Melissa Scott

If you're interesting in process, I wrote a blog post about how the matriarchy works in the Points novels, and how and why Lisa and I made some of our choices.
www.melissascottwrites.com/posts/matria...

Now, I want to STOMP something. Please help with this. The Hugo Award for Editor: Long Form has been changed. A lot of editors who have been instrumental in art and community are now eligible for the first time. Two are:

Bill Campbell (Rosarium Publishing)

Catherine Lundoff (Queen of Swords Press)

Speaking of Minneapolis small publisher Queen of Swords Press, please consider for Series:

The Astreiant Series by Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett

Queen of Swords Press

2025 Example: Point of Hearts

Book cover for LAST CAR TO ANNWN STATION

Book cover for TERROR AT TIERRA DE COBRE

Book cover for OBVIOUSLY, ALIENS

Book card for WOLVES OF WOLF’S POINT

#Booksky #Minneapolis Also, in addition to the offer in last post: if you buy a book by our MN authors: Catherine Lundoff, Emily Byrne, @mmerriam.bsky.social or @jenniegoloboy.bsky.social from our web store on 2/28, we’ll donate (more) to our neighborhood’s rent relief fund. queenofswordspress.com

I'm now reading @blueterraplane.bsky.social's Astreaint series (book 3 FAIRS' POINT) and L. Hadan's GOBLIN ARMOR (for an indie book club). Also got J. Paul's HOUSE OF DUDLEY going. It's not "what" I'll be reading so much as "what housework am I ignoring so I can get all the reading done?" (Laundry.)

I just finished book 2 (Point of Dreams) and I’m banging the drum about this series yet again. The world building is insanely good. I want to be the middle noodle in a Rathe/Elsingen lasagna. I love it all so much.

That's not encouraging.

It is as bad as it sounds, and freedom to read folks have been anticipating this now for years.

Make your phone calls. Send your emails.

This series is great fun!

The Autarch’s Heir It sounds like a simple job to con man Bel Alan: pretend to be the natural son of the assassinated Calpurnian autarch Iulus and steal the priceless Solaste Crown. But his simple theft may be about to plunge Lono into a bloody civil war, and finding the Blameless Prince to wear the crown may be the only way to stop it.

It's release day for Jo Graham's The Autarch's Heir, the fourth book in her space adventure series The Calpurnian Wars! An attempted theft turns into something much larger, and only a desperate gamble offers any chance of succeeding…
www.candlemarkandgleam.com/shop/the-aut...

Screenshot of the pre-orders page of Daggerheart: Hope & Fear, showcasing a selection of featured artworks.

I'm so excited to see one of my artworks painted for Daggerheart: Hope & Fear featured on the pre-orders page! 🤩

Will share the illustration soon! In the meantime, if you want to grab a copy: www.daggerheart.com/pre-order/

#Booksky Jennie Goloboy and Catherine Lundoff are teaching “To Market, To Market” at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis on 2/28! Get thoughts and tips from a prominent literary agent and an award-winning small press publisher on what makes a manuscript “marketable.” loft.org/classes/mark...

#Booksky Member of LA Con or Seattle Worldcon? You can nominate works for the Hugo Awards ballot! Know what we, a press in Minneapolis, published? A Hugo Award-eligible series! Please consider nominating the Astreiant Series by Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett! queenofswordspress.com/product/comp...

A gilt-brass clock in the shape of a book. It is intricately etched with a floral design and one large clock dial on the front.

A gilt-brass clock in the shape of a book. In this picture it is open to reveal three different time dials.

Open up this incredible gilt-brass 'book' and you'll find...

A clock-watch, complete with a lunar wheel-chart, sundials, and even an alarm. All this and it measures just 10cm tall!

You can see this object in Gallery 55 on the 2nd floor.

⏰ WA1947.191.7

#Booksky In the mood to get away from it all for a bit? Let us help! We have terrific queer books featuring dapper lesbian capybara pirates, menopausal werewolves, gay Edwardian murder mysteries, talking corgies from space and more!
queenofswordspress.com

Reading Martha Wells's Network Effect, and the line "I had read things that had made me consider other possibilities" has me choking up.

Reading--reading anything, fiction or scientific data or social media posts--shows us other possible ways of being. It gives us permission to reshape our lives.

Well, there's my treat sorted. Can't wait to try - er, was that 6 of them?

The Complete Astreiant: Astreiant, #7 Astreiant, #7

#Booksky Did you know that our books are now available in ebook as well as print from Bookshop? And Kobo, iTunes, B&N and beyond!
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

NBC ran a piece where Mary Carrillo went to Norway to find out why they're so good at the Winter Olympics and i was yelling BECAUSE IT'S COLD THERE

then she went to a little tiny ski jump for kids and was like "it's free, equipment is provided, & they don't emphasize results"

and i was like.
oh!

