Daniel Ausema
@danielausema.bsky.social
Writer, experiential educator, stay-at-home dad. He/him. Strange Horizons, Daily Science Fiction, Diabolical Plots, Guardbridge Books, Fantasy Magazine, & more. danielausema.com
A great way to close out the year--with a short story acceptance! "Traces of the Windward Kingdom" is a nearly-novelette-length fantasy story that will be appearing in Bourbon Penn.
December 31, 2025 at 6:43 AM
A great way to close out the year--with a short story acceptance! "Traces of the Windward Kingdom" is a nearly-novelette-length fantasy story that will be appearing in Bourbon Penn.
I guess I’m an assistant pig keeper (if we include latest book I read to my kids). Anyone have any oracular pigs needing tending?
Well, now I'm an English professor...
December 29, 2025 at 7:47 PM
I guess I’m an assistant pig keeper (if we include latest book I read to my kids). Anyone have any oracular pigs needing tending?
Reposted by Daniel Ausema
Hey it's that time of year! Where everything is on fire and satire is my only coping mechanism! I'm feeling bitey so it's time for
THE TECH BILLIONAIRE'S WISHLIST FOR THE OFFICE SECRET SANTA
1/
THE TECH BILLIONAIRE'S WISHLIST FOR THE OFFICE SECRET SANTA
1/
December 18, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Hey it's that time of year! Where everything is on fire and satire is my only coping mechanism! I'm feeling bitey so it's time for
THE TECH BILLIONAIRE'S WISHLIST FOR THE OFFICE SECRET SANTA
1/
THE TECH BILLIONAIRE'S WISHLIST FOR THE OFFICE SECRET SANTA
1/
Award eligibility post! It was a poetry year, it seems. So, here are the six poems that came out this year that should be eligible for nominating, if you're so inclined:
(details about each threaded)
(details about each threaded)
December 15, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Award eligibility post! It was a poetry year, it seems. So, here are the six poems that came out this year that should be eligible for nominating, if you're so inclined:
(details about each threaded)
(details about each threaded)
New poem out today!
Today's poem is a moment of curiosity and a wish for the future, in a bleak time and apparently bleak place. Read "In the Sloth Tunnels At A Time of War" by @danielausema.bsky.social:
In the Sloth Tunnels, at a Time of War - Small Wonders
The tunnelers are long gone now, / known only / by the claw marks on the walls
smallwondersmag.com
December 10, 2025 at 7:05 PM
New poem out today!
New story sold over the weekend! “The Ways of Plants and Spells” will be in the *Trunk* anthology in 2026. Excited to be able to share the story!
December 9, 2025 at 1:54 AM
New story sold over the weekend! “The Ways of Plants and Spells” will be in the *Trunk* anthology in 2026. Excited to be able to share the story!
I’ve spent a good proportion of the past week either listening to Rosalía’s Lux or watching reaction/analysis videos.
Anything I say would just feel repetitive, so…just give it a listen. Amazing voice (as always), very deliberately produced in ways that add to it, and enormously creative.
Anything I say would just feel repetitive, so…just give it a listen. Amazing voice (as always), very deliberately produced in ways that add to it, and enormously creative.
November 15, 2025 at 8:53 PM
I’ve spent a good proportion of the past week either listening to Rosalía’s Lux or watching reaction/analysis videos.
Anything I say would just feel repetitive, so…just give it a listen. Amazing voice (as always), very deliberately produced in ways that add to it, and enormously creative.
Anything I say would just feel repetitive, so…just give it a listen. Amazing voice (as always), very deliberately produced in ways that add to it, and enormously creative.
Reposted by Daniel Ausema
<totters out onto porch>
<settles into rocker>
<thumps cane a few times>
Let's talk about what the process of submitting short fiction used to look like, shall we? And about what it looks like now.
<settles into rocker>
<thumps cane a few times>
Let's talk about what the process of submitting short fiction used to look like, shall we? And about what it looks like now.
October 14, 2025 at 9:25 PM
<totters out onto porch>
<settles into rocker>
<thumps cane a few times>
Let's talk about what the process of submitting short fiction used to look like, shall we? And about what it looks like now.
<settles into rocker>
<thumps cane a few times>
Let's talk about what the process of submitting short fiction used to look like, shall we? And about what it looks like now.
Reposted by Daniel Ausema
Here’s how tariffs work. Your costs go up, and that money gets transferred to the wealthy.
Whether you’re progressive, liberal, leftist, libertarian, communist, socialist, moderate, democrat, conservative, Christian, atheist, Gen Z, Boomer… we have the same enemy. It’s the oligarchs.
No Kings
Whether you’re progressive, liberal, leftist, libertarian, communist, socialist, moderate, democrat, conservative, Christian, atheist, Gen Z, Boomer… we have the same enemy. It’s the oligarchs.
