iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

If you're in the DC metro area this weekend, come see me at the Gaithersburg Book Festival! I'll be talking about BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS (and signing copies).

Gaithersburg Book Festival, May 16, 2026. Shows the cover of BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS.

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Ukraine endcap at my local Barnes & Noble

Bookstore display of books by Ukrainian authors or about Ukraine

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

For the evening crowd: I did an interview with the @lernerbooks.bsky.social blog about some of the cultural context of BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS. The folklore sequences are some of my favorites. Stories include the Glass Mountain, the Wawel Dragon, & the Golden Duck. 🦆 lernerbooks.blog/2026/02/beyo...

Renata uses old Polish legends
and folk tales to frame her
own story. These would've
been the stories she grew up
with, so they would've been a
source of comfort and
normalcy to her, and maybe a
way to make sense of her own
life during wartime. They're
also a quietly defiant way to
express her Polish identity in
an imperial context.

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

I've donated to the #KidLit4Ceasefire third annual fundraiser. It's open for donations through 2/5 if you'd like to contribute! bit.ly/KidLit4Cease...

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

What snub? Snub implies a majority of ppl reasonably believed he had a chance at it. Snub is The Dark Knight not getting a Best Picture nom. Calling it a snub normalizes the rantings of a spoiled narcissist who throws a tantrum that threatens int'l security every time he doesn't get what he wants.

Guardian headline:
Donald Trump links threats to seize
Greenland to Nobel prize snub in letter

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

I'll be back at the Gaithersburg Book Festival this May! GBF is one of my favorite bookish events to attend, and I'm so happy to be there again this year with BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS. 🌲

Beyond Seven Forests book against a snowy background with the text "Gaithersburg Book Festival, May 16, 2026"

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Happy to share a bit of the positive review from Booklist for BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS! The full review will be out February 1. “McCrina has created characters with depth and complicated backstories . . . [A] thoughtful human account of the impact of war.” #BookSky

“McCrina has created characters with depth and complicated backstories . . . [A] thoughtful human account of the impact of war.”

Booklist

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Proud of everyone who showed up on short notice in the cold in Brentwood, Tennessee. #IceOut #IceOutForGood

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Yup. It's not "trump's occupation of Venezuela." We've spent years trying to get people to recognize *russia's invasion of Ukraine, *russia's genocide in Ukraine, *russia's kidnapping of Ukrainian children. Not just putin's. No shirking our own responsibility. That goes for Congress and all of us.

Cory Booker
@CoryBooker
Today, many leaders will rightly condemn
President Donald Trump's unlawful and unjust actions in Venezuela, and I join them.

But just as glaring, and far more damning, is Congress' ongoing abdication of its constitutional duty. For almost a year now, the legislative branch has failed to check a president who repeatedly violates his oath, disregards the law, and endangers American interests at home and abroad.

corybooker — My thoughts on Donald Trump's occupation of Venezuela

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Every argument supporting what we just did in Venezuela falls apart when you remember that not quite five months ago, American soldiers were on their knees rolling out a red carpet for *putin*.

American soldiers kneeling to roll out a red carpet in front of a Russian plane

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Today is the last day to get 25% off your pre-order of BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS with your Barnes & Noble rewards or premium membership! Out February 3! www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beyond-sev... #HistoricalFiction #BookSky

"It would be helpful for us to have your explanation for the record."

"My explanation, Colonel?"

"If you please, Countess. We know what you did. We would like to know. why."

"Very well," I say. "I will tell you why."

BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS
25% off pre-orders
using code PREORDER25
BARNES&NOBLE

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Merry Christmas! One of my favorite paintings—Winter (1905) by Ukrainian artist Oleksander Murashko

Painting of a Ukrainian couple walking in snow

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Save the date! The launch event for BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS will be Saturday, February 7 at B&N Cool Springs in Franklin, TN. I'll be in conversation with NYT-bestselling author Sharon Cameron! More info + tickets: stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/978006... @lernerbooks.bsky.social #booksky

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

We're less than 2 months out from BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS! It's a locked-room survival thriller set during WWI, with a dash of Polish folklore & an unreliable narrator. I'd love it if you pre-ordered/added it to your TBR! lernerbooks.com/shop/show/26... #WritingCommunity #BookSky #BeyondSevenForests

