And finally, trapped and facing horrifying trials with THE BONE DOOR by @franceswrites.bsky.social and THE SEA HIDES ITS DEAD by @megbontra.bsky.social, chaired by @lynseymay.com at @cymerafestival.co.uk

And my final panel of the weekend is @franceswrites.bsky.social and Megan Bontrager in conversation with @lynseymay.com - an excellent ending to a superb festival.

The Bone Door is @franceswrites.bsky.social's newest novel; you can get a signed hardback copy of it AND her fantasy murder mystery Voyage of the Damned here: www.32auctions.com/organization...

I have shiny new books coming (they're just not announced yet), but before they do, I'm going on an adventure to self-publishing land with my fantasy romance, A Sport of Wings. All the details - so far - are here: anna-stephens.com/2026/05/27/n...

@franceswrites.bsky.social: "I wanted to make the book hopeful, & the best way of making that work is by putting it up against something really dark." And now The Bone Door is on my to-read list too, because this is an approach to stories I love.

Stayed up 2 hours past my bedtime to finish reading The Bone Door and spent like the last hour just ugly crying. @franceswrites.bsky.social I was utterly riveted by this book. It’s so beautiful and so human. Absolutely unique world you built, and oh these babies! I just wanted to hug them all.

Reading this right now and it’s so good and utterly compelling (I actually scored an ARC but had a deadline and couldn’t finish it before release so also have the fancy deluxe edition)

#NewSwag @goldsborobooks.bsky.social exclusive signed and numbered edition of 'The Bone Door', written by @franceswrites.bsky.social #BookSky

My copy came in! THE BONE DOOR by Frances White is GORGEOUS 😍 It is also a fantastic read. #thebonedoor @franceswrites.bsky.social #fantasybooks #horrorbook

The Bone Door by @franceswrites.bsky.social! I loved this book. A horror escape room with a lot of trauma and a whole lot of wholesomeness. The foreword of the book is: For those who have the strength to be kind, even when the world is not. My full review is here: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

A beautiful evening under the sunlit Edinburgh Castle listening to @franceswrites.bsky.social in conversation with @hanfrankan.bsky.social at Waterstones Edinburgh - check out THE BONE DOOR, out now!

🗝️🐇The Bone Door UK Tour 🐇🗝️ The first event for The Bone Door tour is in literally a week! So I’ve brought together all the times and places you can catch me over the next month or so! I will have tour exclusive swag with me (including The Bone Door tote bags) while stocks last.

🗝️🐇The Bone Door UK Tour 🐇🗝️ The first event for The Bone Door tour is in literally a week! So I’ve brought together all the times and places you can catch me over the next month or so! I will have tour exclusive swag with me (including The Bone Door tote bags) while stocks last.

I really loved @franceswrites.bsky.social's debut Voyage of the Damned, so I'm stoked for her upcoming The Bone Door: billed as a wild ride through humour, horror, magic and murder, as Hop wakes up with no memory in a mysterious labyrinth with a set of impossible tasks... Out in May! 💙📚🪐

Out next month, The Bone Door by Frances White is one of my favourite books of the year. It is, quite simply, a glorious thing and you should buy a copy. espressococo.com/2026/04/17/t... @michaeljbooks.bsky.social

My account on here appears to have been hacked. I have sorted it now but please ignore any DMs sent from my account!

I am SO excited to be appearing at Edge-Lit 2026! This is a full circle moment as I first attended Edge-Lit as a querying author at the very peak of my hopelessness of ever getting published. Now I’m returning many years later with two books published and a guest of honour. Truly so special!

Happy #TransDayofVisibility! These are a handful of the many trans books that have made my life better in recent years. In them, trans characters get to be all the things cis characters have ever gotten to be, and that's the world I want to live in. Mom hugs going to all who need them today.🌈📚💙

In light of a certain TERF-authored HBO series getting more press lately, here are better stories you can read: LGBTQ+ friendly books w/ magic, witches, fantasy, etc! I could go on and on with more slides honestly—I love this genre, and there are SO MANY fabulous books out there.🌈📚💙

This review is everything. Thank you so much!! ☺️

💀 ✨ THE BONE DOOR UK TOUR ✨ 💀 I am SO excited to announce a line up of events to celebrate the release of The Bone Door in the U.K.! I really hope to see a bunch of you there. Meeting readers is my favourite thing ever and of course I will come with ALL THE FREEBIES.

Attention UK readers! The Bone Door, a horror fantasy escape room novel is now available on NetGalley UK! Go forth and request!! www.netgalley.co.uk/catalog/book...

The Bone Door by @franceswrites.bsky.social will be published in May by @michaeljbooks.bsky.social A story about ‘trauma, friendship & hope’ with a boy called Hop who finds himself in an ‘unsettling labyrinth where he must complete impossible tasks to survive.’ I’m looking forward to this!

Ahhh! It’s happening! My horror fantasy escape room novel, The Bone Door, is now available to request on NetGalley US! If you’ve ever said ‘boy, I wish I could just read something DIFFERENT, ya know?’ This may well be the book for you. 👀 www.netgalley.com/catalog/book...

Yesterday I had an “office party” with some of the best colleagues and friends imaginable. Thanks @elizachanwrites.bsky.social , @franceswrites.bsky.social , and @sarahbrooks.bsky.social for touring York with me. (Mainly through drinking mulled wine and having a publishing chat in a pub!)

