Sign in

Marie Brennan

@swantower.bsky.social
5.7K followers 168 following 1.6K posts

THE EYE OF LEVIATHAN July 14th! Author of the Memoirs of Lady Trent. Also one half of M.A. Carrick. She/her.

PostsRepliesMedia
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 1h
An all-too-necessary reminder that the new owners of Asimov's, Analog, and F&SF are not to be trusted. They are still, after all this time, trying to get away with predatory contracts anywhere they can, and making surprised Pikachu face any time somebody points out the problems.
0153
Reposted by Marie Brennan
P.A. Cornell (She/Her) @cornellwriter.bsky.social · 8h
Imagine outsourcing the best parts of parenting to a machine? I wouldn’t have traded those moments for anything. Even when the kids got distracted and I’d end up reading to the cat, they’re all good memories we cherish, and core memories for the kids.
911613
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 8h
Do people like those videos where people show you how the design came together? If so, here ya go. I started the viperfish and barreleye in my sketch book at Teen Art Club last night.
3607
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Kaleidotrope @kaleidotrope.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Things you can do instead of using generative AI: - Literally anything else
18021
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
“GOTTA LEARN AI OR BE LEFT BEHIND.” Good. Fuck off! Leave me behind! Enjoy your artbarf rapture, your janky Temu future. I’ll be back here looking at real birds and writing weird, also real, books.
382879564
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Just Keep Up Magazine @justkeepupmagazine.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
A new poem is online! Read the entirety of the poem below or click on the link to see the poem in its full glory on the JKU website. www.justkeepupmagazine.com/expandcontra...
051
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Maggie Tokuda-Hall @maggietokudahall.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Here's the thing: most books that are banned don't make the lists that get circulated each #BannedBooksWeek. If you're a book creator and your book gets banned, please respond to this post with your book and its buy link on bookshop.org. That way we can support indies and banned books 💛
bookshop.org
Bookshop.org: Buy books online. Support local bookstores.
A better way to buy books online. Every purchase financially supports local independent bookstores.
14675355
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Bookshop.org @bookshop.org · 06/10/2026
Anti-Prime Day starts…NOW! 🥳 Today through midnight on 10/7, enjoy free shipping site-wide, all while supporting local, independent bookstores.
2854333350
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Apex Magazine and Book Company @apexmag.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
We're nearly a week into the Apex Magazine 2027 Kickstarter and have already reached 34% of our goal! Thank you so much to our backers for making this possible 💜👽 If you want to help us publish more strange, surreal, shocking, beautiful fiction next year, you can check out the campaign below! ⬇️
kickstarter.com
Apex Magazine 2027
An award-winning digital literary journal of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror.
02624
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Ian Li @ianli.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"the night / is waiting for me outside & i’m / ready to collide with darkness again" "a quiet dream where i can tame / the rebellion of my grief into repose" Like many of Gospel's other works, this poem is urgent & mesmerizing & breathtaking. It hits you with tragic beauty and doesn't let up.
252
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Ian Li @ianli.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
As promised, I'm sharing my feelings on @orionsbeltmagazine.bsky.social's Summer 2026 poems. "Moonlit Memories" by Gospel Chinedu I've long been a fan of Gospel's poetry. Here, I feel I'm lost in the dark, chased by this fox-grandfather, taken on a surreal journey of personal and familial history.
orions-belt.net
Moonlit Memories — Orion's Belt
Gospel Chinedu
194
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
. . . and wrap up in December with THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF FORMS, which not only expands on meter and rhyme but expands to look at types of formal poetry built around different characteristics: www.swantower.com/writing/the-...
swantower.com
The Writer's Little Book of Forms - Swan Tower
Sonnets, limericks, haiku: a few poetic forms are widely familiar. But the field of possibilities extends well past that, through hundreds of forms all around the world -- so how is a poet to decide a...
031
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Then next month we'll continue on with its companion volume, THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF RHYME, available for pre-order now: www.swantower.com/writing/the-...
swantower.com
The Writer's Little Book of Rhyme - Swan Tower
From time to time, a poet finds they need to write in rhyme. But what are the different types, what effect do they have on a poem, and what’s the best way to go about drafting in rhyme? In this compan...
121
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
It's pub day for THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF METER! As poetry's starting to get a bit more of a moment in the sun, I offer up this introduction to how one writes with rhythm: www.swantower.com/writing/the-...
swantower.com
The Writer's Little Book of Meter - Swan Tower
Metrical verse is hugely popular when it takes the form of song lyrics, and yet its written cousin has fallen out of fashion in recent decades. To help guide writers unfamiliar with matters metrical t...
2147
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
New poem today in @justkeepupmagazine.bsky.social! This is what happens when I read articles on astronomy and historical demonology in quick succession: www.justkeepupmagazine.com/expandcontra...
justkeepupmagazine.com
expand/contract by Marie Brennan — Just Keep Up Magazine
064
Reposted by Marie Brennan
toilet bones @toiletbones.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Found the email I sent when I got accidentally added to the faculty listserv of an orthopedic surgery clinic and nobody would remove me so I sent this email to all faculty/staff/med students and they removed me almost immediately
Hello Bone Colleagues, 
I have invented a new type of ankle and I'm very excited to show it to you. Early raccoon trials suggest a 60% increase in scurrying speed and dramatic increases in fine motor banditry. I know we are not supposed to create super raccoons, but I think you'll change your mind and professional ethics when you see how cute they are. I believe we are on the cusp of a new era in advanced human scurrying because if medical science has taught me anything, it's that improvements in raccoons correspond 1:1 to improvements in humans. 

