iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 17/10/2026

This is helpful, Maisie. I’ve got an audio scene to edit and some book plates to sign and get in the post!

Tabby cat Maisie perched on my shoulder/lying across my chest - an impressive feat as I’m sitting upright.

Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 12/10/2026

Apparently my wonderful editor @annasmithwrites.bsky.social’s talents extend to making me look like a sensible grown up author in photos! 10/10 would recommend.

Me, sitting at a black covered table with a black velvet curtain behind me with copies of Black Doe set out in front of me. Smiling, hands clasped, not even a hint of a silly face.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 12/10/2026

I had a brilliant time at Fantasycon! It was so nice to see everyone - some of whom I hadn’t seen for yonks. Mega thanks to all who came along to my reading and the Black Doe launch, my fellow launchees, and everyone who bought a book, or talked it up to others. SFF community, you are the BEST🤗

From left to right, Cleland Smith, C.C. Adams and Colleen Anderson stand holding their newly launched books.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 08/10/2026

Here’s my Fantasycon schedule for those of you who will be there and would like to catch up. If I haven’t met you in person before, please do just tell me who you are and keep nodding and saying “from (wherever I know you from best)” until I twig. Also, check out ma badges!

Saturday 10-11am (Malin)
Reading from Black Doe

Saturday 11-12pm (Orkney)
The Art of Embedding Genre into Poetry

Saturday 1-2pm (Main room)
Black Doe launch

Sunday 12-13pm (Panel 3)
Writing for Audio - moderating

Copy of my book with lovely pin badges and special limited edition die cast badge. Exciting!

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 01/10/2026

Snippet from the drafts folder. Might this character and their plotline make it into the book? Some ideas have to go to make room for the story to breathe. So tricky. Argh!

They come again and again. Feet leave me. Focus, focus, leave this body. Takes everything, takes all my effort - I feel it, the crumpling. The men pile onto me as I slither down into myself. Now open jaws- wide - wide-scream, scream! Only when scream!

Ha ha! Their world stops, world as putty, world as clay, world to shape with, world to

play with. Yip yip! My voice scrapes chunks from the air, scrapes chunks from their reality.

They are frozen, wooden men, godsticks for some backwater shitty little gods. Slink around them, wind around their ankles then Bang! Bang now bang! Meat sack again. I snarl. But the warriors are still frozen. Fear in their eyes I could drink all day long.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 30/09/2026

Guess who got overexcited on the VistaPrint site… If anyone would like to buy a book to help me pay for all this, that would be grand!🤣

My new business cards. Black with “Cleland Smith” and a white knife printed on the front, contact details on the back.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 17/09/2026

💙📚 Kindle countdown deal alert! My 2013 debut novel ‘Sequela’ is on offer right now for 99p. It got a Kirkus starred review and was named to their best books of 2013. Fair to say it’s not everyone’s cup of tea though, so do read the blurb.🤣 #kindlecountdown #ebookoffer #bookbargains

The narrative tone, while understated and stylish, has a decided edginess to it, and the cast of well-developed, three-dimensional characters is remarkably relatable. The pacing is brisk and the storyline complex without being convoluted. The ultimate result is an utterly readable novel, not only impossible to put down, but conceptually mind-blowing.
Extraordinary—a visionary tour de force.

One star: don’t bother

A nasty concept that I simply couldn't finish. it left me feeling as though I needed a shower in disinfectant.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 13/09/2026

Evening, Womble. Not a great deal of reading this week, except for during an airport delay, but I’m almost finished @emfaulds.com’s excellent “These Broken Little Worlds” and I hoovered up A Short Stay in Hell earlier in the week (I think that was this week 🤔) which I also enjoyed.

Two books: on the left “A Short Stay in Hell”, on the right “These Broken Little Worlds” by E. M. Faulds.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 10/09/2026

They are gorgeous. Please accept this picture of my fluffy posers as thanks. Charley actually not covered in sticks and cobwebs for a change!

