Za’chary Westbrook, author
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zjwestbrook.bsky.social
Za’chary Westbrook, author
@zjwestbrook.bsky.social
210 followers 68 following 530 posts
Indie writer of novels inspired by pulps and comics.

https://linktr.ee/zjwestbrook
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zjwestbrook.bsky.social
Za’chary Westbrook, author @zjwestbrook.bsky.social · Mar 12
New novella! ‘The Mask of Olympias’ is a thrilling, spicy adventure for fans of ‘The Mummy’ and Indiana Jones.
#booksky #indieauthor #adventure #romance #archaeology #supernatural #1920s
The cover of ‘The Mask of Olympias’. A woman is held from behind by a pair of ghostly arms as she exhales a strange, green vapor.
Reposted by Za’chary Westbrook, author
micarosenberg.bsky.social
Read our full story that details how we got inside the Dilley detention center for immigrant families here: www.propublica.org/article/life...
The Kids Trump Sent to ICE’s Dilley Detention Center
ProPublica went inside the immigrant detention center for families in Dilley, Texas. Children held there told us about the anguish of being ripped from their lives in the United States and the fear of...
www.propublica.org
February 9, 2026 at 11:21 AM
zjwestbrook.bsky.social
A beta reader objected to me using racial slurs when my white supremacist villain narrates. It made her uncomfortable. Here’s the thing:

If we tone down racism to make it more palatable, it doesn’t seem so bad.

#amwriting #writing #indieauthor #racism #writingcommunity
February 10, 2026 at 4:49 AM
zjwestbrook.bsky.social
Parenthood is endless learning.

Today, I learned how similar “butterfly” and “battle droid” sound.
February 1, 2026 at 9:48 AM
zjwestbrook.bsky.social
2yo Star points at my phone. “Hello Kitty here! Hello Kitty here!”

“Hello Kitty?” I ask, looking my smoking hot lock screen pic of my wife.

Star walks over to a Hello Kitty doll on the floor. “Hello Kitty here!”

“Yes,”

“We did it!” She celebrates.
January 23, 2026 at 11:02 PM
zjwestbrook.bsky.social
Abolish ICE - moderate stance
Infiltrate and sabotage ICE - leftist stance
January 17, 2026 at 12:27 AM
zjwestbrook.bsky.social
Dramatic tension with authoritarian villains has gotten really difficult now that we see just how bumbling, incompetent and petty real authoritarians are.

ICE is like ‘The Three Stooges Commit War Crimes’ or giving Hannibal Lecter’s rap sheet to Lennie Small.

#writesky #booksky #writerlife
January 13, 2026 at 3:56 AM
zjwestbrook.bsky.social
Who are the maniacs turning off file extensions?
January 13, 2026 at 3:38 AM
Reposted by Za’chary Westbrook, author
nocatsnomasters.bsky.social
A sign reading: REFUSE TO BE STORED IN BLACK PLASTIC SACKS AND PLACED IN THE CONTAINERS PROVIDED
April 28, 2024 at 9:08 PM
Reposted by Za’chary Westbrook, author
metanoia-engine.com
I'm genuinely so sick of opening up Bluesky and other platforms and seeing another AI generated art account post about the game they played or something, or they've followed me.

Can I have posts that actually mean something from real people who value TTRPGs?

