Literally Lyndsey

Welcome to the Summer instalment of Literally Lyndsey - back after a slight hiatus! It’s been a busy few months, with some exciting news to share, so read on for that, plus sub calls, updates, book and story recommendations, submission calls, folklore facts, kitten pics, and more!

Split Scream Volume Five - Out Now!

I’m absolutely delighted to have my coastal weird novelette “The Girl With Barnacles for Eyes” is included in Split Scream Volume Five from Tenebrous Press, edited by Alex Ebenstein. I really love this series (and the concept of it!) My novelette is paired with Bitter Karella’s brilliant “The Ballad of Horse Girl”, a weird western revenge novelette. Find out more here, and here are some order links: Direct from Tenebrous Press, Kindle, Waterstones, Blackwells.

Pre-order Limelight and Other Stories

Less than a month until my debut collection of near and far future dark SF stories, Limelight and Other Stories launches! It’s been great to see early blurbs come in (including from authors I hugely admire, like one of my absolute favourite writers and master of short fiction, Aliya Whiteley!) I can’t wait for it to be out in the world next month. I’m also absolutely in love with Shortwave’s Alan Lastufka’s cover and design for the book.

You can find various pre-order links here - it would be great if you considered ordering it in advance, as it’s really a great way to support indie authors and publishers. It’s out on September 3rd from most book buying places, direct from Shortwave, or ask your favourite bookshop to order it in!

Dark Crescent - coming June 2025!

And final book news…I have a second short story collection coming out in June 2025 and I’m beyond delighted! Dark Crescent is a collection of Scottish folklore inspired dark tales, featuring creatures, superstitions, and strange phenomenon inspired by Scotland’s lore and landscape. It’s publishing with Luna Press, an Edinburgh based publisher doing amazing things in the SFF scene! I can’t wait to work on this book, and to launch it next June - this one has been long in the works, since I started writing Scottish folklore inspired tales in 2020, and became a bit obsessed with all the weird and wonderful lore. I’ll keep sharing more Scottish folklore things and news in the lead up…! Read more about the book here! (Graphic below not the cover, but I know the artist who is doing it and I cannot wait to see it!)

New short fiction!

• ‘A Change in the Rain’ a Scottish folklore inspired dystopian tale was published in Seaside Gothic.

• ‘The Taxidermist’ was published in Weird Tales Magazine’s Occult Detective Issue, a story inspired by the Cat-sìth from Scottish folklore.

• ‘The Walls in this House’ published in Cursed Morsel Press’ Why Didn’t You Just Leave anthology edited by Julia Rios and Nadia Bulkin.

• ‘We Maintain the Moons’ was in Analog’s July/August issue - a tale of a moon-maintaining robot on an Alderson disk world. This story is also in Limelight!

Coming Soon!

• ‘Every Part of You’ (previously published in OOZE: Little Bursts of Body Horror, and Hexagon’s Year’s Best Arthropod Fiction) will be out with PseudoPod at the end of the month - so excited to hear the audio version!

• ‘Here and There’ a botanical witchy tale about folklore and memory will be out in Crow & Cross Keys in September.

• I also got an acceptance for a new Scottish SF story ‘To Reap, To Sow’ to an amazing venue (my second sale there confirming the first one wasn’t a fluke!) Will share more when I can!

Other writing things!

• ‘Trusting the Unexpected Journey’ - It was great (and quite cathartic) to write this blog for British Fantasy Society about my unexpected writing journey to date.

What I've Been Reading

• Over the past few months I’ve read some really brilliant books - here are some favourites!

• Calypso by Oliver K Langmead - innovative, lyrical, beautiful, and the concept and themes are so well executed! Going to be thinking about this one for a while - also, more books in verse please, loved it.

• The Day of the Door by Laurel Hightower it had me genuinely freaked out and not wanting to turn off the lights when I went to bed! Pacy, chilling, and so absorbing. The whole concept perfectly (and terrifyingly) executed - every horror fan needs to read it!

• Ghost Apparent by Jelena Dunato - the writing sings from the page in this darkly fantastical tale of political intrigue, vengeance, and trickster gods. A great read both as a prequel to Dark Woods, Deep Water, and as a standalone for those new to Abia!

