Kirstyn McDermott

Monthly reminder: Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out.

When I was little, the U.S. military came to our home at gunpoint and took me and my family away. We were imprisoned for years in barbed wire camps simply because we were Japanese American. I have spent my life telling that story, hoping it would never be repeated.

Your report on the ending doesn't encourage me to revisit.

I think this was the first King novel I started but never finished.

This is a magnificent collection which will stick to your ribs like nothing else!

I hate that "AIs" (aka people-pleasing hallucinating plagiarism engines) are trained on work stolen from writers, incl. all my books. I hate more that it's eroding our ability or even desire to think. I get it. Thinking is hard. It's ALSO the work. It's the whole point. It's what makes us human.

Copy of the collection Never Afters by Kirstyn McDermott standing alongside a small stack of additional copies. The cover features a woman in historical garb standing before an arched window looking out on a wintry landscape. Sitting on the stack of books is an enthusiastic-looking gargoyle. Or maybe he's just hungry ...

My author copies of Never Afters have arrived! It's such a beautiful book and I am so thrilled to see this collection of revisioned fairy tales out in the world.

The front cover of Kirstyn McDermott's Never AFters, featuring a young woman in regency dress standing at an arched window, looking over a winter landscape. The cover is for the book, presented on a tablet.

Happy Book Birthday to @fearofemeralds.bsky.social's NEVER AFTERS omnibus, which is out in ebook and trade paperback today.

Brain Jar Press Store: www.brainjarpress.com/product/neve...

Other Retailers: books2read.com/NeverAftersO...

Ooh!

100% agree. It's probably my top tip for new writers. Read your work aloud. Even novel-length manuscripts. Make the time - and stay hydrated!

ICYMI earlier, here's the cover for my new novella (out in October this year): The Cold House!

It's contemporary folk horror and published by Titan Books, the fabulous cover is by @missnatmack. 😍😍😍

One of my very favourite novels. So wonderful to see it available again in print!

Editorial: A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn’t Zelensky It’s time to say it plainly. America’s leadership has switched sides in the war. The American people have not, and they should speak up. In the past several weeks, the U.S. leadership has demonstrate...

NEW: A searing editorial in the The Kyiv Independent.

“It’s time to say it plainly. America’s leadership has switched sides in the war. The American people have not, and they should speak up.

“A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn’t Zelensky.”

@kyivindependent.com

You just have to slow cook them for 12 hours in a spicy marinade

Instead of defending its artists, Creative Australia hangs Sabsabi and Dagostino out to dry If conservative media is going to dictate cultural policy, Australian culture will face a reckoning.

Excellent summary of the Creative Australia debacle to date from @beneltham.bsky.social and Catriona Menzies-Pike www.crikey.com.au/2025/02/17/k...

If you want to erase a group of people, you begin with the language that describes them.

On sale, today through March 7th.
www.audiobooks.com/promotions/p...

And people to do his shopping, prepare his food, wash his clothes, pay his bills, renew his licences and registrations, keep his house(s), fuel and maintain his cars/planes/yachts, and all the other scut work that the rest of us need to fit into our weekends before "spare" time even gets a look in

She has an incredibly privileged life, allowing her to spend time on her needs instead of money. Most people do not have that amount of time, unless they also quit their jobs. What underpins this woman's life is a network of moneyed people that allow her to live this way. She still relies on money.

The cover of Angela Slatter's The Night Stair against a red, concrete textured background. Accompanying text reads "Available March 25 in Chapbook and Ebook"

We're extraordinarily pleased to open pre-orders on Angela Slatter aka AG Slatter's chapbook, The Night Stair, featuring a tale of vampires, vengenace, and treachery set in Angela's Sourdough universe.

Get the free ebook today at offers.brainjarpress.com/thenightstair

This looks like a phenomenal anthology. With amazing covers!

If you see this, quote with flowers from your gallery.

An elongated black cat sleeping on her human's legs (which are covered by a black and floral-patterned quilt) and doing her best to prevent said human from getting out of bed. Not pictured: thunderous purring.

My cat makes a very good argument for spending the whole day in bed, but alas, I have Stupid Human Things to do.

Never thought there would be an opportunity for an appropriate, non-inflammatory use of #notallmen but (hopefully) here we are.

Yep.

Never believe that anti- Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will

When Musk denies that he did a big ol Nazi salute during the inauguration, remember this, from Jean-Paul Sartre, 1944.

For all the doubters, how are these not the same?

Occasional reminder that there’s no, “it’s too late, its over” for anthropogenic climate change. Every molecule of CO2 that doesn’t go into the atmosphere makes a difference. Preventing 0.1 degree of warming makes a difference. Every bit of climate resilience we build together makes a difference.

This is on my list. Must move it closer to the top!