Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Finn McLellan

@saranadosfiction.com

3.4K followers 760 following 3.8K posts

Disabled transmasc butch fantasy writer in this world, stabby bastards of various stripes in sundry fictional ones. Writing LGBTQ+ gaslamp fantasy (among other things) over at https://saranadosfiction.com/ @[email protected] (they/he)

saranadosfiction.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Finn McLellan @saranadosfiction.com · Sep 28

Welcome, new folk!

Things I post:
- stuff about my ongoing queer Gothic gaslamp fantasy serial, Argentum in Aqua ( saranadosfiction.com/2023/12/11/a... )
- random musings about writing, larp, video games, disability, being transmasc, or all of the above
- occasionally, unfortunately, UK politics

Argentum in Aqua: An Introduction

ARGENTUM IN AQUA (Blood on the Snow, Silver in the Ashes, Fire in the Sky) All student magician Jonathan Fest wants is to keep his head down and finish out his first year of university without fail…

saranadosfiction.com

4 22 80

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 8h

Made this because everyone is sad you can't kill clan members in a AAA game but I'm like, yes you can! And in 3 different flavors! It's great!

Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 9h

Best game to murder the KKK in?

1️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/LKtPIl/1" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Red Dead Redemption 2
2️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/LKtPIl/2" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wolfienstien II: The New Collosus
3️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/LKtPIl/3" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mafia III

📊 Show results

3 29 84

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Micah @rincewind.run · 12h

Discworld QOTD, from The Wee Free Men

Tiffany was on the whole quite a truthful person, but it seemed to her that there were times when things didn’t divide easily into ‘true’ and ‘false’, but instead could be ‘things that people needed to know at the moment’ and ‘things that they didn’t need to know at the moment’.

4 74 370

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 8h

Uh, whoa! Dude! Look what you glorious weirdos did! WHAT STALKS THE DEEP is #12 on the New York Times!

A celebratory image of the cover of what stalks with New York Times, USA TODAY and Indie Bestseller emblazoned across the top!

23 55 720

Finn McLellan @saranadosfiction.com · 9h

So it turns out that a few hours of having fictional problems rather than real ones is a very good way to reset your brain. Who knew?

(My LARP character is having a Time but on the level of 'we have discovered new things about the world that conflict with my understanding of my peoples' history')

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Mike Brooks @mikebrooks668.bsky.social · 9h

Since the article itself is paywalled... my new novel is called THIS IS WHERE THE FUTURE BLEEDS, which @losbennett.bsky.social sold to @titanbooks.bsky.social earlier this year. It's a fantasy adventure in a queer-normative world featuring fractured futures, sapphic romance, and giant wasps.

Mike Brooks @mikebrooks668.bsky.social · 10h

www.thebookseller.com/rights/titan...

Titan snags ‘refreshingly original’ fantasy adventure from Mike Brooks

Titan Books has acquired a new fantasy adventure novel from The God-King Chronicles author Mike Brooks.

www.thebookseller.com

11 14 82

Finn McLellan @saranadosfiction.com · 9h

Massive massive recommendation for these - they're very much on my comfort-read list (which might or might not surprise you if you've read them) and the characters and their interactions are an absolute bloody joy to read about.

(Also had a happy stim moment at more Patreon Murder Birds yesterday)

Aliette de Bodard @aliettedebodard.com · 9h

BTW if you want to be ready for when said WIP sees the light of day, you can read the two previous books in the series:
www.aliettedebodard.com/bibliography...
V-drama meets high Gothic in queer-norm world, where a Fallen angel and his shapeshifting dragon husband navigate court politics & murder...

