Xan van Rooyen

@xanwriter.bsky.social

1865 Followers 1135 Following

South African in Finland. Tattooed story-teller, climber, and peanut-butter connoisseur. Non-binary & autistic. They/them. EXQUISITE DECAY is out in August! https://linktr.ee/xanvanrooyen

The cover for EXQUISITE DECAY by Xan van Rooyen, a cyberpunk retelling of Dorian Gray. The cover features the side profile of a dark haired, androgynous figure with a smirk on their fingers and black-nailed fingers pressed to their lips. The character is wearing a black trench coat and has 4 ear rings in the visible ear. The background is a glitchy composite of colors with the title and author name in yellow. The title text is done in a splashy graffiti font.
June storygraph wrap-up graphic: Books - 7; Pages - 1984; Average rating 3.86. Highest rated read was Slow Gods by Claire North.
Advert for the Barnes and Noble preorder sale happening now until June 26. Text is in dark green and orange in the center and left, with the cover for Born of Malice on the right against a background of a green-blue galaxy. The text reads: Barnes&Noble, Preorder sale, until June 26. Discounts start at 25% Off! for B&N Premium and rewards members. Use the code PREORDER25
Are you ready to meet the main characters from your soon to be favourite dark fantasy read? (White text over the purple and black cover of Born of Malice by Xan van Rooyen). The video then introduces all four main characters: Zal, Leksi, Niki, and Emri. Zal; underworld prince and problem child Leksi: Nightmare incarnate and hopeless romantic Niki: musician, scholar, and threat to the status quo Emri: ghost-talker and quiet menace. The last two images advertise Born of Malice for pre-order through the Ruadan Books website.
An illustration by locky0001 of a human-shaped demigod with a scarred face surrounded by unruly black hair. He is dressed in black, clinging with both hands to a gnarled staff. Text on the image reads “Zal” and “Born of Malice, Xan van Rooyen.” The Ruadán Books logo is in the upper left.
A sepia toned illustration of Niki from Born of Malice. The portrait shows a nonbinary person with pronounced, angular cheekbones, and curly dark hair drawn back in a ponytail at the nape of their neck. They are wiping ink from their hands on a white kerchief.
The cover for Xan van Rooyen's dark fantasy novel, Born of Malice. Two figures stand back to back in the center of a cloudy background in shades of purple and blue. The left figure is dressed in shadowy black and holds a staff turning into a bat. The figure on the right is red and has antlers growing from her head. She holds a gnarled staff. There is a black cat at her feet. The book title appears at the top in calligraphic script, and is burgundy and black. The author's name is in a serif font at the bottom in paler shades of red and blue.
Storygraph month wrap-up graphic showing the number of books read (15), pages (3843), and average rating (4.1). Highest rated books included Homebody by Theo Parish. Most read category this month was LGBTQIA+
An advert for an ebook sale. Read text on a graffiti style blue/green/purple background with white splash marks reads: Trans Rights Readathon eBook sale. There are two book covers, one for By the Blood of Rowans and the other one for The Other Me by Xan van Rooyen. Black text with an orange outline reads March 17-31. Red text with a white outline reads 0.99c. Black text with an orange outline in the bottom left cornerr eads Links in bio and in caption.
Cover of A Million Points of Light, audible edition, by CL Hellisen. The mostly blue and black cover features the silhouette of a figure against a splay of white light emanating from an ethereal figure. There are black mountains in the background. The audiobook is performed by Omari Douglas.
The background features a dark and gritty cityscape with pinprick lights. In the foreground, there is a silhouette of a person with dishevelled hair and a picked collar but it's too dark to see their face. The text at the top in bold red letter reads EXQUISITE DECAY.
Image with violet and blue painted background obscured by torn brown paper. Text reads: Born of Malice, coming 2026. The last thing the ancient, mortal city of Savat, already steeped in unpredictable magic and teetering on the knife's edge of rebellion, needs is estranged, chthonic siblings starting a war with themselves and each other. At least one meddlesome scholar-mage seems to have the power to restore order across the realms if they don't accidentally revive forbidden magic and bring about the apocalypse first. Dark humor, epic battles, broken hearts, political intrigue, queer, Afrocentric, Neurodivergent rep, dark academia. In the bottom left corner, a semitransparent banner reads: why yes this is the cover salaciously showing a little ankle but you can't see the rest yet 😉.
