iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 19h

After a spring and summer in which words came mostly at a trickle (debut year burnout is real, y'all), it's nice to know I can still have 1K plus days! Fingers crossed I'll have this rewrite finished by the end of the year.

A line chart showing word count targets by date, starting at 20k in early October and going up to 85k by the end of December. Vertical bars show that I've been hitting and sometimes surpassing my targets for more than a week.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 07/10/2026

Episode 5 post 2 Lotta!!! I adore how @beccamarcus.bsky.social approached the character. ALSO the wraith raccoon, Elmer, is one of TWO characters I've ever commissioned art for #TWWHN #HauntResponsibly

A wraith raccoon sitting on a headstone that reads RIP, listening to a podcast on wired earbuds while wreathed in green flame. Text reads The afterlife is big & weird.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 05/10/2026

I finished a poem recently that's this Love Island meme X 17th century fairy lore but make it ace AF truly, I'm living my best writing life

Amaya on Love Island with the caption God forbid I'm a sensitive gangsta.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 25/08/2026

fuck it we're going low tech

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 19/08/2026

late to the party but I hear we're posting about our books? here's me posing a blow-up of my cover for HIGHER MAGIC, aka my favorite object from debut year magic grad school from a 1st-gen pov replete with disability rep, talking skull, irreverent Jane Austen quotes, love, & collective action

Me, hand on hip and smiling giddily at the camera while holding a giant foam sign with the cover of HIGHER MAGIC on it. I'm wearing my grad school union shirt, which reads I like big books & I cannot lie.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 23/07/2026

Experimenting with scraps. No idea what I’m doing with this but it’s fun!

An appliqué made out of a block print of a pocket sized fountain pen and a blot of ink made of purple bat motif fabric.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 17/07/2026

Summer hangs at the river near the willows hit just a little different with my current audiobook selection 😅

Languid river with willows clustering in the background.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 17/07/2026

Apropos of too many things lately, here's a spite poem I wrote a few weeks ago **makes unflinching eye contact while jamming more em dashes in** full disrespect to anyone writing with AI and also to the idea that we should change our voices and styles because the plagiarism machine is copying us

I will not cede my em dashes
I gathered them over countless afternoons in the languorous haze of foxing pages––breathing in the must of bygone times.

I unearthed them in a hundred many-branching conversations––no eye contact, just enthusiasm and did you know that rabbit trailing bliss.

I knelt at Emily Dickinson’s feet, and Emily Brontë’s, felt the press of punctuation against each shoulder––a knighting. A charge.

I will not cede them. I am oath-bound, sworn in fealty to complexity, to the broken, never-ending word. I must wield––.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 01/07/2026

It's been a minute since I've posted about HIGHER MAGIC, my debut fantasy novel. So, hey! It's disability pride and if you like magic academia, disability justice, stories with collective action, and/or snarky narration skulls have I got the book for you!

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 19/06/2026

"I saw Goody Proctor with the Devil" Yeah? Well, *I* saw a slime mold in the woods. We aren't the same.

Yellow and white splotches of what I think is honeycomb slime mold on a fallen tree.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 18/06/2026

If you're going to be at Readercon next month, come say hi! They're letting me talk about the Victorians AND audio drama with some very cool people 😈

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 23/05/2026

Saw some good lichen and thought I’d share.

British soldier lichen with bright red tops on tall green stems.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 21/05/2026

This is my first time attending WisCon, and I'm excited to catch a bunch of cool panels as well as be on some. Yay for virtual cons! Here's my schedule. There's still time to register if you're interested :)

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 18/04/2026

It’s hammock reading weather again

T. Kingfisher’s Wolf Worm with a sticker on it that says autographed copy.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 06/04/2026

From now until the 28th, the Higher Magic ebook is on sale for $2.99 at all ebook retailers!

