Sarah Jackson

Writing SFF and horror. Codex and BFS member.

Likely to be tooting about ghosts, robots, feelings, books, moss, volunteering, Star Trek. She/they. Bi/pan. 40ish.

Pic shows a smiling white person with short, brown hair, green eyes, and a cream shirt under a salmon pink tank top.

Public Key

npub1wx4gg76wfs47tl56cllvze6c9u2dyepqm6yf8jdksacem7qs4y2quvjdtp

NIP-05 Address

sarahijackson_at_wandering.shop@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs8r25y0d8yc2l9l6dv0lkpvavz79xjvssdazynexmgwuvalqg2j9qprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wdmksetjv5hxxmmdqy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6ky0xr326

Publishing to

relay.noswhere.com

relay.mostr.pub

Author Public Key

npub1wx4gg76wfs47tl56cllvze6c9u2dyepqm6yf8jdksacem7qs4y2quvjdtp

Show more details

Last Notes

2024-08-18 09:26:36

- reply

I was trying to come up with a new scent to make some handcream as a gift for a friend and mixed coffee, cardamom, and palmarosa ☕️🌹 I really hope she likes it - it smells totally delicious to me! 😍 (I made a pot for myself too)

2024-08-18 09:20:49

A while back I bought some almond oil as a base and a selection of my favourite essential oils (mostly woody and spicy, like cedar, bay leaf, cinnamon) and mixed some perfume for myself. It was really fun and also gave me some gender expression joy ✨️👃🏻✨️

2024-08-18 08:59:25

- reply

@npub1kvw…5jv7 Yay! Look forward to seeing you 😄

2024-08-18 08:56:41

Autumn Chills six week horror writing school kicks off on 3 September! I'll be joining as a guest author to talk about haunted objects and domestic horror 👻🫖
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/autumn-chills-6-week-horror-writing-school-tickets-935630133917
#Horror #HorrorFiction #HorrorCommunity #AmWriting #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #AmWritingFantasy

2024-08-17 06:21:52

- reply

@npub1k3f…cmj2 Exactly! 🙂

2024-08-17 06:18:43

- reply

@npub17ac…069g Yes, that's a great way of putting it!

2024-08-16 09:32:55

Ok time to get up and offline.
(Some freelance work I was supposed to be doing today didn't materialise, which is bad because I need money but good because now I have a free day!)
Got some chores to do but I'm going to try and get some writing done also ✒️

2024-08-16 09:27:31

- reply

@npub1yp2…dn9p Love this! 💖 My personal style is getting more hobbit with every passing year but I think I'm I'm ok with it 😊

2024-08-16 09:10:26

- reply

@npub1yp2…dn9p this is extremely cool 🧵

2024-08-16 09:08:01

- reply

@npub1lnj…4p4k oh interesting - that makes sense to me, the difference between enjoying your 'home' world and visiting others! Like trying new things when you're on holiday 😊

2024-08-16 08:17:26

- reply

When I was younger I sometimes felt ashamed in some geek social groups that I didn't know eg every episode number and title off the top of my head, or the exact specs for every spaceship, but I've since realised that's only one way to enjoy something.

2024-08-16 08:16:18

- reply

I've often wondered if this is related to how I geek. I have very intense feelings and a million thoughts about my favourite worlds and stories and blorbos, but I don't develop that kind of encyclopedic knowledge a lot of fans have. I admire it, but it's not how I love the things I love.

2024-08-16 08:10:53

#PennedPossibilities 408 Do you like the process of worldbuilding?
I like imagining things: people and places and events and ideas. And I like them to feel true. But in that sense of generating comprehensive systems and maps etc? Honestly, no, not at all. It's just not how I story, as a reader or a writer. I don't want to know all those details in a world, let alone come up with them all myself!

