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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky

@elizmanderson.com

4K followers 1.3K following 21K posts

THE LORD OF THE WOOD (Hanover Square Press 2026). THE KEEPER OF LONELY SPIRITS (Mira 2025). BLM. Queer. ND. She/they. Rep: Keir Alekseii, ALA. elizmanderson.com

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · Apr 6

hey there, new folks! I'm E (she/they), author of the queer cozy fantasy THE KEEPER OF LONELY SPIRITS

buy in hardcover, ebook, or audiobook wherever books are sold. the QR code links to Bookshop, as does the link in this post

additional links are threaded! #author

bookshop.org/beta-search?...

Out now: E.M. Anderson's The Keeper of Lonely Spirits surrounded by text with arrows pointing at the book: tired immortal who just wants to die; grump x sunshine; ghosts. like. so many ghosts; someone actually goes to therapy? stop the presses! waistcoat enthusiast historian LI; running competition to see who has the most tragic backstory; ghost-hunting? x. ghost-therapizing? check; "I'm fine" but none of them are fine; vengeful spirit; straight people? I don't believe they exist; found family. The Keeper of Lonely Spirits cover features a lonely cottage, surrounded by headstones, with smoke drifting from the chimney, atop a tall green hill dotted with trees and yellow flowers. Tagline at the top reads, "Living forever can be mighty lonesome." Cover and text are against a starry sky.

a post from E.M. Anderson with a one-star review for GroundskeeperWIP, aka the book that became The Keeper of Lonely Spirits, reading, "Zero (point) five stars. everyone is gay, the ghosts have no corporeal form, and the author is obsessed with death and grief. the immortal MC doesn't even look like a hot 25-year-old! I was promised a COMFORT READ but this is MISERY. also what's with all the waistcoats." below the review is a partial aesthetic for The Keeper of Lonely Spirits, with images of faded flowers, a cottage on a hill, an antique diary, yellow flowers, tombstones, a man in silhouette sitting alone, gazing out at the horizon, a sprout growing through a crack, and a mortuary statue of someone kissing the deceased's forehead. A textbox reads, "You get used to it" and "I hope I never get used to being alone." Another textbox reads, "That's what life is. You lose people you love and you love more people and you lose them too and you" [text cuts off].

"An old man cursed with immortality hunts ghosts rather than making mortal friends who will die one day. When residents of an Ohio town beset by a vengeful spirit adopt him as their own, he must decide: leave to protect his heart, or stay to save their lives?" To the left of the text is E.M. Anderson's The Keeper of Lonely Spirits, above a QR code linking to the book at Bookshop(dot)Org in either hardcover or ebook. Text is in a translucent textbox against a background of yellow flowers in the sunset.

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 8h

but everything is Fine, obviously!!

E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 8h

amen to that lmao

E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 8h

it's actually like wild how many times Arthur's LI in particular has changed, like damn boy you couldn't've just told me about your trauma up front so I could've [thrown more at you] fixed it!?

E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 8h

I'm like why do I need a plot. why cannot my characters simply run around bonding with each other

E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 8h

same, kinda to the extent that I have another project I'm looking at where I'm like....................I might actually need to remove the ghost bc I'm p sure it's only there bc I like ghosts but doesn't actually do anything for the story 😂

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 8h

to which bit 😂

E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 8h

Martha's a grumpy old lesbian who can see and communicate with ghosts and other eldritch things. mostly she'd like to be left alone to live her life but fuck things keep piling up, hauntings are increasing, and then her ex shows up after 25 years incommunicado fuuuuuuuck

#WeeknightWriters

Weeknight Writers @weeknightwriters.bsky.social · 9h

Q5: Tell us about your main character. Who are they? What do they want? #WeeknightWriters

Notepad that says "#WeeknightWriters: Tell us about your main character. Who are they? What do they want?"

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 8h

the ones who won't tell me what their deal is lmao

like for THE LORD OF THE WOOD, I got Arthur pretty much immediately and Charlotte not long after, but their respective LIs remained mysteries for like. several drafts rip me, especially Arthur's

#WeeknightWriters

Weeknight Writers @weeknightwriters.bsky.social · 9h

Q4: What aspects of character development do you find most frustrating? #WeeknightWriters

Notepad that says “#WeeknightWriters: What aspects of character development do you find most frustrating?"

