Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨

@jenbrownwrites.bsky.social

1.6K followers 410 following 110 posts

Bi, black librarian (she/her); Ignyte Award nom'd SFF author; community admin for wehere.space. Stories in FIYAH, Anathema, Baffling, & more. Clarion West Novel Writing Workshop ‘25. jencbrown.com (Header by the incomparable well_dipper 🎨)

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨ @jenbrownwrites.bsky.social · 13d

Ahem...might I offer you some joy, in these trying times? Applications for @clarionwest.bsky.social's 2026 Novel Writing Workshop open soon. So, I wrote about my application experience & programmatic takeaways, thus far.

If you're thinking about applying? Do it. ✊🏾

jencbrown.com/2025/09/27/o...

On Novel-ing: Clarion West’s Novel Writing Workshop (2025)

Seven months ago, I was accepted into the first cohort of Clarion West’s Novel Writing Workshop. (Or NWW, as we’ve lovingly acronymn-ized it.) Seven life-changing months filled with lec…

jencbrown.com

1 6 17

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨ @jenbrownwrites.bsky.social · 1d

Once-opulence? Space novellas with interesting relationships?? An extremely adept author whose prose swept me away, the first time I read them???

Yeah. My bookshelves are ready.

WRAITH 👻🍉 @straith.ca · 2d

GREY GARDENS in space:

A fledgling documentarian gets overly entangled with two deposed Imperials in exile on a once-opulent space station.

He must choose: launch his career as a truth-teller, or protect these people from the judgment of a hostile audience.

#DVpit #A #SF #LGBT #TV #novella

1 2

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨ @jenbrownwrites.bsky.social · 1d

I’ve read these opening pages yall. They were spectacular. 👀🔥

Thenmozhi Soundararajan/Dalit Diva ✨️is querying✨️ @dalitdiva.bsky.social · 2d

WE SANG DOWN THE EMPIRE 85,000 Word #Spaceopera
🛸 Nesamma Abbas, a washed-up alien musician,
🎸 joins a rebel rock band to take down the Human Empire
✨with a martial art of sound ⚡🎶
.😢She must confront her pain,
🧘‍♀️ Master her powers
⚔️ & choose: revolution
❤️ or redemption
#WOC #Asian #SFF #DVpit

Reposted by Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨

geneva @gdbee.bsky.social · 3d

Twinkle, 10 x 16 inches, acrylics on board and paper.
The lady and a few of the stars pop out in 3d :)

Traditional illustration of a woman holding out her dress to catch star rain. Acrylics on paper and board. The woman and a few stars are on a separate 3 dimensional layer above the background.

5 320 900

Reposted by Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨

R.S.A. Garcia (BUY THE NIGHTWARD) @rsagarcia.bsky.social · 9d

It's Black Speculative Fiction month!

All October, health allowing, I'll update this thread with fun recs for classic & current black spec fic & a bonus work of my own.

1. MY BONES & MY FLUTE www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-bones-a...

2. A RUIN OF SHADOWS
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-ruin-of-... 1/2

1 72 87

Reposted by Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨

L. D. Lewis, Peach Jolly Rancher 🍬 @ldlewiswrites.blacksky.app · 4d

Today is my favorite person @brentclambert.bsky.social 's birthday! The SFF field is better for his part in it as a writer, a reader, a friend and cheerleader and my life is brighter for sharing his light. If you have not let it bless you just yet, pick up and devour his A Necessary Chaos today.

A Necessary Chaos by Brent Lambert — neon hemlock

This title was published October 3rd, 2023. An 8” x 5” novella. 145 pages. In a world of magical empires and the anarchists that would tear them down, A Necessary Chaos follows two mages, Althus a...

www.neonhemlock.com

2 33 60

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨ @jenbrownwrites.bsky.social · 4d

🥹💕🫂

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨ @jenbrownwrites.bsky.social · 4d

!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! L absolutely said it best. I am so grateful to live on the same planet as you, and to bask in the joy of your stories & your presence. You are a gift and a light!! ✨

1 1

Reposted by Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨

Alexa Ray Corriea @alexaray.bsky.social · 4d

It’s boiling in October because you’re using ChatGPT to write your emails, Janice.

10 950 3K

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨ @jenbrownwrites.bsky.social · 6d

It really is!! 🥹 I hope you apply.

