Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Prof Emily

Kara Moon (the artist formerly known as Hiria Dunning)

@karamoonauthor.com

Here's a #snippet from my current revision of A Prayer for the Pirate Queen 🏴‍☠️💜⚓️

Text surrounded by 20 squares of drawings including a parrot, a flower, a nereid, a sphinx, a harpy, a cherub, a hippocampus, an albatross, a cat on a ship, a mermaid, a sperm whale, a serpentine dragon, a satyr, a dryad

Text reads:
Kallista could not deny her first officer and best friend a taste of what was on her mind, even if she wanted to hold back the full spiral of her worries. "Can we really do this? Resisting the Capital? Living on the sea, not as officers of the Iunian Navy, but as rebels?"

Iona nodded, her grin achieving shark-like proportions. "If anyone can, it's us. You're not alone. We're all in, and you know it."

But Iona was wrong: Kallista was alone. She was in charge. Whatever followed, it would be all her responsibility.

All her fault.

January 15, 2026 at 5:54 AM

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#AwesomeCharacters

🤔 Idk why but I feel like Mireia would enjoy something like Mario Kart or Smash Bros - competitive, fast-paced & colorful fun. She'd probably get a bit TOO competitive tbh 🤣

For Kena, def something like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing. Something chill & wholesome.🧵1/3

❄️Charlie (Chelizabeth) Delta ☃️ @charliedeltawrites.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

Hypothetical today! If you were trying to get your characters into videogames, what genre/game would you start them out on?

Would it be similar to the genre you write them in, or completely different?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

January 15, 2026 at 12:15 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Zed Prospero

@zprospero.bsky.social

#WIPSnips

I love when Cyrus is sort of scary. This place has three vampires, a poltergeist, and Virgil, who's basically a wizard.

But here comes... an OLD MAN! 🤣

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #Writers #AmWriting

January 14, 2026 at 8:09 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Scarlet Mitchell

@scarletvmitchell.bsky.social

#JanuaryWorldbuilders

Oh here we go, I'll try to keep this short 😅

The 5 Galaxies RUN on their collective stomach. Feeding humanity is a primary concern of the Commonwealth.

I'll focus on three culturally significant foods;
Pickles, citrus, and worms.

🧵
1/9

Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 1d

Last question on our "society, broadly" theme for #JanuaryWorldbuilders. What food or drinks are popular in the society you've been talking about? If can be an MC's society, or any one you have an interesting answer for.

MonthlyWorldbuilders prompts daily feed card
#JanuaryWorldbuilders
Hosted by Kira of the Wind
Week 2: society
14. What are popular foods or drinks in your MC's society?

The background image shows a blurred magic tree with a waterfall coming down between two halves of its trunk. It’s nighttime and the night sky is magical with lots of blues and pinks and purple

January 14, 2026 at 2:44 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Ray Ingles

@ringles.bsky.social

#JanuaryWorldBuilders 14:

Drink would be a spoiler, there's a whole party game involving a particular beverage in my WIP.

There's an evening snack, 'zaulee,' that usually involves something sweet. 'Hasheerocho' is common - deep-fried dumplings with a nut filling, often coated with fruit syrups.

Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 1d

Last question on our "society, broadly" theme for #JanuaryWorldbuilders. What food or drinks are popular in the society you've been talking about? If can be an MC's society, or any one you have an interesting answer for.

January 14, 2026 at 12:18 PM

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#JanuaryWorldbuilders 13

The climate of Atalantis is quite mild, so most clothing is made of light linen & leaves a lot of skin uncovered.

Casual clothes feature a skirt called a to'ok for boys/men, similar to an Egyptian shendyt, usually worn shirtless. Girls/women wear a top called a ka'am, 🧵1/6

Colored sketch of a few Na'aqal style outfits: a girl in a blue ka'am and uubit skirt, a boy in a red to'ok, a man in a yellow hibo with a wide purple belt, and a priestess in a multicolored kitaal with a headdress.

