Shantell Powell

Elder goth/swamp hag in Kitchener. Aurora finalist. Brave New Weird winner. Work in Augur, The Deadlands, On Spec, Prairie Fire, ALOCASIA, Nightmare, Feminist Studies Journal, Arc Poetry, & more.

Neurodivergent, antifascist, Indigiqueer, disabled. Raised on the land & off the grid. Ex JW-kid/army brat. Retired dancer, industrial DJ, & model. Addicted to learning—may be turning into a witch.

#LandBack #Foraging #Gothic #Nature #Folklore #Fairytales #Mythology #Accessibility

Blog: http://shanmonster.dreamwidth.org
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/shanmonster

Public Key

npub14vn7p758yqkvut3alfzgjv3zjr77en4g4f2cexhpdsm5nsrty58s3x74tp

NIP-05 Address

shanmonster_at_c.im@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs2kflql2rjqtxw9c7l53yfxg3fpl0ve65254vvntskcd6fcp4j2rcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds2quf9p

Publishing to

relay.nostr.band

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub14vn7p758yqkvut3alfzgjv3zjr77en4g4f2cexhpdsm5nsrty58s3x74tp

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Last Notes

2025-09-15 15:19:39 UTC

Just found out I can't get my COVID booster until the end of October at the earliest, even though I'm high risk and due for one. What the fuck, Ontario? #HealthcareOrLackThereof #Ontario #Covid #CovidBooster

2025-08-03 12:47:37 UTC

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one of my favourite birds is the turkey vulture. Here's one I painted a while back. #TurkeyVulture #vulture #PorcelainPainting #ChinaPainting
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/114/964/899/032/264/001/original/a445350686b0660f.jpeg

2025-07-22 22:53:16 UTC

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Four different views of the pitcher plants which grow in the Tablelands. They're one of the few plants which can grow there. The ground is essentially polluted, as far as most plants are concerned. Theres no good soil and the wind is tremendous. #bloomscrolling #CarnivorousPlants #Newfoundland
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/114/899/310/887/748/971/original/f3647ae36707965e.jpeg
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2025-07-22 22:33:15 UTC

Scenes from the Tablelands, site of the world's oldest above-ground rocks. This is a piece of the earth's mantle. ~650,000,000 years old. #newfoundland #Tablelands #geology #RockOn #NaturePhotography #hiking
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/114/899/237/980/674/445/original/738db746b54e08ee.jpeg
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2025-07-01 17:13:48 UTC

Indigenous artists in Canada and USA, applications are open until July 10 for the Emerging Native Arts Grant. The award pays $15,000. Go get it! https://walkeryoungbird.org/emerging-native-arts #IndigenousCreatives #Indigedon #Indigenous #NativeAmericans

2025-05-31 13:41:25 UTC

The street I live on is very scary to ride on as a cyclist. Heck, this region is bad enough as a pedestrian. I rode my bike a lot more in the last neighbourhood where I lived.
When I went to Conestoga college, I rode my bike rather than take the bus because it was a ~50 minute bike ride as opposed to a ~2 hour bus ride. But when I was lucky enough to get a drive with someone, it took 20 minutes. The bike ride was harrowing, taking me through heavy traffic and busy intersections with no bike lanes. It was not manageable in the winter because my bike cannot handle slippery conditions.

2025-05-24 13:35:23 UTC

I'm not a fan of form rejection letters which include suppositions of what's wrong with your story.
My most recent rejection included "Sometimes a narrative can be excellent work but simply not be right for the journal. One common reason for this is that the text, though under 1000 words, isn't a flash narrative. This might mean your story would work better as a longer story, part of a longer story, or even poetry."
Another time, I received a form rejection that said my work might be offensive or poorly edited.
Lit mags, don't put stuff like this in your form rejections. If it's personalized and you want a writer to revise and resubmit, ok. But including this in all rejections comes across as condescending or alienating.
Sometimes the story is perfectly fine and just doesn't fit in your issue, and that's ok. I've had stories rejected with these sorts of copy/paste commentary that went on to win contests.
Writers, don't take this stuff personally. Maybe your story does need a bit more revision. Or maybe the form rejection was written by a crankyass. #WritingCommunity #LitMags #publishing #RejectionLetters

2025-05-13 00:12:04 UTC

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Thanks. Weird, though. I'm antifascist and am not even American.

2025-04-14 15:58:58 UTC

I used to have a shirt with the Punisher logo, but I got rid of it when I realized it had become a symbol for fascism. I feel bad for the Punisher creators.