Princess Maisie, tabby cat on not one, but two velvet cushions. Big black hairy fool Charley actually pulling off quite a chic pose on a mustard cushion next to her.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 09/09/2026

Ahhh, good old Chisholm Hunter: making Scots shoppers giggle inappropriately since 1857.

Lift doors in the Eastgate Centre declaring “Make it special with Chisholm Hunter”.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 09/09/2026

I hear all the most discerning folk are reading it.

Me, reading “These Broken Little Worlds” in the airport, as all the cool kids are.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 30/08/2026

Afternoon, Womble! I’ve been cast out of my own kitchen where I’d normally be reading as there’s a D&D campaign underway and am in the living room dipping into this little wonder by @emfaulds.com, which features one of my favourite short stories of last year, “Godzilla as a Young Man Named Mike”…

Book photo “These Broken Little Worlds” by E.M. Faulds.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 28/08/2026

Maisie’s taken a break from helping me work to read up about Hell Hounds. She doesn’t seem too impressed with her findings…

Maisie sitting on an open D&D book, on the “Hell Hound” page. Her ears are back in disgust. What manner of creature is this?

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 27/08/2026

So many hairy obstacles in this writing business. If it’s not the chair, it’s the desk.

My keyboard, Maisie’s leg casually lying across it.

Tabby cat Maisie covering my entire notebook and desktop, with a single furry foot resting on my keyboard.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 23/08/2026

Morning, Womble! Having finished the excellent When There Are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift, I am now finally reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Quite a diverting hammock read, though Project Hail Maisie is getting in the way somewhat.

My POV, lying in my stripy hammock holding up the book “Project Hail Mary”, the cover partially obscured by the face of Maisie, my tabby cat, who is sitting on my chest.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 21/08/2026

I took @catamaroon.bsky.social’s “When There Are Wolves Again” to read on holiday last week. I’m not sure I’ve read a novel that evoked this sort of hope in me before - it came hand in hand with an overwhelming forward-facing nostalgia for a future of a sort I desperately hope we manage to nurture.

The cover of E.J. Swift’s “When There Are Wolves Again” pictured in front of our fading lavender.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 18/08/2026

Saw some very excellent rocks on our trip to the Algarve.

Benagil caves, view upwards through the circular hole in the top of the cave.

Rock sea arch to the right and small cave entrance to the left with even smaller kayaker approaching it. Green blue ocean.

Rock archway in the sea, yellow rock with visible strata and aged gnarled appearance.

Massive rock in the sea, with darker broad level below and a yellow stack upwards towards one end. Locally known as the yellow submarine rock.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 11/08/2026

I know this is nothing to crow about at 9:20am, but I’m up before everyone else and it’s lovely. It makes me wish I was the gets up early and writes through the dawn sort. Also it’s only - *only* - 20 degrees out there in the shade and will be for at least the next ten minutes.

Various trees hanging on to their green against a blue sky, enjoying the balmy 20 degree temperatures.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 03/08/2026

Here’s mine for my historical fantasy novel Black Doe that comes out tomorrow - AAAAH! I couldn’t find any knotwork I liked, so I decided to create my own based on two of the creatures in the book. The kelpie is based on ancient carvings of the “Pictish beast. The pine marten is all my own.

Cover of my novel Black Doe. A fabric textured dark teal green background with subtle blood spatter sits behind knotwork symbols representing a kelpie and a line marten intertwined at the top right and bottom left. The title is central in large lettering with a knife bisecting the “o” of “Doe”

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 03/08/2026

TWO DAYS TO GO…AAAAaAaAaAaH! And two more ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ reviews in the door, one ARC reader and the review site Reader’s Choice. Even so, starting to wonder at the wisdom of releasing a book on my birthday.😱 #historicalfantasy #historicalfiction #scottishfiction #preorders

Copy of my forthcoming novel “Black Doe”. Title in white letters in the centre, dark teal fabric print background with kelpie and pine marten prints in black on the top right and bottom left corners.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 03/08/2026

I’ve just finished Simon Jimenez’s “The Spear Cuts Through Water”. Absolutely loved it. Gorgeous description and some fascinating structural and narrative devices going on in there.

