ash vale

@ashvalewrites

🇨🇦 canadian writer, game master, gremlin (they/them) 🏳️‍🌈 co-founder @othersidespec.bsky.social 🖋 fantasy, romance, horror 📖 works at Nightmare, Heartlines, PseudoPod, Small Wonders and more website:

759 Following3,884 Followers1,206 Posts

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ash vale@ashvalewrites· Jun 18

we've been wondering for weeks how the single cat in our house goes through so much water I think I've cracked the code, gang

A very fluffy, large cat standing with her foot fully in the water dish

ash vale@ashvalewrites· May 22

he only had 1 tooth, and he was kind of rude, but he was mine for 12 years. goodbye Ajax, I hope we meet again in the sunshine where there's endless treats and birds to watch 🖤🤍🖤

A very good cat laying on his back with his paws curled up. He is black and white.

ash vale@ashvalewrites· May 3

KILL MEEEEEEEE

A disgusting looking squishy bunny toy. It's missing an ear, covered in some kind of white stuff, and has an eye melting off

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Mar 23

an evil baby breaking through my barrier so he can keep trying to lick me

A black and white old cat, peering menacingly over a blanket barrier

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Feb 2

“The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.” -James Baldwin

my daughter is almost 3
(he is 5)

she loves frozen
(does he like frozen?)

she likes our cats
(does he have pets?)

she loves her grandparents
(will he see his again?)

is he scared?
(she would be so scared)

does he miss his mom?
(she cries at daycare drop-off sometimes)

he's wearing a bunny hat
(she sleeps with a stuffed pig)

he is 5
(what are we doing)

she is almost 3
(what the fuck are we doing)

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Jan 9

this is who is sending @othersidespec.bsky.social submission responses, btw

Picture of Bean the cat. She has very green eyes, and long brown/black/white fur. She's pretty cute.

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Dec 31

my last newsletter of the year is out! I am watching Heated Rivalry btw, yes, several people asked this one also includes my 10 favourite books that I read in 2025! here's to a happier and less shitty 2026 ashvale.beehiiv.com/p/ash-vale-u...

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong

Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto

The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag

Bunny by Mona Awad

Metal From Heaven by august clarke

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

The Traitor & the Wretch by Jasmine Walls

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Dec 17

I just finished The Traitor & the Wretch by @mythjae.bsky.social and LOVED IT!! I love a scraggly little rat man and boy this book delivered. Also genuinely one of the best romantic chemistries I've read all year, with real, awkward humour and a slow build from dislike to love. Highly recommend

The cover for The Traitor & the Wretch by Jasmine Walls, displayed on a kobo ereader.

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Dec 16

I finally did it, I'm so brave—an awards eligibility post! I've had a few short stories and one poem published this year, and I'd be grateful as always if you nominated any of them for any kind of awards, or if you just read them. Links to all of them are available here: ash-vale.ca/stories.html

A pink and blue image. At the top it says "awards eligibility (short stories) for Ash Vale". The stories are: “Dread and Faith”
Blood Lust (Black Hare Press), February 2025 (horror, 800 words).
“Hope Carried on An ANcient, Isolated Back”
Dreamforge Anvil, March 2025 (Fantasy, 2,700 words).
“Fireweed, ferns, and Moss”
Choices: An anthology of reproductive horror, Sept 2025 (cli-fi/horror, 2,700 words).
“Results of Groundwater formaldehyde reduction...”
DIe laughing, October 2025 (Horror/comedy, 1,200 words).
“Lanugo”
Uncharted, December 2025 (Horror, 2,400 words).

A pink and blue photo. The top reads "awards eligibility (poetry) for Ash Vale".

Underneath is one poem listed: “Live”
Moist poetry journal, June 2025

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Dec 14

when you turn 35, you get the big-ass breakfast poutine and the gay lil latte and no one can say shit to you

A latte in a decorative gold rimmed cup. It has lots of foam and little purple petals on top.

A breakfast poutine served in a cast iron skillet. It has crispy fries, cheese curds, gravy, mushrooms, green onions, bacon, and a fried egg on top.

