Erica Waters

A NEW SEMESTER BEGINS.

THESE DREAMING SPIRES, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane, features 12 new dark academia short stories from masters of the genre, including Olivie Blake, Genevieve Cogman, MK Lobb & more.

Pre-order your copy before term starts on September 2!

https://tinyurl.com/3394nw8x

When it comes to queries, I’m noticing an increase in everyone trying their best, this is a very hard industry, creating in these difficult times is challenging, and I’m very proud of you. ❤️

The heat makes people and animals lose their minds. Flesh-eating bacteria waits in warm, stagnant water. Things melt. Sharks hunt at the beach. The kudzu is always hiding something. The blistering sun wakes up the ghosts sleeping in the walls. Remember: summer is horror season.

If you want to eat more leafy greens, get a CSA. My pickup today included lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, and radishes. (Also strawberries, rhubarb, and pasture-raised eggs.) I would definitely not have bought all those greens at the grocery store.

The photo shows a white nonbinary person wearing a vest and taking a picture in a mirror.

Ten years ago today I finished a first draft of my first novel. That book will never see the light of day, but all these years and books later, I still remember that feeling so clearly—the astonishment of having actually done something so huge. It changed my whole life.

The image shows the cover of These Dreaming Spires: A Dark Academia Anthology in shades of blue, purple, and gold.

This beauty, which includes a story of mine, releases in exactly three months. It's my first piece of writing set in New England, and it's a ghost story.

Research shows people who shop at indie bookstores on Independent Bookstore Day are fucking rad.

Extremely cool!

Photograph of THE RESTLESS DARK Rainbow Crate special edition, in dramatic blinds lighting. The cover shows three girls' busts in a green monochrome with a steak of yellow light across the cover.

Photograph of part of the back cover of THE RESTLESS DARK Rainbow Crate special edition, showing a woman in a fancy dress looking through mountains as two drunk bridesmaids teeter at the top of a cliff.

i just think!! it's kinda freaking cool! (it glows in the dark heh)

[ my illustrations for the @rainbowcrate.bsky.social special edition of @ericawatersbooks.bsky.social's THE RESTLESS DARK ] #booksky #artsky

Tomorrow, a certain online mega-retailer launches a book sale, just days before Indie Bookstore Day on 4/26. This is no coincidence; Bookstore Day is one of the largest revenue drivers for indies.

Indies need our support to thrive & build community spaces for all...mega-retailers do not.

Thank you!!

Thank you!!

The cover illustration of All That Consumes Us features two hands, one of which is a skeleton, holding a book. There is also ivy and cicadas.

My queer dark academia, All That Consumes Us, is on sale for $1.99 wherever you buy your ebooks.

I’d rec it for you if you like gothic lit, sapphic romance, found family, and ghosts! 👻

Ghost Wood Song’s hardcover lies on a table between a cup of tea and dried purple flowers. The cover features a large stylized title that looks like it is made of wood, as well as azaleas, wasps, and a rattlesnake.

A bit of springtime spookiness: Ghost Wood Song’s ebook is $1.99 wherever you buy your ebooks.

-A ghost-raising fiddle
-Set in rural Florida springtime
-Murder mystery
-A bluegrass band
-Sweet little romance 💜

literally everything. it's gonna be rough. Check for authors you like. see if they have a ko-fi, a patreon, a subscription service, buy their books (paper to preserve the most at-risk for censorship authors, your local indie, etc) and talk about those books to spread word of mouth. please.

Here’s your morning mood, courtesy of Kiko Capile.

A small nice thing about living in a walkable city is that I’ve gotten to watch a puppy named Cora grow up for the last eight months just because I’m often walking by during her potty break. Today she tried to steal my gloves.

We're suing Trump to save library funding. Show up for our libraries, American Library Association.

NEW: ALA is going to court to stop the President’s attempts to illegally dismantle the Institute of Museum & Library Services.

