Author James C Struck
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curioussnowflake.bsky.social
Author James C Struck
@curioussnowflake.bsky.social
480 followers 340 following 1.1K posts
He/They/Him/Them
Author of The Curious Snowflake: A Parable, available here: https://bit.ly/3PMYmkR
And Children of Dusk, available here: https://a.co/d/brmahZN
Musician, parent, #poly, #leftist, #queer, overall big geek.
JamesCStruck.com
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curioussnowflake.bsky.social
All set up and ready for my first ever book signing! Prairie Fox Books in downtown Ottawa IL, 3-6pm today!

#IndieAuthor #IndieBookshop #WriteSky
December 20, 2025 at 8:38 PM
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To celebrate the launch of Children of Dusk, my first book, The Curious Snowflake is #FREE on KDP from 12/14-12/16!!! Go get yourself a copy, and if you do, please leave an honest review, it’s the biggest help you can give an #IndieAuthor

a.co/d/gOUsVID

#FreeBook #WriteSky
December 14, 2025 at 2:02 PM
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Three days until my #urbanfantasy novel Children of Dusk launches!!!! So as part of my #ChapterCountdown here’s an excerpt from chapter 3.

#YAFantasy #WriteSky #IndieAuthor
December 13, 2025 at 4:06 AM
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#ChapterCountdown time! 5 days until Children of Dusk launches, so here’s an excerpt from chapter 5.

#writesky #IndieAuthor #YAFantasy
December 11, 2025 at 4:04 PM
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Day 10 of my Chaptet Countdown!

#indieauthor #WriteSky #YAFantasy
December 6, 2025 at 5:07 AM
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Join me for my Chapter Countdown! My #YAFantasy novel Children of Dusk launches in 11 days, so here is an excerpt of me reading from Chapter 11.

#WriteSky #IndieAuthor #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
December 5, 2025 at 2:16 AM
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To ramp up for the launch of Children of Dusk, I’m posting a Launch Countdown video each day until the 15th! Each day I will post an excerpt from the chapter based on how many days are left, here’s one from Chapter 13.

#IndieAuthor #WriteSky #YAFantasy
December 3, 2025 at 4:50 PM
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My author copies of Children of Dusk arrived today! Join me for my #unboxing

#IndieAuthor #urbanfantasy #YAFantasy #BookSky
November 27, 2025 at 3:42 AM
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#WIPSnips for 11/25: system

How this for the vibe; here’s how the magic system works in Children of Dusk. Enjoy! 🤪

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #IndieAuthor
November 26, 2025 at 12:57 AM
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Since some of my ARC readers asked, here’s a quick pronunciation guide for Housetongue, the completely made up language in Children of Dusk.

#BookSky #WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #WritersofBluesky
November 22, 2025 at 10:29 PM
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#WIPSnips for 11/21: Crystal

Even in this era of dying belief in magic, our world is crisscrossed with Leylines, conduits of elemental energy. The places where they cross are called leypoints and they are places of great power.

#IndieAuthor #Writesky
The staircase went down perhaps thirty steps, curving back on itself, then opened onto a chamber that looked to run the entire length of the house. It appeared to be a natural cave, but the ceiling had been buttressed here and there with stout wooden pillars. The moment Tim set foot into it, he was almost overwhelmed by the sense of power in the room. This place had seen weaving the likes of which he could barely contemplate. In the center of the room jutted a massive, slightly asymmetrical crystal of smoky quartz, perhaps four feet tall and as thick around as a tree trunk. Every facet and surface of the crystal was etched with fine, spidery symbols, and looking at them gave Tim a strange, reverberating sensation in his mind, like when he’d first heard the twins speaking Housetongue. Vee took one look at the crystal and stopped dead in her tracks. “You built your house on a leypoint?” “Young lady,” said Annika archly, “how old do you think I am?”
November 22, 2025 at 3:21 PM
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#WIPSnips for 11/21: direction

Weaving, the magic system in Children of Dusk, consists of drawing in elemental energies from the world and combining them together in different ways. Here, my MC Tim gets his first tutorial on it.

