Happy Monday...

Arguing with a friend who loves chatting to copilot & their justification was 'yes I know it's an ecological disaster but it's nice to me' and my god what do you say to that?

🐙 GIVEAWAY TIME, FRIENDS 🐙

Just walked into a spider's web whilst talking and got a mouthful of spider. Which was fun for exactly none of us.

We need to step up tbh, they're making us look bad

I feel like the kobo store should have a pop up 'Are you heavily medicated right now?' when you try to buy books, and the fact that it doesn't means none of today's purchases are my fault.

Hey friends, if you're in THE NORTH (and why wouldn't you be?) then the agency who rep me, Johnson and Alcock, and @newwritingnorth.bsky.social are running a competition for emerging writers with a 2.5k prize and it opens in November. newwritingnorth.com/johnson-alco...

I feel like the Publishing Waiting is pummelling me atm, BUT I've just seen early draft character art for THE SALT ORACLE and omg, they're so damn cool! SO today's writing motivation is more about pretty art than, you know, maintaining a career 😆😵‍💫

Man, I am in the process of moving from Substack but there really is nowhere that's as user friendly & versatile. I will adjust, but hoo boy am I taking a spoons hit I can't afford with this 🙄

Shamelessly finangling a 'The Stolen Child' reference into another book just because I can

So anyway, hey editors, fancy a strange, hopeful love-letter to storytelling set over 1 day on a houseboat in a future Himalayas? It's 1001 NIGHTS x STATION 11 and has: ❤️‍🔥Solar punk-ish ❤️‍🔥A forest-fire winged girl (maybe) ❤️‍🔥Fierce sisters & found family ❤️‍🔥Braided, cyclic narratives ❤️‍🔥An underworld queen

Me first thing: Omg a day to myself, I'm gonna do so much writing! Turns out 'so much writing' was code for 'stare at your wip awash with despair at publishing' 😭 Please send emergency cats?

Happiest of book birthdays to the absolute QUEEN of Irish historic fantasy 🤩🥳🤩

My current wip has the AMOC collapsing in it, but I'd really, really like that to remain fiction ffs

I'm looking forward to this chat wherein I will try not to offend horror fans with my blatant partiality. Come join us, heckle me from the chat channel.

🏳️‍🌈 🔥 THE NEEDFIRE is aflame! @mkhardywrites.com 's Scottish Sapphic gothic is roaring onto bookshelves! Here's what @sunyidean.com @natania.bsky.social @aliettedebodard.com @rainewilson.bsky.social and more wonderful authors think of the book! Buy now geni.us/needfire

A good listen full of honesty and insight, though I'm 50:50 on whether it landed on comforting or depressing

I got very lucky with a very early diagnosis but that is not the norm for this crippling condition. So this is such a hopeful move 🙌🏽 Ye gods though, the violence of medical misogyny sometimes... 🤬

This is a great guide to navigating social interactions at bookish events. I would add if you're joining a group, please don't then try to dominate the space and time of one person in that group. Be friendly to the whole group, don't force a change in the dynamic.

Iconic take on today's discourse. No notes

Come for the locked boat dark academia murder mystery, stay for a strange and drowning Oracle? We're entering 'please pre order my book so I get to publish more' season... so pls click here? 🖤 geni.us/saltorac

This gets progressively funnier with every use of the term "floppy".

Me walking into the kitchen: ugh it smells like something died in here Plant: YOU'RE WELCOME 🥳

In this house we love to see ants continuing to fuck with the rules 💪🏽🐜

Okay writing folks, question: I've been calling the wip's timeline structure a 'folded timeline' - it has alternating past (told forward) & future (told backwards) timelines that converge at the end of the book (the plot midpoint). But is there a real name for this structure/hot mess??

Hey folks! Money's tight since I had my hours reduced, and I have some upcoming payments, so I'm opening ✨ art commissions ✨! If you're interested in letting me draw your blorbos, reach out at [email protected] or on Discord @thiefprince. And if you order today, I'll throw in something extra! 💕

I am in the Find Out stage* of the Fuck Around that was giving my characters Finnish names 😱 * having to provide a pronunciation voice note

A louring sky but a soft day on the edge of the sea today

As ever with my sieve brain, I cannot remember what we talked about, but I know I had a fabulous time with these two splendid lads. And didn't even have to defend my *bold* but *correct* SFF hot take! Please do go give us a listen. 🎧

I'm reporting this thread to the police.

Just a little taste of the mushrooms in MOONFLOW 🍄 www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/bitte...

A not insignificant motivation for me writing The Salt Oracle was because I feel *strongly* that dark academia needs a) this exact interrogation of institutional power & classism b) the real academic horror, aka funding bureaucracy c) a library though. It still needs a library.

In the interests of honesty, I should disclose that the teen suggested doing A Science on my recent posts to determine whether you lot prefer publishing salty takes or cat photos. My money is on the cat.

Just stumbled on the 'SF is dead' thread and it is once again very much 'it's only Real SF for Real Fans if it's a direct descendent of the (white male) canon' And...no. Nope. Ye gods. SF in all its forms is looking arguably more alive and interesting now than it has for most of my life.

Hey lookit my splendid publisher playing HAVOC with genre boundaries like ABSOLUTE QUEENS

The book I'm reading has a character named 'Vogon'. I keep bracing for poetry. I think I am significantly older than the author.

91% void, 100% loaf

Thanks @sjgroenewegen.co.uk for linking this fascinating look at Octavia Butler and the Now she saw coming: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Hi authors! Please remember to file a claim!

Confession - there has been some flagrant abuse of the laws of organic chemistry in today's chapter & I'd like to apologise in advance to any future chemist reader

I have been havering over commissioning art for THE SALT ORACLE because arghh money and also my fav artist is out of action. BUT FOLKS I have just had a VERY CLEVER IDEA. Oracle cards. The Orca, the Oracle, the Sailor, the Priestess, the Tower, the Raven... It's too perfect. I want them all

I watched Knysna destroyed for tourism and development, and the place that it once was - all magic and beauty - was lost. Eventually I wrote a fantastical version of that reality - how it never happened, and magic stayed wild. You can read SALTCOVE here: www.thepinkhydra.com/issues/02012...

New box who dis?

If you have an emergency phone you don't want someone to find out about, please be aware that this is happening soon.

I love both this and the nested post. Solid reminders to be in partnership with your reader, not competition

one very real, concrete way to help feed Gaza right now is through donating to World Central Kitchen

This is a great round up of posts and news for the SFFH world.

Thank 'Folk' it's Friday! It's a bank holiday weekend, so how about some #FridayFun? Today we're celebrating stories drawn from the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth: from King Arthur to the fey, haunted woods to time rifts!

You know what's nice? Writing a risky book that you're a little unsure about, and having your agency sibs #TeamJJ tell you it's working & they love it. 🥰

It me. I really do want to keep up with industry news, but first I need the industry to pay me more pls