Pitched as an exciting gateway science fiction heist novel, “Ocean’s 8” meets Gideon the Ninth (Tor), Hammajang Luck will be released in hardback, e-book and audio in January 2025.
Its synopsis reads: “Eight years in prison changes a person. Particularly when you’re only there because your partner, your best friend, your all-but-sister, sold you down the river. That’s why Edie knows they’ll turn down Angel’s offer of a job. One last big score. A chance to take down the man who put them away: Joyce Atlas. But Edie’s lost too much time with their family. There’s not a question.“
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Acquired this bad boy in December, have been making memes to restrain myself from SHOUTING ABOUT IT ever since. (Graphic design is my passion)
SO excited to be working with @makana-yama to bring this book to you - it’s fun, sexy, chaotic and most of all full of shenanigans in space. Edie is the buff NB chaos bae you always wanted, Angel is the sexy genius who overdresses for every occasion, and the two of them are constantly bullied for being Old by their crew. And then they go a take out Space Elon Musk while kicking ass and taking names.
1000/10, wonderful book.
That is one of the best descriptions I have ever read omg
Our Lady Le Guin is one of those authors who wrote across genres, so again YMMV on what you enjoy.
Her EARTHSEA series is probably one of the best known, having been adapted by Ghibli and into a live action movie.
If you want Sci fi, LATHE OF HEAVEN and LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS are both massively acclaimed and generally listed up there with her must-reads. That said, we recently reissued THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST which is a great examination of colonialism, climate change, and the cultural impact of colonisation. It’s got a great philosophical issue as to how you defend your culture when your culture is built around pacifism.
As for queer SFF - THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE by Aliette de Bodard is a desperately romantic queer enemies to lovers space opera, inspired by Vietnamese culture and with lesbian space pirates.
SEVEN DEVILS/SEVEN MERCIES is a space opera duology by Elizabeth May and L.R. Lam with a trans character, a lesbian romance, and some casual overthrowing of fascism. (It’s not actually casual)
Older books, BOLD AS LOVE by Gwyneth Jones and its sequels retell the story of King Arthur around a climate apocalypse, but Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot are in a polycule.
These are mostly SF, I will update with fantasy tomorrow!
Yaaassss! Amazing! Love the sound of ALL those! Thanks for adding to my TBR list!!
I have watched this on repeat like twelve times. I can’t stop laughing.
For context, the very mild mannered gentleman who looks like Count Rugen might if he got to enjoy retirement is Christian Cameron. He writes historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction, and does a series of videos on how to write accurate historical combat. He’s an expert in this because he is a prolific re-enactor, and makes a lot of his own historical clothes using traditional methods. He ran a massive re-enactment in Greece last year, recreating the Battle of Plataea.
He’s an absolute delight, the conversations you have with this man will never go the way you expect. And when I ask for promo photos from him, instead of sending me things like this:
He send me things like this:
THANKS CHRISTIAN. VERY HELPFUL. NOTHING TO PROVE YOU’RE IN THERE BUT I’M SURE THAT’S FINE. MARKETING CAN WORK WITH THAT.
Anyway he’s a hoot but I also love that his videos are just him and his buddies pleasantly attempting to murder each other in slow motion to explain how it works.
My name
is Claire, and I am a science fiction, fantasy and horror editor.
I have
been working in publishing since 2018, editing fiction, non-fiction and
academic work both with publishing companies and freelance. Since October 2020,
I have been an editorial assistant at one of the UK’s leading SFF publishers, working and
training with the editors for some of the biggest names in SFF and Horror
fiction. I am also a member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and
Proofreading.
I
completed a Master’s degree in publishing, several courses in copy editing and
proofreading, and I have many years of experience as a beta reader in my spare
time, offering as required structural editing advice, line and copy editing,
and enthusiastic cheerleading. One of my independent authors has reached the
final, full manuscript request stage of Pitch Wars two years running. I also
have experience writing for publication, as I wrote a number of non-fiction
books in my previous role.
You can
find more information about me at my blog. Please find the appropriate links in
the reblog below!
Christmas
is coming up, and train fares are expensive, so I’m opening up my freelance editing
services again, and I’m excited!!
Why do I need an editor? What do you do?
Editing is not a mystical art, but it is hard work. You’ve done so much work getting your story written, but now you’ve got to READ IT and FIX IT. And when you’re so close into the story, when you know it so intimately, it can be hard to know where to start. This is where having an outside pair of eyes can really help - to give a fresh look at the plot structure, the pacing, the characters, and take it from this:
to this:
But I have good news - you don’t have to go it alone! I can help you, and I have the experience of editing, the experience of structuring a book, and the can-do attitude to help you knock your work into shape. I am excited to read your work and try to help you work out how to make it really shine! I can tell you whether your message is coming across as strongly and effectively as you would like, I can help you to refine your ideas and make sure your story really pops!
