post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, soundgarden, pearl jam, or alice in chains.

my Christmas gift for myself (arrived early!!) ✨ Pretty UK paperback of Asunder by @kerstinhall.bsky.social, one of my favourite reads from the last couple of years #BookSky

They have come to the convention hoping to "break in" and then find themselves -- shocker! -- a "nobody in the book world." Yeah no shit! We all are! I have gently told guys like this a million times that it takes most of us *years* of hard work but they do not believe that could be true for them. +

Listen to this cat purring like a pigeon.

Listen to this cat purring like a pigeon.

Christmas present successfully gifted! and it smells the same as the original Tuscany!!! Mission complete — happy, happy, happy.

12 months later and I am still (and will continue to be) ride or die for Asunder by @kerstinhall.bsky.social ✨ #BookSky 📚💙

I'm ridiculously fond of ASUNDER. It made @kerstinhall.bsky.social an instant pre-order for me for whatever she writes next. Thanks @solarisbooks.bsky.social for bringing out a UK paperback edition, hope many more people pick up this book which was so deserving of its Nebula and Locus nominations.

The only real way is to formally require divulging any degree of AI usage, in much the same way that we all already declare in contracts that out work is original. Plagiarists will simply lie here, but at least there are consequences when they're caught later. Establish those consequences as norms.

There are many people who simply do not understand the stakes and either understate or overstate them. The issue is not that AI will replace writers or w/e: it can't. The issue is that AI will make our working conditions significantly worse and harm the development of new artists in our fields.

It’s a flaw in me, but I just don’t thrill at the “good for her” mass murder revenge arc. 😔

Good Day! View Of A Church-Yard Entrance In Winter by Edmund Koken 1862 Oil on Canvas Private Collection

This is depressing. Professional bodies that take this position legitimise the use of LLMs — not forbidding the behaviour is as good as condoning it.

Very early into Wake Up Dead Man and I can only think of one thing: SEVEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY THREE *THOUSAND* WORDS, DAWG?

Sometime in the early 2000s, Aramis discontinued Tuscany Per Donna — my mother’s favourite perfume. However, in 2015 Este Lauder released a reformulation of the scent. Currently, it’s only for sale in the US. I managed to get a bottle. ☺️

There never seems to be a good time for anything online lately so I'm just going to throw this out here now: I am looking for more work! I don't mean writing (though that too, sure!), but in the vein of the work I do for the Le Guin Foundation: organizational, practical, assistant-y, bookish work.

Every writer who generates a slop image for their work is a class traitor. "I can't afford a visual artist" So your solution is stabbing artists in the back? Stealing from them? Furthermore, slop-generated imagery suggests slop-generated writing. That's how you're presenting yourself.

ASUNDER by @kerstinhall.bsky.social. Brilliant fantasy novel. And I find it immensely heartening that the Youths are doing better work in an age-old genre that the Olds ever did. Many literary novels feel that way to me atm. I think we're in a bit of a golden age.

Lovely to see @kerstinhall.bsky.social ‘s ASUNDER and @rhiannonagrist.bsky.social ‘s HOME SICK on here!

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.

hurry upppppppppp

There are two distinct categories of compliment you can receive as a creative professional. The first is when someone is genuinely excited about your work, and shares their enthusiasm. (The best!) The second is when someone is grandly bestowing you with the gift of their approval. (The worst.)

I’m secretly getting someone the best Christmas present ever, and I am tremendously smug about this.

friendly reminder that you didn't waste your year. any moments of happiness or comfort. any small accomplishments, they all matter. this has been a really hard year, and simply surviving is something to be proud of.

Our first release of 2025 will be @kerstinhall.bsky.social 's ASUNDER! 🏆 A Finalist for the Nebula & Locus Awards, 🖤 A Reactor Reviewer's Choice Best Book of 2024 📙 A New York Public Library Best-Of Pick SABRIEL meets WITCH KING in this deliciously dark fantasy! Preorder https://geni.us/asunder

IT'S GOT SPIDER VEHICLES

I loved this book! I want the author to be able to write the sequel! I've given it to two of my brothers-in-law for Christmas already this season!

