Dr. Alex Jemetta Author/Astrophysicist

When your friend talks you into joining the Strong Viking Valkyria competition and somehow you come in second place

I never thought horror was my genre, but I asked my friend for some recs on fantasy-horror blends because I’m writing a dark fantasy, and I’ve enjoyed them immensely!

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert and The Hollow Places by T. kingfisher and definitely both worth reading!

The downside of keeping up with Publishers Marketplace announcements is that I want to read the books NOW

I’m about 100 pages into my current WIP (monster hunting lesbians) but the idea of writing a sapphic fey book where the fey are folklore fey (not shadow daddies/mommies) is trying to grab me by the neck

SAME !!

*screams*

I am so late to the party, but my amazing friend had her cover reveal! It’s so beautiful!

Every living NASA science chief unites in opposition to unprecedented… The entire past leadership of NASA’s science activities have released a joint statement condemning the proposed 47% cuts proposed to the agency’s science…

Today, *every* living prior leader of NASA's science directorate have released a joint letter condemning the proposed cuts to NASA science. These individuals every administration from Reagan to Biden, and all believe these cuts are insanely destructive: www.planetary.org/press-releas...

I thought the entire internet was flooded with nothing but Ozzy Osbourne’s last concert, but it turns out it’s just that all my friends are metal heads

Such a good book!!!

I'm putting together a starter pack of 2026 debut authors!! There are many more to come and many more will be added before then so definitely follow along! 2026 debut group is an incredible cohort of authors so you definitely don't want to miss this!

go.bsky.app/9Sw356k

Photograph of St. Alban’s church in Copenhagen. In the forefront is a moat with lilly pads. The river bank is lined with green trees including willows. The church is behind the willows. The church is from 1887 and has a spire and stained glass windows

A photograph of Rosenberg Castle in Copenhagen. The sun is behind the building, creating a halo. A moat is in the fore front of the image. The building is I bc the Dutch renaissance style and has copper capped spires. A danish flag flies in the back ground

A photograph of the little mermaid statue in Copenhagen. The bronze statue is black and green against the blue water and sits on a rock.

A bronze statue of Hans Christian Anderson in Copenhagen. He is sitting, wearing a top hat, has a book on his lap, and a walking stick in his hand

I visited Copenhagen for the first time, and I have to say that it seemed to be trying hard to be a fairy tail city (appropriate for a city associated with Hans Christian Anderson)

Several years ago I was visiting Utrecht, and I decided to base one of the cities in my book on it. It’s interesting being back.

Controversial sword opinion, but people who say back sheathes are never practical have never had to commute anywhere with a sword on a regular basis.

Can you draw the weapon effectively, no. Is it the least annoying way to travel with a 1.5 meter long sword, yes.

A photograph of a woman in historical clothing from behind. She’s wearing a white, wide sleeved, Edwardian shirt and a black skirt.

A photograph in shades of white and very pale gray of a woman. It’s zoomed in on her face and bare shoulders

A black and white photograph of a queen taking a king in chess

Crescentia Fabel, the Winter Detective:

I wanted a (magical) female Sherlock Holmes, who was explicitly queer, bipolar, and neurodivergent. I wanted a female detective who was just as cold and eccentric as her literary predecessor, with no edges filed off because of her gender

Photograph of a woman’s hands and forearms covered in black and white galaxy paint

A photograph of a figure in a black cloak running down an empty alley way at night

White text on a lack background that says “they can do worse things than kill you”

Do you like emotionally unavailable women who wear black and might stab you?

Elyria Kinslayer is the protagonist for you.

The Magic Council made her into a weapon then branded her a criminal. She will kill if she has to, but all she wants is peace and safety.

Criminal or victim? Hero or survivor?

My book started out as a way to explore the nature of social power and the corrupting influence of power…. Which has only gotten more and more relevant since I started writing 😅

I also realized that if I wanted morally grey, sapphic ace women, I had to do it myself

Received a peer review for a major proposal, and as usual I would just like to say “reviewer 3, who hurt you?”

(Academia, the answer is academia)

Seems like fun! (I’m an author… so I don’t have much art)

For every like, I will introduce one of my OCs!

I had a chance to learn how to use a great sword today 🤩

(Montantes, great swords, and Zweihänders are historical swords that should be taller than your shoulder and can sometimes be taller than you)

Students hold signs at protest reading "Fuck Fascism" and "Jews Hate ICE"

Jewish students at Columbia university today organized a demonstration in solidarity with anti-war student organizer Mahmoud Khalil and to denounce Trump's attacks on public education and protest. Photo via @/Columbia_psc

Migration out of Africa is an excellent place to start research 😂 I haven’t had time to search for population diffusion models but I am DETERMINED to use one to estimate how many people would genetically inherit magic over time

Thanks! It’s just how my brain works 😂 and I agree, we all have our own skills and interests and can and should bring them to our creative endeavors even if it’s a little unusual!

Alex, you could just PICK a reasonable number.

Absolutely not.

I need to decide how many people are in a clan/martial sect in my novel, and my first thought was “I wonder if there’s a population diffusion model” so I can calculate how many people based on time since EVENT.

(I may or may not be using diffusion models at work today)

As an astrophysicist who writes fantasy books, my approach to world building is often unusually mathematic (see calculating the amount of farm land needed to support the urban areas in my fantasy novel using historical data)

But today I outdid myself

Not me, as someone who has never wanted or will ever want kids, researching breast feeding, ages of fertility, and postpartum recovery times so that I can develop a warrior class with women warriors in my fantasy book set in the Iron Age

Today’s game is: how to hold a a long sword while sitting on a crowded train without hitting anyone

Photograph of the night sky over Abisko Sweden. A woman sits among grasses looking up. The milkyway stretches over head.

Astronomy is arguably the oldest science. Our early ancestors knew the night sky intimately. They used it to keep time for the harvest. They used it to navigate.

We’ve lost our connection to the night sky just have we’ve lost our close connection to forests and wetlands.

It breaks my heart.

Image of the aurora borealis over Stockholm city. The city is brightly lit in warm tones. The aurora is green against a blue sky, but no stars are visible

Photo of the aurora over Kiruna Sweden. The aurora is green, and the stars shine through it

So many of us, including myself, live in cities where we can barely see the stars. How many of us have seen the milky way stretched out over head?

Image of the ALMA telescope with the night sky overhead. The image of Sagittarius A* taken by the event horizon telescope is superimposed on the night sky where it was observed

The most pristine night sky on the world today is in Chile. Telescopes in Chile have lead to incredible breakthroughs in astronomy such as the event horizon image. And now it’s under threat from a proposed industrial complex