CL Hellisen
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clhellisen.bsky.social
CL Hellisen
@clhellisen.bsky.social
7.2K followers 670 following 13K posts
Stories in F&SF, Strange Horizons, Apex, Tor, Shimmer, BCS.

Repped by Caro Clarke

The Shape of Monsters out now https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Shape-of-Monsters-Audiobook/B0FGDJ5X1M

https://clhellisenlanding.carrd.co/

They/them, Scotland + S. Africa
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clhellisen.bsky.social
By made, I should clarify I stitched a ribbon onto an IKEA whale 🤣🤣🤣
February 5, 2026 at 5:24 AM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Sewing is so not my skill 🤣🤣🤣 but Muuraykaldy is done!
A large blue IKEA whale with 2 white ribbons crossing to make a saltire on the whale's back.
February 2, 2026 at 3:36 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
I am absolutely thrilled to have work included on the 2025 Locus Recommended List, alongside @rainewilson.bsky.social @mkhardywrites.com @seraph76.bsky.social @matociquala.bsky.social and many others.

Thank you, and I appreciate any and all votes!

locusmag.com/2026/02/2025...
The LOCUS 2025 Reading List header image, beneath that is the text: Novelette - Shadow Jack (Giganotosaurus 5/25) Anthology - Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology, Julie C Day, Carina Bisset & Craig Laurance Gidney, eds. CL HELLISEN
February 2, 2026 at 1:25 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Anyway, this is why I block people :)

What a fucking knob.
A comment in response to a picture of my cat. A man replies. That's a cat. A son would be a human. Again - that's a cat.
January 24, 2026 at 12:23 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
My extremely elegant son. He's legit just sitting like this, staring blankly, like he forgot what he was doing.

My sweet stupid son.
A large fluffy Siamese cross ragdoll is sitting on a black ottoman, one keg pointed to the sky. He looks confused.
January 24, 2026 at 11:54 AM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Oh wow, Utilita Arena is absolutely *packed* for #EuroFigure gala!
An ice arena, filled stands all lit up.
January 18, 2026 at 2:55 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
It's the final day of competition and I'm looking forward to many hours of skating goodness.

Have my coffee and my aero to fuel me. And a blanket for the warms.
A smiling person with short hair, in an arena seat. The light is pinky purple.
January 17, 2026 at 12:51 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Also, yesterday the women sitting behind me sang along loudly to every song so I have sneakily relocated to a better spot.

Hopefully I don't get moved 🤣
A smiling person with short hair, they are lit up pink from the stadium lights
January 15, 2026 at 1:27 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
In the Utilita Arena for day 2 of #EuroFigure, waiting for the mens short programme to start. :D
An icec rink lit up in blue and purple, with overhead screens and a stage and screen on the far end
January 15, 2026 at 1:15 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
The CL Hellisen book that reviews called 'woke cannibal erotica' has a friend. ;)

Just over a month to go before the sequel to The Shape of Monsters hits audio!

Buy from audio book retailers or listen free with Audible plus
An audio book cover with black wrapping showing oy the title A Million Points of Light and the date 19 February
January 15, 2026 at 10:51 AM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Much rejoicing! For, lo! I have entered Sheffield and have made my way to the arena to watch some Europeans practice sessions
A sports arena under a grey sky
January 13, 2026 at 5:48 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Just the lights from my town and the Queensferry bridge making the sky look like some kind of wonderland
A town at night by a river. The lights from a bridge cast an orange glow across the clouds
January 13, 2026 at 5:49 AM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Swan lake on ice
Swans standing on a frozen blue loch, Linlithgow castle in the background.
January 7, 2026 at 12:50 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Visiting Linlithgow with @bethkesh.bsky.social
The silhouette of a castle on the bank of a frozen loch under blue skies with a long corridor of cloud
January 7, 2026 at 12:40 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Book 2

Godmother Night by Rachel Pollack.

