em. rowene

@queerenigma

author of gay fantasy webserials & attorney. I have opinions about elves, holmes, & byronic heroes. FRACTURED MAGIC AVAILABLE NOW em or emeric || he/him || twin cities https://www queerenigma.com

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em. rowene@queerenigma· 21d

SUNFALL: about a mage named Helio, who dies at the hands of his enemy and wakes miles away in a new body, with a fresh start. 💥isekai-inspired 💥enemies-to-lovers 💥magical pacts 💥sun & moon 💥examining american hyperindividualism through a 1940s-inspired pastoral fantasy 😊 #QuestPit #F #Q #A #LGBT

A mockup cover/digital painting of two men standing facing each other, one offering the other his hand. The background is red and orange with an eclipsed sun, and the title reads SUNFALL

Red text on a black background: "a voice once said, look me in the stars and tell me truly, men of earth, if all the soul and body scars were not too much to pay for birth." -A Question, Robert Frost

em. rowene@queerenigma· 21d

HEAVEN OFFICIALS BLESSING x THE SILVER CHAIR The hero-mage Helio falls in love with a boy. Thanks to a spell, every night, that boy turns into Helio's archenemy, the infamous mage Riptide. Will Helio be able to save him, or will he have to stop him? #QuestPit #A #F #Q #LGBT

A portrait of a young man in a black tank top. His eyes are golden and his skin freckled, his hair red and falling to his shoulders

A portrait of a pale young man with blue eyes. He wears a heavy wool coat and smiles vaguely at the viewer

em. rowene@queerenigma· 22d

A guide to SUNFALL, an M/M fantasy. #QuestPit #Q #A #F #LGBT "A voice said, Look me in the stars And tell me truly, men of earth, If all the soul-and-body scars Were not too much to pay for birth." -Robert Frost, A Question

A purple to red gradient with fluffy clouds and an art deco border. Text: A guide to SUNFALL, an M/M Romantic Fantasy complete at 102k words

A red to orange gradient with the text: "The Pitch...The mage-hero Helio is the only thing stopping the Deep from destroying his world. So when he dies at the hands of the deep mage Riptide and wakes inexplicably miles away in the body of a boy named Hadley, he hurries back to the fight he'd left behind. But through Hadley's own past with the Deep, Helio gets to know Riptide and, eventually, grows to love him. It leaves him with a choice: the world he loves, or the deep mage trying to destroy it.

An orange to yellow gradient with more clouds in the background. The text: "The snippet..."

“What did you think of Helio?” Helio asked, trying to look more interested in the orange he was peeling than the question. They sat on the porch, settled in its creakiest chairs, and Helio made a game of rocking to a rhythm in his head.
“He seemed lonely,” James said. “On friendly terms with everyone, but always on his own.”
“Oh,” Helio said.
“By the way, I bought you something,” the man went on, digging in his bag and passing Helio a silver cylinder with a sunstone embedded in the lid. It was a powder box for a girl’s vanity, and Helio frowned at it until James said, “You wind the bottom.”
“Oh!” Helio said again. He wound it, and when he lifted the lid, the box chimed a sweet melody in a minor key. Helio smiled at the start, but as the song went on, he found was something terribly sad about it. Familiar, too, like a press on a fading bruise. He immediately rewound it to press again.
“It’s an old Theian hymn,” James said, watching him closely. “Do you like it?”
“Very much,” Helio said. “I don’t know why, but it makes me feel…Well, I don’t rightly know.” He stared at it a moment longer, then looked up and brightened. “Oh look, here comes Louie! Hello, Louie!”

A yellow to purple gradient with more art deco borders. The heading says "For those who enjoy..." and the first subheading reads: "Character-led melancholy like..." Following this subheading is an image of the cover of Frieren and the 2004 film the Fall. The next subheading says, "Unstoppable and inevitable love like..." Under this heading is a picture of the cover of Heaven Official's Blessing as well as a promotional poster for Hadestown the musical. A third subheading reads "Pastoral prose and witty dialogue like..." Under this heading is a photo of a Robert Frost poetry collection and a promotional poster for the film the Philadelphia Story.

em. rowene@queerenigma· Jun 11

Most recently, Peter Darling by S.A. Chant and A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske!

