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Aeryn Rudel

@aerynrudel.bsky.social

1K followers 620 following 1.1K posts

Author, rejectomantic blogger, dinosaur nerd, sword enthusiast, SFWA & HWA member. Stories in PseudoPod, On Spec Magazine, Factor Four Magazine, Radon Journal, others. https://linktr.ee/Aeryn_Rudel?utm_source=linktree_admin_share

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · Nov 15

Hey, #writingcommunity! Guess I should do an intro post. So, I'm a former #TTRPG game designer, former magazine and fiction editor, and current short fiction, media tie-in, and #amquerying author. I talk about all that, plus offer dubious writing advice on my blog, Rejectomancy. :)

rejectomancy.com

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 2d

I took the kids out this morning, and we strolled beneath a sulfur sky, smiling at the warmth of a radioactive sun. Naomi made #ash angles in front of the burnt ruins of a McDonalds. Oren gleefully chased, caught, and ate cockroaches. A good day at the end of the word.

#vss365 #amwriting

a destroyed city with a fire in the middle

ALT: a destroyed city with a fire in the middle

media.tenor.com

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 3d

Since the tech purge, every swinging dick carries a battle-axe or a great sword. They expect a movie sword fight, a #clash of steel on steel, beheadings and spilled entrails. The look on their faces when they lose a hand to my saber and a tight moulinet never gets old.

#vss365 #amwriting

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 4d

Thanks! :)

Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 4d

The ranks and titles in Hell are much like those in a law firm. Evil souls are first chosen from the legions of the damned to serve as parademons, who hope to someday be elevated to the rank of #associate fiend, or even, if they’re lucky, to full partners in perdition.

#vss365 #amwriting

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 5d

He moved to the middle of nowhere, left all his devices, dug out his neural chip, and forwent even electricity. It wasn’t enough. The #advert drones found him anyway and descended on his cabin in a screaming swarm of special offers and once-in-a-life-time opportunities.

#vss365 #amwriting

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 6d

Undeath grants a kind of moral #elasticity that stretches further and further as the years pile on. In your first decade, you live by codes like no innocents, only the deserving, catch and release. By the end of your first century, it’s more don’t get any on your shoes.

#vss365 #amwriting

Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 7d

a man with a beard is sitting on a bed with his hands outstretched and the words `` guilty ! ''

ALT: a man with a beard is sitting on a bed with his hands outstretched and the words `` guilty ! ''

media.tenor.com

Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 7d

It's a little-known fact that vampires can get the blood they need by eating and digesting human flesh. Some of the more twisted among us even enjoy it. Problem is it makes one hell of a mess, always leaves a corpse, and, well, I prefer my blood without . . . #pulp.

#vss365 #amwriting

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 8d

There’s a pond in the the desert a hundred miles east of Vegas, a real #oasis. It’s even got palm trees. The thing that lives in that pond is meaner than a croc with a belly ache, but it’s always hungry, and if you’re quick, it’ll save you digging a hole to bury your hit.

#vss365 #amwriting

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 9d

Oh, yeah, cats can see them, too. ;)

Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 9d

You can spot the folks who've been taken if you look close enough. There’s a shimmer, a subtle #blur around their faces, like you’re looking at them through a rain-fogged window. If you stare long enough, the haze recedes, the veil lifts, and a thousand eyes stares back.

#vss365 #amwriting

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 10d

When a master #vampire is killed, and its spawn become human again, law enforcement is faced with a #conundrum. Former vampires have certainly committed heinous crimes under the influence of their makers, but being a ravening undead monster is a pretty solid insanity plea.

#vss365 #amwriting

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Reposted by Aeryn Rudel

H. Marin @hanmarin.bsky.social · 12d

I humbly offer the #AugurMicros2025 contest forbidden foraging and blissful reawakening. @augursociety.bsky.social

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 11d

The undead that seek psychological remedies to #sublimate their hunger face an uphill battle. However, if they can get past step one—don’t eat your psychologist—there is data suggesting that vampires, ghouls, and zombies can control and even overcome their inhuman urges.

#vss365 #amwriting

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 12d

He’d drawn a symbol on the #escutcheons around each light switch—a pentacle with an eye at the center. All were in the off position, save one. There, the escutcheon had been removed, and Mr. Langley died staring at the overhead light, his face fixed in absolute terror.