Digital drawings of Mireia by me. First is 14yo Mireia wearing a red & green outfit with a casual wraparound top clasped on one shoulder and a layered skirt with a cloth belt. Second is older Mireia (17ish) wearing a long layered blue robe that clasps at her left shoulder & is tied with a wide cloth belt, and an elaborate coral-shaped silver headdress. Third is Mireia in a somewhat tattered dark gray/black skirt and cloak with woven leather armor covering her torso, arms & legs; her hair is cut shorter & she's wielding a khopesh

January 14, 2026 at 8:42 PM

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#JanuaryWorldbuilders 14

The 6 regions of Atalantis share many cuisine features but also have their own unique dishes & drinks.

In the Eastern Coast, a lot of dishes feature fish or geese. A popular dessert is honey cakes, & the favored drink is mead. STRONG mead. Even kids drink it watered down!🧵

Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 1d

Last question on our "society, broadly" theme for #JanuaryWorldbuilders. What food or drinks are popular in the society you've been talking about? If can be an MC's society, or any one you have an interesting answer for.

January 14, 2026 at 7:54 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

MuZe

@muzetrigger.bsky.social

#JanuaryWorldbuilders!

Oh, Kira! You shouldn't have. I *love* talking about food >:D

The Library's 5 main campuses all have their own distinct cuisine, so I'll try to stick to their most notable dish. If you want a deeper breakdown, here's my post for Septopolis

bsky.app/profile/muze...

1/

Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 1d

Last question on our "society, broadly" theme for #JanuaryWorldbuilders. What food or drinks are popular in the society you've been talking about? If can be an MC's society, or any one you have an interesting answer for.

January 14, 2026 at 4:53 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Finn McLellan

@saranadosfiction.com

#WIPSnips | current

In which Viola and Archer get a proper look at Caine for the first time in a while

( saranadosfiction.com/2023/09/23/s... )

Now that she was able to get a good look at Caine for the first time when she *wasn’t* running from him, she realised that she hadn’t been imagining things – he’d changed, and not for the better. Ephraim Caine in life had been, like his brother, a tall, broad-shouldered man, but as a Turned his body had bulked up even more, his neck and arms thick with corded muscle and his once well-fitting clothes stretched tight across his shoulders and chest. His face was a mess of half-healed burns still and, judging by the dried blood caked around his nose and mouth and across the front of his ripped shirt, his current eating habits didn’t extend to cleaning up after he’d drunk his fill. And there was something else, something that she at first thought she must be imagining, because it *couldn’t* be real (though here she was looking at a Turned, and that didn’t feel real either).

*‘Do you see the same as I see?’*

Too complex a question for Archer’s understanding of shadow arm sign, if his facial expression was anything to go by, but he made a game attempt at deciphering it nonetheless. *‘You… eyes… seeing? Same?’*

Close enough, but she needed the confirmation. *‘Look at him. Something’s wrong. Look at his eyes. Look at his face.‘*

That, at least, seemed to get the message across. Or possibly Archer had just spotted the same thing she had independently. *‘What the fuck?‘*

(That translation she’d taken some liberties with, but his expression very much added the swearing).

January 14, 2026 at 8:36 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

L.M. du Plessis 🇳🇦 🇺🇦📚💙 ‪✨Editing Cavern Clipper✨

@smoking-gnu.bsky.social

G'morning #WIPSnips! Who else feels kinda spent after the current that was yesterday's Bluepit?
Well anyway, this comes from TLC, the still current snip reservoir.
#WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity

“Secondly, I’ve set about repairing your ship, but only in the interest of fact-finding. I’m also installing a unique scanning suite on board. Once the matter with the Trinaru authorities have been smoothed over, head on over to the approximate position of Earth and deploy the scanner.”
“Approximate location?” I ask. “Don’t they know where our Sol system is?”
“Surprisingly not. According to the investigation, the Kowellian guidance computers indicated last position coordinates do not match a known system on any galactic chart that I possess.” Rondu sounds irritated as he says this.
“That is very strange,” Driona comments and furrows her brow. “Even the old Empire records?”
“The current records draw from those, and they’re the ones that indicate nothing. I’m thinking there might have been an error there, hard as that is to comprehend. In any case, you’ll discover the truth when you get there,” Rondu says with finality.