2024-08-16 07:54:10

#WritersCoffeeClub 16 August: In a maximum of 500 characters, can you write us a short story?
Gonna cheat and just link to a couple of ghosty microfictions 👻
"How Our Local Wine Bar Ended Up On The Ghost Tour" (50 words)
https://fiftywordstories.com/2021/08/10/sarah-jackson-how-our-local-wine-bar-ended-up-on-the-ghost-tour/
"Unfinished Business" (100 words, cw bereavement)
https://thedrabble.wordpress.com/2021/07/18/unfinished-business/

2024-08-16 07:48:21

- reply

@npub1e7d…skfm yeah!

2024-08-16 07:27:51

- reply

Myself I followed the traditional route of watching so much Inspector Morse that I started getting bits of opera stuck in my head and then had to go and listen to them.

2024-08-16 07:24:31

- reply

I love the Arcola Theatre in Dalston for lots of reasons, not least because they have an opera season every year (called Grimeborn, a play on Glyndebourne) which aims to make opera accessible and affordable and encourage people who might not normally feel it's for them to give it a try
https://www.arcolatheatre.com/grimeborn/
#opera #LondonTheatre #theatre

2024-08-16 07:18:36

- reply

Getting to see opera in a small theatre is such a treat, too. It's absolutely amazing how skilled people are. Especially when they're belting out the songs, acting, and doing some quite physical stuff all at once. In this production, for example, Lord Ruthven sings while clutching a wooden crucifix to his chest with one hand and then - from a standing start - lowers himself backwards into a coffin with the other!

2024-08-16 07:13:05

We went to see a production of Der Vampyr by Gothic Opera at the Arcola last night and it was so good! Some great tunes, but especially how they played it; hilarious and shlocky, poking fun at the source material and a lot of modern vampire tropes. I also loved how they reinterpreted the original 1828 plot to make it about women's agency, sexuality, and consent 🧛🏻‍♀️❤️
https://www.gothicopera.co.uk/dervampyr2024

2024-08-16 06:59:47

- reply

@npub16sw…x6aq same here! I hope you had a good time and feel better / stay well after

2024-08-14 06:52:09

- reply

@npub1yp2…dn9p This was my third visit to Glasgow tbf, there's a lot to see!

2024-08-13 06:48:37

Morning! I'm back 😊 I've spent the last few days in Glasgow at Worldcon which was really good fun 🚀

2024-08-13 06:46:03

- reply

@npub1fgl…4jl4 😊

2024-08-13 06:45:48

- reply

@npub1ycl…eptq thank you 😊

2024-08-04 16:11:28

Logging off for a while I think. Take care everybody.

2024-08-03 06:26:49

#WordWeavers 3 August: Is there a genre you haven't written yet but would like to try?
It would be fun to try writing something really literary and experimental. I'd also love to have a go at writing for children one day.

2024-08-02 21:34:46

HOPE Not hate have a list of planned fascist activity around the UK this weekend https://hopenothate.org.uk/2024/08/02/a-weekend-of-unrest-dozens-of-protests-planned-in-the-wake-of-southport/
Take care, folks 😣😠❤️
(If you can, consider giving to HOPE Not hate's action fund)
#UKNews

2024-08-02 19:41:54

- reply

@npub1zxz…8jtz ha ha, amazing! 😄

2024-08-02 17:47:18

- reply

I think I've been spoiled by the T Kingfisher and AG Slatter books I've read whose protagonists seem to mostly just get on with things

2024-08-02 17:40:32

- reply

'Sure I'd dropped out of school and taught myself to catch squirrels so we had something to eat, but it wasn't enough. Becoming Master Blackthorn's librarian was the only way I could protect my little sister Bethie, so I had to do it, even though just thinking about his long dark hair made me vomit with rage'
Exhausting

2024-08-02 17:39:21

A couple of library audiobook holds came up at once so I've been listening to back to back fantasy novels with feisty 'not like other girls' heroines whose narrative voice features a near continuous stream of observations along the lines of 'but what could Master Blackthorn possibly see in *me*, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks with mousy hair who plays the bassoon? plays it so badly?!'

