K. Vale Nagle

@kvalenagle

Author of Eyrie and the Gryphon Insurrection (GryphIns) series. She/Her. www.kvalenagle.com (temp down) books2read.com/rl/kvalenagle kvalenagle.itch.io patreon.com/kvalenagle ko-fi.com/kvalenagle

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Bluesky

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K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 12d

I've never once been able to convince anyone online that I'm a guy =) Though I was on webcams a lot and Nambroth met me in person a few times. They even drew me when trying out an anime style for fun one day. This is like... VERY 16 year old me. Pale, thin, sad, cute hair, emo shirt.

An emo transfemme egg, pale and thin, wearing a black shirt with a silver cross on it, large blue anime eyes. She has shoulder-length brown hair dyed red at the tips. She looks meek and scared.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 12d

On the right, high school me with my normal dark brown hair, waking up to the flash of a camera. On the left, my hair color around 2015-2018 most of the time =)

Sleepy pale emo kid in a gryphon shirt and a pair of Jncos eating lunch outside.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 12d

I was looking at old photos and was surprised to see a drawing @nambroth.bsky.social made of Glenn and me as gryphons in high school matched my hair color for a long time =) (Whenever I see Nambroth's drawings of us, it kinda gives me Askel and Triddle vibes.)

A drawing of two gryphons. The Glenn gryphon is red and black and has a wing around the Vale gryphon, who looks shy and sheepish but amused. Vale is the same shiny blue as her hair.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 13d

A red-shouldered parrot plus orange tabby cat opinicus or earless gryphon holding a heart in a chibi style. Kia from Eyrie by K. Vale Nagle. Chibi art by Kittrel AKA YoteNotes.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 13d

I think that's about all =] It's just a nine book epic fantasy series full of queer gryphons and nature facts. Oh! I need to get my website back up and running again so there's an easy place to see the hundreds of pieces of fan art readers have drawn over the years. 🎨 @risuquin.bsky.social

A black and white drawing of Tresh, a Peruvian diving petrel plus fishing cat gryphon whose beak was broken in such a way that it's developed almost shark-like pointing edges. Art by Christina Halstead AKA Risuquin.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 13d

While the fan art and stickers are cute, that's more because the characters are cats with wings. Or is that birds with too many legs? Which is to say, the series is adult epic fantasy and not young adult or middle grade, but it is fun and queer, too =] 🎨 @/toadally.bsky.social

Younce, a snow leopard gyrfalcon gryphon, who has accidentally turned himself pink while trying to clean the blood of his enemies out of his fur and feathers because he mixed up a feather soap recipe and a feather dye recipe. Art by Kieran AKA Smatterbrain AKA Toadally.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 13d

It's a large cast, multiple point of view epic fantasy series with gryphons of all sorts but no humans. The plants and animals are based on real species and while the gryphons are speculative, they use real birds and mammals. The large cast tends to be harder for just the first book, then you're in

The map of Belamuria, the continent where the Gryphon Insurrection series begins, showing the various ecosystems, eyries, gryphon prides, and a salty inland sea full of bioluminscent jellyfish and a serpentine whale. North of the desert above the inland sea, on the ocean side, red algae blooms poison the coast. The upper left has the fancy eyries and plains, plus an ominous pit called the Abyssal Naze. The lower left has a few coastal eyries but is mostly a jungle full of starling gryphons with a section that's submerged all summer long. The middle bottom part is a bog and a kjarr. The top middle part is the desert and canyons. The upper right has forests, coastal towns, plains, and a large island. The lower right has a redwood valley with the southern portion being called the weald, along with a frozen taiga and a long stretch of shallows leading out to an island. Map by Jeff Brown.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 13d

The last entry point, if you've read Dire by John Bailey, a series that has a lot of crossover fans with GryphIns, I have a complete gryphon queer folk horror novel in the Tales of Feathers & Flames Anthology called "Coldbright." One point of view, an easy read, very trans. books2read.com/toff

The cover of Dire by Bailey showing a giant dire gryphon fighting a giant dire wyvern over a fiery hellscape with shiny metal title fonts, Feathers and Flames Book One. The cover artist is Melissa Downey.

The cover art of Tales of Feathers and Flames, edited by K. Vale Nagle and John Bailey, depicting a wyvern with flames behind it. Fleeks did the cover art here.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 13d

Usually, readers wait until they're caught up with the main series, then they go hunt down Blue Eyes & Other Tales =] Others treat it as an optional book 3.5. Though if you wanted to be chronological, read Connixation, then Blue Eyes, then books 1-3, then the other two short stories, then books 4-9.