Trope image with a photo of me in the center in a black Silent Planet band t-shirt pointing upwards at pink text reading Xan van Rooyen, Author Tropes. On a blue-green graffiti style background pink and black arrows point at the following words: All the queers, characters as musicians, death, Is it even a Xan book if someone isn't having an existential crisis? Foul-mouthed tough cookies x cinnamon rolls, peanut butter for bone marrow, death, no animals will be hurt in this novel, death...
Video is a screen recording showing the covers of the books I read in 2025
The book cover for the illustrated children's book The Winter Warming featuring an elderly gnome in a pointed blue hat feeding 3 squirrels next to a child-gnome in an acorn hat.
Graphic generated by Storygraph to show my reading stats in November. I read 12 books, 3675 pages, and rated What Stalks the Deep the highest. All my books were fiction and 9 book were tagged LGBT+. My genres read included YA, horror, fantasy, and literary novels.
Promo image in black and red for the anthology titled Of Dread, Decay, and Doom by Stars and Sabers publishing. The image features the book on the left with a black and red cover with the title in gothic style text against a black and white illustrations of a monstrous mouth with feathers and flames. The text on the right reads Oct 15, 2025. A horror anthology edited by Jendia Gammon and Gareth L. Powell. Cover art by Niail C. Grant. Crowdfunding now!
Promo picture with the nonbinary flag in the background (colors are yellow, white, purple, and grey) with the audiobook cover for My Name is Magic by Xan van Rooyen in the center. A banner in black overlaid with a ribbon in the trans colors (blue, pink, and white) reads 50% OFF! in bubbly white text. The text at the bottom reads: From now until April 15.
An illustrated graphic with a trans flag in the back ground. Black text reads March is the time for the #TransRightsReadathon. White text reads Here are some of the books I plan to read this month. The book covers are staggered across a blue and pink paint smears in the background. The covers are for the books: The Woods all Black, Dear Mothman, Dissociate/Disintegrate, Fine, The Tea Dragon Tapestry, Taproot, I Feed her to the Beast and the Beast is Me, Metal from Heaven. In the bottom right corner is a teddy bear waving a trans flag, wearing a trans bow tie. Text at the bottom reads Join me on the Storygraph for the Trans Rights Readathon Challenge.
An illustrated graphic with a trans flag in the back ground. Black text reads My trans and Nonbinary Books #transrightsreadathon. There are 5 books on the graphic with a pink and blue paint smear behind them and a cute green frog holding a trans heart in the bottom right corner. Each book has descriptors as follows: By the Blood of Rowans - YA fantasy, Celtic inspired, Nonbinary protagonist, Ace love interest, Murder mystery, Horses. Waypoint Seven - science fantasy, found family, trans man MC, aliens, theocracy, Afrocentric. Silver Helix - adult aetherpunk, siblings, Finnish mythology, medical research, futuristic Helsinki, city steeped in rotting magic. Anthem for the Chemical Youth - companion novelette, vampire, magic through music, defund the police, righteous vengeance. The Other Me - contemporary YA, South Africa, music, complicated families, school politics, coming of age.
Promo image featuring a rainbow flag circle against a black background. Black serif font reads Queer Your E-Reader, All Free Books, Various Genres
A graphic in muted browns and greens with red text reading: My Fav Reads of 2024: Titles in order left to right, top to bottom are: Mirrored Heavens, Legends & Lattes, Starling House, Map of the Otherlands, The City in Glass, Every Wickedness, The Fragile Threads of Power, The Bruising of Qilwa, The Tea Dragon Society, The Moth Keeper. On the bottom left there is a book dragon reading a purple book with a thought bubble saying very word, many wow. On the bottom right is a steaming cup of black coffee and a pile of vari-colored books.
10x10 table of most listened to albums/artists for November. Top artists include Crywolf, Zeal&Ardor, Bad Omens, and the Arcane season 2 soundtrack.
A blue and black cover with bold, chrome-like text saying You're not alone in the dark at the top. There are dark, sea-serpent like monsters writhing on each side (they have large teeth and red eyes) with a pale blue center where people are floating. At the bottom of the cover there is a single dark, floating finger surrounded by ghostly white figures. The text in white at the bottom reads Edited by Eugene Johnson and Eric J. Guignard.
Screenshot of comments on a word doc indicating songs to match certain scenes in a novel. songs include Free to Die by Health, Claws in your back by Julien Baker and Conspiracy of Silence by The Swoons.
