iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I'm looking forward to this so much - the first two are just delightful bits of magical lore, romance, people figuring out how to do things together.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

It's my birthday today! I took the day off and went apple picking. (Also getting a long-awaited extra out to my readers, and now I get to enjoy people reading and commenting, which is honestly the best.) www.patreon.com/celialake/po... Now eating roast chicken, my traditional birthday meal.

patreon.com

Lightning and Silence | Celia Lake

A series of extras for the Mysteries Fields trilogy (released on September 22nd, 2026) You can get it (free, of course!) from BookFunnel, or

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I always talk about the drinking chocolate in Claiming the Tower, but the tea's important too! In 1854 in the UK, a lot of the tea blends were a mix of green and black (in various combinations and origins), and it's a delightful and tasty rabbit hole!

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Happy Queer Your eReader Day! Check out lots of free queer reads in all sorts of genres! divinationhollow.com/queer-your-e... This includes my Claiming the Tower, set in 1854 and full of magic, insistently improving the world, drinking chocolate, and falling in love.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Just finished reading @finnlongman.com 's The Wolf and His King, which is absolutely stunning - I'm going to be thinking about it for a long time. (Bisclavret, identity, relationships with power and disability, fascinating use of POV, evocative setting, and a fascinating sense of minor chars.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

My favourite editing comment thing from @kiyanicoll.bsky.social on the thing in editing: "Boy does that have resonance in middle Egyptian." (This is for the treat coming out for my birthday later in the month. Look, I share a birthday with Bilbo and Frodo, I like giving a gift on it.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

It is the time of year of the email hydra. Every time I answer one thing, another three emails appear in my inbox.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Word problems for authors, tonight's edition: If it is currently 1878, and a ghost was mentioned as being two centuries old (non-specifically) in 1920, how long has this particular ghost been known to be around. (And is there a particularly good reason for a theatre ghost around 1720?)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I have been avidly following Kate's historical dress posts for a while now (and snagging info for references for writing...) But this one is particularly stunning, both in the design work and the colour. So springtime! The jewelled trim!

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

So many great books on sale (I'm not in here, but friends are, and their books are fantastic!)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I miss the Minnesota State Fair so much. (This is a great tour of the fun, including the butter sculpture to be!)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Me, clicking the link, immediately seeing the set of fidget toys with the orca and hitting 'buy it now'. (I've had an orca thing for a while.)

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Skulls and Sheets @skullsandsheets.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Had an urge to do an Edward Gorey style mari (I did one years ago) so did a doodle.

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Richard III Society @richardiiisociety.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

25 August 1485 – probable date of Richard III’s burial in the church of the Greyfriars 25 August 2012 exactly 537 years later, on the very first day of the Greyfriars dig initiated by Philippa Langley, a leg bone was uncovered in what proved to be Richard's III's grave.

A photograph showing the start of the digging of the first trench.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Today in authorial amusement: "Okay, if I set this thing partly in Margate, I can get X and Y on a date that involves a seaside funfair roller coaster?" (This is for the solstice extra that I'm outlining.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

It is @lionesselise.bsky.social 's birthday sale! You know how she gets. Of particular note: all the "Inspired by Celia Lake" pendants just got marked down 50%. www.etsy.com/shop/Lioness...

etsy.com

View inspired by Celia Lake by LionessElise on Etsy

Shop Elise Matthesen by LionessElise located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Today in my ridiculous devotion to historical detail, peering closely at the 1878 guide to the British Museum so I can figure out exactly what these five people are looking at, what they're actually ending up interested by, and where they are in the building when they're doing it.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

It's time for Elise's annual birthday sale! (Actual birthday on Saturday, as noted, the sales get especially good then.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

So, I write (cosy) historical fantasy romance, about people making the world better together. Currently set between the 1850s and the 1940s, but I'm working on planning for a series in the 1480s (with a 1461? prequel. Probably 1461.) www.celialake.com/for-new-read... has an overview.