2024-08-02 17:06:43

Yesterday evening we had a burst of rain after a week of hot, dry weather and I went out for a walk in it and it was heavenly. There were a few pale flashes of lightning and lots of soft rumbly thunder. Everything *smelled* amazing as those first big fat cool droplets came down. Not just the petrichor but the trees, the lavender, the roses in my neighbours' gardens 🥰

2024-08-02 07:44:40

- reply

#PennedPossibilities cont'd.
My favourite story that's currently available to read online is probably "Great Mother Broth" in Translunar Travelers Lounge. (CW death, bereavement, family. Though it's more uplifting than it sounds.) https://translunartravelerslounge.com/2023/02/15/great-mother-broth-by-sarah-jackson/

2024-08-02 07:43:30

#PennedPossibilities 393 Roughly how many stories have you written, and which one is your favourite?
According to the Submission Grinder I've written 43 stories and poems, of which 37 have been published and 6 have been trunked. You can find the published ones here: https://sarah-i-jackson.ghost.io/writing/

2024-08-01 09:54:53

- reply

The sequel
#CatsOfMastodon
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/112/886/154/128/383/146/original/c83a54f5eacd1b22.jpg

2024-08-01 08:50:42

- reply

I've interpreted 'AI' in these questions to mean generative AI specifically, and 'create' and 'compose' to mean having a substantial influence on the content or style of a work. I'm not talking about using autocorrect or dictation tools.

2024-08-01 08:43:27

- reply

Thought I'd just do them all at once so I don't need to keep repeating myself.

2024-08-01 08:40:02

#WritersCoffeeClub AI
1. Can you foresee any circumstance where you might use AI to compose part of a story?
No.
5. If AI created a genuinely good story, would you read it?
Possibly, but I'd prefer to read an original work.
12. Someone asks permission to use AI to write a book in your style outside your usual genre. Do you allow it?
Absolutely not.
15. Have you used any form of AI to help in creating your work?
No.
30. Would you consider using AI for a book cover design or an audiobook?
No.

2024-07-31 21:37:59

- reply

@npub1fs4…207m happy birthday! 🥳

2024-07-31 13:15:25

A bit of news: I'm heading to Worldcon in Glasgow next week! 🎉
While I'm there I'll be moderating a panel called "What’s The Use of Feeling Blue? Grief, Queer Trauma and Growing Up in Steven Universe" on Saturday evening 💙
Come and see us, in person or online!
https://guide.glasgow2024.org/
#Glasgow2024 #SFF #StevenUniverse

2024-07-30 12:32:09

- reply

@npub1qy5…qq3x I was just about to post the first picture and then she rolled over and looked even more ridiculous, poor thing 🤣

2024-07-30 12:28:49

- reply

Poor Ditto. She has no idea that a picture of her bottom is doing numbers on Mastodon right now.
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/112/875/427/448/402/153/original/4db825365da31c50.jpg

2024-07-30 08:17:11

Ditto's adventures under the wardrobe
#CatsOfMastodon
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/112/874/417/119/817/565/original/afefeb3ce66198c6.jpg
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/112/874/439/152/260/667/original/8d68ef1c867742ea.jpg
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/112/874/439/632/638/784/original/86947cf0cac8fa84.jpg

2024-07-29 21:34:21

Just thinking about him
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/112/871/912/880/063/884/original/5cd74b6797ca5dbd.png

2024-07-28 17:51:09

- reply

@npub1cc5…h45g awesome, thank you! 😊❤️

2024-07-28 17:01:21

Went to a historic house with a friend. Lovely day out and a beautiful place, but I always leave with mixed feelings as it's not a National Trust job, instead it's one of the many that is still owned by aristocrats *who still live there!* 🙃
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/112/865/173/794/986/054/original/cc8a21e6dad8186d.jpg

