Kara Moon (the artist formerly known as Hiria Dunning)
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karamoonauthor.com
Kara Moon (the artist formerly known as Hiria Dunning)
@karamoonauthor.com
3.4K followers 2.4K following 7.8K posts
Kara Moon (she/her/they/them)
Totally not the R18+ pseudonym of @hiriadunning.com I swear!
Queer author and poet from Aotearoa NZ
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karamoonauthor.com
Catching up with #queerwriters line share 'glass', from Before Queens and Saints ⚓️💜🕊
"Have you found the willing spirit of the flame yet, Sister Eugenia?" Geni lowered her shaking hands to her lap and raised her weary eyes from the graven wax candle before her to look up at Mother Stamatia. "Not yet," she answered, her voice weaker than she'd expected because of how tired she was. Two hours of the evening in the Chapel of the Sacred Flame, after a long day of work in the free clinic; all that time facing into the chilly, empty, and increasingly dim cathedral; was it any wonder she couldn't summon a spark of fire when there was frost on the stained glass windows? Her habit was barely thick enough to keep her from shivering. She hoped none of her annoyance leaked through to show on her face.
November 11, 2025 at 3:52 AM
karamoonauthor.com
#Lovember
I don't know that I have an overarching thesis, but here's a favourite bit of mine from A Prayer for the Pirate Queen 🏴‍☠️💜⚓️ (currently gearing up for draft three)
“I wish we were just free to be us, without all the extra pressure from the outside world. Where would you want to be right now, if circumstances hadn’t brought you here?” Kallista entwined her hands with Geni’s at her middle. Finally, a small smile made its way onto her lips. “It’s the funniest thing. No matter how I look at it, the answer remains: here, with you.” “We could be together, elsewhere.” But that wasn’t true, was it? She had been in the same room with Geni at least once before their meeting on Didaea, and she’d made no lasting impression that time. Neither of them had noticed each other. How strange, how fleeting these chances of connection were in life. And yet now she couldn’t imagine ever wanting to part from her. She could imagine life without her — she’d lived long enough in that state, lived through miserable times for various reasons at various times, and knew she could live without Geni if it ever came to that — but she’d rather have her there, all things being even.
November 9, 2025 at 3:03 AM
karamoonauthor.com
Here's a #SaturdaySnippet from Before Queens and Saints ⚓️💜🕊
"Right," Petridas growled, putting his hands behinds his back, rocking on his heels. "Very well then. You be on your best tonight, Iona. I don't want to wake up to find us floundering in a reef on the morrow." He stalked away, and Kallista glared at his back. Again. He'd said Iona's name wrong again. "You see?" Iona sighed behind her. "Indeed I do. Indeed I do. That's two more black marks in his report, from one short conversation." She nodded farewell to Iona. "We'd best not linger, fellow fishwife." Iona cackled. "You're the only one I'll let get away with that."
November 8, 2025 at 11:07 PM
karamoonauthor.com
#sapphiclineshare I didn't have invade in the current wip, but I have occupy

Might have shared this recently but still it's important 🫂

From Before Queens and Saints ⚓️💜🕊

*btw joellian means lesbian, this is a secondary world fantasy so the name comes from a sapphic saint in that world
The bed certainly felt like freedom, after she changed the sheets, moved her pillows to the middle, and let herself sprawl without having to worry about the other body usually occupying it. And so too did it feel freeing to say aloud and with a smile to the bedroom ceiling, "I'm a joellian." In the dark, she dared to imagine that she shared the bed with another woman. Not any time soon. She needed to grieve the end of her marriage, even if she'd been the one to deal the killing blow. But one day, when the time was right, she was certain there would be someone. There might be a few someones on the way to finding her, but there would be someone who would be home to her, and to whom she would be home. Just as Seraphina and Joelle had one another. In the vast uncertainty of this first night, with the bare branches of a tree alternately stroking and lashing the wall and window of her bedroom, she was absolutely certain of this one thing.
November 7, 2025 at 8:12 PM
karamoonauthor.com
Greetings, #pretendpanel! One week into writeathon month, I'm wondering how you feel about this notorious topic...

