In an effort to combat the tendency to sit ineffectually, doomscrolling, I'm going to take some time away from social media and focus on writing/offline organizing. Feel free to send me an @ or a DM if there's something you think I should see!
Modupe and her baby
A dramatic Modupe and her baby
Unimpressed cat and book
It’s my book birthday! 🎉 A DANCE OF BURNING BLADES, Book 2 of The Invoker Trilogy, is out in the UK today! Thank you to everyone who has joined me on this journey! Get ready for battles, ancestor magic, and big revelations!
See below for links to the Goldsboro and Illumicrate exclusion editions!
So many books! Books! Books!
It's the 2026 giant World SF bundle! 15 books for $30! With
@tadethompson.bsky.social, @aliettedebodard.com, @lavanya.bsky.social @theodoragoss.bsky.social @genni.bsky.social and many more! Plus supporting
@locusmag.bsky.social! Reposts hugely appreciated!
storybundle.com/scifi
UK paperbacks of Year of the Mer
UK paperbacks arrived while I was doing my US launch event! 😍 Happy YOTM Day!
Cover art for The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu. Has a blurb from Max Gladstone "A work of crystalline vision and meticulous humanity"
Spend a little time with my novel The Subtle Art of Folding Space! Available today!
Bugs in the physics! Status reports in the form of food! Finding a family!
us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
I like this newsletter (see thread upwards) which takes The Brothers Karamazov as a test case: D. wrestles with his angels, and that's what a theme's meant to be: to gnaw on, yourself, because you aren't certain. A theme is a thing that matters to you, on which you don't have answers, not to start.
But ALSO AND CRITICALLY: it is a resource that you can develop yourself with patience, hard work, and regular reinforcement
The most critical resource for a sustained career as a writer is the belief that your stories deserve to be told and that you deserve to tell them.
And unlike resources of craft or research or even connections, those who have it cannot easily impart it to those who lack or have lost it.
Most of my posts are free to even unpaid members, but you should sign up and give me money anyway. I will spend it on books.
Be Free or Die. The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls' Escape From Slavery to Union Hero by Cate Lineberry
A black and white photo of Robert Smalls with the caption: "Fuck them boats. - Cpt Robert Smalls
There was once an enslaved man who stole a Confederate ship and sailed his a bunch of families to Union controlled waters & got everyone free.
Then he fought as a soldier in the Union Army.
Then he was elected to US House of Representatives.
Robert Smalls was born 187 years ago today
Congratulations!
"should fantasy novels have prologues?"
buddy, i think fantasy novels should have _appendices_.
Need more books in which dragons are the main characters, and they do not shift into a human form, and their importance is not determined by their relationship to humans. Pretty please.
Can you read English cursive? Ever wanted to volunteer from the comfort of home for a useful cause? Have I got an offer for you...
The Newberry Library in Chicago is always in need of transcribers to help decipher historical handwritten documents. If this is you, learn more about it below:
(An example: the book I'm currently reading didn't seem to have any challenges or stakes that lasted longer than a chapter, and that was frustrating me ... until I realized that it was modeling itself after episodic science fiction serials, and suddenly I appreciated each "episode" more!)
It really is SO much more enjoyable to read books when you're paying attention to what they're trying to do rather than what you wish they would do
*coff coff* The award-winning THE SIEGE OF BURNING GRASS is a standalone! :) A recently wounded pacifist is forced into a mission to end the endless war between two empires, escorted by a sadistic military fanatic. Also includes war pteranodons because why not!
I know the tweet is Al generated when they use " ," before and.
“I will NOT sacrifice the Oxford comma. We've made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They assimilate the em dash and we fall back. They capture ‘not just X but y’ and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!”