Eclipse by Celia Lake resting on a book on green grass with a line of yellow leaves above it. The cover has a man and woman in silhouette in academic gowns, walking together. She's turned to point up at something in the sky. There's a telescope inset in the top left corner.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Today in author life: innocently doing the dishes and getting three notable points for the book I'm writing starting in February. (That's the Tam Lin riff in 1461, and to be fair to my brain I was listening to Anaïs Mitchell's "Tam Lin".)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Problems I am fairly sure other authors don't have (often). Me, doing research reading: Ok, that's an absolutely fine and historically well-timed method of curing a werewolf. (Wait for procession on horseback, count people, hit the fourth one over the head with an iron club.) [1] However...

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Kiya Nicoll @kiyanicoll.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

This seems worth sharing. As Oldest!Child says, "Hydrate or diedrate."

A photograph of a statue of Confucius, hands crossed in front of him in a pose of serious contemplation, with the added caption "Never forget that you are your own data center. Drink plenty of water and consume as much literature as possible."

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

In April 2024, I went up to Quebec with friends to see the total eclipse. It was the most magical experience - totality really is like nothing else. That night, I wrote a 5k extra, "12 Seconds in 1927" about the total eclipse over parts of the UK in 1927. www.celialake.com/book/12-seco...

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Brave Truth is here! Brave Truth is set in 1950. It's a M/M romance about figuring out how to build the life you want to have, recovering from moral injury, and whether it's possible to change a relationship with a parent. It's full of competence and friendship. celialake.com/book/brave-t...

Cover of Brave Truth by Celia Lake displayed on a tablet resting on brightly coloured scattered flowers - reds, purples, and yellows are visible behind the tablet. The cover is a deep orange shading to sepia, with two men in 1950s suits silhouetted. One, at the centre, reaches out for a bottle of cider on the table by his left hand, the other stands with his hands behind his back, both of them intent on the conversation. Behind them is a circular tower, ivy trailing from several spots. Glowing stars swirl up and around them.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

A lovely list of books coming out shortly (includes my Brave Truth, out on Friday, but also other fascinating things!)

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Lynn Strong | Cozy fantasy author @lynnstrong.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Starting off with the always kind and inclusive @celialake.bsky.social , Rhoe from Sailor's Jewel is a smart, practical round woman who wears flowing clothes bc they suit her and bc it's much easier for a healer to help move a patient without stiff corsets: www.celialake.com/book/sailors...

celialake.com

Sailor's Jewel

Rhoe agreed to this trip for her own reasons. About to take up a new and challenging position as a healer, Rhoe agreed to a trip with her brother on a luxurious ocean liner. She plans to spend the vo...

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I've just done the reading spreadsheet for August (for the Pact project) and for August through October (for prep reading for the next book in the Mysterious Societies series.) Pact reading: ongoing Wars of the Roses history, including castles. Also Welsh fairies and background lore.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

History continues giving me gifts as an author. Today's research reading (on a different topic) had an anecdote from 1469 that had me staring at it. Some minutes (and a dozen tabs in my browser later), I have now answered something that has not had an answer since I started writing.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I went up to a cidery today for book-related reasons. I picked blueberries, assembled a jar of cut flowers, had lunch, and acquired cider. More (including more photos) over here: www.patreon.com/celialake/po... Blueberry snacking has commenced, there is no bad here.

A bouquet of flowers in a glass jar sitting on some concrete pavement with other greenery behind. The flowers are a mix of white, yellew, and some bright pink.

We have cosmos (the bright pink flowers, one at the top, one at each side), salvia (the white stem with little purple buds off to the right), white and yellow snapdragons, and white and (not really visible from this angle) deep purple lisianthus.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Looking for some fantastic cosy fantasy reads on sale today? (Friday, July 24th.) Check out www.cozyupwithfantasy.com for books from over 70 different authors for 99 cents! And if you're looking for cosy fantasy romance in particular, here's some books to check out, including The Fossil Door.