November 7th: X number of words per day - are you a fan of this approach or not?

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
#pretendpanel a daily prompt tag hosted by @hiriadunning.bsky.social November 7th: X number of words per day - are you a fan of this approach or not? Please support your fellow #pretentpanel posters with replies, likes and reposts New #pretendpanel questions every Friday and Saturday. Hop in any time!
November 7, 2025 at 8:00 AM
karamoonauthor.com
A lot of #Bookvember posters already covering illustrators I love, so here's one that was a ubiquitous part of my childhood in Aotearoa, and that's Peter Gossage's Maui
The cover of How Maui Slowed the Sun, featuring a tall and muscular dark-skinned Māori Maui with a top knot, grass skirt and jawbone patu (weapon) about to strike a yellow and orange depiction of the sun. Both wear tā moko (facial tattoos) The cover of Te-Ika-a-Māui, The Fish of Māui, depicting half the face of Māui a dark-skinned Māori man with tā moko (facial tattoos) and the background depicting him in a small boat with his brothers fishing up a gigantic shadowy creature with eyes from under the sea The cover of How Maui defied the Goddess of Death, depicting the face of Maui, the sun, the fantail, the sleeping goddess as landscape, and an abstract representation of the stages of the afterlife journey
November 7, 2025 at 1:26 AM
karamoonauthor.com
Happy #humpday! From page 31 of Before Queens and Saints ⚓️💜🕊
The cat — not a pet, but a local resident who chose to grace this house more often than others — sat at the windowsill across from the bench and stared at the proceedings. "Go on, Patron — go listen to Sid. Stroke his ego a bit. I certainly don't need it." The cat blinked at Geni's mother's flat imperatives. "Hmph. So much for being the appreciater of the arts. Sounds like he'd much rather talk politics." "Must we?" Geni whined. "Oh, I'm sorry! You come into my house, yet you don't have the stomach to listen to your own mother's worries?" "I thought you said we were talking politics." "Yes, well, it's politics I'm worried about." Which of her mother's imagined debates would it be this time? "Can you believe, those Neopolis bastards are talking about cutting funding to the Arts and Humanities?"
November 6, 2025 at 12:03 AM
karamoonauthor.com
#Lovember
It's Marcie for me, my sapphic vampire who has been around for two millenia. In her own words:
It wasn't as if I was a complete novice in these matters. What my father had exaggerated as 'skirt-chasing' was in truth a merely above-average teenage career of wearing my heart on my sleeve. I had loved a few girls in the neighbourhood in the past, brief flings before they called it off for whatever reason: an impending marriage, fear of parental repercussions. Always, I gave my heart fully and, as my father would say, too easily. Each time, it broke in full; and yet, as my father also said it would, my heart healed in time to find another to fixate on. I had only his example to follow, with his many dalliances. One particularly dreadful end of a love affair, I told him I would never love again. It was a fool's game. And my father said to me, "Love is important, Marcia. Why do you think I even bother to stay in this world, so many long and repetitive years? Love. That is the only thing keeping me here." "Even when your heart gets broken?" He paused a long moment, his eyes far away. A beautiful smile stole over his lips, and he answered so softly, "Especially then. That's how I know it's real. How I know I'm real."
November 4, 2025 at 2:44 AM
karamoonauthor.com
#queerwriters line share 'mug'
from Before Queens and Saints ⚓️💜🕊 my current WIP
"Wait, you were never attracted to me?" "Not physically, no." "Then what...? You were attracted to me in other ways?" Geni swallowed and looked down at her mug, but did not drink. Her hands were burning against the ceramic but she couldn't move them. "I was attracted to how... how much you seemed to adore me. You offered me love and it was a safety net to fall into. It made my mother happy." His breathing was shallow. Geni wanted to look up at him, but at the same time she wanted to give him the grace of not looking at him in case he was about to cry. "But it was never about me." "No. That's the horrible part about it. I'm so sorry." Tears made their initial sally-forth, but she swallowed the feeling down. He was the one having his heart broken. He didn't need to see her crying. "It was selfish of me. I didn't know I was doing it at the time, but you made me happy, and I could see I made you happy, and I thought that was enough. I thought that was everything we needed."
November 2, 2025 at 11:32 PM
karamoonauthor.com
#Bookvember I remember The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes as being one of the first books I took out of the public library, around age 6. Something that I didn't notice until I reread it as an adult was how fluid it is about what is real and what is imaginary. To a child, that just reads as ✨️truth✨️!
Cover of The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes. Has a broom crossing the moon, and on it rides an old witch, two young witches, and three cats.
November 2, 2025 at 8:28 AM
karamoonauthor.com
#pretendpanel, this month we're talking around the subject of writeathons!

