A.J. McCrae

Hello! I'm A.J. McCrae, author of fantasy and horror with a heavy splash of romance. I write about monsters, magic, and mayhem (not necessarily in that order) with a soft spot for anything involving bones 🦴 For more info and the newsletter I sometimes remember to send: ajmccrae.com

Oh hey, it's me! A little drabble for anyone who loves a little Frankenstein/botanical horror moment 😊

Couldn't find a container quickly enough before I lost momentum so I harvested my snapdragon seeds in a teacup. You know, as one does.

Rewarded for a week stuck inside with some gorgeous insects on today's walk, including a hummingbird moth which I've never seen in person! #Wildlife #Nature #Pollinators 🦋🐝🌻

I fear my tiny nightstand may not be able to hold many more research books 😅 (and I have 5 new ones on the way...) #AmWriting #Folklore #FolkHorror

This is Charlie. Her favorite hobby is sitting next to my bed and staring at me for extended lengths of time. That is all.

My research assistant today is slacking on the job. I've got a stack of books on Appalachian folklore to get through and he's just snoozing away 💤 Probably has the right idea 😂

Attempting to enjoy the storms rolling in before they go from "delightful writing conditions" to "please don't bring a tree down" #AmWriting

Braved the smoke outside long enough to let the dog out and check my plants from the recent heat wave. My snapdragons are currently giving "angler fish" #GardenSky #FlowerSky

Examinations of almost 4,000-year-old mummified princesses suggest that they were skilled users of the daggers, bows and other weapons buried with them, researchers report. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-egyptian-princesses-weapons-war

Sometimes my doomscrolling is cute/funny animal videos. And sometimes it's 3 hours of learning about using sterile flies for screw worm management, and farming practices to encourage dragonfly populations, and floating farms in Bangladesh, and deep sea creature scanning using lasers.

Thanks so much to @cmrosens.com for this kind review! Interested readers can check out the first two chapters of THE DEVOURING for free on my website, and purchase a copy from most major book retailers. amshilling.com/books/the-devouring #BookSky #WritingCommunity #IndieBooks

You know you work with good people when they immediately ask about your pet's health and if you need more time off after you post that you'll be out for an afternoon vet appointment. (Everything's good, just a routine checkup and I forgot to add that in my work post 😅)

The afternoon migraine sucked but waking up to my nap time companion is always nice 💜

Had a fun day participating in #BluePit and seeing all the amazing stories we will (hopefully) get to read one day! It also led to a breakthrough on one of the WIPs I shared! Something just finally *clicked* when I wrote up the pitch and now I'm ready to dive back in again 💪

To Do: 1.Change name 2.Avoid Godmothers & Princesses 3.Find portal home 4.DO NOT GET MARRIED After an unwise wish Prince Charming wakes in a magical realm where there's a shortage of suitors for princesses. Godmothers are hunting him down, and his only ally is a talking frog. #BLUEPIT #📖 #Q #YA #F

If you like: 🔮unique magic systems 🔥Slow burn romance ❤️‍🔥Strangers➡️lovers➡️enemies ⚔️Fierce female protagonists 🍃BG3 Rivington-esque setting 💖LGBTQIA rep on the page 🤪All the banter Then this one’s for you! COVENANT OF THE DAMNED is a 116k rom. fantasy querying now #📖 #bluepit #A #F #Q

ANASTASIA X THE SERPENT & THE WINGS OF NIGHT ❤️‍🔥93k Adult Romantasy ✨Light X Shadow ✨Strong but messy FMC ✨He falls first (and so much harder!) ✨Elemental magic ✨Slow burn ✨Deadly Trials ✨Forced proximity ✨Found family ✨Meddling gods ✨SO MUCH YEARNING #Bluepit #Q #A #F #R #📖

LIGHT WIELDING & OTHER MORTAL MAGICS In a dark realm where light is toxic and steel is untouchable, a mortal woman with a flashlight and a cosplay sword must ally with a monster king to stop a vengeful demigod. #BluePit #📖 #NA #F #R #Q #ND

NON-BINARY WONDERLAND x BEAUTY & THE BEAST Alois falls down the rabbit hole and finds fearsome beast Jabberwocky is nothing like the poem—they're kind, gentle, & love books. If they want a fairy tale HEA with Jabber, they must end the corrupt Red empire’s destructive reign. #A #F#R #BluePit #LGBT

BEAUTY & THE BEAST x STAR TREK Roan, part of the last team of archaeologists sent to Earth, stumbles into an ancient bunker haunted by the synthetic mind of a trillionaire. She’s the only one who can fix his tech, but can she save him before Earth is swallowed by the Sun? #BluePit #📖 #Q #A #SF #ND

Gravity Falls X The Sunbearer Trials When the Society of Curse Breakers is cursed, Alice is accused and must follow a map of riddles to find the amulet that can break the curse before the traitors use it’s extraordinary magic to take over the world. ⛵️ 👻 🔮 ⚔️ 🗺️ #bluepit #q #ya #uf

HAZELTHORN X YELLOWJACKETS Lucas, a sullen painter working at his local community theater, must cooperate with Mira, a self-absorbed seventeen-year-old, to save his best friend from the theater’s botanical horrors. #Bluepit #H #SP #Q #YA #Bluepit📖 #📖

❄️Project Winter-a holiday, paranormal romance With Jack Frost magic and a Christmas deadline, a murder.ed social worker must leverage her ex, the only man she’s ever loved, to solve her unfinished business. Second chance romance Sisters Fake dating ❄️❄️ magic #bluepit #A #R #PN #W art by mknzgmbn

