Craig L Gidney

Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology made the Bram Stoker Preliminary Ballot. Congratulations to all on the preliminary ballot!

Cover of Marie Cardno’s book HOW TO GET A GIRLFRIEND (When You’re a Terrifying Monster), featuring art of an eldritch being holding a bouquet of flowers in one of her tentacles.

Cover of Halli Starling’s book COUP DE COEUR, which features a sort of still-life scene of a table covered in things such as flowers, a spool of thread, oyster shells, a pearl necklace, scissors stabbed into a pomegranate, and a still-smoking candle.

Cover of Tamara Jeree’s book A WOLF STEPS IN BLOOD, featuring art of a young Black woman with red eyes and short white hair, gently touching the muzzle of a wolf that’s looking at her affectionately. The woman is wearing a leather jacket and a choker necklace, and her earlobes are gauged.

Cover of the book SEA SWALLOW ME by Craig Laurance Gidney, which features slightly abstract art of a Black man’s face pointed upward with a planet behind him and waves below him.

The Smashwords End of Year Sale is on, and the dauntingly long list can be hard to wade through (especially with all the gen AI these days). I’ve curated a list of books I recommend or am interested in, all AI free to the best of my ability, and all under $3! 🌈📚

kilagreene.dreamwidth.org/7990.html

Craig across the table from me at an outdoor patio holding up his crème brûlée French toast with vanilla cream, brioche, and macerated berries.

Happy birthday to @ethereallad.bsky.social! Celebrate his latest spin around the sun on an episode of Eating the Fantastic, where you'll learn the many ways flaws can often make a story more interesting, why he’s a vibes guy rather than a plot guy — and more. www.scottedelman.com/wordpress/20...

Submissions for the 2025 Shirley Jackson Awards are now OPEN! (Link in bio, read guidelines)

We are thrilled to announce the jury for the 2025 Shirley Jackson Awards!

Jamal Hodge
Molly Tanzer
Craig Laurance Gidney
Terri Leigh Relf
Mike Arnzen
Sadie Hartmann

Short Story Standouts Check out these gripping, funny, and exciting short story collections & anthologies!

Just over 3 months ago Storyteller was published and interest is still going strong.
It’s has been featured on a curated list of indie publishers on Bookshop dot org!
You can check out the list here: bookshop.org/lists/short-...

“Trail of Shadows is a fast-paced psychedelic journey through Appalachia that’s also a tender coming of age story. Allen’s hallucinatory prose sears, full of wonder and terror, and his grasp of folklore and history shines throughout this Southern Gothic-meets-Weird fiction novel.” (Craig Laurance Gidney, Lambda Award-nominated author of A Spectral Hue)

…six days…

I'm so grateful to my fellow Weird fiction writer @ethereallad.bsky.social for these kind words about my novel from @brokeneyebooks, TRAIL OF SHADOWS!

Get an early start on Halloween and pre-order: bit.ly/SpiderBookor...

Are you a @netgalley reviewer? bit.ly/SpiderNetgal...

I just heard someone describe Labubus as "goblin rats in hoodies."

Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology Sixteen new stories from some of today's most renowned authors. All inspired by the master storyteller Tanith Lee. Drowning cities and unicorns. Burning deserts and forgotten gods. Golems, elf warrior...

New at Weightless today! STORYTELLER: A TANITH LEE TRIBUTE ANTHOLOGY from Essential Dreams Press, edited by @carinabissett.bsky.social, @ethereallad.bsky.social, Julia Deridder and @thisjulieday.bsky.social : weightlessbooks.com/storyteller-...

Jury Finds Father Guilty of Rape of His 12-Year-Old Daughter — Congress Heights on the Rise A Washington, D.C. resident, 33, has been found guilty by a jury on seven felony charges, including first-degree child sexual abuse, second-degree child sexual abuse, and incest for sexually abusing h...

I was an alternate on this jury. Trigger warning
www.congressheightsontherise.com/blog/jury-fi...

Why Do Fascists Dream Of Alligators? | Defector In June, Florida’s attorney general James Uthmeier extolled the benefits of the concentration camp they were rushing to build in the wetlands of the Big Cypress Nature Reserve, west of Miami and just ...

Back in @defector.com today! I wrote about the "Alligator Alcatraz," the vicious folklore of "gator bait," and the cultural history of white supremacists trying to recruit alligators as enforcers of racial terror

I have a story in this Tanith Lee tribute anthology, which is out in ebook and paperback on July 1:

Happy Book Birthday to “Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology” Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology, which I co-edited with Julie C Day (publisher and main editor), Carina Bissett, and Julia DeRidder (who did lots of editorial work even though she’s not…

New blog post about the release of STORYTELLER: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology

craiglaurancegidney.com/2025/07/06/h...

Cover, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews (March 2026)" black placeholder cover, with title and author.

Cover, The Swan’s Daughter: A Possibly Doomed Love Story by Roshani Chokshi (January 2026: a woman towering over a building.

