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ashvalewrites.bsky.social
ash vale
@ashvalewrites.bsky.social
3.6K followers 730 following 1.1K posts
🇨🇦 canadian writer, game master, gremlin (they/them)
🏳️‍🌈 co-EIC @othersidespec.bsky.social
🖋 fantasy, romance, horror
📖 words at or coming from Nightmare, Heartlines, PseudoPod, and more

website: https://ash-vale.ca/
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ashvalewrites.bsky.social
this is who is sending @othersidespec.bsky.social submission responses, btw
Picture of Bean the cat. She has very green eyes, and long brown/black/white fur. She's pretty cute.
January 9, 2026 at 6:17 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
my last newsletter of the year is out! I am watching Heated Rivalry btw, yes, several people asked

this one also includes my 10 favourite books that I read in 2025!

here's to a happier and less shitty 2026

ashvale.beehiiv.com/p/ash-vale-u...
Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag Bunny by Mona Awad Metal From Heaven by august clarke The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield The Traitor & the Wretch by Jasmine Walls
December 31, 2025 at 7:35 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
I just finished The Traitor & the Wretch by @mythjae.bsky.social and LOVED IT!! I love a scraggly little rat man and boy this book delivered.

Also genuinely one of the best romantic chemistries I've read all year, with real, awkward humour and a slow build from dislike to love. Highly recommend
The cover for The Traitor & the Wretch by Jasmine Walls, displayed on a kobo ereader.
December 17, 2025 at 3:53 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
I finally did it, I'm so brave—an awards eligibility post! I've had a few short stories and one poem published this year, and I'd be grateful as always if you nominated any of them for any kind of awards, or if you just read them.

Links to all of them are available here: ash-vale.ca/stories.html
A pink and blue image. At the top it says "awards eligibility (short stories) for Ash Vale". The stories are: “Dread and Faith” Blood Lust (Black Hare Press), February 2025 (horror, 800 words). “Hope Carried on An ANcient, Isolated Back” Dreamforge Anvil, March 2025 (Fantasy, 2,700 words). “Fireweed, ferns, and Moss” Choices: An anthology of reproductive horror, Sept 2025 (cli-fi/horror, 2,700 words). “Results of Groundwater formaldehyde reduction...” DIe laughing, October 2025 (Horror/comedy, 1,200 words). “Lanugo” Uncharted, December 2025 (Horror, 2,400 words). A pink and blue photo. The top reads "awards eligibility (poetry) for Ash Vale". Underneath is one poem listed: “Live” Moist poetry journal, June 2025
December 16, 2025 at 5:46 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
when you turn 35, you get the big-ass breakfast poutine and the gay lil latte and no one can say shit to you
A latte in a decorative gold rimmed cup. It has lots of foam and little purple petals on top. A breakfast poutine served in a cast iron skillet. It has crispy fries, cheese curds, gravy, mushrooms, green onions, bacon, and a fried egg on top.
December 14, 2025 at 11:03 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
a poem I wrote recently about parenting, gratefulness, and community. Full text is also in the alt text ❤️
I am In your area, With the boys, Can I bring you a coffee? A grandpa to a little one About the same age Can I show you some pictures? Going to get tickets To that thing you like Can you come? Packing up clothes That no longer fit my kids Can you use them? Making a blanket For your baby Can you let me know what colours you like? Sorry, Immeasurably, For your loss and Can I hold your grief? Sending you Way, way too many Instagram reels Can I send you one more? It's really good I promise Coming over with dad And supper And fresh bread And a fix for that thing you said was broken Can you let us in? And isn't that really what's being asked Again and again Heart to heart Can you let us in?
December 9, 2025 at 1:32 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
Alt txt in the genocide by Omar Sakr. It stays with me always
Black text on a white background. The text reads "Alt txt in the genocide. Image description #1: the warm hand of the father, the warm hand of the daughter, together clasp the cold son. Image description #2: please don't make me write another, I beg you. How many hauntings must we bear"
December 7, 2025 at 6:03 AM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
what if one person... did something very cool...
Text that says 399 backers
November 4, 2025 at 11:39 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
define "perfect ending"
A still frame from 2001 movie "Donnie Darko." It's a shot of Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays Donnie, laughing somewhat hysterically. He's in his bed, with a soft blue shirt on.
October 19, 2025 at 5:01 AM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
I have fucked up so bad on library holds this week, pray for me
A stack of library books that includes: Fat Talk, The Spear Cuts through Water, The Anxious Generation, I Who Have Never Known Men, My Best Friend's Honeymoon, and He Who Drowned the World
October 5, 2025 at 10:54 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
a good good baby Bean got a treat, as promised

