Sarah Avery

@sarahavery

Mythopoeic Award winning fantasy writer 🪐📚, escaped academic, beginner permaculture gardener, Gen X Army brat, DC area local, she/her, ,

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Sarah Avery@sarahavery· 23d

Guess what arrived today!

The first copies of Tales from Rugosa Coven’s new edition to arrive in the author’s hands

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Jul 7

Post a random picture or else everything will go tits up in July.

A parade float from the anti-Trump protest before the 2027 Inauguration: plywood assembled in the shape of a tank, covered with flowers and painted with the words PEACE TANK. A DJ spins records atop the gun turret.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Jun 25

In years when I don’t get to celebrate summer solstice by jumping a small bonfire, I go to the pick-your-own farm for berries, and preserve high summer in the form of jam. Break out a jar of June when the year turns. Black raspberry, strawberry, and tart cherry from the orchard, goumi from my yard.

Jars of homemade jam, all deep reds and purples, shining like jewels.

18 jars of homemade jam, lids still wet from water-bath canning.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Jun 5

This is a cat checkpoint. Relinquish the most recent cat picture on your phone. #ProofOfCat

Theo, an orange tabby, photobombs as I try to take a photo of the Diamine Ink annual Inkvent Calendar, which turns out to be a big deal in the #FountainPen community. Theo is blurry and way too close to the camera, with only one eye in the frame and his whiskered nose right up against the camera lens.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· May 25

Pick a Bond villain from the pictures you already have on your phone.

My kid ten years ago: an 8-ish-year-old boy kneeling on a laminated poster of the periodic table that’s longer than he is tall. He’s beaming in perfect contentment. In the background of an ordinary suburban living room stands a decorated Christmas tree. The periodic table is exactly what he wanted.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 24

Tales from Rugosa Coven, Winner of the 2015 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, is coming back in August 2026 after ten years out of print. Here's the new publisher's latest announcement, and the new cover reveal. www.candlemarkandgleam.com/2026/04/06/c...

Book Cover for Tales from Rugosa Coven by Sarah Avery: White text on a predominantly purple background, with a subtle view down from above six people sitting in a circle, holding hands.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 22

I guess I’ll be ready to talk about George R.R. Martin in time for #WorldCon in Montreal.

A Duolingo panel with both French and English for “They all wanted to be the king of the seven kingdoms.”

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 7

Passed these guys on the way out.

Three National Guardsmen in camo and armed, drinking coffee in front of a fancy hotel a block away from Lafayette Square protest.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 7

The view of the #WhiteHouse across Lafayette Square, which the administration has ripped up and fenced off so that they will never have to hear the voices of protesters. Chickenshit administration, every one of them.

The White House, seen through a fence around Lafayette Square.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 7

Found it!

A crowd seen from a distance on H Street. Lots of Iranian flags and antiwar signs.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 7

Police perimeter expanding.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 7

Pausing at Starbucks for chocolate, a clean bathroom, and a chance to write my lawyer’s and spouse’s phone numbers on my arm in Sharpie.

My forearm, with the words lawyer and husband written on it in Sharpie. I’m about to add their phone numbers.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 7

The system is easier to navigate than it looks, I promise.

A Metro pylon showing the stops distal to Metro Center on the Blue, Orange, and Yellow Lines.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 7

Switching trains at Metro Center. My new traveling companions say MacPherson Square Station is closer to the #WhiteHouse.

Metro Center Station upper level, massive Brutalist barrel vaults intersecting.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 7

We’re underground now. Just one more stop before we cross the District Line and leave Maryland.

The inside of the Bethesda Metro Station. Gray concrete Brutalist architecture.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 7

Here’s the view of Rock Creek Park from an elevated stretch of track, just before the Red Line dives underground before the station by NIH.

Lots of big trees in the green fuzz stage of spring leaf, seen across the rails of the Metro.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 7

Here’s my mask, in case of tear gas. I don’t know if it will help, but a woman got arrested for distributing them at an ICE protest in LA, so somebody thinks they do.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 7

We’re traveling by Metro to Farragut North Station on the Red Line. That’s the closest we can get by train to the #WhiteHouse.

A Metro Station pylon listing Red Line stops in order, Shady Grove to Glenmont.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Apr 7

On my way to the #WhiteeHouse. You can come with me if you want.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Mar 16

Marco Rubio must be prosecuted next time there’s a DOJ that cares to uphold the rule of law. @vanhollen.senate.gov @alsobrooks.senate.gov @raskin.house.gov

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Feb 10

Hey, spaetzle-cooking veterans, which kind of #spaetzle maker do you use? So far, I've tried forming them by pinching them with my fingers and by squishing the dough through holes in a colander. It's a good thing I'm not a 19th century peasant lass on the marriage market. #cooking #KitchenTools.