• Woodworm by Layla Martínez a dark and gothic delight, featuring generational ghosts, weird hauntings, and narrators messing with your perceptions of things!

• Currently reading: The Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis (luxury hotel in space). I loved Frontier so very excited for this! I also have a huge stack of books waiting for me, and I’m glad to have finally got back into a proper reading flow recently.

Some short writing I’ve enjoyed recently!

• ‘The Ethereal Nature of Superpowers’ by Marie Croke in Apparition Lit

• ‘Cicadas, and Their Skins’ by Avra Margariti in Strange Horizons.

• ‘Your Body Conquers Death’ (a beautifully moving nonfiction) by Sophia-Maria Nicolopoulos in The Deadlands.

• ‘Once there was water’ by Katie McIvor in The Dark

• ‘All the Lost Places that Birthed Us’ by Somto Ihezue in Frivolous Comma.

Events!

I’m going to be at WorldCon next week for most of the long weekend, from Thursday 8th-Monday 12th. I’m on a panel, and have a few other events (see graphic above!) Also just got confirmation that a limited number Limelight and Other Stories (alongside Have You Decided on Your Question) will be available from Waterstones early at the event which is super exciting - if you’re attending and pick one up, do come find me to sign and stamp it! I’ll be doing autographing officially on the Sunday too!

• 16th August - I’ll be reading at (Lunch) Box Fresh at the Edinburgh Book Festival. You can grab a “pay what you can” ticket here. I’ll be reading from Limelight!

• 5th September - Limelight and Other Stories book launch will be at Argonaut Books - I can’t wait! A link will be up soon and I’ll share this on all the socials, so keep an eye out for it!

Submission Calls

• Little Red Flags from Dark Matter INK, open 1-16th August.

• This Way Lies Madness, submission call from Flame Tree Press anthologies, 2000-4000 words, deadline 13th October.

• In August and September, Apex Magazine will only be open to unpublished writers (described via link, but essentially if never been paid for writing). Check it out!

• Haven Spec opens on 7-13 August for general subs, and now a pro-paying venue!

• Uncanny Magazine opens for subs 5th August-2nd September.

• Saros Speculative Fiction (part of Fusion Fragment) 5-18th August.

• PseudoPod open 9-20th August (horror stories).

• Apparition Lit are open to subs for their theme HARBINGER from 15-31st August.

Scottish Folklore of the Month

Last month, I finished a new horror story about the Red Cap - a goblin-like creature wearing (as the name suggests) a red cap. The catch: it’s not a normal cap, but one covered in blood. If the blood ever dries, the Red Cap will die, so, it must do what it can to keep the cap wet with blood…including hanging out at abandoned castles, and stalking tourists there. The story I wrote was a true crime tale inspired by this!

What I’m working on/what I’ve been up to

The last few months have been extremely busy and hectic - some family things and events, and I was in Istanbul and Mexico for work in May and June, which were both very cool, but all in all left me with a bit of a work/life imbalance. I’ve been struggling to really find time and energy for writing and other freelance work, and so I took the decision to go for a job with less hours. I start that new job in August, which will give me two days a week for writing and freelance work. It’s both exciting and a bit scary, but I’m looking forward to having more time to work on writing projects, and to be able to do other opportunities that I’d have otherwise had to say no to! I have some time off before I start that new job - during which I’ll be having some much needed rest writing, then going to WorldCon, getting my wisdom teeth out (terrified), and then moving out of my flat for a month (urgent repairs after water damage!). Also, it’s the Fringe in Edinburgh, so it’s all happening! Maybe Autumn will finally be quieter…

I am still working on deep sea book, progressing it chapter by chapter and it is getting closer to the finish line. I am also tentatively querying again, and I’d forgotten how much email watching and stressing it involves! I do have a couple of promising leads, and a potentially cool meeting next week, so fingers crossed for some exciting things on the novel front soon.

Despite all the busy life things, I’ve also very much been enjoying the first few months with my giant kitten, Pippin. He’s a delight and is growing extremely fast…a 7 month old ball of fluff! He’s also extremely chill, and we’ve been on a few adventures, including a train journey up north to visit family.

Until next time, happy reading, writing, relaxing, and enjoying Summer (even if you’re getting the rainy Edinburgh summer like me!)