AJ Van Belle/Alexandra Vivelo

This is gorgeous!

(I have to ask...will Gary make an appearance for Invertober? He does not have an endoskeleton, after all, and would be honored to be featured among his living invertebrate cousins.)

Yes! When you click on "open/close to queries" it shows up as a check box 😊

I'm planning on temporarily closing to queries on Oct. 21. After that, starting Dec. 1, I'm going to try out Query Manager's auto open/close feature and open to queries on the 1st through 5th of every month.

Buffy has a message for the world. Please listen. 🙏
🥀
www.waterstones.com/book/9780241...

I asked 19 whether, if the top of my head keeps tingling, does that mean something is going on with my kundalini. She asked if that's a kind of pasta so I think I asked the wrong person.

My fantasy WIP has a new working title, in the voice of the main character: "Will and Testament and Lattes Because We All Want Cozy Fantasy While the World Burns, Don't We, You Ignorant Potatoes"

A reminder to anyone who's queried me and is waiting that if you haven't received a response from me, your query is still under consideration. I respond to all queries!

I know "closed no response" is common, but as an author myself, I know how important closure is.

Its expression says so much.

a cow being lifted into space in a UFO tractor beam. An astronaut floats in the corner, staring at the UFO in surprise. The cow's thought bubble reads, "$5, 797!"

Good morning! We're only ONE PERCENT(1%!!) away from Apex Magazine opening to nonfiction submissions for the FIRST TIME! our nonfiction is full of new voices, fresh perspectives, and is scientifically*-proven to regrow brain cells ⚡🧠🌱

*probably. just trust us 👽👇

www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...

A second WIP line of the day:

"What a thin imagination you have, to see so little of what’s real. Haven’t you seen enough by now …to understand you never knew anything?"

WIP line of the day: "You’ll keep your precious life too, even though you do insist on sticking it places it doesn’t belong."

Bare trees seen from below. The central one looms over the viewer

Every eldritch horrorscape needs some threshold guardians that fall deep in the uncanny valley, amirite?

Just came to the introduction of two of my favorite side characters in rereading my manuscript and I love them so much. In a slimy kind of way.

Image credit: Theo Felton

There's something to this. Every person I've ever known who thinks of themself as "smooth" and "socially skilled" is, in fact, constantly making people around them uncomfortable.

Whereas the ones who think of themselves as "socially awkward" are kind, considerate, and easy to get along with.

Oooh 👀

Or preorder and get to read ALL the pages 👀👀👀

P. 103!!

OTHERSIDE 2026: A New Magazine of Queer SFF! A new queer-led literary magazine devoted to speculative fiction, poetry, and art by 2SLGBTQIA+ authors and artists.

There were requests for an option to gift someone else an OTHERSIDE subscription—and now you can! We've updated our add-ons to include gift subscriptions! For those who want to lovingly throw OTHERSIDE at friends and family AND support our Kickstarter 👀

www.kickstarter.com/projects/hyb...

My client @millieabecassis.com's beautiful historical fantasy comes out this month!! 🎉

Yay, congratulations! 🎉

Book cover for Roadkill by Helen Whistberry showing a bird, raccoon, and snake skeleton sprawled across a dark asphalt highway with yellow dotted line. The title is in large yellow letters that have blood streaming down them and out onto the road and animals. There is a dark and stormy sky in the background.

Black and white illustration of the head and neck of a howling wolf in profile. Its mouth is wide open and a dark liquid is trickling from its mouth, snout, and eye.

It's here!

Roadkill is out in the world. I can't in good conscience recommend it to all readers. A sad and angry book. 90% of the animal characters are dead at the outset & the humans don't fare much better. But if you're in the mood for an unconventional eco-horror experience, links in comments!

Hey y'all, OTHERSIDE is smashing their Kickstarter goals. Help them get fully funded for their second year!

And if you've ever wanted me to critique your poetry, that's one of the add-ons, alongside tons of great reward options.

Interesting! Not sure any observations about the patterns of AI-generated text will hold true for long because it evolves so rapidly; but for now, the author makes their point extremely well with that final paragraph! 😉

💯🌇

It is! And there doesn't seem to be much out yet for kids on this topic, even though it is, fortunately, one of the climate issues where individual actions can make a pretty decent difference.

A cityscape seen from above, bathed in amber light.

Doing an image search for HOT CITIES (Orca Books 2027), my middle grade nonfiction book on the urban heat island effect. So cool (pun intended?) to be at this stage!

Each chapter has lots of pics, & I get to choose them!

(The free & royalty-free photo here is courtesy of Pixabay)

Screenshot of a Google search. I searched for "are there rugs that are pretty and also function as yoga mats." Google asked, "Did you mean, 'are there DRUGS that are pretty and also function as yoga mats'?"

Google. No 😂😂😂

Also I didn't realize I wasn't following you back! Rectified! 😅

But it has a happy ending! The sun has now come up!! ☀️