #poetry #writing #amwriting #writingcommunity

Faces in the blue light;
reflections moving through the night.
Each smile, each frown, a sonder sight.
Libertines and Popes alike
glow beneath the transit lights

Stops requested sound the chimes,
for those who prose and those who rhyme.
No two the same, all lost in time.
Just faces melting in the lime.

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Reposted by Ross McDermott

Jason H. Abbott @jason-h-abbott.bsky.social · 1d

“Halloween is for Lovers”

Art by me for October’s upcoming #SciFanSat issue and its theme of MOON! Authors, 7 days remain until submissions are due on October 16th. You can find full details at scifansat.com/landing.html!

#SFF #AmWritingScifi #AmWritingFantasy #WritingPrompts

A fantasy illustration in cartoon style of two werewolves in low-effort Halloween costumes. A female werewolf wearing a red hoodie and jeans looks sweetly up at her bigger wolfen companion, who has donned a simple black cape over his t-shirt. Backlit by an exaggerated full moon, their hands touch as they hold a trick-or-treat jack-o’-lantern candy bucket between them.

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 2d

#vss365 #poem #poetry #writing #rhyme #writing

*This is a poem I wrote that appears at the end of the #novel TUSK: a Beringia Story.
I like it! ☺️
I replaced the word 'fire' for today's #ash prompt. It actually works better!
Cheers.

~Ember~

Ember

One night upon the open land, two beasts shared a fire.
And though by days were lethal foe, they found peace at the pyre.

The lion sat too close, the mammoth warned him off,
The beast stuck out his chest in pride and at the mammoth scoffed.

The flames flickered, the fire spat an ember in the air.
The spark, ablaze and drifting, to nestle in the hair.

The lion raged at such an offence but fled the #ash that burned.
The mammoth laughed and shook his head: what had the lion learned?

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 2d

"I've cut it good I've cut it wide!
"Out of my way, step aside!
"Pass me now my feathered pen,
Blood is my ink ~ until the end."

#horrorprompt #feather #poem #poetry #writing #amwriting #horror #vsshorror #horrorsky ✍️

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Reposted by Ross McDermott

FizzytwizlerAllsortsOfAllsorts @fizzytwizler.bsky.social · 2d

The onyx of the night
Sparkles in the heat of your eyes

And in the silent ebbs and flows
We sway, burning up the ocean

The moon looks on a #beaming
Voyeur, along with his harem
Of stars

#emoetry #poetry

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