#WriteSky #IndieAuthor #UrbanFantasy
No, and don’t try to get me off subject." She shifted again. “It’s easiest to draw the energies if you have an obvious source: a campfire, a stream, a forest, an open field, but that’s not always convenient. So the more usual way is from the four cardinal directions.” “From the what?” “Like a compass. Look." She reached inside her shirt, pulled out a pendant on a long silver chain, and held it so he could see it. About the size of an old silver dollar, it did look a bit like a map compass. A central square of black surrounded by four triangles pointing up, down, left and right in green, red, blue and yellow, respectively, bound in a circle of silver. “This is the symbol of the Children of Dusk. It’s tradition that we each get a piece of jewelry with this on it for our thirteenth birthdays, a pendant for girls and a ring for boys." She indicated each of the triangles with her thumb as she talked. “North is Earth, East is Air, South is Fire, West is Water.” She then pulled the chain up over her head and pressed the pendant into his left hand. “Hold that and close your eyes.”
November 21, 2025 at 2:36 PM
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#WIPSnips for 11/20: special

Seekers like Vee and Gideon search the world for potential Weavers, and new potentials usually can only handle Weaving one or two elements at a time.

Tim is not the usual new potential.

Children of Dusk, coming 12/15!

#IndieAuthors #WriteSky #UrbanFantasy
Seekers usually,” he cast another glare at the twins,” introduce potentials to this world slowly, let them get used to the idea and learn their strengths. But while what these two did with you was unorthodox to say the least, I cannot fault them for their excitement.” “Why? What’s so special about me?” “Dude,” Gideon sat up and leaned in towards Tim, elbows on knees, “you do things instinctually that normally take people months to learn, stuff that even Vee and I couldn’t get that fast, and we were born Duskers. That’s why I was kinda hesitant about you at first.” “What, did you think I was a Midnighter in disguise or something?” “Yeah, he did,” said Vee, and her brother shot her a dirty look. “What, you did!” “So did you, Vee,” Tim cut into the middle of their budding argument. “That’s why you got all weird after you healed me.” “Healed you?" Kieran looked concerned. “From what?” “He got jumped by some jocks, beat him up pretty bad. Luckily we were there to bail him out." Vee sat up and leaned in towards Kieran. “K, he can draw all five already.” Kieran gave her an incredulous look, then got up out of his chair and crouched down in front of Tim, holding out his hands. “Show me.” Tim shrugged and took the older man’s hands. He closed his eyes, breathed out, and reached. Immediately, all the elements were there, shimmering at the edge of his consciousness, ready to be used. He drew hard on all five, feeling a puckish urge to show off a little, and started weaving, making it up as he went, layering the elements together almost by whim. He felt a little how he imagined Jackson Pollack must’ve felt, splattering and scribbling away on his massive canvases. Layer upon layer, finer and finer detail, he pushed his concentration to the limit, his eyes rolling back in his head. “Tim, what are you….oh my god." Vee’s voice was a hushed whisper, almost awed. “Whoa,” muttered Gideon. Tim slowly opened his eyes, still concentrating with all his might on holding the dozens of elemental threads in place. Hanging in the gloom above them was a massive spiral of light, a fractal pattern twenty feet across, shining with all the colors of the rainbow and then some. The twins gazed raptly up at it, the colors playing across their faces like Christmas lights, and even Kieran seemed impressed. He looked at Tim with a mixture of pride, amusement, and consternation. “Very pretty, but I’d rather you not make something like that inside my house. Release the layers slowly, otherwise that thing is going to go off like a skyrocket.”
November 20, 2025 at 7:34 PM
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#WIPSnips for 11/16: spend

The Duskrealms are dying. As belief in magic and the supernatural fades from our world, so do the ‘Realms, literally. As a side effect, time does some really strange things there, as Tim discovers in this excerpt.

