"Beneath the trees the temperature drops. Aisling is left shivering, her boots swishing through the dewy grass. She barely feels either. Now that she is here, lead fills her limbs. She wants to turn around. She’s good at doing the things she doesn’t want to do. Always has been." #writinglunch

Check out my Big Idea essay on Scalzi's whatever blog! whatever.scalzi.com/2026/09/08/t...

The Big Idea: Amanda J. McGee

Grow where you are planted. In author Amanda J. McGee’s case, that’s right in good ol’ Appalachia. It is because of this that she felt compelled to write her newest novella, A Riv…

whatever.scalzi.com

Hello, new followers! I'm Amanda, and I write #specfic, most recently A RIVER WIDE (out now!) from @interstellarflight.bsky.social and "Viridian" in A SINISTER QUARTET from @mythicdelirium.bsky.social.

A River Wide

Mountains have deep, dark hearts, and those hearts are carved by water. Deep in the shadowed hollers of Appalachia, Rhia Blackburn has always kept her powers and her heart buried. Around here, the riv...

bookshop.org

Me absolutely rewriting this book line by line. Feeling like Gimli in Two Towers.

Gimli: Keep Breathing

Alt: Gimli: Keep Breathing

static.klipy.com

Accepting that I am terrible at book promo and that also I am not going to stop poking at it with a stick.

Mark your calendars! Sun, Oct 4, 3 PM-4:30, I'm hosting a WITCHY READING on my Twitch channel, featuring: @zzclaybourne.bsky.social @edenroyce.bsky.social @christaqua.bsky.social @virginiam.bsky.social @amcgeewrites.bsky.social @asakiyume.bsky.social @emmajgibbon.bsky.social & Steven T Gibbon

Y'all!! A RIVER WIDE is out on Monday! Yes, you read that right - Monday. Not Tuesday. MONDAY! bookshop.org/p/books/a-ri...

A River Wide

Mountains have deep, dark hearts, and those hearts are carved by water. Deep in the shadowed hollers of Appalachia, Rhia Blackburn has always kept her powers and her heart buried. Around here, the riv...

bookshop.org

I've been up since 6 am. My most productive brain time is in the three hours after waking. It is 9:45. I am out of juice. The workday has just begun. Moms with kids in school, how do you function?

May her memory be a blessing. 💔

Bevis Musson@bevismusson.bsky.social · 2w ago

The Dollywood Foundation is genuinely life changing for thousands of people, the Imagination Library is a huge achievement, her support of communities after the fires in the Smokey Mountains was incredible, her funding helping to produce the Moderna COVID vaccine cannot be understated.

Remember that if you got the Moderna Covid vaccine, you have Dolly Parton to thank, she gave the largest individual contribution toward their research to make it possible.

I can't believe Dolly Parton is gone. Like legitimately feels weird.

Yes, indeed, I am doing events this fall. All details more accessible on my website at amandajmcgee.com/upcoming-eve....

There is a story the bees used to tell, which makes it hard to disbelieve.

Every astrology app: "Leo, the eclipse is going to fuck you up." Me: "No kidding..." *cries in my cheerios*

I had a moment and wrote a small screed on the other site. www.threads.com/share/E8VcMb...

If there's a thing I hate more than cleaning up admin tasks that other people have left disorganized I don't know what it is. I am not a person who enjoys tedious administrative stuff (people do exist who do!) and yet I apply myself to try my best. It offends me to clean up after someone worse.

Past me really f*cked around and wrote "They go to the next village or something here" in this draft, and I am not happy with her.

I have a cold. I am not used to being able to take cold medicine, and forgot that people could effectively mask their symptoms and just move through life. Modern medicine is wild.

Saw a lovely little flicker in the backyard this morning, probably migrating through and taking advantage of the freshly weeded flowerbed. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northe...

Northern Flicker Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Northern Flickers are large, brown woodpeckers with a gentle expression and handsome black-scalloped plumage. On walks, don’t be surprised if you scare one up from the ground. It’s not where you’d exp...

allaboutbirds.org

I am due to update my event swag. Everyone on threads wants buttons. Are the people on threads loquita or do you actually want buttons?

Every night as his father carries him from the bathroom to the bedroom, my toddler points at the attic access and announces: “We’re not going up there today.” I am beginning to worry about what might be up in my attic.

Quite possibly need to take up a hand task to be able to not reach for my phone all day and think my own thoughts. What non-word-based hand tasks could I take up? Knitting is high up there...but I feel like I've tried and failed that one a few times now.

I, a writer, have no idea how to quickly summarize the level of chaos that is happening in the dayjob office right now.

This is reminding me of Paolo Bacigalupi's Wind-up Girl, but with books instead of fruits.

Stina Leicht@stinaleicht.bsky.social · 2mo ago

fyi, they’ve already re-input the slop. (that’s why ai is even more error-ridden.) ai companies had to stop bc feeding ai slop to itself was a big mistake. this won’t work either bc there isn’t enough data to make plagerism toaster sentient or sapient. (their end goal. it’s basically a cult now.)

Sign up here to get told when the crowdfund goes live...almost ready, I promise!

Neon Hemlock@neonhemlock.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Gearing up to start promo for our next novella series! This will be another set of novellas alongside a short story collection, with an especial interest in queer speculative fiction. You can sign up here to get notified when we go live: www.kickstarter.com/projects/dav...

I was happy to offer words of remembrance for Rod last week.

Remembering a prolific Roanoke sci-fi and fantasy author

Roanoke's sci-fi, fantasy and writing communities are mourning the passing of Rod Belcher, who published ten novels and a swath of short stories.

wvtf.org

Last year I decided to put my health first and take an extended break from paid illustration. I found I had an inexplicable compulsion to document all the birds I can see from my house in the most time consuming way possible. Some predators:

Very occasionally I develop the deep desire to throw a lot of money at some kind of special anthology project. Then I realize that I can barely keep up with my own writing. But the temptation remains...

I was today years old when I realized this was not just a continental spelling difference.

Benjamin Dreyer@bcdreyer.social · 2mo ago

I don't much care for mnemonic devices—I can't remember them, har-de-har-har but it's true—but "discrete" means separate, and the two e's in "discrete" are separate.

Wow the tomato salsa I ate is not agreeing with me, surprise. What god did I, a resident of the Appalachian Mountains in tomato season, offend?