My copy of Simon Jiminez’s “The Spear Cuts Through Water”. Green, viney image with a lighter green hand print within which two characters are silhouetted in a fight or perhaps a dance.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 03/08/2026

Three angles of the hairy fool and one of the thorny stick that just embedded itself in my thigh when I sat down to write this on his other chair of choice. He leaves a trail of sticks and leaves wherever he goes.

Big hairy black cat stretched out in an improbable formation on my pink velvet desk chair.

And the same cat from above. Picture how he fits his hairy curve to the shape of the chair, one leg reaching out over the edge, both back paws in the air.

A close up of the two back paws and tail, big fluff-surrounded toe beans in the air.

A small dry rose twig, with seven barbed thorns. Ouch.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 31/07/2026

I’d love a share for my folkloric/historical fantasy novel Black Doe. It treads a bloody path across ancient Scotland. Assassins, fierce women, kelpies, faeries and a bloodthirsty pine marten. Preorder now - out on Wednesday!😱 #FridayReads Who else needs a boost? blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...

Cover image of the novel Black Doe. Dark blue-green with black kelpie and pine marten print at the top right and bottom left. Not a bad jacket, if I do say so myself!

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 26/07/2026

There you go. I did a publicity. That should be enough, right? Here’s a cat picture.

Tabby cat Maisie sitting on my chest as I recline in my desk chair - photo from my perspective. She is both beautiful and needy. She is a princess among princesses.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 18/07/2026

I’ve just spotted whilst checking my final e-reader versions pre-launch, that the cover of Black Doe looks pretty badass in black and white on an e-reader screen. I’d love to say I’d taken this into account when I was designing it, but it’s pure luck.😂

Black and white version of the cover of Black Doe.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 10/07/2026

Merry Christmas from Bates Dairy, everyone!

Milk bottle with a red superhero figure on it wishing all a merry Christmas from Bates Dairy.

Closeup on the super-milk-man, dressed in a Santa hat and cape, with a green “B”, one assumes for Bates on his chest.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 07/07/2026

Last day at college today. Going to miss my lovely colleagues.😭 There were flowers and choccies and a voucher, but these are my top fave presents…

Candle with the following message on the label:

Leaving.
[lee-ving] verb.
an incredible act of selfishness. the malicious abandoning of loyal friends and colleagues. escaping from a never ending nightmare.
See also: traitor.

And a coaster that reads:

Please do not annoy the writer, SHE May put you in a book and kill you

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 25/06/2026

I stood on my glasses two weeks ago and one of the legs is loose/hanging off. Add to this the slidey-when-sweaty plastic frame issue and the result is I’ve spent most of this heatwave pushing my glasses back up my nose. I really need to go to the optician’s tomorrow.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 18/06/2026

This one is so clingy that I bought a pet sling to wear at my desk. Idea being she climbs on my shoulder and I just tuck her in - voila, hands free! She is so horrified by the idea that she’s sleeping on the sofa, so in a sense, it has worked.

Tabby kitty Maisie half-curled up on an orange sofa, ginger belly-fluff looking super-tempting.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 15/06/2026

And before I get back to working on the next thing, one final quote from @silvanhistorian.bsky.social’s kind and wonderful blurb, which made my little heart dance!

Black Doe cover to the right, quote to the left: "This haunting historical epic will linger long after you finish reading.”
- Lucy Holland

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 15/06/2026

Hold up! If you still need convincing to grab an ARC or preorder #historicalfantasy Black Doe, @cameronjohnston.bsky.social has something to add…

Black Doe jacket to the left, quote to the right. “Bloody and brilliant. Black Doe packs a hefty emotional punch among the fighting, plotting, magic and mythology of a time we know so little about."
- Cameron Johnston

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 10/06/2026

I blame the Sam Beare Hospice second hand bookshop in Egham for the whole affair. That’s where I got it. Or it got me.