The first draft of a story is always the hardest, but it’s the most fantastic starting point for an incredible work of art.
For £50, I will:
- Read
the first three chapters or 15,000 words of your later draft, and a complete
synopsis of the whole work OR Read up to 50,000 words of your first
manuscript draft (please add an addition £10 for every 10,000 words on top of
this)
- Provide
overall feedback on your tone, story structure, plot, and characters, focusing
on any areas of particular concern to you, but with additional notes based on
my experience
- Provide
resources I have made to help with planning, writing, editing and submitting
your work.
For a
further £20, I will also arrange to have a call with you to discuss your
feedback in detail and brainstorm any future plans for your work.
I want to work with you to make sure you’re telling the story you REALLY want to tell, and that it does everything you want it to do! An author-editor relationship is all about teamwork.
You can
contact me through tumblr, or through my website, and I am happy to provide more information if you are curious about my qualifications or experience.
You can
send me your documents once you have a slot, and we can arrange payment and
feedback as necessary.
I love
working with stories and writers, and making books the best they can be, so I
hope you’ll be happy to work with me, and I look forward to hearing from you!
Please note that this is primarily for structural editing, however if you are looking for a proofreader, or have other editorial needs please get in touch and we can discuss your requirements.
Want to learn more about the business of books?
If you
don’t need editorial help, but fancy pitching in and have any questions about
publishing or writing, I’ve opened up a Ko-Fi, and will happily take requests
for blog posts on any subject you’re curious about, or provide custom book
recommendations through there!
Why should you hire me?
I’m a
helpful sort of person! If you’re not sure, here’s some feedback - I’d love to
work with you on your stories, original or fanfiction, so please get in
contact!
Reblogs
and boosts are super appreciated!!
Find herewithin my most magical and pertinent LINKS:
Claire spent the better part of the last year hand-holding my WHOB fic, A Heart Worth Loving, which is now my longest work to date and one of the fics I am most proud of writing ever. It is over 80k words, and she did me the immense service of not only beta/proof reading it but also plot picking, helping me isolate and emphasize key story themes, improving my characterization, and also she made me a meme.
Additionally, she has helped me with editing formal school papers at the Master’s level, and I have never had a paper returned with less than an A on anything she’s assisted me with.
She is, furthermore, a fantastic cheerleader, who will never tell you your idea is crap, but will instead cheerlead you into believing you can write, actually despite the fact what you sent was a 2 page doc that hardly constituted an idea and also was crap and encourage you into 60k words of ridiculous shenanigans that you will love in the end.
You really could not ask for a better person to help you, I promise.
I am deeply uncomfortable asking for help, but between school expenses, injuring my back and having to cut back my work hours, and this unexpected death of someone near and dear to me, I am asking for support if anyone can help. If not, I understand, but I appreciate anything, even if it’s just kind words
So … re-reading The Winter Long, and something that’s been sitting in my head about the Toby Daye series in general pretty much screamed at me to pay some more attention to it:
The Luidaeg says she can’t lie … except to blood of her blood. Mostly she frames that as the Selkies, because they’re technically hers because of them being what they are by virtue of the skins of her children, the Roane. But … “blood of my blood” is a little more general than that. I mean, it literally means “we share the same blood”.
The Luidaeg is the first born daughter of Oberon and Maeve. Amandine the Liar is the daughter of Oberon and Janet … and Amandine is Toby’s mother. The Luidaeg has claimed Toby as her niece time and time again. This means they share blood. “Blood of my blood”. Technically, she can lie to Toby … especially when you consider how much Faerie loves its loopholes. Sure, most of Faerie has the blood of Oberon or Maeve in them somewhere, but it’s noted to be so diluted by now that tracking descendant lines is difficult. Toby’s the daughter of a Firstborn, and claimed as a blood-relation in a way that August never was. And strictly speaking, the Luidaeg did lie to Amandine; she made a liar of herself when she went to get a look at Toby, when Toby was a little girl. She shouldn’t have been able to do that … unless lying to Amandine was okay.
More to the point, in The Winter Long, the Luidaeg says, “I don’t lie to you”. Not “can’t”; “don’t”. When she stresses that she can’t lie, she keeps it general … and usually she’s in the presence of others - Quentin, Tybalt, Janet / Miranda, Poppy, whoever. People she can’t lie around. (Arguably she can lie to Poppy too, since pixies are reputed to be literally formed of Maeve’s blood, but that’s another thing.) She has also, in several conversations with Toby, flagged up the very strong differences between “can’t”, “don’t”, and “won’t”, especially when it comes to the Luidaeg and her dealings with people on the verbal end.