No Kings
October 13, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Here’s how tariffs work. Your costs go up, and that money gets transferred to the wealthy.
Whether you’re progressive, liberal, leftist, libertarian, communist, socialist, moderate, democrat, conservative, Christian, atheist, Gen Z, Boomer… we have the same enemy. It’s the oligarchs.
No Kings
Whether you’re progressive, liberal, leftist, libertarian, communist, socialist, moderate, democrat, conservative, Christian, atheist, Gen Z, Boomer… we have the same enemy. It’s the oligarchs.
No Kings
Many years later, in front of the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía would remember that Congress has not authorized the use of military force.
Call me Ishmael. Congress has not authorized the use of military force.
There were two husbands disappointed by eggs. Congress has not authorized the use of military force.
October 3, 2025 at 3:36 AM
Many years later, in front of the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía would remember that Congress has not authorized the use of military force.
Short story sale! Thrilled to announce "Sea Harvest of Moonlight" will be in the January issue of Sally Port magazine. It's a Studio Ghibli-esque fantasy and will be in a YA-focused issue of the zine.
October 2, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Short story sale! Thrilled to announce "Sea Harvest of Moonlight" will be in the January issue of Sally Port magazine. It's a Studio Ghibli-esque fantasy and will be in a YA-focused issue of the zine.
I poemed today. I'm quite pleased with the poem.
I've written other poems recently, so it isn't that out of the ordinary. And I often have an inflated opinion of what I write soon after (or an abysmally low opinion...). So that's not extraordinary either.
Just something small to mention.
I've written other poems recently, so it isn't that out of the ordinary. And I often have an inflated opinion of what I write soon after (or an abysmally low opinion...). So that's not extraordinary either.
Just something small to mention.
September 16, 2025 at 11:51 PM
I poemed today. I'm quite pleased with the poem.
I've written other poems recently, so it isn't that out of the ordinary. And I often have an inflated opinion of what I write soon after (or an abysmally low opinion...). So that's not extraordinary either.
Just something small to mention.
I've written other poems recently, so it isn't that out of the ordinary. And I often have an inflated opinion of what I write soon after (or an abysmally low opinion...). So that's not extraordinary either.
Just something small to mention.
What poster did you have hanging in your room as a kid?
(My dad didn’t like us sticking things on the walls for more than a few weeks, so this was a poster I bought in college, hanging alongside a foldable map of Middle Earth)
(My dad didn’t like us sticking things on the walls for more than a few weeks, so this was a poster I bought in college, hanging alongside a foldable map of Middle Earth)
September 14, 2025 at 1:01 AM
What poster did you have hanging in your room as a kid?
(My dad didn’t like us sticking things on the walls for more than a few weeks, so this was a poster I bought in college, hanging alongside a foldable map of Middle Earth)
(My dad didn’t like us sticking things on the walls for more than a few weeks, so this was a poster I bought in college, hanging alongside a foldable map of Middle Earth)
Not too spoilery to say that in my Spire City series this is what the bad guys wanted, to get rid of people that were a drain on their way of living. But even as morally reprehensible as those characters were, I didn't think they'd just openly say it, so I had them hide their real intent...
Brian Kilmeade endorses euthanizing homeless people: "Involuntary lethal injection, or something. Just kill them."
September 13, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Not too spoilery to say that in my Spire City series this is what the bad guys wanted, to get rid of people that were a drain on their way of living. But even as morally reprehensible as those characters were, I didn't think they'd just openly say it, so I had them hide their real intent...
Reposted by Daniel Ausema
A little ditty I wrote
September 12, 2025 at 2:21 AM
A little ditty I wrote
Reposted by Daniel Ausema
Time again, time again! This week we have some good, good flash from @danielausema.bsky.social and @devzmiller.bsky.social
howsweetthewords.com/two-fic-tues...
howsweetthewords.com/two-fic-tues...
Two Fic Tuesday
Welcome!
This week I come with a couple of flash pieces. Really, I think it's my favorite length of story, even if I know full well there are wonderful stories of every length. There's something abou...
howsweetthewords.com
September 9, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Time again, time again! This week we have some good, good flash from @danielausema.bsky.social and @devzmiller.bsky.social
howsweetthewords.com/two-fic-tues...
howsweetthewords.com/two-fic-tues...
Earliest that seems like SF is a lesser known work (not sure I ever see people mention it): Shadow of the Gloom-world by Roger Eldridge. It was shelved with books for much younger kids, and I remember it being at the upper edge of my reading ability, but it left an impression. Post-apocalyptic.
I gotta be honest...
The earliest one I recall is "Third Planet from Altair," a Choose Your Own Adventure book by Edward Packard. I mostly remember it because that and "Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey" were the only CYOA books I kept until I left home.
After that it's one of the Jules Verne books.
The earliest one I recall is "Third Planet from Altair," a Choose Your Own Adventure book by Edward Packard. I mostly remember it because that and "Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey" were the only CYOA books I kept until I left home.