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Dec 9

a poem I wrote recently about parenting, gratefulness, and community. Full text is also in the alt text ❤️

I am

In your area,
With the boys,
Can I bring you a coffee?

A grandpa to a little one
About the same age
Can I show you some pictures?

Going to get tickets
To that thing you like
Can you come?

Packing up clothes
That no longer fit my kids
Can you use them?

Making a blanket
For your baby
Can you let me know what colours you like?

Sorry,
Immeasurably,
For your loss and
Can I hold your grief?

Sending you
Way, way too many
Instagram reels
Can I send you one more?
It's really good I promise

Coming over with dad
And supper
And fresh bread
And a fix for that thing you said was broken
Can you let us in?

And isn't that really what's being asked
Again and again
Heart to heart
Can you let us in?

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Dec 7

Alt txt in the genocide by Omar Sakr. It stays with me always

Black text on a white background. The text reads "Alt txt in the genocide. Image description #1: the warm hand of the father, the warm hand of the daughter, together clasp the cold son. Image description #2: please don't make me write another, I beg you. How many hauntings must we bear"

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Nov 4

what if one person... did something very cool...

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Oct 19

define "perfect ending"

A still frame from 2001 movie "Donnie Darko." It's a shot of Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays Donnie, laughing somewhat hysterically. He's in his bed, with a soft blue shirt on.

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Oct 5

I have fucked up so bad on library holds this week, pray for me

A stack of library books that includes: Fat Talk, The Spear Cuts through Water, The Anxious Generation, I Who Have Never Known Men, My Best Friend's Honeymoon, and He Who Drowned the World

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Oct 2

a good good baby Bean got a treat, as promised sound up to hear her tractor-like purrs www.kickstarter.com/projects/hyb...

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Oct 1

we're about 500 dollars away from the next stretch goal...if we can hit it in the next 12 hours, I'll take a video of Bean on catnip

A very large and fluffy cat. She's brown, white and black, and has a really silly look on her face.

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Sep 28

A black cat standing in the interior of a car. The text around it is just a bunch of nonsense yelling

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Sep 25

funniest possible thing the news could have shown me as "top stories"

Screenshot of the news section of a website. Under top stories, it links to an article headline that says "a modder has already removed all the fog from silent hill f"

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Sep 15

Behold, my @flightsoffoundry.bsky.social schedule! Sept 27, 10 am MT: Chill-n-Chat with the @othersidespec.bsky.social editors 9 pm MT: A reading! By me! Help Sept 28, 10 am MT: Panelist on Creating While Parenting 4 pm MT: Moderator for Gods Help Us: Processing Religious Trauma through Spec Fic

A pink and black wavy background. The text on the image says "Flights of Foundry" at the top, and then Ash's schedule for the weekend.

Sept 27, 10 am MT: Chill-n-Chat with the @othersidespec.bsky.social editors
9 pm MT: A reading! By me! Help

Sept 28, 10 am MT: Panelist on Creating While Parenting
4 pm MT: Moderator for Gods Help Us: Processing Religious Trauma through Spec Fic

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Sep 13

it's that time of year again when I have so many zucchinis I have to sneak them into EVERY FOOD

Mini pumpkin and zucchini muffins with chocolate chips. They're cooling on a wire rack. There is a small seasonal bouquet of flowers behind them.

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Sep 11

I'm at the point of novel revisions where I'm confident my book is a steaming turd BUT I did get this delicious cardamom latte recently

An artsy photo of a latte on a brown wooden table.

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Aug 22

here's mine uwu

A silver laptop cover. It has a bunch of stickers on it, but most notably an Otherside holographic one

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Aug 22

my vet clinic has the best vet techs. very professional, but very loud

A vet's office with an office chair. In it is a white and grey kitten sitting politely. Under a cabinet nearby is a large Bengal cat.

ash vale@ashvalewrites· Aug 18

I'm so bad at remembering pictures can be taken, so here is WorldCon as apparently summed up by my photo reel: @othersidespec.bsky.social stickers and hockey