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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer

@kitwhitfield.bsky.social

2.8K followers 1.3K following 3.2K posts

Novelist ‘as tart, dark and juicy as a summer pudding’. World Fantasy Award finalist. She/her. Timeline cleanse queen. The Gyrford series: tinyurl.com/nvvetupj Horror reviews: https://tinyurl.com/5cyf7x5v Agent: Sophie Hicks.

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · Nov 22

Art by my husband illustrating one of the creatures of my IN THE HEART OF HIDDEN THINGS. (tinyurl.com/nvvetupj)

The brambles had been talking to themselves for a while, but it’s only when someone uprooted one that they started to get really stroppy…

Pen sketch. Spindly bundle of spikes with a blackberry for a head rears up like a mantis. Text caption: ‘Scratchity GOWAY!’

Pen sketch. Skeletal bramble bushes all over spikes hunch like spiders.

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 20h

#booksky #bookqw word: STRONG.

Fairy-smith John meets Toby, a boy considered by his neighbours to be 'touched' because of a fey encounter.

In other news, I come from a neurodiverse family.

Buy here: tinyurl.com/nvvetupj

John drew forward again. He was listening hard now, trying to feel the air. There was something around Toby, a – what was it? A fluster, a tumbling disorder. The boy was fast and strong, there was no question about it, but it was as if the normal pull of the earth didn’t operate on him. Something was blowing him about, gusting him this way and that faster than a common man could follow.

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 1d

Are you writing a business book?

Or, more likely if you follow me, have you been approached by someone who wants to write a business book and you haven't the time to help them?

This is just out. It's by a dear friend, and it's great. Check it!

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/191790103...

HOW TO WRITE YOUR BEST BUSINESS BOOK

Buy HOW TO WRITE YOUR BEST BUSINESS BOOK by Russell Johnson, Dr Nicola, Russell, Peter (ISBN: 9781917901031) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 1d

Very easy if you've got the mold! No skill involved. ;-)

Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 1d

The funniest part of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES is that Sherlock Holmes is hired by a race scientist whose 'special hobby' is measuring skulls and who writes papers called 'Some Freaks of Atavism' and 'Do We Progress?'...

And the plot turns on a family resemblance he failed to spot.

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, living in London I get a bit off-balance in white-only places. They feel strange: where’s everybody else?

Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, scraps of light mozzarella briefly microwaved in a silicone mold and then chilled.

Couple of skulls of my tiniest enemies in there too, but mostly mozzarella. The enemies are just for the crunch.

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 1d

Spooky salad! By mysterious fate I ended up having 13 skulls per bowl. Coincidence…?

White bowl with a salad of tomato, lettuce and cucumber, with mozzarella pieces molded in skull shapes.

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Reposted by Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer

Stephen G. Rae @stephengrae.bsky.social · 2d

In Cumbrian dialects, 'broc' is badger

Badger is held in high esteem and 'brocan' means wise man. In lore, badgers protect against witchcraft and other evils

more in: Folklore of the Lake District
bardofcumberland.com/folklore/

#NationalBadgerDay #folklore
art: Lily Seika Jones

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 2d

Foxies!

Photo by Minoru Taketazu from his book Kita-Kitsune (Hokkaido Fox), 1974.

Grainy photo in black and white, its roughness accentuating the mist that hangs over the dewy field we see. In the field, three young fox kits leap and play amidst the stalks.

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 3d

‘Psypo’, noun. Portmanteau of ‘psychological’ and ‘typo’. When you know the concept, but as you reach for the word you miss and hit the word next to it.

Eg: ‘You know the anagram IDK?’

‘Do you mean acronym?’

‘Isn’t that what I said?’

‘Nope. Psypo.’

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 4d

Looking for a cool project to support? @julietemckenna.bsky.social’s work is always a delight, and so, personally, is she. Hop on over!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/191...

Update 2: Juliet McKenna on Welsh folklore · They Are Still Here (Maen Nhw Yma O Hyd)

As promised, here is the first of our updates about Welsh history and legend. This one is from Juliet McKenna.I was drawn to the Welsh myths underpinning The Green Man’s Gift for several reasons. Firs...

www.kickstarter.com

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Reposted by Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer

XingWu🐉ChineseFolklore @xingwu.bsky.social · 4d

In the mountains of Qingqiu roams a fox, not ordinary, but crowned with nine tails. As told in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, each tail marks a rise in spiritual power, splitting one by one until the creature becomes immortal. The Nine-Tailed Fox can spit fire, dazzle the mind, and1/2
#mythology

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 4d

I remember reading in a biography of Dahl that Matilda was supposed to be a wicked girl in the first draft, who used her powers to help Miss Honey win at gambling.

