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Sarah Royston

@sarahkat.bsky.social

340 followers 410 following 64 posts

Writer and researcher inspired by queer/feminist ecologies & folklore. Collection 'Fernseed' out now! https://thebraag.co/?product=fernseed-a-collection-of-tales-by-sarah-royston-pre-order https://hedgeways.wordpress.com/ Re-enchantment is resistance.

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Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · Jun 22

Misummer fern folklore was an inspiration for my collection of queer ecological enchantments, 'Fernseed: A Collection of Tales' share.google/ToA2Tlk9ruHT...
Merry midsummer and happy #Pride to all! 💚🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🌿

Reposted by Sarah Royston

MatGost @matgost.bsky.social · 2d

Silent Screams is out now.
It's the first anthology I've edited and I love every single story inside it.
If you prefer your #Halloween scares quiet and filled with creeping dread, then this is the book for you.
eBook and paperback:
mybook.to/SilentScream...
#Horror #ShortStories #WritingCommunity

The cover wrap for Silent Screams, An Anthology of Quiet Horrors - featuring a striking, surreal illustration by Eric Brenner, depicting a screaming face with far too many eyes. The book blurb states:
The most terrifying horror stories don't churn your stomach. They creep like shadows, chilling with a touch. They build dread through atmosphere and emotion, rather than splatter and gore.

Welcome to Silent Screams, an anthology of quiet horror stories.

Within these pages, you will face strange and twisted scenes, dark and demonic characters, nightmares great and small, written by a host of talented authors from around the world.

These are shattering tales of grief and loss, visitations from strange folk, troubled dreams, and cursed artefacts.

These are whispers to make your skin crawl and your toes curl. Words to catch your breath and smother screams.

Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · 2d

Really valuable insights from @mattkendrick.bsky.social on feedback and editing processes, as always!
No Writer is an Island - Part 1 open.substack.com/pub/prattlef...

No Writer is an Island - Part 1

As an editor I have the privilege of working with writers at all stages of their writing journeys.

open.substack.com

Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · 7d

Resistance is fertile in this powerful piece! "Sporesong" is visually and lyrically stunning 👌🍄✊️

Tractor Beam @tractorbeamearth.bsky.social · 7d

The penultimate story in Issue 3 of Tractor Beam is out now: "Sporesong" written by Genesis Whitlock and illustrated by Olivia Twist!✨

Can a single spore seed a revolution? 🍄🌱💥 Read to find out...
www.tractorbeam.earth/story/spores...

#comic #soilpunk #TractorBeamSomethingsRotting #climatefiction

Sporesong | Tractor Beam

Can a single spore seed a revolution?

www.tractorbeam.earth

Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · 9d

A briny blast of soilpunk (with extra punk), and a masterclass in character, setting and voice. Love this!

Tractor Beam @tractorbeamearth.bsky.social · 9d

Henry wants to upload his consciousness to his desktop game. He just needs to get through a couple of weeks on this cold beach first...

"Sandbag Squidward," written by Ashlee Lhamon and illustrated by Hisham Akira Bharoocha is available to read now on Tractor Beam! 🌊🌾🦺🌾🎮

#soilpunk #climatefiction

Sandbag Squidward | Tractor Beam

www.tractorbeam.earth

Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · 10d

So excited to be part of this gorgeous anthology from the wonderful @trashcatlit.bsky.social ! My story follows two veterans walking the Icknield Way, 600 years apart, and a pilgrim badge that's lost and found.

Trash Cat Lit @trashcatlit.bsky.social · 10d

We're so excited to share our first print anthology, available to purchase for only £9/ $11.50 🦝
Please consider grabbing a copy - we're raising money for
@WildlifeTrusts
and have 27 truly exceptional short fictions for you to enjoy on actual paper 💜
mybook.to/WhatComesToL...

Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · 10d

Probably "Delirus" by @therelphian.bsky.social ... If you're into spiders or cursed dolls, why not try spiders AND cursed dolls? 😱(Available in the incredible Sick Ink collection:
amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FNKZZVH8)

A photo of text from Sick Ink, describing spiders pouring out of a doll's mouth.

Reposted by Sarah Royston

JP Relph - Novella OUT NOW! @therelphian.bsky.social · 11d

If you read anything today, read this. Gorgeous soil and fungi prose, masterful worldbuilding 💚

Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · 11d

In the shadow of the Reserve of Persisting Complexity, a rag-tag community finds that webs are stronger than walls...

I'm thrilled to introduce my Grubbers to the world, with such beautiful illustrations by Manon Cezaro!

Tractor Beam @tractorbeamearth.bsky.social · 11d

Read the new short story written by Sarah Royston (@sarahkat.bsky.social) and illustrated by Manon Cezaro, live today on Tractor Beam! 💫

And subscribe to our newsletter (link in bio) get the last half of Issue 3's stories in your inbox as they drop on site 💌

#soilpunk #TractorBeamSomethingsRotting

Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · 11d

Thanks so much, Jo!

Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · 11d

Thank you lovely! 😘

Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · 11d

Huge thanks to @thejokelark.bsky.social @jprelph.bsky.social and @fictionalsarah.substack.com for beta-reads 💚

Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · 11d

In the shadow of the Reserve of Persisting Complexity, a rag-tag community finds that webs are stronger than walls...

I'm thrilled to introduce my Grubbers to the world, with such beautiful illustrations by Manon Cezaro!

Tractor Beam @tractorbeamearth.bsky.social · 11d

Read the new short story written by Sarah Royston (@sarahkat.bsky.social) and illustrated by Manon Cezaro, live today on Tractor Beam! 💫

And subscribe to our newsletter (link in bio) get the last half of Issue 3's stories in your inbox as they drop on site 💌

#soilpunk #TractorBeamSomethingsRotting

Grubbers | Tractor Beam

Why'd you leave?

www.tractorbeam.earth

Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · 12d

"Trees [...] never fully trusted humans. Their chemical-trace sign for us includes the ideas of movement, fire, seeds, and danger."

Gorgeous, mind-bending mycelial writing from @culagovski.net 🍄🌱💚

Tractor Beam @tractorbeamearth.bsky.social · 12d

A troubled young woman is brought into a covert community, dedicated to connecting with a planet-wide, cross-species mushroom-based communication system and learns to go deeper than she ever thought possible... 🍄🌏💫

#soilpunk #climatefiction #mycology #TractorBeamSomethingsRotting #shortstory

Dead Man’s Switch | Tractor Beam

A quarterly publication of soilpunk fiction: Radical visions rooted in soil

www.tractorbeam.earth

Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · 14d

My tale of queer folksong collectors and the music of the dead is out now in Rawhead! Thrilled to be part of this stunning issue 🖤

Rawhead @rawheadjournal.bsky.social · 14d

Issue One of Rawhead is live!
rawheadjournal.org
#litmag #artandlit #rawheadjournal #newwriting #issueone #writingcommunity #artcommunity

Reposted by Sarah Royston

Babe&Oak @babeandoak.bsky.social · 15d

It’s my birthday, the autumn equinox and the first day of fall 💛🍂

It would mean a lot if you could share my work today.

Thank you for all the support this year. It’s everything to me

Hope Persephone’s blessings find you today ✨

Black and white illustration representing Persephone during the autumn equinox. A frame surrounds the whole thing split in half in black and white. The middle horizontal section is torn in half like a piece of paper representing the division between the above and the underworld. In the bottom right corner are wispy swirling smoke lines going towards the centre with 3 bats flying from right to left. In the bottom left is the symbol for Persephone. In the middle are two pomegranates one whole and one cut in half. In the top half on a black background is a bee in reference to Persephone’s name as “honeyed one” on a circular medallion with narcissus flowers dropping petals around it. In the top left is the Greek word for Persephone

Swatch card of my Forest Floor Repeat Pattern. Repeat pattern of the greenery crushed into a forest floor. tan leaf branches and grey slate branches with bright red and dark green large berries also small branches of tan leaves with red berries and slate grey branches with tan leaves on a dark navy blue background

Altar prayer card for the goddess Diana. A rectangular card has a black border with parts of the Orphic hymn for Diana surrounding it as a border in white text. In the bottom right are twin arrows over a crescent moon representing her and Apollo. In the bottom left and top right are white outlined 8 point stars. Inside the border is a marble shockwave black and grey pattern with white outlining that forms an arch at the top with lining to look like columns on both sides. In the middle is a stag skull with painted antlers of a diamond and star pattern. Behind the skull are smaller 8 point stars and cloud ripples. Above the skull is a scraggly branch of queen Anne’s lace with small dots above. In the top corners are two constellations for Sirius as her hunting dogs and Roman numerals for 13 and 8 for the date of the Nemoralia festival.

Night Magic - Black and white ink illustration of a magic filled Victorian house with an ominous surrounding. of a shrub framing the left side and bottom of the page. In the middle is a Victorian revival house with a spire to the right and a porch. Over the porch is a bison skull and the windows are celestial stain glass. The roof is black with cosmic looking weather vanes. 5 Crows are flying overheard from the back to the front of the house and the sky is The sky is textured with swirling pattern of lines and with black dot stars

Sarah Royston @sarahkat.bsky.social · 15d

Luscious urban soilpunk from @poojajoshi.bsky.social 🤩🍄💚

Tractor Beam @tractorbeamearth.bsky.social · 15d

Two scientists meet a fruiting fungus who has one mission...get a role in government so they can tell all the humans to stop destroying the city, the world, and their lives.