Higher Magic on an ereader with a sticker that reads $2.99 and a background of faint text from the novel behind it all.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 03/04/2026

Did you know I cohost a disaster class on writing with @monawest.bsky.social? It's called Unfortunately... and it's available wherever you get your podcasts. The complete first season is out now, and we're excited about season two - coming later this year. @unfortunatelypod.bsky.social

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 24/03/2026

Y'all, I went outside to touch grass but I think... oh fuck... I think I touched the panic grass

A list of Vermont flora including several types of grass with common names that include "panic-grass".

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 12/02/2026

If you're at Boskone this weekend, come say hi! I'll have various podcast and book-related stickers if you like swag (also I'm reading some poetry alongside some really cool people and its only the second time I've ever done that ahhh)

A graphic of a snowy mountain over which text displays my boskone schedule: Friday 2/13 Podcasting as an Author (mod) 5:30pm, Carleton; Saturday 2/14 Weaving Magic into the Modern World, 4pm, Marinv IV; Sunday 2/15 Poetry Slam 1pm Carleton.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 26/01/2026

Back in the day (my MA program), I had the opportunity to do an emphasis in Migration Studies and read a lot of Chicano/a lit. Lately, I keep thinking about this poem from Gloria Anzaldúa's Borderlands / La Frontera: "To survive the Borderlands you must live sin fronteras be a crossroads."

To live in the borderlands means you
are neither hispana india negra espanola
ni gabacha, eres mestiza, mulata, half-breed
caught in the crossfire between camps
while carrying all five races on your back
not knowing which side to turn to, run from;

To live in the Borderlands means knowing that the india in you, betrayed for 500 years,
is no longer speaking to you,
the mexicanas call you rajetas, that denying the Anglo inside you
is as bad as having denied the Indian or Black;
Cuando vives en la frontera
people walk through you, the wind steals your voice,
you’re a burra, buey, scapegoat,
forerunner of a new race,
half and half-both woman and man, neither-a new gender;

To live in the Borderlands means to
put chile in the borscht,
eat whole wheat tortillas,
speak Tex-Mex with a Brooklyn accent;
be stopped by la migra at the border checkpoints;

Living in the Borderlands means you fight hard to
resist the gold elixir beckoning from the bottle,
the pull of the gun barrel,
the rope crushing the hollow of your throat;

In the Borderlands
you are the battleground
where enemies are kin to each other;
you are at home, a stranger,
the border disputes have been settled
the volley of shots have scattered the truce
you are wounded, lost in action
dead, fighting back;

To live in the Borderlands means
the mill with the razor white teeth wants to shred off
your olive-red skin, crush out the kernel, your heart
pound you pinch you roll you out
smelling like white bread but dead;

To survive the Borderlands
you must live sin fronteras
be a crossroads.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 18/12/2025

My current WIP is a gleeful combination of cozy horror, fantasy, and romance that I'll figure out how to pitch later. But for now what that means is I'm writing the meet cute. It includes a newt tattoo and pun. It's a MEET NEWT. Thank you, I'll see myself out.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 01/12/2025

It's December, and I don't anticipate any more publications this year. So, here is my 2025 awards eligibility post. In a year of so many standout works, I'd be extremely honored should you consider either of these in your awards reading and nominating.

A green scribbled shape over a photo of me in a graveyard with text that reads Courtney Floyd 2025 Award Eligibility: Novel, Higher Magic, MIRA books October 2025. Poem "Renfield at His Windowsill" Small Wonders, July 2025.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 29/11/2025

All stocked up on fresh produce.

My orange tabby cat, Jones, sitting in a box labeled fresh produce and looking up at my hand above the camera.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 21/11/2025

just musing in my notes app, as you do

Is it leveling up
Or is it molting? Growing into a new story, inhabiting every inch of it
until it becomes too small for you and then bursting through it,
Brushing off the itchy patches, revealing a new skin of words

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 20/11/2025

HIGHER MAGIC is out in the UK today! If you see it in the wild, please share pics.

Courtney sitting near a window at her desk in a black cardigan, holding Higher Magic on a scarf printed with an old map of London.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 13/11/2025

Feels auspicious that I spotted British soldier lichen today since I’m getting read to sub my lichen horror novella.

Tall lichen stalks with red buds bristling atop moss on a rotting stump.