2025-02-11 01:32:43 UTC

Inuksuk I painted five years ago. #inuksuk #rocks #watercolor #watercolour #IndigeniusCreatives #ArtistsOnMastodon
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/113/982/665/545/513/870/original/bc7a44da221cc1d9.jpeg

2025-01-21 00:24:36 UTC

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there are a lot of Mi'kmaq who think Pelletier was instrumental to her murder.

2025-01-20 18:16:19 UTC

Will we ever find out how Anna Mae was murdered? Did Peltier have anything to do with it? https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/denise-pictou-maloney-afn-peltier-1.7268195 #MMIW2S #Mikmaq #AnnaMaePictouAquash #RememberHerName #LeonardPeltier #AIM

2025-01-15 18:34:25 UTC

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I blog on DreamWidth. I wonder if I can integrate that, somehow. My tech knowledge is woefully out of date.

2025-01-15 18:22:04 UTC

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I don't mind, but thanks for the heads-up.

2025-01-15 17:51:53 UTC

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I felt kinda like a long-distance auntie to Maddie. I hope she's ok. She was such a cool kid.

2025-01-05 01:53:32 UTC

Years ago, I once posted a recipe for chokecherry jam and a guy flipped out on me, telling me that chokecherries are deadly poison. I told him that he was wrong, and that chokecherries were eaten by my ancestors for thousands of years. They are an ingredient in pemmican. Dude went off the fricking rails so hard he had me second-guessing myself. And I grew up foraging.
I wonder why that triggered him so hard? People are weird. #chokecherries #pemmican #IndigenousFood #foraging #forager #WildCraft

2024-12-13 17:29:46 UTC

Remember Christopher Dorner? He went to war against the LAPD after getting fired for reporting excessive force. While hunting him down, LAPD opened fire on innocent civilians. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Dorner_shootings_and_manhunt #ChristopherDorner #vigilante #PoliceViolence

2024-12-06 22:36:54 UTC

I dreamed I had a goldfish in a bowl far too small for it. The poor thing was bent because it couldn't straighten out. I picked it out of the bowl and put it in my mouth. I held it there until it stopped flopping around. I spit it back into the bowl. I'd sucked out all of its colour. It was white and pallid. It was even bigger than before, and now there were also snails and a tiny octopus in the bowl. The fish gradually resuscitated, and then I woke up. #dream #DreamLog

2024-12-06 01:40:28 UTC

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For a brief period early in the pandemic, grocery stores and pharmacies had early morning hours where everyone had to wear masks. This was in consideration for elderly and disabled people. Too fucking bad it didn't last. What a shame. #disability #MaskUp #inclusion #accessibility

2024-12-06 01:32:58 UTC

What if there were places people could go and hang out where everyone wore masks and the air quality was great? Like movie theatres, concerts, museums, and art galleries? Wouldn't it be nice to have safe, accessible places to go? I miss going places. I used to be able to do things at night other than just watch tv.
I'm still bitter about the so-called accessible and inclusive disabled artists show at Centre in the Square tomorrow night which refuses to ask the audience to wear masks.
#MaskUp #Inclusion #Accessibility #mourning #LanguishingLife #disability

2024-11-25 21:43:27 UTC

A year or so ago, I received a snippy email asking me to hurry up and sign the contract so one of my essays could go to print. The thing is, no one had sent me a contract, let alone an acceptance letter. So that was weird. It all got sorted out.
Today, I received a contract without ever having received an acceptance letter. What makes it even stranger is that I'd received a rejection for the piece about six months ago. Fortunately, it was still available, but whaaa? Anyhow, I'm getting paid, so that's cool.
Around the beginning of the year, one of my pieces was accepted, and they said they'd be sending me a contract within the next couple of days. They never did. And they haven't responded to any of my followup emails. They went on and put up another call for submissions since then.
Publishing is weird.
#WritingCommunity #Publishing

2024-09-03 10:41:18 UTC

Fight the power. The code for bananas is 4011. #SelfCheckOut #GroceryStore #Cashier
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2024-08-25 02:25:52 UTC

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I haven't shopped there yet, but there's Lao-Thai Super Store at 114 St Leger St, and Midat African Caribbean Market at 299 Lancaster St W. Oh yes, there's also A to Z African and Caribbean Groceries at 127 Water St N. They have an amazing selection of hair and beauty supplies in their basement.

2024-06-28 23:03:12 UTC

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I have never seen a thrift shop run out of merchandise.