Kaiden Alderling

@alderling.com

143 Followers 166 Following

Unsettling stories that are fiercely alive (even when the characters are dead). Often found wandering the mountains near Calgary, Canada, or at alderling.com.

A woman turns from a board covered in papers and red string and gestures rapidly as she explains something, while a second woman nods excitedly (Neve and Bellara from Dragon Age: The Veilguard)
A screencap of Hbomberguy on YouTube saying "Foreshadowing is a literary device—" The first two words have been struck out with new text, so it now reads, "Characters are a literary device—"
Screenshot from the report: While admin tasks remain the dominant use case overall, AI is increasingly being incorporated into creative workflows, most significantly in film, TV, radio and audio production (42%) and PR, marketing and advertising (40%). In contrast, publishing reported the lowest use (6%), reflecting ongoing concerns around copyright and authorship.¹
The text "retail her" appears with an author photo of Kaiden Alderling, along with the official name of the Alphanumeric podcast, 4Lph4num3r1c2.0
With the text, "you're kinda cool", siblings Lisa and Bart Simpson high five while falling asleep on a pull-out couch in the living room
In Microsoft Word, "over my bare arms" (B-A-R-E) has been underlined with the grammar suggestion to use B-E-A-R instead.
Duckduckgo search for "invidia" returns a summary of the listing for Nvidia, the American multinational technology company (nvidia.com). The listing shows the logo.
A crow cawing, beak open in a way that frames the eye of the blond guy with chin length hair and green eyes, wearing a Victorian-style white dress shirt. The scene is framed by ivy. The digital painting is done in a relatively realistic style, but the pastel brush gives it an impressionistic look.
Cisco and Caitlin from the Flash TV show making "yikes" faces
Lyrics: Once full of mercy, full of love, you fear just what I have become / You know I'd walk a million miles to set your world on fire
"Is this a pigeon" meme with This Guy gesturing at a butterfly labelled "Ocean" as he says "Is this potable water?"
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, an edition with gold leaf stamping and edges
A crow cawing, beak open in a way that frames the eye of the blond guy with chin length hair and green eyes, wearing a Victorian-style white dress shirt. The scene is framed by ivy. The digital painting is done in a relatively realistic style, but the pastel brush gives it an impressionistic look. A signature on the collar reads "Alderling 2026"
The text reads, "'I need to protect people,' Merrow says. 'I'm not sure I can do that without a heart.'"
The side of my head, wearing a delicate lace and velvet hood in black, with purple hair peeking out from underneath, in front of a natural stonework background
Text says "Caption this with the 2nd to last text you sent." Image is the corner of a room that looks like a murder scene with blood on the walls and a chest with a lamp and a small TV which has, on its screen, an image that looks very much like a naked butt.)
ALL THE STARS DIE by John F.D. Taff "A powerful and original take on cosmic horror that, despite revealing the dreadful darkness beyond the stars, remains richly and] painfully human, bound up in suffering, loss, and regret." Brian Evenson, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Song: for the Unraveling of the World OCTOBER 28 Background image is of a pained/screaming face in the clouds
The poem "Far to Fall" by Kieren Alderling over a mountain background: September died with smoke in the air / A lush billowing, provocative red caps / Sheltering the jagged peaks / Autumn dawns yellow and cerulean / Swirling aspen, those leavings bleached / Peroxide-blond over mountain streams / Cotton is strung—hanging—stratospheric / A mirror, for wardings over doors / Observed between branches from the overhang / Scree crunches under boots and whorls / Called away, tumbling down the side / Satisfaction in the upset. /end The text around the poem reads "Harvest Harmonies 2025" by Choeofpleirn Press. The mountain includes a scree field with aspen forest around it, and red clouds above.
Two books side by side: The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes, with an oroborus-style centipede eating its own tail, and A Murder of Prose by Scott Charlton Paul. Brown leather backdrop.
Rakesfall book cover, by Vajra Chandrasekera, with a pink cover and an animal skull, and the tagline: "Will you follow me to the end?"
The microfiction piece "Reprise" appears against a background of a photo looking up a limestone cliff at the trees above. The piece reads: "*Not enough*, we hold, the round hulls of our wings casting oars into the dark, the splash echoing to spill into distant coves. The land will not sustain us; its rocky shores cast a soaring cry over the waves, defiant and daring, but rocks repelling teeth bear little fruit. Our voices swell, songs replete with the ken that magnates always outpace kings: weighing anchor, trading empire, casting out the net. Industry and worship. Reassurance and rapine. One calamitous scramble after another and then: devoured. Reprising, splashing, throats forming the chorus behind bloody teeth. Not enough. Never enough." by Kieren Alderling
The Works of Vermin book cover, by author Hiron Ennes, with pull quote "I will follow this author anywhere.” from Gillian Flynn, NYT bestselling author if gone girl. A centipede or millipede surrounds the title in a circle, and a dreamlike greenish backdrop uses floral and geometric shapes to frame the image.
The woman cast her eyes down, which made no sense. There was no tactical advantage to taking her eyes off of Shesheshen. “Uhm. I’m sorry if I offended you somehow. You were badly hurt.” This was too much to process. What was this human woman’s game? Was she teasing her about her injuries and her new helplessness? Shesheshen had to get out of here.
“I gave it the best splint I could. You have some unruly bone structure. It will heal, though.” Shesheshen kept struggling with her splinted arm. She could re-spool that flesh into her body—there was no way the pulverized stones inside were going to heal like a mammal’s bones would. The notion of someone trying to heal her like a person was alien. It couldn’t be trusted.
The view of the wing of an airplane out the window, with a view of the area around London, UK spread out below.
A mechanical phoenix on top of the entrance to the arts space Exeter Phoenix
A photo of Stonehenge in England as viewed from the road. People walk around the historic location in a ring surrounded by ropes. The sky above is cloudy, with a dramatic burst of clear blue to one side of the stone ring.
A Harris hawk perched on a sign in front of greenery. The sign has arrows pointing to "The Lake", "Channel Walk" and "Wildlife Park"
A person with green hair and fair skin wearing a white shirt and blue tie. Signed with "Kiernan".