November 1st: Are you participating in a November writeathon? If so, which one and/or which project/s are you working on?

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
#pretendpanel a daily prompt tag hosted by @hiriadunning.bsky.social November 1st: Are you participating in a November writeathon? If so, which one and/or which project/s are you working on? Please support your fellow #pretentpanel posters with replies, likes and reposts New #pretendpanel questions every Friday and Saturday. Hop in any time!
November 1, 2025 at 7:02 AM
karamoonauthor.com
#pretendpanel first question drops in just under 8 hours so I thought I'd better sneak this calendar in quicksmart

This month: Writeathon Discourse 👀

(Please, even if you hate November writeathons, keep your discussions civil. Hate the game not the players in this case, cheers ✌️)
#pretendpanel a daily prompt tag hosted by @hiriadunning.bsky.social NOVEMBER - on the subject of writeathons... November 1st: Are you participating in a November writeathon? November 7th: X number of words per day: are you a fan? November 8th: Do you have a word count goal most of the time? November 14th: Challenges during November: what's your take? November 15th: Halfway through the month! How's it going so far? November 21st: How can writers best help one another? November 22nd: Do you find external challenges useful? November 28th : How did you go this month? November 29th: Freebie Saturday - post whatever! Please support your fellow #pretentpanel posters with replies, likes and reposts New #pretendpanel questions every Friday and Saturday. Hop in any time!
October 31, 2025 at 11:35 PM
karamoonauthor.com
All right #sapphiclineshare, I'll break out Marcie one last time since she's been my preoccupation this month. But no more! I submitted her earlier this week 🤞
Over time, I came to meet others like him in the taberna, though not all of them were cold or pale. No one said what they were, but I knew, in the way a child does, that they were what some might call monsters. Some wore it unavoidably in the open: horned people; entrancing figures with skin in colours I never saw outside of the taberna; others with extra eyes or limbs. None of them were unkind to the tavernkeeper's daughter. Gaius commanded far too much respect. I got a sense for what he was too, without ever naming it, in the way he brought home young human men, and sent them home before sunrise, paler than before but otherwise no worse for wear. Most wore satisfied smiles, though that I would not understand for many years. Some were repeat visitors. In this wise, I became accustomed to the monstrous, and I was quite unafraid.
October 31, 2025 at 7:01 PM
karamoonauthor.com
#pretendpanel I'd like to urge you to check out this pledgeme campaign (www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/852...) because at the NZ$30 tier, you can get a copy of my award-winning computer game, and by doing so you can support a brave woman in science 💖

It's the tier pictured below >
October 31, 2025 at 7:07 AM
karamoonauthor.com
It's that time again, #pretendpanel. Thank you for a fun month of answers to my questions.

October 31st: Freebie Friday... or should I say Freaky Friday? Post anything!

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
#pretendpanel a daily prompt tag hosted by @hiriadunning.bsky.social October 31st: Freebie Friday! Post anything you want e.g. plug something, acknowledge someone, ask a question Please support your fellow #pretentpanel posters with replies, likes and reposts New #pretendpanel questions every Friday and Saturday. Hop in any time!
October 31, 2025 at 7:04 AM
karamoonauthor.com
#PlotTober
My pinterest boards for my setting are a mashup of Greek islands, Constantinople/Byzantium, Age of Sail aesthetic, and art and architecture from around Polynesia.