#WriteSky #IndieAuthor #UrbanFantasy
But yeah, K’s right,” said Gideon, standing and stretching, “we need to boogie before the Turning.” “The what?” “Time’s different here,” Vee explained. “How long do you think we’ve been here, Tim?” “Umm,” Tim thought about it and was completely flummoxed. It felt like almost no time had passed, like they’d just arrived, yet he knew he’d talked for a long time. “Think that’s a trip?” Gideon grinned at Tim. “Go feel your mug of tea.” Tim walked over and picked up his drink. Two-thirds of it was gone, but the remainder was just as piping-hot as it had been when Kieran gave it to him. “That’s impossible,” he muttered. “No,” said Kieran, “that’s time in the Duskrealms. It moves in fits and starts, moments staying suspended then hours popping by in a blink. It’s always twilight here, always the between-time, but it occurs at dawn as well, not just dusk, and sometimes the shift from one to the other is rather jarring. We call those abrupt leaps forward a Turning, and once you spend some time here you will learn to feel when one’s coming. There’s one about to occur, and I think it would be best to get you back before it happens.”
November 17, 2025 at 11:43 PM
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More reviews dropping for Children of Dusk!!!! I cannot describe how this makes me feel! 🫶🥰😁

#WriteSky #IndieAuthor #ARCReviews #QueerWriters #AuthorsOfBluesky
November 17, 2025 at 9:37 PM
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#WIPSnips for 11-16: run

Weavers can sense when someone near them uses magic, though what they sense is unique to each person. For some it’s warmth or heat, for others it’s sound or vibration. For Tim, it seems, he gets goosebumps.

Children of Dusk launches 12/15!

#WriteSky #IndieAuthor
“I saw you at that dopey rally yesterday, right?” “Yeah,” said Tim, and he could feel his cheeks getting hot again. “Sorry about that.” “No, no biggie, the timing was just…” she considered for a beat, “interesting.” “Aah, there’s that stupid thing,” said Dan at last, “now, let me see…” he started tapping and scrolling away at his phone. Suddenly Tim felt a massive wave of goosebumps run up his arms. He shuddered involuntarily, rubbing his arms with his hands, and noticed Vee watching him very closely, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “Alright,” said Dan, unaware of the exchange, “how is Thursday, same time sound?” “Perfect,” Vee replied. “Am I rescheduling Gideon as well?” “No, just me.” “Gideon?” Tim asked. “My brother. Big guy I was talking with at the rally? Looks like me but reimagined as a Neanderthal?” “Alright, done and done,” said Dan, placing his phone back in his desk drawer and wiping his hands. “Anything else, my dear?” “Nope, thanks Dan." She turned to the door with the same decisive, bouncing step Tim noticed the day before. She pulled it open then glanced back at Tim with a smile. “See ya soon, Tim,” and she left
November 16, 2025 at 3:54 PM
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FIRST REVIEW OF CHILDREN OF DUSK!!!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

These are the moments authors daydream about. You wake up in the morning, get a cup of coffee, open social media, and there is, a reader absolutely GUSHING over what you’ve written.

Children of Dusk comes out 12/15!

#WriteSky #5StarReview #AuthorLife
A long and enthusiastic 5 star review of Children of Dusk An image describing Children of Dusk: great for all ages, page turner, great world building, unique magic system, fast read, comes out 12/15
November 16, 2025 at 11:28 AM
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One of my #ARCReaders just reached out to me on Tiktok, and… just WOW! These are the sorts of comments that make an #indieauthor absolutely float off the ground!

#WriteSky
November 16, 2025 at 3:44 AM
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#WIPSnips for 11/15: progress

I had to be very careful about posting this, one paragraph higher would have been a MAJOR spoiler. 😱

Have I mentioned that Naldumiel and his snark is my favorite character in the book? Cuz he’s my favorite character in the book.