Blocking isn't working enough.
January 11, 2026 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by Za’chary Westbrook, author
clairenf.bsky.social
“I have asked the clergy of the diocese to make sure their affairs are in order and they have written their wills.,not the time for statements. It is time to put our bodies between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable”. Rob Hirschfeld, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
January 10, 2026 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Za’chary Westbrook, author
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! Another snip from TLC, with part of it being from a previous snip, but adding in some more context since then that I felt was needed.
Isn't that right, Jennifer?
#WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity
In the blink of an eye, her two balled fists surge forward, squarely punching the wall. A crunch can be heard, and I’m unsure if it’s the wall or her hands making the noise, but where she punched, two brand new dents have sprouted. She winds back her arms and repeats the movement, deepening the dents. “Fuck that’s loud,” Roberts says under his breath, and I can’t help but agree. The noise echoes back through the sewer the way we came, and the fourth punch is greeted by the sounds of someone hearing the noise and sounding an alarm. The fifth punch opens a hole in the wall. A six widens it, then some more with the seventh. The eighth and ninth punches widens it enough to let Driona through, with a pile of stones and masonry on the ground, but she gives it one final hit to widen it just a bit more. I watch as all of this happens and… well, to tell the truth, I really like what I see. I have to fight to keep myself from staring. The butterflies are having a field day in my stomach, and my knees are being very stereotypical. Am I drooling? I wouldn’t be surprised, tot ell the truth. Dammit, Jennifer, keep it together! Professionalism! This is not the time for that! I scold myself. It’s not very effective.
January 10, 2026 at 8:56 AM
zjwestbrook.bsky.social
I actually had a bunch for this one. This story is as much about the city itself as it is about the characters.
#wipsnips #writesky #booksky #indieauthor
January 10, 2026 at 9:51 AM
Reposted by Za’chary Westbrook, author
wajali.bsky.social
January 10, 2026 at 1:26 AM
zjwestbrook.bsky.social
GLORY TO COOPERATION AND KINDNESS!
#dimension20 #ttrpg
dimension20.bsky.social Dimension 20 @dimension20.bsky.social · Jan 8
🚨 A new season of Dimension 20 begins RIGHT NOW! 🚨

The first episode of Dimension 20: Gladlands is now live on @dropout.tv!

Join Brennan and the Dusty Do-gooders for the most heartwarming high-octane adventure you've ever seen 🫂☀️🚙

#Gladlands
January 10, 2026 at 4:05 AM
Reposted by Za’chary Westbrook, author
hackintimseeley.bsky.social
I, a comics professor, tell my students it's not acceptable to use Generative AI for story or art, because what the fuck are you in school for if you aren't doing and learning?
pavlovforgoths.com "yes, not actually a reindeer" 🏳️‍⚧️ @pavlovforgoths.com · Jan 9
the discourse on what jobs are acceptable to replace with generative AI reveals a lot about what we think of other people's jobs
recently my friend's comics professor told her that it's acceptable to use gen AI for script-writing but not for art, since a machine can't generate meaningful artistic work. meanwhile, my sister's screenwriting professor said that they can use gen AI for concept art and visualization, but that it won't be able to generate a script that's any good. and at my job, it seems like each department says that AI can be useful in every field except the one that they know best. It's only ever the jobs we're unfamiliar with that we assume can be replaced with automation. The more attuned we are with certain processes, crafts, and occupations, the more we realize that gen AI will never be able to provide a suitable replacement. The case for its existence lies on our ignorance of the work and skill required to do everything we don't. By magicmosshka, yesterday's
January 9, 2026 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Za’chary Westbrook, author
cfranciswrites.bsky.social
TW: Suggestion of sexual violence

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, she tries to escape, but the antagonist reveals he's been one step ahead all along.