Three books covers: Sounding Dark, two figures looking up at a golden space ship against a starscape; Warlady, a man holding a ball of lightning, a dark-haired woman in a long dark coat, and a masked woman stand together against a starscape; Fortune's Favor, a red-haired woman in a beautiful dress sits overlooking a distant city with an aurora in the background. The Calpurnian Wars, Jo Graham. "[E]verything I want when I pick up a space opera" — K.V. Johansen, author of Blackdog.

Quick reminder! To celebrate the release of The Autarch's Heir, the first 3 novels in Jo Graham's space adventure series The Calpurnian Wars are on sale until 2/23.
www.candlemarkandgleam.com/2026/02/02/t...

Book cover for The Autarch's Heir, by Jo Graham: two woman, one dark-haired, one blond, stand behind an elegant dark man in a dark suit. A golden crown hovers in the background above a cloudy seascape. Text: The Autarch's Heir, Jo Graham. It sounds like a simple job to con man Bel Alan: pretend to be the natural son of the assassinated Calpurnian autarch Iulus and steal the priceless Solaste Crown. But his simple theft may be about to plunge Lono into a bloody civil war, and finding the Blameless Prince to wear the crown may be the only way to stop it. What's a con man to do when the stakes of his game are suddenly the fate of a world?

We're less than a week from the release of Jo Graham's space adventure The Autarch's Heir, book 4 of The Calpurnian Wars. Preorders are open! (Link to Amazon, but it's available on all the usual suspects.)
www.amazon.com/Autarchs-Hei...

Ooooh....

That lovely moment when you find a missing piece for the idea you've been poking at for months...

This series is so good. It's a ton of fun, I'm in love with both male leads, the world-building is excellent, and I lose track of time entirely when I read. I get sucked in, and it's difficult to put the books down to attend to real life. Good escape reading, but also morally grey stuff to chew on.

A flyer for "Murder in the Mountains: Dark Fiction Readings from the Old Marshall Jail," a reading event by the North Carolina chapter of Horror Writers Association! Live Reading Event, Q&A, Book Signing, Free Admission. Saturday, Feb 21 6-9 PM. Zadie's Market Restaurant & Bar @ The Old Marshall Jail, Marshall, NC

This week: "Murder in the Mountains" group reading at 6:00 PM on February 21 at Zadie's Market in Marshall, NC!

More info at www.hwanc.org/events

🩸📚💙
#writingcommunity
#liveevents
#authorreading
#northcarolina
#WNC
#MarshallNC

Nominations and Voting Are Open for the 4th Annual Tippy Golden Teacup Awards! As the golden rays of dawn pierce 2026 so too do the first nominations for the Tippy Golden Teacup Awards emerge! Your contributions, nominations, and votes will help us in celebrating our CommuniT…

#Booksky Very pleased to congratulate author @mmerriam.bsky.social for his nomination for the Tippy Golden Teapot Awards happening this coming Friday! Good wishes sent for TERROR AT TIERRA DE COBRE too!
madameaskew.com/2026/01/17/n...

Book cover for The Complete Astreiant.

Book card for the Astreiant Series.

#Booksky Member of LA Con or Seattle Worldcon? You can nominate works for the Hugo Awards ballot! Know what we, a press in Minneapolis, published? A Hugo Award-eligible series! Please consider nominating the Astreiant Series by Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett! queenofswordspress.com/product/comp...

Click here to show your support to Dallas Rising's story *ICEHurtsAnimalsTooMN We are here to support animals’ needs during the federal occupation of Minnesota.See our website at www.ICEHurtsAnimalsTooMN.org to view the services we provide

#Minneapolis #Minnesota #Signalboost of the Day Some of our neighbors are working to feed, get vet care for and fosters for as many of the pets who’ve lost their humans to ICE kidnappings or whose humans can’t work right now as they can and they need some ❤️.
www.spotfund.com/story/a00a02...

#Booksky So…we were hoping to see Melissa Scott’s terrific gay fantasy novel, POINT OF HEARTS (Astreiant #6) on the Locus Recommended Reading List, but alas, it is not. But if you read and loved it, you can write it in when you vote! It really is that good!
locusmag.com/2026/02/2025...

Book cover for The Autarch's Heir, by Jo Graham: two woman, one dark-haired, one blond, stand behind an elegant dark man in a dark suit. A golden crown hovers in the background above a cloudy seascape. Text: The Autarch's Heir, Jo Graham. It sounds like a simple job to con man Bel Alan: pretend to be the natural son of the assassinated Calpurnian autarch Iulus and steal the priceless Solaste Crown. But his simple theft may be about to plunge Lono into a bloody civil war, and finding the Blameless Prince to wear the crown may be the only way to stop it. What's a con man to do when the stakes of his game are suddenly the fate of a world?

The Autarch's Heir, book 4 of Jo Graham's space adventure series The Calpurnian Wars, is now available for preorder! Link is to Amazon, but it's up at all the usual suspects.
www.amazon.com/Autarchs-Hei...