99c Cozy Fantasy and Romance - Today only, CozyUpWithFantasy.com. Eighteen book covers are displayed in three rows of six columns, making a bright mosaic with plenty of green. Starting at the top row, they are:
Snow Swept by C.K. Beggan, When the Witch Met the Minotaur by Lila Appleton, Tea Princess Chronicles by Casey Blair, Bespoke & Bespelled by Karen Healey, Love and Historical Events by Mary Stephenson Su, and The Lord of Stariel by A.J. Lancaster.
The middle row has Growing Memories by Jaime Ryanne, That Girl who Ran Off And Kissed a Vampire by KrisMcIntire, Pruning the Vampire by Maria Robin, Deceiving the Cursed Beast by Jen Lynning, Witch and Her Dragon by Emberly Wyndham, and Dear Diary by Maria Cardno.
The third row has The Fae's Bride by R. L. Medina, Princess and Pastries by Laura Greenwood, A Honeymoon of Grave Consequence by Stephanie Burgis, The Fossil Door by Celia Lake (that's me!), Rescued by Her Yeti by Neva Post, and Tea and Treachery at the Infinite Pantry by Jo Miles.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Coworker: [shares some letters she's working on transcribing from 1898]. Me: I continue to find it fascinating and depressing simultaneously that the sort of sealioning and trolling of modern Internet was alive and well in epistolary culture in the late 1800s.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Today in author life: Close the tabs about Nimrud and the Epic of Gilgamesh and the history of Mesopotamian archaeological excavations (focus: prior to 1919). Open tabs about Chaucer's "Complaint of Mars" and "Complaint of Venus" and half a dozen about people relevant to 1385.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

It's the final day of @romancingthevote.com! So many things still to bid on! More buy-it-now options! And for some items (including both of mine) a chance for second-chance bids where the second highest bid gets the option to get the thing.

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Lynn Strong | Cozy fantasy author @lynnstrong.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

💙📚🌈📚🪐📚🌶️📚♿ New month, new book sales and giveaways -- and this month is Disability Pride Month, so I'm going to shout out some of my favorites where disabled folks get to go on adventures and be the heroes and heroines too :D First up: Unusual Chosen Ones! books.bookfunnel.com/chosenones/x...

books.bookfunnel.com

Not so Chosen: Unusual Chosen Ones in Fantasy & Science Fiction

Searching for your next favorite story? Look no further! These bestselling authors have teamed up to offer a delightful selection of new books. Available for a limited time.

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Romancing the Vote @romancingthevote.com · 01/07/2026

For those who are new to our auctions, here's a last minute guide as to how it works. There are two types of items on our auction site. 1. Bidding auctions 2. Buy-it-nows

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Romancing the Vote is almost here: 5 days of auction and buy it now chaos supporting voting access in the US. July 1st to 5th. www.romancingthevote.com has all the details, read on for the two things I'm offering this year! You can start marking the items you want to follow now!

romancingthevote.com

Romancing the Vote

romancing the vote is a massive auction raising money for two organizations fighting to preserve the right for every person to have their vote counted.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Looking for some fun sapphic reads? IHeartSapphFic is featuring books from Washington and England this week! You can enter to win a whole host of books set in these two places, including my Claiming the Tower. iheartsapphfic.com/2026/06/22/2...

I Heart SapphFic 2026 Sapphic Reading Challenge : Week #24 Washington and England. The image has bright rainbow around and behind the text, with all sorts of different modes of transportation : ship, map, luggage, a globe, a car, a postcard, and plane.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

I appear to have successfully made my first Victoria sponge cake! (Traditional mode: weigh the eggs and then match that weight with the sugar, butter, and self-rising flour), raspberry jam, icing sugar dusted on top. The cake is for tomorrow, but the test scrap + jam is fantastic.

