Aaron Sofaer ✍️🏳️‍⚧️

@aaronsofaer.bsky.social

11939 Followers 2270 Following

Web serialist & author, first book Quill & Still (cozy queer slice of life portal fantasy). SF Area software engineer, reader, gamer, she/her dad, liberal atheist half-Arab Jew. Gender is complicated, Blåhaj is soft. https://aaron.sofaer.net/

A screenshot from Axom Conquest in which there's placeholder text on some upgrades.
A picture of the author at SF Trans March. She's wearing a rainbow pride flags minidress and a rainbow hat. She's holding a Tree of Life sign where each sefirah is colored as a pride flag. She is smiling.
A one star review of the web serial form of Quill and Still. It is by Temoffy, left on the site Royal Road. It is entitled "Good if you want it" and has as its logline "Communist gay utopia wish fulfillment, have at it if you want it but I'm out". It makes several culture war references to Temoffy's dislike of Sophie, the main character, on account of her queerness. It has two upvotes and sixty nine downvotes.
A book promotional picture for the novel Quill & Still by Aaron Sofaer. The cover has main character Sophie Nadash gazing out over the grasslands at the village of Kibosh, with firebirds in the mid-distance. Arrows point from the cover to "Take a vacation with a portal fantasy", "OUT NOW!!!", "TOO many gods!", "Cozy queer slice-of-life fantasy", the alchemical squared circle graphic with the text "Alchemy!", and a 1-star review of the book that reads "Communist gay wish fulfillment. I'm out" with two upvotes and 69 downvotes.
52. You are not compelled to form any opinion about this matter before you, nor to disturb your peace of mind at all. Things in themselves have no power to extort a verdict from you. 103 Marcus Aurelius has already released you from the obligation to have a take
The author, smiling at the camera in a black nebula dress and dark green jacket. The purple in her hair is very visible.
Remembering the movement of the White Rose June 1942 - Feb 1943 “The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.” ― Sophie Scholl
Two women holding signs at a NoKings protest
A book promotional picture for the novel Quill & Still by Aaron Sofaer. The cover has main character Sophie Nadash gazing out over the grasslands at the village of Kibosh, with firebirds in the mid-distance. Arrows point from the cover to "Take a vacation with a portal fantasy", "OUT NOW!!!", "TOO many gods!", "Cozy queer slice-of-life fantasy", the alchemical squared circle graphic with the text "Alchemy!", and a 1-star review of the book that reads "Communist gay wish fulfillment. I'm out" with two upvotes and 69 downvotes.
a snippet of text from a bsky post reading "call from the refs. Learn to block and mute on here it actually works. Bitch."
selfie of the author smiling at the mirror. she's wearing a Svaha nebula dress, belt, and barrette. she has a trans flag colors chainlink necklace, a rainbow chainlink bracelet, and a dark green lightweight full-zip Lululemon jacket. her hair is purple.
A picture of a waterfall in the SF Japanese Tea Gardens
text screenshot of a bsky post stripped of attribution, text says: Antisemitism is on the rise and that's absolutely awful. No movement is free of bigotry, but blaming this rise on the pro Palestine movement is absurd when you have pro Israel & Zionist groups insisting that genocide is Jewish & white nationalists jumping on that bandwagon to suppress speech.
a catgirl sicko going yes ha ha ha yes, The Onion style
Two Maya Kern skirts being worn down the sidewalk side by side. One is purple and one is red brown.
Picture of On The Media's "Breaking News Consumer Handbook" with nine rules for engaging with breaking news without falling for or spreading disinformation.
An image with the Heroes of Might & Magic III population labels, from Few to Legion.
Photo of the smiling author in the sunlight, her hair is very purple, she's wearing a rainbow hat and a rainbow backpack over a green jacket and green shirt.
A menorah lit up for the last night of Hanukkah
A menorah lit for the sixth night of Hanukkah
A menorah with five lights lit up for Hanukkah.
A menorah with the shamash and four candles lit