January 14, 2026 at 8:48 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Kayleigh Diaz

@kayleighdiaz.com

#WIPSnips | current

⛴️

From my post-apocalyptic #WIP featuring a misfit trio of kids.

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #amwriting

Writing snippet: “Watch the current,” Amos muttered while Maeve maneuvered to the port side and killed the engine.

The sun hit the meridian, and Lennie put a hand up to shield her eyes as the faces of those above disappeared in a rush of blinding light.

January 14, 2026 at 8:48 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Jan Karlsson

@jangoeswriting.bsky.social

From - ‘Time and Time Again’. Prompt - ‘Current’.

#WiPSnips

Crab Apfel was not a bad lad, as such, though he had, on occasion, saw fit to lean, sometimes heavily, toward the more legally frowned upon aspects of earning money. He was what some cultures would describe as a wide boy, or a geezer, or, if people didn’t want to waste words, a dirty thief and rogue. Working, you see, involved doing what people told him to do and he had a problem with that, which was that, largely, on the whole, he didn’t want to do what people told him to do. He was, he liked to think, a free spirit, an entrepreneur, the kind of man that could see a brick in the road and see riches. Usually through the window of the house he threw the brick through.

Currently, his schemes had led him to believe some unlikely and apocryphal tale, often mentioned in pubs and taverns, but never really believed, of a lost store of gold in the ruins of the old town. It didn’t matter to him that, in the event of disasters such as the one that had struck Old Goodun, most people that had such stores of gold would allow their entire families to perish horribly before allowing a single brick of that gold to become lost in rubble. It didn’t stop Crab from looking. He was nothing if not a sucker for tales of easy riches.

His friend, Bartle, had come along because he’d lost a bet, which is a far better and understandable reason than thinking he could get rich by stumbling on a vast repository of hitherto undiscovered wealth. They had already searched much of the area and found nothing, which only left the strange, worryingly lopsided tower in the centre of the old town to search. Left until last because, though Crab was both gullible and greedy, he wasn’t a complete idiot and that place looked dangerous, what with the precarious tilt and that strange, white face on the front that seemed to glare right into the brain.

January 14, 2026 at 9:14 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Charlotte Francis

@cfranciswrites.bsky.social

Ess is a con artist with forbidden magic, able to control minds through touch in a world where skin is taboo. Forced into a plot to infiltrate the forum, her biggest obstacle (quite literally in this snippet) is her mark's suspicious (and infuriatingly handsome) son.

#WIPSnips

Ess took a deep breath, trying to gather herself. Etiquette demanded she stand closest to the majestor to complete her introduction. Only one problem: that spot was currently occupied by a man who looked like he’d rather launch her into the sun than step aside.
She edged forward, trying to summon her training. Become grace, just as Talissa had taught her. Careful steps, deep breaths, the tilt of her chin a not-at-all contradictory balance between submission and strength.
Judging by the murmurs rustling through the crowd, she wasn’t succeeding.
Caladon didn’t budge when she reached his side, his height and broad shoulders as immovable as a mountain. Heat rolled off him, thick with something more volatile than anger. Something that crackled at her senses, stirring her Touch. Something she absolutely, under no circumstances, should be noticing.
Oh, gods, why was she noticing?
She clenched her hands in front of her bodice, her thumb rubbing a frantic rhythm against her palm. Focus. Couldn’t let this man ruin everything; not another one. Not when she was still bleeding from the last one. All she had to do was survive long enough to escape the palace, perhaps steal something gold and ridiculous on her way out.
She straightened her shoulders, took a deep breath, bringing to mind the words drilled into her like a battle strategy. She opened her mouth.
And utter gibberish came out.

