Elective Affinities by Rene Magritte (we also share a birthday, which pleases me)

My historical novel THE SILENT UNSEEN, about a Polish girl and a Ukrainian boy who have to work together across political lines in 1944, is on sale for just 50 cents on #Kindle right now. One of School Library Journal's Best Books of 2022! www.amazon.com/dp/B08MD1WW2Z #booksky #writersofbluesky

Yule ≠ Christmas Yule is one of the oldest winter solstice festivals, with origins among the ancient Norse thousands of years ago. Although today it’s heavily associated with, and even confused with, Christmas, the celebration existed long before Christianity. 🧵⬇️

The older I get, the more pleasure I get out of muting random people on Substack who post overly dramatic/thinkpiece-y notes about how they think one should live. I'm not hand-milling my own flour and I don't care whether you think my hobbies are mentally challenging enough, BARBARA. Ah, bliss.

I love the cold weather. It allows me to end each workday by going in the other room and wrapping myself up in blankets, like a majestic winter burrito. (Divesting myself of the wrapper and commuting to my living room in the morning is much harder, however.)

SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going— SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti— SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE

I finally went to the Krampus pageant and it was everything I never knew I needed. They asked for recipes for cooking naughty children!

Found when sorting an old drive. I still, very occasionally, say 'not many badgers in the House of Lords' and this is why:

It is always so exciting to get to meet my clients, especially after so many years working together and knowing each other! Erin came to town and we had a magical holiday adventure, including a rooftop bar with fire pits and the first time I've stepped into the Palace hotel in over a decade. 🥂

When no one wanted to know about AIDS, when the government didn't care about the death of so many gay men, when everyone wanted to look away, this was the energy Elizabeth Taylor brought for real. She *meant* it. It's a beautiful thing, this energy.

Dec. is the last month to read BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS for free on NetGalley! It's a locked-room survival story set on the Eastern Front of WWI. Kirkus called it "sharp, compelling, & thoughtful." I'd be so grateful if you wanted to read & leave a review! #booksky www.netgalley.com/catalog/book...

@safitaffy99.bsky.social how excited are you for da bears?! I guess having the Pope on your side doesn't hurt...

Another double-fenestrated leaf unfolding on my grown-from-a-cutting monstera! I assume it's the steady diet of metal/industrial that is responsible for our success.

He is risen

Literally buying one copy of a book at your local indie bookstore can mean the difference in whether they buy future books from that author.

I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.

I loved getting to spend time in Seattle and hang out with @dawnsimon.bsky.social this weekend! Here's what happens when you let me plan the agenda (sound on):

Dawn very patiently put up with all of my normal pilgrimage requests (can't believe she doesn't go into the city regularly to see the rubber chicken museum!)! I am a lucky gal. 🐔

I had a fabulous weekend with my amazing agent, @jenniekendrick.bsky.social. We celebrated Jennie's birthday with all sorts of fun adventures. Our activities included touring Chihuly Glass & Garden, visiting Seattle's rat mosaic, & posing with the World's Largest Rubber Chicken. It was awesome!

How it Started/How it's Going; or I Have Always Been Perfectly Normal

Keane always makes our outings look way cooler than I can 😁

Well I quite liked this exhibit

Silicon Valley, 1990s: Free and open access to all the world’s knowledge will usher a new utopian age of information! Silicon Valley, 2025:

This glowing review of @mccrina.bsky.social's work is understating it a bit. I'm so delighted to get to help put this out into the world! Pre-orders are available now at all your local bookstores and online!

Another trade review is in for BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS! "A complex narrative rendered in the protagonist's measured voice and filled with references to Polish class distinctions and history."—Publishers Weekly 🇵🇱

Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...

I didn't suffer too badly today, crabbing/fishing with this view. (Although I am laughing at catching a couple fish in my crab nets for the first time ever. They were bigger than most of the crab!)

i can’t believe a good thing happened we should do this more often

Normal People Don’t Want This Shit is running away with the vote tonight

Could anyone recommend some resources for me to learn more about PNW indigenous art and folklore? I would especially like to look for books when I visit PNW bookstores later this year. Also, if you have any specific orca/raven/crow stories or art I should check out, please let me know!

I was trying to keep my spending down this month. Then I saw this, and really, isn't it more important to support small businesses and creators in these trying times? It would be wrong of me NOT to buy it. www.etsy.com/listing/1249...

If you were ever wondering what we're up against, this is a website book banners created to train people to get books banned in their own communities. I found my kids' school in here, and the books this website suggests I get banned from their library. www.takebacktheclassroom.com/school-detai...

Happy Halloween from me and my greatest creation: Imogene the haunted doll lamp! (I got her a new outfit for the occasion, like a perfectly normal person. Wait until Thanksgiving rolls around)

I've gotten a lot of unsolicited queries over the years (including snail mail to my home and the RFL office). Today I got a query (for a market, genre, and political viewpoint I do not represent or endorse) in my personal inbox. Does this EVER work? If so, do the books ever sell? The mind boggles.

If Garbage was the soundtrack to my life starting as a teenager, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club has been the soundtrack to the last 18 years in San Francisco. The show was fantastic, as usual. (Shout-out to the vast majority of the audience being shorter than me; I appreciated the view.)

Shirley Manson of GARBAGE announces that this will be their final North America headlining tour @ The Warfield in San Francisco; Oct 24, 2025 cc: @jenniekendrick.bsky.social #garbage #shirleymanson #livemusic #concerts #music #sanfrancisco

It's hard to believe I've been listening to Garbage for almost 30 years, since I was an angsty 12 year old, but I will never forget listening to the self-titled album while writing vampire stories in a college-ruled notebook and driving through Georgia forests going to visit dead people.

This is a great idea. Campaign finance laws are what they are for the time being, so here's a way to work within the existing system to make change.

By this time, I really should remember that saying "I should be able to have this back to you by ____" is a summoning spell for immediate, time-sensitive tasks or meetings.

This is up there with the artistic masterpiece that is Manchester, New Year’s Eve 2015-16.

Such a good time yesterday!

Sure I was out there protesting fascism in my banana suit, but I think the greatest service I performed was afterwards when we walked past a very tired man with two small children being fussy and he said "Look! Peanut butter jelly time! Peanut butter jelly time!" and I did the dance.

🎵 Protests for justice and mocking the fascists Tarot and kidlit and joining the masses The bill of rights and freedom that rings These are a few of my favorite things 🎵

JD Vance Loves Couches (The Musical) 🛋️ A story of forbidden love between a boy and his cushions. Will the world accept their passion? (Parody and satire; may not have happened.) WATCH: youtube.com/shorts/iT5-g... #jdvance #comedy #funny #parody #music #musicals #songwriting

This has been running through my head all day! It's so jaunty

Take at least ONE action to help defend books from censorship and speak up for those who make them available. Find resources/tools + actions you can take in just 5 mins: uniteagainstbookbans.org/let-freedom-read-day #BannedBooksWeek #UniteAgainstBookBans @la-cac.org @aaslala.bsky.social

Hello from war-ravaged, Very Unsafe San Francisco, where I saw Roseanne Cash sing Seven Year Ache (😭) for free. Hard out here in the trenches, where I was forced to behold the most offensive mullet I've ever seen. I may never recover.

A new book trailer for BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS, out 2/3/26 from @lernerbooks.bsky.social! In winter 1916, as World War I rages, a blizzard traps 18-year-old Polish countess Renata in her home with two escaped enemy POWs.