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@chelsnextchapter

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gremlin mood reader • chaotic multi-genre
lover of all things folklore
2026 • books: 135 • manga: 32
also moi 👉🏻 @cheltattoos
📍dfw, tx 🚫AI

POSTS STORIES REELS

📚📖✨ What I like to read! I’ll dive into just about anything but these are majority what you’ll see shared on my page!

⭐️ Speculative fiction - Fantasy, scifi, magical realism, historical fiction. I love all things folklore and mythology inspired, especially ancient Chinese mythology. I’m not too big into romance or romantasy, but I love a good romance subplot, espeeeeecially if it’s queer! 😍

⭐️ Literary and contemporary fiction - Especially been enjoying Japanese lit fic!

⭐️ Manga, danmei, light novels, webtoons, manhwa, yaoi - I’m a big weeb and love it all. ✨

⭐️ I’ve recently been diving more into horror, particularly gothic, historical, and botanical/eco horror. I love a good psychological thriller every now and then, but I’m picky!

If you read any of these genres, give me a follow and let’s YAP! 🫡 by @chelsnextchapter

📚 Welp I have finally given into the worms in my brain that have been chanting to make a bookstagram. 🪱 Hi, I’m Chel!

My goal at the beginning of 2025 was to fall back in love with reading and explore new genres. A year later, here I am definitely having accomplished that and totally NOT with a new unhealthy obsession. 🙃 (I mean hey it could be drugs right? At least it’s not drugs.)

I’ve always been a reader, but most of my adult life it’s been sciences, history, poetry - non-fiction. This past year I dove back into my youth of fantasy and fiction and it’s been a blast. I love fantasy, scifi, horror, historical and literary fiction. Still not quite on the romantasy train yet. 🫣 (but big fan of queer romance plots!) I’m also a big weeb and love manga, yaoi, light novels and danmei! I prefer audiobooks & ebooks and mostly read through Libby and Libro.fm.

I’m also a tattooer (@cheltattoos) and tattoo studio owner (@spiderlilystudio). I love doing bookish tattoos and do flash pop-ups at book events! I love blending the two worlds together and can’t wait to post bookish art here as well! 🎨

I don’t necessarily want to take this page too seriously—I just wanna have fun, be silly, build a book-loving community and talk about books! 😍⭐️📚

A bit about me ~ 32📍Ft Worth TX. Enby, prefer they/them. Panromantic ace 🏳️‍🌈 Free Palestine forever. FUCK Ice and everything about this administration. If you don’t align on these - bye. 👋🏻

#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #booksta #bookishcommunity #bookcommunity by @chelsnextchapter

I am so excited for the announcement of @franceswhiteauthor newest book The Winnowing Games!! And that cover?? 😍

• • •

Winifred Valour has spent his entire life preparing to die.

As firstborn heir of House Valour, he’s destined to compete in The Winnowing Games, a brutal contest of strength, cunning and popularity that decides the future ruler of Sanctia. But when secrets, betrayals, and hidden agendas begin to unravel, Win finds himself fighting not just for victory, but for the people the system was built to exploit.

But Win is not alone. Sparrow, a magic-storing human enslaved by the elite, accompanies him into the games seeking two things: his sister, and revenge against everyone who made his life hell.

Together they must navigate deadly trials, shifting alliances and a political machine fueled by power, privilege, and sacrifice. Because in The Winnowing Games, survival isn’t enough.

You have to decide what kind of person you’re willing to become.

• • •

The Winnowing Games releases in May in the UK and June in the US - pre-orders are now OPEN! 🎉 Just follow the links in @franceswhiteauthor bio!

I cannot WAIT for this book, everything Frances writes is a DREAM and an insta-buy for me!! I’m honored to be a part of The Winnowing Games street team and can’t wait to continue sharing more of this book with you all!! 🖤 by @chelsnextchapter

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Got to do this forearm piece inspired by Josan Gonzalez’s cover art for Neuromancer!! Neuromancer is a 1984 sci-fi book that practically launched the cyberpunk genre and the concept of cyberspace and the matrix. 🔥 (and they’re making it into a show next year!!)

Added this as a “creative freedom” project to Nick’s retro cyberpunk arm! Lain is on the upper bicep and we’ll extend the design & cables/wiring to meet together. Can’t wait to finish!!

What bookish tattoos would y’all get?

• • •

Done at @spiderlilystudio • My books are open for Nov and Dec!

#cyberpunktattoo #neuromancertattoo #retrotech #fortworthtattooartist #dfwtattooartist by @chelsnextchapter

🎃📚 October reading wrap up!!

October was definitely a more chaotic month for me, I found myself bouncing around a lot genre wise. DNF’d several books cause my heart just wasn’t in em. I was playing a big new genshin update that took most of my free time at the beginning of the month. 😝 Let myself enjoy more short novellas this month.

