@celialake.bsky.social
Author (cosy historical fantasy romance) : avid devourer of information : librarian by day : knitter : general geek in several directions. https://celialake.com and https://www.celialake.com/links/
It is an exceedingly excellent edit.
04.12.2025 01:51 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0The little neck one is the only thing that gets at some neck tension for me.
(Exactly the wrong spot on the skull to put pressure on it, and I live by myself. The cat is alas unhelpful on this point. Points.)
But five minutes on the floor, adjusting the knobby bits every minute or two? Best.
And Griffin in Facets of the Bench is a most-of-the-time chair user, for folks looking for that. Occasionally ambulatory with crutches or canes. (MF romance in 1927)
celialake.com/book/facets-...
(Both of them also make appearances in other books as minor characters including Shoemaker's Wife.)
Historical fantasy romance here!
Golshan in Casting Nasturtiums (in the Winter's Charms collection - on sale in December!) is paraplegic due to a Great War injury. (MMF friends to lovers polyamorous romance in 1919.)
www.celialake.com/book/casting...
My current main setup is a Mac Mini and a 32" monitor (needed more screen space than a iMac.)
I love it. I did bump the RAM to 32 GB on principle, but it's great for my needs. (Writing, formatting, having a zillion tabs open, some of them with large files, occasional non-demanding gaming.)
I had my first two weeks ago. Vaguely achy, definitely out of it, took two long naps over the next 2 days, but no worse symptoms other than a sore arm / redness. Hydration helps a lot!
(Anecdata from friends was that about half found the first one worse, and half the second.)
It's the week of Scalzi's fantastic holiday gift guide posts - if you're looking to support authors, artists, and crafters of all kinds, it's a great place to check for ideas.
I've got a comment in there, or you can check out www.celialake.com/2025/12/2025... for what I've been up to this year.
December is me reading fiction partly to give my brain a break before the next big research push.
But also because 'figuring out how to write a different historical period than I've been doing' is a thing, and so is 'boy is this chaos, how do people describe the chaos in vaguely useful ways?'
Anyway, glad I reread! (There are bits that do feel dated, but not horrifically 'the suck fairy has ruined it' for me.)
Next up: the book that introduced me to Richard III and historical contraversy: Elizabeth Peters' The Murders of Richard III.
There's something tremendously endearing about how offended Grant is about a lot of what turns up. As he points out, it absolutely wouldn't stand up in court.
(And wow, can you see some people's motives for their actions from orbit. Some of this is absolutely not subtle, historical people.)
A lot of the book is about how history is condensed, and how that runs from 'leaving a lot out' to 'utterly inaccurate'.
Grant ends up with a research assistant, and most of the book is the two of them talking about what Carradine has found in the latest round of visits to the British Library.
(What we know now about Richard's scoliosis is different than what Tey knew at the time!)
But there's also some evidence Richard's great-grandfather Edmund of Langley had significant arthritis. Yes, I am now very interested in the relevant history of the rest of that line of family...
Historically interesting portraits. Where - you can see where this is going - he is particularly struck by Richard III.
One of the things that fascinated me on the re-read is the discussion of disability here: it's not a focus, but there's conversation about the signs of living with pain.
Alan Grant (Scotland Yard detective inspector) is stuck in hospital after a bad injury. The book opens with him grumpily commenting on the books people have brought him as suitable reading for an invalid, in a range of genres.
Fortunately, a friend gets someone to hunt up a series of portraits.
Today in the 1480s related reading: December's reading is fiction!
I started with a reread of Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time (1951). Many people cite this as the one that got them interested in Richard III. (It was not my entry point, though!)
I'd completely forgotten how funny it is.
Last day for farosociety.com/faroshop/ !
In my case, get 20% off any of my books on my direct store at payhip.com/celialake with the code FAROSHOP but check out the list for other great books with discounts!
We might need a specific definition of what 'provoked' looks like in this context?
(I mean, I know how to get @kiyanicoll.bsky.social to produce excellent historical and related commentary, and I know you do too!)
The good news is that I really love this stuff! (Wouldn't do it if I didn't.)
I'll definitely be continuing to write the 19th and 20th century books (love those too!) No worries there.
I have a lot more stories about people I want to tell!
But I am maybe a little "What did I get myself into?"
I started with pre-Conquest and overview reading in 2024. 2025 has basically been a king (plus Matilda!) a month.
On Wednesday, I put together the ambitious list of 46 books I'd really like to read related to the Wars of the Roses. We'll see how this goes!
(More details on Patreon in late Dec.)
Two years of extremely disciplined reading lists into this, I now have a more or less working theory. At least about the key points of where things shifted.
I have public Patreon posts about what I've been reading: www.patreon.com/collection/4...
Well-indexed chaos. But chaos.
My reading up to this point has been "Okay, so I did an entire undergraduate degree in Medieval/Renaissance Studies in the late 90s. For some reason, it never discussed what was going on with the land magic. What was going on with the land magic?"
Same magical worldbuilding and consequences. Same focus on trying to get through hard times and come out the other side, hopefully together.
Definitely romances and chosen family and taking care of people we care about.
And, um.... also timelines, family trees, extensive notes, and chaos.
As you know, Bob, I have been writing books about the magical community of Britain, currently between the 1850s and 1940s. (celialake.com)
But the turning point for that magical community? 1484.
I'm currently about to start phase 3 of the research toward writing a series set in the 1480s.
A brief explanatory thread about why at least some of my content is going to be All Wars of the Roses, All The Time for a bit.
(There will be other topics! I know me. But also I have an ambitious project I'm working towards.)
I am absolutely delighted to be in this company!
(And I lean on @kiyanicoll.bsky.social and @lionesselise.bsky.social a lot for things in their areas of interest, where I go "I could look this up. Or I could ask a question and get a lot more fascinating knowledge!")
You can find all my books direct at payhip.com/celialake
FAROSHOP will get you 20% anything there!
My books about the magical community of Britain run from the 1850s to the 1940s right now. I recommend Pastiche as a starting point, but I'm glad to suggest others. Just let me know tropes / etc!
FaRo Shop - support indie authors and buy from them directly this holiday season! From Nov. 28 until Dec. 1st, you can use the code FAROSHOP for discounted bookish gifts for yourself or your loved ones. www.farosociety.com/faroshop : Text on a blue background with eight smaller images featuring different books and authors.
Looking to support indie authors by buying direct from their shops? FaRoSociety has a list of authors (including me!) offering discounts on their shops through December 1st. The code FAROSHOP works on all the stores. Check out the list for what's on offer!
farosociety.com/faroshop/
@kiyanicoll.bsky.social and I on thematic unities, as we do.
(Fixing a mistag...)
The organising principle for me is once is fine, twice looks like you can't decide if you're committing to the bit, three times is deliberate and often funny if people notice it.
(And just generally has a more finished edge to it. To mix my crafting metaphors.)
Thematic unity of dangerous birds! Thematic unity of snow leopards! Thematic unity of Cassandra references.
(Also, skimming through DMs: meeting Jim on the road, Garin fits, unicorns, Henut is creepy in a cemetery...)
But yes, delighted at this one too.