I'm not an artist, but here is the map and some chapter headings I made myself. You might note the tapa cloth influence
Map of Northern Iunia and the Iunian Archipelago. Various islands spread around, with mainland Iunia in the southwest corner. Border illustrations include a parrot, a tropical flower, a nereid with a harp, a sphinx, a harpy, a cherub, a hippocampus, an albatross, a satyr, a dryad, a sperm whale, and a mermaid. Style is inspired by tapa cloth and ancient Greek art.
October 30, 2025 at 4:15 AM
karamoonauthor.com
Eeeeee page 66 is a good page, thank you 🙏
#humpday snippet from Before Queens and Saints ⚓️💜🕊
You're maybe a year or two off your next promotion: can it not wait til after that? Or even later, when you make Admiral? Then you'd be in the position to enact change yourself -" "And what if I never make it there?" Kallista blurted out, then tacked on a quick, "Sir," after a breath. "Beyond concern for others, I am concerned too for myself. There is a pattern of women being denied positions and promotions in the Navy where the only reason seems to be their gender. Not only that, but there is a pattern to using marriage and motherhood as an excuse to deny women these advancement - an excuse, or mabye even a weapon in some cases." There was alarm in his eyes, but not surprise. He did know, then. "And that's besides the casual bigotry I've observed towards people of Islander descent. Call me ambitious if you will, but I want to head this off before it becomes a stumbling block for me." "What if it becomes a chopping block instead, Audax, and it's your head on it?" She exhaled loudly, tension leaking from her shoulders as she did. What if, indeed? "I don't know, sir. But I can't stand by and watch injustice happen. If I can't do something to stop this, then perhaps the Iunian Navy is not the right place for me. But I hope to make it so."
October 29, 2025 at 10:03 PM
karamoonauthor.com
#LGBTQWriteAThon line share
I didn't have a single use of scare or even fright in Before Queens and Saints ⚓️💜🕊 I DID have fear but the usage was waaaay too nsfw than I'm comfortable with 😅 so instead here is a snippet from by vampire romance novella Marcie 🧛‍♀️🥀🕊 which I am revising to submit this week
Her fingers at my waist and shoulder tightened, and her gaze darkened. "It's too dangerous. We'll stay here." "But aren't you scared of... I don't know... getting bored?" She reared away from me, looking down from a greater height. "Are you growing bored of my company?" "No." I tried to tug her back down to me, but she was still and stiff as the hardy trees outside. "I'm scared of you getting bored." "Why?" "Because... why would I be interesting to you? How could I possibly entertain you for the next several decades?" She came back down to me at last, though her expression was still distant. "Marcia, I've been alive for longer than you can imagine. It takes longer for me to get bored than it will for..." For you to live and die, she was surely about to say. I only hoped my mortal heart would prove as steadfast.
October 26, 2025 at 9:43 PM
karamoonauthor.com
A #SaturdaySnippet from the most recently drafted chapter of Before Queens and Saints ⚓️💜🕊
It wouldn't be the last time. But for the moment, it felt appropriate to rest her head against the front door and wish the house a pleasant existence without her. She had rejoiced in its cosy bounds as a new bride. A place to call her own. A place for raising a family. It was supposed to be home forever. And now... Goodness knew, it would have a hard time remaining clean and homely with just Myron caring for it. But maybe the nanny would treat it right. "Be well," she told the house, then tapped the door and pushed off of it.
October 26, 2025 at 2:45 AM
karamoonauthor.com
#pretendpanel, I like today's question a lot 😍 Thank you again @longwaydownbook.bsky.social for writing this month's questions!

October 25th: Are there any treats you give yourself to help making the writing process easier?

