Erin Luken

@esluken.bsky.social

676 Followers 256 Following

THIS DARK PARADISE (Bloomsbury, out now!) | YA and adult fantasy author rep’d by @sarahnfisk.bsky.social | 🏳‍🌈 she/her | writing for all who think evil women are hot | website: esluken.com

At the top, text says "Writing Demystified." Text below says, "Join Jason Denzel and Erin Luken for a discussion on all things writing, marketing, editing, and publishing!" Below is a small image of a chair and table with the text A Seat at the Table beside it. At the bottom, the date of the event is given, Thurs Feb 6 5:30-7:30pm and location 9257 Laguna Springs Dr #130. The authors' photos are on either side of the text, plus the cover images of the books MYSTIC by Jason Denzel and THIS DARK PARADISE by Erin Luken.
A seven month old flamepoint kitten sits on top of a cat tree. He is leaning on one paw and gazing pensively out the window.
Image titled My Manuscripts 1. FLAME — horror, 2004, trunked 2. IT’S ALWAYS DARKEST- fantasy 2006-2008, trunked 3. GUARDIAN OF THE PRINCE - YA fantasy 2009-2014 **first queried**, trunked 4. THE FIRST LAW OF LOYALTY - YA fantasy 2015, trunked 5. VENDETTA OF MONSTERS - YA fantasy 2016, **Pitch Wars mentee**, trunked 6. OUR SHATTERED MASKS - YA fantasy drafted 2017, **signed 2022, sold 2023, releasing 2024** 7. LAST LIGHTS OF THE LOST - YA fantasy 2018, trunked 8. HEIRS TO ANNIHILATION - adult fantasy 2020-2023 9. WHAT BLOOMS WITHIN - adult horror/fantasy 2022
Text of the heading of a google sheets file titled "motherfucking multi POV mess in HEIRS Fall 2023"
An image of a girl in a ballgown in a forest looking up at the trees with text over it. Text content: "We all wear our masks. Some of us wear them better than others." Calista spins me away, leaving those words to echo in my ears. And you? I want to ask. How well do you wear yours?
An image of text. Text content: Luken/OUR SHATTERED MASKS/308 CHAPTER SOMETHING As we trudge up through the town, only the final hill remaining between us and the
Text over a dark forest. Text content: Appearance is easiest to change, of all the senses, even if it also causes the most lasting damage. I can see as I work, the thin outline of my new creation like it's overlaying the original. And the price is naturally stolen from me. My skin that touches it flakes off, seemingly vanishing into the air. Oddly enough, it doesn't hurt, despite the strange wounds it leaves behind that leave even stranger scars.
Image of three girls in a dark forest. The girl in front has medium brown hair, white skin, brown eyes, and wears a white blouse, a red corset over it, and green flounce skirt. She holds a mask in hand and smiles slyly. Behind her to the left is a girl with medium copper skin, black hair in an elaborate updo, and wearing a gold bustle dress. The third girl in the back is mostly hidden, turned away from the others, and holds a mask with flames on its side to partially obscure her face. She has white skin and black hair in an elaborate updo and wears a blue dress.
Text over the image of a woman in a ballgown in a forest, holding a bouquet behind her back. Text content: Antony blinks a few times quickly. His throat bobs as he swallows, and I know what thoughts must race through his mind. Who is it? Because it obviously isn't him. "Like?" he asks quietly. "Like a friend?" "No. I mean romantically." I wonder if he suspects at all it's Calista—if he's realized, like I have now, that I can be attracted to both men and women. He must have some idea because there's a limited number of people it could otherwise be.
Text of an email header: Your approved request to view Merciless Waters from Brigids Gate Press
An aesthetic featuring photos of: Top left, a waterfall. Bottom left, a girl in a ball gown in a forest, looking up at the trees, holding a bouquet behind her. Middle top: a figure in a black cloak and plain white mask, the background of a tree behind them Middle bottom: a skull on a forest floor Top right: a dark forest Bottom right: a ruined/abandoned church
Text over an image of a dark forest. Text content: I flail my free arm into the darkness. "Oriana!" But only cool wind slides over my outstretched arm, running over it and around it, thousands of hands of death touching me all at once. "I want to speak to you," a voice—very much not Oriana’s—hisses.
A cat in a box. Only his eyes and nose are visible.
Screenshot of goodreads “readers also enjoyed” containing on left One on One by Jamie Harrow, in the middle What Moves the Dead by T Kingfisher and on the right At the End of the River Styx by Michelle Kulwicki
Text over a background of a dark forest. Text content: The path beneath us is gravel, and for a while, the only sound is its crunch beneath our feet. It's eerie— even more when I realize: if there were other animals out there, they should’ve been making some kind of noise. There might be nothing alive in this forest but us.
Art of two women in a swirling snowstorm. The woman on the left (Leanna) has long light brown hair and wears a long brown dress with a fur hood. She has her arms folded and is scowling at the other woman beside her. The woman on the right (Evsenia) has black hair cropped just past her ears and wears a black military coat, gloves, and shoulder armor. She holds a spear in one hand and is faintly smirking at Leanna.
A publisher’s marketplace deal report announcement: Erin Luken’s debut OUR SHATTERED MASKS, a YA fantasy about a magical thief who cons her way onto an exclusive enchanted island for her biggest heist yet: stealing the source of all magic; but something sinister is happening behind the island’s enchantments—and Lucia might not survive the magic long enough to steal it, to Camille Kellogg at Bloomsbury Children’s, for publication in fall 2024, by Sarah Fisk at The Tobias Literary Agency (world).
Text over a dark forest background. Text content: I rush forward, catching her outstretched hand. She looks up at me, and her lips part. They're black as her veins, and my heart races because I don't want to hear what she'll say. I don't get to hear it anyway. Darkness pools in her eyes and drowns her green irises. Then her eyes burst, black-red liquid pours from the sockets like bloody tears, and she collapses in front of me.
Text content: “Will that help us find my mother?” Oriana asks. “I’m not interested in going on without her. I don’t fucking care about this tour.”
Text over the image of a bright blue, ghostly stream in a forest. Text content: I step out of the litter, avoiding his hand, and promptly stumble on the first step and fall to my knees. Above us, dark clouds swirl. They're a strange color, a deep blue instead of gray, and small flashes of light dart between them. The air is chilly, raising ice along my skin, while it tastes like burning sulfur. Whatever this storm is, I don't think it's natural. I'm not supposed to leave the island yet, and it's going to make sure I don't.
An image of a quote tweet. Original tweet says: “Do people die in your books?” Quoted response by esluken (me) says “One of my favorite set of notes I ever got included an entire subsection on the book’s major deaths that started with ‘a LOT of people die in this.’”