So that’s one of two ways that Toby could get out of the Luidaeg killing her without lifting the geas Titania laid on her. The other - or at least the thing that could buy some damn time - is the debt. Toby literally brought the Luidaeg back from the dead in The Winter Long, and the Luidaeg made damn sure that Toby acknowledged how much that debt was worth. Doing the accounting, Toby asked for a lot of favours of the Luidaeg over the years, but by the Luidaeg’s own admission (in front of witnesses that she literally can’t lie to), those were entirely paid by her actions at the end of The Unkindest Tide. And at the end of Night and Silence, the Luidaeg said that Toby owed her nothing for saving Gillian. Sure, she could claim she was lying, but she doesn’t lie to Toby, and Toby could affirm that in front of witnesses, pointing out that a) Gillian being a Selkie made her transformation of the Selkie to Roane easier, and b) Gillian gave the Luidaeg the impetus she needed to share the Lost Skins, leaving more Roane - more of her own children, in a way - to be returned to her, so what the Luidaeg did for Gillian was way more for the Luidaeg than for Toby. And, waaaaaaay back at the very beginning in Rosemary and Rue, the Luidaeg said that she would not - could not - kill Toby with debts unpaid between them. So long as the Luidaeg owes Toby that hugely unpayable debt, the Luidaeg can’t kill Toby.
And if they can figure out the bloodline thing - which shouldn’t be too hard - the Luidaeg won’t have to, because lying to blood of her blood is allowed.
Look, sometimes I just think too much. Especially when the Fae are concerned. I like the Fae. I like the fun one can have with Blue and Orange Morality. So I pick and twist and turn at the bargains and rules to see where the loopholes are and how far they can be bent. This is why basically all of the things @seananmcguire writes fascinate me; there’s always so much to prod at.
Ohhhh yes!!! Love this! I just kind of figured that she absolutely will kill Toby but like either it’s a weird play of words like ‘Sir daye is now dead - severed from knightdom’ kind of thing or her human self dies (aka no more human blood) or that she does actually die but then comes back somehow someway because of weird fae magic lol
Please
remember that for this round of Claims, you will be allowed to claim
one fic, and each fic will only be claimed by one artist. The form will
ask you for your top three preferences, and you will be assigned the
highest preference that is still unclaimed at the time your form comes
in. You will need to know the numbers of the fics you want to choose,
rather than their titles. Artists and Writers, if you want to see what has been claimed and who has which fic, you can look at this spreadsheet of responses. The Mods will be highlighting in yellow which of their preferences each artist has claimed, so it should be easy to see.
If you see a row highlighted in red, that means that all of your preferences have already been claimed, and you will need to submit a new form with another three fic choices. We will contact any artist this applies to as soon as possible, but feel free not to wait for us and just resubmit when you see that.
If you want to know more about the process, or about future rounds, please have a look at this Tumblr post: Artist Claims Info Post.
Happy Claiming!!
If you need assistance during Claims:
The Mod Team will all be focused on the Claims forms and spreadsheets themselves during Claims, and depending on how intense it is, we may not be readily available on social media. If you need immediate assistance (such as your Claim form not submitting or something equally important) we suggest that you Tag A Mod on the Discord server for fastest response - one member of the Team is dedicated to Communications.
If you find Discord too much or aren’t on the server, please do email the blog at winterhawkolympicbang@gmail.com
Round One is Now Closed!! Stand by for Round Two!!
If you are interested in creating art for the Winterhawk Olympic Bang, you only have more day to sign up, as we will be closing the sign-up sheet at the end of tomorrow, the 14th.
All
artists who sign up will receive an email with a slideshow of all the
fics available for Claims as soon as the Mods can get it to them, and in advance of Claims opening on the 15th at 8pm GMT.
If
nothing in the slideshow tickles your fancy, you are by no means
obligated to Claim a fic (though we feel confident there’s a bit of
something for everyone), so signing up is no risk!
All art that
can be consumed visually online (digital media, traditional media which
has been scanned or photographed for posting, photosets, etc.) are all
welcome. Unfortunately, due to the way our Olympic Medal reward system
is designed, we cannot accept other forms of art such as playlists or
podfic at this time.
If you would like to be a pinch-hitter
artist for the Bang, please go ahead and sign up as an artist - there
will be multiple rounds of Claims so that every fic has an opportunity
to receive art!
I enjoy so many random things in life but when I fall in love with an anime or manga, it's pretty much for life and sometimes I just can't keep it all in my head so I need to let it out. =] This personal blog is pretty much dedicated to everything I love: anime, fashion, space, gaming, reading, and random humor.
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