A round cake, golden brown except where it's been dusted with white icing sugar, on a broad circular blue cake storage base. It's sitting on a wooden table by a window, looking out on a prolific bit of garden greenery and a tiger lily or three, with white linen curtains framing it.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Two different people pointed me at this in text (and were both amused that I could identify the image before they got beyond 'row of soldiers waiting to go over the top') I think about this so much, as someone who writes a lot of books set in the 1920s.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Queer Quarterly Indie Pride book sale today (June 2nd) through June 4th! Almost 200 books for $0.99 USD (or your equivalent). www.mnbennet.com/pride-promo Get my 1884 m/m novella, Four Walls and a Heart! (It's under the Fantasy section.)

Clocks in radiant neon colours (blues, purples, into vibrant magenta) with pride hearts. Text reads: Queer Quarterly Indie Book Sale : June 2nd-4th, almost 200 books for .99.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

One of the things I find hardest in writing books set in the 1920s (or, well, this one is 1919): "Does this character say 'weekend' or not?" (It has class and other background implications.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

I spent the morning at the Celtic Art Across the Ages exhibit at the Harvard Art Museum (there until August 2nd). It's fantastic, and had a number of things that I found intriguing and was delighted to get to see in person. Public Patreon post with photos & links. www.patreon.com/posts/celtic...

patreon.com

Celtic Art Across the Ages | Celia Lake

Celtic Art Across the Ages by Celia Lake on Patreon. Join Celia Lake's community for exclusive content and updates.

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Lynn Strong | Cozy fantasy author @lynnstrong.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

🐱📚🌈📚💙📚🪐📚🌶 (eeeeeee!) Mary Robinette Kowal posted a My Favorite Bit about Chai and Charmcraft! maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-f... (I'm still playing the repost game if anyone would like more food and history trivia in the thread below.)

maryrobinettekowal.com

My Favorite Bit: Lynn Strong talks about CHAI AND CHARMCRAFT

Lynn Strong is joining us today to talk about their novel, Chai and Charmcraft. Here’s the publisher’s description: His Imperial Highness Faraj al-Nadhir has never thought himself a charming sort o…

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Looking for some free LGBTQ fantasy to fill up your reading list? Check out these great books! books.bookfunnel.com/faromay2026/...

Two hands - one with darker brown skin, one with white skin - holding up rainbow hearts with the sun behind them. Text: FaRo Society LGBTQ+ Free Fantasy Romance: May 1st to 31st.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Today's cat is very confused by why I am in the living room so much more. (Confusion not visible in the photo) My main keyboard decided that the control key either wouldn't work or would stick. Neither of these works for other typing. New one en route. I'm on the old laptop in the living room.

A black cat curled into an oval on the edge of a couch, her ear pointing up toward the top of the image. She's got her paws tucked up into her chest, sleeping on a navy blanket.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Today in writing (rereading the book in editing to figure out where I need to do structural fixes). Character walks into a room. Me: Wait, I can't get away with 'dark wood' here. This is Claudio, he can tell what the wood is at least three ways without exerting himself. [research ensues]

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Do you need some cosy fantasy reading? (I do. I always do.) Today (May 8th) is the Cozy the Day Away sale. 100+ books on sale, great options for filtering by other genre aspects and representation, and multiple formats on offer. cozyfantasysale.promisepress.org

A little blue book dragon reading, surrounded by books, with "Cozy the Day Away Sale" in a half circle about them. Text reads: "A 24-hour sale specifically for the cozy fantasy genre. Friday May 8th. Cozyfantasysale.promisepress.org"

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Speculative Insight journal @speculativeinsight.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Apparently it's May. I am unconvinced. However! May has seen two excellent free essays over the last two years: 2024: @celialake.bsky.social on "The Underlying Foundation of Magic" 2025: @percypropa.bsky.social on two characters within the Warhammer 40K novels. www.speculativeinsight.com/essays

speculativeinsight.com

Essays — Speculative Insight

Monthly essays about the ideas and themes in speculative fiction. Free to read.

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Naomi Kritzer @naomikritzer.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Minneapolis celebrates spring with a parade of giant handmade socialist puppets and a festival where people row the sun across the lake. This year's Mayday festival was today, and I'm going to try to share some photos and videos (many taken by others) to try to explain it for my non-local friends.

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