Tall lichen stalks with red buds bristling atop moss on a rotting stump. The side of the stump is dotted with lichen and moss.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 11/11/2025

Convincing you to read my novel by the… well, let’s go with the last sentence on the first page. Share yours if you wanna. HIGHER MAGIC by Courtney Floyd

The first page of higher magic, which is an annotated excerpt from the graduate handbook. The final sentence is a handwritten note that reads Rasputin’s Balls, I’m fucked.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 07/11/2025

My beautiful, mile-a-minute, force of nature, chatty cat died last weekend very suddenly. Nelson was called Earthquake at the shelter, but he was more like a goofy, loveable tornado.

Nelson, a black and white tuxedo cat, resting beside me on a blue plaid blanket with his paw on my arm.

Nelson, upside down on a crochet rug, staring playfully at me / the camera.

Nelson, all fluffy with his winter coat, looking directly at the camera.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 03/11/2025

Sometimes when you're writing horror nature does the work for you

A screenshot showing Starry Stonewort algae, which looks like a pile of wet anise or dill fronds, and the bubils they can grow, which are white star-shaped structures that look a little bit like baby Xenomorphs made out of maggots.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 26/10/2025

I visited my book and signed a bunch more copies @yankeebookshop.bsky.social today! Look at it face out and shiny in the bookstore 💙💜💙💜

A copy of HIGHER MAGIC, face out with stickers that say autographed copy and local author.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 07/10/2025

It’s book day!!! HIGHER MAGIC is out in the US today! UK readers, it’s coming your way November 20th. I’m so excited for you all to meet Bartleby, Anne, and the rest of the gang. ✨

Higher Magic propped up against a white gnarly pumpkin and a big orange pumpkin on a bed of fall leaves.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 06/10/2025

HIGHER MAGIC is out ✨tomorrow✨ In this snippet, Bartleby reflects about magic and how it shaped her relationship with her parents. www.harpercollins.com/products/hig...

A quote graphic with a decorative moon and skull featuring text that reads: HIGHER MAGIC
I'd been born on a new moon, an emergency C-section that shattered my parents' world. My life was always going to be different than theirs, though the one time they'd acknowledged that and taken me to the local diviner, they'd been so shaken by the results it was worse than if they'd never acknowledged my difference at all.
OUT IN DAY.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 05/10/2025

HIGHER MAGIC is out in two (2!) more days! Today’s snippet may or may not be related to yesterday’s… you’ll have to read to find out. yankeebookshop.com/preorder-hig...

A quote graphic with a moon and the skull from HIGHER MAGIC’s cover featuring text that reads: HIGHER MAGIC
His laugh was a fragile thing.
"It wasn't all bad. It's nice to get confirmation, sometimes, about what's important. I don't know about you, but I'm great at lying to myself." I risked a glance back up at him, very deliberately not thinking about two of the cards Chuck had drawn.
The lovers and the knight of cups.
OUT IN 2 DAYS.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 04/10/2025

3 days until HIGHER MAGIC!!! I’ll just be over here walking around in excited and anxious circles. Here’s a text or no text anxiety snippet in the meantime. @htpbooks.bsky.social @htphive.bsky.social

Courtney, a white person with short brownish hair pulled back in a ponytail and a blue jacket, standing in a stairwell and making and excited wide eyed face at the camera.

HIGHER MAGIC
With a thumb hovering over the send button, I hesitated. After yesterday, was it fair for me to reach out? At the very least he'd need some time to recover.
And at worst... I deleted my message and set my phone down, reaching for my coffee.
The phone pinged. I snatched it up. A message from James, and three little dots promising more.
OUT IN 3 DAYS.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 03/10/2025

4 days until HIGHER MAGIC!!! Things are getting real in this snippet 💀💀💀 There’s still time to preorder to get some cool swag. I suggest ordering through Yankee Bookshop if you do! yankeebookshop.com/preorder-hig...