#WIPSnips
Galen didn’t blink. “You get one more chance.” Ess slumped back in her seat. Warmth flooded her extremities; it almost felt like hope. But then Galen added, “This time it will be on my terms. You’ve demonstrated how little I can trust you. I require assurance you will not try to undermine my plans again.” He tapped the vial. “Tarda Mors. It lingers in the tissue of the body for a full week. Fatal, unless you consume regular doses of antidote.” From his coat, he produced a second vial, gold in the lamplight. He let her look at it, let her see how he held the balance of her life in his grip. Ess stared into his cold eyes, at the truth she’d been too blind to see. He never planned to kill her. He wanted her fully under his control. “It’s quite simple, Essian,” he said, quiet and measured, “control your impulses, follow the plan, do as you’re told, and you’ll live. The choice is yours.” He laid the antidote beside the poison on the table. Ess trembled. Why do you resist? Damn it, why? She could do it, could lunge for his hand, steal inside his mind, subdue him while she rammed the poison past his teeth, laugh as he choked on it. But there was his other hand, resting on the gun. Slowly, she looked up and met his gaze, “I bet you’re well known down Skin Street,” her voice a deep rasp. He said nothing. “I’ve heard about men like you. Leave the girls so battered, they can’t walk for weeks. Nothing’s ever enough, is it? You need complete control. Not just of me, but the majestor… the state. You want it all.” He drew in a slow breath through his nose. “And you are going to give it to me.”
January 9, 2026 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Za’chary Westbrook, author
50501movement.bsky.social
Emergency rally TONIGHT in NYC responding to ICE’s murder—Foley Square 6pm

“We stand in solidarity with rapid responders in Minneapolis and the communities across the country who are choosing to build a movement grounded in love, solidarity, and unity.”
@handsoffnyc.bsky.social
@thenyic.bsky.social
EMERGENCY RALLY IN RESPONSE TO ICE KILLING OF MINNEAPOLIS PROTESTER WEDNESDAY, JAN 7, 6PM FOLEY SQUARE, NYC HANDS OFF NYC
January 7, 2026 at 9:33 PM
zjwestbrook.bsky.social
Harry Potter is billionaire propaganda.

Harry is the most important student at the most exclusive school in the English-speaking world. Privileges drop into his lap left and right and he exploits every single one. Yet, he goes around like “aw, shucks, I’m just a regular guy.”

He’s Elon Musk.
January 5, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Reposted by Za’chary Westbrook, author
sagebyrne.com
I had four to choose from in this novel.

Benefit

#WIPSnips

#WritingCommunity
#Writing
Brandt was losing patience with Chase as they trudged through the muck. He wanted to give the man the benefit of the doubt, but his gut said otherwise. And it was rarely wrong.
January 5, 2026 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Za’chary Westbrook, author
emonaliterary.com
"I do words good."

That's really all you need to know about my #writing and #editing business.

Full video on my Substack (and various other platforms)
January 5, 2026 at 7:29 PM
Reposted by Za’chary Westbrook, author
zprospero.bsky.social
#WIPSnips

Do you know how hard it is to get medical benefits approved when almost all of your staff is immortal?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #Writers #AmWriting
January 5, 2026 at 12:15 PM
zjwestbrook.bsky.social
I swear this is an exciting story.
#wipsnips #booksky #writesky #writersofbluesky #writingprompt
January 5, 2026 at 8:40 AM
zjwestbrook.bsky.social
Repost with a movie you’ve seen more than six times.
Hard mode: no Star Wars/Trek, LOTR, or Marvel.

Genuinely my favorite movie ever.
January 4, 2026 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Za’chary Westbrook, author
beyondtheonions.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #home #writing #amwriting #western #horror #fiction #wip Sunsetter - continuing the tale of an ancient evil in the wilds of the west; #sequel to the #novel Weathervane.
*a homecoming... for some.
#books #booksky #writingcommunity #booklovers
The land had a similar familiarity to my eyes having lived eleven years in the region, but that time seemed so long ago that any attachments I entertained were self-induced thoughts of comfort. The reality is I had little recollection of anything before the night my father came home. That critical moment in time had banished any joy from my heart that my childhood could have conjured. While our journey may have been a homecoming of sorts, for both Maddie and McTavish, my affections for the land did not run so deep and caused me to wonder, ‘where is my home? ‘Was my home Setters Manor? Was it in the darkened catacombs that lay beneath?’ I found no solace in these thoughts. Though I had at one time embraced the place of my rearing, now, in the real world, it was not a place that my emerging mind would call home. excerpt from #wip Sunsetter by Ross McDermott
January 4, 2026 at 10:18 AM