I have invented a game for four year olds called wombat combat. On their hands and knees, two kids have to try to knock each other out of a ring using only their butts. It’s going to catch on, I swear!
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing!
You can now read the Spanish translation of the terrific "The Hanging Game", by Helen Marshall (@manuscriptgal.bsky.social), in Cuentos para Algernon. First published in @reactorsff.bsky.social edited by @annvandermeer.bsky.social. Enjoy it! cuentosparaalgernon.wordpress.com/2026/01/19/e...
Just finished reading this gorgeous magical heartbreaking book by @manuscriptgal.bsky.social Been on my to read pile since the launch in, when was it, July last year (?) Anyway, far too long. But worth the wait.
Preorder Now! February 2026 “Riveting, weird, unpredictable, and magnificent.” - Oliver K. Langmead “Whiteley never puts a foot wrong... another triumph to add to her list of many.” - Tim Major “Taut and surprising...A stunning achievement.” - Helen Marshall “Artfully woven and humming with the power and possibilities of the spoken word.” - E. J. Swift Against a black sandy background white and lilac text surrounding a 3D Hardback of THE MISHEARD WORLD by Aliya Whiteley.
February 2026 brings a new standalone novel from the Queen of Speculative Fiction: Arthur C. Clarke award-nominated Aliya Whiteley!
Here's what @oliverklangmead.bsky.social @manuscriptgal.bsky.social @timjmajor.bsky.social & @catamaroon.bsky.social thought of it!
Preorder geni.us/misheardw
Christmas is coming and I'm officially on leave! Taking a break from socials to enjoy the season.
But one last book post before I go: if you're looking for some dark fantasy reading over the holidays, try a story with teeth!
Just finished "When There Are Wolves Again" by E. J. Swift and I'm still thinking about it. Fierce, gorgeous climate fiction that somehow manages to be genuinely hopeful—not in a naive way, but in a way that feels earned and necessary. This is the kind of story we need right now.
World Fantasy Con 2015, Saratoga Springs, Kelly Link, me, and Helen Marshall. @manuscriptgal.bsky.social reposted this today and it is a gleeful thing. @kellylink.bsky.social A DECADE AGO.
Davey: “What’s that rattling sound in my ear? Is it my adult teeth?”
Amazing!
I was looking up some old horror business and stumbled across this fun interview I did with @manuscriptgal.bsky.social a decade ago!
youtu.be/WMdYdLF5w8E?...
📢 Call for Papers: Creative Futures
We want to reimagine futures thinking with creative methodologies as rigorous frameworks for anticipating change! Papers due September 2026!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...
#FuturesStudies #Foresight
In honour of getting the chance to attend World Fantasy in Brighton, I’ve been reading up on my fellow authors. There are some brilliant resonances between the work of Amal El-Mohtar and my own. #StoriesAboutStories #LyricalProse
Just received Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King by Caroline Bicks in the mail! Really looking forward to diving into this one. I had my own experience researching King's archive, which I wrote about here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Spotted at the Brisbane Writers Festival! #bwf #nounderstanding
Like Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita? The Lady, The Tiger, and the Girl Who Loved Death weaves together magic, political spectacle, and the power of storytelling in a world where reality and illusion blur dangerously together. Out from @titanbooks.bsky.social now!
#DarkFantasy #CircusBooks
Catch me Thursday at the Brisbane Writers Festival for “Dark Imaginings”!
Fairytales and historical myths are often readers’ first encounter with the darkness of human nature. In these stunning novels, fable and archetype are reworked in dazzling ways.
brisbanepowerhouse.org/events/dark-...
#BWF
ICYMI: We're hiring a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in #CreativeWriting at UQ!
-looking for literary fiction, poetry, graphic novels, comics, digital storytelling, new media, or games!
-international applications welcome
Apply: uq.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/uqcareers/jo... #HigherEd #AcademicJobs
Fire as cleansing, fire as transformation. The Bulgarian fire festivals—where dancers walk barefoot across burning coals—shaped how I imagined ritual and renewal in THE LADY, THE TIGER, AND THE GIRL WHO LOVED DEATH.
#Fantasy #Folklore #Inspiration #AmWriting
Life is just one tiny fright after another, isn't it?
"Why can't AI just do my research?" Because creative research isn't information retrieval. I'm working on a new academic article showing how research methods produce the distinctive textures of literary prose, looking at Octavia Butler, William Gibson, Kim Stanley Robinson and Andy Weir.
Thinking about Octavia Butler's #writingadvice in Furor Scribendi today: "Forget talent. If you have it, fine. Use it. If you don't have it, it doesn't matter. As habit is more dependable than inspiration, continued learning is more dependable than talent."
While writing The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death, I found myself captivated by haunting photographs of abandoned circuses across Eastern Europe. #WritingInspiration #DarkFantasy #EasternEurope #Circus #AuthorLife #FantasyFiction #WritingProcess
ICYMI: We're hiring a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in #CreativeWriting at UQ!
-looking for literary fiction, poetry, graphic novels, comics, digital storytelling, new media, or games!
-international applications welcome
Apply: uq.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/uqcareers/jo...
#HigherEd #AcademicJobs
HUGE news! We're hiring in Creative Writing at UQ!
Looking for an amazing writer working in literary fiction, poetry, graphic novels, comics, digital storytelling, new media, or games! International applications welcome.
This is going to be AWESOME
uq.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/uqcareers/jo...
“Toward the end of a book, the state of composition feels like a complex, chemically altered state that will go away if I don’t give it what it needs. And what it needs is to write all the time.” I feel that, William Gibson — is this universal among writers?
Alexievich's The Unwomanly Face of War inspired my writing by revealing the erased stories of women in conflict. A masterpiece. #TheUnwomanlyFaceOfWar #Alexievich #WritingInspiration #UntoldStories (The Lady, The Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death is out now from @titanbooks.bsky.social !)
The cover of The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death is bright, with many colours and the three titular characters represented in a modern almost pop art style
A beautifully written Slavic fantasy featuring the circus and a tiger from @titanbooks.bsky.social. The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death by Helen Marshall #BFSReview britishfantasysociety.org/review/the-l...
Romanian bear dancers inspired the haunting folklore in my novel THE LADY, THE TIGER AND THE GIRL WHO LOVED DEATH--ancient rituals of rebirth and demons bleeding from bear skins.
Now out from @titanbooks.bsky.social (edited by the brilliant @cathtrechman.bsky.social) #DarkFantasy #FolkHorror