"A thoughtful examination of
boundaries between right and
wrong, carried by the moral
tension and strength of the
characters, this novel challenges
readers to question ethical
certainties.
Sharp, compelling, and
thoughtful."
KIRKUS
BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS

"For fans of Libba Bray
and Ruta Sepetys
a well-written,
suspenseful story."
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS

"A complex narrative
rendered in the protagonist's
measured voice and filled with
references to Polish class
distinctions and history."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

I don't repost videos or screenshots of POW executions, but this is such an important point. russia r*pes, c*strates, and b*heads Ukrainian POWs on camera. Any "peace" plan that ignores or normalizes that is absolutely worthless.

Among the 28 points of the initial
Washington/kremlin plan, one was a
general amnesty for war crimes.

This video footage shows Russian troops
killing five Ukrainian soldiers, prisoners
of war.

This adds to the several hundreds such
crimes committed by Russia.

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Finished copies of BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS are here! The Wawel dragon and other Polish folkloric elements are an important thread in the story, so I love this detail on the case. BSF is a story of the Eastern Front of WWI that Kirkus calls "sharp, compelling, and thoughtful." Out Feb 3; preorder now!

A red hardcover book with a white dragon motif

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

russia killed at least 25 people in Ternopil last night, children among them. Ternopil is in western Ukraine, about two hours from Lviv. Photo from @united24media.com

Residential buildings destroyed and burning

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Happy independence day, Poland! 🇵🇱 A snippet from BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS, out February 3.

The service to Lublin stops at the far platform in seven minutes. He is here, like me, to catch a train.

His Lublin is liberated now. Privislinsky Krai, the Russian-ruled Vistula Land in which he grew up, no longer exists as
of this past September, when the German offensive swept through all the way to Vilna. Of course when we speak of
someplace like Lublin being "liberated," we mean only that it is no longer under Russian occupation. There is not really much difference between groveling to the kaiser and groveling to the tsar--he was right. It is not really liberation to trade one
occupation for another.

So I suppose he, like me, like every Pole, is free without really being free. I suppose none of us can really go home.

But perhaps one day.

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Kirkus had lovely things to say about BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS. Full review: www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Another trade review is in for BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS! "A complex narrative rendered in the protagonist's measured voice and filled with references to Polish class distinctions and history."—Publishers Weekly 🇵🇱

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Happy to share that BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS' first trade review is a good one! From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "For fans of Libba Bray and Ruta Sepetys, this is a well-written, suspenseful story, which would be a great addition to YA sections." lernerbooks.com/shop/show/26...

"For fans of Libba Bray and Ruta Sepetys . . . a well-written, suspenseful story."

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Quick little sketch this afternoon of Wiesław Chrzanowski, a Polish Home Army soldier and Warsaw Uprising insurgent. (He survived the Uprising and various POW camps and died in Warsaw in 2011.)

Pencil sketch of Polish Home Army soldier Wiesław Chrzanowski

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

As someone who actually studied ancient Rome, I just want to point out that M*sk here is looking at a Bernini sculpture from the 17th century. Not ancient Roman.

A Twitter post saying that Elon Musk is donating millions of dollars to people who study ancient Rome, accompanied by a photo of Musk looking at Bernini's David

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Nice to see BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS get a shout-out in this roundup of forthcoming historical fiction from Historical Novel Society! historicalnovelsociety.org/forthcoming-...

Amanda McCrina, Beyond Seven Forests, Carolrhoda Lab, YA (an 18-year-old Polish countess is trapped in her home with two Polish deserters from the Russian army during a blizzard as World War I rages)

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Thought this new WWII history seemed... really problematic. Did some digging—and yep. Not at all surprised by the author's views on Ukraine.

Cover flap copy of World Enemy No. 1 by Jochen Hellbeck

Interview with Jochen Hellbeck in which he expresses concern that Western provocation hurts ordinary Russians

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS, my novel set on the Eastern Front of the First World War, is available on NetGalley! If you'd like to read it four months early, this is your chance! www.netgalley.com/catalog/book...