--
[My name]
Chief Bone Inventor
Chair, Department of Foot and Leg Innovation
Lord Mayor, Musculoskeletal Medicine 
Hartford HealthCare,
The Bone & Joint Institute at Hartford Hospital.
190113743092
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
. . . and wrap up in December with THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF FORMS, which not only expands on meter and rhyme but expands to look at types of formal poetry built around different characteristics: www.swantower.com/writing/the-...
swantower.com
The Writer's Little Book of Forms - Swan Tower
Sonnets, limericks, haiku: a few poetic forms are widely familiar. But the field of possibilities extends well past that, through hundreds of forms all around the world -- so how is a poet to decide a...
031
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Then next month we'll continue on with its companion volume, THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF RHYME, available for pre-order now: www.swantower.com/writing/the-...
swantower.com
The Writer's Little Book of Rhyme - Swan Tower
From time to time, a poet finds they need to write in rhyme. But what are the different types, what effect do they have on a poem, and what’s the best way to go about drafting in rhyme? In this compan...
121
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
It's pub day for THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF METER! As poetry's starting to get a bit more of a moment in the sun, I offer up this introduction to how one writes with rhythm: www.swantower.com/writing/the-...
swantower.com
The Writer's Little Book of Meter - Swan Tower
Metrical verse is hugely popular when it takes the form of song lyrics, and yet its written cousin has fallen out of fashion in recent decades. To help guide writers unfamiliar with matters metrical t...
2147
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Voters everywhere: get your vote in EARLY. Deliver mail-in ballots by hand if you can; don't trust the post office to deliver them in time. Don't assume the line at your polling place will be short come Election Day. GOP strategy right now is "prevent people from voting;" don't get caught by it.
01010
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
California voters! My husband has assembled his usual explainer doc for the propositions: why they're on the ballot, who's backing them, relevant history, etc. Feel free to share far and wide! docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
2026 California Proposition Research
Kyle’s 2026 California Proposition Research Background As with prior election years, I’m sharing my personal research into the upcoming California ballot propositions. Friends have told me that the...
196
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
New poem today in @justkeepupmagazine.bsky.social! This is what happens when I read articles on astronomy and historical demonology in quick succession: www.justkeepupmagazine.com/expandcontra...
justkeepupmagazine.com
expand/contract by Marie Brennan — Just Keep Up Magazine
064
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Kyle N. @kniedzw.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Apropos nothing in particular, some questions you can ask your company's leadership when you have an open Q&A about AI (and LLMs in particular). 1) How is our company defending our intellectual property when copyright around documentation and code written by LLMs is on shaky footing?
1178
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Rosa (Swamp Rose) de Haas @roseoftheswamp.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I just backed Apex Magazine 2027! Let's get many more strange, surreal and beautiful stories! @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape... @apexmag.bsky.social
kickstarter.com
Apex Magazine 2027
An award-winning digital literary journal of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror.
077
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Lightspeed Magazine @lightspeedmagazine.com · 05/10/2026
We haven't mentioned our Kickstarter in a while, but we just made this new GIF which shows you all of the amazing authors who agreed to write stories for us should the Kickstarter fund. We're closing in on 75% funded with 10 days left to go. Please consider backing if you can! 💖 bit.ly/LS-NM-26
01414
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 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-...
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.
030
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 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/code...
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.
160
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF METER comes out tomorrow! Mysteries metrical, mapped out for you! www.swantower.com/writing/the-...
swantower.com
The Writer's Little Book of Meter - Swan Tower
Metrical verse is hugely popular when it takes the form of song lyrics, and yet its written cousin has fallen out of fashion in recent decades. To help guide writers unfamiliar with matters metrical t...
2112
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
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 around them -- only to discover more (and weirder) trouble along the road . . .
2191
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I can finally share the cover for THE WORST MONK IN OMNU, out next May from @angryrobotbooks.bsky.social!
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.
811229
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I don't actually know! That info will be in the book, but you just made me realize it hasn't been mentioned to me yet.