A quote graphic with an image of the moon and the skull from HIGHER MAGIC’s cover that reads: HIGHER MAGIC
Failure. The word wisped through my head all smoke and ash. My body went numb, then tingled with returning sensation. My hands felt sticky, like deep down 1 was still four years old, listening to a strange lady tell me scary things about what life would be like when 1 grew up.
OUT IN 4 DAYS.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 02/10/2025

5 days until HIGHER MAGIC is out! “Digital humanities but make it magic” was a goal I muttered to myself many times while drafting and revising. And, by Hecate, that’s what I did. 😤 @htpbooks.bsky.social @htphive.bsky.social

A quote graphic with a moon and the skull from the cover, featuring g the following text: HIGHER MAGIC
While Professor Delight lectured about Selfie Spellwork, a digimancy project launched five years ago that was meant to track what the professor called "the condensation and caricaturization of personal realities via the medium of the selfie," I put pen to paper, categorizing the types of narration I was seeing.
OUT IN 5 DAYS.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 01/10/2025

6 days until HIGHER MAGIC is out! Yes, Kate Bush is a thaumaturgist. Why write contemporary fantasy if you don’t make your favorite artists magic??? @htpbooks.bsky.social @htphive.bsky.social

A quote graphic with an image of the moon and the skull from HIGHER MAGIC’s cover, with text that reads: HIGHER MAGIC
On the opposite wall, Imani had hung six framed vintage posters of pop stars from the '8os. I recognized Kate Bush, mostly because her use of Thaumaturgy in performances had been a case study in one of my classes.
James paced around the room, pawing through the shelves and rummaging through drawers, muttering.
OUT IN 6 DAYS.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 30/09/2025

Sources (my calendar) tell me there are only 7 days until HIGHER MAGIC is out! In this snippet, Bartleby addresses a new class of Spell Composition I students. BTW that 7 seconds thing is a real teaching strategy. Try it next time you ask a question during a workshop or presentation!

A quote graphic with images of the moon and the skull from HIGHER MAGIC’s cover featuring text that reads: HIGHER MAGIC
The thing was, it didn't matter whether someone had literally hexed them to think of themselves as bad spell writers. The only thing that signified was that 85 percent of them did. It was part of the story they'd learned to tell about themselves. And reality reshapes itself around stories.
"Does anyone have a hunch about why I'd say that?»
Silence. Stillness. As though I was a predator who could only hunt when prey was in motion or making sound. I folded my arms and waited, even though the approximately seven seconds that went by felt like an eternity.
OUT IN 7 DAYS.

A photo of me in a chartreuse knit hat with a pompom and a black jacket, holding a coffee mug and smiling amid autumn foliage.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 29/09/2025

8 days until HIGHER MAGIC is out! The pressure is amping up for Bartleby in this snippet. I could explain why, but ~~spoilers~~ www.harpercollins.com/products/hig...

A quote graphic with an image of the moon and a small version of the skull from the cover with text that reads: HIGHER MAGIC
I could hold myself together until I knew the extent of the problem. Until then, I wouldn't let myself think about what this meant for our plans. Or my exam. A knot formed deep in my throat, strangling me slowly from the inside out. I closed my eyes and breathed on a count of eight. In and out, over and over, until James arrived.
OUT IN 8 DAYS.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 28/09/2025

9 days until HIGHER MAGIC is out! This snippet is one of my favorite chapter epigraphs. (I wouldn’t recommend taking classes with Prof. Putnam 😅.) #Booksky #HigherMagic @htpbooks.bsky.social @htphive.bsky.social

A quote graphic featuring an image of the moon beneath the following text: HIGHER MAGIC
Magic, like genius, is almost completely unglamorous in practice. How did Edison put it? Ninety-nine percent perspiration to one percent inspiration?
To get to glamour— pun intended —you have to slog through miles of grueling, galling, and gut-wrenching first. Some of you won't make it.
-PROFESSOR WILLIAM PUTNAM,
SPELLS & METHODS
OUT IN 9 DAYS.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 27/09/2025

