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Ross McDermott

@beyondtheonions.bsky.social

700 followers 460 following 970 posts

I write ✍ Author TUSK: A Beringia Story - https://a.co/d/eJgOYf1 The Murderous Villain Rosco Pitt - https://a.co/d/fx8xng3 Weathervane - a.co/d/3iPzhvE (horror) (poetry) - Beyond the Onions https://a.co/d/j1SWuiC https://gravatar.com/beyondtheonions

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · Mar 25

"Words lament, pages weep,
Never written if never read."
~ Ross McDermott - Beyond the Onions

TUSK: A Beringia Story - #historicalfantasy
a.co/d/9owR2nQ
The Murderous Villain Rosco Pitt - #western
a.co/d/4dskZHv
Weathervane - #western / #horror
a.co/d/eymNU43

#booklovers #storytime #booksky

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 20h

#vss365 #poem #poetry #writing #rhyme #writing

*This is a poem I wrote that appears at the end of the #novel TUSK: a Beringia Story.
I like it! ☺️
I replaced the word 'fire' for today's #ash prompt. It actually works better!
Cheers.

~Ember~

Ember

One night upon the open land, two beasts shared a fire.
And though by days were lethal foe, they found peace at the pyre.

The lion sat too close, the mammoth warned him off,
The beast stuck out his chest in pride and at the mammoth scoffed.

The flames flickered, the fire spat an ember in the air.
The spark, ablaze and drifting, to nestle in the hair.

The lion raged at such an offence but fled the #ash that burned.
The mammoth laughed and shook his head: what had the lion learned?

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 1d

"I've cut it good I've cut it wide!
"Out of my way, step aside!
"Pass me now my feathered pen,
Blood is my ink ~ until the end."

#horrorprompt #feather #poem #poetry #writing #amwriting #horror #vsshorror #horrorsky ✍️

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Reposted by Ross McDermott

FizzytwizlerAllsortsOfAllsorts @fizzytwizler.bsky.social · 1d

The onyx of the night
Sparkles in the heat of your eyes

And in the silent ebbs and flows
We sway, burning up the ocean

The moon looks on a #beaming
Voyeur, along with his harem
Of stars

#emoetry #poetry

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 1d

London calling?
Don't answer.
You'll only #clash with a non-conformist who,
LIVES BY THE RIVER! 😏

#vss365 #amwriting #I_don't_know_what_this_is #randomthoughts

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Reposted by Ross McDermott

SciFanSat Magazine @scifansat.bsky.social · 1d

Writers, submit something that will send us into orbit! Nine days remain to get your manuscripts of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and More into #SciFanSat before submissions close on October 16th at scifansat.com/landing.html!

#SFF #AmWritingScifi #AmWritingFantasy #WritingPrompts

SciFanSat: The Monthly Magazine for Science Fiction, Fantasy and More! October’s theme is MOON. The deadline for submissions is October 16th, 2025.

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 2d

Lots of time for gun play... just setting the stage, then 'there will be blood!'
🤠 lol.
Thanks DWW.

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 2d

👏👏👏

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 2d

#horrorprompt #corrupted #amwriting #vsshorror #horrorsky #poem #poetry
*A poem based on the #novel Weathervane - a tale of ancient evil in the wilds of the west.

Silver in the breech
A short story-poem by Rosco Pitt
based on a segment of the novel Weathervane (coming soon)

Cracked, dark bones of God’s high tower, rises in the dawn before us.
Beneath our horses pounding thunder, for sacred ground we rode.

We live life now by the hour, racing for the bursting dawn,
and the blackened ash of the chapel’s remains – a sanctuous abode.
An island in this valley, a haven from our plight,
pursued by death corrupted, that turns to dust in heaven’s light.

Bold and unassailable, kissed by the rising sun
we set our camp, we mangey five, now the night is done.

We ready then we slumber, prepare a massive pyre
and wait for their return, to meet them in the fire.
We run no more, we mangey five, tis here we make our fight.
If death comes we’ll embrace her in the dark, dead of night.

I feel for fallen angels, too far they often reach,
Tonight, no lead will tickle them, we’ve silver in the breech! ~ RP

(An Ode to the Mangey Five)
~ Beyond the Onions ~ Ross McDermott ~

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 2d

Pleased by advised: This is a #poem - I do not condone nor endorse the use of opiates, or any other narcotic, while in the workplace. However, what you do on your own time is nobody's business.
Signed:
The CEO 😡

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 2d

A dark day at the office:
Power outage; nine-fifteen
Computers crashed; blank, blue screens
The CEO lost his shit
Such rage, reception up and quit

IT loitered in shadowed halls
Warehouse filled with caterwauls
While all of us associates
calmed ourselves with opiates.

#vss365 #associate #poetry

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 2d

👍😀 Thanks again Anders
If you wanna get a head start the prequel, Weathervane, is available now and if you really wanna dive in, check out where it all begins in the novel The Murderous Villain Rosco PItt.
Links - gravatar.com/beyondtheoni...
🙏

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 2d

#WIPSnips #miss #amwriting #horror #western #genre-bending #fiction #wip Sunsetter - a tale of ancient evil in the wilds of the west
*From Chapter 8 - Homecoming
Francis makes a claim... shows off his shiny guns.
#books #booksky #writing #horrorsky