2024-07-28 16:23:41

- reply

For me, lots of things people have mentioned already, but also:
- Steven as a role model for finding ways through conflict, but also the acknowledgement that some people just can't be Stevened
- the nuance and ambivalence in characters' feelings about Rose Quartz
- plot events having real emotional consequences and character(s) grappling with trauma, on screen, with no quick fix
- "I've felt worse"

2024-07-28 16:14:06

- reply

@npub1gcv…qyne love this, thank you 😊❤️

2024-07-28 16:10:00

- reply

@npub1mp4…3l3p wonderful, thank you 😊❤️

2024-07-28 11:11:17

- reply

(Not going to be quoting any responses directly anywhere, just trying to inform and organise my thoughts)

2024-07-28 11:06:16

If SU was an important show for you, would you mind sharing a little about why you loved it / why it mattered? Especially interested in how its themes around queerness, trauma, mental health, and growing up resonate with people. (It's for a Thing I'll be able to tell you about very soon!)

2024-07-28 07:07:56

#WritersCoffeeClub 27 & 28 July: Is everything tied up at the end, or are there questions remaining? Is there an epilogue?
I have a zero draft of a sequel already written, and there's an epilogue on that because it's really the end of the story I want to tell, it's not becoming a series. The end of Book 1 ties up most things, but hints at something dramatic that will be the focus of Book 2 👀

2024-07-27 09:31:03

All right, I'm going to be doing some work on my Moomin House model today and that means queueing up some things to listen to.
What podcasts have you listened to recently that you enjoyed?

2024-07-27 06:58:15

I've had Truly Dreams by Allie X in my head for about three days 🎶 It's not at all unwelcome
https://alliex.bandcamp.com/track/truly-dreams

2024-07-26 11:24:11

- reply

@npub1crv…xgwu Thank you! 😊

2024-07-26 07:53:48

- reply

"...Despite the filth and the danger, London was a city of wonders. The trick was to know how to navigate it like a ship in treacherous waters. When to drift, when to blow the sails full, when to raise your colours, when to glide lampless through the night."
2/2

2024-07-26 07:53:17

#WritersCoffeeClub 26 July Share a snippet of a favourite scene in your WIP
"Clarity smiled to herself as she drew the small knife from her left boot and neatly sliced the orange in four. She didn’t mind the attention. In her role today it was good to be seen. She was an oddity no doubt, but by no stretch the most unusual sight these Londoners had seen, perhaps not even this morning."
1/2

2024-07-26 07:23:58

- reply

Depending on my stamina, I might try and do a couple of hours on my novel WIP, have a break, then do a couple of hours on one of my long short story WIPs in the hope of getting it ready for Uncanny's submission window in August.
It's a long way off ready so I doubt I'll manage it, but I do want to get back to the story at some point and this might be a good opportunity.

2024-07-26 07:15:17

- reply

@npub1ye6…dxzs yeah! I'm stoked 😊

2024-07-26 07:08:56

I have about an hour of day job work to do today and then I'm off to the library to do some writing! 🥰

2024-07-26 06:56:23

I watched Lisa Frankenstein last week and I can’t stop thinking about it 💀💖🪓
Someone on Tumblr said it has all the beats of slasher, except the slasher thinks she's in a romcom.
It's a bit of Heathers, a bit of Edward Scissorhands, with some extra gender.
Directed by Zelda Williams, written by Diablo Cody 🩷
https://youtu.be/POOeA3zCuUY
#Horror #LisaFrankenstein

2024-07-25 10:52:59

- reply

*drops compulsory cisheterosexuality into the roiling surface of the sun*

2024-07-25 10:46:11

- reply

"Someone said [insert myth or stereotype] about X people"
I'm sorry. They either don't know what they're talking about or they are being deliberately hurtful. Either way, they don't get to tell you who you are.