10 days until HIGHER MAGIC is out! I loved the way @mkhardywrites.com did their countdown with snips from their novel, so I’m doing that, too. In this snippet, Bartleby is practicing describing her exam spell with her mentor. It’s… not going great. @htpbooks.bsky.social @htphive.bsky.social

A quote graphic featuring a decorative image of the moon, the skull from HIGHER MAGIC’s cover, and the following text: HIGHER MAGIC
"I used algorithm-and rune-enhanced
Markov Chains to train a spellwork construct to identify common patterns in early novels and grimoires from the same period. Once it's fixed, it should. caught myself, tried again. "It will generate new narrations using those patterns and, hopefully…. um… definitely?"
I cleared my throat, wishing I could shed another layer. The office felt at least ten degrees hotter than it had been when I'd walked in.
OUT IN 10 DAYS.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 23/09/2025

I'm having a good time with slide design for the last one

A tan slide that reads "Research Like a PhD" in Times New Roman and "Write Like an Alchemist" in a bold handwriting font. Beneath the words, there's a screenshot of an alchemical image: a demon head with an open mouth in which there's an inferno and some sort of science beaker.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 23/09/2025

HIGHER MAGIC is out in 2 weeks, and I want to make sure you know about all the preorder swag. Sound on for a little preview! Preorder links (and digital preorder swag form) here: courtney-floyd.com#book

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 22/09/2025

Okay, but what??? Notes app, man. Either it’s a fully-fleshed-out story or a garbled fever dream in there.

Notes app note with the title Raccoon steals
face. The rest of the note reads “have to dig it out from under a pile of should an and coulds in a junkyard like scenario.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 20/09/2025

Winner announcement! Thank you to everyone who entered and shared 🌑✨

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 19/09/2025

I just sent this off to the sound designer, and it's going to be amazing. Want to listen? Preorder HIGHER MAGIC & fill out this form: forms.fillout.com/t/j9PRD7TsMsus. You'll also get a copy of Bartleby's class syllabus, which includes some fun world building easter eggs!

A screenshot of a digital audio workstation (DAW) called Reaper, in which several tracks of dialogue have been edited into their basic flow.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 19/09/2025

I've been working on something fun behind the scenes... This HIGHER MAGIC audio cut scene is an exclusive preorder incentive. It stars 3 of the amazing voice actors I worked with on @hauntnowpod.bsky.social. 🧵 @htpbooks.bsky.social @htphive.bsky.social

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 14/09/2025

Early in the fall semester of 1885, a Penn student brought a hen to chapel. Some mention of this incident *will* make its way into my novel, rest assured. 😂

Newspaper column that reads No doubt the man, or more properly, the child, who brought into chapel, a few mornings since, a hen, imagines that he was performing a thoroughly heroic action, If so, we advise him to get rid of this hallucination as soon as possible. Such childishness is certain to get one into hot water, sooner or later.

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 13/09/2025

We're giving away 5 copies of HIGHER MAGIC on Goodreads this month! Enter by the 21st. ✨ #booksky #Goodreads @htpbooks.bsky.social @htphive.bsky.social

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Courtney Floyd @courtney-floyd.com · 07/09/2025

To enter: 🌒follow me 🌒reply to this post to tell me whether you (or your fave historical figure) would have magic in my world 🌒and RT or tag a friend who might be into HIGHER MAGIC By SUNDAY, 9/14 ‼️US entrants only.‼️ If you were born on a new moon or during an eclipse, you’ve got powers baybee!

The Moon in Higher Magic. A copy of HIGHER MAGIC is superimposed above a graphic of the moon. The description reads “moon phase at birth determines whether you have magic. The moon limits the lasting power of your spells and serves as an anchor to consensus reality so you don’t lose yourself.

Text over a watercolor moon reads "THERE WAS A LOT we still didn't understand about magic. What we did know was that the only people who could use it were born on the darkest nights of the year. ... The moon phase was all that mattered, magically speaking. But that didn't stop some practitioners from putting children delivered naturally during a new moon or total lunar eclipse-the 'moon-favored' —on a pedestal."
HIGHER MAGIC
OUT OCTOBER 7, 2025
preorder links in bio.

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