It's time for Elise's annual birthday sale! (Actual birthday on Saturday, as noted, the sales get especially good then.)

LionessElise@lionesselise.bsky.social · 13h ago

There is a birthday sale. Because you know how I get. www.etsy.com/shop/Lioness...

So, I write (cosy) historical fantasy romance, about people making the world better together. Currently set between the 1850s and the 1940s, but I'm working on planning for a series in the 1480s (with a 1461? prequel. Probably 1461.) www.celialake.com/for-new-read... has an overview.

Bree (half of Kit Rocha)@mostlybree.kitrocha.com · yesterday

post more about your books or I'll kick you in the ankles

Today in author life: innocently doing the dishes and getting three notable points for the book I'm writing starting in February. (That's the Tam Lin riff in 1461, and to be fair to my brain I was listening to Anaïs Mitchell's "Tam Lin".)

Problems I am fairly sure other authors don't have (often). Me, doing research reading: Ok, that's an absolutely fine and historically well-timed method of curing a werewolf. (Wait for procession on horseback, count people, hit the fourth one over the head with an iron club.) [1] However...

This seems worth sharing. As Oldest!Child says, "Hydrate or diedrate."

In April 2024, I went up to Quebec with friends to see the total eclipse. It was the most magical experience - totality really is like nothing else. That night, I wrote a 5k extra, "12 Seconds in 1927" about the total eclipse over parts of the UK in 1927. www.celialake.com/book/12-seco...

Brave Truth is here! Brave Truth is set in 1950. It's a M/M romance about figuring out how to build the life you want to have, recovering from moral injury, and whether it's possible to change a relationship with a parent. It's full of competence and friendship. celialake.com/book/brave-t...

A lovely list of books coming out shortly (includes my Brave Truth, out on Friday, but also other fascinating things!)

🌌Sia is a numinous nebula atm🌌@raenbowpunk.bsky.social · 2w ago

This Must-Have Monday I have FIFTEEN new books to feature! Including 🛣️ sapphic alien roadtrips with @carmenloup.com! 🍷 an enby fairy sommelier from @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social! 🍃 queer post-WW2 historical fantasy by @celialake.bsky.social!

Starting off with the always kind and inclusive @celialake.bsky.social , Rhoe from Sailor's Jewel is a smart, practical round woman who wears flowing clothes bc they suit her and bc it's much easier for a healer to help move a patient without stiff corsets: www.celialake.com/book/sailors...

Sailor's Jewel

Rhoe agreed to this trip for her own reasons. About to take up a new and challenging position as a healer, Rhoe agreed to a trip with her brother on a luxurious ocean liner. She plans to spend the vo...

celialake.com

I've just done the reading spreadsheet for August (for the Pact project) and for August through October (for prep reading for the next book in the Mysterious Societies series.) Pact reading: ongoing Wars of the Roses history, including castles. Also Welsh fairies and background lore.

History continues giving me gifts as an author. Today's research reading (on a different topic) had an anecdote from 1469 that had me staring at it. Some minutes (and a dozen tabs in my browser later), I have now answered something that has not had an answer since I started writing.

I went up to a cidery today for book-related reasons. I picked blueberries, assembled a jar of cut flowers, had lunch, and acquired cider. More (including more photos) over here: www.patreon.com/celialake/po... Blueberry snacking has commenced, there is no bad here.

Looking for some fantastic cosy fantasy reads on sale today? (Friday, July 24th.) Check out www.cozyupwithfantasy.com for books from over 70 different authors for 99 cents! And if you're looking for cosy fantasy romance in particular, here's some books to check out, including The Fossil Door.

Coworker: [shares some letters she's working on transcribing from 1898]. Me: I continue to find it fascinating and depressing simultaneously that the sort of sealioning and trolling of modern Internet was alive and well in epistolary culture in the late 1800s.

Today in author life: Close the tabs about Nimrud and the Epic of Gilgamesh and the history of Mesopotamian archaeological excavations (focus: prior to 1919). Open tabs about Chaucer's "Complaint of Mars" and "Complaint of Venus" and half a dozen about people relevant to 1385.

It's the final day of @romancingthevote.com! So many things still to bid on! More buy-it-now options! And for some items (including both of mine) a chance for second-chance bids where the second highest bid gets the option to get the thing.

Disability Pride Month seemed a good time to do a; ♿Disabled ✍️Writers Thread! 🧵 @roselinbooks.bsky.social @wasphole.bsky.social @sadhbhgirl.bsky.social @debraguckenheimer.com @vincentlore.bsky.social @ferretlord.bsky.social @reyanth.bsky.social @leehulme.com @riengray.bsky.social (1/?)