Funkbun's art of Satra looking tired, then her fluffy caracal ears going up, then she's looking at a snow leopard gryphon and her eyes are huge and the lesbian pride flag is between them.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 13d

"Blue Eyes" is a beak-cute lesbian love story set before the events of Eyrie, "Connixation" is a gryphon vs. nature story set 100+ years ago during an apocalyptic blizzard. They flesh out background elements of the main story =] 🎨 @darklingdragon.bsky.social 🎨 @birminghamglenn.bsky.social

Darkling Dragon's art of Satra, a golden-crowned kinglet caracal gryphon, being pushed across the ice by Mignet, a snow leopard gyrfalcon gryphon who has traction. Satra shouts "What are you doing??" while Mignet, pushing her butt to send her sliding, sings "We shall rule it together, the daughters of the Kjarr and Snowfall!" Mild side note here, but it is *love story* and not *romance*.

A snow leopard gyrfalcon gryphon in a dark, snowy sky during a blizzard.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 13d

Another place people start with me is Blue Eyes & Other Tales. The first two short stories, "Blue Eyes" and "Connixation," won't spoil anything in the main GryphIns series. The other stories take place between books three (Starling) and four (Reevesbane). books2read.com/b/blueeyes

The cover of Blue Eyes and Other Tales by K. Vale Nagle, depicting a stylized snow leopard gryphon in various shades of blue with blue eyes looking forward. Cover art by Fleeks.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 13d

Oh! There's a boxed set for the ebooks and audiobooks, and that will sometimes go on sale. For audiobooks, Audible only has the first boxed set, but other audiobook stores have one for books 4-6, too. (About a year after book nine, you can expect a third boxed set.) books2read.com/b/GryphonIns...

A 3D mockup of an ebook boxed set with the cover of Eyrie but the words Gryphon Insurrection Books One to Three by K. Vale Nagle. The spines of Ashen Weald and Starling are visible on the side of the box.

The Gryphon Insurrection Omnibus Two: Books Four to Six by K. Vale Nagle, narrated by James Scott Spaid, containing Reevesbane, The Ruins of Crestfall, and The Crackling Sea. The cover is a modified version of Reevesbane, showing a hooded pitohui stalking the ruins of a charred forest full of giant monitor lizards.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 13d

You can find my books pretty much everywhere in paperback, hardcover, large print, ebook, or audiobook, though most bookstores probably need to order in a copy. Since it's a sequential series, you probably want to start with Eyrie (GryphIns 1) and work your way from there =] books2read.com/eyrie

The cover of Eyrie by K. Vale Nagle, Gryphon Insurrection Book One. The artwork, by Jeff Brown, depicts a Cooper's hawk + North American cougar gryphon in a redwood forest leaping through the air with a startled kakapo ground parrot in the background. Zeph, the gryphon, has four feline paws, and kitty ears, but his tail is feathered a bit.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 14d

Is this also the story of a cute transfemme secretary who used her old job's healthcare benefits to transition and find love but now she's forced to confront her evil old boss? I mean, like, sort of. But she's more queen of the damned and he's an undying evil that haunts the night.

Whisper, gooey infected starling gryphon, except her goo has trans pride colors worked into it.

Mally the Nighthaunt, a monstrous gryphon, covered in blood.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 14d

Have you ever wanted a transfemme gryphon antihero protagonist? Pridelord! A paranoid political thriller in an epic fantasy universe? Pridelord! An enby otter gryphon named Clamshell? Pridelord! A cottagecore lesbian strawberry finch gryphon girlfriend? Pridelord! books2read.com/pridelord

The cover of Pridelord by K. Vale Nagle, book eight of the Gryphon Insurrection series. The cover art, drawn by Jeff Brown, depicts a murmuration of starling gryphons flying over a vibrant green jungle. They fill the sky ominously.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 15d

My feet grew two sizes in high school, then shrunk two sizes on HRT, so we're back in action. Oh wait, but my flannels all got irradiated.

A pair of size 12 men's Doc Martin black short boots that are in need of a wash and polish but are otherwise doing okay.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 15d

Indalecia, looking at Valerie: "Why isn't she rubbing my tummy? Do they not have tummy rub time in Arizona?"

