Courtney Smyth

Naoise's brother is asking Irish people to please contact the government #Speirgorm

I am once again asking for someone to invent a form of packing up all up your belongings that doesn’t suck

feed me your booooooooooks

A sunny selfie of Hux, a white person with auburn hair and green glasses, holding up a postcard to their face. The postcard is pink and purple and says Reality Check.

A screenshot of the Bookseller announcement for my new novel. Simon and Schuster UK swoons for Lizzie Huxley-Jones’ ‘escapist’ reality show romance RIGHTS OCT 9, 2025 BY CASSIDY BAILEY. The photo shows Hux a white person with light auburn hair sitting on a couch in a green lead patterned suit, eyes closed and laughing.

Simon & Schuster UK has acquired two new novels by Lizzie Huxley-Jones, who was previously published by Hodder & Stoughton. Deputy publishing director Molly. Crawford acquired world all-language rights in a two-book deal from Abi Fellows at DHH Literary Agency. The first of the two novels, Reality Check, is a "funny, escapist" romance between two women who share a kiss behind the scenes of a reality TV show and find themselves choosing between on-screen fame or true love. Reality Check will publish in all formats in April 2026. Crawford said: "I've long been obsessed with Lizzie's Christmas romances so am absolutely thrilled to be able to welcome them to the S&S list. Reality Check satiates a universal need for realistic romance elevated by unusual circumstance rather than narrative necessity. Lizzie captures the chaos and charm of reality TV, weaving a love story that delivers kick-your-feet romance alongside punch-in-the-gut relatable detail. It centres and celebrates queer love, living with chronic illness and freeing ourselves from life's filters. It's a novel you can't help but press into the hands of friends and I'm so excited to take it to market."

Huxley-Jones is the author of the queer holiday romcoms Make You Mine This Christmas and Under the Mistletoe with You, the young adult summer romance Hits Different co-written with Tasha Ghouri, and the Waterstones Children's Book Prize-shortlisted fantasy series Vivi Conway and the Sword of Legend. Reality Check is their third adult romance novel. Huxley-Jones said: "Reality Check brings together my deep fascination with reality television, with the concept of persona and masking, through the experiences of two queer women who just cannot seem to escape each other. There's hijinks and fake-dating arrangements and an autistic girl unravelling 'comphet' all within the bounds of a wedding-themed dating show. It's been a book in my heart for years and I'm so glad it will reach readers next year. "It is such a thrill and honour to bring my romcoms to the incredible team at Simon & Schuster, especially my wonderful editor Molly Crawford. They are not only a team who understand and respect commercial romance fiction, but one that deeply cares for their authors. It's been such a joy to work with them on Reality Check, my most ambitious romcom to date, and to see their enthusiasm at every step. I'm so thankful for my agent Abi Fellows finding my work such an enriching home."

The news is official! I can finally tell you that my next romcom Reality Check will be out in April next year!

Viking wins eight-way auction for Robin Stevens' adult debut

ICYMI: Viking has won an eight-way bidding war for Almost the Whole Truth, the first adult novel from the bestselling and award-winning children’s author, Robin Stevens. It will be published in early 2027 👇 #BookSky

But you know what this restaurant needs? LOREM IPSUM

Tag yourself, I’m Borgo review

Book cover for The Unfathomable Curse by Courtney Smyth.

The Undetectables are back! THE UNFATHOMABLE CURSE by @cswritesbooks.bsky.social is the third book in the series. It’s packed with ancient magic and fiendish puzzles, perfect for fans of supernatural mysteries and cosy crime.

Grab yourself a copy here: proud-geek.co.uk/product-page...

#booksky

Ahh how exciting!! I hope you get to read soon 💙 thank you!

A poster for the launch of Courtney Smyth’s The Unfathomable Curse. It reads: COURTNEY SMYTH and SPECIAL GUESTS AMY CLARKIN, DEIRDRE SULLIVAN & SAM (MOÏRA) FOWLEY! VENUE Chapters Bookstore, Ivy Exchange, Parnell St, Rotunda, Dublin I, DOI P8C2 DATE: Friday, September 26th TIME: 7pm

On Friday I’ll be joined in Chapters by a fabulous panel of authors to celebrate the launch of THE UNFATHOMABLE CURSE! I would love to see you there - I will have themed friendship bracelets and I promise a night of Curses & Chaos ✨👻

Tickets: campsite.to/cswritesbooks

#speirgorm

Italy has sent a ship, and Spain is sending a ship, to protect the #SumudFlotilla
Indonesia has promised 20,000 troops if the UN act to intervene in Palestine.
Things are ramping up.
Thanks to the Italian dock workers and people around the world who have a conscience and compassion.
Union. Fin.