💙📚🌈📚🪐📚🌶️📚♿ New month, new book sales and giveaways -- and this month is Disability Pride Month, so I'm going to shout out some of my favorites where disabled folks get to go on adventures and be the heroes and heroines too :D First up: Unusual Chosen Ones! books.bookfunnel.com/chosenones/x...

Not so Chosen: Unusual Chosen Ones in Fantasy & Science Fiction

Searching for your next favorite story? Look no further! These bestselling authors have teamed up to offer a delightful selection of new books. Available for a limited time.

books.bookfunnel.com

For those who are new to our auctions, here's a last minute guide as to how it works. There are two types of items on our auction site. 1. Bidding auctions 2. Buy-it-nows

Romancing the Vote is almost here: 5 days of auction and buy it now chaos supporting voting access in the US. July 1st to 5th. www.romancingthevote.com has all the details, read on for the two things I'm offering this year! You can start marking the items you want to follow now!

Romancing the Vote

romancing the vote is a massive auction raising money for two organizations fighting to preserve the right for every person to have their vote counted.

romancingthevote.com

Looking for some fun sapphic reads? IHeartSapphFic is featuring books from Washington and England this week! You can enter to win a whole host of books set in these two places, including my Claiming the Tower. iheartsapphfic.com/2026/06/22/2...

I appear to have successfully made my first Victoria sponge cake! (Traditional mode: weigh the eggs and then match that weight with the sugar, butter, and self-rising flour), raspberry jam, icing sugar dusted on top. The cake is for tomorrow, but the test scrap + jam is fantastic.

Two different people pointed me at this in text (and were both amused that I could identify the image before they got beyond 'row of soldiers waiting to go over the top') I think about this so much, as someone who writes a lot of books set in the 1920s.

Dragon Cobolt@dragoncobolt.bsky.social · 2mo ago

you sometimes forget just how much WW1 fucked up Britain until you, uh, look at any of their art, watch any of their shows, read any of their poems, or play a single game of Warhammer 40,000

Queer Quarterly Indie Pride book sale today (June 2nd) through June 4th! Almost 200 books for $0.99 USD (or your equivalent). www.mnbennet.com/pride-promo Get my 1884 m/m novella, Four Walls and a Heart! (It's under the Fantasy section.)

One of the things I find hardest in writing books set in the 1920s (or, well, this one is 1919): "Does this character say 'weekend' or not?" (It has class and other background implications.)

I spent the morning at the Celtic Art Across the Ages exhibit at the Harvard Art Museum (there until August 2nd). It's fantastic, and had a number of things that I found intriguing and was delighted to get to see in person. Public Patreon post with photos & links. www.patreon.com/posts/celtic...

Celtic Art Across the Ages | Celia Lake

Celtic Art Across the Ages by Celia Lake on Patreon. Join Celia Lake's community for exclusive content and updates.

patreon.com

🐱📚🌈📚💙📚🪐📚🌶 (eeeeeee!) Mary Robinette Kowal posted a My Favorite Bit about Chai and Charmcraft! maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-f... (I'm still playing the repost game if anyone would like more food and history trivia in the thread below.)

My Favorite Bit: Lynn Strong talks about CHAI AND CHARMCRAFT

Lynn Strong is joining us today to talk about their novel, Chai and Charmcraft. Here’s the publisher’s description: His Imperial Highness Faraj al-Nadhir has never thought himself a charming sort o…

maryrobinettekowal.com

Lynn Strong | Cozy fantasy author@lynnstrong.bsky.social · 4mo ago

🐱📚🌈📚💙📚🪐📚🌶 New #cozyfantasy May 1! lynnstrong.com/books/charmc... 🪶 Prince Charming would rather audit a dragon than slay it 🥰 Mature midlife MM romance 🔥 Loved as you are, no makeovers needed! 🐱 SO many kittens 📚 Priye’s #Lifegoals : BOOK BOOK ALL BOOK MINE Game time: 1 repost = 1 backstage trivia

Looking for some free LGBTQ fantasy to fill up your reading list? Check out these great books! books.bookfunnel.com/faromay2026/...

Today's cat is very confused by why I am in the living room so much more. (Confusion not visible in the photo) My main keyboard decided that the control key either wouldn't work or would stick. Neither of these works for other typing. New one en route. I'm on the old laptop in the living room.

Today in writing (rereading the book in editing to figure out where I need to do structural fixes). Character walks into a room. Me: Wait, I can't get away with 'dark wood' here. This is Claudio, he can tell what the wood is at least three ways without exerting himself. [research ensues]