2024-07-25 10:45:44

Working through my internalised biphobia over the years has turned out to be excellent preparation for being non binary.
"Am I really X?" Only you can know. If it feels right, then yes, probably. And 'yes, probably' is enough.
"But am I X enough?" Yes.
"Really?" Yes.
"But what if I don't look X / don't do X?" Still yes.

2024-07-23 20:56:19

"Lookin' down in my coffee cup
I think I see your face lookin' up
All alone in my gloom
You voice echoes through the room"
There's A Ghost In My House cover by The Fall
https://youtu.be/D0bZofM6EOU

2024-07-23 20:43:33

- reply

@npub17ac…069g I, too, have fallen into this trap 😑

2024-07-23 08:19:09

- reply

Which the government knows, I'm sure, but a new police taskforce is a cheaper and easier commitment than a well resourced, long term, dedicated effort to challenge harmful norms and narratives. Plus this way they can continue blaming 'some bad men' rather than unpicking the whole patriarchal mess and their role in it.

2024-07-23 08:15:07

Just adding a cw for this post https://zirk.us/@ChrisMayLA6/112834239674313003
And a note from my experience working in the sector that shifting sociocultural gender norms, addressing structural inequalities, and funding inclusive, grassroots feminist movements are likely to make more of a difference than adding police.

2024-07-22 18:10:52

- reply

@npub1yp2…dn9p ah, who knows!

2024-07-22 18:10:40

- reply

@npub1yp2…dn9p ❤️🌿

2024-07-22 08:57:28

- reply

We were out in Bedfordshire and saw several red kites! That was exciting https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/red-kite

2024-07-22 08:53:35

- reply

Over the course of the weekend I also drank 2.5 pints of shandy, which for me represents a real bender! 😄🍻

2024-07-22 08:51:35

I had a weekend of seeing lovely friends and wandering around green places 😊❤️🌳

2024-07-22 08:46:44

#WritersCoffeeClub 22 July: Does your WIP contain any humour, romance, or horror elements? What's the tone?
Some humour, yes. No horror, although there are a few murders, and the reality of life for many people in that place and time is quite grim at points. Romance, I'm not sure. There are romantic relationships, definitely. Some people are in love, but face challenges. Some other people fall in love, and then separate.

2024-07-22 08:18:02

- reply

Instead of a list of particular tropes I have a checklist of 18thC period set pieces I want to include. So scenes take place:
- in a coffeehouse
- at a ball
- at the opera
- on the docks
- in a tavern
- at Smithfield Market
- at the Old Bailey
- at Vauxhall pleasure gardens
- at various prisons
(Book 2)
- the menagerie at the Tower of London
- the Tyburn gallows
- St James's Palace
- Epping Forest
- Barking fishing port

2024-07-22 08:12:58

- reply

One of the people who've read and given feedback on the first couple of chapters assumed that two characters were going to do Enemies To Lovers, which they definitely aren't, so I want to try and write away from that if I can so people don't feel they've been mislead.

2024-07-22 07:48:27

#WritersCoffeeClub 21 July: What tropes are explored in your WIP?
Well, in a sense they're ever present but I'm not deliberately leaning in to any especially hard. There is a Just One Bed scene near the start but it's too early in the character's relationship for it to be sexy, then as their feelings for each other deepen it becomes a case of Too Many Beds later on, I'm enjoying that 😊

2024-07-22 07:31:15

34 keywords on my US politics filter list so far

2024-07-22 07:30:28

34 keywords on my US Pol filter list so far

2024-07-19 20:01:08

- reply

@npub1phw…f6cj it can feel really counterintuitive to try and let go! For me, anyway - especially when I'm feeling raw and sensitive