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 8h

r e l a t i o n s h i p s

of any kind, to be clear, not just romantic

love me some relationships

(you know the drill, I'm home, I'm showered, I'm finishing the questions late)

#WeeknightWriters

Weeknight Writers @weeknightwriters.bsky.social · 10h

Q3: What aspects of character development do you enjoy most? What goes into making a character? #WeeknightWriters

Notepad that says “#WeeknightWriters What aspects of character development do you enjoy most?"

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 8h

👀

E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 9h

okay well I love this

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 10h

...that is actually a very complicated answer bc everything is so tied together lmao although objectively I suppose the answer is either what they want or what they're trying to avoid

#WeeknightWriters

Weeknight Writers @weeknightwriters.bsky.social · 10h

Q2: What aspects of character development do you consider most important to your story planning process? #WeeknightWriters

Notepad that says “#WeeknightWriters What aspects of character development do you consider most important to your story planning process?"

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 10h

toxic lesbian romance 🤌

Reposted by E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky

Indie Book Spotlight @bookspotlight.bsky.social · 10h

Check it out!!! 👀

Alex Larkspur 💛 Sweet & Wild Available Now! @applesncinnamon.bsky.social · Jul 29

Sweet & Wild, is out now! 🐝💛🍃
Sweet & Wild is a MM Fantasy Romance featuring nature magic, a sunshine MC, and mysterious spirits in the forest!

Universal Link: books2read.com/u/bzNng9
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/alexlarkspur...
Itch: applesncinnamon.itch.io/sweet-wild
Cover by the wonderful @northyme.com

A young man, Micah, kneels in a field of purple flowers. He holds a bundle of purple flowers in one hand while reaching to gather more with his other hand. He has peach skin, golden hair, and brown eyes. He wears a white shirt, brown pants, and a wide-brimmed straw hat with flowers woven through. Behind him, there is a verdant forest of trees. Bees buzz around the man as he looks down towards his work. The title, Sweet & Wild, is above him and the author’s name, Alex Larkspur, is below him.

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 10h

character and story usually show up more or less at once, but generally speaking as I work the story gets built around the characters more than the characters get built around the story

#WeeknightWriters

Weeknight Writers @weeknightwriters.bsky.social · 10h

Q1: Do you typically create characters to match the story you want to tell or build your stories based on character(s) already living in your head? #WeeknightWriters

Notepad that says “#WeeknightWriters: Do you typically create characters to match the story you want to tell or build your stories based on character(s) already living in your head?"

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 10h

I'm also bad at taking them, why do you think I'm having such a struggle right now 😂

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 10h

yes let's pretend that's true, talking about it is working on it!!

E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 10h

I've considered that, but I really am trying to take a break 😅 and I'm p sure I'm supposed to get copy edits back this month, so I'd love to have those done first!

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 10h

sorry for the five thousand notifs you undoubtedly did not expect but possibly Ernest Shackleton is the historical figure who Annoys Me Most

E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 10h

so when I got to "The Endurance was ill equipped for its mission, a flaw that Shackleton was aware of long before he launched to Antarctica," I just

S I R

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 10h

and then of course he died bc he'd had a heart attack and ignored the advice of his doctors not to go again so soon after a heart attack, but he went, and whoops! he had another heart attack and died! who could've foreseen this! (the doctors could)

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 10h

--to seek help for the situation HE got his crew in in the first place!! if anything we should be calling the first mate who kept the crew alive and their spirits up while he was gone for three days, not knowing if he'd ever come back, a good leader!!

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 10h

we studied him as an example of a good leader in a leadership class in my undergrad and I'm still sitting here like respectfully he was NOT a good leader, he ignored the advice of the people who lived nearby to wait to set out, he got his own ship stuck, he does not become a hero for going off--

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 10h

omfg did he actually in fact fucking know about it. this man. THIS MAN. I did not need another reason to be like UGH THIS GUY about Ernest Shackleton, and yet,

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E.M. Anderson | the author too hot for BlueSky @elizmanderson.com · 11h

hellooooooo I'm E (she/they) and we'll pretend I'm already working on MarthaWIP, my (?) fantasy about a grumpy old lesbian and her eldritch ex, in the hopes that pretending I'm working on it will calm my brain down

( #FirstDraftFall planning is done)

#WeeknightWriters

Weeknight Writers @weeknightwriters.bsky.social · 11h

Hello #WeeknightWriters! Come on in, introduce yourself and your WIP, and let us know how your #FirstDraftFall planning is going!

Notepad that reads: #WeeknightWriters Introduce yourself and your WIP, and let us know how your writing week is going!”

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