#vss365 #amwriting #Lovecraft

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 13d

Of course, the best time to pass as human is Halloween, but that doesn’t mean you can run your monstrous ass out there undisguised. No ghoul, werewolf, or nosferatu can pass real up-close #scrutiny. So get yourself a sheet, be a spooky ghost, and try not to eat too much.

#vss365 #amwriting

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 16d

Today on the blog, we're looking at another installment of my Ten Years of Rejectomancy series. This time, it's year seven, and, unfortunately, regression is the name of the game. Check it out.

#writingcommunity #writersofbluesky

rejectomancy.com/2025/09/24/t...

Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Seven – The Whiplash Effect

There’s a phenomena in baseball and other professional sports where a player, usually a rookie, has a fantastic inaugural season, goes into the next season with massive expectations, and then…

rejectomancy.com

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 16d

Hey, folks, I have a new #flashfiction story up at @dreamtheorymedia.bsky.social today. Not sure what genre you'd put it in, as it it doesn't feature my usual cast of vampires, demons, and hitmen. Fabulism, maybe? Either way, I had fun writing it. :)

#writingcommunity #writersofbluesky

Dream Theory Media [Subs Closed] @dreamtheorymedia.bsky.social · 16d

NEW STORY: @aerynrudel.bsky.social's new story is now live! "The Other Side of Empty" is an intriguing look at connection and completeness in humans. Art by @doctorofthedead.bsky.social.

www.dreamtheory.media/the-other-si...

The Other Side of Empty

by Aeryn Rudel Art by Arnold T. Blumberg There’s a hole in me. I’m not speaking metaphorically. If I lift my shirt, you’ll see a black disk about the size of a softball just above my belly button. I...

www.dreamtheory.media

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 22d

Today on the blog, we return to my Ten Years of Rejectomancy series and reveal what is far and away my best year of submissions ever. Yep, this was the year I thought I might have this whole publishing thing figured out. 🤣

#writingcommunity #writersofbluesky

rejectomancy.com/2025/09/18/t...

Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Six – Best Year EVAR!

When I set out to write this series, I knew I’d be writing openly and honestly about the ups and downs of the publishing business as well as the grueling grind of submitting short stories. As…

rejectomancy.com

Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · 22d

When you own a bar, you #stock your best patrons’ favorites. A 30-year Balvenie for my investment bankers, a few pints of AB negative for the night life, and a rare bottle of wolfsbane liqueur for Mr. Thackery, who stumbles in once a month looking desperate and hirsute.

#vss365 #amwriting

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · Sep 10

Today on the blog, another installment of Ten Years of Rejectomancy. Year five was a slight step back, but I maintained a solid number of submissions and acceptances. A consistent year, if not a great one. Anyway, have a look.

#WritingCommunity #writersofbluesky

rejectomancy.com/2025/09/10/t...

Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Five – Consistency is Key

I set a lot of personal submission records in 2018 (year four), and though year five wasn’t nearly as good, I maintained both a solid number of submissions and a respectable number of accepta…

rejectomancy.com

Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · Sep 9

I used to work with this medical examiner who refused to touch body bags, which he called ghost #wrappers. He thought they held the souls of the deceased, so he’d make me shake them out, I guess to dislodge the trapped spirit or something, before he’d start an autopsy.

#vss365 #amwriting

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · Sep 8

“Genie, I wish for a super #power!”
“Which one?”
“Super speed.”
“Death by friction burns.”
“Flight then.”
“Suffocate or freeze to death?”
“Super strength?”
“Last guy accidentally ripped his own arms off.”
“Fine. I want to be able to lick my own elbow.”
“There ya go.”

#vss365 #amwriting

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · Sep 7

There are thin places everywhere if you look carefully. Places where the barrier between their world and ours has started to break down. Beware the liminal, the out-of-the-way, the unnoticed. Every stairwell and hallway a dim window, every corner a potential #doorway.

#vss365 #amwriting

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Aeryn Rudel @aerynrudel.bsky.social · Sep 6

All wishes have a small #chance of reversion, i.e., getting the opposite of what you wish for. The actual number depends on the entity granting the wish. Genies, witches, and gods are safe bets. Only a 1% chance. Leprechauns, though . . . that’s just wish Russian Roulette.

#vss365 #amwriting

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