EGG HEAD - “HARD CORE!” A witless, victorious smile adorns his face. “HARD CORE TO THE MEGA!”
Natalie Zed
@nataliezed.bsky.social
Author of HENCH and VILLAIN. She/her. Spec fic, videogames, heavy metal, horror, MMA, comics, TTRPGs, LARP. CanLit Tank Girl. Extremely unlikely. Rep'd by Ron Eckel at CookeMcDermid.
I try to be a pretty positive person but after having a string of debilitating migraines since Tuesday, the worst I have had in a decade, I woke up today with a stye in my right eye so existence is cancelled
Just finished Villain by @nataliezed.bsky.social - literally just closed the thing - and I'm completely fucking poleaxed. Hench was a glorious pandemonium, but Villain is an absolute fucking Armageddon. Complex, genuine, disturbing, hilarious, it's a goddamned literaturical singularity. #BookSky
Things are crappy -- honestly, I don't know how to deal with the state of the world anymore -- so here is a US #KindleBookGiveaway: 10 copies of Hench, by @nataliezed.bsky.social, which I have, have read, have loved, and have given out before. And will hopefully do so again.
Villain absolutely floored me. I loved Hench, but was, truthfully, unprepared for the brutal rawness in Villain in how it so deftly examines how we become who we are. Just beautiful, will stay with me for quite awhile
Been having a hard go of it lately for personal reasons, so I’ve been reading so much this past week. Finished and adored all three of these this week: Villain by @nataliezed.bsky.social Dead Weight by @hildur.bsky.social Puck by @samanthaallen.bsky.social
every job i see these days is like: LEAD CONTENT ANALYST, Puppy Killing Factory (remote). $350,000 - $500,000. You will edit our internal newsletter (circulation 500). Associate Editor, Nonprofits, Global Good Magazine (in office, NYC). $27,000 - $28,000. Lead ALL of our fundraising efforts!
game developers are now the 1000 psychers a day being sacrificed to the emperor of fiduciary duty
team We Support Women's Wrongs
hot dragon summer@boscotron.bsky.social · last mo.Long Live Evil and All Hail Chaos by @sarahreesbrennan.bsky.social are both amazing, Hench and Villain by @nataliezed.bsky.social are both amazing, and I will probably never get over The Everlasting by @alixeharrow.bsky.social - all perfect for a reading binge!
I got to judge the Specultative Fiction category for the 2026 Emerging Writer's Prize, and every single book on the shortlist was fantastic. Congratulations to Marcus Kliewer for absolutely blowing my mind with We Used To Live Here.
kobobooks@kobobooks.bsky.social · last mo.Last night, we gathered to celebrate the winners of Rakuten Kobo's 2026 Emerging Writer's Prize. 🥂 Major congratulations to our winners: 📖 The Finest Hotel in Kabul by @Lyse.Doucet 📖 The Sapling by @MarcBendavid 📖 We Used To Live Here by @Marcus_Kliewer
I am so overwhelmed with sheer delight at how VILLAIN DAY went yesterday. Infinite thanks to @audrawilliams.bsky.social, Haritha, @jairuskhan.bsky.social, the staff at Rosefinch, and @arielmarkenjack.bsky.social for their fantatsic Q&A, and everyone who came for teas & readings & conversations <3
just finished villain by @nataliezed.bsky.social , profoundly amazed and delighted by her depiction of a woman in the midst of an abusive relationship but unwilling to describe it as such. the confidence of the book and the way it leaves matters established but still plausibly deniable is Fantastic
Cached US #KindleBookGiveaway: 10 copies of Hench by @nataliezed.bsky.social, which I *have* and *have read* and *have enjoyed* and there's a sequel out now which is, somehow, *better*. This books is a very biting commentary on the effectiveness of police forces.
back at one of my favourite places in the world: the camper at Rosefinch. 🩷 I'm so happy i get to have a launch party here tomorrow; it's one of those comically right things.
The new Antigen Shift record is out today on @artoffact.bsky.social, and it is a monster of an album. I feel so lucky I got to watch so much of it take shape up close. @jairuskhan.bsky.social and Nick Theriault have made something wonderful. antigenshift.bandcamp.com/album/verifi...
Verified Unidentified, by Antigen Shift
15 track album
antigenshift.bandcamp.com
this whole article is of course incredible, but holy fuck do I need this shirt to exist very badly
Katie Moussouris (she/her/she-hulk/she-ra)🌻@k8em0.bsky.social · 2mo agoI wrote about what was actually in that #Fable guardrail bypass research paper, and why it should never have triggered an #AI model export control. We can't export control our way to cyber resilience. So many tshirt ideas. www.lutasecurity.com/post/the-fab...
Natalie Zina Walshots's Villains returns to the world of Hench, where, as @vanessa-armstrong.com puts it, "corporatized super-powered people exist and the good guys are kinda terrible." Read the review:
Super Feelings and Spreadsheets: Villain by Natalie Zina Walshots - Reactor
Vanessa Armstrong reviews the complex sequel to Hench by Natalie Zina Walshots.
reactormag.com
a tribute to Them 💚🐍🌒 Drifter and Eris have been my favorite characters since I started playing D2 in 2020, and the subject of the majority of my fan art since... only fitting to draw them again now as D2 retires 💫 #Destiny2 #Destiny2Art #drifteris
Cached US #KindleBookGiveaway: 10 copies of Hench by @nataliezed.bsky.social, which I *have* and *have read* and *love* and *have given out today*. This is a *great* book about the societal damage police forces cause, using superhroes as a metaphor. There is a sequel out now!
Heyo, the @diabolicalplots.com submissions windows announcements are up! Yes, windowS, featuring our general call July 13-27 and a special call, Diabolical Rot, to be edited by yours truly! Send those stories Oct 18-25. Get the deets for both windows here: www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-general-s...
DP General Submission Window and “Diabolical Rot” Themed Window – Diabolical Plots
diabolicalplots.com
I am *delighted* that I had the chance to chat with Alison of Ask A Manager, who is brilliant and hilarious and has been such a champion of both Hench and now Villain. This was a blast and I am so grateful!
Ask a Manager@askamanager.org · 2mo ago
Here's the full key art by Katsuya Terada for Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, taken from the website: www.konami.com/games/castle... Featuring Rose Belmont, a new protagonist and the daughter of Trevor Belmont!
it doesn't matter if your protagonist has no clear goals if they're really, really horny
Genuinely great line from @nataliezed.bsky.social in Villain. Moustache-twerling evil-doers have their place, but I love me some villains that have depth, reason, and principles.
this book is GREAT and Amal is a delight and i am just so thrilled!!
Amal El-Mohtar@amalelmohtar.com · 2mo agoSo moved to wake to the news that THE RIVER HAS ROOTS won the Locus Award for Best Novella! I sent a video in before absconding to France for Les Imaginales, & catching up on the awards ceremony while I pack up my room is making me weepy. You can hear my acceptance speech around the 90 minute mark
last night after i cracked a joke, my mother looked me dead in the face and said, "you can't be funny, you're my daughter." i am going to be processing this one for a while.