whoa october is around the corner! reminder that we'll be open again for novellas soon. more info here: www.neonhemlock.com/submissions

Today, TO reviews Claire North's upcoming space opera SLOW GODS: "North gives us a wide-ranging enthralling, resonant and cathartic fable of our own world’s predicament but anchors it with individual characters..." More: tinyurl.com/4wfz7cub @orbitbooks.bsky.social

Never, ever debate your right to exist. Never debate the right of other human beings to exist. You'll be making a major rookie mistake and bigots will grift the circuit you're allowing by debating them. Thank you.

I need someone to write me a book about this.

Wotcha all. I am Peat, the person responsible for spouting the guff you’ve presumably read in the blog posts. Or maybe you are smart and haven’t. I don’t like photos of myself, so I posted one of my cat, who’s a charming little savage indeed. This blog is mostly about fantasy literature, writing…

How the f*** are people willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money to buy THAT TERF’s new book?! Society, you disappoint me.

this morning i saw a con program with this panel description: “where does romance fit in speculative fiction?” now, i’m not naming the con—i’ve contacted them, hopefully they’ll change it—but since they’re not alone in framing questions like this, we’re going to talk about why it sucks actually 🧵

Back to work after two weeks off in the morning - already dreading the immense to-do list… Please provide vats of tea.

I've got a new website! Thanks to Man Kit Lam for design, and @knifewitch.bsky.social and @soranasantos.bsky.social for photos and encouragement! #MedievalSky #EarlyModern joanneedge.co.uk

Jo’s got a shiny new website with more about the brilliant project we’re working on, for those curious! 👀👀

Once again reading a book with a supposedly German character sprinkling their English with nonsensical German. Why do publishers consider linguistic accuracy negligible?!

Come join Team Ki! I can promise good books, brilliant writers, banter and baked goods in a supportive team - happy to answer any questions too!

I’ll be avoiding my responsibilities and putter around #queerpit today. If I like your pitch I’d love to see your project. Submission guidelines on the Ki website, and please link to the liked post ✨

If you are going to be recommending SFF books to young readers, please do remember that there's an enormous selection of middle grade and young adult SFF out there that is a far better option than books by adult SFF authors, old or new.

Re last quote - fyi not just authors, booksellers, anyone publishing related!

We’re thrilled to announce Amber Houlders (@ambrosialouise.bsky.social) has joined Ki. She and her complex and nuanced epic fantasy influenced by West African and Caribbean mythology and culture will be represented by @knifewitch.bsky.social Read more: www.ki-agency.co.uk/post/amber-h...

Another day, another inexperienced but hopeful writer, announcing that they have “been offered a book deal” for £20,000. Turns out that the author is being expected to PAY THIS to the publisher, not the other way round. Folks, no publisher does this.

Right, adding my own take to this as an agent. We get a ton of queries, many that match our wishlists and guidelines, but just as many that don’t. Looking at my own stats, I have a full request rate of approximately 2.5% of queries. The sheer number means we need to fall in love immediately or pass.

A good thread, on top of a good thread. As a commissioning editor, I also want to throw in another aspect - the commissioning editor may adore your novel and may fight for it in acqs but not get it through - because unless it's a tiny publisher, the company is doing acqs via committee.

Excitingly, Past Puzzle is now available in English too, so please share my daily agony at failing at history www.pastpuzzle.de#/

I live in zone 2 London. I’m going to a gig tonight, on a Friday night. I need to leave before midnight to get home. Make it make sense.

I am OBSESSED with this manuscript. Really looking forward to working with AJ ✨

Some great news to end the week on: @ajfitzwater.bsky.social is now represented by @knifewitch.bsky.social More: www.ki-agency.co.uk/post/aj-fitz... 🐳🐳🐳

Ending the week with some really great news: I am now agented! I have signed with @knifewitch.bsky.social at @kiagency.bsky.social. I'm stoked to be working with Fab, who shares my vision for my work. It's great to have a path forward for Lineage! Lesgoooooo!

Unpopular bookish opinion: I prefer the feel of US hardcovers to UK hardcovers

Is it really an edit if you don’t say at least six dumb things before breakfast

British household rules: you have a cupboard with upward of thirty mugs in it, only three of those can hold exactly the right amount of tea. When those are not available you will drink from the Lesser Mugs, but it will not be as good.