Cover of A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske

em. rowene@queerenigma· Jun 11

I don't see anywhere it's being presented in this way. I'm in the discord, I've gotten the emails, and I've read the website announcement. Everywhere, it's being presented as metrics that can help "tell a story." (SC from the official email)

Ellipsus Emboss
Proof of human authorship
In an age where AI is eroding trust in the written word, 99.9% of you (literally) say it matters that a piece of writing is authored by a human.

Ellipsus Emboss lets you share the visible record behind work written in Ellipsus: the time, edits, pacing, pauses, and human process that tells the story behind your work.

You can choose to share your proof-of-work with any Reader link you’ve created: your Writing Journey shows your authorship metrics, and public Version History lets you share snapshots of your work for added verification.

em. rowene@queerenigma· Jun 11

This is all it looks like, btw. It doesn't say when I ran sessions or how long I paused and when or anything like that. (Ignore the stats themselves. Like I said, I draft in scrivener and edit in Ellipsus, so they're going to be off. This is just for an idea of what it looks like)

Ellipsus screenshot showing word count, active writing time, sessions in days, average typing speed, number of thinking pauses, editing, total edits, word-to-edit ratio, etc.

em. rowene@queerenigma· Jun 11

Am I missing something here? Ellipsus Emboss isn't deciding what's "natural" human writing or not. It's giving you advanced metrics and the *option* to share them with readers if you so choose. Like, it's literally just a number? The number of times you paused more than five seconds?

"Emboss is a proof-of-work layer for your writing; a visible record of the care, time, sessions, cadence, pauses, edits, and revisions that tell the story behind a piece of human-written work.

Emboss is not an AI detector. We know “AI-powered” detectors are faulty and unethical in practice. Emboss lets you share your metrics with your audience to show the human processes and labor behind the work, capturing how a document was written—the sessions, the edits, the time you put in, as positive evidence of human authorship.

Emboss is also private by default, and only visible if you choose to share your metrics with your work.

No AI is used in the compiling of these metrics."

"Word count: The full word count of a document or draft.

Active writing time: The time spent writing on a document or draft.

Sessions: The number of separate writing sessions (a new session begins after a gap of more than 30 minutes).

Average writing speed: Measures words written per active minute (excluding pasted test). (Typical human range: 30-70 wpm).

Thinking pauses: Measures pauses longer than 5 seconds during active writing sessions.

Total edits: How many saved changes were recorded after the first version of a document or draft.

Words-to-edit ratio: The number of words divided by the number of edits in a document or draft (lower numbers mean more revisions).

Paste ratio: The percentage of all characters ever added to the document/draft that were inserted by pasting."

em. rowene@queerenigma· Jun 8

An FFXIV au ra girl with glasses doing the "eto bleh" pose

em. rowene@queerenigma· Jun 1

HAPPY PRIDE and have a SHORT STORY! Feat. a trans paladin and his feelings toward his former goddess. ⚔️🛡️ For fellow lovers of D&D and havers of religious trauma. www.queerenigma.com/sun-shears/

Header: New short story! Feat. a transmasc paladin and his troubled relationship with his former goddess.

Snippet: "Delidah only has a short time in our world, as she returns to her mountain each morning and greets the sun. She spends that time searching, not presiding over old temples." "Searching? Searching for what?" Tam asked. "Someone she lost," the paladin said softly. "Someone who no longer exists. So you see, the gods do mourn. They remember us, as small as we are."

