Welcome to my little corner of the Internet! My name is Z. M. Wilmot, and I am an author of “weird fiction”—in my case, science fiction, fantasy, and horror, often blended together. I have been writing since I was fourteen, when I wrote online fan fiction based on Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy universe. In 2009, I began experimenting with my own worlds, and after participating in National Novel Writing Month that year and eventually self-publishing the resulting novel, The Loneliness of Stars (now out of print), I began writing seriously.

My writing is heavily inspired by Lois McMaster Bujold, Terry Pratchett, Dan Simmons, Ursula K. LeGuin, David Brin, Octavia Butler, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and H. P. Lovecraft. Other influences include Tamora Pierce, Arthur C. Clarke, Vernor Vinge, Martha Wells, Ryogo Narita, and Brian Jacques. Due to my background in sociology, my work largely revolves around imagined societies, both human and alien, with a dash of cosmic horror thrown in for good measure.

In addition to my life as a fiction writer, I have several other lives.

As an errant sociologist, I am a scientific editor, helping non-native English speakers publish in English-language academic journals. I earned a PhD in sociology (with a focus on social movements and revolutions) from Brown University in 2021 with a dissertation on the construction of revolutionary political cultures in Iran and Nicaragua from 1979 through 2009; you can access my professional site for sociology here. Many of the ideas that show up in my academic work also pop in in my writing, so be forewarned!

As an esotericist, I also study tarot, geomancy, and astrology, and run my own blog related to the esoteric arts here. I feel it is important to note that I use these as tools for meditation and self-reflection, not divination. I have not updated it in a very long while, but may do so again in the future!

As a juggler, I… well… juggle. Balls, rings, and clubs; only three for now, but maybe more soon! I also use the diabolo, but at a much less sophisticated level.

Lastly, as a student Irish folk musician, I play the bodhrán and tin whistle. I may post my reflections here as I continue learning!

My reflections on fiction (including roleplaying and video games, as well as more traditional written and audiovisual media), politics, sociology, juggling, and music can all be found here.

I can also be found on BlueSky, Storygraph, TrackBear, and Mastodon.