When the headstrong mayor ignores them, the Embassy of Nature is forced to strike back...

#climatefiction #soilpunk #fungi

Embassy of Nature* | Tractor Beam

Coming Tuesday 9/23

www.tractorbeam.earth

Reposted by Sarah Royston

Fiona Mossman @fionamossman.bsky.social · 15d

Hydrangeas are such a bisexual bush: whether they appear blue, pink, or purple depends upon the environment they're in, but they are capable of all of these colours regardless of how they are perceived.

Today I'm thrilled to have a poem out in 'Bi All Accounts' claiming the hydrangea #bivisibility

Photo of blue, purple and pink hydrangeas

Photo of the anthology 'Bi All Accounts'

Reposted by Sarah Royston

Tractor Beam @tractorbeamearth.bsky.social · 15d

"Some things cannot be hurried. Some things take years, yes, years, slow underground."

Our first story in Issue 3, "The Fruiting," written by Anna Kahn and illustrated by Rui Pu, follows Kiera and an unnamed driver on a secret mycological mission. Will it be sabotage or salvation? 💥🍄🚙

The Fruiting | Tractor Beam

Sabotage or salvation?

www.tractorbeam.earth

Reposted by Sarah Royston

Tractor Beam @tractorbeamearth.bsky.social · 16d

"Sometimes decay is tender, sometimes it is traumatic. Sometimes decay is new life bursting with potential, sometimes it is unclear."

Read guest editor Dr. Patricia Kaishian's thoughts on the collection of stories in Issue 3: SOMETHING'S ROTTING in her editor's note, out now at tractorbeam.earth! 🍄

Something’s Rotting | Tractor Beam

A quarterly publication of soilpunk fiction: Radical visions rooted in soil

tractorbeam.earth

Reposted by Sarah Royston

Tractor Beam @tractorbeamearth.bsky.social · 16d

Introducing our Issue 3 guest editor, Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian! 🍄🌱🪱

Dr. Kaishian is the author of Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature, a blend of memoir and science writing that challenges our expectations of what is normal, beautiful, and possible.

Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian sits on the floor of a forest, holding up a mushroom in her hand

Reposted by Sarah Royston

Tractor Beam @tractorbeamearth.bsky.social · 16d

Every metamorphosis requires some kind of breakdown. Today marks the Autumn Equinox, the beginning of a new season and the launch of Issue 3: SOMETHING’S ROTTING. Join us as we fall into decay! 🐌🍄🍂🪱🕷️

Live now at tractorbeam.earth 🚜🛸🌍

Reposted by Sarah Royston

Writers’ HQ @writershq.bsky.social · 16d

It's the last full week of the Writing as Resistance Festival and we have A THOUSAND BLUNDRED BILLION EVENTS and you should come to them all. (But also they're all recorded if you can't make them all because it's a lot...) 🧵

Reposted by Sarah Royston

Trash Cat Lit @trashcatlit.bsky.social · 16d

September's newsletter is live 🦝
We've got subs, Trash Family stuffs from @cbigs.bsky.social @matgost.bsky.social @meproctor.bsky.social & @emilyrinkema.bsky.social, three quick reads from Genrepunk Award nominees and some autumnal ekphrastic writing prompts 🧡

trashcatlit.com/2025/09/22/h...

Hello from the welcome chill of September

Welcome to our latest newsletter. We have news, submission stuffs, Trash Family publications, Quick Reads from award nominees and a seasonal ekphrastic writing prompt.

trashcatlit.com

Reposted by Sarah Royston

Tractor Beam @tractorbeamearth.bsky.social · 17d

Tomorrow... Fall is coming to Tractor Beam 🐌🪱🍂🕷🍄

Subscribe to our newsletter to be the first in the know 👀
tractorbeamearth.substack.com

Reposted by Sarah Royston

Lindz McLeod - THE UNLIKELY PURSUIT OF MARY BENNET is out now! @lindzmcleod.bsky.social · 18d

One of my most devastating stories EVER is in this anthology! You're not going to want to miss 'Mother Nature', and much more from talented horror writers.

Check out that amazing cover by Eric W. Brenner! Pre-orders open now: htthttps://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FRSJ488M?ref_=ast_author_dp

An orange book cover. The front is an abstract, screaming face with a dropped jaw.

Reposted by Sarah Royston

Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · 28d

A thread of warning about a what looks to be a predatory promotional website, Readiln..com

Lola (she/her). @danceswithlife.bsky.social · 28d

@victoriastrauss.com Hi Victoria. Have these people come across your radar yet? @readiln.com Their blusky looks nice and friendly, and slick, but their terms of service on their website are draconian: readiln.com/page/terms-o...

Terms Of Service

1. TermsBy accessing the website at readiln you are agreeing to be bound by these terms of service, all applicable laws and regulations, and agree that you are responsible for compliance with any appl...