Exactly my jam - a queer fable about death and sex and fairy tales and the mystery of being alive.
A book cover with a surreal collage of the top half of a figure wearing a headdress. The author name Rachel Pollack is at the top, and below that in larger font the title Godmother Night.
January 6, 2026 at 8:57 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Wolf moon

And wolf person
A picture of the wolf moon rising over Edinburgh street. Unexpected photo bomb by a black coated person jumping in frame
January 3, 2026 at 5:52 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Third and final destination on our perambulation is Good Brothers. Lake Breeze Shiraz from Oz.

Wine modeled once again by the somewhat murderous and totally unwhimsical @echallewell.bsky.social
A person with short brown hair holds a glass of wine. There is also water on the table because we have strong feelings about sobriety
January 3, 2026 at 4:11 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Maximum Fance! Our charcuterie and cheese hath arrived!
A basket full of cheese and meat and olives and stuff.
January 3, 2026 at 2:47 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Stop 2 is Le Petit Raisin for a Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and a cheese and charcuterie board

Wine model @echallewell.bsky.social
A person with short brown hair, wearing a blue shirt with butterflies, holds up two glasses of red wine. Behind them is a red wall and glassed shelves with vintage crockery
January 3, 2026 at 2:39 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
I've decided to up my game and go on a wine bar perambulation.

Stop 1 is Bacco for a Montepulciano Moda, "Talamonti"
A wine bar with big stools and big lights and Xmas lights
January 3, 2026 at 1:43 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Books of 2026. No stars, no ratings, no reviews, just a list.

Book 1. Starting off the year with a reread of this classic by Joanna Russ - How to Suppress Women's Writing.
Cover of How to Suppress Women's Writing by Joanna Russ. The cover is white, covered with black and red text that denigrates women writers, to show how their work is erased from the canon.
January 1, 2026 at 6:40 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Gif-based augury is a lot less messy than the usual spilling of entrails
A screen cap of a gif. Merriam-Webster account says "Take a screenshot of this GIF, and whatever new word you land on is YOUR word for 2026. Let's. Go." The screenshot shows a blue square with Your 2926 Word. Below that is the word "Golden"
January 1, 2026 at 5:12 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Starting this year not with a resolution but a promise poem
FILTH This year I will learn a wallowing art; a porcine roll through the filth of my existence. Forget the endless lessons of my childhood - so dull and concerned with dust wash polish, with old grease carved out from under the cooker dials with a blunt knife. I will nest in my skin-stinking laundry and write poetry in the margins of yellowed cookbooks. My stories will be oily, unwashed. They will slide against you, tongue your ear, forget birthdays and doctor’s appointments. You will tell me they disgust you as you press your fingers in. CL Hellisen
January 1, 2026 at 5:02 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
Ended the year with Carmen Dog by Carol Emshwiller - a satirical feminist fairy tale where women begin turning into animals and female animals turn into women.

It was a vicious, cruel, sexual, comic, operatic, chaotic nonsense and I loved it.

So many scenes cut far too close to the real.
A book cover divided in three. The top is a pale grey blue with the title Carmen Dog. Beneath that is a white section with a black line drawing of humanistic animals or animalistic humans on a stage. Slow that is the final third in the same pale grey blue with the author's name, Carol Emshwiller.
December 31, 2025 at 9:47 PM
clhellisen.bsky.social
It's the final day to nominate stories for the BSFA awards.

Here are my award-eligible works from 2025:

@giganotosaurus.bsky.social @thepinkhydra.com @thisjulieday.bsky.social
A graphic that says CL Hellisen award eligibility. Novel, audio. The Shape of Monsters, Audible Original, released July 2025. Alongside is a picture of the cover. Short Stories. Shadow Jack, published May 2025, Giganotosaurus. Saltcove, published June 2025, The Pink Hydra. Makers, published July 2025, Storytellers, a Tanith Lee Anthology.
December 31, 2025 at 3:17 PM