RJ Aurand
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rjaurand.bsky.social
RJ Aurand
@rjaurand.bsky.social
Appalachian writer & poet | small press editor | Le Fanu studies | weird horror

Member SFPA & Codex
Words in manywor(l)ds, (s)crawl, The Deadlands, Small Wonders, Solstitia, Blanket Gravity
Soon in Inner Worlds, Tales & Feathers & more!

rjaurand.com
Pinned
New flash piece out in manywor(l)ds today about the severe and lasting trauma healthcare workers experience on a daily basis. What if there was a way to compartmentalize those experiences digitally? Nothing bad could come of that, right?
Reposted by RJ Aurand
Study of a sallet - marker pen

[ #art | #knight ]
November 23, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
they had goth baddies in the 17th century as evidenced by the fact that a woman named Caterine Morte had a skull coat of arms
November 23, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Longest title in the issue! 👇 👇 I spent most of the winter holidays last year rewriting this story, so it feels extra special to be able to share it with you this year. One week!
November 23, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Look for me in this issue with this gorgeous cover!
Inner Worlds issue 9 will be out at the end of November, featuring this stunning cover artwork by @bydhiyanah.bsky.social ✨️🌿💜
November 23, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
Please keep us in mind if you have some spare pennies! 🪙

My dream is to increase our pay rate again for authors and artists. But for that we either need more subscribers or fewer stories, and choosing 14 stories out of 500 is hard enough as it is! 😅
August 14, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
ICYMI, I have a new flash piece out in manywor(l)ds this week! If you enjoy text-based indie horror games you'll really like this one.
November 20, 2025 at 7:27 PM
ICYMI, I have a new flash piece out in manywor(l)ds this week! If you enjoy text-based indie horror games you'll really like this one.
November 20, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
New flash piece out in manywor(l)ds today about the severe and lasting trauma healthcare workers experience on a daily basis. What if there was a way to compartmentalize those experiences digitally? Nothing bad could come of that, right?
November 16, 2025 at 12:39 AM
New flash piece out in manywor(l)ds today about the severe and lasting trauma healthcare workers experience on a daily basis. What if there was a way to compartmentalize those experiences digitally? Nothing bad could come of that, right?
November 16, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
We are so excited to share issue 10 with you, featuring brilliant creatives like @blackcattales.bsky.social, @kathrynreese.bsky.social, @pleomorphic2.bsky.social, @dihyatamaghza.bsky.social, @rjaurand.bsky.social, and more!

(anti-war dinosaur courtesy of Emma Johnson-Rivard)
November 15, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Contract signed! My story "If You Can't Make Your Own Regret, Store-Bought Is Fine" will be appearing in a forthcoming issue of Inner Worlds. I'm so excited to share this one with you!
November 10, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
I'm in the inaugural issue of this super cool new horror mag! Check out my gothic poem "Skull with Laurel, 1832" (and all the other cool pieces) below! It's perfect reading for spooky season.

💀 scrawlmag.com/issue-1/ 🥀
October 27, 2025 at 1:32 AM
I'm in the inaugural issue of this super cool new horror mag! Check out my gothic poem "Skull with Laurel, 1832" (and all the other cool pieces) below! It's perfect reading for spooky season.

💀 scrawlmag.com/issue-1/ 🥀
October 27, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
Parents, please check your kids’ candy this Halloween. I’ve just found an ancient metal whistle with the inscription “QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT" inside a Snickers bar. I blew it and heard a note of infinite distance, and now I’m haunted by a figure in pale, fluttering draperies. Be safe.
October 22, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Two things:

1) I'm alive, the world is just Very Much to deal with lately. I cope with stress by knitting, and I've been making the most amazing sweater.

2) Now is a really good time to consider donating to your local food pantry. November is about to be a rough month for a lot of folks.
October 23, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
read the rest of “Skull with Laurel, 1832” by RJ Aurand (@rjaurand.bsky.social) in issue no. 01 of (s)crawl on 10.26.25

#scrawlmagazine #litmag #horrorpoetry #horrorwriters
September 30, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
WE'RE LIVE! AND WE ARE SO EXCITED! Back now to support a new magazine of speculative fiction by 2SLGBTQIA+ authors and artists! Snag some amazing rewards, including discounted subscriptions! Support queer art! And help us SMASH DAY ONE!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/hyb...
September 29, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
Photos of Hirohiko Araki's new lithograph artwork at the Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco (7-9/9)
7. Funny Valentine and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
8. Yasuho Hirose and Paisley Park
9. Dragona Joestar and Smooth Operators
September 27, 2025 at 11:33 PM
After receiving five (5) rejections in a single day I think I deserve some nice news in my inbox... If you want to buy one of my stories now would be a great time ijs
September 26, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
New #WriterBeware blog post: An update on the historic Bartz v. Anthropic settlement. It's been preliminarily approved by the court, but many questions remain about the claims process, the timeline, and exactly which works are included writerbeware.blog/2025/09/26/b...
Bartz v. Anthropic Settlement: An Update for Authors - Writer Beware
BACKGROUND A year ago, a group of authors filed suit against AI company Anthropic over its creation of an enormous library of digitized books to train its Claude LLMs, arguing that because Anthropic d...
writerbeware.blog
September 26, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
Change for the better.
Be a werewolf.

Happy werewolf Wednesday!!my art 2023
September 24, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
Apparently a lot of ppl needs to hear this

#bskycensorship
September 24, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
okay cool kimmel got his show back can GFM get her DC comics run back now
September 22, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
Really, really excited about this piece of very small fiction out today w/ @matchbooklitmag.bsky.social. It's about high school wrestling, heart attacks, heaven, and close calls.
"Gregor does not believe in an afterlife, though he has more proof than most that one exists."

New fiction: "Gregor, the Saint of Close Calls" by Spencer Nitkey aka @spencerwriting.bsky.social

www.matchbooklitmag.com/mb/nitkey/gr...
Gregor, the Saint of Close Calls | matchbook
www.matchbooklitmag.com
September 23, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by RJ Aurand
Vaccines cause adults
Tylenol causes pain relief
Neurodiversity is good
September 22, 2025 at 11:04 PM