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Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈

@mcmanlypants.bsky.social

2.1K followers 1.7K following 1.6K posts

I write queer horror & sci fi. Gay, Appalachian native, infosec professional, 2020 Manly Wade Wellman winner, co-host of Arcane Carolinas. He/him. michaelgwilliamsbooks.com #BlackLivesMatter #TransLivesMatter #SFWA #HWA #LGBTQ

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Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · Apr 29

Do you love signed paperback first editions of weird, queer horror? Well, you're in luck! Mine is available right now:

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#writingcommunity

www.michaelgwilliamsbooks.com/product/chil...

Children of Solitude – Paperback

Reginald Voth's mother is (finally) dead. When he returns to the ancestral Appalachian homestead where she raised him, he finds it haunted (or worse) and hi

www.michaelgwilliamsbooks.com

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Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · 2h

THE COME BACK KIDS is cosmic horror with tinges of sci fi, my take on "creepy kids" stories.

#writesky
#queerwriters
#lgbtqwriters
#writers
#LGBTQWriteAThon
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AmaraJLynn💎🌌🌺GEMS & STAR FLOWERS coming soon! @amaralynn.bsky.social · 5h

#LGBTQWriteAThon October 8:

What genre is your WIP?

#writesky #queerwriters #writers #lgbtqwriters

Image: a burnt orange background with two jack o' lanterns. Text: #LGBTQWriteAThon Use the tag and follow the feed on BlueSky! Tag @LGBTQWriteAThon in photos on Instagram! October 8: Genres.
BlueSky: @amaralynn @rebeccafrostwrites.com Instagram: @LGBTQWriteAThon @amarajlynn @krakengoddess

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Reposted by Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈

Rick Hollon @mimulus.bsky.social · 2h

Hi #LGBTQWriteAThon! My WIP is a mix of kids-on-bikes and dystopian adult sci-fi.

AmaraJLynn💎🌌🌺GEMS & STAR FLOWERS coming soon! @amaralynn.bsky.social · 5h

#LGBTQWriteAThon October 8:

What genre is your WIP?

#writesky #queerwriters #writers #lgbtqwriters

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Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · 19h

My current #WIP is set in Hazel Branch, NC, USA, a small town in the high mountains of Appalachia. It's a modern-day queer cosmic horror novel called THE COME BACK KIDS.

#LGBTQWriteAThon
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AmaraJLynn💎🌌🌺GEMS & STAR FLOWERS coming soon! @amaralynn.bsky.social · 1d

#LGBTQWriteAThon October 7:

What is the setting and/or time period of your WIP?

#writesky #queerwriters #writers #lgbtqwriters

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Reposted by Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈

Rick Hollon @mimulus.bsky.social · 20h

Hi #LGBTQWriteAThon!

My WIP is set in and around Colorado Springs, across three time periods: an apocalyptic 1993, a dystopian present, and the Late Cretaceous (75 million years ago). 🦖

AmaraJLynn💎🌌🌺GEMS & STAR FLOWERS coming soon! @amaralynn.bsky.social · 1d

#LGBTQWriteAThon October 7:

What is the setting and/or time period of your WIP?

#writesky #queerwriters #writers #lgbtqwriters

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Reposted by Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈

Rick Hollon @mimulus.bsky.social · 21h

Unseasonably hot amble on the Appalachian Trail today.
1. Big oak tree.
2. Ghost pipe gone to seed.
3. Fields.
4. Autumn color.

Photograph looking up the trunk of a massive oak tree toward a colorful autumn canopy. Partway up the trunk, a white trail marker blaze has been painted on the bark.

Up-close photograph of ghost pipe, a parasitic, non-photosynthesizing plant growing low to the forest floor. The pale pink stalks terminate in pink knobs, where the summertime flowers have closed.

Photograph looking across a mown grass field toward a line of trees, with rolling hills beyond under blue sky.

Photograph looking up at a colorful forest canopy, popping with yellow and red autumn leaves.

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Reposted by Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈

Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · 21h

Do this! Bookshop.org is good stuff.

Barry Lyga @barrylyga.com · 1d

Prime Day what? Bookshop.org is offering FREE SHIPPING for October 7-8! Buy books, get free shipping, support local bookstores! Easy!

#primeday #antiprime #freeshipping #supportlocal #supportindie

Bookshop: Buy books online. Support local bookstores.

An online bookstore that financially supports local independent bookstores and gives back to the book community.

Bookshop.org

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Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · 1d

Sending you good thoughts and hoping you recover quickly and soon!

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Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · 1d

I feel a ton of despair at the moment so this is a long-distance supportive fist bump/friendly nod/etc to say yes, you are not alone in that.

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Reposted by Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈

Olivia Wylie @otterkit.bsky.social · 1d

Ray Bradbury really understood October
#booksky

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Reposted by Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈

Rick Hollon @mimulus.bsky.social · 1d

My poem “Shapeshifters Local” has been published in the Autumn 2025 issue of @kaleidotrope.bsky.social, alongside what looks to be an amazing TOC. Read my poem here: kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...

“Shapeshifters’ Local” by Rick Hollon

kaleidotrope.net

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Reposted by Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈

Rick Hollon @mimulus.bsky.social · 3d

In the woods today with @craftyrowan.bsky.social.
1. Pond.
2. Wetland.
3. Maple.
4. Hemlocks.