My first attempt at cooking spaetzle, or if you prefer the Hungarian term, nokedli. I made these by pinching the dough between my fingers and dropping it into salted boiling water. They came out much larger and plumper than the ones I've had at restaurants. They're also very irregularly sized and shaped.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Dec 22

Keeping the Yule vigil at my hearth, making sure the sun comes up after the longest night. #Yule #Solstice

A bright little fire in my fireplace on Solstice night.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Dec 9

Inkvent Day 8: Dream Catcher I love the purple metallic sheen on this blue ink. It's great to see what visual artists are doing with these inks, but I'm a word girl, so I'm especially appreciative of inks that show off their tricks even with a relatively fine nib. This one's very satisfying.

Diamine foutain pen ink, Dream Catcher, in Getty-Dubay italic and mutant rushed D'Nealian. The ink has a blue base with a radiant and shameless purple sheen. My notes on the swatch page say: "Noticeably thicker than previous inks, sticks more in the grooves of my glass dip pen. Seems more metallic than glittery. Very deep blue."

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Dec 9

Inkvent Day 7: Blush An earthy pink with green glitter. This is the ink the unicorns of Equestria use for party invitations.

Diamine's Blush fountain pen ink, written with a glass dip pen in Getty-Dubay italic and rushed mutant D'Nealian. My notes on the swatch page read: It's like writing in dichroic glass. So iridescent! It looks pink in the bottle, but it's everything on the page. This is the ink unicorns write in. Green glitter in pink-tinged earthy ink."

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Dec 6

Inkvent days 5 and 6. After advent, I may play around with Marie Rose alongside other inks—by itself, it doesn't sing to me, though it could be good for making maps and prop documents for RPGs. Fir & Fog is my favorite fountain pen ink from the calendar so far, and maybe ever.

Playing with two Diamine fountain pen inks: Marie Rose, a sepia that would be gorgeous if paired with the Smoky Tobacco ink in the previous post in this thread, but which would be, for me, underwhelming by itself; and Fir & Fog, a gorgeous forest green with glitter. Very satisfying — my favorite so far. My samples are in both my laborious Getty-Dubay italic and my everyday mutant D'Nealian handwriting.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Dec 6

Inkvent days 3 and 4, playing with a glass dip pen in my laborious italic and scrawly handwriting. Carousel is a flagrant red I plan to use for marking up manuscripts when I need a little extra magic. Smoky Tobacco looks like the ink a sentient mushroom who was also a witch would use for spellwork.

Taking two of Diamine's advent calendar inks out for a spin. Carousel is a red like the red you imagine characters in black and white films are wearing—flagrant red. Perfect for marking up manuscripts. Smoky Tobacco is a deep earthy brown, perfect for making maps and prop documents for #RPG campaigns.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Dec 1

Day 2's ink is Energy, a satisfying rich matte purple. It seems to give me a wider line even on the same nib. 4/

Diamine fountain pen ink in limited edition Energy, a rich purple. I've tested it here with a glass-nibbed dip pen in both my scrawly d'Nealian handwriting and my Getty-Dubay Italic, with a few penmanship exercise doodles. In my handwriting I assert that one dip of the Energy ink is enough to fill a legal pad page longhand, but really it's more like a half to three quarters of a page, on further testing.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Dec 1

Here's my #GlassPen. My first novel was set in a fantasy city where glass pens were the default writing implement, so I wanted to try them out. Those glass grooves are surprisingly capacious. A single dip is enough for me to fill half a legal pad page with longhand. 3/

A handmade glass dip pen in a protective pseudo-velvet case

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Dec 1

Day 1 is Celestial Skies, a sort of dark teal with glitter. Now you see why I'm not an influencer: the glitter's not as apparent in the photo as on the page. I think a wider nib might have shown the glitter off to more advantage. 2/

Diamine limited edition Celestial Skies in, a dark teal with glitter, tested out with a glass-nibbed dip pen in my scrawly Generation X fast handwriting and in a bit of the Getty-Dubay Italic I learned while desperate to model to my kids that penmanship was so important that even I was willing to work on it.

Sarah Avery@sarahavery· Dec 1

Started my #FountainPen ink advent calendar! I celebrate the winter solstice, so I got a head start. So far, I've opened two of these beauties. Oh, and look who's photobombing. 1/ #Diamine #InkventCalendar #Cat