A selection of Solaris standalones: THE SIEGE OF BURNING GRASS by Premee Mohamed RED RABBIT by Alex Grecian THE GANYMEDAN by R. T. Ester AN UNBREAKABLE WORLD by Ren Hutchings THE MANY by Sylvain Neuvel THE SALT ORACLE and WE ARE ALL GHOSTS IN THE FOREST by Lorraine Wilson WHILE THE GODS SLEEP by L. D. Colter THE KILLING SPELL by Shay Kauwe DOLLFACE by Lindy Ryan RAKESFALL and THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS by Vajra Chandrasekera THE NEEDFIRE and THE HAUNTING OF AVIS LOVELOCK by MK Hardy THE GOBLIN EMPEROR by Katherine Addison THE SPEAR CUTS THROUGH WATER by Simon Jimenez METAL FROM HEAVEN by August Clarke AFTER THE FALL by Edward Ashton HOME SICK by Rhiannon Grist THE MISHEARD WORLD by Aliya Whiteley
The bank holiday weekend may be drawing to a close, but there's still time for a book that's just "One and done", & we've got you covered!
From award-winners and nominees, to contemporary classics and future stars, there's a Solaris standalone for every reader of SF, Fantasy, Horror & Spec Fic!
1/4
An absolutely beautiful review of Book 1 of The Invoker Trilogy! It is the most amazing feeling when a reader really understands what you’re trying to do! Thank you! 🥹
Up for preorder on all the usual places!
Also NEWS! I am teaching an updated and improved, also I would say cyclopean and batrachian, perhaps cthonic, version of my MODERN COSMIC HORROR WRITING class for @carlbrandon.bsky.social ! May 16-17!
This is a deep dive with text analysis, examples, a reading/resource list, and exercises!
April's short story is up! THE CARNELIAN KING is a light and sweet gay fantasy romance in which an amiable knight takes tea with a mysterious sorceror to discuss rumours of a dragon. 4300 words.
You can read and support my monthly queer fantasy short stories starting at $2 a month 🌈📚 🌈🚀💫 🌈💜
Presenting:
The Queersar Not An Award for 2021!
10 (+1) examples of top-quality queer SFF.
Brilliant fantasy cities, some great SFF romance, anti-Brexit Epic Fantasy, dark fantasy mystery, space opera, gonzo slipstream, a great spin-off with a particular spotlight on a throwback of the best sort.
It's when we feel the friction between our words and our meaning that we truly have to decide /what we mean/. We have to make choices, to decide what is most important to communicate if we can't communicate everything. Unless we feel that friction, our craft doesn't require us to commit to anything.
For everyone who thinks they're too bad at writing to possibly do their ideas justice, a little secret: every professional writer I've ever spoken to feels that way. Language is an imperfect medium. We're all struggling with the inadequacy of our craft--but the struggle itself is worthwhile.
Write them out anyway, because bad writing can usually be fixed through revision and practice. Most of writing well happens through practice. It's a skill as much as if not more than a talent. Most people could write decently well, given time and effort.
Haven Spec Magazine is open this month to submissions by authors of historically marginalized backgrounds only!
We want to read more works by Black writers, Indigenous writers, disabled writers, gay and lesbian and trans writers, and others whose voices must be heard!
www.havenspec.com/submit/
Autistic SFF (+ a lil romance & more) itch.io bundle. 34 works of fiction by autistic authors, many with autistic main characters & autistic side characters. Other rep includes some queer main characters. There's fantasy, sci-fi, horror, romance, and more. Novels, a few novellas, and short stories. April 1st - April 14th https://itch.io/b/3598/autistic-sff-a-lil-romance-more
Y'all, there's a delightful bundle of ebooks over on Itchio for Autistic People's Month (cause let's be honest, we're all aware of it, now it's time for us to claim it). You can get 34 titles for $30 (or more, if you're a tipper ;] ), which means you save ~$117
📢📚 🌈🚀💫
itch.io/b/3598/autis...
‼️ Thread of Black trans M/A:
It's Trans Day of Visibility! 🏳️⚧️
Black trans folks, if you're raising money for something, reply to this thread and I'll boost you. I'll add mutual aids/organisations I support in the thread.
Cis folks: take a look and find someone to support.
EVERYONE: reskeet this!