“I’m dying.” His tone was matter-of-fact and his expression perfectly serious, but Karys had the feeling he might be making fun of her—exaggerating, or telling a strange sort of joke at her expense. Her mistrust mounted as she scrutinised his face. “You talk a lot for a dying man,” she said.

If some guy stole my shit and made millions off it while wiping out my job prospects, and you, as my friend, bought that guy's cheap mass market replica of my shit, you and i would for obvious reasons have a problem. It being a massive company, not a guy, actually makes it even more of a problem.

can neither confirm nor deny, but yeah, actually, entirely correct, an “I can make her worse 😌” situation of note.

thanks for the wasptrauma, @kerstinhall.bsky.social

I'm convinced this will not change in book two:

i know it's trite but: most science fiction is not trying to predict the future. i keep seeing people stumbling over this. "well, it wouldn't be plausible to have--" okay but maybe the author wasn't trying for "plausible." usually they aren't. what other goals might the author have had?

Asunder by @kerstinhall.bsky.social for your friends who like rich worldbuilding fantasies and friendship to die for (*that you might already be dying for)

Just signed a translation deal, and it was so nice to see that there was a comprehensive “no AI“ section already in the contract.

I’ve sometimes fallen into the trap of thinking that complementing a creative person for their work is less sophisticated or desired than discussion or debate about it but very often the best thing you can say to them is hell yeah and that doesn’t make you dumb it just makes you nice

i strongly, strongly believe that good writing is downstream of clear thinking and a strong understanding of the subject matter at hand. without fail, tortured writing comes from writers who don’t know and can’t think clearly about anything.

It's obligatory consumption season! Please consider poisoning your friends and family with THE WORKS OF VERMIN A great gift for: People who want something weird/different Your favorite genderfreaks Your exterminator Asthmatics/anyone with latent or active TB That one theater kid

Ah, I see it is time for the annual, aggressive game of hide-and-seek with the neighbourhood carollers.

Self-promotion doesn't always get easier in publishing. This nominations season--for the Nebulas, or any other award--PLEASE take pride in your work. Voters will ask about eligible works for their consideration, and we hope every SFF writer feels empowered to answer the call. Invest in your success!

New-books-in-the-library day. The best! 🤗

It's the last day to grab Double and Triple Stamps at Waterstones, so why not snap up some special Solaris titles, including new releases and exciting preorders from @kerstinhall.bsky.social @shaykauwe.bsky.social @aptshadow.bsky.social @rhiannonagrist.bsky.social @rainewilson.bsky.social & more?

Look you just have to make the cool weird shit that excites you. You must. In this world besieged by bland, scrubbed boring, computer slop, you must. Make the thing you’re embarrassed to make, the thing that feels “too much” because otherwise we get drowned in a sea of cowardly work made by a button

If you like gritty dark fantasy pick this one up. Granted I’m only 50 pages in but there has already been a gruesome death and the prose is so gothic and atmospheric. I can’t wait to read more about this deathspeaker over the snowy weekend that has already begun. #booksky #gothic #fantasy 💙📚🪐📚🐉

I finished The Border Keeper and Second Spear by @kerstinhall.bsky.social this month and a) it seems criminal to me that the latter was marketed as a standalone and b) I loved these books and the strange, lush, creepy worlds they contain. #BookSky 💙📚

Me, trying to summon any enthusiasm whatsoever for ship stuff: “hey, did you know it’s ’anchors aweigh‘ not ‘anchors away?’”

incredible quote lol

Asunder By @kerstinhall.bsky.social is basically "TFW you sell your soul to an eldritch deity only for some hot foreign guy to get stuck in your pocket dimension. 🫠" The ending is very rude (complimentary) but the author is working on a sequel. bookshop.org/p/books/asun...

It's Waterstones Plus Stamps time, so here's a selection of our Fantasy titles to *help* you fill your basket! @artofelaineho.bsky.social @authortrmoore.bsky.social @pennyvixen.bsky.social @shaykauwe.bsky.social @kerstinhall.bsky.social @samkhorton.bsky.social @julietmarillier.bsky.social & more!

“What’s the hardest part of writing? Characters? Conflict? Worldbuilding?” “Actually, it’s those little transitional moments within scenes that literally no one will ever notice, but which I need to stare at for three hours before flinging my laptop into the ocean.”