2024-07-19 19:51:14

- reply

@npub1cc5…h45g That sounds brilliant 🛰

2024-07-17 17:17:30

- reply

@npub1lfj…lk0t aw thank you! 😊

2024-07-17 17:16:48

- reply

@npub17xx…mfqa ❤️

2024-07-17 17:06:58

- reply

@npub1lfj…lk0t IKR? Some of them have written poems in the card! 😭

2024-07-17 17:06:17

- reply

@npub1fs4…207m Isn't it? They're such a great group of people

2024-07-17 17:00:21

- reply

I genuinely wasnt expecting it! I brought some cakes with me and I thought we'd have a goodbye hug and maybe a photo but they did so much 🥹 Really glad I gave it a proper ending so we had a chance to say goodbye

2024-07-17 16:57:48

Did my last session volunteering at the care setting. The residents and staff gave me *three* cards and made this lovely banner!! Going to miss going there so much 😭
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/112/802/874/211/528/362/original/7747dd144f6b74de.jpg
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/112/802/874/397/598/168/original/e2b4d4690c60ac65.jpg

2024-07-17 07:48:39

- reply

#WritersCoffeeClub 17 Jul: Do we experience your WIP through a particular POV, or does the focus move?
I've ended up in close third person perspective, following either Clarity or Peregrine's POV apart from a few places. I'm trying to keep the headhopping to a minimum.

2024-07-17 07:32:34

- reply

#WritersCoffeeClub 16 July 16: Is there an overriding theme to your WIP? What is it?
There are several themes coming through, I'm not sure which if any will become dominant:
- Eat the rich
- We're stronger together
- You can't outrun your past, you have to face it
- We have always been here
- Love dares you to change*
*with thanks to Queen and David Bowie

2024-07-17 06:21:53

- reply

@npub1zwu…3c86 happy birthday! 🥳

2024-07-15 12:09:07

- reply

This book is potentially one of two, as I've got a zero draft of a sequel. Book 1 is mainly concerned with New Money, the merchant class, and the law, but Book 2 is more about Old Money, the aristocracy, and covert state violence.
(I think it'll be more fun to read than it sounds! 😅)

2024-07-15 07:48:20

- reply

2024-07-15 06:32:50

- reply

@npub1u87…7pu3 You're welcome! 😊

2024-07-14 16:55:52

#WritersCoffeeClub 14 July: Where is your WIP set? Why'd you choose this setting? Describe your worldbuilding
It's set in London around 1725. I always knew I wanted to write about London because it's my home and I love learning about its history. I was attracted to the early 18thC for many reasons, but partly chose it because I'd never studied it before. I knew I'd be working on my WIP for years and if I chose an unfamiliar period I'd be less likely to get bored of it!

2024-07-14 14:17:19

- reply

Inside the windmill...
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/112/785/243/177/163/672/original/71700202d3d6b26d.mp4

2024-07-14 14:08:16

We went to see Upminster Windmill!
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/112/785/222/393/158/443/original/1bfcca6076e2d4a8.mp4

2024-07-13 08:56:39

#WritersCoffeeClub 13 July: What inspired you to tell the story in your WIP?
A few things converged:
- I had a persistent daydream about two of my main characters
- I watched Black Sails and The Favourite, and read Laid Waste and Black Is The Color by Julia Gfrörer and was fascinated by the things they did with (and about) history
- I'd written a few short stories and decided I wanted to have a go at writing a novel
Finding my themes and the message I wanted to put across came much later.

2024-07-13 07:22:45

- reply

Glass harmonica history! Featuring Benjamin Franklin, who invented it, plus Mozart, Marie Antoinette, and Mesmer
https://benjaminfranklinhouse.org/benjamin-franklin-and-the-glass-armonica/

2024-07-13 07:14:36

A friend had a spare ticket to see Nils Frahm at the Barbican last night, I'd never even heard of him but I'm so glad I went.
It was such an interesting mix of classical and electronic music, and I enjoyed the references to dance and house music that I wasn't expecting. Plus a glass harmonica! ❤️
I think this is film is of a concert from the same tour: https://youtu.be/HPPzQgTaLbo?feature=shared

2024-07-12 23:05:33

- reply

@npub1crv…xgwu Thank you! 💖