Dragons and Blades - Aliette de Bodard

The Dragons and Blades Reading Order 1. Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders | 2. Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances murderous husband/diplomatic husband, solving crimes without stabbing anyone, healthy relat...

www.aliettedebodard.com

3 5

Finn McLellan @saranadosfiction.com · 14h

(And because this seems to be getting a surprising number of eyes: saranadosfiction.com/2023/12/11/a... )

Argentum in Aqua: An Introduction

saranadosfiction.com

1 2

Finn McLellan @saranadosfiction.com · 17h

Ah, the thing of seeing folks post 'bring back serialised novels!' and thinking 'well, yes, me and a whole pile of other folk're already way ahead of you there, we just need more readers to realise we exist' XD

1 5 26

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Doug Mack @douglasmack.bsky.social · 1d

the most delightful version of logging on to see what news you've missed

Dr Ramsdell, whose phone had been on airplane mode when the Nobel committee tried to call him, told the BBC's Newshour Programme that his first response when his wife said, "You've won the Nobel prize" was: "I did not."

To which Ms O'Neill replied that she had 200 text messages that suggested he had.

12 470 1.9K

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Stephanie Burgis @stephanieburgis.bsky.social · 19h

It's time to vote in my annual poll for which of my series should get the next tie-in short story!

Subscribe to my Patreon at the Dragon Ruler level to vote now: patreon.com/stephanieburgis

Creating Stories and Book Recs

patreon.com

1 6 5

Reposted by Finn McLellan

hookland.bsky.social @hookland.bsky.social · 19h

Some grave guardians are open to being stroked. Some will growl if your hand reaches towards them. It is wise to know which are which before one goes poking at tombs. – #CLNolan

23 160

Reposted by Finn McLellan

KJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · 19h

"Christ, we don't want people studying English, they might waste their time becoming teachers of our children! Or working in a massively profitable industry that gives us huge global soft power! Or just being able to parse the nonsense we spout and spot our Chat GPT bullshit!"

2 9 90

Reposted by Finn McLellan

KJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · 19h

a) an English degree does not prevent you from getting and doing a [scare quote] real job [scare quote]
b) there are things, goals, and values in the world other than money
but also c) last year the publishing industry's estimated worth to the UK economy was ELEVEN BILLION QUID.

Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 22h

Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.

5 17 130

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Suzan the chalant goth @sillysyntax.bsky.social · 19h

All desperate to use Chatgpt to write a book so they can say they wrote something but my English degree is the rip off.

Okay sure Jan.

7 42

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Suzan the chalant goth @sillysyntax.bsky.social · 19h

"An English degree is a rip off" said by the people who are currently ripping everyone off. They don't want you to be literate, to understand the context, the references or the rhetoric they are using to scam you.

A rip off for THEM. If you can read, write and parse meaning, you're harder to fool.

2 33 91

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Suzan the chalant goth @sillysyntax.bsky.social · 20h

some ppl who said this to me later asked me to help them write their cover letter, resume, edit their answers for applications.

Ppl who feel the same now are stealing the books and stories I wrote, which I used my knowledge of English lit to write, because cash.

Oh no we can't write email so hard!

Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 22h

Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.

2 21 97

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Nicky @shanaqui.bsky.social · 20h

Re: the poachers being romanticised rebels in the UK thing I see in my feed but can't reply to or quote:

Only fictional ones. Real ones are poor and thus looked on with contempt.

Source: my family's experiences in Grampy and Dad's generations.

Don't flatter yourself that class isn't at work here.

4 9

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Emily @cat-appreciator.bsky.social · 21h

Ol’ Billy Bastard cleared out multiple villages to make the New Forest as his private hunting reserve, and it’s not like he paid the villagers a cent. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d straight up genocided them.

1 46

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Emily @cat-appreciator.bsky.social · 21h

I guess it’s who they’re stealing from? In the USA, they’re poaching from national parks, right? The common property of all, preserved for posterity.

In the UK they’re stealing from the lord who owns the hunting estate, and fuck that guy.

2 2 100

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 21h

Consider these British paintings:

Henry Jones Thaddeus' "The Wounded Poacher"
William Kidd's "The Poacher"
Edward Bird's "The Poacher's Return"

These make it pretty clear whose side you're supposed to be on.

1 2 85

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 21h

Apropos of nothing: One of the most clean-cut divides between layperson British and American perspectives I've noticed is the general opinion of poachers.

in the UK, poachers are romanticized rebels, risking it all to feed their families.