Graphic: Image contains two photos, one of an angel statue and one of a knight in an illuminated manuscript.

em. rowene@queerenigma· Apr 25

You can expect a video eventually, but she's in terrible need of a tuning. In the meantime, just look at how beautiful she is:

Photo of a golden-brown harpsichord with the lid up

Pic of the same harpsichord from the other angle, so you can see the strings on the inside

em. rowene@queerenigma· Apr 14

"I'm still around and alive, just very busy" cat pic tax

An orange and white cat licking a Sherpa blanket. Her tongue is stuck.

The white and orange cat realizes that her tongue is stuck on Sherpa and tries to withdraw.

Freed from the Sherpa, the white and orange cat basks in lamplight, her head pressed up against the underside of the desk she's standing under.

The orange and white cat contemplates her own existence. She still has her head pressed to the underside of the desk, and it's pushing back her ears and making her look a bit like an alien.

em. rowene@queerenigma· Mar 10

when I say that Sunfall is firmly rooted in the midwestern experience, this is what I mean:

Document snippet: "Helio paced the length of Hadley’s room, occasionally stomping his feet as if James would hear, wherever he was. This continued until he stomped on a clump of ice he’d dragged up the stairs; it soaked through his sock, and with an anguished cry, he fell into the window."

em. rowene@queerenigma· Mar 2

A strange woman comes to Detective Bell with a stranger problem: the police confused a protection charm for something more sinister and are about to arrest her for murder. To clear her name, Bell must untangle cons, confront sidhe, and find the mysterious beast that roams the streets of his city.

A photograph of a book titled "The Case Files of Sheridan Bell: Sheridan Bell and the Vanishing Beast." A man with long dark hair and a slight smile is pictured on the cover.

em. rowene@queerenigma· Feb 2

Hey threads, today is my birthday! You could make me VERY happy by donating to help vulnerable families in North Minneapolis with rent and other bills! Or if you don't have money to give, share this post! @nipinet is posting receipts over on their insta!

A snowy sunset image with text overlayed: "Northside Rent Support: help keep vulnerable families in North Minneapolis housed. Venmo @ nipinet"

em. rowene@queerenigma· Jan 23

If you don't know Minneapolis, north is a very vulnerable neighborhood in our city, and it hasn't been seeing the same influx of resources as south Minneapolis has. We're raising funds to help vulnerable northside families cover rent & bills. If you can, please SHARE THIS this or venmo @nipinet.

A snowy sunset photo with overlayed text: Northside Rent Support, help keep vulnerable families in north minneapolis housed. Venmo @ nipinet

em. rowene@queerenigma· Jan 23

Screenshot from Fate Grand Order of Anastasia in a snowstorm yelling "GODDAMN COLD!"

em. rowene@queerenigma· Jan 23

Screenshot of a weather app that says -21 degrees fahrenheit

(laughing nervously) what the fuck? Meme

em. rowene@queerenigma· Jan 13

FRIEREN x SILVER CHAIR When Helio is killed by the deep mage Riptide, he inexplicably wakes miles away, in the body of a young man named Hadley. As he lays low, pretending to be this spoiled lord's son, he learns about himself through Hadley—and through Riptide. #bluepit📖 #A #F #Q #LGBT

A mockup cover of a book titled "Sunfall." Two characters stand at the foreground. The first, a dark haired young man with an encouraging smile, is holding his hand out to the other. The second, a strawberry blond young man with a considering expression, is hesitatingly taking it. Behind them is an orange-gold background with an eclipsed sun hanging high above them. A man in a suit hovers in front of the sun, magic burning in his hands.

