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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 16/10/2026

What about January? That's not a Writer's Little Book; that's CODEX MEMORIAE, my next short story collection, chock full of historical fantasy! www.swantower.com/writing/codex-mem…

Cover art for CODEX MEMORIAE by Marie Brennan. Background is a lichen-spotted gray stone slab inscribed with Japanese writing.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 16/10/2026

Then in March, it'll be THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF REVISION, with advice on what to do with what you get from crit -- and also how to develop your self-editorial skills! www.swantower.com/writing/the-write…

Cover art for THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF REVISION by Marie Brennan. Background is a sheet of lined yellow paper with notes saying "add more description," "fix protag motivation," and "make ending work;" the first two are checked off and the last is not.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 16/10/2026

I have figured out what the next two WRITER'S LITTLE BOOKS will be! After RHYME and FORMS, February will bring THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF CRITIQUE, with advice for what to do in workshops and crit groups: www.swantower.com/writing/the-write…

Cover art for THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF CRITIQUE by Marie Brennan. Background is a faded-out manuscript page with notes and suggestions in red pen.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

The first, if you missed it, was ARS HISTORICA. There's no need to read them in order -- they're collections, not a series -- but if you want more historical fantasy, check it out! www.swantower.com/writing/ars-histo…

Cover art for ARS HISTORICA by Marie Brennan. The text is set in silver over a background of dark grey stone inscribed with gilt Latin.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

And -- taking a break from the Writer's Little Books -- in January, I'll have another of my short story collections out! CODEX MEMORIAE, my second volume of historical fantasy: www.swantower.com/writing/codex-mem…

Cover art for CODEX MEMORIAE by Marie Brennan. The title and author name are set in gold over a background of lichen-encrusted grey stone inscribed with Japanese writing.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 02/10/2026

I can finally share the cover for THE WORST MONK IN OMNU, out next May from Angry Robot! It's the story of Diligence-and-Care-in-All-Things, a Buddhist-style monk with really terrible karma, who goes on pilgrimage to try and stop disasters from happening all […] [Original post on wandering.shop]

Cover art for THE WORST MONK IN OMNU by Marie Brennan. In a nighttime landscape, an Asian-looking monk is silhouetted against a glowing waterfall plunging down the mountainside.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 09/09/2026

I saw this on Tumblr, and my brain instantly burst into song: 🎶Noooo . . . oooooone . . . caaaaaan . . . Hench like our Al Make fists clench like our Al No one's such a great villainous mensch as our Al He's especially good at intimidating Hire him now, Al Leong! 🎶

Black and white photo of actor Al Leong, a Chinese-American man with long hair, a receding hairline, and a goatee.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 19/08/2026

One day in, and I'm a little verklempt at how many people have already turned out to help Em. In gratitude, may I offer up a picture of her one-eyed cat, Kenway, whom you are also helping to keep housed? #GoFundMe www.gofundme.com/manage/keep-emily-…

A white and tabby cat missing his left eye looks toward the camera

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 21/07/2026

And if you want to catch up on earlier collections, all of them are available in both print and ebook, through a variety of retailers: www.swantower.com/series/new-worlds

A three-by-three grid of the cover art for Marie Brennan's NEW WORLDS series of essays on worldbuilding. Each features a circular or swirling pattern of light against a black background; the colors change from book to book.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 21/07/2026

The Year Nine collection for my New Worlds Patreon is out in ebook now! Essays on regencies, rhetoric, rebellions, relics, and more! www.swantower.com/writing/new-world…

Cover art for Marie Brennan's NEW WORLDS, YEAR NINE: MORE ESSAYS ON THE ART OF WORLDBUILDING. A bright, multicolored circle of swirling light against a black background.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 16/06/2026

And you can now pre-order The Writer's Little Book of Platitudes, in which I take on some of the most common saws of writing advice to examine where they come from, who they're useful for, and when to ignore them: www.swantower.com/writing/the-write…

Cover art for THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF PLATITUDES: TIPS AND TRICKS FOR TAKING (AND IGNORING) ADVICE by Marie Brennan. The background is white, and in the center the words "thou shalt not" are interwoven with a red forbiddance symbol.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 16/06/2026

The Writer's Little Book of Naming returns! This is a novelette-sized ebook entirely focused on the ways in which creating names for characters, places, and things in a world can reflect culture and enrich a setting: www.swantower.com/writing/the-write…

Cover art for THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF NAMING: TIPS AND TRICKS FOR PEOPLE, PLACES, AND THINGS by Marie Brennan. The background looks like browned paper and contains in faint writing a series of names from a wide variety of cultures around the world.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 03/04/2026

Interested in Lady Trent, but not in coloring? The Field Journal now has fully colored options (digital, prints, or book, including signed copy) for those who want to acquire Avery's gorgeous art alongside excerpts from Isabella's scientific work! […] [Original post on wandering.shop]

The cover image from Lady Trent's Field Journal, showing a dragon swooping down upon a herd of stampeding antelope. The dragon is rust-colored with grey-blue touches, while the antelope are striped and running through summer-browned grass.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 04/07/2025

A poem for this Fourth of July. (transcription is in the alt text)

A poem in staggered stanzas, alternating the lyrics of the original song with new lines:

A Work in Progress
by Marie Brennan

Oh beautiful for spacious skies
and endless stolen land
For purple mountain majesties
above the slave-chained band
America! America!
God’s mercy may we see
And crown thy good with brotherhood
for we, not just for thee.