After that it's one of the Jules Verne books.
Inspired by @scalzi.com on reading or not the Canon of science fiction...
What, bluesky scifi fans ,were the first science fiction books that you can remember reading?
For me it was
* Adrift in the Stratosphere, by AM Low
* Lensman series by EE Smith
What, bluesky scifi fans ,were the first science fiction books that you can remember reading?
For me it was
* Adrift in the Stratosphere, by AM Low
* Lensman series by EE Smith
August 11, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Earliest that seems like SF is a lesser known work (not sure I ever see people mention it): Shadow of the Gloom-world by Roger Eldridge. It was shelved with books for much younger kids, and I remember it being at the upper edge of my reading ability, but it left an impression. Post-apocalyptic.
Fantasy often swirls around royalty. I'll allow there can be something genuine and moving in those stories, even for those of us with no kings.
Cruel kings can be overthrown. The trope of a just ruler has resonance. Simba defeating Scar. Aragorn revealing his heritage. Ged lifting up Arren.
Cruel kings can be overthrown. The trope of a just ruler has resonance. Simba defeating Scar. Aragorn revealing his heritage. Ged lifting up Arren.
June 12, 2025 at 6:06 AM
Fantasy often swirls around royalty. I'll allow there can be something genuine and moving in those stories, even for those of us with no kings.
Cruel kings can be overthrown. The trope of a just ruler has resonance. Simba defeating Scar. Aragorn revealing his heritage. Ged lifting up Arren.
Cruel kings can be overthrown. The trope of a just ruler has resonance. Simba defeating Scar. Aragorn revealing his heritage. Ged lifting up Arren.
Half-elven orphan with a magically refilling quiver learns that the long enemies on either side of a sea are being deliberately lied to about each other to encourage their enmity...and a far greater evil is rising. 1st of a trilogy with at least 3 later trilogies, spanning 1000s of years
so, to the writers... what was the terrible novel you wrote at 14? Mine was about a redhaired freedom fighter called Eleanor Sunstripe
June 10, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Half-elven orphan with a magically refilling quiver learns that the long enemies on either side of a sea are being deliberately lied to about each other to encourage their enmity...and a far greater evil is rising. 1st of a trilogy with at least 3 later trilogies, spanning 1000s of years
Another poem out this weekend! "The River of Naming" is in the new issue of Orion's Belt: www.orions-belt.net/archives/the...
The River of Naming — Orion's Belt
Names do not rise from nothing.
www.orions-belt.net
May 18, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Another poem out this weekend! "The River of Naming" is in the new issue of Orion's Belt: www.orions-belt.net/archives/the...
Reposted by Daniel Ausema
May issue just dropped! It opens with “Lesser Zodiacs” by Daniel Ausema. This slipstream poem rocks, setting the tone for a magically strange and colorful set of stories. Read the issue now at our site!
May 2, 2025 at 4:08 PM
May issue just dropped! It opens with “Lesser Zodiacs” by Daniel Ausema. This slipstream poem rocks, setting the tone for a magically strange and colorful set of stories. Read the issue now at our site!
A new poem out! "Lesser Zodiacs" is in the May issue of Merganser Magazine @mergansermagazine.bsky.social
May 17, 2025 at 4:33 PM
A new poem out! "Lesser Zodiacs" is in the May issue of Merganser Magazine @mergansermagazine.bsky.social
The beetle Spiral wants to invite you to my new itch.io store: danielausema.itch.io This is a great way to buy ebooks direct from me, avoiding Amazon and other stores.
And there's a bonus, free/pay-what-you-want TTRPG one-shot in the store as well, Spire Songs & Steam Gears!
And there's a bonus, free/pay-what-you-want TTRPG one-shot in the store as well, Spire Songs & Steam Gears!
April 28, 2025 at 7:34 PM
The beetle Spiral wants to invite you to my new itch.io store: danielausema.itch.io This is a great way to buy ebooks direct from me, avoiding Amazon and other stores.
And there's a bonus, free/pay-what-you-want TTRPG one-shot in the store as well, Spire Songs & Steam Gears!
And there's a bonus, free/pay-what-you-want TTRPG one-shot in the store as well, Spire Songs & Steam Gears!
Cool news over the weekend--Orion's Belt accepted one of my poems, a 40-some-line free verse poem about words and meaning. And the...water cycle. Sorta, kinda. I'll link when it's up!
April 21, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Cool news over the weekend--Orion's Belt accepted one of my poems, a 40-some-line free verse poem about words and meaning. And the...water cycle. Sorta, kinda. I'll link when it's up!
And here is the same beetle, trying to find its way into the city, looking for…a stable or a flying taxi, probably
April 17, 2025 at 3:15 PM
And here is the same beetle, trying to find its way into the city, looking for…a stable or a flying taxi, probably