#Writesky #UrbanFantasy
What are you implying?” asked Annika, “what about the war?” “Let’s just say,” the Midnighter’s smug attitude reasserted itself,” that things have progressed while you’ve been gone.” A musical tone sounded from Naldumiel’s pocket. He pulled out his phone, thumbed at it for a moment, and smiled. “Well,” he said as he slipped it back into his pocket, “this has been fascinating, but I have more pressing matters to attend to.” He turned to leave. “Where are you going, Naldumiel?” For the first time there was a hint of fear in Annika’s voice. “Oh, I think you know. Did you think I was hanging out on your porch for the scintillating conversation?” He turned his collar up against the tapering drizzle. “But I will leave some friends with you to keep you company. Wouldn’t want you to get lonely, would I?” He turned to one of the possessed jocks. “If they come out that door, kill them all,” he glanced back, “the little ones first. Annika?” He turned back and set the butt of his staff on the ground, “if I ever see you again, I will happily kill you. Tim,” he hesitated, and something like real regret crossed his face, “you’re a fool.” He turned, stepped into the shadows of the nearby trees, and disappeared.
November 15, 2025 at 3:11 PM
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#WIPSnips for 11/14: week

Tim…has some baggage.

#WriteSky
So honey, listen." She pulled her hand away and gazed down into her lap, fingers knotting together. “I’ve set you up with weekly meetings with the school counselor.” “Mom!" He gave her a hurt look. “Just to try." Her eyes crinkled slightly with guilt. “Just for the first month, after that we will see what you think. I just thought…” she trailed off. “I just thought you’d want someone to talk to, someone outside our situation.” “You go on about how I’m gonna make friends and then set it up so that in the first week I’ll be known as the freaky kid with the scars who goes and sees the school shrink?” “It’s not like that!” “Yeah, but that’s how everyone’s gonna see it." Tim yanked violently on the door handle and stormed out of the car, ignoring his mom’s pleas behind him. How could she do that? How? All he ever wanted was to be left alone. Classes were easy. He tolerated the subjects he didn’t like, put in just enough effort in the ones he did, and coasted. Lunch was for eating, study hall for finishing as much homework as possible. School was something to be tolerated, like an unpleasant-tasting medicine: close your eyes, swallow quick, get it over with. He’d had a few acquaintances, sure, guys he didn’t mind partnering with for school projects, but nothing more than that. In fact, he thought bitterly, his mom’s presumption would probably help keep people away. That is, after all, what he wanted, right? So why was he so angry?
November 14, 2025 at 1:20 PM
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#WIPSnips for 11/13: build

Traveling from our world to the Duskrealms can only occur at certain places and times, and even then it’s not easy, as Tim discovers here.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
The sensation continued to build. At first Tim kept his eyes open, focusing on Gideon’s back, but eventually it was too disorienting to even do that. He squeezed his eyes shut and just concentrated on his feet. Left, right, left, right, the twisting vertigo increasing more and more. Tim gritted his teeth and willed himself to remain upright. He felt Vee’s hand jerk and he clamped down, not sure whether he was trying to help her or desperately clinging to something solid. Suddenly he felt a different sensation, a strange resistance, as though the air around him had thickened. He pushed forward one last step and the entire world seemed to snap 180 degrees around. He stumbled forward, the vertigo gone, and released his death grip on Vee’s hand in order to keep his balance. He bent over, hands on his knees, eyes closed, head throbbing, willing his stomach to behave itself, breathing slow and deep. Just ahead of him he heard the unmistakable sound of one of the twins losing their battle with the nausea.
November 13, 2025 at 3:34 PM
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#WIPSnips for 11/12: shirt

High school gym class sucks under the best of circumstances. When you’ve got burn scars like Tim, however, it’s a very special kind of hell.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
Tim took a deep breath, stomach knotting, and pulled his uniform out of his gym locker. The weather had continued hot, so his mom had picked him up one of those thermal arm bands that basketball players use so he could stop wearing long sleeve shirts. But that only covered him from wrist to bicep. He quickly stripped off his shirt, trying to be both swift and nonchalant, but he still heard the conversations around him die as the extent of his scarring was revealed, running down his entire left side from hairline to hipbone. “The hell happened to you?” said a mocking voice behind him. Tim ignored it and pulled his gym shirt on. Someone else giggled nervously. “Talking to you, freakshow. How’d you get a face like that?” Tim knew he was going to have to deal with this crap sooner or later, and that he’d really only have one chance to not be labeled as a bullying target. He kept his face impassive as he turned, even though his heart was thumping in his chest so hard he was sure his ears were twitching in time with it.
November 12, 2025 at 1:30 PM
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#WIPSnips for 11/11: burger