“Alright,” finally I replied, taking a firmer gunfighter’s stance, spreading my feet shoulder-width and centering my shoulders over my core, both hands flexing, fingers twirling trigger-ready.
“I killed that murdering scum Rosco Pitt,” I declared, drawing gasps and guffaws from the crowd that now gathered, and from Maddie and McTavish behind me, I imagined.
“I shot him dead and left him for the wolves back in this burnt out town of Salvation, just a few day’s ride south of here. He was almost dead anyway. The poor bastard. Starving and dying of thirst. Put him out of his misery, I did, and took his horse as proof of bounty.
“I seen Randy River is deserted and all, so figured I’d head to the outpost to collect the bounty. Five-hundred, I hear, and I aims to claim it.”
I drew both pistols, fast and simultaneous, eyes stared wide having missed it if they’d blinked.
“Any further questions?” My head swivelled slowly letting my eyes read the crowd. There were none.
“Didn’t think so,” I declared, spinning and twirling my shiny, twin Colts with great fanfare, before slipping them silent back to their sheaths.

excerpt from #wip Sunsetter, a genre-bending horror/western novel telling the tale of an ancient evil in the wilds of the west.
by Ross McDermott, Beyond the Onions.

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks T. As to your wondering... I have no idea. 😊🤔

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 3d

Avert your eyes from the #advert
It's obscene, they're not selling glasses.

Look at her breasts, look how they rise
Look how the men all open their eyes.
Oogling, googling, watch as he passes,
He doesn't need a new pair of glasses.

#vss365 #poem #rhymetime #sexsells
😏😉

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 3d

Sunday morning bliss
softly sunbeams find my eyes
waking with a kiss

~new day~

#haiku #poem #poetry #writing #amwriting #skypoetry #goodmorning #bluesky

Reposted by Ross McDermott

Kayleigh Diaz @kleighdiaz.bsky.social · 3d

#WIPSnips | store

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

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #amwriting

Writing snippet: “You just medicine,” she said, prodding gently around the wound. “We'll find a store.” She pulled his shirt down, and he grimaced, shifting in the grass, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.

“Ain’t no stores,” he said, voice hoarse.

“No, Mama said there were these stores, drugstores, and they were stocked full of medicine. Rows and rows of it. We just…we just need to find one and—”

He coughed, took in a breath, shook his head, but even that small movement set lines of pain into his brow. “Even if you did, Len, none of it would be any good anymore.”

“No, we have to! There's gotta be something!” The tears poured over and she batted them away, cursing.

Micah exchanged a look with Shrimp; the boy nodded. “Know what?” Micah started. “You're right. Why don't you and Shrimp go lookin for one of them stores, Len. Can't hurt, right?” He smiled. “I'll be here.”

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 3d

#2wordprompt #cradle #tie #poem #poetry #writing #amwiting #writingcommunity #blueskypoetry #origins #mother #humanity

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 3d

#WIPSnips #store (mercantile) #amwriting #horror/western An excerpt from the #wip Sunsetter.
*A longer snippet today. -- Francis claims a bounty for Rosco Pitt, using the man's horse as proof of death.
"Gotta see a man about a horse." -- Francis Slayter, Sunsetter.
#writing #books #humour #read

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 4d

apologies... Weathervane is the #prequel to Sunsetter and not a #sequel as I've indicated... sorry for the confusion.
#books #booksky #amwriting
a.co/d/8mznpSi

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 4d

Spell your name with movie titles

R ain Man
O ne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
S ilver Linings Playbook
S icario

Mightymite @mightymite.bsky.social · 4d

Spell your name with movie titles 🍿

Miracle on 34th Street
I Am Sam
Catch Me If You Can
Hachi: A Dog's Tale
American History X

Gary Muppet @garymuppet.bsky.social · 4d

spell your name with movie titles 🍿

Gattaca
Airplane!
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Young Einstein

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 4d

#haikufeels #OneLineOctober #rancor #haiku #poetry #writing #amwriting

In clouded bottles
swirl remnants of crimson tears;
#rancor's bitter brine

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 4d

He stepped into the pocket
The O-line appeared stable
Options checked through darting eyes
like pieces on a table.
A side-armed screen out to the sticks
The chorus rose;
The mob: "Pick six!"
A promising career;
now just a gridiron fable.

#vssdaily #arm #rhymetime #poem #poetry #football #NFL #QB

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 4d

The #paper had been rolled
tubular, now scrolled
secured by a rubber-red #elastic.
What the document #proposed
a debate now long closed
Like the minds who failed to see
We've made our world of plastic.
Isn't that fantastic?

#vss365 #2wordprompt #poem #poetry #amwriting #writing #rhymetime

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 4d

Thanks Anders! Much appreciated. 😊

Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 4d

#WIPSnips #hunt #amwriting #horror/western #genre-bending #fiction
Today I offer a glimpse to the past with an excerpt from the #novel Weathervane, sequel to my current #wip Sunsetter. In this piece the origin of the one named V’ar kielius is revealed.
#read #books #booksky #writing

“I am Arakiel,” he said, “one of two hundred. I have no mind for mortal debate. Some say there were six and some say seven. There were two hundred in all, truth be told – all damned to lament the abandonment of light.
“The mountains you hold so dearly were of my making. Even the silver with which you now hunt was delivered to your kind by me. Your world has been my dominion since before it was your world. No ha is my folly, god of the steppe I was then, but I am to be sure, Earth of God, and my folly is now my lot. I tell you this, Mr. Pitt…”
Again he spoke my name, and though it wrang as crystal in the air, I did not like the sound.
“I tell you this so you will know, down there,” Arakiel pointed, “in the dark. That you are not alone.”
The ghost vanished. The stable erupted in the utter silence that followed and the torch in my hand bent sharply, as if blown or sucked, so it seemed, by a sudden draft where none had been, where Arakiel, the fallen, had just stood
~from the novel Weathervane, by Ross McDermott, Beyond the Onions

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