I know that sounds pure online legend and I no longer have the book to check, but I do remember it!

Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 4d

Thanks for sharing this!

Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 4d

We stand with our trans fellow-citizens.

Not In Our Name (NION) Women @nionwomen.bsky.social · 6d

We expect to hit 55k signatures in support of our open letter this week, perhaps even today. Thank you to everyone who has signed or shared. Let’s keep this going:

notinourname.org.uk

Home - Not in our name

As women we reject the narrative that trans+ people are a threat.

notinourname.org.uk

Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 4d

It was just a seed last night. Best not sit on it till we’re sure it’s finished growing.

#AskAFairySmith

Chair by Claude Lalanne

Chair with seat and back shaped like ginko leaves and stem-like legs. Made 1999.

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 5d

Aw love. You're the best and he was blessed to have you. There's good times coming. xx

Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 5d

Hellooooo!

Artist: Gustave Dore

Engraving in deep shades of black. An owl sits in a hollow tree, mushrooms clustering at the base. A deep forest recedes behind; in the distance we can just see the Gothic arches of a ruined castle.

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Reposted by Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer

Mary Dineen 📷 𓀡𓆀 @marysunshineisgone.bsky.social · 7d

Silvereye NZ 2016

Bird perched on a branch facing left. Yellow head, orange forehead. White breast. Gray shoulders and olive wings

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 6d

I’d guess the dragon hasn’t nested here a while. Don’t touch the bones though - they don’t like anyone touching anything that was once theirs. It mighn’t know, but I don’t trust those birds not to carry tales.

#AskAFairySmith

Artist: Roelant Savery

Painting from 1610, ‘Memento Mori.’ A heap of bones and animal skulls, amidst which a frog sits and birds peck at the ground. Grass and weeds grow scrubbily around.

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 7d

Starting to think about Christmas shopping? Pre-orders are now open for the latest treat from my dear pal @alexandrakbenedict.bsky.social. If you get it from an indie bookshop it even has a tartan edge!

Get in there. I defy anyone to say they know no one who'd enjoy it!

Hardback book, navy background with gold snowflakes and seasonal leaves. Author in gold letters: Alexandra Benedict. Title in white letters: The Christmas Cracker Killer.

Photographed against a red background, sitting between a red-and-white striped pulled cracker. Slogan above: It's the most murderous time of the year.

Publication date: 6th November.

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 7d

Seems there’s also an issue just seeing Heathcliff as an object of desire. Cathy clearly sees him as other self. What that means from a white woman loving but rejecting a man of colour could be interesting if you actually tackled it.

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 7d

#booksky #bookqw word: HARD.

A message has been sent: this is definitely a case for the fairy-smiths.

A bit grisly, this one. Happy October!

Get the books here: tinyurl.com/nvvetupj

The message had said that a herd of prize pigs, possessed of silken back-fat as smooth-tasting as cream, had suffered a sudden disaster. One of the sows – only a sow, mercifully, not the breeding boar – had disappeared, and at first the owners, the Palmer family, had thought in terms of thieves – until a week later they were greeted by the dreadful sight, there, in their own farmyard, of the corpse of the sow herself, withered down to an empty sack of bones, black skin leathered over her stark skull, where her hardened lips leered at the Palmers in a grin of ghastly anguish, as if she had died of pain so dreadful that there was nothing left to do but laugh at a world that could contain it.
(Such was the enthusiastic account of Tim Scranton, the packman who had been paid to carry the news; he had added the philosophy for free. A man who affords his supper based on the ability to talk up his wares would be remiss in his trade if he didn’t take such an opportunity to practise his powers.)

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 7d

Me: I'm trying to organise a social thing, how embarrassing. Everyone knows I'm doing this because I'm such a Billy No-Mates.

Also me: Someone else is organising a social thing! They must be so cool and popular!

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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 7d

First of the month. White rabbits! But it’s October, so this one is eerie.

Artist: Nymla

Photo in an eerie wood. To the right stands a dark-robed figure in a stylised, black-eyed rabbit mask. To the right, a close-up of the same.

Bottom corner credit: Nymla. www.nymla.se

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/crafts/comments/33bx80/i_made_a_creepy_rabbit_mask/

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