This Pride season, a special mention to the sci-fi/fantasy titles with lgbtqia+ leading characters, fabulous supporting characters, queer worlds, and the themes that continue to reflect and inspire positive change. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ #fantasy #sci-fi #lgbtqia+

Happy Exeter Pride weekend!! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🙌 #pride #exeterpride

A poem.

Thrilled about Audible, @recordedbooks.bsky.social narrators Christel Mutombo, Kofi Boakye for my Afro-surreal stories, A Place Between Waking and Forgetting by @rdspress.bsky.social. 🙏🏿 Bieke van Aggelen, African Literary Agency. 💞Out Jan 2025, pre-orders open! www.audible.com.au/pd/A-Place-B...

I'm delighted to welcome @kvjohansen.bsky.social to the Guest Blog today! www.sarah-ash.com/guest-blog/2...

Happy Monday. It looks like spring.🪻

After (unintentionally) pumping the brakes on short story writing for a year or so, I'm very excited and pleased to announce that my story "Nanny Rutt" has been accepted into "Folklore Horror" by Flame Tree Press! I love working with Flame Tree Press, and their books are always gorgeous!

Nneeded to express some thoughts on disability: nnedi.blogspot.com/2026/04/walk...

Busy start to the week for some… 😻

Wild hyacinths out to play at Lytes Cary Manor in #somerset and it’s lovely to see the springtime blooms.🪻

Home after a busy #Iridescence2026, inspiring as always, my focus this time on stories as activism, folklore as resistance, & the magic of libraries in bringing stories to the people. Plus resident Canada Geese lakeside of the NEC making for a magical stay. 🍃 susiewilliamson.blog/2026/04/07/n...

If you are registered for Wordcon, don't forget to vote in Site Selection! www.lacon.org/siteselection/

We Will Rise Again panel: @drkarenlord.bsky.social @cherylmorgan.bsky.social @csharpwords.bsky.social &Emma Newton. Looking beyond the big heroic stories & turning to community, finding sense, possibility & resilience in stories with small ambition, stories that might just turn big. #Iridescence2026

Morning from the NEC where the geese have taken resident. Grateful for this burst of wildlife in amongst the built up business. A reminder of why I layer wildlife into my stories, because it matters, because this home is their home, and because it makes us all feel better. 🍃 #Iridesence2026

It's Birmingham & #Iridescence2026. Bringing creativity with a Superpowers workshop, inspired by the gifted folk in my books, & joining a fabulous How Great are Libraries panel - real world & fictional libraries, & the ancient, magical Chamber of Scrolls in my novel, The Warder. 🐉 #eastercon2026

The micro-climate of an umbrella tree, with tiny beads of water like clear jewels, watched by White Lion standing guard. 🍃

Not a great photo but lovely to see the heron yesterday on a visit to the river, following its trail for a while as it hopped along beside. 🚴‍♀️

Looking forward to #Eastercon2026. I'm on the programme with a 'Superpowers' creative writing workshop. And I'll be taking part in the 'How Great are Libraries' panel. So many great fictional libraries, including the magical space in The Boy and the Heron... susiewilliamson.blog/2026/03/23/f...

Latest blog and my review of a gorgeously colourful and layered animated fantasy film, The Boy and the Heron, written by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. Enjoy. #fantasy susiewilliamson.blog/2026/03/23/f...

Coming to the end of a week of R&R, including a breath of fresh air in the wonderful city of #Bath, soaking up the history of the Roman Baths, & spending time with the greats, the Mary Shelley museum was a personal highlight. ❤️ #writerslife

Here we are, my lovelies! Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of my latest to print, ‘To Those from Below’. Out on shelves worldwide next month. Enormous thanks to the wonderful @catcavendish.bsky.social and the beautifully frightening @ramseycampbell.bsky.social for their cover quotes!

My novel DEATH OF THE AUTHOR has won the Libby Book Award (a.k.a. the Librarians Choice Award) for Best Science Fiction, 🇳🇬🇺🇸🤖🐬! Full list here: www.libbylife.com/blog/the-win...

Comfy cat. 😻

#internationalwomensday #womeninsff ❤️

Another busy day at Exeter #ComicCon with #bloodgiftchronicles #returnofthemantra #thewarder #magic #animism #dragons

Making friends at #exeter #ComicCon

A busy weekend coming up at Exeter Comic Con. ❤️💫 #bloodgiftchronicles #returnofthemantra #thewarder #magic #animism #dragons

Hello to new folk. I write epic and contemporary fantasy novels along with varied shorter fiction. For more about the books, see www.julietemckenna.com All opinions I express online are absolutely my own. I boost what looks like good reading and interesting things. I block intolerance and aggression

Spring is tapping at the door... 🍃

My novel DEATH OF THE AUTHOR has won the 2026 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction!! 💃🏿🇳🇬🇺🇸🤖 Sigh…wow. 🥹

Last week I was at Plymouth Lit Fest & a reader struck up a conversation about magic and what we think of as magic, including the simplest meanings like the magic of a smile. Although in my case magic does include #dragons. 🐉 #bloodgiftchronicles #magic #dragons susiewilliamson.blog/2026/02/22/t...