January 14, 2026 at 9:40 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Nicole "Ashrah" Hidalgo

@sayaashrah.bsky.social

#WIPSnips 14. "Current"

From Eternal Flame:

#ChroniclesOfTheRealms #BattlemageAskaly #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #QueerWriters

He nodded once more, then turned, robe swooshing behind him, and walked through the round arch that separated the promontory from the White Lotus Society. An electric current tickled Askaly when she followed, pulling a giggle out of her. She never saw it happening with any unlucky bastard, but she knew she would’ve been disintegrated had Raiden not given her permission to cross that magical barrier.

Stone pathways wound between rock gardens and patches blooming with plum and cherry blossoms. Askaly took a deep, appreciative breath. The air in the White Lotus, located in the highest habitable peak of the Songshan mountain range, was crisp and light, a balm to her shadow-entangled lungs.

“I am afraid you will find our hospitality lacking. Training leaves little time for distractions, least of all now, so close to the tournament.”

Askaly mentally slapped herself. “I’m so sorry, Lord Raiden, it completely slipped my mind. But don’t worry, I’ll be on my way as soon as possible. Right now, if you prefer.”

Raiden stopped, seeming to contemplate her suggestion. “Let us have tea first.”

January 14, 2026 at 11:24 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

❄️Charlie (Chelizabeth) Delta ☃️

@charliedeltawrites.bsky.social

January 14th – current

A demon has a tempting offer for Fox.

#DawnsBlood

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

January 14, 2026 at 11:29 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Tara S Geir

@tarasgeir.bsky.social

A glimpse into the life of a water wizard. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity

January 14, 2026 at 11:31 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Eliwood S. Gheist

@eliwoodsgheist.com

Happy #WIPSnips 14 - Current!

From RETURN TO BLUDEYE BEACH, the second in the series. Pardon the Redacted's, we have a ~cryptid reveal~ that's a little spoilery, as I dive into an attempt to explain the intricacies of mermaid interrelationships.

“I love [Redacted] and [Redacted] more than anything else in the world,” [Redacted] said, his dark eyes growing soft just at the mention of them. “They’re my guiding lights in the deep waters. I would do anything for them. And they love me enough to follow me up here, despite all the trouble I put them through. But yeah, we fall in love, in the way that you mean. The kind of love that feels like a rising tide, that cradles you like a warm current, and rushes through your blood like lightning dances across the surface. But that kind of love – we call it something different. And it’s…temporary, I guess. The relationship is, anyway. You carry the love in your heart for the rest of your life.”

January 14, 2026 at 11:32 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Alyssa Lauseng 🖕🏻🧊

@5feetofredfury.bsky.social

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #writingprompt

Talismans of Sin ("now" as a synonym and an excuse to post this 🤭)

They found refuge on the town’s wall, high above everything else and amid the thick fog now engulfing the swamps. For a while, neither spoke as they passed a roll of white leaf between one another and smoked a couple of cigarettes each, vaguely aware they’d need to convince someone to visit the commissary for them when they got back to the Capital. Obito couldn’t repress a small smile when Daisuke leaned on his shoulder.

“How hard did Yin hit you earlier?”

“Barely—it surprised me more than anything.” Obito had nearly forgotten about it altogether.

January 14, 2026 at 11:58 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Ray Ingles

@ringles.bsky.social

#WIPSnips 14: current

Jim asks about the neural networks that are all over the place in the new timeline. (Too bad he's an anthropologist. An electrical engineer would know the word 'memristor.')

#SciFi #ScienceFiction

Moinupee was careful. "Do you know what an anehguhshau is?"

"Chay..." I'd figured out that meant 'resistor,' more or less.

"They use a special resistor, a 'sohmaidaiyoh.' It does not have a constant resistance. Its resistance depends on how much current has gone through it, in which direction." A jaygo. "It is easy to make [neural networks] from them." [1]

[1] Their 'kehrehgahdo' are actually made into a kind of fabric. It stores data and does computations at the same time. Analog, not digital, but with enough redundancy that they're very reliable.

January 14, 2026 at 12:17 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Samantha Breaux ❄️ ☃️

@woodenvelt.bsky.social

Wren and Spencer investigate an ancient plinth.