Book cover featuring a orange side and blue side showing two distinct cityscapes with one more rugged individual on one side and another more serene figure dressed in white on the other with the title done in an overlay style down the center: The Space Between Worlds. The author name is in smaller black font across the top: Micaiah Johnson
The cover features a white background with the body of a small bird with blue, black, and white wing extended. The title is in red text over the feathers: The Thirty Names of Night. The author name is small in black and across the top: Zeyn Joukhadar
Cover features a close up portrait from nose to chest of a young person wearing a high-collared blue coat and white Victorian shirt. There is honey on their mouth and a bee and a pearl-studded broach on their cravat. The title in yellow gothic script reads Their Heart a Hive, author name is smaller and in the same font: Fox N. Locke
Black cover with white title in the center reading Coda where the O is the coda music symbol. Grey, white, and blue musical cables are tangled around the edges of the cover. The center background looks like a speaker. Author name: Emma Trevayne is at the top and in white serif text.
Black cover with a gold half sun arced above a dark blue/black face that morphs into a crow with outspread wings on the right. Gold text across the left and middle reads Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse.
A burgundy cover featuring uniqye orangey gold text reading The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue and VE Schwab with a star constellation connected across the text.
Cover for All Systems Red novella by Martha Wells featuring an illustrated monochrome cover showing a heavily armoured cyborg/robot soldier front and center against a washed out tree-lined background.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built illustrated novella cover featuring a flowery background with winding gold roads. Top left corner features a robot holding butterflies. Bottom right features a person perched on a wagon holding a cup of tea.
Cover features red border, background and author name text at the top. There is a face obscured by hair and shadow with one eye peering out intently from the middle of the cover. White title text reads Lost Souls at the bottom.
Book cover featuring an illustrated human skull with white cursive text reading If We Were Villains. There is a yellow croow that looks like a sword separating the title from the author name, also white cursive: M. L. Rio. The background is black and red and quite dramatic.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, cover is in black and white and features a photo of two bodies viewed from behind with arms wrapped around each other placed off center. Title and author name is centered and in white serif font.
The cover for Empty Monsters by Cat Hellisen: the cover is dark blue and watery with the title text in gold cursive at the top and the author name in similar gold all caps non-serif font at the bottom. The center features a glowing illustrated moth in pale green/white.
A blue and black cover with bold, chrome-like text saying You're not alone in the dark at the top. There are dark, sea-serpent like monsters writhing on each side (they have large teeth and red eyes) with a pale blue center where people are floating. At the bottom of the cover there is a single dark, floating finger surrounded by ghostly white figures. The text in white at the bottom reads Edited by Eugene Johnson and Eric J. Guignard.
The cover for Afro-centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction editing by Eugen Bacon. The cover is bright red with a side profile of a Black person rendered in artistic, geometric shapes with a nod to African design.
The cover for Afro-centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction editing by Eugen Bacon. The cover is bright red with a side profile of a Black person rendered in artistic, geometric shapes with a nod to African design.
2024 award Eligibility list for Xan van Rooyen: Threnody of the Tetekute (A Sauútiverse story), BFS Horizons Helsinki in Winter in the City, Ruadan Books The Heretic Harmonic (A Sauútiverse story), Andromeda Spaceways Magazine Skin to Skin, Trembling with Fear The Silence of Broken Things in Spectrum, Third Estate Books Shadows in the Blood in Folkloric, Sentinel Creatives
My Book is on Sale graphic: My Name is Magic, ebook is only 2.99. Book cover centered against a creepy background featuring skulls, black leaves, candles and an open pomegranate. Descriptors include: race against the clock, Finnish mythology, International magic school, Young adlt, nonbinary MC, and lots of queer rep.
Painting by Anna Shelkova of the character Ghost: a pale blond boy with long flowing hair shown here wearing a blue jacket against a blue/white background.
white square with black text reading: 1 like = 1 character I love
Promo gif showing the bi flag in the background with Bisexual Appreciation Day in white text across the middle. White text at the top reads Looking for bi rep in your next read? Click the link below... There are white sparkled, a book fanning its pages in the foreground and a starry eyed happy cat too.
