duck drawing practice

A friend in an alleyway

It is common in writing to make use of the pathetic fallacy where you lard the description with feelings for atmosphere (a sullen house huddled in the woods). And then there's just the straight up character assassination. If I was the Plain of York, I'd sue.

It's been 1 week since Mercutio came out in the UK, which seems very distant but I have had some lovely notes from readers, which has helped me feel like the book is indeed out in the world. The people who dig it really dig it -- it is like The Chatelaine / Armed in Her Fashion in that way.

“Use AI or get left behind!” Please, leave me behind. Drop me off on the side of the road somewhere. Sentence me to a remote cabin with a typewriter and some wildflowers that don’t know how to use the internet

No expense spared for this book launch!

I neglected bluesky in all my chaotic posting yesterday but herein you can find a list of things I loved that I packed into Seek the Traitor's Son, plus a playlist! shorturl.at/f1eS7

SEEK THE TRAITOR’S SON is OUT it is ON SHELVES it is OFFICIALLY DONE BEING EDITED 😉

fellas (gender neutral), we got free books for those who like em!

there's a new Ann Leckie book today it's called Radiant Star and I think it's quite good and you should read it: www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/ann-l...

😊

I wish you well in your adult literacy journey

thank you so much for noticing! i did it on purpose.

This storm keeps removing parts of my roof, and I don’t love that.

the failure of early 2010s social justice posting on Tumblr (and eventually Twitter) really was that some people want a socially acceptable excuse to be vicious without any limits, and it took several years to sort out hypothetical harm from real, material harm.

Moving On.

Good morning! My novel MERCUTIO is out in the UK today. The best thing I've done. My thanks to my editor Jane Johnson, my agent Jennie Goloboy, to Leo Nickolls for the cover, and to Maxim Reston for the audiobook:

This is key to why most SFF readers start in childhood, and it can be a struggle to learn how to read SFF as an adult if you didn’t start teen you still knew how to read like a kid.

OFFICIAL MET GALA THREAD STARTS HERE

Some of those people also send me harassing messages! It's great! By great I mean not great Please stop bugging authors who WANT a deliberately ambiguous ending and are not going to tell you what you want to hear about your own theory

Perfect, no notes.

always remember that u are someone’s greatest fumble

Well the thing is, if you COULD write for an audience and guarantee a living, we all would. But even hacks starve, so you may as well do your own weird shit.

A fun thing about publishing* is that publishers often pay you on publication of the book, but can move that for no fault of the author's, and you just...don't get paid. *which has, thankfully, never happened to me; Disney paid me both times a book was delayed, and my other delays were on me

when we mourn le guin, we mourn one of our greatest writers & thinkers. but we also mourn one of our all-time greatest haters

All the warnings about a sedentary lifestyle don't apply to me because I'm lying down most of the time and that's different. There isn't even science about that

I think we could do with a little less "Don't worry, I'm allowed to make this art because I'm traumatized in these ways." and a lot more "Don't worry, I'm allowed to make this art because I'm allowed to make any art. And also, it's none of your fucking business whether or not I am traumatized."

what if, in these fleeting interactions, we recognized each other's mutual humanity?? what if we allowed authors to be eccentric introverts, as god intended, rather than public celebrities with media training, flawless makeup, and infinite endurance??

@kerstinhall.bsky.social one of my book groups just read “Asunder,” and we all at least liked it, and some of us (hi, it me) LOVED it. fly, sequel! be free!

demeter when her daughter goes missing

"Writing a book is like reading a book - except the book is trying to kill you." (This will always be the most accurate description of writing, dont @ me.)

We are delighted to announce @bcsmagazine.bsky.social is the official first sponsor of The 2026 Ignyte Awards! BCS was an Outstanding Fiction Podcast finalist 2020-2023 and published the winning 2024 Outstanding Short Story "A Witch’s Transition In The City Of Ghosts" by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe in 2023!

Good morning, book birthday is finally upon me!! Rabbit Test and Other Stories is out in the woooorld 🥳

Nice stationary. The words might be terrible, but at least they sparkle.

New work! May Day, an ancient oak tree. Drawn in pen and ink, coloured in Procreate #SciArt #treeart #treeartist #oaktree #ancientoak #illustration #penandink #inkdrawing #handdrawn

my latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com

“Frustration with modern dating” feels like an awfully charitable phrasing for what’s motivating these guys

*inhales deeply* behold! my wares! i have books about sad monks:

It’s my sister’s birthday! Which means it is time, once again, to make a ridiculous cake. 🐸

We read Works of Vermin by @hironennes.bsky.social for my book club and I adored it! I was completely consumed clawing and groping my way through this moistly decadent, transformatively stinky bug-infested world and characters. shoutout to @jdebbiel.bsky.social for the killer cover too!

For the first time in my local bookshop!

HAH! 💅

Friday’s another good day to go to the zoo if you’re looking for something that you want to do:

Woohoo! Package!

Wtf is being advertised at me right now?

every so often you'll see someone share THE book that got them into reading...FOR LIFE... and you think "huh. I hated that one so much I left it on the airplane" and I think that's beautiful.

“Let’s go see the one totally sane human being again,” I say, and June says, “Okay.”