My fave was definitely Scorpion Deep, I’d been counting down the days to release since its announcement 😍 And it didn’t disappoint!! @paperfury writes my favorite flavor of horror and I can’t get enough. 🫶🏻

Next fave would be Lord of the Wood, an amazing cozy-ish folk horror, and Empty Heaven, another folk horror! The stories and writing in these were both so unique and full of fantasy folk elements that I love. The Slavic & polish folklore in the When Among Crows series was also super intriguing. And of course I LOVED the botanical and fungal horror aspects of Botanical Daughter and Wife Shaped Bodies.

Overall a great month of reads!! How was y’all’s October? 👻 by @chelsnextchapter

Had the best time tattooing bookish and spooky flash at @talkinganimalsbooks Horror Book Fest 2.0!!

These bookstore pop-up’s are my fave cause I get to work surrounded by books and get to meet and yap with so many cool people about books all day!! 📚🥰

Thanks so much to @talkinganimalsbooks for inviting me back out and to all the amazing folks who got tattooed, bought my art prints, or even just yapped and gave a follow!! And huge thanks to @curvyblerdy for her help booth babe’ing all weekend!! 🙏🏻🫶🏻 by @chelsnextchapter

📚 (A few of my fave) horror book reccs to enjoy this spooky season!! Or any season!

If it’s not obvious, I’m obsessed with @paperfury @johannavanveen1997 and @redwombatstudio 👀🤭

It’s so hard to narrow down to a small list but these are stand out faves!! Lots of botanical horror, dark fantasy, supernatural haunts, folklore and creepy otherworldly settings.

What would you add to this list?? Are any of your faves here?

LISTED:
Bone of my Bone (@johannavanveen1997
Blood on her Tongue (@johannavanveen1997)
My Darling Dreadful Thing (@johannavanveen1997)
Hazelthorn (@paperfury)
Don’t Let the Forest In (@paperfury)
Honeysuckle (@barfridmantell)
The Bone Door (@franceswhiteauthor)
Hallowed Be Thy Name (@b.rookishthings)
What Feeds Below (@thebuffwriter)
What Moves the Dead (the whole trilogy tbh lol)(@redwombatstudio)
Wolf Worm (@redwombatstudio)
The Hollow Places (@redwombatstudio) by @chelsnextchapter

This weekend! Catch me at @talkinganimalsbooks Horror Book Fest!! 🦇👻💀📚

This is their second year with even more days of events like author panels, horror makeup, spooky storytelling, and local vendors.

I’ll be tattooing from 12pm-6pm on both Saturday and Sunday!
This will be a walk-up first come, first serve style event.
There will be a sign-up sheet that will go up right at 12pm each day and I’ll get done as many as I can. We will text you when you’re up next.

$80 for linework only designs (the way it appears on the flash sheet) $100 for added shading and/or color
One per person, no alterations to design or size
Size is roughly 2 inches, text only pieces will be a bit bigger
No head, neck, or hand placements
Cash, tap, or apps will be accepted payments

Swipe to see the schedule of events and all the awesome attending authors and vendors.

See yall there! 📚

📍 Talking Animals Books
909 S Main St, Ste 104
Grapevine TX by @chelsnextchapter

September was a great mix of fantasy and horror with a dash of scifi. ✨ Lots of great reads but fave of the month would probably be Knave and Moon 🌙

Any of these on your radar?

#readingwrapup #booksta #bookstagram by @chelsnextchapter

Sybil and Rory 🖤⚒️

So stoked I got to do this custom stonewater kingdom piece!! Thanks sm Megan, you da best. 🥹

This is definitely how I see these two in my head, so I was excited to bring them to life! (And then I find out after the fact that I chose the same model Gillig did for Rory!! 🤯)

More bookish pieces pls!!
(The Sybil drawing is also available to be tattooed!)

• • •

Done at @spiderlilystudio • books are open!!

#theknightandthemoth #theknaveandthemoon #sybilandrory #bookishtattoo #fortworthtattooartist by @chelsnextchapter

I like to window shop at Barnes and then try to find the books I want on Libby or at HPB or an indie. I’ve spent way too much money on books this month already so here are some I wanted but DID NOT BUY 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

Except my self control only goes so far, so swipe to the end to see the 2 books I did buy 🤫🥸 hehe by @chelsnextchapter

I’m almost always juggling and picking between ebooks, physical books, ARCs, audiobooks, and light novels/danmei. (This doesn’t even include mangas!) 🫠

How many books do y’all usually juggle at one time?

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#moodreaderproblems #moodreader #currentlyreading #bookstagram by @chelsnextchapter