Next up in my paperbacks of the year is Voyage of the Damned by @franceswrites.bsky.social! Really loved this one: disaster-bisexual Dee is an adorable mess of a main character, stuck on a magical boat trip from hell in this murderous fantasy whodunit 🐟✨ #SFF 💙📚🪐

We’re so excited to bring you the stunning North American cover reveal for @franceswrites.bsky.social's new fantasy horror THE BONE DOOR!🗝️ All first-edition copies have beautiful endpapers and gorgeous sprayed edges - however they are limited to the first print run! Coming May 2026.

I am SO excited to reveal the US cover of my new fantasy horror novel The Bone Door! I am equally excited to scream about the STUNNING special edition. This will be a limited first print run. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. So if you want to ensure you get the pretty I advise you to pre-order asap.

I won a British Fantasy Award!! Sooo this happened! Yesterday I was awarded the British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer for Voyage of the Damned. I know everyone says this but I really didn’t expect to win! I’ve always maintained I don’t write the type of books that win awards but apparently I do?

Ahhhh! I can’t believe it. Thank you so much! 😭💙 More when I’m actually coherent, but what an honour!

Thank you for all your love and support on the cover reveal for The Bone Door! I’m honestly blown away 😭 The book is included in Waterstones preorder sale available to all customers which lasts until Friday 17th October and you can get 25% off! www.waterstones.com/book/the-bon...

Ed as usual sums up one of my books better than I ever could 🤣

🐇 💀 COVER REVEAL 💀 🐇 I’m SO excited to reveal the UK cover of my next novel, The Bone Door! A fantasy/horror escape room novel, coming 7 May 2026

Recently read - Voyage of the Damned by Frances White Adored this diverse magical murder mystery by a fellow @edinburghsff.com writer @franceswrites.bsky.social! The characters are so compelling and sensitively written, not to mention hilarious. Highly recommend!

Thought I'd write some book reviews for #PrideMonth on these cute rainbow cards, only to find most of my reviews were already very queer and could just be copied over 😅 So that tells you something about my reading habits! 💙📚🪐 🌈📚 @franceswrites.bsky.social

Here are a few pics from yesterday’s panel! It was really great, made so by lovely fellow panellists, chairperson, arrangers and the wonderful audience. Thank you to @alethearlyons.bsky.social and @britfantasysoc.bsky.social for arranging this!

Last minute news! I’ll be popping along to London Comic-con on Sunday 25th at 12pm at the Writer’s Block to sign some books and hopefully meet some of you! I’ll have all my swag and also bookplates so no worry if you can’t carry books I got you 💙🐟 Can’t wait to see you!

Quick someone put ‘Agatha Christie queer hopepunk’ on a poster of my book!

How to Survive Debut Author Stress is live! bit.ly/3Z0wkXO Published writers, including bestsellers, those with hybrid careers, and award winners, offer stories and strategies to debut authors. #writingcommunity #mentalhealth #stress

Thursday 8th May (Stockport) FANTASY BOOK PANEL featuring: Eliza Chan - TIDEBORN Thomas D. Lee - PERILOUS TIMES Frances White - VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED @elizachanwrites.bsky.social @thomasdlee.bsky.social @franceswrites.bsky.social 🎫 www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/sto...

If you're based in Manchester or Stockport then do come along to my event with @franceswrites.bsky.social and @elizachanwrites.bsky.social on the 8th of May! www.manchestercityofliterature.com/event/fantas...

Oh hey would you look at that. I'm back at it again with @brendandurkin.bsky.social for three more books at @gollancz.bsky.social! This one's got everything! Ghosts! Excessively virtuous knights! A distressing tower! A man who is also a tree? Lots of birds! Utopian anarchism! It's great.

🏳️‍🌈Event Announcement🏳️‍🌈 @britfantasysoc.bsky.social is teaming up with Social Refuge and Queer Lit in Manchester to bring you 'Queer & Weird', a panel on Making Fiction Gay. Featuring @emmasternerradley.bsky.social, @lindzmcleod.bsky.social, Frances White, and C. M. Kuhtz (and I'm moderating).

Happy International Asexuality day!! 🖤🩶🤍💜 It took me a long time to work out my identity, mainly because of lack of representation and knowledge of asexuality. I’m so glad that it’s becoming more widely known and fewer young people wrongly believe they are broken. ❤️

Loved doing this podcast! 🤩

Our lovely Patreon backers now have early access to this week's fun chat with the bestselling fantasy author, @franceswrites.bsky.social, who tells us about the journey to her huge debut success with Voyage of the Damned. Visit Patreon now to join up and listen (or watch!): patreon.com/ukpageone

Tideborn was launched on Tuesday in Manchester with big party! My thanks to @franceswrites.bsky.social for chairing, @illumicrate.bsky.social for sponsoring, the Waterstones Deansgate staff, family, friends, writers, readers.

Oh hey, Locus voting is still going on!!! I am wildly honored to have TLHBW appear the longlist, but also there are many other incredible works on here, and you should vote if you haven't already! Plus you can write in your faves! (I wrote in Voyage of the Damned by @franceswrites.bsky.social !)

This magical gay murder cruise by @franceswrites.bsky.social was a highlight of this month’s reads. As a straight AAPI cis woman, I’ve never resonated so hard with a main character in my life and didn’t expect to have so much in common with a blonde boy in a shimmering tracksuit. Legend. 🐟 #booksky