Indalecia, a tabby cat, on her back with her paws in the air, tummy unrubbed. She looks over her shoulder at Valerie like "Why isn't this lady rubbing my tummy?"

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 15d

Peace at last! Indalecia has finished training Glenn's mom, so they can now schedule out their couch naps without having to fight about it. And, sometimes, nap together.

A tabby cat on her back asking for tummy rubs but not stealing her mother-in-law's napping spot.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 16d

Oh right, that reminds me, I got bangs for the first time in my life two weeks ago and didn't post any pictures. The lighting here makes me look blonde, which is slowly convincing me I could pull it off once my hair has recovered enough to dye it. Also, RIP 5 inches of length.

Silver-haired woman in a black N95 mask raising an eyebrow at you. She's in a chair at Super Cuts and her hair falls down to the top of her cami except she has pony forelock bangs now.

Same, but she's got her head back and is looking down at you, judging.

She's making direct eye contact, which is either impressive if you think of her as an autistic human or her perceiving you as a threat if you believe she's a cat.

Still looking at you, only now her eyes are a bit kinder, and you notice they're a blue grey in this light. She has on a red floral cami with her white bra strap visible. You can't help but notice that the flowers are OFF WHITE, so the bra strap doesn't match, but you only notice this if you're her mom. (Hi mom.)

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 18d

23. Hatzel is a Haast's eagle + smilodon gryphon, but as happens to gryphon prides under stress with close neighbors, her plumage is a bit magpie and her tail is feathermane. Saberbeak gryphon colors would be more like @toadally.bsky.social's art of a saberbeak ancestor (terror bird + smilodon.)

A terror bird + smilodon gryphon with a short tail, brown and cream almost tawny plumage and fur, and grey ears and wings. His wings are tiny.

Hatzel, a Haast's eagle plus smilodon gryphon, but her plumage is a dark brown with cool highlights, she has white highlights all around, her beak's sabers are reinforced by white, and her tail is tufted like a lion or feathermane.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 18d

Who won? Who lost? You decide! (...but Indi has reacquired the heating pad and blankets.)

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 18d

Mother-in-law tried to talk to Indalecia like a child and then pick her up, and now Indi keeps coming to me like "This new cat is not well-socialized, and I don't think she's going to fit in here." Also, Indi keeps stealing Glenn's mom's heating pad in revenge.

The immovable tabby cat object sitting on a heating pad.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 26d

I heard you like cacti.

Smaller version of your typical fantasy cactus. Saguaro, I believe?

Choya, the talk is the neighborhood. Fuzzy and sticks to everything. Wild boars eat it, I think?

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 26d

Driving through Colorado a few days ago, it really struck me just how some part of it is on fire at all times. Really, like five or six parts at a time.

Mountains on fire seen from the biggest once an hour while driving south down the Rockies.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 27d

Every time I pull out my phone camera, the woodpeckers hide and this one quail comes running up to me. (Still alive on my first vacation in seven years, still very tired. I'm being the dutiful daughter-in-law in Arizona and meeting Glenn's mom's friends and having fun. "The elusive Valerie.")

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· 29d

Yay, outside time!

A sign at a rest area at Texas Canyon, Arizona that says poisonous snakes and insects inhabit the area.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· Jul 12

PoV: You're married to me. You: "Valerie, your alarm is going off. Do you need to wake up?" Me, asleep: "Light areas not shallow spots, actually the back of the creature, don't swim out to them." You, turning off my alarm: "I'm not getting involved with that."

A tabby cat sleeping on her back with her paws in the air.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· Jul 11

The suggestion box is anonymous but if I were a betting woman, that one was from Cal. Also, "no more calling small cats with respiratory infections 'Snufflefluffagus'" and "release tiny giraffes into the house for small cats to hunt for sport" seem like her.

Don't call her Snuffle-fluff-a-gus: a small fluffy black cat with a white tummy who is very fluffy.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· Jul 11

Remember to stay hydrated (and gyrated?) out there this month, it's a hot one! 🎨 @merteazy.bsky.social #GryphIns

Sponge, a sandgrouse sand cat gryphon, dressed up like one of the backup dancers from the hydrate jirate music video, dripping water.

K. Vale Nagle@kvalenagle· Jul 11

Me: "Yep, she's a detective!" Glenn: "Pffft, a detect-ive is just someone who once found a clue. A detect-or is someone still out there every day finding new clues." Me: "I stand corrected. Indi is a detect-or." 🎨 @birminghamglenn.bsky.social