Neon Hemlock

Yes! Pre-order this book! It’s gorgeous and the story within it pages is going to catch your attention and move your heart.

2025 WSFA Small Press Award Finalists Finalists for the 2025 Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) Small Press Award for Short Fiction have been announced: “All We Ever Had”, M.A. Akins (Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores 8/24)…

Holy smokes! This might be the first time I've ever been a finalist for something. Thanks again to @robotleblanc.bsky.social and @neonhemlock.bsky.social for publishing my short story, and to all its readers too!

“Bespoke” by Elly Bangs, Embodies Exegesis: Transfeminine Cyberpunk Futures ed. by Ann LeBlanc, Neon Hemlock (2024); and

The WSFA Small Press Award shortlist is out. The winner will be announced on Saturday, September 20th at Capclave in Rockville, MD. The winner will receive a cash prize of $500 USD and trophy.

The finalists in alphabetical order by title:

(This skeet brought to you by @larazontally.bsky.social's novella No Such Thing as Duty)

ahem

DEATH VALLEY BLOOMS by @whatsmacksaid.bsky.social arrives August 12th.

Pre-order wherever books are sold or directly with us: www.neonhemlock.com/books/death-...

the cool thing is, huge corporations have invested billions into AI, hoping it will pay off. so, if we manage to bully AI out of most spaces, those corporations will also lose billions of dollars. it's the best two-for-one special i can think of.

DEATH VALLEY BLOOMS by @whatsmacksaid.bsky.social arrives August 12th.

Pre-order wherever books are sold or directly with us: www.neonhemlock.com/books/death-...

Image is of the cover of my novella, Death Valley Blooms, with a muted background that is a picture of some of the sand dunes in Death Valley, with a line of mountains in the background. As for the cover itself, a cube of dirt displaying several geological layers hovers midair, with flowers blooming on its top and bones and roots penetrate all the way through the cube and below. The flowers are primarily yellow, but also purple and light pink. The title, Death Valley Blooms, is plastered on the left side of the cube facing the viewer, and on the right it says "A novella." My author name, S.M. Mack, appears at the bottom of the image. At the top of the cover is a blurb from Liza Wemarkor that reads "A breathtaking, atmospheric novella."

Screenshot of the summary of my novella, Death Valley Blooms. It reads: Every decade or so, vast quantities and varieties of wildflowers bloom all at once in Death Valley. But unbeknownst to the wider world, these super blooms are powered by a woman’s life. Mar Ramse lost her mother to Death Valley as a teenager and would give anything to break her family’s curse, but now the desert whispers its call to her. However, she still has a single ace up her sleeve: neither she nor her brother will ever have children. Is it enough for the desert to release its grip on her family?

TA-DAAA, behold the gorgeous cover for my debut novella, DEATH VALLEY BLOOMS, available August 12, 2025 from @neonhemlock.bsky.social. & a little 🦜 told me it's on sale here: bookshop.org/p/books/deat...

And it's on my favorite indie site (www.mystgalaxy.com/book/9781966...) & all other retailers.

I am only modifying my prose to be more annoying, sorry

The people who were like "The prose in AND WHAT CAN WE OFFER YOU TONIGHT was so pretentiously convoluted as to be unreadable" did not know it was like a massive B-vitamin shot for me, a terrible bug

Book Review: No Such Thing As Duty by Lara Elena Donnelly A blend of the historical and the speculative to linger on the concept of duty in a grim and everchanging world. The viewpoint character of ...

Book Review: No Such Thing As Duty by Lara Elena Donnelly
A blend of the historical and the speculative to linger on the concept of duty in a grim and everchanging world.
Hugo Finalist @chloroformtea.bsky.social has our review
www.nerds-feather.com/2025/07/book...

Vampire Hunters: An Incomplete Record of Personal Accounts Reviewed by Logan Lynch — neon hemlock Vampire Hunters: An Incomplete Record of Personal Accounts (Speculation Publications) is an aptly named collection of gory testimonies from ancient Greece to current-day Kiribati, edited by LCW Allin...

On our website, former intern Logan Lynch reviews 🩸 Vampire Hunters: An Incomplete Record of Personal Accounts 🩸 from @speculationpub.bsky.social.

Specific mentions of stories from @acwise.bsky.social @ttmaddenwrites.bsky.social & @gwendolynkiste.bsky.social.

www.neonhemlock.com/reviews/vamp...

My multi-award-winning, multi-art-exhibited games FEAST and VERDURE now have awesome print editions!

I'm doing a small zoom equivalent of a kaffeeklatsch September 10th 7pm EST as a Locus fundraiser reward. I was chatting with the winner of that & we agreed it'd be better with others too.

If you'd like to join, please reply with your fav recent SFF story. I'll draw a couple random numbers.

Ha, I just had the same issue. Not sure why tbh. But I did just email! Thanks again for saying hi, and lovely list of people to be in community with.

i def have more sherlock vibes than watson (to my dismay) so we may be onto something.

Oh this program sounds lovely and you have some of my fav people as instructors this year! I'd love to chat more.

we could do the thing where i take credit for all your ingenuity throughout and then in the epilogue you take me down during a Prominent Social Function

Followed by L.D. Lewis's THE DEAD WITHHELD:

man i hope someone else is the protagonist in this story because i'm not great at puzzles

I’m honored that ‘Loving Safoa’ is on the shortlist for Lesbian Romance! Congratulations to everyone listed here; I’m excited to expand my reading list. 🌈

(very satisfying as well to sift through my brain and think of which bits would be useful to other people)

Announcement to the ether: I'd love to be invited to mentor/teach/lead at a writing retreat/workshop/residency. Ideally somewhere with a pool and/or scenic vista.

Some of my best writing experiences were in those sort of settings and I'd love to be part of that for other people.

The Dragonfly Gambit by A.D. Sui — neon hemlock Publication Day: April 16th, 2024 Nearly ten years after Inez Kato sustained a career-ending injury during a military exercise gone awry, she lies, cheats, and seduces her way to the very top, to de...

it is THE LAST DAY of Disability Pride Month, and so, i am screaming in semi-rare personal promotion!

she is full of disability rep and a lot of rage.
she also won a Nebula.
she is also published by a small press.

At @flamecon.bsky.social I'll be hosting a "micro-mentorship" session, which is sort of like a kaffeklatsch/group discussion. We can talk about anything, but prob flash/novellas/anthos/queer sff/gaming.

If you'll be there and want to chat, you can sign up here:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

so good!

i did say this it’s true

a handsome green cheeked conure poses beside a copy of Kat Weaver & Emily Berglisen's novella, Uncommon Charm

a charming young man encourages you to read my & @eudaemaniacal.bsky.social's novella about another charming young man, who is not a bird, but turned into some birds one time

➡️ www.neonhemlock.com/books/uncomm...

Iori is a good friend, an excellent person and... oh yes... A FUCKING AMAZING WRITER. HYBRID HEART is one of the most stunning things I've ever read and that it isn't far better known is a crime, dammit. Get more Kusano into your lives, you losers.