In the US, they're assholes. Massive, massive assholes.

3 16 230

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Rhianna Pratchett @rhi.bsky.social · 1d

In Discworld, cities thrive because they welcome dwarfs, trolls, vampires, and humans alike. Ankh-Morpork works because everyone belongs. Funny how fiction can seem more humane than policy sometimes.

18 320 1.8K

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Rhianna Pratchett @rhi.bsky.social · 1d

Dad’s books are full of empathy, common sense, and a healthy suspicion of the powerful. But at its heart his work is also about how systems keep people poor while pretending it’s their own fault. So I hope Kemi’s taking notes as well as reading the jokes.

Paul Haine @paulhaine.bsky.social · 1d

Kemi Badenoch claiming Terry Pratchett as her favourite author is wild

140 1.9K 7.4K

Finn McLellan @saranadosfiction.com · 23h

#WIPSnips | dungeon

Something a wee bit different today - back almost twenty years ago, and the build-up to the Revolution (which, in a lot of ways, sets the scene for a whole lot of what happens in Argentum)

( saranadosfiction.com/2023/09/07/p... )

Then, in the midst of it all, the rumours start. Crops failing. Catches drying up, as the fish make for cooler waters further north. Rationing. Famine. The normal stockpiles against such disasters ran dry years ago, goods sold abroad for coin which never seemed to make it out of the hands of the Usurper (whisper that name, for folks have been dragged away to the dungeons beneath the palace for speaking it openly) and into places it might benefit the rest of the city’s inhabitants, and there’re stories already spreading that the man who holds the power behind the puppet queen’s throne would be all too happy to see the ungrateful populace starve a little as a reminder of their place and station.

The whispers don’t go unnoticed, of course. Posters go up on every street corner, decrying those who spread lies and slander as enemies of the state, and requesting that all loyal citizens report any such claims to their nearest Watch officer (the majority of troopers on the street, overworked and underpaid, do their best not to hear the few who obey this instruction, but there’s only so much they can do without risking their own necks, and yet more people join those already sweltering in the cells).

And then, as summer turns and the harvest begins, the rumours become all-too-solid fact.

Prices rise. Stores run dry. The city, baking in the blistering sun, slowly begins to shimmer with the growing heat-haze of rebellion.

And, out on the windswept sun-drenched plains of Efir, a band of mercenaries saddles up for the long ride north.

1 10 36

Reposted by Finn McLellan

Finn McLellan @saranadosfiction.com · 1d

#WIPSnips | safe

Fire in the Sky (so 'ware spoilers if you follow the link) and Viola, Fest, and Sabbat making their way up and over the rooftops (with somewhat varying degrees of both confidence and success xD)

( saranadosfiction.com/2025/05/14/f... )

A pause, a creak of metal, and then, “Oh, wait, sorry, forgot you can’t see me right now. Yes, I think so.”

“Good. Keep going.”

That netted her a muttered ‘what do you think I’m trying to do?’ that she didn’t bother replying to, but, after another pause that went on just long enough for her bad leg to start threatening to cramp up, the boots above her shifted, scraped against the bricks, and then continued their slow upward shuffle.

*Thank you.*

They ran into another problem when Fest hit the top of the drainpipe – namely, the fact that he had no idea how to get himself up and over the gutter, and his first attempt very nearly ended with both him and Viola splattered on the street below.

His second fared a little better, mostly by way of Viola having manoeuvred herself into a position where she was a hell of a lot less likely to wind up getting kicked in the face, and by the time he’d worked up the courage to try for a third, Sabbat had apparently decided to take pity on him – he reached down, grabbed the younger vampire by the collar, and bodily yanked him up and over and onto the roof, dropping him onto the tiles with a grin that reminded Viola a good deal of Seb’s expression when he’d discovered her napping in the corridor afterMortimer had brought her and ‘melia back to the townhouse.

*Miss you, brother-of-mine. Stay safe until I can get back.*

4 15