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Erika Swyler

@erikaswyler.bsky.social

2.3K followers 520 following 7.3K posts

Novelist. Garden variety weirdo. Typo queen. Books: We Lived On the Horizon (Atria, 1/14/25), Light From Other Stars, The Book of Speculation. She/her (all pronouns are fine) https://linktr.ee/erikaswyler

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Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · Jan 14

WE LIVED ON THE HORIZON is now out in the world. It's the first "timely" book I've written--wholly unintentional, I assure you.
If you've been thinking about AI, revolution, altruism, the future, gender, aging, and what care is ... it might be the book for you.

Cover of We Lived on the Horizon pictured on a desert overwritten with junk code. Text reads "Swyler achieves a seemingly impossible amount of sophisticated worldbuilding using an economy of vibrant prose. Singularly stunning and stunningly singular." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

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Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 10h

It's *something*
My habits haven't changed much either. But I've seen a slew of people talking about reading slumps, and it's hard not think it's not the books, but likely depression.

Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 11h

But, you know, small problems when compared to the big existential ones.
And I do think people will buy and actually read heavy (in subject and weight) books again... especially if I make the switch to comedy.

Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 11h

It's been a weird year for publishing a serious book. I keep adding jazz hands when I talk about it, and saying, "It won't break you, I promise."
If I start writing with just my clown side, I need a pen name and that's a whole thing.
And I wrote smut once, and I don't want to again. Tired is right.🫠

Meg Reid 🦦 @megireid.bsky.social · 15h

Serious books bum us out, fun books feel like they're not addressing THE TIMES. Getting something that's both is impossible. Writers are cranking out novels to please their agents, and agents are sending them unedited, and no one is answering anyone's emails because we're really, really tired.

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Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 17h

*wistful voice* Trains could fix so much, really.

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Reposted by Erika Swyler

Sarah Weinman @sarahweinman.com · 18h

I am a very last-minute addition to this “Lolita at 70” panel tonight with the wonderful writers Jiayang Fan and Julia May Jonas! Details here: www.92ny.org/event/naboko...

Nabokov’s Lolita at 70 (with Jiayang Fan, Julia May Jonas, and now me, not pictured since I was a last-minute addition to the panel

Thursday October 9 at the 92nd Street Y, 7:30 PM

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Reposted by Erika Swyler

Shannon Sanders @shanders.bsky.social · 19h

So excited about this! Come see Amber Sparks (and me) on Friday 10/24 at Politics & Prose at the Wharf!

Amber Sparks @ambersparks.bsky.social · 1d

Going on tour next week! Come say hi please don’t make me read to myself and that one guy who’s actually got earbuds in

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Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 1d

Nathan! 🤖🫖🦿👁❤️

Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 1d

I really loved this collection!

Josh Denslow @joshdenslow.bsky.social · 1d

Free shipping today at @bookshop.org which means that yes now is a perfect time to pick up MAGIC CAN'T SAVE US!

bookshop.org/p/books/magi...

Magic Can't Save Us: Eighteen Tales of Likely Failure

Eighteen Tales of Likely Failure

bookshop.org

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Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 1d

Honestly, our conversations around utopias and dystopias don't really hit the mark. If "dystopian" is keeping you away from a book, I'd encourage you to think carefully about what utopia really is.

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Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 1d

Why, hello. @bookshop.org has free shipping at the moment because whatever about that one site.
Wanna read what I'll be talking about at ASU on 10/22?
Wanna support my adventures while I research the next project?
👇
bookshop.org/p/books/we-l...

We Lived on the Horizon: A Novel

A Novel

bookshop.org

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Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 2d

💯

Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 2d

Near future is more and more difficult. I find myself leaning to far future and "just next door," if that makes sense. I think, for what it's worth, Helen Phillips's HUM does nearish really well. (Louisa Hall's SPEAK also holds up, imo.)

Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 2d

Here. Have a lumber mill in the middle of somewhere.

A very old-timey looking lumber mill nestled in the middle of a wooded area. Probably definitely haunted.

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Reposted by Erika Swyler

Arjun Basu @arjun.bsky.social · 2d

This Friday, Montreal (after this I will hopefully disappear for a few months, at least):

Poster for reading this Friday in Montreal

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Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 3d

This is terrible and I'm so sorry. Will keep an ear to the ground for you.

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Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 3d

If you'd like to listen to me talk about "writing against" and planning societies, you can!

This program is one of the most hopeful things I've seen come out of the last few years.

Matt Bell @mdbell79.bsky.social · 3d

Erika Swyler is this semester's ASU Worldbuilding Initiative Distinguished Lecturer, visiting on 10/22 as part of our Humanities Week celebrations. (Over three consecutive days, I'm speaking with her, Jesmyn Ward, and Nnedi Okorafor. What luck!) Her talk is free online and in-person. Register below!

Fall 2025 Worldbuilding Distinguished Lecture with Erika Swyler | ASU Events

Arizona State University welcomes the nationally bestselling author of The Book of Speculation Erika Swyler as a guest in its Fall 2025 Distinguished Worldbuilding Initiative Lecture series. Swyler wi...

asuevents.asu.edu

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Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 3d

Uh... I'm starstruck.
Seriously, thank you.

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Erika Swyler @erikaswyler.bsky.social · 3d

🤖🫖🦿👁❤️

Matt Bell @mdbell79.bsky.social · 3d

I had the good fortune of reading @erikaswyler.bsky.social's WE LIVED ON THE HORIZON before it came out, but rereading it this week to prep it for class made me love it even more. It's so smart, so well-written, so well-built. First class discussion today!