110
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I recognize the tension in my own soul between "I LIKE ROLLING LOTS OF DICE" and "honestly, the tension curve on a roll sucks if you have to spend fifteen seconds adding them up, rerolling some, etc." Single die and knowing the result as soon as the bounce stops: best tension. But not as gratifying.
010
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Naturally!
010
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Kate Reading was *amazing* for those books. But yeah, different protagonist, different vibe -- should probably be a different voice.
110
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
This maaaaaaay have started life as another L5R idea before I decided I would rather do it as an independent work. >_>
110
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I'm so pleased with it!!! The style evokes a little bit of traditional Japanese yokai illustration, which is actually apropos for this book.
010
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
That hasn't been decided yet! Were you hoping for anyone in particular?
100
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I hope you enjoy it!
100
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
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 around them -- only to discover more (and weirder) trouble along the road . . .
2191
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I can finally share the cover for THE WORST MONK IN OMNU, out next May from @angryrobotbooks.bsky.social!
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.
811229
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Lesley Conner @lesleyconner.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It's time! The @apexmag.bsky.social 2027 Kickstarter is live! Help us fund another year of strange, shocking, beautiful, and surreal speculative fiction! www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...
kickstarter.com
Apex Magazine 2027
An award-winning digital literary journal of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror.
02629
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Lightspeed Magazine @lightspeedmagazine.com · 01/10/2026
Our friends at Apex launched their own Kickstarter today, and to celebrate the occasion, we did an "interview war" between both editors-in-chief—i.e., they interviewed each other. www.kickstarter.com/projects/lig...
kickstarter.com
Update 3: Lightspeed vs. Apex: Interview War! · LIGHTSPEED & NIGHTMARE: Award-Winning SF, Fantasy, & Horror
Our friends over at Apex Magazine are launching their own Kickstarter today, and to in order to cross-promote our campaigns, we interviewed each other! Read on to see the Q&A with ​Lightspeed edit...
01913
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Işıl Arıcan @isilarican.com · 02/10/2026
Quick and easy guide on how to prevent sexual assault. You are welcome.
1303116
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
you do want to see this
16919195
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Oh yeah, it's even starker when you *can't* recall your reasoning. But in this instance, I see the logic; I just also see the much stronger arguments against it.
020
Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Genuinely, one of the best revision tactics out there is simply to . . . not look at the story for a while. You come back and go "I know what my reasons were for doing it this way -- but omgwtfbbq was that the wrong choice, and I can see that now."
211323
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Boze Herrington, Library Owl @sketchesbyboze.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Some of you have forgotten that only three years ago you were perfectly capable of writing an essay, writing a eulogy, telling a bedtime story to a child, and it should worry you that powerful companies have convinced us we can’t do things we’ve been doing for 5,000 years.
252104781
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Merc Fenn Wolfmoor @mercwolfmoor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
WE FUNDED!! AHH! Thank you, everyone!!! Now, with about 24 hours left, any additional monies means I CAN BUY MORE TIME LOOP STORIES. 👀⏳ (And subs will open in two weeks!) www.backerkit.com/c/projects/m...
backerkit.com
OPPORTUNITY WINDOW: An Anthology of Time Loop Stories
Deja vu doesn't begin to cover it... OPPORTUNITY WINDOW will bring you a book of brand new time loop stories (and maybe some you've seen before) from across the SFFH genres!
26230
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Jonathan Slater @jonathanslater.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
These are stunning
1022981689
Reposted by Marie Brennan
Grandiloquent Word of the Day @grandiloquentwords.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Slounge [slunj] (n.) 1. A lazy, skulking, or sneaking person; an idle ne’er-do-well. 2. A greedy scrounger that prowls or hangs about in search of food. (v.) 1. To lounge, loaf, or move about in an idle, slouching manner. 2. To skulk about in hopes of obtaining food.
A “Grandiloquent Word of the Day” meme featuring the word “Slounge” [slunj]. The definitions read: “(n.) A greedy scrounger that prowls about in search of food. (v.) To skulk about in hopes of obtaining food.” At right, an old-fashioned ink illustration shows a ragged, weary-looking man seated outdoors with his chin resting on his hand. Below, the example sentence reads: “Abercrombie was a notorious slounge—too idle to work, too sly to starve, and invariably present wherever food was freely obtained.”
27419