No water, no heating, no power, -15 degree weather outside.

It is not on the front pages of your newspapers, but Ukraine is living through a humanitarian disaster right now because of Russian bombardment and the world has barely noticed.

An image of the cover of The Redstone Rescue and a message saying it has been nominated for the Indie Ink Awards in the following categories: Best Audio Narration, Best Light Read, Wittiest Character, Best Setting, Best Cover/Artist, Writing the Future WE Need: Gay or Lesbian Representation. It asks people to vote at https://indiestorygeek.com/a/indie-ink-awards-2025

For the visually minded, here's my Indie Ink Awards vote beseeching in graphic form. It's really hard to distinguish yourself as a self-published author, even when the work is really good, which I believe The Redstone Rescue is. Getting on a shortlist would be a significant boost.

I love the Hebridean settings (Rum Castle!) but Tina Rossi is a cold fish, and very unlike the other leading ladies, perhaps for good reason! I would add Wendy and a forlorn Joanna to those you mention. Read them all again a few years ago and they had mostly stood up very well.

Despite the wonderful Hebridean settings, this is not my favourite JJ book. Many of the later ones are pacier and funnier, with Tropical Issue probably top of the list. DD had fun with contemporary fashions, so now those references can pass us by. BTW, I used Elizabeth Arden Blue Grass as a teen.

The Redstone Rescue has been nominated in the Best Setting category of the Indie Ink Awards, which I'm pleased about because I think Sataminva's mildly-persian-inspired utopian realm is a pretty cool setting and I hope the story does a good job of making it feel solid.

The Redstone Rescue has been nominated in the "Writing The Future We Need: Gay or Lesbian Representation" category of the Indie Ink Awards, which makes sense because it is ultimately a sapphic romance (with a certain amount of adventure along the way): indiestorygeek.com/a/indie-ink-...

Kidwelly?

Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts on Steam Run your manuscript workshop, receive orders to illustrate medieval books, decorate them any way you like, send them back to clients to get paid, and unlock new jobs, decorations, and items. Welcome t...

Thank you for every repost, Bluesky friends! 💙

Here's our Steam page in case you want to add us to your wishlist! 2026 is finally our release year 💙

store.steampowered.com/app/3119540/...

A graphic showing that the population of England, Wales and Scotland increased 3, 4 and 5 fold over 200 years, but Irelands actually shrank slightly.

This is how genocide works. It doesn't mean having to kill everyone all at once, it means making conditions for life impossible so that the population crashes. Over 200 years Irelands population growth largely stood still thanks to the enforce famines of the 19thC.

If you wanted to read (or listen to) The Redstone Rescue for free, Read Indie Fantasy have a giveaway!

Two magpies, one on the fence! They almost look as if they were carrying out a medical procedure.

In a lot of ways publishing The Redstone Rescue in December was the worst thing I could have done in terms of getting it noticed, but I had also been working on it for so long and I just wanted to get it into the world.

Anyway, read The Redstone Rescue - you can still be an early adopter!

The HWA Crown Awards shortlists are revealed!
They’re in Historia now, at historiamag.com/hwa-crowns-shortlists-2025
See which six books have made it through to the last round of judging in each category – Gold, Non-fiction and Debut.
Good luck to all 18 authors!
#HWACrowns25

✍️It's today!
We announce the winning, shortlisted and highly-commended stories in this year's HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition at 1.30pm!
The best in #histfic #shortstory writing.
What gems have the judges found this year?
@dunnettcentral.bsky.social @bettym.bsky.social #HWADDSS25

I don't talk about writing much but I did a thing. And the judges liked it enough to long list it for the Historical Writer's Association Dorothy Dunnett short story competition. And I am pretty excited about that. #writer

Such a lovely pup! Can't wait for him to grow into his ears!

It was huge fun, and a breathless read!

Think of the sixteenth century sailors of the Muscovy Company who did the journey from London to Vardo and beyond in tiny wooden ships that did not always get home in 1 piece or even at all!

Good luck!

Great to hear Anna Groundwater extolling Dorothy Dunnett's historical novels- and naming Anselm Adornes as a key figure connecting Scotland to Europe and beyond. DD's archive in NLS deserves much greater recognition ( and use) as a serious academic resource.
manuscripts.nls.uk/repositories...

Cover of September 2025 issue of Whispering Gallery showing Knights of Malta.

Whispering Gallery 167: first of a series on priests and prophets; a defence of Sibylla; a first-time visitor to the Dunnett Archive at the NLS describes highlights; two essays on early Renaissance history; our new image-based series on the alchemy scene in GoK; Richard in Perth; Leicester Day.

The cover of The Redstone Rescue audiobook, which depicts Fort Redstone and The Anvil through a stylised doorway.

Everything terrible right now and that's a good reason to read stories about better worlds. The Redstone Rescue is available now on Audible and it lets you escape to adventure, mystery and romance, as our heroine fights to survive, defend her utopia, and find someone who appreciates her puns.

Looks a lovely plant like all the mint family but the flavouring in Earl Grey tea is citrus bergamia, the bergamot fruit.

Dorothy Dunnett would be a great find! 6 long complex sixteenth century stories in the Lymond Chronicles. 8 in the fifteenth century House of Piccolo, and an eleventh century masterpiece on MacBeth. If she likes Mantel, she will love Dunnett.

I became quite paranoid when in the early noughties two of my best friends had breast cancer at much the same time as me, but later realised that we were all in the age group when it is most likely to occur. Glad to say all 3 of us are here to tell the tale!

I still remember walking out of the opticians wearing my first pair of glasses (aged about 8). The world was sharp and glorious and full of wonder - buses had numbers and the clock tower on the high street actually had a clock in it!

Another option is to discreetly site server farms much closer to generating sites as it is easier to send data than build new transmission networks.

LAST CHANCE! ENDS AT MIDNIGHT!
📚Historia giveaway:
All three winning books in the 2024 HWA Crown Awards.
Disobedient: Elizabeth Fremantle
Four Shots In the Night: Henry Hemming
The Tumbling Girl: Bridget Walsh
Find out more and enter: historiamag.com/historia-giveaway-2024-hwa-crowns-winners

Whispering Gallery is the most beautiful and interesting magazine. This is an offer not to be missed!

Daisy sends all the feels.