Journal
& Updates

Join Alicia's Desk Mail Club for monthly original art, short stories, celestial calendars, stickers and inspiration. Choose Snail Mail or Email!

Meet Kara Veran in Last Call, a supernatural mystery by Alicia K. Anspaugh featuring vampires, dark humor, dangerous magic and found family. Read on Inkitt, Tapas or as a Celestial Library Webnovel Mini.

Meet Iowa author, artist and storyteller Alicia Anspaugh at the Storytellers Market at Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines on October 17, 2026. Explore books, magazines, webnovels, art and more.

Go behind the scenes of A Winter's Fortune as Alicia Anspaugh shares how a simple contest entry evolved into a heartfelt fantasy romance filled with mystery, friendship, destiny, and unforgettable characters.

Author Alicia Anspaugh shares the journey behind entering A Pocketful of Hopes into the Hero Chronicles writing contest and how two unexpected young heroes grew into something much larger than planned.

Science-fantasy adventure Outpost 37 by Alicia Anspaugh has officially entered the Inkitt Hero Chronicles Contest. Follow Win, Vox, and Weatherby as they uncover the mysteries hidden beneath a peaceful frontier colony.

See Striped Fortune, a new fantasy artwork by Alicia Anspaugh featured in the He-Man & She-Ra Art Show. Includes a companion short story reading, Good Luck, connected to the novella See You Tomorrow.

A strange elevator ride, a wish for one more day, and a mysterious crossroads lead to unexpected consequences in this supernatural short story by Alicia Anspaugh.

A science fiction romance adventure featuring time travel, betrayal, and second chances. See You Tomorrow has been submitted to Inkitt's Second Chance Romance Contest.

Author and artist Alicia Anspaugh explores slasher horror, creature horror, and sci-fi horror with her contest entries My Waters and A Hundred Lives for Vocal Plus’s Stay Awhile writing contest.

Writer and artist Alicia K. Anspaugh submits her speculative fiction short story “To Quell the Quiet” to Glossy Planet Magazine’s May 2026 History Repeating writing challenge.

A burned-out night-shift janitor tries to help a mysterious captive creature escape a secret underground lab, only to discover he has restarted an alien invasion delayed for sixty years. Read this dark sci-fi horror short story from Alicia’s Desk.

This latest sci-fi horror piece, The Road to Hell, follows a tired night-shift janitor whose attempt to help a mysterious captive creature escape from a secret underground lab accidentally restarts an alien invasion that had been delayed for sixty years. This story was written for the challenge prompt: Write a confession about a situation where you tried to fix something and only made it worse. I had a lot of fun balancing dark humor, escalating consequences, and cosmic horro

My work is heading to Demicon this year—both in the writing contest and the art show. While I won’t be there in person, my stories and artwork will be. If you’re attending, I hope you get a chance to check them out—and thank you for supporting indie creators and original work. More previews and updates coming soon. #Demicon #ArtShow #WritingContest #IndieArtist #IndieAuthor #FantasyArt #SciFiArt #CreativeLife #AliciasDesk

Two original short stories—Outpost 37 and a fake news-themed piece—submitted to the Demicon Writing Contest, exploring isolation, perception, and narrative.

A new Outpost 37 science fiction story submitted to the Demicon Writing Contest, expanding the series world.

A speculative fiction short story exploring truth and perception, currently submitted to the Demicon Writing Contest.

A new Outpost 37 story exploring isolation and mystery, submitted to the Demicon Writing Contest.

A speculative fiction short story exploring truth and perception, submitted to the Demicon Writing Contest.