Amy Oates
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oatesam.bsky.social
Amy Oates
@oatesam.bsky.social
940 followers 1.3K following 170 posts
Writer. Qualified to beat a certain Scottish King and the Witch-King of Angmar. Work in Aothen Magazine, 7th-Circle Pyrite, AZE Journal, The Fantastic Other, and Ekklesia Magazine.

https://amyoates.writersresidence.com
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oatesam.bsky.social
It’s here! “It” as in yes, I had to pre-order @nataliehaynes.bsky.social ‘s No Friend to This House and ship it overseas because I need her take on Medea and the independent bookshop version is gorgeous.

(Many thanks to Mr.B’s Emporium of reading delights in Bath for sending it over so quickly!)
Cover of Natalie Haynes’s novel, No Friend to This House, featuring a stylized image of a dagger and ram’s head Inside cover of Natalie Haynes’s novel, No Friend to This House, featuring her signature and endpaper filled with stylized ram’s heads Stenciled edges featuring ram’s heads, from Natalie Haynes’s novel, No Friend to This House
September 13, 2025 at 5:35 PM
oatesam.bsky.social
A work friend, Rachael Barrans, recently lost her dog in Nashville. If anyone in the area has any info on him, please reach out to her!

#findwaffles

www.instagram.com/p/DOWX6ntj2g...
Poster for a missing pitbull puppy named Waffles. He is 1 year old, approximately 40-45 pounds, and last seen in 1st Avenue South and Korean Veterans Blvd in Nashville, Tennessee. The poster asks to call or text 267-907-3970 with sightings and not to chase him as he’s shy and timid.
September 10, 2025 at 2:09 PM
oatesam.bsky.social
Meeting @sarahreesbrennan.bsky.social at Seattle Worldcon was amazing! She is such a gem and made time to talk to EVERYONE in the autograph line
#seattleworldcon2025
Two women in photo, one on left is very tall with dress with orange flowers and silver shoes, and the one on the right has a black top and purple skirt
August 16, 2025 at 4:08 AM
oatesam.bsky.social
In bookish updates my pre-order goodies for Vesuvius arrived and I’m so excited for this book! (And also the teaser for the next 😍 by @cassbeewrites.bsky.social)

And delayed showing off my copy of Behooved by @mstevensonbooks.bsky.social which has possibly the best tagline for a book I’ve seen
A selection of preorder items for Cass Biehn’s novel Vesuvius, including a name plate, book mark, sticker with a Roman mask and wings reading Thief. Oracle. Ghost, a teaser for their next book, Though This Be Madness, coming Summer 2027, and a postcard featuring the Vesuvius leads. A copy of the novel Behooved by M. Stevenson, featuring the tagline “The fate of the kingdom is riding on them”
June 8, 2025 at 12:03 AM
oatesam.bsky.social
The Fork in the Road:
"I've lost Bette’s scent.
I close my eyes to focus and adapt. My nose itches as it flattens, tan fur growing over the skin and scratching my browbone. It’s dark and the street’s quiet; no one will see the change. "
#1stLinePit #WIP #A #F #UF #writingcommunity
Moodboard for The Fork in the Road novel in progress, featuring the Appalachian mountains with birds flying over them on one side, and an open book, cozy blanked, and cup of hot cocoa with a spoon in it on the other. In the middle are graphics of a black feather and white magnolia flowers. The title appears on the left side, followed by the pitch: "Someone's kidnapping supernatural beings. Diane Brooks, human and owner of 'The Fork in the Road,' a magical coffee shop and bar, may be the only one who can save them. Trope Map for The Fork in the Road, a novel in progress. Three images are stacked left to right - a coffee shop counter, a woman with a dark background in red light, and a burning forest. The title "Tropes" sits over the middle image, followed by a list of bullet point tropes: Multi-POV, Women's Rights & Women's Wrongs, Supernatural Kitchen Sink, Mostly queer cast, Mythology in present day, Sentient bar & coffee shop, Enemies to ??? A first page snippet from "The Fork in the Road," a novel in progress. Feathers are lined on the left side of the image, leading to a blue feather at the bottom. A blue text box sits in the middle, featuring text from the first page: I've lost Bette’s scent. I close my eyes to focus and adapt. My nose itches as it flattens, tan fur growing over the skin and scratching my browbone. It’s dark and the street’s quiet; no one will see the change. The smell of the city sharpens. Damp earth, muddy grass, and crowded bodies linger in the air. But I still can’t smell her. I twitch my nose and restore it to human form. The storm that flooded the Appalachian foothills, causing mud slides and chasing me to her mother’s house didn’t cover Bette’s scent. That only happened recently. Her kidnappers are sidhe, the type to steal a child for their own amusement. The rowan berries smashed on the lawn and the tang of lake reeds proved that. They led her through rivers and on trains to disguise their route, but Bette left clues, marking trees, posts, or whatever else she could find with a spot of blood. She must have bitten at a nail or the corner of her mouth to manage it. That made it easier to follow their trail, despite being weeks behind. Until I reached Chicago.
April 5, 2025 at 2:00 PM
oatesam.bsky.social
THE FORK IN THE ROAD:
Pseudoapollodorus x Lost Boys