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨ @jenbrownwrites.bsky.social · 6d

🔥🔥🔥

Reposted by Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨

Gorey Cask of Amontilladoing @coreybrickley.bsky.social · 10d

ah look its all our fears

Culture Crave 🍿 @culturecrave.co · 10d

EA's new owners are planning an AI pivot to significantly cut operating costs

(via Financial Times)

14 66 420

Reposted by Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨

𝔰𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔪𝔞𝔶 𝔦 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔰ö𝔪𝔢 ö𝔪𝔟𝔢𝔯𝔰 @buriedinembers.bsky.social · 10d

aging Cassandra has been living in my head for a while now, it is time to set her free

#dragonage

11 260 640

Reposted by Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨

L. D. Lewis, Peach Jolly Rancher 🍬 @ldlewiswrites.blacksky.app · 10d

Did you happen to enjoy my short "Flicker" in Peele's Out There Screaming anthology? Patton Oswalt did, and now it's its own itty bitty limited edition baby in his next Ghost Box set from Canadian publisher Hingston & Olsen

www.hingstonandolsen.com/ghost-box-iv

Ghost Box IV — Hingston & Olsen Publishing

www.hingstonandolsen.com

11 22 67

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨ @jenbrownwrites.bsky.social · 10d

!!!! The man has GOOD TASTE. 👏🏾 (this whole set/box design is 🔥 too)

1 1

Reposted by Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨

Ketracel Black @ketracelblack.blacksky.app · 12d

white folks love to hear this when it's from black lawyers and professors - they've "earned" the right to not be disrespected - but let it be a negro without a Harvard degree, living paycheck to paycheck and the empathy goes right out the window

JazzReads📚 @jazzreads.bsky.social · 12d

So exhausting..

1 9 28

Reposted by Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨

AC @ahmadchildress.bsky.social · 12d

This is why we have high blood pressure.

JazzReads📚 @jazzreads.bsky.social · 12d

So exhausting..

1 110 340

Reposted by Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨

Tajja Isen @tajjaisen.bsky.social · 14d

I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...

The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem | The Walrus

Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it

thewalrus.ca

22 350 860

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨ @jenbrownwrites.bsky.social · 13d

On Novel-ing: Clarion West’s Novel Writing Workshop (2025)

Seven months ago, I was accepted into the first cohort of Clarion West’s Novel Writing Workshop. (Or NWW, as we’ve lovingly acronymn-ized it.) Seven life-changing months filled with lec…

jencbrown.com

1 6 17

Reposted by Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨

wobblerocket 🎲🎮 @wobblerocket.com · 22d

As you cancel streaming services, here is a casual reminder that only 16% of Americans read for pleasure anymore, and your local library has hundreds or thousands of books you haven't read.

They would love to see you stop by and renew your library card.

250 5.5K 14K

Reposted by Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨

Charlie Jane "Lessons in Magic and Disaster" Anders 🏳️‍⚧ @charliejane.bsky.social · 23d

This Friday! Writers With Drinks! Queer spoken word 'n comedy. It's going to be AMAZING.

Here's why I'm so excited about each of these performers/readers...

A hand raising a tumbler of wine, another hand holding a book that says "with the best writers in the Bay area!" other text reads:

WRITERS WITH DRINKS
A LITERARY VARIETY SHOW

CHARLIE JANE ANDERS
CARO DE ROBERTIS MICHAL "MJ" JONES
ANNALEE NEWITZ
FRIDA SIERRA
RENEE SWINDLE
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19TH STRUT/MAGNET, 470 CASTRO ST.
7PM-9PM

1 31 100

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨ @jenbrownwrites.bsky.social · 23d

Also, your public library might even notify you when something has been purchased! (Mine does!)

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨ @jenbrownwrites.bsky.social · 23d

Don’t sleep on this method!! It can often feel like forms go into a black hole, but purchase requests do get seen. Librarians get excited when folks make their collection development responsibilities a little easier. 🙏🏾

Charlie Jane "Lessons in Magic and Disaster" Anders 🏳️‍⚧ @charliejane.bsky.social · 24d

Hey, I know books are expensive and money is tight right now.

But if there's a brand new book you really wanna read — including my own Lessons in Magic and Disaster — you can help get the book into way more hands by requesting it from your local library!

It's easy! Check your library's website.

1 30 59

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨ @jenbrownwrites.bsky.social · 23d

I cannot wait! 👀👏🏾 Your work is always 🔥 out the gate.

1 1

Jen Brown (is drafting) ✨ @jenbrownwrites.bsky.social · 23d

I wish we knew!! 😮‍💨