Aesir is looking for a Mongolian voice actress for an upcoming trailer. Help us spread this far and wide so we can find a talented person of actual Mongolian descent 🙏

Scrolling through #unhingedpit today - if I like your pitch I’m happy to take a look at your query. Please link to the pitch in your covering email, full guidelines on the Ki website

This year’s World Fantasy Awards shortlist is pretty damn good. Many of my favourite reads of 2024 (especially THE WOODS ALL BLACK by Lee Mandelo) and IN THE SHADOW OF THEIR DYING, which I ran the campaign for when I was @grimdarkmagazine.bsky.social - so some professional pride too 🖤

Get yourself some SNOWBLOODED if you haven’t read it yet!

We are officially open to submissions until August 7th! We want short stories 1k-10k words, poems of 50 lines or less. Dark fantasy, sword and sorcery, Arthuriana. We pay 9c a word, $50 for poems. More guidelines on our website! www.oldmoonpublishing.com/submissions

And as agents it is our moral duty to ensure our authors have clear AI clauses in their contracts.

Perfect first date idea: picking a lego set together and then building it

DISABLED AUTHOR FRIENDS: I'm going to host a Disability Pride Month Scifi/Fantasy/Horror Bundle on Itch from July 25th - 30th! This will be a curated bundle with 15-20 books & prices set to ensure that authors make at least $1.50 on every sale You can apply using the form below until July 10th!

Tangentially, this is why sending a budding SFF author to study Wells or Heinlein or Tolkien isn't particularly helpful. They need to read what's being written now first and foremost, to find the best way to express their own ideas. Understanding how today's SFF builds on went before can come later.

This was always going to happen on Terf Island

Resharing this in light of the newest bullshit report - at Ki we believe in standing up for what is right and I’m keen to open up doors that should never have been closed in the first place.

So why are we hoping to create a queer SFF lit mag (which would be the UK's first to pay pro rates)? (1) Because queer SFF is cool AF. (2) Because queer voices deserve to be heard. Queer artists deserve to be paid. Queer people deserve to have our stories told without censorship or dilution. (1/4)

The gates have opened, the horns are blowing, submissions are open for our folkloric anthology! From now until the end of September, send us your delicious folklore-inspired tales. We're going to make something magic happen. Find out more: carnyxpress.co.uk/submissions/

Wondering how AI training isn’t an infringement of copyright and constitutes fair use - but a short quote of a work in another work of fiction needs a license? Math isn’t mathing here

June is Pride Month, which is close to all our hearts here at Ki - so we’ve put together some thoughts on queer books and other media that mean a lot to us. Read the blog post here: www.ki-agency.co.uk/post/pride-m...

I am doing a wee online talk on my book as part of the International Society for the Critical Study of Divination seminar series this Wednesday 25th June at 12.00 BST/13.00 CET. @carinevanrhijn.bsky.social is my kind respondent! Zoom link: fau.zoom.us/j/63863821152 All welcome! #MedievalSky

The neurodivergent urge to reach out to beloved friends you haven’t spoken to in a while combined with the overwhelm at the idea of talking to people is real

Query tip: when agents ask for a synopsis we expect spoilers and to know the ending— if you don’t give us an ending you’re doing yourself a disservice because we don’t know if that’s how the book actually ends or if you are just trying to keep it a secret. Bottom line—give us the ending ❤️

They told me the UK is rainy and grey. They lied. Give me back my cosy weather!

We’re thrilled to welcome K.L. Stalker to the Ki Agency! @knifewitch.bsky.social will be looking after them and their Grimdark romantasy. More: www.ki-agency.co.uk/post/k-l-sta...

Well, this is definitely a surprise and totally unexpected. And everyone always said such nice things about Walliams, too. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Well, this was a delight 🖤

New #WriterBeware blog post: Publisher bankruptcies are terrible for authors. The recent implosion of Unbound (now Boundless Publishing) is especially awful, w/ over 200 authors owed thousands; but the less high-profile failure of Albert Whitman is pretty bad too writerbeware.blog/2025/06/06/b...