The outside of a suburban home. There is a PVC-and-LEDs hanukkiyah lit up for the second night of Hanukkah in the yard and rainbows of icicle lights in the eaves.
an accusatory skeet by a terminally online alt-lefty
the author in a smiling selfie, wearing her rainbow hat, a rainbow child-sized backpack, a dark green jacket, and a nebula dress
a gross skeet from some tankie dipshit
A picture of the food Aaron cooked
A laptop with an I Voted sticker on it
The author with her wife and daughter at a protest
The author dressed up for a wedding with her wife, likewise.
A picture of the start of the author's Steam purchase history. It reads, bottom to top: Defense Grid: The Awakening, Altitude, Total War: Shogun 2, Portal 2 (preorder), Orcs Must Die! Preorder
A selfie of the author in a rainbow hat and rainbow sunglasses, going for a walk on a sunny day
The author smiling at the camera in a rainbow hat selfie
The author sprawled across the couch. She's wearing a T-shirt and an aurora skirt.
Selfie of the author in a BlackMilk galaxy dress, rainbow hat, and rainbow sunglasses on a very sunny day.
The author on her way to buy groceries. She's wearing a rainbow dragons dress, rainbow hat, and rainbow sunglasses. She has a backpack on and is grinning widely.
A one star review of Quill & Still by Royal Road user Temoffy. It describes the story in negative terms. It has two upvotes and sixty nice down votes.
The author smiling at the camera in her back yard. It's very sunny out!
The author sitting in a train, wearing a purple mask and her rainbow hat. The window shows motion lines.
Selfie of the author in her rainbow hat and rainbow sunglasses. It's a gorgeous sunny day.
The author in a selfie, smiling at the camera
I wasn’t a romantic, I explained to her. Modern Shemmai had, awkwardly, a really small number of words for kinds of love, and Mera’s grasp of the Old Tongue was tenuous at best. Katn didn’t really have words for it as a noun, but unlike Shemmai, there at least were words for friendship that were distinct from romance, and somewhere along my ranting about linguistics she got the idea and, laughing, told me to stop digging before I couldn’t see daylight anymore.
The author in a selfie looking down at her book, Quill & Still. She's smiling.
an image of two characters from the web serial Katalepsis hugging
A shoulders-up photo of the author smiling faintly. She's in focus with the green background fully blurry. She's wearing a rainbow hat, a rainbow dragons dress, a necklace from Peculiarity Shop, and stud earrings. She has lipstick and eyeliner on.
The author in a smiling selfie on a sunny day. She has rainbow sunglasses and a rainbow hat on, a red backpack, and a BlackMilk galaxy dress. She's carrying a half flat of strawberries.
A car selfie of the author. She's wearing a rainbow dragons dress, a rainbow hat, and an irregular blue necklace. She has light makeup on.
The author in a selfie portrait, wearing a black shirt and with her earrings glinting.
Late afternoon / early evening selfie of the author taking the bins in. She's wearing a red shirt
Trans colored stim toy, public library card for scale
The author in a grudging selfie in her rainbow hat with a blue mask on.
The author in a kitchen selfie wearing a big fluffy red bathrobe
A sign from a cat organization of some kind for a free kitten petting event to socialize the cats
The author in a rainbow hat selfie. She's wearing a backpack and her dress shows a lot of her upper chest and arms. She's got rainbow sunglasses on and it's a sunny day.
The author smiling at the camera in a selfie without the rainbow hat. She's wearing a red shirt.
The author, smiling at the camera, wearing a rainbow hat and her daughter's backpack. It's a gray day.
The author smiling at the camera in her rainbow hat with her daughter's sweatshirt and scooter on her shoulder
A selfie of the author, masked, wearing her rainbow hat and Venus fly trap shirt.
A selfie of the author in a BlackMilk eveelution dress and rainbow hat. She's wearing an elastomeric half mask respirator.
The author in a rainbow dragons dress and rainbow hat + sunglasses smiling at the camera in a sunny selfie