Publishers Marketplace announcement: Author of My Name is Magic Xan van Rooyen’s SECOND SOUL, pitched as a cyberpunk retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray set in a futuristic city, in which an orphaned non-binary teen must graduate valedictorian from an elite academy to receive an inheritance from estranged family, but their plan to tear down the upper-echelons of society from the inside will only work if they aren’t seduced by the very world they swore to destroy, to Joshua Dean Perry at Tiny Ghost Press, in a nice deal, for publication in Winter 2026 (world English), by Lindsay Leggett at The Rights Factory.
Cover of charity anthology Breaking Through. The cover features an illustrated portrait of an androgynous person with green hair and eyes and a red cog drawn on their cheek staring out through cracked glass which distorts their eye. It could be a reflection in a broken mirror. The background is black and white and features a similar cracked glass design. text reads Breaking Through at the top in a handwriting font and A Punk Anthology at the bottom in similar style.
Description of the book, blurb too long for alt text but can be found on Dahlia Adler's website.
Schedule for Worldcon: Gender and Sexuality in YA - Saturday 11:30 Glasgow time; Comic Book Art We Love Saturday 13:00 Glasgow time; Found Family panel 19:00 Glasgow time; Table Talk with Xan van Rooyen - Sunday 11:30 Glasgow time; How Children's Lit Shaped Fantasy Fiction - Sunday 13:00 Glasgow time.
Summerween sale of all Tiny Ghost Press titles. A tiny ghost with a pink drink in hand gesticulates toward a double row of all book covers currently on sale $1.99.
Blurb from Cheryl Ntumy: Waypoint Seven immerses you in a tapestry of religious tyranny, lethal magic and angels that fall from the sky. The characters get under your skin, especially Ruu, a trans man fighting for the right to exist in a world as cruel and complex as our own. Xan van Rooyen weaves this gorgeous tale with passion, skill and profound empathy. Don't come to the Frayverse with a closed heart. It will break wide open.
Xan van Rooyen’s Waypoint Seven is an immersive genre-bender thrumming with passion, religion and fragility in a world of politics, migration and displacement. It’s tendrilled with rites, music and dance, multi-dimensional in its casting. The sensual richness of van Rooyen’s language emboldens the obsessions in this first-person escapade across a Wayfinder’s handbook. —Eugen Bacon, British Fantasy Award winner, Philip K. Dick Award finalist
A blurb for Waypoint Seven on a rust-textured background in browns and blues which reads: Waypoint Seven cuts with immersion from the first page, bleeding with tenacity and pulling the reader into a vividly painted world of sacrifice and survival. Van Rooyen's writing resonates with culture, from the connections and delineations of Finnish mythology, with the complexities and futurisms of African storytelling to the essential nature of chosen family in our queer communities. A fast-moving mystery exploring safety, place, the forces of communication and trust-and the true heroism of looking out for each other, Waypoint Seven is as rich as it is nimble. - E.D.E. Bell, publisher at Atthis Arts
Image with water melon and olive branch graphics with test reading Authors for Palestine, followed by details about a massive giveaway various authors are donating books to. All proceeds will go to helping Palestinian families in need through the Olive Branch organisation.
Pride month graphic complete inclusive pride flags in the shape of hearts advertising my 3 titles I Heart Robot, Obscura Burning, and By the Blood of Rowans at 99 cents. The Other Me is free! All titles available as paperback or ebook wherever you buy books.
Trope image for Waypoint Seven. Text reads: Coming July 1st from Mirari Press and Available as an ebook wherever you buy books. Trope descriptors include aetherpunk, trans MC, adult novella, Spaceships, found-family, secret powers, and inter-dimensional magic.
Cover for the science fantasy novella Waypoint Seven by Xan van Rooyen. The cover features the main character Runo wearing a brown tunic with a swallow-pendant necklace, his face is shown in profile against a backdrop in rust-texture shades of blue and orange with gold details and a small inserted image of a mountain with a full moon rising behind it.
Colorful graphic with faded tie-die/paint splatter background. Stack of books in bottom left corner; younger reader face down from right corner with book in hand. White text top left reads happy World Book Day; purple text bottom right corner reads Enjoys books in whatever you want to. Just immerse yourself in awesome stories!
Indie Author Spring Spectacular graphic with blue background and floral blossom edges. The covers for my four self-pubbed titles are featured in the middle. All books are 0.99c from April 12-15
Portrait photo of me wearing a grey checkered shirt and sitting backwards on a chair, chin resting in left hand while looking at the camera. Background featuring a bookshelf is blurred. Blue text reads Coming soon: Xan van Rooyen, Waypoint Seven.