She/Her

Iosefka
De Vita

(Pronounced yo-SEFF-kuh)
Transfemme and lesbian author.
Writes colorful dark fantasy and horror, with a glimmer of hope.

Iosefka De Vita (or Sefka) is a half-Black, half-Italian transfemme author living in Pennsylvania with her wife, eight cats, four chickens, three snakes, and a planted aquarium with several shrimp, snails, and fish.Under her deadname, she graduated from Rice University with a B.A. in English. She was exposed to a wide range of cultures from a very early age, including French, Persian, and various African diaspora, and has always loved the animals others find repulsive. Her work explores intersectionality and displacement, complex psychology, and difficult moral questions through the lens of a lush fantasy setting, with touches of science fantasy, cosmic and body horror, and love of all kinds.She believes in handling all cultures she's inspired by with respect, as borrowed pieces of other people's lives. She is constantly questioning ideas she takes for granted and interrogating her own biases, and wants to challenge herself with proper representation as much as she challenges her readers.Iosefka is especially fascinated by fantasy ecology, the intricacies of language (particularly endonyms and exonyms), and non-didactic storytelling. She refuses to write someone with a horse as a mount. When she isn't burning her eyes out doing research or spending an hour editing a single paragraph, she can be found reading, playing obscure and vintage games, or watching video essays analyzing games and literature.

WHAT'S COLORFUL DARK FANTASY?

The dark fantasy genre is usually characterized by both dark, heavy themes and gloomy, gritty imagery to match. "Colorful dark fantasy" is meant to convey that the dark themes are not matched by the setting and visuals, which may be bright and vibrant despite the horrors that occur within them. It can also be thought of as dark fantasy stories that take place in high fantasy worlds.

AI USAGE

Iosefka is solidly against generative AI usage in creative spaces. Her work does not use generative AI at any point in the creative process, including conceptualization, research, drafting, editing, proofreading, or visual art elements.
Support human creators, no matter what.

NOVELS

Fire to Flowers (WIP)

Can someone driven by hate and nourished by suffering truly be a good person?After 300 years of heartbreak and scorn, Tiferet, an elven warlock, once wanted to burn her people's "utopia" to ash. That was before the interstellar Nightmare invaded their world, killing and resurrecting Tiferet as a vampiric alukah. Driven by a greater hatred for the cosmic force that stole her life, she now fights the Nightmare alongside the elves and searches for a cure to her alukah curse - all while hiding her true nature behind a bright, smiling mask.Only one woman knew and kept her lethal secret: Hyaecinthe, Tiferet's late lover and only friend…whose blood is on Tiferet's hands. When Hyaecinthe's restless spirit returns, demanding to know the fate of her lost daughter, guilt and heartache drag Tiferet into a journey of penance.A journey she must take alongside Casimir, a holy knight sworn to destroy the Nightmare - because he's possessed by Hyaecinthe's spirit. Tiferet knows that Casimir shares some of Hyaecinthe’s memories, but how much does he know about Tiferet?As Tiferet travels with Casimir across the divine elven empire of Tron Daurat and the horrific Nightmare, she pries back his distrusting shell to deduce what he's inherited. To her surprise, she finds herself drawn to the person she sees underneath - but is that person Casimir, or Hyaecinthe? And as she lowers her own walls to gain Casimir's trust, she's forced to confront the centuries of trauma that led to her betrayal of Hyaecinthe.And the longer Tiferet starves her curse’s hunger for blood and pain, the harder it becomes to hide the beast under her skin.

Death to the Dread Star (WIP)

Inspired by pre-Heian Era Japan: a shaman hunts the centipede demon she was supposed to be sacrificed to seal away.

SHORT STORIES

A Droplet in Stillness (Unpublished)

An Eidolon in a featureless eternity is forced to confront the concept of change.

The Curse of Want (Unpublished)

A frail ruler discovers he can overcome his deficiencies through cannibalism.

Links to various fun supplemental material.

BLUESKY THREADS

Responses to various worldbuilding/prompt events.

PLAYLISTS

Playlists for various characters and stories.
(Coming soon??)