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
#pretendpanel a daily prompt tag hosted by @hiriadunning.bsky.social October 25th: Are there any treats you give yourself to help making the writing process easier? Please support your fellow #pretentpanel posters with replies, likes and reposts New #pretendpanel questions every Friday and Saturday. Hop in any time!
October 25, 2025 at 7:00 AM
karamoonauthor.com
#sapphiclineshare
Look, I know, Kallista's game has a lot of room to grow. It's a prequel 😅

From Before Queens and Saints ⚓️💜🕊
"Cold," Iona muttered. "I beg your pardon?" Iona shrugged. "Didn't think even you would be that cold, Commander." "It's none of your damned business, Lieutenant Commander." "I mean, it could be. Now she's single, maybe I could take her out on a date." "Don't even think about it," Kallista seethed, then covered her eyes with one hand so she didn't have to look at Iona. "She's over-dramatic, that one. I wouldn't waste your time." "Maybe I like them over-dramatic." "Ha. It's your funeral." Kallista stomped over to her bedroom, stopped herself just short of slamming that door, and threw herself backwards onto her bed. Bloody Agnes. Kallista would be lying if she said she wasn't a little tempted to comfort the poor woman when she gazed up at her with those big eyes. But no. Agnes was too much trouble. Kallista did not need that drama back in her life right now. 
October 25, 2025 at 12:45 AM
karamoonauthor.com
Hello #pretendpanel! Can't believe how fast this month has gone. Tell me...

October 24th: Is there anything about the writing process or about any of your writing projects that brings you life? 

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
#pretendpanel a daily prompt tag hosted by @hiriadunning.bsky.social October 24th: Is there anything about the writing process or about any of your writing projects that brings you life?  Please support your fellow #pretentpanel posters with replies, likes and reposts New #pretendpanel questions every Friday and Saturday. Hop in any time!
October 24, 2025 at 7:00 AM
karamoonauthor.com
#HumpDay snippet from page 19 of my WIP, Before Queens and Saints ⚓️💜🕊
As if summoned by the sounds of misery, Orion shuffled in. Instead of going to Hero, he placed his snout on Kallista's knee. She buried her hand in his thick grey fur, between his floppy, warm ears, and took strength from him as the doctor continued explaining what her father would need.
October 22, 2025 at 9:06 PM
karamoonauthor.com
Loving this word choice today 😆
#LGBTQWriteAThon 'silly'

From Before Queens and Saints ⚓️💜🕊
"That's where I was, that night." Saints, was she really going to go there? Agnes took a drag of her cigarillo in its holder before asking, "What night?" Yep, she was going there. "The formal dinner. When I was supposed to meet you. I'd been called away to my parents' house. We thought he was going to die that night. But he's clinging on... he's got maybe til summer's end, if he's lucky. But today he's taken a turn -" And, damn them, out came the tears. Agnes unlatched the gate and drew Kallista to her as the first of them broke through Kallista's reserve. "There, there, come on, you silly thing, let's get you inside. Crying in the street's doing no favours to your bad girl image." "Bad girl?" Kallista asked, half-laughing. "Since when?" She let Agnes bring her in to her townhouse's poky sitting room, to the low glow of the leadlight glass lamp, to her ancient couch with the ever-growing quilt thrown over it, underneath framed posters of shows Agnes had performed in over the years. 
October 19, 2025 at 6:14 PM
karamoonauthor.com
Here's a very recent piece for a #SaturdaySnippet

from Before Queens and Saints ⚓️💜🕊
The street at her feet glowed with the reflection of lights. She glanced up and found herself by a cathedral. Funny, that it should be a cathedral, stopping her, holding her attention. If it weren't for the Saints keeping her on this path, she might be putting her children to bed right now. Even if it didn't make much sense to her, this all had to mean something in the long run. She steeled herself to turn uphill. "Prrrp!" came a familiar chirp. Geni's gaze snapped to the stairs of the cathedral. Agoraeus sat in front of the double doors, unmistakable in his proud fluffy mane and large paws primly set before him. Geni laughed under her breath, and lugged her way over to him.  "What is it, old man? You think I ought to pray before going to see my mother?" She looked up at the stained glass windows above the door. The light was so warm. "You're probably right." He led her in, his tail a triumphant flag as he sauntered between the pews. Geni followed until he came to a stop nearer the front, then slipped into the pew to her right. Her hands and shoulders were grateful for the rest when she put her burdens down, and her chilled fingers met each other like an embrace in front of her chest.
October 18, 2025 at 11:47 PM