A digital mockup of an e-reader with the cover of BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS by Amanda McCrina

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

A new book trailer for BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS, out 2/3/26 from @lernerbooks.bsky.social! In winter 1916, as World War I rages, a blizzard traps 18-year-old Polish countess Renata in her home with two escaped enemy POWs.

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Review copies of BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS have arrived!

A paperback copy of BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS by Amanda McCrina, with a box containing more copies in the background. A black cat looks on.

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

Lviv Croissants in Roswell, GA 💙💛

A croissant filled with berries and mascarpone

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Five months until BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS, my new novel set on the Eastern front of the First World War about a Polish countess and the two enemy soldiers who show up at her door. Out February 3!

Collage of four photos: 1) a couple dancing, 2) a snowy forest, 3) a revolver being reloaded, 4) a L'viv cityscape under snow, with a text overlay that reads "No one will ever accuse you of being a coward, I can promise you that"

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

“An active assault on virtue wherever it exists” www.liberalcurrents.com/let-it-burn-...

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Bought this for myself on @marshaskrypuch.bsky.social's recommendation. If there was ever a book Amanda needed to buy immediately, this is the book.

Secret wartime letters, a volatile love triangle, an unmarked grave, a noble heritage—a revelatory mother-daughter memoir about discovery, love, and forgiveness.

Sorting through her late mother’s possessions, Halina St. James found a secret stash of letters. They told how her mother, Maria, was abducted as a teenager in Ukraine by Nazis and sent to Germany as a slave.

After the war, Maria found herself pregnant in a displaced persons camp. She married the father, an older man from a noble Polish family. But her life changed when her husband introduced his friend, a young Polish freedom fighter. In Canada, the younger man betrayed his friend and ran off with Maria and Halina.

The letters made Halina realize how little she knew of her mother or her heritage.

The Golden Daughter is the gripping story of a mother and daughter shaped by forces they had no control over.

After uncovering truths hidden for a century, Halina was finally able to make peace with her mother, her father—and herself.

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Introducing pre-order perks for BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS! Pre-order from my local indie, Bound Booksellers, and receive: 🌲 a signed/personalized hardcover 🌲 a character art postcard with art by yours truly 🌲 25% off list price Pre-order here: boundbookstn.com/products/bey...

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

I did art today! Adya and Renata from my upcoming WWI historical novel, BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS, out February 3, 2026! Add to Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...

Digital illustration of a man and woman dancing

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Happy independence day, Ukraine 💙💛

The Ukrainian flag flying from an apartment balcony

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

This is one of the most disgusting and shameful moments in American history.

Putin and Trump laugh and shake hands on a red carpet in Alaska

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

"Some of the children listed on the website are described as 'obedient' and 'respectful towards adults,' while others have labels stating, 'physical development is age-appropriate.'"

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

81 years ago on August 1, the Warsaw Uprising started. The kotwica, the symbol of Polish resistance, was designed by a young resistance fighter named Anna Smoleńska who was killed in Auschwitz at age 23.

A wrist tattoo of the kotwica (anchor) symbol of Polish resistance during WWII

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

Putting my bookstore employee discount to good use. I owe BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS to Nicolai Eberholst’s WWI history social media account, which posted the photo that originally inspired the story.

RING OF FIRE by Alexandra Churchill and Nicolai Eberholst

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Thrilled to officially reveal the cover for BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS, my upcoming WWI historical about a Polish countess & the two enemy soldiers trapped with her in a deadly snowstorm. Out Feb 3, 2026 from @lernerbooks.bsky.social! Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/book/show/236003353-beyond-seven-forests

Book cover of BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS, showing a house in a snowstorm against a forest backdrop.

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS gets a little shout-out in Publishers Weekly! www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

Carolrhoda Lab watches the clock for When It’s Your Turn for Midnight by Blessing Musariri, in which 15-year-old Chianti discovers that her dad isn’t her biological father; and Beyond Seven Forests by Amanda McCrina, which finds 18-year-old Polish countess Renata trapped in her home with two Polish deserters from the Russian army during a blizzard as World War I rages.

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Happy to say I made this face-out happen at my Barnes & Noble 💙💛

Looking at Women Looking at War by Victoria Amelina

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Amanda McCrina @mccrina.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Working the day job today but there in spirit. #NoKings

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