E. R. Nelson
She began writing in fandom spaces around 2008, and has to live with the haunting information that she is personally responsible for .15% of published works in a very popular fandom. While she still dabbles – her piece “All Eyes on Me” was published in 2025 in the fanzine Worlds Collide Magazine– her most recent work is original fiction hosted on Patreon.
She mostly writes fantasy, supernatural, and adventure. Current on-going long form stories include Swordpoint Diplomacy, a magical inheritance drama, and Moonstrike, a superhero story about a small-time villain who is accidentally hired by the government. While most of her original works are locked to paid subscribers, you can read samples of many completed short stories. One of them is Coming Out (Of My Crypt), a vampire story. Keep reading for an excerpt from her short story, “The Demotion,” one of the short stories currently on query for publishing.
The Demotion
Something supernatural and outright evil was haunting the sports bar. Michael sensed it instantly, but mistook the heavy malice for the sensation of longing to be home with his wife. Hm. He looked around for a moment in an attempt to pinpoint the source of his unease. Everything was normal enough. Michael made eye contact with a woman he didn’t know across the bar for a brief second as he pulled out his phone. He shook the image of her pitch-black eyes from his mind as he looked away to write a message to his wife: Can I come home now?
Her reply was fast: You have to stay another half an hour at least, hang in there.
He sighed, grievously wounded by Candice’s assessment of the social politics of his work. If she said he needed to attend his manager’s birthday party, she was right.
“You’re extremely alone,” said a voice. “Why?” He jumped half out of his skin and turned to see the woman from across the bar. She had her head tilted slightly as she looked at him, frowning.
She was a black hole of a person and she drew him in until he forgot to breathe. She was extremely difficult to look away from. He felt his lips part slightly. His head reeled. “Wow, you have lips as red as a red red rose,” Michael told her, and then wondered why he had said that. That was a weird thing for him to think. He blinked back to the real world, with the smell of beer and fried mozzarella sticks. The strange woman lost all her luster again.
She sat next to him and put an elbow on the counter so she could rest her chin on her hand. “I’m a fairy. I have to disclose that.”
Huh. Wasn’t that usually a slur for dudes? Either way, Michael didn’t really like self-critical humor. It made him uncomfortable. He ducked eye contact and shrugged at her. “You can love whoever you wanna love.”
Her brow wrinkled. The bartender came back and put a glass of water down for him. “Can I get you anything else?” She asked, glancing between the two of them.
The dark-haired woman hummed. “Give me your name?” She asked tiredly.
“Not on your life,” said the bartender. “Have a nice night.” She walked away while Michael was still frowning.
‘What a strange and rude answer. Is the bartender in witness protection or something? She’s not being homophobic, is she?’
“Figures,” the stranger said philosophically. Then she turned to Michael. “Can I have your name?”
He stopped sucking on his straw long enough to say, “Yeah, sure. It’s Michael.”
Purposefully Vague Qualifications You Just Have To Trust
In the past, I was the Language Section Editor for an online magazine aimed at English teachers in Japan, and I have been published in Japanese newspapers on behalf of a national organization. I was the Vice Chair for a different national organization and wrote surveys, reports, and some absolutely stunning emails for them. Those surveys and reports were presented to multiple Japanese government departments in Tokyo, and no one told me that they hated my work or me as a person.
I obtained certifications in copywriting and English teaching for the sheer thrill of taking online classes. Before that, I got my degree in English literature in the USA, at a university that you almost certainly have never heard of, but it was rather a nice place. I won an award there for being funny. I also thought it seemed like a good idea to submit a paper to a Graduate conference as an undergraduate student, which was accepted. I had a good time because I didn’t know that wasn’t supposed to be fun for teenagers.
Find me on Patreon.