sound up to hear her tractor-like purrs

www.kickstarter.com/projects/hyb...
October 2, 2025 at 6:58 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
we're about 500 dollars away from the next stretch goal...if we can hit it in the next 12 hours, I'll take a video of Bean on catnip
A very large and fluffy cat. She's brown, white and black, and has a really silly look on her face.
October 1, 2025 at 12:14 AM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
A black cat standing in the interior of a car. The text around it is just a bunch of nonsense yelling
September 28, 2025 at 2:08 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
funniest possible thing the news could have shown me as "top stories"
Screenshot of the news section of a website. Under top stories, it links to an article headline that says "a modder has already removed all the fog from silent hill f"
September 25, 2025 at 4:29 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
Behold, my @flightsoffoundry.bsky.social schedule!

Sept 27, 10 am MT: Chill-n-Chat with the @othersidespec.bsky.social editors
9 pm MT: A reading! By me! Help

Sept 28, 10 am MT: Panelist on Creating While Parenting
4 pm MT: Moderator for Gods Help Us: Processing Religious Trauma through Spec Fic
A pink and black wavy background. The text on the image says "Flights of Foundry" at the top, and then Ash's schedule for the weekend. Sept 27, 10 am MT: Chill-n-Chat with the @othersidespec.bsky.social editors 9 pm MT: A reading! By me! Help Sept 28, 10 am MT: Panelist on Creating While Parenting 4 pm MT: Moderator for Gods Help Us: Processing Religious Trauma through Spec Fic
September 15, 2025 at 3:00 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
it's that time of year again when I have so many zucchinis I have to sneak them into EVERY FOOD
Mini pumpkin and zucchini muffins with chocolate chips. They're cooling on a wire rack. There is a small seasonal bouquet of flowers behind them.
September 13, 2025 at 8:40 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
I'm at the point of novel revisions where I'm confident my book is a steaming turd BUT I did get this delicious cardamom latte recently
An artsy photo of a latte on a brown wooden table.
September 11, 2025 at 11:37 AM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
here's mine uwu
A silver laptop cover. It has a bunch of stickers on it, but most notably an Otherside holographic one
August 22, 2025 at 3:23 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
my vet clinic has the best vet techs. very professional, but very loud
A vet's office with an office chair. In it is a white and grey kitten sitting politely. Under a cabinet nearby is a large Bengal cat.
August 22, 2025 at 2:40 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
I'm so bad at remembering pictures can be taken, so here is WorldCon as apparently summed up by my photo reel: @othersidespec.bsky.social stickers and hockey
The freebie booth at Seattle WorldCon. Below Clarkesworld cards, there are cards for Otherside Spec, a new magazine of speculative fiction, poetry and art by queer creators. An office for the Seattle Kraken hockey team, which has a large blue banner with a stylized S on it.
August 18, 2025 at 3:00 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
Seattle I am in you
Ash, a white person in their 30s. They have pink and blonde hair, and a white mask on. They're giving the peace symbol
August 14, 2025 at 9:15 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
it purdy
A small black and brown dog with a cheesy smile. It has hearts all around its head
August 6, 2025 at 5:01 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
the time of zucchini excess begins
A fake wood kitchen island. On it are two large yellow zucchini squash
July 30, 2025 at 10:09 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
*gasp* a baby
A large squash plant growing on a trellis. It has one squash starting to grow.
July 23, 2025 at 3:56 PM
ashvalewrites.bsky.social
my coworker bought me a blue slurpee can you tell!!!!!
Ash, a white person in their 30s with chest length blonde hair. They're wearing a green flannel shirt. Their tongue is sticking out and it's very blue
July 9, 2025 at 10:30 PM