Well, SURPRISE! Apparently, I way overshot the 'official Hugo rules' length for a novella by - 20,500 words. THE GUARDIAN IS A NOVEL. Felt like it, too, the ground it covers is astonishing. Now clocking 60,500 words, before final cut and polish. Holy heck, Verrain!
Janny Wurts
@jannywurts.bsky.social
Fantasy author/illustrator, Wars of Light and Shadow series. https://paravia.com/JannyWurts/
Author community: Does anyone know the upper limit for the word count to qualify as a Novella? Maybe I just completed a short novel....? The Guardian after fourth pass, undergoing polish.
Hey #booksky - if y'all have sixty seconds, can you help me out with a community poll on my BookTube channel? Trying to make a decision :D youtube.com/post/UgkxTD2...
Poll from Gryftkin - YouTube
Ok, I did a little research - my channel has playlists.. average views per video ranking? Interviews and Book Reviews are the top two by a WIDE margin. (the ...
youtube.com
Fourth pass through The Guardian is completed. Test read results on the final 3 chapters, adjust, and polish to go. soon this - long novella - mini novel? will be DONE.
Solar reactor that eats plastic! www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2026/07/scie... A Trade in Blood is out today!! amzn.to/45F6FH0 LinkedIn has decided to remove their "draft with AI" feature and revert it to... a proofreading function 😆 www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
Scientists built a solar reactor that eats plastic bottles and burps out clean hydrogen . . .at scale.
A Cambridge University team made the device with simple materials using a paint sprayer—offering a possible dual fix for plastic pollution and dirty hydrogen production
anthropocenemagazine.org
Did I miss any good news today?
Space Unicorns! Uncanny Magazine Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Michael Damian Thomas has a GUEST POST on Black Gate today! Check out "Why the Hell Am I Running Another Uncanny Magazine Kickstarter"! buff.ly/ydO15FM
Wow. Authors PAID MONEY in good faith for this 'certification.' Authors' Guild: response??? If this was a mistake, the proof in the pudding is in how it is handled. I'm waiting.
In today’s least surprising news, these kinds of certifications turn out to be completely toothless
Thanks to MAJOR help from two friends, patience by Apple Support and fifteen days of pre-testing stuff could break on an upgrade.... I have MSWord working again. Holy hell, that was a lot of peoples' time, I am beyond grateful, could not navigate this on my own, it was a hot mess to unbork.
If you are a Wars of Light and Shadow reader, the discussion by Philip Chase, Johanna Reads, and AP Canavan is back with fireballs and a lot of pun slinging - check it out! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yoc2...
WE'RE BACK!! 🔥 TRAITOR'S KNOT, The Wars of Light and Shadow, book 7 by Janny Wurts
YouTube video by Johanna Reads
youtube.com
We had the largest #deedofalms2026 yet, with 20 armoured combatants and dozens unarmoured. So far we’ve raised more than 3500$ for local troops underhoused folks. If you still want to donate, visit us at Still wish to donate? Donate here www.boarstooth.net/new-events/2...
I will say this again. It does not MATTER how history will view this moment. What matters is what we do IN this moment. Posterity does not exist yet. It has no power. Neither does wishful thinking. We who are living this moment, do, as we are alive and enabled to respond.
Catching up Sunday, and Saturday, too: sharonleewriter.com/2026/07/catc... #writingcommunity
Catching up Sunday – Sharon Lee, Writer
sharonleewriter.com
Penguin Random House San Diego @Comic_Con signing schedule today!
Out now! THE AMBER OWL, the first book in World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award-winner @julietmarillier.bsky.social 's new HEARTWOOD duology has arrived in the UK! Thank you to @kateforsyth.bsky.social for this great endorsement! "Enchanting and wise" Buy now: geni.us/amberowl
Question, writing community: Does anyone know when the later versions of PAGES on MAC stopped allowing a save to legacy (compatible) versions of Microsoft? Or was the contact who said you can't just not looking in the right spot for the feature? I have some very old files, active still.
I suggest some hibernation this weekend, away from air quality, weather, news, and so on. I'm off to Hookland for now. I can also recommend visiting with Alfreda. You are promised a hopeful ending, and the cat lives. (A few people and demons, not so much.) bsky.app/profile/catk...
Maybe you need to run away for a while. You can visit a alternate early America, where magic seeps from every plant & the land chooses its own. I wrote neurodiverse before we said ND. Meet Alfreda. She hears werewolves & Death talks to her. At the usual places. bookviewcafe.com/product-tag/...
What bothers heck out of me, re, MsWord shutoff debacle - is that the DID IT. Says they will do it again....warning flag there for whoever needs it.
Microsoft Office 2021 HEADS UP, writing community: Not only did MSWord disable ability to alter files because my Mac OS system is 'not supported' as of July 13th, a little digging into their emailed link about nonupgrading: THEY ARE GONNA STOP SUPPORTING MS OFFICE 2021 IN OCTOBER OF THIS YEAR!
Sum up: MSWord license is still valid, but deactived likely cause my OS is not supported by MSW starting July 13th. I can upgrade this machine, but: it is all hard connections, no cordless. My printer/keyboard and peripherals do not support wireless and a fkton of other stuff will 'break.'
To everybody miffed that Lucas goes to the dark side and uses AI - whelp. MOST movies steal from SF/F artists anyhow. Visit a studio, ALL our peoples' art books are all over their production depts, dog eared, marked, thumbed over until they are worn. The rip off continues in a different format.
WTF, microsoft: I work in an older version, bought software (not subscription) that saves to my computer. MSword just LOCKED THE FILE unless I 'activate' their 365 version. Writing community: does this mean the file 'saves to the cloud' and does it shift TOS to allow AI scraping of all work done?
Huge new class action lawsuit filed by big publishers and authors against Google this week over AI training. It accuses Google of taking millions of books / articles provided to them for use only in Google Books, Google Play Books, and Google Scholar, and secretly using them to train LLMs. 🧵 1/4
We're fundraising for @authorsabb.bsky.social around our virtual event on book banning on Thursday. Here's the info for the event! Fundraising info in thread!
How to Defend Books Panel & Fundraiser for Authors Against Book Bans
portersquarebooks.com
The Uncanny Magazine Kickstarter is LIVE! Please help support us if you can.
PLEASE REPOST AND SHARE WIDELY!!! We need your help once again, you magnificent Space Unicorns! Behold the Uncanny Magazine Year 13: The Space Unicorn Believes in YOU! Kickstarter!!! buff.ly/Gab1zWu
Help request if you are a GoodReads librarian: Somebody altered the title to my novel, To Ride Hell's Chasm, and appended a plot description to the title line. I am concerned this tweak, which is recent, may redirect readers to a wrong outlet - might someone assist? Thanks!
Finishing touches ongoing with the third pass on a new short story, due in the next few weeks. If you read the recent short, Front Man Fallen out from Grimdark Magazine, you'll have a clue. It is a sequel.
This signed starter kit from Kate Elliott is going for a song:
Kate Elliott Starter Kit
Auction item 'Kate Elliott Starter Kit' hosted online at 32auctions.
32auctions.com