If you'll be in Ballarat on the evening of 5 March, I'd love to see you at the launch of my new novel, What the Bones Know! Tickets and event info: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/in-convers...

I loved this novella so much!

For your edification and/or infuriation, I wrote an essay on screen horror and late-stage capitalism for Ruadán Books that has just been published. It seems more timely with each passing week. ruadanbooks.com/when-eat-the...

We can't review what we don't receive! Check out our submission guidelines to consider sending us your work! We love small press authors and are always on the lookout for New & Notable work.

Does my next novel have a fabulous cover that I can finally reveal to the world? WHY YES IT DOES THANK YOU FOR ASKING. To be released March 2026 and you can pre-order it here: www.harpercollins.com.au/978103892277...

Monthly reminder: Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out.

When I was little, the U.S. military came to our home at gunpoint and took me and my family away. We were imprisoned for years in barbed wire camps simply because we were Japanese American. I have spent my life telling that story, hoping it would never be repeated.

This is a magnificent collection which will stick to your ribs like nothing else!

I hate that "AIs" (aka people-pleasing hallucinating plagiarism engines) are trained on work stolen from writers, incl. all my books. I hate more that it's eroding our ability or even desire to think. I get it. Thinking is hard. It's ALSO the work. It's the whole point. It's what makes us human.

My author copies of Never Afters have arrived! It's such a beautiful book and I am so thrilled to see this collection of revisioned fairy tales out in the world.

Happy Book Birthday to @fearofemeralds.bsky.social's NEVER AFTERS omnibus, which is out in ebook and trade paperback today. Brain Jar Press Store: www.brainjarpress.com/product/neve... Other Retailers: books2read.com/NeverAftersO...

100% agree. It's probably my top tip for new writers. Read your work aloud. Even novel-length manuscripts. Make the time - and stay hydrated!

ICYMI earlier, here's the cover for my new novella (out in October this year): The Cold House! It's contemporary folk horror and published by Titan Books, the fabulous cover is by @missnatmack. 😍😍😍

One of my very favourite novels. So wonderful to see it available again in print!

NEW: A searing editorial in the The Kyiv Independent. “It’s time to say it plainly. America’s leadership has switched sides in the war. The American people have not, and they should speak up. “A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn’t Zelensky.” @kyivindependent.com

Excellent summary of the Creative Australia debacle to date from @beneltham.bsky.social and Catriona Menzies-Pike www.crikey.com.au/2025/02/17/k...

If you want to erase a group of people, you begin with the language that describes them.

On sale, today through March 7th. www.audiobooks.com/promotions/p...

We're extraordinarily pleased to open pre-orders on Angela Slatter aka AG Slatter's chapbook, The Night Stair, featuring a tale of vampires, vengenace, and treachery set in Angela's Sourdough universe. Get the free ebook today at offers.brainjarpress.com/thenightstair

This looks like a phenomenal anthology. With amazing covers!

If you see this, quote with flowers from your gallery.

My cat makes a very good argument for spending the whole day in bed, but alas, I have Stupid Human Things to do.

Never thought there would be an opportunity for an appropriate, non-inflammatory use of #notallmen but (hopefully) here we are.

Yep.

When Musk denies that he did a big ol Nazi salute during the inauguration, remember this, from Jean-Paul Sartre, 1944.

For all the doubters, how are these not the same?

Occasional reminder that there’s no, “it’s too late, its over” for anthropogenic climate change. Every molecule of CO2 that doesn’t go into the atmosphere makes a difference. Preventing 0.1 degree of warming makes a difference. Every bit of climate resilience we build together makes a difference.

This is the single most important advice any creative person needs to hear. There are of course factors such as financial insecurity or mental and physical impediments (spoons ≠ motivation even though people will tell you they are the same) but when you can, do, whether you feel inspired or not.

Respect to @anntelnaes.bsky.social for quitting the Washington Post due to censorship over her on-point cartoon. More of this from artists and writers, please. Don't obey in advance, especially to the broligarchy.

Elon is now the richest person who has ever lived, even more than plutocrats who have plundered entire countries or the leaders of immense empires. This level of obscene wealth should not be tolerated.

Seasons greetings from a tentacle-armed Cherub playing a lute. Stuck around knee-height on a laneway wall in Ballarat.

Solidarity with the striking Woolworths workers - a cartoon. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Me: I can't wait for this year to be over. Also me: It isn't allowed to be December yet. I need more time!

It’s rare when they are so explicit that the plan is bespoke human contact for the rich and slop for the rest of us.

Bid on kites by (some major!) Australian illustrators and authors (and me:) here, and support a kids cancer charity! hopeflies.isobellecarmody.net.au/the-kites-ne...

One of the best small presses currently in operation, Undertow publishes phenomenally good spec fic on the darker/weirder end of the spectrum. Can highly recommend Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum, The Ghost Sequences by AC Wise and I Would Haunt You if I Could by Sean Padraic Birnie, just to start with.

For those interested, I've just posted my entire recommended list of stories and poems from 2023 on my blog: ellendatlow.com/category/news/

You're not "late to the party" when you enjoy an old book for the first time. Books don't have an RSVP deadline. The party started long ago, and guests show up when they're meant to.

I've been interviewed by The Orange & Bee about fairy tales, ghost stories and other writerly matters. Many thanks to @carinabissett.bsky.social for the very thought-provoking questions! theorangebee.substack.com/p/author-int...

Jason Nahrung on the inspiration behind his new vampire novella, Cruel Nights, and why this new take on 90s vampire grunge links back to an album by Heart: jasonnahrung.com/2024/04/10/g...

I wrote this in 2022 for a local spoken word event, back when I did that sort of thing. Feels about the right time to share it. Accessible text lives here: shorturl.at/z2aNT

The banality of evil, personified.

Community service announcement, particularly for Australian writers.

Read this deeply personal essay from Lisa L. Hannett about the birth of her daughter, and about mothers (and lack thereof) in science fiction television, by buying the July 2024 book (collecting the first six months of SI essays), or by subscribing. www.speculativeinsight.com/buy-collecti...

My baby has gone to reprint just 9 days after her release into the wild!!!! Thank you so much, all you lovely readers, for giving my Briar Witches the best entry into the world!!! #thebriarbookofthedead #agslatter #angelaslatter #titanbooks #reprintbaby

I, for one, am greatly enjoying the emerging subgenre of "Kill the Rich". #fallofthehouseofusher #saltburn