Starry Sky

Sci-Fi., Thriller, Poetry & More

"In the dead of winter, through the longest nights, the lights come to dance so to remind us that the sun isn't dead. It's just sleeping.

I want my writing to be the dancing lights through the winter nights in your life."

I'm Dal Cecil Runo, a science fiction writer who loves exploring other genres through short stories. and poetry.


In bureacratic terms, I am categorized as legally blind or partially blind, but that's too long and technical to be marketable, so I just say blind. I'm also asexual, pagan, biracial, and a multicultural blend who can't seem to find a home somewhere on this beautiful planet. At least I have my writing, where I can make my own worlds if I want to.


My writing path began on November 21st, 2016 while I was listening to "Vulnicura" by Björk, and the idea for my science fiction story hit me faster than a bullet train. After more than six months of trying and failing to ignore that idea, I began drafting the manuscript on July 2017. I haven't stopped writing since.

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Starry Sky

My Dream is to Publish This Trilogy

These covers are humble sketches, not the final cover design.

A science fiction story with strong paranormal elements, about genetically modified children who learn to cope with abuse and neglect through the development of their psychic abilities, until they're old enough to make a life of their own.

Starry Sky

Pitch: Tíbor and Annie are skilled at astral projection, with a twist, but they don't know that the other exists. If they met, in dreams or awake, could they save each other from their current isolation, family abuse and neglect?


Status: ARC readers wanted. Releases on Oct. 31st, 2023.


Read a-likes:

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (character archetypes: blind girl in a hostile environment, and a young orphan boy trained to do evil things)

Follow the Hummingbird by Elena Carter (similar concepts: dreams that aren’t ordinary dreams, and protagonist building a second life in the dream world)

The Moonday Letters by Emmi Itäranta (similar themes: long distance interactions, space & Earth, searching for someone in the astral realm)

Network Effect by Martha Wells (themes and a bit of plot)

Trigger Warnings: explicit depictions of emotional neglect, gaslighting, bullying, psychological, verbal, and physical child abuse.

Graphic depiction of a child’s suicide attempt, poor psychological treatment.

Characters using racial and other slurs in dialogue. The author does not agree with their behavior.

Dal’s Bookish Merch

Short Stories

I write short stories in different genres, and some are available in audio format only.

My short story Guiding Light is featured in this anthology dedicated to characters with disabilities who find happiness and romance.

dANGER is a short thriller-noir set in Iceland.

Painajainen (Nightmare) is a spooky paranormal short story set in an ordinary apartment in Budapest, Hungary.

Sci-fi flash fiction

Experimental flash fiction

A tribute to Simo Häyhä

Poems

Beyond Writing

Only a small percentage of authors can live exclusively from their works of fiction. I’m not one of those authors. So I have to do more on the side to survive.


Fellow writers have suggested me to offer sensitivity reading services. Recently, I opened up that possibility using the Commissions feature on my Ko-Fi page.

Support me, so I can keep writing.

If you'd like to support what I do beyond buying one of my stories, I have both a Patreon and Ko-fi page. I post the same exclusive content on both spaces, so no matter which one you already use, if you decide to support me, it will be the same either way.

Thank you for your support!

Contact me:

You can reach me at dalcecilruno@gmail.com


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Podcast Interviews

2023 © Created with by Dal Cecil Runo