The President does not have the authority to destroy a federal agency. That's why we're taking action with our co-plaintiff @afscme.bsky.social. #ForOurLibraries (1/3)

A nice bit of book news: My mom was at the library in my hometown over the weekend and overheard someone asking for my book The River Has Teeth. She was very excited to tell them she was the author's mom.

a medieval style digital drawing in progress. there’s an ornate border around the edges, with gold hearts filled with flowers and pink and blue scrollwork, with some spaces left to be filled by little beasts. in the center, a sainted knight with brown skin, wearing the trans flag as a cape, sits on horseback and stabs a long spear into a dragon. there’s gothic text over the top and bottom of the image reading “A world without trans people has never existed and never will”

working on something sick as hell

ahh thanks!!

The Restless Dark Enter Cloudkiss Canyon at your own risk.  Sadie meets Wilder Girls in this unnerving tale about the struggle for survival, the twisted satisfaction of revenge, and the darkness …

More info: ericawaters.com/the-restless-dark

The illustrated cover of The Restless Dark with pull quotes from trade reviews: “a smart and memorable thriller.” —Publisher’s Weekly, starred review “satisfyingly twisty and refreshingly self-aware.” —Kirkus Reviews “[A] compelling, twisty novel where perception is compromised and reality is illusive.” — Booklist

If you’re looking for something spooky to read, The Restless Dark is on sale for $1.99 wherever you get your ebooks. 🖤

Oh hey thanks for sharing this! It’s news to me too. ☺️

Graphic with a deep purple ombre background. White title text says, “Celebrate We Need Diverse Books Day with Bookshop.org”. Beneath the title is a row of white perforated tickets, the centermost which says, “15% Off using the code WNDB25” in dark purple lettering. Beneath the ticket in small white font is a note with an asterisk that says, “only active Thursday, April 3rd” and “excludes e-book purchases”.

It’s no joke, our friends at @bookshop.org are helping us celebrate #WeNeedDiverseBooksDay with a special promo code! 🛍️📚

Shop Bookshop.org on April 3rd and use the code “WNDB25” at checkout to get 15% off your purchase!

Slide 1: Pink, white, and blue text over a background image of a trans flag. Text Reads: The 2025 Trans Rights Readathon: A decentralized grassroots event that focuses on UPLIFTING trans books, AMPLIFYING trans stories, and SUPPORTING trans organizations and communities. March 21-31, 2025.

Slide 2: Text Reads: The #TRR Isn’t Just Reading, It’s Action! The Trans Rights Readathon encourages readers to seek out works by and/or about trans, nonbinary, 2Spirit, and gender non-conforming authors and characters. Along with taking action on the mutual, local, and national level! Image includes a blue box with the word UPLIFT, a white box with the word AMPLIFY, and a pink box with the word SUPPORT with a dollar sign in place of the S.

Slide 3: Text Reads: It’s not too late to sign up! You can find resources, graphics, and more information via our website. We also encourage you to sign up and so we can communicate with you throughout the readathon. This effort is decentralized. We encourage you to get involved and support your local community directly!

Slide 4: Text Reads: Get Loud, Stay Loud. Trans people, trans voices, trans stories have always been here, and will always remain. If this is your first or third readathon, you’re an author or a reader, an accomplice, young or old—let’s always remain loud for Trans Rights!

SHE’S HERE! The Trans Rights Readathon has officially begun! ✨🥳🎊🎉📚 #booksky #trr25 #transrightreadathon

Meta's Massive AI Training Book Heist: What Authors Need to Know  - The Authors Guild Today, The Atlantic published a search tool that allows authors to check if their works are in LibGen, an illegal pirate site AI companies copied for their AI systems. This is a similar tool to the on...

Good news for fellow authors disheartened by your books being illegally used to train AI;

"If your book was used by Meta, you’re automatically included in the Kadrey v. Meta class action in Northern California..."

And @authorsguild.bsky.social has some practical steps you can take.

Literally every word I have ever written and had published was pirated and used to train Meta’s AI.

The cover of The Gathering Dark features a purple background with spooky illustrations including burning houses, a cemetery, and dolls' heads.

The cover of These Dreaming Spires features purple-toned roses and gold-foil towers.

If you'd like to read my published short fiction, check out The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror and the forthcoming dark academia anthology, These Dreaming Spires.

I spent a lot of time on short fiction this year. I wrote a novella and two short stories and dreamed up several more. Soooooo this is just to say: anthology editors... I would love to hear from you!