Here, our MC Tim has to contend with explaining to his nosy, suburban realtor mom about Vee and Gideon, without, ya know, letting her know they’re magic wielders from another dimension who’ve recruited him to save the world. No biggie. 🤣

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy
That’s why you have the phone, Tim, so I don’t freak out.” She looked up at him for a moment, then smiled. “I can’t stay mad at you. Just like your dad.” She held up the bag. “C’mon, sit and eat. Unless you filled yourself up on scones, that is.” Tim grinned and joined her at the table, grabbing the bag and emptying out the contents. She watched him as he unwrapped his burger and dug in, a tiny half-smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “What?” he mumbled around a mouthful of fries. “Well?” Anna rolled her eyes innocently. “What’s she like?” “Mom! She’s just a friend, her and Gideon both.” “Yah-huh”, she said, blatantly unconvinced. “So what’s she like? Tim huffed through his nose and popped another fry in his mouth, considering. “Six-and-a-half feet of enthusiasm in a five-foot package.” “So, definitely an “opposites attract” situation then, huh?” “Mom, I told you…” “…she’s just a friend, I heard.” She took a sip of her own soda that had been sitting neglected on the table, leaving a ring of moisture there. “They’re good people? I can trust you on that, right?”
November 11, 2025 at 4:43 PM
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#WIPSnips for 11/10: local

Weaving works much MUCH better in the Duskrealms than it does in our world because not enough people here believe in magic. Here, Kieran uses science to explain how belief and consciousness directly affect reality.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
Okay, gonna get a little esoteric here, so try to keep up. Do you know anything about quantum mechanics?” “Actually, yeah." Tim was amused at the look of surprise on Kieran’s face. “I love science. I read a bunch of books on quantum mechanics. Weird stuff, but really cool: wave functions and non-locality and how the act of observing something changes it, that experiment with electrons behaving like waves until they’re measured and then they become particles.” Kieran snapped his fingers and pointed at Tim. “Yes, Feynman’s double-slit experiment, that’s the one! He showed that matter is affected by observation. There are even experiments showing that animals can do the same. This is how we think Weaving works. Some people inherit the ability to manipulate this effect consciously, to literally bend matter and energy as an act of will." He took a swig of tea before continuing. “Now, think about this. If multiple beings observe a single thing, what happens?” Tim thought for a moment. “I’d think that it would kinda solidify things, set them in place even more.” “Ha!" Kieran gave the twins a triumphant stare. “You two need to hang out with this one more, maybe he’ll rub off on you.”
November 10, 2025 at 12:15 PM
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#WIPSnips for 11/8: picture

One of the signs a person is a potential Weaver is the ability to understand the language the Opacaroi call Housetongue. Here, Tim gets to hear it for the first time.

Side note, I think “Taruch vo ma ne’anta ye” would be great on a merch shirt.

#WriteSky
Why do you care?" Like Vee, Tim’s tone was frankly curious. She stared at him, seeming to be gathering her courage or something similar. Then she leaned in closer, and said in a half-whisper: “Taruch vo ma ne’anta ye.” At least that’s what Tim’s ears heard. But what his mind heard was a different story. “Because you can understand me.” “What the… you… I just…" Tim stammered. “Shh,” said Vee, and she put a finger to his lips to shush him. “Ka taruch vo ma oholo nes ye tan feich," she whispered. But again, Tim’s mind heard perfect English. “And because you can feel it when I do this." Goosebumps ran up Tim’s arms, and the lights flickered. “That was weird,” said Mrs Gibson. “In any case, it is now 3:30, your quiet hour begins now.” Vee immediately sat up, hands folded in front of her, the very picture of studiousness if one ignored the impish grin on her face. Tim, on the other hand, remained where he was, turned sideways and leaning in towards her. The expression on his face was similar to someone who has just been hit in the head with a bat, but hasn’t felt the pain yet. What the hell just happened? Was he going nuts? Was Vee messing with him? What in the name of… “Mr. Hansen!”
November 10, 2025 at 2:45 AM