Hey so I'd love some help from clever people on a couple things! 1) What are the recent indie fantasy releases I should be checking out? 2) Is there still some way to read any Amazon-exclusive ebooks on a non-kindle ereader, now that download & transfer is dead?

I forgot to actually give the answer to this. But the shed was full of hundreds upon hundreds of bits of paper stuck to every inch of wall and ceiling. And one of them seemed to admit to a murder at a Greggs in Linlithgow.

I AM READING A FANTASY WHERE THERE ARE SOME REALLY BIG TREES AND MAYBE ONE OF THE REALLY BIG TREES WILL FALL OVER AND THAT MIGHT ACTUALLY BE A REALLY BIG DEAL ON A SOCIETAL LEVEL

Hello BlueSky what do you think is inside this strange woodland shed I found?

It's a THREE BOOK YEAR for me. I'm gonna break them down for you in this thread, but head to my website at the link in bio for more details and sign up for my newsletter to keep tabs on sales, pre-order campaigns, sneak peeks, and events! Ambessa: Out Now! The others: Sept 30!

I know that feeling, puppy.

What I don't understand is why I'd waste hours and hours trying to find the ideal prompt that makes GenAI slightly less shit... Rather than spending those hours learning the actual skill.

It's always talking swords and talking weapons in fantasy, but never taking clothes. I bet a good pair of boots would have a lot to say. They've seen some shit.

The Whitecloaks from the Wheel of Time must have a smashing laundry routine, by the way. Especially with all that camping. Must go through a shit tonne of Persil.

Joe Abercrombie's The Devils is basically a sort of Papal Suicide Squad and weirdly enough I'm into that.

Love seeing writers talk about seeding a few typos through their books to prove they aren't AI. For a more bullet-proof defence, though, people should use the Oxford comma. As GPT is mostly trained through US English via Reddit, the Oxford comma is a clear sign of human authorship and good morals.

Looking past the surface levels of Dumb on display here, this statement made in the interest of transparency doesn't feel very transparent. What vetting actually took place? What were the search terms? I see authors saying they were rejected. Who is accountable for those decisions in this process?

New authors deserve so much props for trying to kickstart a career these days. 25 years ago, you released a book and you were competing against whatever other books the shop had in stock. These days, you're competing against every bit of literature ever written by the human race.

There are so many layers of Wrong to this that it's basically comedic art.

Whenever I see people defend DRM, the reasoning is always that it is needed to discourage piracy. The problem is that DRM is often used to lock customers into specific product ecosystems. And piracy is a convenient excuse to justify this.

As someone who switched to a kobo a couple months back, there are things about it I love so much more than my kindle. Like accurate page numbering! ...but this is now going to make reading Amazon "exclusive" books a total pain in the arse. If not impossible.

I am a multiple alarms in the morning person. And proud! ...but what I'm not so proud of is that I only label these alarms once a year. For Christmas dinner. So, gradually, they make less and less sense as the year goes on.

Sprout had some surgery yesterday, and is feeling a little bit sorry for herself. So I've brought all of the duvets and blankets downstairs, and we're going to turn the living room into one big comfy bed for the rest of the day.

Gonna start a thread for all of my blockbuster book ideas. Book Idea 1... An exploration of belief-based magic systems. A hit song from 90s icon Cher causes chaos. Across the planet, each romantic break-up births a new, inhabited, pocket universe. People start to believe in life after love.

I think it’s time to reignite this account. Has anyone read great books recently?

Today we're thrilled to be taking part in the cover reveal for Hive favourite David Wragg's final instalment in his Tales of the Plains trilogy THE IRON ROAD, coming out this September from HarperVoyager. Read more: https://buff.ly/3WTjUQm

I once got detention for over-eager whistling. Despite the fact that I can't whistle. When I didn't turn up, I was pulled out of class to answer to a panel of teachers who tried to MAKE me whistle to prove the point. So I spent 15 minutes basically blowing kisses and getting yelled at for it.

Imagine if more fantasy books were named along the lines of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? "Short Kings, Magic Things, and the One Ring".

Hey Australian friends! I have a random silly mystery I'm hoping you can help solve! My friend and amazing fellow author @samhawkewrites.bsky.social showed me this pic of the hardcover of THE LAST HOUR BETWEEN WORLDS she bought in a bookstore in Australia that's missing a certain something 😂 (1/?)