Eastercon is the UK's annual science fiction convention for book lovers & writers Iridescence, 2026's Eastercon will be at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, 3-6 April 2026. Tickets on sale now Guests of Honour include @rjbarker.bsky.social @emmanewman.bsky.social & @drkarenlord.bsky.social

Nominations are now open for the 2026 Hugo Awards! Emails are going out to eligible nominators (those who became a member of LAcon V by January 31, 2026, or were a member of the Seattle Worldcon 2025) about how to set up their LAcon V virtual convention account.

Even if it weren’t #BlackHistoryMonth, I think this @locusmag.bsky.social interview with top-tier #Africnfuturist #author @nnedi.bsky.social would be well worth #reading! She finishes the “She Who Knows” Trilogy this month! #amreading #sciencefiction #BookSky📚💙 locusmag.com/feature/nned...

Obligatory selfie on a cold & frosty morning at Plymouth Lit. Festival, at least the icy weather is on the outside, inside is warmth & a wealth of stories shared. Love fantasy’s imaginative lens to explore human truth, emotion & ethical dilemmas, to consider themes of resilience in a complex world.❤️

Meanwhile, over on Book DNA, my top reads of 2025… ❤️ 📚 #bookrecommendations #bookreviews #sff bookdna.com/bboy/2025/f/...

Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'yellow' #BookQW #Booksky To try my writing without potentially committing to a series, take a look at The Cleaving, my standalone retelling of King Arthur's story from the perspective of the women involved. Published by @angryrobotbooks.bsky.social

Two great fantasy reads featured in this month's blog - The Green Man's Heir by Juliet McKenna, & Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon. 📚 #bookrecommendations #bookreviews #fantasy #fantasybooks #thegreenmansheir #julietmckenna #sorrowland #riverssolomon #SFF susiewilliamson.blog/2026/01/25/f...

Almost twenty and reliving her youth, too fast to snap while leaf-chasing on a windy day, before trotting over for second breakfast. 😻

Catching a break in the rains for the winter sculpture trail at Rosemoor Gardens. 🫶 #rosemoor #rosemoorgardens

Always a pleasure to see #returnofthemantra out in the wild, this time gracing the bookshop shelves of #liznojan 🥰 📚 #bloodgiftchronicles #magic #animism #fantasy 🍃

Highlights, reflections, colour & creations, walking into the new year with optimism & inspiration. 💫 Wishing everyone a joyful, peaceful, gift-filled and Happy New Year 2026! #bloodgiftchronicles #returnofthemantra #thewarder #magic #animism #dragons #fantasy susiewilliamson.blog/2025/12/31/h...

The to-read pile is not quite leaning, and stories are a writer’s best friend. Not to mention super-posh notebooks too smart to write in, although maybe, just maybe, 2026 will be the year. ✍️ #sff

Wishing everyone a magical festive season filled with joy and wonder. And books. And for those looking for some reading inspiration, click the link for my #SFF Book Advent 2025. susiewilliamson.blog/.../susies-s... 🎄📚🌟🐉🍃 💫

Day 24 of Book Advent 📚 Death of the Author by @nnedi.bsky.social Zelu's mother was a Yoruba princess, her father is Igbo with a PhD. She is paraplegic, flawed, sassy, hard-working, & an author, writing robots into a complex world of death, circuits, energy & what it means to be human.

Day 23 of Book Advent 📚 Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt A 17th century woman accused of witchcraft in the days of puritanical colonies, chained, eyes & mouth sewn shut, haunts the town of Black Spring. The townsfolk's responses are fascinating & chilling. Brilliant & horrifying read.

Day 22 of Book Advent 📚 Nine Bar Blues by @shereereneethomas.bsky.social Golden mermaids, curse-bound sisterhoods, poisoned landscapes & an otherworldly earth. Evocative, inventive & contemporary tales that haunt, uplift, & ascend, while moving with the rhythm of cultural change.

#WinterSolstice ❤️

Day 21 of Book Advent 📚 Binding the Cuckoo by @gabrielahouston.bsky.social In high society London, Hare must keep her mythic status secret, in this historical romantasy where fae and human collide and Eastern European folklore is brought to life. A vivid & magical tale beautifully told.

Day 20 of Book Advent 📚 Lord of Snow and Shadows by @sarahash7.bsky.social In the wintry kingdom of Azhkendir, Gavril must face his true identity, & uncover the truth of the shadow. With a vivid & fearless supporting cast, this fantasy is a masterclass. A wonderful winter read.