NEEDY LITTLE THINGS x THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT Mara can see the last thing the dead saw. When a murdered girl’s final memory reveals Mara’s best friend, who disappeared three years ago, Mara’s gift becomes the key to solving both cases. If it doesn’t get her killed first. #BluePit #📖 #YA #M #W

PROJECT BONES After being accused of inviting the plague into a royal summit, a necromancer priest has to work with his only alibi, a cagey nobleman, to clear his name. 🦴 Death magic 🏰 Locked-castle mystery 🕯️ Medieval fantasy 🏹 Robin Hood trope 🏳️‍🌈 MM romance #BluePit #📖 #W #A #F #LGBT #DIS

THE EVERLASTING x THE KNIGHT & THE MOTH featuring... 🪞 exiled heiress x lost prince 🪞 water goddess with a lil bit of a vendetta 🪞 exploration of agency in a collectivist society 🪞 are we more than our shame? #bluepit #📖 #W #A #F #OV #POC

A woman out of time. A soldier longing for home. A peasant fighting for her life. A savior entombed in stone. Four women at the epicenter of a conflict that will reshape their earth and sky, and all of life as they know it. A sapphic epic fantasy serializing August 7th! #BluePit #📖 #A #F #W #LGBT

NECROMANCER PRINCE After the Empress’ sudden death, exiled imperial spy Simo enlists his necromancer ex-bf & twin sister to steal her corpse, resurrect her, and hunt down a magic artifact. #bluepit #F 💀 necromancers 🌤️ dark humor 💀 body snatching 🌤️ found family 💀 island setting 🌤️ court politics

INUYASHA X SAILOR MOON X D&D Ohio wasn't great to begin with but it certainly didn't have magic and monsters. Thrust into the Realm, Kassidy will have to harness her new deity powers quickly...and then risk that very magic to save those shes beginning to love. #bluepit 📖 #a #f #r #w #writesky

PLEASE REPOST AND SHARE WIDELY!!! We need your help once again, you magnificent Space Unicorns! Behold the Uncanny Magazine Year 13: The Space Unicorn Believes in YOU! Kickstarter!!! buff.ly/Gab1zWu

✨THE APOTHECARY SISTERS✨ When a rival shop opens next door, cursed apothecary owners Viola and Clara resume their secret lives as hired assassins to make ends meet. PRACTICAL MAGIC x WEYWARD x THE HONEY WITCH x NETTLE & BONE #BluePit #A #F #Q #📖 #LGBTQIA+

#bluepit #📖 #a #pn #f #w #ov #poc #wf Bound in Blood & Darkness Former agent Jamie Davis must confront her past when her vampire ex crashes Thanksgiving dinner and begs for her unique set of skills to help find his missing bride. Happily Ever After isn’t The End Buffy X Taken

HEARTLESS HUNTER X NEVER EVER AFTER 😴👑YA sleeping beauty reimagining w/ deaf rep 🗡️Zella's on a mission to kill the queen who cursed her 🏃Callum's hot on her heels 🎶Zella compels her enemies with her entrancing singing voice 🤟Callum can't hear her song #bluepit #Q #F #YA #📖 #R

NA Dark Fantasy ✨️ 7 deadly sins x Fourth Wing 🕯 secret identity x deadly stakes 🌑 dark academia - It's kill or be killed to graduate 🔥 Female rage MC ❤️‍🔥 rivals-to-lovers ♥️ found family ⚔️ misfits with mental powers 🪦 morally grey characters #BluePit #F #A #NA #RF #Q

PALADIN'S GRACE x EMILY WILDE a reclusive archivist running from a shame-ridden past and a mage knight with failing magic must team up to solve an arcane bog-body mystery in a small town #bluepit #📖 #W #A #F #OV #POC

She was born to rule👸 He trained to burn🔥 The world will be devoured⚔️ Nothing‘s safe from the wrath of the sea🧜‍♀️ 👸ambitious FMC w/ a soft❤️ 🫅brooding LI who’s protective of his siblings 💘fake courting 💔forbidden love 🗡️sibling rivalry 🖤slow-burn hate-2-love books2read.com/Aaryana1 #BluePit #📖 #F #P

Need to get back on the drafting train after taking a weekend break, and also prep the rest of my boxes of books to unhaul for next weekend (there are so many... I should have weeded through them BEFORE I moved) #QueerWriters #WritingCommunity

JOHN WICK x THE COLOR OUT OF SPACE For readers who like: 🩸 married main characters 🩸 villain protagonists 🩸 unreliable narrators 🩸 criminal underworlds 🩸 occult conspiracies 🩸 terrifying body horror 🩸 the threat of an eldritch god Buy today: amshilling.com/books #BluePit #📖 #P #A #H

Heists, spice, and space! What do you do when: 🏳️‍🌈 You're a disaster bisexual 😱 Space witches want your illegal hyperspace treasure maps 💫 You must get off Hecate IV before you're caught You ALWAYS GET IN A SPACESHIP WITH A SCOUNDREL 🥵🚀 #BluePit #SF #R #A #📖 (Manuscript is #OS looking for an editor)

TANGLED X ANNIHILATION A failed revolutionary cons a party of heroes into hiring her as their guide through monster-infested woods where she’ll leave them for dead. Then she inconveniently grows a conscience. #bluepit #q #a #f

#BluePit #Q #YA #F #LGBT #📖 THE SIGIL AND THE SERPENT BLOOD OVER BRIGHT HAVEN x SERAPHINA When the failed son of a dragonslayer undergoes a monstrous change, his already brittle self-esteem takes a nosedive, and he ends up needing the support of a fellow drake almost as much as he resents it.