All of my love and support to sexual assault survivors who have the courage to speak out, and refuse to be silenced. Putting yourself under the microscope like that has got to be one of the bravest things a person can do, if they are able.

New laptop, new laptop case!

I picked up Octavia Butler's Kindred pretty much blind. I'm now maybe 30% of the way through, and I don't feel like I'll be in control of my own breathing until I've finished this... And maybe spent a few days processing it.

I like to think I'm a reader who loves deep, meaningful, insightful books. And then I read a book where, with a rush of power and some magic sparkles, a dude graduates to a Gold Level Ninja Wizard Warrior and somehow wins an unwinnable battle. And before I know it I'm 6 books deep in a series.

I get so frustrated when my literal job involves developing AI models that are actually useful and help us do cool science but every day I see the absolute worst forms of the technology being pushed by finance bros and politicians.

Thread.

It's quite interesting to think of how important the "first impressions" of a story are. And not just for opening lines/paras. Not all writers will be AMAZING at openings. But for novels... I wonder to what extent a good blurb, a good cover, a good degree of hype have an effect?

Ball

My favourite reads of the last year peatlong.wordpress.com/2025/01/03/t...

End of the big Jan 11th LOTR thread about the Trotter/Strider change and its ramifications, for those who want to avoid wrestling with bluesky’s interesting thoughts on threading….

I have a very cute puppy. Here she is looking (longingly, greedily) at a treat. In exactly the same way I look at new books when I already own a tonne of others that I should be reading instead.

Dog on a watermelon

Gonna start a Discord server and invite a bunch of writers to role-play characters and see if we can improv a story. Then I'm gonna steal the whole story and get rich and successful at the expense of my happiness, reputation, and newfound friendships.

Is there an upper limit to how many problems should be layered onto a character/storyline in a book? Like, on one hand I enjoy that "oh shit!" feeling of wondering how one problem is gonna impact all the others. But on the other... My memory is so bad, guys.

Y'know that really British train question? "Is this the train for SomeTown?" "I hope so!" Everyone laughs. Person sits down. ...well last year, I felt the need to ask the guy sat beside me if our plane was definitely going to Glasgow. I've never seen anxiety spread so fast. Not the same at all.

I'm gonna throw out a horrible, weird secret. Please be gentle, don't look at me funny. Until last week I had never in my life had instant ramen. Idk why. Tried some last week on a whim and this shit is fucking delightful. Why did I go 30 years without this?!

I have lost about 4 days of my holiday to Dungeon Crawler Carl. Something I did not intend to happen.

I wonder... Which two genres could you combine to make the shittest sounding fusion genre? I'm leaning towards Space Opera and Grimdark. You either get Space Dark, which is surely just a statement of fact. Or Grim Opera. Which must just be a bunch of cunts who can't sing.

🚨 INCREDIBLE SALE ALERT 🚨 Superstar booksellers @thebrokenbinding.bsky.social are having a Black Friday Sale, and you can pick up my fantastic latest book, signed and in hardback, for HALF PRICE www.thebrokenbinding.co.uk/product-page...

The older I get, the more I appreciate raggedy-arsed endings to stories that explore complex topics. A few stories do a great job of showing the "present" of a class war or revolution, for instance, but then undercut themselves by trying to force a neat ending. Fuck neat. Embrace chaos.

Today, we're thrilled to be able to reveal the cover of Rebecca Ide's upcoming novel THE GENTLEMAN AND HIS VOWSMITH, and we have an exclusive excerpt to share with you too! Jacket design by Kieryn Tyler, Pan Macmillan Art Department Read more: https://buff.ly/4fRy4JC

Apparently, I don't promote my books enough. Apparently, some people don't even know I write books. So, let's start with some review quotes for SHADOW OF A DEAD GOD. books2read.com/ShadowGod

Lots of folks here now! I'm gonna do the intro thing! I'm HiuGregg! I am a cabbage on the internet, for reasons I can't remember. I sometimes read books, I work in TV but boring-ly, and I have a surprising following among the straight community in Chicago. Here is a pic of me as a kid.

I've written close to 6000 words over the last two days! ...across several PowerPoint slides. It's not quite as exciting as a fantasy novel, is it?

It is a cold day, and Sprout would like you to donate some of your warm.

I have not read anywhere near enough SFF short stories in the last 18 months! I was wondering/hoping if the Bluesky hivemind knew of any to point me towards?