Nebulous, writes

speculative fiction author, lapslock aficionado, fanfiction connoisseur, and number one defender of comic sans. i write short stories with vibes for plot & SFF novels featuring everything but the kitchen sink.

Hellelil and Hildebrand, the meeting on the turret stairs, a painting by Frederic William Burton

Books

3D hardcover of Black As Diamond. The cover depicts a jagged dark blue gem sprouting from the bottom right with a twisted tree and tower embedded in it, and two white birds in the top left. Golden text for the title and white text for the author's name.
Black As Diamond

March 3, 2026

Bindery Books & Ezeekat Press

Cover of Black As Diamond. The cover depicts a jagged dark blue gem sprouting from the bottom right with a twisted tree and tower embedded in it, and two white birds in the top left. Golden text for the title, white text for the author's name.

Illustration: Christian Chang
Design: Charlotte Strick

A cursed warrior. A reckless healer. A chance to save the world—or destroy it.

Like the rest of the winged eresh keyel, warrior Asaru has spent his life fighting a long-dead enemy. When his brother’s squadron disappears from a border keep, Asaru travels into the human realm to investigate, only to become ensnared by a fatal—and unbreakable—curse that could wipe out his people.When he inadvertently commits a terrible crime, Asaru is thrown into the path of Wren, a former healer-in-training playing with dangerous magic. Bound to one another by a spell gone wrong, and on the run from freelance killers, they set out to find the Chronicler, who could bring them answers, redemption, and the cure to Asaru’s curse. But the secrets they uncover about the past have the power to break the world into pieces, ending human civilization and settling its remnants into something entirely new.

Available to pre order now:


Artwork

Explicit gore, death, graphic violence, fight scenes, loss of limb, mutilation, descriptions of corpses, blood, bloodletting, nosebleeds, atypical depression, suicidal ideation, depictions of religion and religious practices, implied sexual content, sex work (mentioned), non-consensual kiss, non-consensual drug use, ethnic discrimination, near drowning, indentured servitude (mentioned), body horror, emesis, excessive alcohol consumption, owls (the skull of an owl-like creature is depicted).

Please assume everyone is queer unless otherwise stated or implied.

No one has asked this but I want to discuss the world, sue me!!! Join the newsletter to learn more about my research and worldbuilding.

Short Fiction

Forthcoming

  • "Belletristic Lover." Baffling.

  • "Itsy Bitsy." Kaleidotrope.

  • "Family Will Eat You Alive." Consumed anthology.

  • "Divinity, Abloom." Tales and Feathers.

  • "Tapetum Lucidum." Augur.


2025

"Teeth Sharper Than Moonlight." Blood, Sweat, & Queers anthology.

Out on OCTOBER 7, 2025


"Allomorphosis." White Wall Review.

Out on SEPTEMBER 23, 2025


"When The World Will End..." Saros Issue 3.

The technology that remains will be more flesh than metal.

[Set in the Khrysoverse]


"Like Embers." MYRIAD's Kinship zine.

The human and the automaton rode up on the Burning Kin in the deep night when there was no difference between shadow and sky.

[Set in the Khrysoverse]

2023

"When She Speaks." The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2022. (reprint.)

2022

"Fractal Eyes." Out There: Into The Queer New Yonder anthology. YA.

Subject 0000-A, also known as Essence, is an entity of unknown origin resembling a human in physical appearance.

[Set in the We're Not Aloneverse]


"TAKEOFF." midnight & indigo: Nineteen Speculative Stories by Black Women Writers Issue 6.

There stands a woman, sunny hair, umber skin, and eyes like the coffee swirling in my cup.

2021

"When She Speaks." Augur Issue 4.1.

Flowers bloom when her wife speaks.

Get in touch!

Use this form, or email me directly:
um [at] nebulouswrites [dot] com
For publishing inquiries, contact Emily Forney at BookEnds Literary.

The Archive

  • 7: Dashcon 2 & celebrating community (July) - READ HERE

  • 6: Cover reveals & killing demons (June-B) - READ HERE

  • 5: Frankenstein & apologies (June-A) - READ HERE

  • 4: Blurbs & the anxiety of seeking praise (April) - READ HERE

  • 3: The spectacle & distinction of disaster films (March) - READ HERE

  • 2: Diving into edits & trying not to drown (February) - READ HERE

  • 1: The book deal & other madness (January) - READ HERE

Press

Upcoming

stay tuned!


Past

WriteHive logo. An orange hexagon made of smaller hexagons with a circuit board in the centre from which wires expand.

WriteHive Con Panelist
July 12, 2025