Orange text on a black background. It's the text of the poem "A Question" by Robert Frost. "A voice once said, Look me in the stars / and tell me truly, men of earth, / If all the soul-and-body scars / Were not too much to pay for birth."

em. rowene@queerenigma· Jan 13

Helio's trained all his life to kill Riptide, but Riptide kills him first. When he's given a miraculous second chance, a soft-spoken soldier named Soma offers to help stop the Deep—but the closer Helio gets to Soma, the more he fears who he'll find behind Riptide's mask. #bluepit📖 #A #F #Q #LGBT

A waist-up portrait of a tanned boy with freckles and red hair

A waist up portrait of a pale boy with long dark hair

em. rowene@queerenigma· Dec 31

(11-14) Four big inspirations:

Cover of the Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia) by C.S. Lewis

Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

One of the promotional images for FFXIV Shadowbringers

The Cover of the Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

em. rowene@queerenigma· Dec 31

(10) It leans HEAVILY into the poetry of Robert Frost, so much so that this book also doubles as a curriculum of my personal favorite Frost poems. Each chapter is named after one of them, the selection leaning into the poems about isolation, community, and nature as a mirror

A list of 25 chapter headings, all naming Robert Frost poems: Acceptance; Into my Own; An Encounter; For Once, Then, Something; In Neglect; My Butterfly; Mending Wall; Spoils of the Dead; The Exposed Nest; Home Burial; Reluctance; The Sound of Trees; A Time to Talk; A Brook in the City; Dust in the Eyes; Fire and Ice; Freedom of the Moon; Not to Keep; Misgiving; On the Heart's Beginning to Cloud the Mind; Acquainted with the Night; Moon Compass; A Line-Storm Song

The cover of "The Poetry of Robert Frost, Edited by Edward Connery Lathem"

em. rowene@queerenigma· Dec 30

If you'll indulge me: 1 like = 1 fact about the WIP I've been working on in secret for months

em. rowene@queerenigma· Dec 28

4. Continue taking violin lessons! This is something I started in 2025; I wanted to be more intentional about engaging in *non-writing* hobbies. Only slightly related, look at this pretty violin I found in an antique mall last week:

A small old violin tucked into a vintage case

em. rowene@queerenigma· Dec 22

The meme of a man slapping a piece of tape on a tank leaking water. The tank says "whatever the hell problem this is" (referring to original post), the man says "me," and the tape says "writing another story about loneliness and second chances"

em. rowene@queerenigma· Dec 3

deleted tumblr, bluesky, instragram, AND threads from my phone

meme of a silhouette against a sunset. man in chains is holding his arms above his head and breaking free

em. rowene@queerenigma· Nov 30

I love writing an isekai/body swapping plot because what do you mean Helio spends most of the book running around as an annoying twinkish femboy but actually looks like THAT

A painting of a young man in a tie and sweater vest. He has floppy orangeish hair, big brown eyes, and a sweet smile.

A serious looking man in a tank top. He has tan skin, red hair that falls to his shoulders, and freckles all over. His eyes are light golden

em. rowene@queerenigma· Nov 29

Well! It's a little late now, but all of my bookish candles are 15% off through Monday! 😅 Including such scents as enemies to lovers, mutual pining, and slow burn. Check them out here: ko-fi.com/queerenigma/...

Text: A Queer Enigma Books & Candles. Use code BLACKFRIDAY2025 for 15% off! Valid through 12/1.

A photo of an elegant amber candle labeled "found family." Text reads: "15% off Books & Bookish Candles. Including scents like Enemies to lovers, mutual pining, and slow burn. Plus new winters scents like cozy cabin & winter woods."

em. rowene@queerenigma· Nov 20

[Helio voice] Cowabummer [loud crashing noises]

Ellipsus snippet: "Helio fell through the air, the burning city of Farband laid out below him like a map. It churned with deep magic and writhed with monsters, and Helio allowed himself a moment to mourn what the city had become before he crashed shoulder-first through the roof of a garage."

em. rowene@queerenigma· Nov 14

looking at my newest WIP and realizing I somehow wrote another story about loneliness

Pensive emoji with the caption "I pretend I do not see it"

em. rowene@queerenigma· Nov 13

Speaking of Sheridan Bell, there's a new chapter of Confession of a Medium out today! In it, the renowned medium Celine Scott begins her public demonstration: will she prove herself just another fraud, or can she really reach the Otherworld?