i think…i just finished the last chapter of warmongers?? maybe? that’s a wrap on the main body of the first draft? still lots to do, including gaps I probably forgot (maybe even whole chapters, oops), and actually putting all the chapters together in the right order, but i made it to the messy end!

no muscles for you all today (about to go on my first long run since the big race, wish me luck) but! my tour for #TheSovereign/#FatesBane is mostly finalized so I’m here to give you the rundown. Very briefly. For comprehensive info, go to my events page. clclarkwrites.com/events/

Yes, also one of *my* favorite books this year. Wonderful characters and a twisty plot.

One of my responses to the reading-difficulty conversation is: if you want to do anything with theory whatsoever you’ve gotta get comfortable feeling like you got hit with a rock on first reading. It’s a good and healthy and *pleasurable* thing to strive to meet a text where it’s at!!

i FORGOT there is a QUIZ we love a taxonomizing QUIZ!!

after some scenes, i really just need some sort of aftercare bc damn hard to re-enter the world afterwards

so close—i don’t even think that i’m going to need the 200k that i thought this book would be. just finished the last big fight scene. not going to say too much about it, but the choreography was inspired by the duel of the fates scene in star wars episode 1 and Eivor vs. Kassandra (IYKYK 😏)

Some of my character layouts for The Line’s Hades 2 trailer for @supergiantgames.bsky.social ~

i FORGOT there is a QUIZ we love a taxonomizing QUIZ!!

Y'all, THE Kai Ashante Wilson (Sorcerer of the Wildeeps) has a new Patreon teasing forthcoming work and would love some more subscribers!

Amazing book, pick it up if you're into political intrigue, awesome sword-fighting lesbians, and magics-with-a-cost!

back in may, i had the chance to interview Antonia Hodgson, author of one of my favorite books this year, The Raven Scholar. it’s a big book that, to me, heralded the return to massive page turners, and it was clever and twisting in ways that satisfied even this jaded reader. plus, it was just FUN.

I know we all enjoyed his video about male friendships, but I think this one about reading might be even better.

@clclark.bsky.social The Unbroken is on this list!

i don’t even go here—

I swear this isnt JUST cause im a huge lesbian but the part at like 13 seconds when she tenses and released her back and all the muscles and shoulder blade movements are so crazy on point and natural blows my mind! Theres so much good animation in this but small subtle things like that always get me

Do you like lesbians? @clclark.bsky.social's THE UNBROKEN is on sale for $2.99 at Orbit! www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/c-l-c... While you're at it, get THE FAITHLESS and pre-order THE SOVEREIGN! (5 stars!) www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/c-l-c... www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/c-l-c...

if you stiiilll like lesbiannnnns i have mooooore lesbiannnnnsss (yes, i made that knife) (yes, it’s thematically relevant)

even though my birthday is in august, september is fast becoming my favorite month… #sapphicSeptember #swordtember #SapphicSwordtember… Oh, and #DoubleBookReleaseSeptember

For real, if you've ever been considering reviewing / interviewing / etc. someone but stopped yourself because the book was released months ago... do it! We love getting coverage after pub day.

🙏🙏🙏

go get your cheap lesbians!

How would you interpret this prompt from our writer's room: "A controversial expert wants to connect with family through a flask, but first they must repair the damage they have done." Reply below to tell us what's in the flask - or to put your own spin on these cards!

Today's #SapphicSeptember rec: Magic of the Lost series, by @clclark.bsky.social Touraine is a soldier kidnapped as a child, Luca is heir to the empire that stole her. Twisty politics, no easy answers, bad decisions, chemistry off the charts, angst galore, final book out this month and I NEED IT.

The magnificent @clclark.bsky.social turns thirty-five BUT WE'RE THE ONES WHO GET A GIFT, these 35 magnificent things (a semi-homage to Andrea Gibson) clclarkwrites.com/35-things/

I think @coyoteandcrow.bsky.social is fantastic, and I'm still so grateful to @kennaalexander.bsky.social for coming to speak to my Worldbuilding students at ASU a few years ago. Check out their newest offering here!

i loved this collection. there were poems that felt like they were written just for me, and others that made me reconsider myself entirely.

now that i know the creator is on bsky, go check out @shawntomkin.bsky.social for more ironsworn material and to check out folks doing actual play if you want to watch/listen/read—or grab the game for yourself!

i’m muscle posting again, but this time, i’m doing it to help people who want to flex like their favorite err chronically-struggling-to-make-a-good-decision-in-her-life book character

I would read an entire series about her, surprising no one

I enjoy these books so much, guys—get em while it’s hot!

I am SO excited about this talk! I’ve long been intrigued by Taylor’s scholarship in the fantasy realm, so it’s going to be a real treat to talk shop. Also, I guess this is the time to say—I’ll be going on a lil UK tour this autumn, so keep an eye on my website for details. Hope to see you around.✌️

This excellent review out of Locus Magazine on #FatesBane is finally live! Really grateful to be read so attentively that it opened up new ways to see my own work. 😄

i keep posting because things keep happening— orbit has posted a longer excerpt of #TheSovereign so I am, too— clclarkwrites.com/the-sovereig...

Also related (or maybe the same): Suspense is not generated by the reader not knowing what happens next. It's generated by the reader CARING what happens next.

i am also, apparently, dropping behind the scenes process shots of warmongers while i am actually cheating on warmongers with a different (secret, secret) thing clclarkwrites.com/warmongers-w...

i’m playing games! clclarkwrites.com/no-lords-no-...

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 do you like lesbians? i do!

Commodified fantasy takes no risks: it invents nothing, but imitates and trivializes. It proceeds by depriving the old stories of their intellectual and ethical complexity, turning their truth-telling to sentimental platitude.

and--idk quite how to articulate this--but the work of it is... critical to art-making. like you discover your intentions through the labor of expressing them. if I'd woken up at 17 with the technical ability to write a novel, i wouldn't have known what i was trying to say. the work IS the product.

just saw someone sincerely arguing that they need AI bc they don't have "natural" artistic talent and idk how to make you understand that nobody comes by this shit naturally. it's just...work. it's being bad at it for a really, really, really long time. it's intention, pursued over time! wtf!!!

Alright, the deleted scenes from #TheUnbroken I know so many of you have been waiting for! What are Djasha and Aranen like on their own? How did they get together? What was Aranen thinking when the Blood General and her army of conscripts returned to Qazal’s shores? clclarkwrites.com/the-unbroken...

i loooooove chapter titles! it’s like opening a book and finding a little surprise in addition to the story.

but in all serious, thank you @justairythings.bsky.social for this lovely review! i’m not sorry for your trauma and cannot afford any extra therapy bills alas. 😌

wow, what an excellent, coherent and well thought out review 😀 i’m sure the fate’s bane one is good too 😂

and as christine rosen mentions in The Extinction of Experience, the general public is hardly qualified to offer criticism, only opinions because while the internet "encourages us to be critics, [it] does not require much critical judgment or even focused attention."

The Israeli military has expanded its assaults in the occupied West Bank, killing an eight-month-pregnant Palestinian woman during an armed raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp.

forgot to post the actual picture of me in the shirt! also, me with some swords at a sidesword tournament!