Me holding my old orange-topped Penguin edition of The Day of the Triffids featuring creatures that are a cross between pineapples and scrotums. Accurate, no. Horrifying, yes!

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 10/06/2026

Poor Maisie finds redrafting very hard going.

Tabby cat Maisie lying on an orange velvet sofa, with her head hidden behind a teal bee cushion which is propped up against the back of the sofa.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 05/06/2026

Ooh, and if you’re *still* not convinced, don’t forget that @annasmithspark.bsky.social thinks it’s worth a look…

Cover of Black Doe by Cleland Smith, muted green with black graphic of the Pictish beast intertwined with a pine marten at the top right and bottom left, with quote to the left which reads: "Hauntingly beautiful, an exceptional book."
- Anna Smith Spark

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 05/06/2026

Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure @neilwilliamson.bsky.social thinks you’d like it too…

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 05/06/2026

So, why should you preorder my #historicalfantasy Black Doe? Well, for starters, Kirkus think you’d like it…

Copy of Black Doe by Cleland Smith, dark green with black Pictish beast and pine marten graphic in the top right and bottom left corners and the title central in white. Alongside a quote reads: “Smith's historical fantasy novel takes a grim journey through myth-laden ancient Scotland following an assassin whose deadly mission evolves into a deeper struggle with identity and fate
A harsh, evocative vision of Celtic lands where memory, violence, and myth
shape every destiny."
- Kirkus Reviews

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 04/06/2026

I’m no vet, but this doesn’t look right…

Fluffy black cat squished across a grey fabric chair. He looks like he’s been put together all wrong.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 02/06/2026

Last day of actual teaching at College for me today and the skies over Langley were busting out some pathetic fallacy to honour my mixed feelings.

Epic skyscape over Langley with fluffy white clouds to the left and a big black storm front coming on from the right.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 27/05/2026

Historical Fiction ARC promo from BookSirens featuring Black Doe! #ARCsky #booksky #historicalfiction booksirens.com/bundle/histo...

“Historical Fiction ARCs You’ll Love” BookSirens graphic.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 27/05/2026

And that’s without being able to see the whole desk, which I am coincidentally sitting beside now…

Massive carved oak bureau with lions head and green man drawer handles.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 27/05/2026

I was thinking about getting a proper author photo done again as I do from time to time and was looking through all my old home-snapped ones. Look - brown hair! 🤣

Angela Cleland sits at her bureau staring darkly up at the camera. Her desk is miraculously tidy. I wonder how long that took and how much stuff is hiding just out of shot.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 23/05/2026

The hammock, she is clean! Not profoundly clean, but no longer green, which is good enough for me.

My lovely leafy garden with my freshly washed hammock front and centre on the patio. A big curved wooden frame with a faded red and blue striped fabric hammock slung on it.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 14/05/2026

Got these lovely shots on the way back from my weekend in Portugal. Love a window seat.

View of a plane’s wing from the window seat. The plane is flying over purpling sunset clouds. At the horizon a darker purple line meets a band of pink and gold, with the sky above it still blue.

BIG fluffy clouds in them. BIG fluffy clouds. Blue sky with wisps above. Towering white clouds reaching up like a candy floss forest below.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 03/05/2026

Morning, Womble. I am reading a book I bought purely on the strength of how much I loved the cover. Enjoying it so far!

Bright yellow novel Butter by Asako Yuzuki sitting on my dining table. The title is in red caps down the left hand side like a vertical street sign, a black and white cow faces head downwards in the centre of the design (falling?), red smears are foiled onto the bottom right of the book, as if someone with bloodied fingertips has snatched at it as they collapse.

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Angela Cleland / Cleland Smith @angelacleland.co.uk · 30/04/2026

Friends, you must must must must read this book. It is delicious and written with Rebecca Perry’s inimitable poise. ❤️ #booksky

Copy of Rebecca Perry’s “May We Feed The King” sitting on a wooden table with a red apple sitting to the right. The stalk of the apple leans in, subtly suggesting that the book will provide nourishment to the reader, a green flush around the stalk, colour within colour. Non nom nom.

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