For when running a magical bar includes:
- poetry-speaking birds
- eternal chaotic teenagers
- A gorgon who may be Chris Pine's mom
- Dragons who won't pay you
#unhingedpit #F #A #SPEC #W
A meme of Gru from Despicable Me revealing three stages of a plan. He isn't looking at the signs as he points to each one. The first reads "You buy a magical bar", the second "You're the only one who can run the place," and the third "Everyone expects you to stop the end of the world". The fourth frame features him looking at the last sign in surprise
March 28, 2025 at 3:51 PM
oatesam.bsky.social
THE FORK IN THE ROAD:
Because who doesn't love a romance between a two-hundred-year-old mountain lion shifter and the pathetic bisexual elf lord she picked up from the ground? #Unhingedpit #F #A #SPEC #W

The vibe:
Tumblr meme by poundsofnothing reading "If this happened to me I think I would survive it" followed by the image of a biological textbook drawing of a mountain lion biting a person's skull
March 28, 2025 at 1:08 PM
oatesam.bsky.social
Merry and Sam are excellent co-writers. (Even when, as pictured, they disagree on edits)
Two cats under an organizer with papers on it. The tabby cat has grabbed the black cat’s head to groom him. He clearly does not enjoy it.
February 6, 2025 at 3:30 PM
oatesam.bsky.social
Therapy can be so tough, especially coping with the feelings after a session. I can offer a cute cat photo as an internet hug!
Orange tabby cat lying on carpet, looks at camera with green eyes
January 10, 2025 at 5:44 PM
oatesam.bsky.social
Show me a picture on your phone that has your energy that isn‘t a selfie.

(Because this is the internet, please understand this is a joke)
Meme that reads: Teacher: you have 5 cats and someone wants 2 of them. How many cats do you have left? Me: 5 Teacher: ok. Let’s say someone forcefully takes 2 cats. What do you have now? Me: 5 cats and a dead body.
November 26, 2024 at 3:38 AM
oatesam.bsky.social
The street's too quiet--everyone tucked into their beds by eight.
That comes from sidhe magic, not luck, but I'm grateful. On my way into the city, not every man was as eager to avoid me as I was them.
Now they're too dead to learn their lesson. #WIP #A #F #Con #1stLinePit
November 15, 2024 at 5:33 AM
oatesam.bsky.social
THE FORK IN THE ROAD
So a hundred-plus years ago you freed some vampires from the unseelie court. And now some weirdo kidnapped you and the only person who can help you is one of the court's princes. You can make nice, right? You can always kill him afterward.
#questpit #W #F #A
November 15, 2024 at 4:32 AM
oatesam.bsky.social
STARLING HOUSE X STONEBLIND in:
THE FORK IN THE ROAD

Features:
- reluctant allies to lovers
- Starcrossed relationships
- Morally-grey female protagonists
- Largely queer cast
- Sentient bar/coffeehouse
- World mythology

#questpit #W #F #A
November 15, 2024 at 4:31 AM
oatesam.bsky.social
STARLING HOUSE meets STONEBLIND:

In THE FORK IN THE ROAD, Diane Brooks runs a dual coffee shop/bar and Thin Veil, a magical place between worlds. She's got a handle on it, except one of her supernatural patrons is missing and other Thin Veils are disappearing.
#questpit #W #F #A
November 15, 2024 at 4:31 AM
oatesam.bsky.social
THE FORK IN THE ROAD:
Thin Veils are meeting places between our world and one of folklore. The Fork in the Road is such a place - and a bar/coffee shop. It may also be the only Thin Veil remaining on the East Coast, as the rest are quickly being eradicated...#questpit #W #F #A
November 15, 2024 at 4:29 AM