O beautiful for pilgrim feet --
-- except those turned away --
A thoroughfare for freedom beat --
-- to Christian God please pray --
America! America!
Will you admit your flaws?
Confirm they soul in self-control;
don’t shrine your sins as laws.

O beautiful for heroes proved
(including those unsung)
Who more than self their country loved
and would not hold their tongue.
America! America!
The road ahead is long,
Till all success be nobleness
and right replaces wrong.

O beautiful for patriot dream
that we still work to build,
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
a promise not yet filled.
America! America!
God’s mercy may we see
And crown thy good with brotherhood
For we, not just for thee.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 24/06/2025

Finally, two smaller ones (~10K words each), both focused on flash-length fairy tale pieces, one darker than the other. Because these are shorter, they're ebook only: www.swantower.com/writing/never-aft… […] [Original post on wandering.shop]

cover art for NEVER AFTER: THIRTEEN TWISTS ON FAMILIAR TALES by Marie Brennan, showing a dried red rose whose head has been cut off the stem; spatters of blood stain the ground behind

Cover art for MONSTROUS BEAUTY by Marie Brennan, showing a woman wrapped in many lengths of white cloth, one of which covers her eyes, another of which wraps around her throat. She wears black gloves and holds a pair of scissors poised to cut a red thread.

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 24/06/2025

And I have enough stories set in the Nine Lands -- the first big setting I invented -- that they got their own collection! www.swantower.com/writing/nine-lands

cover art for THE NINE LANDS by Marie Brennan, showing a greyscale map of the titular setting against a parchment-colored background

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 24/06/2025

For those of you who prefer contemporary fantasy, there's DOWN A STREET THAT WASN'T THERE: www.swantower.com/writing/down-a-st…

cover art for DOWN A STREET THAT WASN'T THERE by Marie Brennan, showing a roofed colonnade of dark stone, with a figure silhouetted against the light at the end who has translucent, blue-violet butterfly wings

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 24/06/2025

ARS HISTORICA, as the title suggests, is focused on historical fantasy (including several stories in continuity with my Onyx Court novels): www.swantower.com/writing/ars-histo…

cover art for ARS HISTORICA by Marie Brennan, showing a gilded Latin inscription carved into a slab of veined grey stone

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 24/06/2025

And I have other subgenre-themed collections as well, all the size of a longish novella. A BREVIARY OF FIRE, for example, collects stories based on or retelling folktales and myths: www.swantower.com/writing/a-breviar…

cover art for A BREVIARY OF FIRE by Marie Brennan, showing a zig-zag swirl of golden sparks narrowing down to a point, against a black background

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 24/06/2025

It's a follow-up (~sequel, except there's no chronology implied) to my previous collection, MAPS TO NOWHERE, available in ebook and print: www.swantower.com/writing/maps-to-n…

cover art for MAPS TO NOWHERE by Marie Brennan, showing steep mountain pinnacles shrouded in sunset clouds, over a twilight lake

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 16/04/2025

<Zoom goes out; businesses across the world bail to Microsoft Teams> Clippy:

A cartoon image of Microsoft's Clippy icon, with the text "all according to keikaku"

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 27/02/2025

(4/6) Basically, every essay should feel like it ends with this guy:

A white man in a button-down shirt and tie is pointing at a bulletin board with a lot of papers on it, connected by red string, ranting about a conspiracy. (Charlie Day from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 06/11/2024

They're the tiniest, most fragile things, but with patience, with determination, they push against the weight of the dirt, they worm their way through the gaps, to reach the light. We can -- we MUST -- do the same.

Four minuscule sunflower seedlings rising above the soil in a small pot

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 05/11/2024

Right now on my desk there is a little pot of sunflower seedlings that are juuuuust starting to poke their way up out of the soil. This turns out to be exactly the day I need to watch life grow.

A small white pot with tiny seedlings emerging from the soil

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Marie Brennan @swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 22/07/2024

I know enough photographers on here that somebody might be able to tell me: is there any way anymore to contact customer service at Adobe re: a problem with Lightroom? My choices right now appear to be "read a canned answer," "crowd-source the question to […] [Original post on wandering.shop]

A screenshot from Adobe's website, saying "Contact us: real help from real people."

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