Cover, Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology edited by Julie C. Day, Carina Bissett, and Craig Laurance Gidney (June 2025): a striding female figure. Her feet at on fire, her head seems to be plants and she has wings.

Cover, The Storm by Rachel Hawkins (January2026): Some buildings surrounded by tropical plants.

Books Received, June 7 to June 13

Ten books new to me: 4.5 fantasy, 1 horror, 1 mystery, 3.5 science fiction, of which only two are identified as series. First four covers!

jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-r...

Between a pixel still life and a Japanese plate with bunnies jumping in the moonlight, a papertrade book. The cover shows the title in lavender lettering: «Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology». Stories by C. S. E. Cooney, Maya Deane, Andy Duncan, Theodora Goss, C. L. Hellisen, Getty Hesse, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Nisi Shawl, Martha Wells. Edited by Julie C. Day with Carina Bissett and Craig Laurance Gidney. Over a pale forest background, a slender and unclothed winged humanoid figure made of shells and botanical elements walks on two legs over a fire that reaches their knees.

Happy release day to this wonderful tribute anthology!
There's a story of mine in it, titled «On Her Head a Crown of Twelve Stars». I am glad readers keep finding Tanith Lee's works and that we fans keep finding each other to celebrate her legacy.

Laura Loomer makes Cersei Lannister look reasonable

We hope our tribute anthology will create another resurgence of interest. Comes out in July!

I dreamt that I was taking my girlfriend Katy Perry to meet my parents. That's so wrong on very many levels. It almost qualifies as a nightmare.

Thank you!

Magic Pride! On this trip through recommendations for Pride Month, I’ve made quick stops with my the first two Triad books, so today I figured I’d round out the journey with Triad Magic, which close…

Today in my reposting of #PrideMonth #BookSky suggestions are magic. Specifically, they’re @ethereallad.bsky.social's etherial and wonderful collection "Skin Deep Magic," and @drslayton.bsky.social's "White Trash Warlock," which starts off an awesome series. 💙📚🏳️‍🌈

The cover of Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology, featuring stories by CSE Cooney, Maya Deane, Andy Duncan, Theodora Goss, CL Hellisen, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Nisi Shawl, and Martha Wells, edited by Julie C Day, Carina Bissett, and Craig Laurance Gidney.

A page saying: "Though we come and go, and pass into the shadows, where we leave behind us stories told--on paper, on the wings of butterflies, on the wind, on the hearts of others--there we are remembered, there we work magic and great change--passing on the fire like a torch--forever and ever. Till the sky falls, and all things are flawless and need no words at all." -- Tanith Lee (1947-2015)

The first page of Maya Deane's "In Your Shadow": I. The air was thin this high in the Mountains of Alcar, and cold and dry, but young Alleili par Nasheliu climbed on. Her feet, alternately numb and smarting, tingled on each encounter with the black volcanic stone of Phoenix Burn Pass. Ages ago, the whole pass had been charred with fire. Some rocks had melted and flowed, others were sharp as glass, but all had been baked black. Yet Alleili felt the change when she came to the spot where the Last Breath of Winter fell. It was sacred ground. Nothing about this place looked unlike the rest of Phoenix Burn Pass, but here the cold deepened and cut like knives, piercing the youth's fur-lined cloak and numbing her bones. Alleili shivered, though she had vowed to ignore the cold and finish what she started. A thin snow began to fall. Reaching down, the child broke off a glass-sharp spike of rock. It cut her palm, and her blood dripped onto the rocks."

I received my contributor's copy of Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology today. I wept.

When I was young and in desperate need, Tanith Lee's stories came to me like a wind from another world. I hope her name lives forever. I hope I can bestow gifts like she did.

Today is the 6th book anniversary for A SPECTRAL HUE. It's been written about in academic papers, taught in classes. It still gives me a royalty check

From the WeirdLit community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the WeirdLit community

Congratulations to all of this year's Stoker winners and finalists!

www.reddit.com/r/WeirdLit/c...

This book is full Tanith inspired fiction and has an essay by her widower husband

Co-editor’s copy

Thanks for the review!

20 day (ish) TBR book challenge #8.
Choose 20 books on your current TBR shelf/shelves, list, stack, library hold—wherever! One book per day for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no expectations, just covers💙📚
#Booksky #bookchallenge #20TBRbookchallenge #readingchallenge #readersky

I just posted a review of the forthcoming Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology edited by @thisjulieday.bsky.social, @carinabissett.bsky.social, and Craig Laurance Gidney. It's a lovely anthology and it'll be out in July!

acwise.net/review-story...

Victoria Brownworth, In Memoriam I didn’t know the trailblazing lesbian Victoria Brownworth, but I remember her as a fighter. She was always on Twitter (when it was still usable), pointing out injustice. She wasn’t afraid to get i…

New blog post about the death of one of my editors.
craiglaurancegidney.com/2025/06/11/v...

There were riots during the Orange Felon's last term. This administration loves violent conflict.

A narcissistic Nazi is feuding with a narcissistic rapist, with the country as collateral damage. It's both delicious and disturbing, in equal measure.