Landscape photograph of a pond catching autumn sunlight. The foreground is a shadowy wooded shoreline. The far shore is forested, with pops of fall color under blue sky.

Photograph of a sunny wetland area. Water and grassy open space fill the foreground. Autumnal trees form the middle ground under blue sky.

Photograph looking up the bole of a large, scraggly old maple tree touched with autumn orange.

Photograph of a hemlock forest catching sunlight in its branches. Bars of shadow stripe the forest floor.

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Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · 3d

Not me, talking up @natania.bsky.social's NETHERFORD HALL as a perfect queer-normative world on a panel at @spacemagiccon.bsky.social!

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Reposted by Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈

John Wiswell @wiswell.bsky.social · 4d

Hey baby am I a restaurant? Because you give me a lot of reservations.

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Reposted by Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈

The STEVE-il of Frankenstein @snark.bsky.social · 4d

"Burger" Becky Heineman designed Bard's Tale III and was the lead programmer on Wasteland. A legend.

Javmaster @javmaster.bsky.social · 4d

www.timeextension.com/news/2025/10...

Gaming Legend Rebecca Heineman Could Really Do With Your Positive Vibes Right Now

Heineman's career in games stretches back over 40 years

www.timeextension.com

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Reposted by Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈

Rainbow Space Magic @spacemagiccon.bsky.social · 4d

And we've started! Check us out!
www.rainbowspacemagi...

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Reposted by Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈

Dansky Macabre @rdansky.bsky.social · 5d

Just finished a reading with Jon Carroll Thomas at Moon Dog Meadery in Durham, where we were the opening act for death metal band Cosmic Reaper. Rock on, horror peeps….

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Reposted by Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈

Nellie Cubed @nelnelnellie.bsky.social · 5d

BookSky Feeds! 🔁 for visibility

booksky.club/main 📚💙
booksky.club/romance 📚🌶️
booksky.club/SFF 📚🪐
booksky.club/horror 📚🩸
booksky.club/nonfiction 📚💡
booksky.club/litfic 📚🖋️
booksky.club/histfic 📚⏳
booksky.club/mystery 📚⚡️
booksky.club/booktok 📚⏰
booksky.club/audio 📚🎧

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Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · 5d

There's also 🌈🚀💫 (Queer SFF Feed)!

Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · 5d

It's terrifying and infuriating.

Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · 5d

I don't have info about a general guide, but the specific ones I was trying to get (and at least one of which I messed up 😂):

🌈📚 (Queer Bookworms feed)
💙📚 (BookSky)
🩸📚 (Horror Books)

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Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · 6d

Hey hey! I'm Michael, I write queer horror (and sometimes sci fi).

My goal for the month: get the first 10K words written of my next book, about creepy kids and the "guncles club" running their playgroup (and who are the first to notice there's something wrong).

#LGBTQWriteAThon

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AmaraJLynn💎🌌🌺GEMS & STAR FLOWERS coming soon! @amaralynn.bsky.social · 7d

Welcome to #LGBTQWriteAThon!

Introduce yourself and your goal this month!

Remember to use the tag so others can view your posts, and please feel free to quote the daily posts, it's actually the easiest way for me to keep up with you all!

Happy October and happy writing!

#writesky #queerwriters

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Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · 6d

My queer Appalachian cosmic horror novel CHILDREN OF SOLITUDE, about a 40-something mean queen falling in love for the first time (and dealing with a possibly-haunted house), can be found on pretty much every platform!

www.michaelgwilliamsbooks.com/buy-children...

#HorrorWritersChat

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Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · 6d

Gods yes. My characters talk about getting older all the time. It's unavoidable for me, because it's so present in my experience of the world & in turn informs my characters' as well. I already know a specific observation about aging a character will say aloud in my next book.

#HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 6d

#HorrorWritersChat

Ageing comes to us all, if we're lucky. And while we might not self-insert, our fears colour our horror.
Does it matter if our characters are young or old? Do our ages, and our feelings about ageing, slip quietly out of their mouths?
Do we speak our fears?
10 minutes to outro

In Horror, ageing itself can be terrifying or empowering.
What does it mean to you and your stories?

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Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · 6d

Statistically, they have likely seen others cut down too soon and know the pain firsthand, the way absence can be a wound. They've had time to find and love those they want to protect, and more appreciation for the potential tomorrows they might save by fighting today.

#HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 6d

#HorrorWritersChat

Puberty or kids brings one element to a story. Hero's journey, finding themselves, etc. An older character might have that too. Or it might be entirely different. What say you?

Age brings history - regrets, resilience, trauma, wisdom.
how do you use an older character’s lived experience to heighten the horror in your writing?

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Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · 6d

These days I almost exclusively write about older characters. I want stories about people who hurt and fight anyway, who are tired and fight anyway, who have closed more doors than are left to open and fight anyway. I want to show they, too, have a future worth surviving to see.

#HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · 6d

Gather close, #HorrorWritersChat bods, whether you creak, or not. And believe me, many of us creaked in our teens, it's all good.
Age is just one factor.
But it's an interesting one that we do overlook. How many of us actually have older characters in our books, that aren't the wise mentor type?

Horror is chock full of young characters. What about your older ones? How do they shape the story differently?

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