WakersInk @WakersInk

Fatigue They call it tired, as if sleep could save what keeps giving way as if dawn could draw me back into a body already leaving. Morning moves. I don’t. My knees know. My bones vote no. Even breath comes thin, a borrowed thing I keep repaying again and again. I measure life in almosts. Almost called. Almost came. Almost caught the hour before it slipped through my hands. The coffee cools. The laundry waits. The sink keeps filling with promises I meant to keep. They think fatigue is weight. Weight can be carried. This is being carried by gravity dragged through days that ask for inches when I have only whispers. I spend whole afternoons earning the strength to stand. Whole evenings trying to remember what I stood up for. Still, there is a hand that finds mine. A laugh I didn’t think I’d have. Light leaning through the window like it still believes I’ll answer. So I do. Not with certainty. Not with ease. But with one slow breath, one small step, one quiet yes after another. Because survival has never sounded like thunder. Sometimes it is only the softest song refusing to end.

Some people like the hook more than the bait.

The Tell-Tale Optic 'The afterlife is running empty because the souls are feeding the machines'

All aboard! 🛶 Searching for beta readers for Dying Daylights 👁. Deadline for notes is September 1st so there is plenty of time to get your feedback in to be immortalized in this tragic horror collection. All participants will be mentioned in the book, as well as receive a signed copy upon release and some swaggies. Above all, I will be forever grateful for the sacrifice of your precious time toward my cause. Light and Love my fellow risers!

I've been softblocking 40 to 50 accounts per day now thanks to my friends here that clued me in. I am a little stupified that this is our only way to deal with bot accounts that soak up views draining the possibility of real engagement. You post a cool sunset and see that 200 people 'saw' it and five people liked it. That is depressing af that so many people don't give a thumb's twitch about sunsets, at least until you understand it was 195 bot accounts that failed to stir, not humanity. At least, I hope this is the case😅. Let not these machines beguile us into imagined boxes. Humanity is worth saving, and in spite of the numbers, they really like your sunsets. Meanwhile, the algo is looking at me shaking it's imaginary head, like, dude, this, this is why I can't help you. Sorry, onion-bro, but my shoes will never fit you.

The Curses We Keep by @MillerDakotaJ arrived today. By the cover, I'm already fond of it.

The Preserve by @jhardin is looking promising. Birds strike a trade agreement with humans before the end of the world? LFG.

More Indie mail! Today we have Facing Shadows by @okayestpoet Cool cover, and this author has been on my radar for awhile (in a good way!) So here's looking toward checking this one out.

I grew up with the internet; dial-up modems and shareware wolfenstein. I was steeped in the speed of a fastly shrinking world and mans' joy of it rang always in my ears like a warning. Trying to listen to music on the way home last night and the songs skipping with the attenuating service made me long for the simpler days of when we owned our music. A song in the hand is worth a hundred in the clouds.

COVER REVEAL Finally, my fifth novel is in its final stages. 🎉 The cover is done, and the manuscript is currently in its most important read-through. Depending on the feedback and how much revision it needs, a 6.6.26 release date is very much on the table. Fingers crossed. 🤞📖 This is supposed to be off the record, but — I want to thank @GaiusKonstantin for looking at my manuscript. I may not get your official review, but I think I got the better end of the bargain. Thank you, genuinely…jerk. 🙏

I sent my manuscript for Dying Daylights over to my editor, and yes that person is @timmckay52 🔥! Very psyched to have such a high level character working on this with me. 🍻Thank you Tim! Here's to many more! 🦅

Gary Got Goosed by @JRMontarbo is a funny ride with just enough soul to keep the laughs from getting too shallow. This book is hilarious from the start and keeps the laughs coming. What I found unexpected, as well as an excellent balance to the humor, is the narrator's soulful insight. Without spoiling too much, Gary is having a tough time in his life, and things begin unraveling on a bad day, and it is through this lens that the narrator slips in his lovely wisdoms that tie the loveable wretch that is Gary, to each of us. I may even read again, which is rare for me when it comes to comedy.

I won't let this ache rename me, reshape me reduce me to break me erase me. This pain tried to claim me frame me as frail as a story that stalls at survive and prevail. But I'm more than the hurt more than the worst of it not just the wound not just what the curse of it cut into skin stitched into bone I'm what stood up when I stood there alone. What bent didn't break what shook didn't shatter what learned how to live when it shouldn't have mattered. So no I won't wear victim like it fits me at all. I'll flip it refit it rise from the fall. Let this battle build something braver in me not just a survivor but someone another hurting heart can see and believe. Kyoko W.P.

the Tell-tale Optic is complete! 🤖👁 Dying Daylights is about to be on an editor's table. 😃 Arcs in June. October release date. These are the nightmares you've been wishing for.

If you havn't read a Simple Calling yet, what are you waiting for? A slow burn horror story you'll never forget. Just answer the phone. 📞 open.substack.com/pub/thewritten…

From prison years to “dark optimism,” Tyler Fincher brings a life of extremes into his debut Tidal Skies Blending hard-earned perspective with dreamlike horror, @thewrittensoul crafts a world where even gods are trapped, and hope comes at a cost. This week’s Just Reading Nook’s #AuthorSpotlight, we’ll look at Fincher’s creative process, the themes in #TidalSkies, and the life experiences that have influenced his writing. Read 👉 tr.ee/ZPah49

Hypnagothic .five is out! 🦅 If you don't know, it's not too late, because stories this good are always early. So stoked that I got to be a part of this awesome publication. Thanks @laethcore for creating this while still managing to drop banger novels in the meantime.

It's in my stacked archive if you can dig it.

This is some of the finest prose you'll ever read. Seriously. If I'm wrong i'll reimburse you by buying a copy of your book or another of your choice. 🦅 Indi April! 💪

It's still here.