Week 6: Tami Veldura (www.patreon.com/tamiveldura)
Tami is one of my absolute favorite writers. Her short stories and novels are written elegantly and descriptively, and capture the imagination from the first line. She also draws and makes beautiful art (I’m focusing on her writing here because it’s my favorite part). I adore supporting her on Patreon – she’s active across all her social media, and engaged with her patrons.
About her work
Her writing is focused around science fiction, fantasy, steampunk, and queer fiction, including short stories, anthologies and novels. She shares some short stories exclusively on Patreon, and I’m telling you, if you’re not a patron you’re really missing out. Her writing style is really something else; chock-full of description, but not in an annoying way. Every moment is important and captivating. Even in short stories, she creates entire worlds and characters that I fall in love with and desperately want more of!
Her anthology, Fanged, is an erotic paranormal M/M romance that is impeccable and unique. Tami’s debut novel, Perihelion, is being released on April 15 (just a couple of weeks away!). It’s a wild adventure set in the space between worlds, featuring a diverse cast of characters ranging in race, gender, and sexuality, in which sentient space ships, rogue AI, and feuding political families all want a piece of the galaxy.
My four favorites of her short stories are available exclusively on Patreon, and I highly recommend them. 🙂
- The Forever Storm
“…Lightning flashed in the tent and woke Duliya from a sound sleep. She jerked up in the straw, tangled in sweat and the blanket. The whole tent glowed blue. Lightning flashed again to her right. Duliya jumped. She swept her hair back and realized it wasn’t lightning, it was Elion. The elf lay in the straw, still asleep. His runes pulsed and throbbed between white and blue, lighting the tent and everything in it…” - The Work of a Dragon
“Keytie stepped in her mentor’s tracks. Ulroe breathed with the forest. She sensed its moods and read the animals that had passed through here before. Keytie followed Ulroe’s movements like an echo. Her long ears caught the drone of a beehive not far off, twittering finches here and there, but no sign of deer…” - Chepi and the Wolf
“Chepi fluttered her broad wings. She twitched the width of her tail and soared into a thermal rising against the edge of the cliffs. The red rock was hot and it pushed her higher. Her view expanded as she rose in great circles, searching. Searching. A feeling in her chest had pulled her for days… There. Chepi screamed and her sharp voice cracked against the cliffside. A murder down in the trees below scolded her…” - Blessed
“Piet smoothed the grey robes of his service down over his chest and insured the ropes of his station lay flat. The tassels dangled by his knees. He checked in the mirror for any stray hairs the cleansing may have missed. He didn’t recognize his own face. Something about the lack of eyelashes made it more alien than he expected. He smoothed the grey robes again. His sandals were wrapped tight, he carried nothing. It was time…”
Why she’s a Spotlight Creator
I support her because of her phenomenal talent, but also because she’s active and hard working. She’s not one to sit back and let things run on their own; she talks on social media, asks questions, shares ideas, gets feedback, and constantly, constantly writes. I truly feel that her patrons are important to her (I can’t tell you how disappointing it is when creators drop off from updating their Patreon pages).
Other reasons to support Tami:
- FULL-LENGTH, EXCLUSIVE SHORT STORIES. There’s no doubt you get a bang for your buck with Tami – you can read Patreon-exclusive stories for just $1 per story.
- SHE TAKES FEEDBACK AND IDEAS TO HEART. Tami really listens to her supporters. At one point, I suggested trying out recording herself reading her stories because I wanted to hear how she interprets her own writing, and she did it!
Check out Tami’s work: Patreon | Website | Twitter | Facebook