A poster for the launch of Courtney Smyth’s The Unfathomable Curse. It reads: COURTNEY SMYTH and SPECIAL GUESTS AMY CLARKIN, DEIRDRE SULLIVAN & SAM (MOÏRA) FOWLEY! VENUE Chapters Bookstore, Ivy Exchange, Parnell St, Rotunda, Dublin I, DOI P8C2 DATE: Friday, September 26th TIME: 7pm

On Friday I’ll be joined in Chapters by a fabulous panel of authors to celebrate the launch of THE UNFATHOMABLE CURSE! I would love to see you there - I will have themed friendship bracelets and I promise a night of Curses & Chaos ✨👻

Tickets: campsite.to/cswritesbooks

#speirgorm

The unfathomable curse by Courtney smyth open on the title page. The book is atop a flatlay of other copies of the book.

A flatlay of several copies of The unfathomable curse by Courtney smyth

The unfathomable curse by Courtney smyth open on the dedication page. It reads “for every trans person, present and future. Even when it feels like the end, it isn’t. Get up. Live. Thrive.”

The Unfathomable Curse, book three in the Undetectables series, is out now!!

The series follows a gang of three queer witch detectives and a ghost in a cat costume who track down magical serial killers - and book 3 takes them to a magical town in the Lake District…

campsite.to/cswritesbooks

This is Pink Pony Club if it was about The Undetectables Series (and sped up slightly because there’s a 3 minute video limit)

#pinkponyclub 📚🪐💙 #speirgorm #parodysong #blindkaraoke

I couldn’t remember Toby’s name last week so was calling him “gentle ginger moustached Evan Peters” #GBBO

I could not believe my eyes or my ears (but they both say “hobnob” like they’re speaking around a mouthful of cheese so it’s possible they’re saying something else)

That is NOT a fucking hobnob #GBBO

Can I send you a copy of the (published via Titan Books!) book I wrote almost exclusively to a soundtrack of Choke on repeat?

With news of a reported settlement with Anthropic I went back to check the class action form and it now allows authors outside the US to input their address, so it may be worth adding your known pirated titles (from the LibGen pirate database) www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...

I was reading aloud a short story I’m working that contained the word ‘ Lepidoptera’, and as I finished the paragraph a small tortoiseshell just materialised in my office!!!! Do I… have magic summoning powers?

There’s a public survey open for the general public to give input as to whether the Basic Income for the Arts scheme should continue.

I implore you to take the 2 mins to fill out this survey and call for the BIA scheme to be continued and further developed.

ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/run...

Every so often my neighbour drops an object outside their driveway, Mario Kart item-style. Last week it was a splayed banana skin. Today it was a cartoonishly perfect radish. I cannot tell if it is intentional.

Relatedly, I now have late-night thoughts like ‘I forgot to take a photo of the radish’

Hey, I don't know if it'll have an effect, but if you, YOU, are interested in the continuation and expansion of the BIA, there's a public survey available to gather opinions. ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/run...

Minister Patrick O’Donovan has announced a 6-month extension to the Pilot Scheme for Basic Income for the Arts.

The NCFA are raising the profile of the sector call to Retain, Extend and Expand Basic Income for the Arts
🔗 ncfa.ie/2025/06/19/j...
/ email info@ncfa.ie link with your local constituency

Thank you so much!!

“The ‘grown women’ of Ireland remember very well what erasure and control and lack of bodily autonomy feel like and it’s for this very reason that we stand so passionately with the trans community today”

#TransRightsAreHumanRights @independent.ie

Be Gay, Solve Crime - 10 Queer Detective Novels From queer murder mysteries to gay detectives, supernatural crime agencies and lesbian private investiagors, here are 10 LGBTQ+ books about queer detectives solving crime.

BE GAY, SOLVE CRIME! From queer murder mysteries to gay detectives, supernatural crime agencies and lesbian private investigators, here are 10 LGBTQ+ books about queer detectives solving crime:

Read the full blog at: www.proud-geek.co.uk/post/10-quee...

#queerbooks #booksky

Sometimes writing is fixing a problem you were dreading untangling by deleting 97 words

Courtney, a white perish with long brown hair with green tinsel in it, is wearing a tshirt designed by Frank Duffy. It features two dancing skeletons and it says “WE ALL DANCE FOR TRANS LIBERATION”

there was some (deserved!) commotion tonight at the @dubraybooks.bsky.social Pages of Pride event for my tshirt, which was designed by @mxfrankduffy.bsky.social – they make lots of cool stuff, check their bio for their website! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈💚