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karinlow.bsky.social
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@karinlow.bsky.social
360 followers 170 following 420 posts
🌸 storyteller. rep: @tetrameter.bsky.social. THE CROWNS OF ISHIA out now @solarisbooks.bsky.social. linktr.ee/karinlow 🚫🖕🏻AI
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karinlow.bsky.social
🐈‍⬛ @karinlow.bsky.social · Jul 29
A Covenant of Ice is out today in North Am! It wasn’t written by AI in any way. The cover art is human made. My publisher & editor are cool beans. @solarisbooks.bsky.social

If you want to support art being made by humans, for humans, give my anti-colonial, queer+ dragon book a go geni.us/ishia
Explore THE CROWNS OF ISHIA by Karin Lowachee
Read now:
geni.us
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eliaseells.bsky.social
THE DESERT TALON by Karin Lowachee, book 2 in the Crowns of Ishia trilogy and perhaps my favorite of the lot. Dry and dusty, a queer man's Western on the wild edges of an unwelcome land.
eliaseells.bsky.social Elias Eells- Bar Cart Bookshelf @eliaseells.bsky.social · Mar 25
NEW VIDEO ALERT! Today on Bar Cart Bookshelf we're talking about THE DESERT TALON by Karin Lowachee. The second book in a queer novella trilogy of frontier dragon-riding, dark magic, & the bonds of family, I loved it EVEN MORE than book 1! Our drink, Tourmaline, is a golden mocktail of smoky depth.
[image desc: THE DESERT TALON by Karin Lowachee on a deep reddish brown porch alongside a lowball glass filled with crushed ice and golden liquid.]
February 12, 2026 at 8:41 PM
karinlow.bsky.social
My very first pro sale was with On Spec. My second was Warchild ☺️ TIME FLIES
hugobookclub.bsky.social An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog @hugobookclub.bsky.social · 2d
On Spec @onspecmag.bsky.social ceased regular publication in late 2025. It's a magazine that's launched careers, served as an incubator for talent, and has done enormous good for SFF. Publisehed Doctorow, Czerneda, Peter Watts

Deserves semiprozine nod and short-form editor nod for Diane Walton

9/X
Cover of On Spec number 134
February 12, 2026 at 10:08 PM
karinlow.bsky.social
“a hallucinatory narrative of dragons as forces of nature”

Eddie, you can write all my blurbs for me in the future kthnx 🙏🏼😆👏🏻

For anyone not familiar, it is definitely my love letter to the natural world. With dragons more aligned with cats & orcas than talking creatures. @solarisbooks.bsky.social
dreddieclark.bsky.social Eddie Clark @dreddieclark.bsky.social · 2d
Karin Lowachee - A Covenant of Ice (Solaris)

Lowachee's Crows of Ishia series is all excellent; perfect command of the precision good novella writing requires. The last, is possibly the best; a hallucinatory narrative of dragons as forces of nature that Goes There for its inevitable conclusion.
A Covenant of Ice
The exciting conclusion to the gunslinging dragonrider trilogy!After years of separation, Havinger Lilley has finally reunited with his lover, Jana...
www.simonandschuster.com
February 12, 2026 at 8:21 PM
karinlow.bsky.social
The absolute absence of contractions in dialogue on Bridgerton is hella distracting and annoying. They modernize the clothing, music, and culture but the characters can’t say “can”t”?! Dude. I know the show suffers from a refusal to follow thru on worldbuilding but this is an easy fix.
February 11, 2026 at 5:39 PM
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suyidavies.com
Why 16 Oscar nominations for SINNERS matters, and why you've probably never heard of the oldest written Black vampire tale in North America. Happy Black History Month to all who celebrate!
February 1, 2026 at 5:58 PM
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press-android.bsky.social
It's Black History Month, and here's an opportunity for you to directly support black authors and editors in their creative careers. This anthology includes stories by @shereereneethomas.bsky.social @davaun.bsky.social @brentclambert.bsky.social @edenroyce.bsky.social and more. Pre-order now!!
The Cookout: A Speculative Fiction Anthology
Sci-fi, fantasy, & horror stories by Black authors, centering traditions of “the cookout” — the joy, the drama, and the delicious food.
www.kickstarter.com
February 3, 2026 at 4:26 PM
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kellyrobson.com
The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity has announced a two-week residency with Nalo Hopkinson @nalohop.bsky.social, Sheree Renee Thomas @shereereneethomas.bsky.social, and Joshua Whitehead. Yes you DO want to do this.

banffcentre.ca/programs/lit...
Futurisms Intensive Writing Residency 2027
This residency supports writers exploring potential futures, perspectives, and narratives.
banffcentre.ca
February 4, 2026 at 2:50 PM
karinlow.bsky.social
OMG I’ve gotten so many of these and didn’t clue in til later. Thankfully the second they said I’d have to pay a fee to be featured I realized…
kjcharleswriter.com KJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · 3d
The book club scam has taken an exciting new leap forward. I got one today from a "curated literary platform and newsletter" that, unusually, offered a link to its website. I'm in edits, so obviously I took the opportunity to procrastinate. /1
February 11, 2026 at 1:45 PM
karinlow.bsky.social
Dealing with people who are clearly using AI for customer service because their responses to you totally don’t address anything you said is MADDENING and I have no chill about it because they take your money then ghost you with AI. This is why people will Luigi other people.
February 10, 2026 at 5:43 PM
karinlow.bsky.social
I’m so ready for Sherlock Hottie 😜

m.youtube.com/watch?v=rXMr...
Young Sherlock - Official Trailer | Prime Video
YouTube video by Prime Video
m.youtube.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:57 AM
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clarkesworldmagazine.com
While analyzing our 2025 submission data, I noticed that the US is now the primary producer of slop submissions (which includes fully and partially-generated/assisted/whatever). Congrats. You're #1. Happy? You should be embarrassed. Please stop.

(In 2023 and 2024, the US wasn't in the top three.)
January 29, 2026 at 5:28 PM
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reactorsff.bsky.social
We are delighted to reveal the cover for Caskey Russell's The Eagle in the Mountain! The sequel to The Door on the Sea is a Tlingit epic fantasy following what happens when the quest is finished–and when someone else needs to takes over:
Revealing The Eagle in the Mountain by Caskey Russell - Reactor
Now returned from his quest, Elān is changed...
reactormag.com
January 29, 2026 at 2:39 PM
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arleysorg.bsky.social
The latest F&SF, edited by the amazing Sheree Renée Thomas @shereereneethomas.bsky.social, includes (with MANY fantastic things) my latest By the Numbers column, "Why We Need To Count On Each Other": 53 BIPOC authors filled out a survey asking about their experiences in publishing!

www.fandsf.com
Fantasy and Science Fiction
The award-winning Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, founded in 1949. The original publisher of Stephen King's Dark Tower, Daniel Keyes's Flowers for Algernon, and Walter M. Miller's A Canticle f...
www.fandsf.com
December 14, 2025 at 6:51 PM
karinlow.bsky.social
Thank you for mentioning me and The Mountain Crown! @solarisbooks.bsky.social It’s a great discussion overall from all involved.
January 29, 2026 at 2:29 AM
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andrewliptak.com
New months, new books. Here's the latest Transfer Orbit book list: 15 SF/F titles that caught my eye coming out in January!

Read it here: www.andrewliptak.com/heres-the-ja...
January 23, 2026 at 4:28 PM
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books-beers-bakes.bsky.social
Book 3 for 2026

The Mountain Crown by Karin Lowachee.

A book in 2 halves with a gradual methodical build up and then jumping a little discordantly through the action sequences and resulting consequences but this mirrors the experience of the protagonist so I can understand the change.

💙📚🪐
A yellow cover featuring an amber line drawing of a magnificent dragon cresting a mountain peak. The author is in amber at the top of the page and the series is also in amber at the bottom of the page. The title is in Black on the lower half of the cover.
January 18, 2026 at 6:23 PM
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solarisbooks.bsky.social
This #bluemonday, we've got the antidote to feeling blue - pick up a blue Solaris Book Instead!

Here are a few of our blue titles for you, which would you pick?

Ft @vajra.me @rainewilson.bsky.social @pennyvixen.bsky.social @karinlow.bsky.social @voidcricket.bsky.social @natania.bsky.social & more!
A compilation of blue Solaris book covers. THE GANYMEDAN by R. T. Ester THE GOBLIN EMPEROR and THE ORB OF CAIRADO by @truepennyvixen THE SPEAR CUTS THROUGH WATER by Simon Jimenez THE SERPENT CALLED MERCY by @roannelau WHILE THE GODS SLEEP by @ldcolter THE SALT ORCLE and WE ARE ALL GHOSTS IN THE FOREST by @raine_clouds_writes THE DOOR ON THE SEA by @caskey_russell_author THE KILLING SPELL by @shaykauwe AN UNBREAKABLE WORLD by @voidcricket SNOWBLOODED by @emmasternerradley DOLLFACE by @lindyryanwrites A COVENANT OF ICE by @karinlowachee THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS by @_vajra BEAST by @jade_g_linwood THE MARTIAN CONTINGENCY by @maryrobinettekowal QUEEN OF NONE by @nataniabarron THE HIDDEN WAY by @julietmarillier
January 19, 2026 at 5:48 PM
karinlow.bsky.social
The fact they couldn’t have anticipated this just goes to show how stupid people are being hailing “AI” as some kind of workforce Messiah. These results were so obvious to anyone with even passing knowledge of “AI”. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid and tanking your corporations. 👍🏼
January 18, 2026 at 11:50 AM
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natania.bsky.social
Please, never be shy telling an author you loved their books.

It’s seriously what gets us through.
January 18, 2026 at 1:41 AM
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eliaseells.bsky.social
In the interest of loving and supporting backlist titles too, how about telling me some queer dude SFFH faves from the last five years?

All the better when written by queer dudes!
eliaseells.bsky.social Elias Eells- Bar Cart Bookshelf @eliaseells.bsky.social · Nov 25
Hey, if you're a sci-fi, fantasy, horror writer and you have a gay book for gay dudes coming out, I wanna know about it. I always want to know about it.
January 2, 2025 at 1:30 AM
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dreddieclark.bsky.social
Karin Lowachee - The Desert Talon & Covenant of Ice.

Hugely effective storytelling in unflashily brilliant prose; packs a *lot* into short books. & *goes there* with its ending on the consequences of extractive colonialism pretty fearlessly; doesn't shy away from the consequences of its narrative.
The opening book of Lowachee's Crowns of Ishia trilogy of novellas was one of my favourite books of last year; happily the concluding two volumes maintain the standard. The Desert Talon tells focuses on Janan, the husband of one of the major supporting characters from The Mountain Crown, looking at the experience of refugees in lands at best grudgingly welcoming to them and fundamentally incompatible to their ways of living. A Covenant of Ice sees Lilley, Janan, and Méka (the protagonist of the Mountain Crown) dragooned into a mission back to the lands they recently escaped. The series as a whole is a fascinating exploration of colonialism, modernity, extractivism, while never neglecting character or setting, and having sufficient plot to keep everything moving appropriately. Doing this in the short word count of each book without anything feeling rushed is a real achievement, possible only because Lowachee is an unflashily excellent writer, packing implicit work on setting and character into virtually every line of dialogue. The series does interesting work with dragons as a metaphor for nature, too, up to and including a conclusion that feels absolutely inevitable but I think many writers would have chickened out of.
January 10, 2026 at 12:46 AM
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mouseferatu.bsky.social
Hey, I know a lot of you use Discord.

You need to get on this survey and make it damn clear to them that this would be the absolute wrong direction. The last thing we need is the slop-spewing environment-chewing plagiarism bots invading there, too.

discord.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...?
Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management
The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.
discord.sjc1.qualtrics.com
January 10, 2026 at 5:17 AM
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andrewliptak.com
January means the start to a new year of short fiction. Here's my latest Table of Contents roundup for you to check out: www.andrewliptak.com/sci-fi-fanta...
January 9, 2026 at 6:25 PM
karinlow.bsky.social
Here I am thinking, Wow I know some Swedish to hear it spoken and I can read a little! Then I watch Bill Skarsgård in Clark and I’m lucky if I catch one out of 10 words. It’s how rapid it sounds from native speakers 😭 But I’m persevering! 🇸🇪 It’s a fun language to learn for English speakers.
January 9, 2026 at 2:52 AM
karinlow.bsky.social
Eddie really understood what I was doing with the trilogy - THANK YOU EDDIE!

“The series as a whole is a fascinating exploration of colonialism, modernity, and extractivism, while never neglecting character or setting…”

@solarisbooks.bsky.social
dreddieclark.bsky.social Eddie Clark @dreddieclark.bsky.social · Jan 7
To conclude my self-indulgent first week of January best-of-palooza, here are a dozen of my favourite things I read in 2025.

11 from 2025 (and the last 6 weeks of 2024), and one re-read project that had a huge impact on me. Ranging from big-pub bestsellers to the most low fi of self-pub efforts.
Favourite books of 2025
Tough year, some great books
borrowed-and-blue.beehiiv.com
January 8, 2026 at 4:07 PM