A Door for Dark Fiction, Lit by a Once-in-a-Lifetime Sky

A while back, I featured a couple of writers here whose work moved me. Dark fiction voices doing the same kind of work I am, digging into shadow and story and calling it empowering instead of dangerous. You can check out there work here:

I want to keep doing that, more intentionally this time, and I want to open the door wider than just the writers I know personally. I’d love to read through all the amazing dark fiction out there, but I’m one person, also writing my own novels.

This way, you can reach out when the time feels right, or when you find this post.

The Author Spotlight is a cross-post, which means your work goes out to my readers, and mine reaches yours. My vision is to grow a dark fiction community of writers and readers who find each other through the stories willing to go to the places most won’t. More eyes on your work, more readers who are already looking for exactly what you write.

It doesn’t matter if you write novels, short fiction, poetry, or any other format, as long as it’s in the realm of dark fiction.

Dark fiction featured here includes: horror, gothic fiction, grimdark fantasy, dark fantasy, dark romance, dark sci-fi, dystopian fiction, thriller/dark psychological thriller, dark poetry

Consider this an open invitation.

If you write dark fiction and this feels like it’s speaking to you, leave a comment below or reach out directly. I’ll send you a short document to fill out: your story, your voice, the piece you’re proudest of, along with images of your book or story and your author or logo image. It takes an hour or two to complete, and what you share in the document is what becomes the Author Spotlight itself.

The truth is, I’ve had this idea for quite a long time. Over a year, in fact. I started implementing it a while ago, but the vision wasn’t quite ready until now. I wasn’t quite ready until now.

On July 26th, 2026, the lunar nodes began shifting for the first time in almost twenty years back to the North Node in Aquarius and the South Node in Leo. Pluto is already sitting in Aquarius, and it has been for a while, quietly doing its underworld work. So collectively, we’re deep in Aquarius energy right now, and will be for a while.

I didn’t plan this post around any of that, but I’ve learned by now that when the timing lines up like this, without me trying to make it line up, it’s worth paying attention to. Alongside being a fiction author, I’m a mystic witch… passionate about astrology, tarot, oracle, and everything esoteric.

Aquarius energy is community instead of the solo climb. Innovation instead of doing it the way it’s always been done. Coming together instead of standing apart, waiting to be chosen. Here are some keywords for Aquarius:

Authentic

Embodiment

Discernment

Individuality

Revolution

Truth as self-love

Today’s full moon is in Aquarius, conjunct Pluto, opposite the Sun and Jupiter in Leo. I’ve seen more than one astrologer call it a once-in-a-lifetime transit. A full moon conjunct Pluto isn’t surface weather. It’s death, rebirth, the alchemy of claiming who you actually are and what you actually came here to do. (Death, rebirth, and alchemy are dark fiction at its core.)

Today is the beginning of that destiny cycle. A doorway opened.

Today is the day to declare it. What we’re releasing. What we’re claiming. As we step through this doorway of the full moon in Aquarius.

We’re releasing the old Leo story, because the South Node is what we’re collectively shifting away from. It’s the shadow. What are the shadow aspects of Leo?

The one that said recognition has to be earned before it’s real. That you have to be polished and agreeable to be seen. Crowned, singled out, before you’re allowed to believe you made it. Some keywords for Leo’s shadow:

Performance

Agreeable

Validation

Contorting

Applause

Narcissism

Truth as the false self

We’re claiming the Aquarius story instead. The North Node is the light, much like the North Star; our collective momentum of what we’re moving toward. The story where we build together. Where innovation matters more than being perfect. Where the door opens both ways.

All while weaving the light aspects of Jupiter in Leo into it: the warmth, the heart, being seen from our authentic truth, our inner world matching our outer world.

All those years as a writer, I was pushing, and it was never about validation. I’m an Aquarius sun. I was working against my Aquarian nature, trying to force myself into a dynamic that was never mine to begin with—chase the awards, chase the recognition, wait to feel like I’d made it before I believed I was enough. To receive the applause before I could feel validated.

That was never going to work for me. I wasn’t built for that path. I was built for this one. The one that the energy and the sky are truly supporting now. Working in community, being seen in our authenticity, whether it makes sense to anyone else or not, trusting our truth anyway.

And this isn’t just my story anymore, being an Aquarius. It’s now a collective story. It’s what’s being asked of all of us right now, under this North Node in Aquarius for the collective over the next 18 months, and the doorway of the full moon in Aquarius today. Stop trying to get there alone, hoping the spotlight finds you. Start reaching for each other instead. Trust your authentic truth before it makes sense.

So I’m claiming it. And I want to claim it with other dark fiction writers, not just for myself. If that’s you, let’s go! We’re stepping through that door together.

I co-host a podcast called the Aquarian Cauldron with Erica Phillips Graves 🔮 and Goddess Renell. Our next episode comes out August 1^st, 2026. It’s about the Wild Woman, and it’s called Don’t Tell Me WTF To Do. Sound like anything we’ve talked about so far? The Wild Woman is an archetype about embodying your truth unapologetically, just like Aquarius. If you’d like to follow us and be the first to know when the episode is live, you can do so here:

To make the trilogy easier to navigate, I’ve moved some things around! Below is a list of where you can find everything related to the trilogy <3

• The Raven Dreams: Book One (Rewrite complete)

• The Raven Wars: Book Two (Rewrite unfolding now)

• The Raven & The Oracle: Book Three (Rewrite coming soon)

• Behind the Ink (behind-the-scenes and extra content around the trilogy)

• Read all the FREE chapter shares and behind-the-scenes from Book One and Book Two here.

• If you’d like to read the original version of the books to see how the story evolves and changes in the rewrite, you can get a copy here.

Some journeys ask us to go deeper than we expected. If you’re in one of those seasons, I’d be honored to sit with you through the cards.