Juliet Kemp
@julietk.bsky.social
Queer non-binary SFF writer in London. https://julietkemp.com/ - occasional newsletter with WIP snippets and other news at https://julietkemp.com/newsletter
Read this week: The Pollutant Speaks, by Alex Cochran. Really interesting book! I loved the idea of the language Para and the idea of its unavoidable clarity; and the questions around human capacity and political willingness re alien communication. Recommended. www.goodreads.com/en/book/show...
The Pollutant Speaks
"Cochran deftly portrays the power of human minds to le…
goodreads.com
Can a gay lizard alien find love? Or a trans woman astronaut? Wiz Duos Book 4 has some very intimate first contact stories by Stephen Cox and Ellen Mellor. On pre-order: wizardstowerpress.co...
I had a lovely chat with my pal @ktidbeck.bsky.social tonight and we were talking about how they got a blurb from the incredible Ursula K Le Guin (!!!!!!) and how Ursula got a blurb from Tolkien (!!!!!!!)
Octopus and pot netsuke! So adorable! (seen in the British Museum). By Ōhara Mitsuhiro, 1840-1860s.
It's Book Quote Wednesday & this week's word is "tree". (I like a cherry tree.) #bqw books2read.com/Song-Stone-S...
I have FINISHED the current (urban-fantasy-ish) project! At least to the "sending it off to people" stage; as/when/if it makes it further towards publication I am sure further edits will ensue. But for now that is a WRAP.
Today’s going-to-Japan prep: watching Totoro in Japanese with Japanese subtitles! (I understood… a little bit. But that’s ok because I know the film more than well enough to follow it anyway.)
First year we’ve ever had a second crop of figs - UK you normally just get the overwintered ones, Mediterranean you get a late summer batch too. Previous years our summer ones all fell off when they were tiny and didn't ripen…
OI OI IT’S THE BANG FACE HARD CREW 🙂🙂🙂
Tower Bridge@tb-lifts.bsky.social · 3w agoI am opening for the Dutch Master and the VB Peter, which are passing downriver
After the bridge shuts again and they start opening the gates, the bikes all get to zip off ahead of the cars and for maybe a minute the bridge is entirely bikes & it is GREAT.
doop@doop.bsky.social · 3w agoWhen the bridge lifts there’s always an impromptu carnival atmosphere amongst everyone on a bike
Seen the other day in the park: a crow sneaking up behind geese and pulling their tail-feathers to make them jump. Three times in a row, clearly for pure entertainment value (it wasn’t going for what they were eating or anything). Crows are great.
It's Book Quote Wednesday & this week's word is "appear". Ghosts can be harder to conceal than you might think. #bqw books2read.com/Song-Stone-S...
20) The Deep & Shining Dark by Juliet Kemp (33rt, 9rv) The opening of a 4 book series, setting out the lives of select people in the quasi-independent port city of Marek. Solid plotting, good characters, & truly excellent work on the setting; Marek one of the best fantasy cities of the past decade.
The Deep and Shining Dark
You know something's wrong when the cityangel turns up at your doorMagic within the city-state of Marek works without the need for bloodletting, unlike elsewhere in Teren, thanks to an agreement three...
bookshop.org
The kid & @doop.bsky.social & I played Jet Lag Hide+Seek yesterday & it was top fun also I won 🎉🎉 (To be fair I won partly because I’ve played before & am thus more familiar with the failure modes of printed map+measuring on Google Maps in central London.)
A tetanus-diphtheria vaccine that doesn’t need a fridge has passed its first human trial. UK scientists reformulated a licensed shot using trehalose, the sugar that lets desert plants survive without water, keeping it stable for up to two years at 30°C. Gavi buff.ly/1kNIUHB #ShareGoodNewsToo
Fridge-free vaccine passes first human trial, raising hopes for the hardest-to-reach
Unreliable electricity makes it hard to keep vaccines at the right temperature – this development could change that.
gavi.org
I have swum in the sea FIVE TIMES in the last fortnight, and there is no sea in London, and I miss the sea :( (The sea on the south coast atm is pretty warm; it's weird. But nice! I enjoy the exhilaration of cold water but I also must admit to liking it when it doesn't freeze my hands off.)
I was lucky enough to see her play Glastonbury: you could forgive a 68yo for taking it easy but she gave it everything and you had the distinct impression she’d happily come back and give it everything tomorrow and the next day too; just an incredible performance.
It's Book Quote Wednesday & this week's word is "question". Sir Cade is trying to solve a problem. #bqw books2read.com/Song-Stone-S...
restructuring things is SLOW and I now have two slightly different outlines for the first part from two different POVs (PsOV?) BUT it will all be fine in the end I am sure. #amwriting
Some time around 1835 an underground grotto was discovered in Margate, intricately covered in millions of tiny sea shells. Beyond that nobody seems to know who made it, or when, or why, but it’s pretty cool.
Monday morning, I realised Current Project, all 115K of it, needs a complete ground-up restructuring. I have thus spent much of the last week alternating between staring out of the window for 30min & writing notes. Frustrating, BUT it now feels interesting again instead of unpleasant and sticky.
It's Book Quote Wednesday & this week's word is "busy". Sir Cade has a ghost to rescue. #bqw books2read.com/Song-Stone-Scale-Bone
Grape season is upon us! (The green ones are ripe now, the red ones are coming ripe - I think all in this picture are red ones though atm many are still in fact green.)
Open for pre-orders, Chaz Brenchley's brilliant new take on Sherlock Holmes, on Mars! wizardstowerpress.co...
Today’s experiment: is it possible to actually sun-dry tomatoes in the current weather conditions? Though I should probably have started before lunch.
I have been in Margate swimming in the sea! they have these awesome lamps there.