From book 2 of my romantasy wip about a priest of the dead and a thief with a heart of gold.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity #Wrencer

Of course Spencer knew the guides’ names. He drank weak sedge tea with them around the fire and laughed at their jokes and listened to their worries. For a man who claimed he’d rather spend his time with the dead than the living, he had an easy way with people.

Easier than Wren ever had.

She was a fair hand at patter, but patter wasn’t a real conversation, not by a mile. It was simply the story you spun for a mark, painting a portrait with your words of the person you wanted them to see. When Wren wanted to be the antiquities dealer, she used big words and fine manners. When Wren wanted to be the rough and ready rogue, she peppered her speech with colloquialisms and bowed up to anyone that gave her any flack like she had something to prove. For the fenfolk she had been playing the eccentric lady scholar, so she presented herself as overly interested in strange rock formations and prattled on about ancient civilizations at every opportunity. Each of them was a piece of Wren, none of them the whole. The only time the thief ever really felt like herself was when she was alone.

And of late, when she was with Spencer.

And Molly and Bruce, the thought skipped across Wren’s mind suddenly, leaving her to wonder how the circle of people she trusted had grown so quickly in such a short time.

“Well,” Wren announced, twirling the trowel in her hand and pushing aside her distracted musings, “It’s clearly Fain worked. Did they have a fertility Goddess? I don’t recall.”

“G’yallah,” Spencer answered as if the thought had already been near to his mind. “A moon goddess with many similarities to Celestine. You know, there is a school of thought that many of our modern Gods originated with the Fain pantheons and over time adjusted to suit people’s current needs.”

January 14, 2026 at 12:29 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Scarlet Mitchell

@scarletvmitchell.bsky.social

#WIPSnips

Talia gets a private tour of an archeologist’s archive…

of its construction based on tiny fragments of debris and the amounts of what types of microscopic pollen lay closest to the central burial.
All of this enriched and enlivened the understanding of the lost culture and helped build a strong database of information for understanding other sites with less context in other parts of the park, the region, and even the world. Pollen counts, however, were hardly as sexy as a set of glamorous grave treasures.
“We have more items out on loan for various researchers, but this is the current collection we have in-house.”
He unlocked and pulled open a flat tray that held a row of shell beads all laid out as if strung together. The string had rotted away centuries ago. Next to these, there were

January 14, 2026 at 12:33 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Jade Lawrence

@jade-lawrence.bsky.social

This might change later, but here’s a snippet from my current WIP, showing how Trikruna and the Cult handle religion differently. I’m already curious how much this will shift in the next draft iteration.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

She paused, expression dimming into something tight and professional.

“Even if the sky had been clear,” she said, lowering her voice, “I’m no longer permitted to deliver the gods’ messages. None of us are. The cult issued a ban last full moon. Star-reading is now classified as unauthorized divination.”

“What? Why?”

She glanced toward the street, then back at him. “They claim too many people were misinterpreting the will of Fulla. The official stance is that divine interpretation is best left to the Judicators.”

“Okay, but…” Aldous glanced around and lowered his voice. “I’m in Jokull’s domain. Can’t you give me his?”

She sighed. “It doesn’t work that way. The heavens are a single system. I interpret the message by analyzing the current positions of all celestial bodies in relative to each other. To isolate one would be like trying to study a constellation by blocking out the night.”

“Right,” Aldous muttered. He didn’t understand, but he wasn’t about to waste breath trying. He was fluent in Mortling, didn’t even have an accent anymore, but he doubted half the words she used were real.

“I’m sorry, Aldous. I truly am.” Her tone softened slightly, then shifted, businesslike. “However, I am still certified to read soulmate alignments. If you’re curious, I’d be happy to examine your tokens. Pricing has increased under the new licensing fees, but, well, some things remain worth the cost.”

Aldous just shook his head and gave a small wave. “Thanks anyway.”

January 14, 2026 at 12:37 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Amanda Turek 💎 Writing Rushak

@acturek.bsky.social

#fantasy #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WIPSnips #current

The boatmen flee an enemy assault. They hope to reach the Forest and the Sheltri.

- Brother’s Keeper, my fantasy WIP about two brothers bound by a misunderstood power