Literally Lyndsey

Welcome to the latest instalment of Literally Lyndsey! It’s been a busy few months, with some exciting things to share, so read on for that, plus sub calls, updates, reading recommendations, submission calls, folklore facts, cat pics, and more!

In This City, Where it Rains - Out Now!

In This City, Where it Rains, my gothic horror love letter to Edinburgh, launched this week as part of the fantastic Luna Press Publishing Novella Series. I love so many of the books in this series, so I’m delighted to be part of it. It joins Andrew Knighton’s sci-fi novella, All That is In The Earth which you should definitely check out - in fact, you can grab a discounted bundle of both books here!

About the book: Maggie is haunted by ghosts that only appear in the rain - and it always rains in this city. At the edge of town, stands Tair House - a house that remembers, in a city that forgets. The mansion is so damned, it scares the clouds themselves from breaking, and the man of the house, Xavier Logan, and his wife Lucia, are harbouring a dark secret there - something that connects to Maggie and her ghosts. Soon all roads lead to Tair House, where Maggie hopes only to uncover more about her family's past and her muddled memories. But the house is hungry, and something is waking deep within its roots...something that has been waiting a long time for Maggie.

You can read a little about the inspirations for the book here. And here’s a lovely publication day review from Runalong the Shelves! And a reviewer recently compared it to Silent Hill meets Crimson Peak (which I love!) if that sparks your fancy…!

Order now from all the usual places! Or ask your local bookshop to get it in!

Dark Crescent goes international!

I’m delighted to be able to share that I signed my first foreign rights deal this year - this one is for a Ukrainian translation of Dark Crescent. It will be published by Yakaboo Publishing, alongside a very cool list of 2026 titles, and is due out later this year (hopefully Spring/Summer!) It’s currently being translated, which is super exciting, and it will be really cool to see it reach new readers. Thanks to my team at InkWell Management for championing the book internationally!

Dark Crescent on the BSFA Longlist

It was great to see Dark Crescent on the BSFA longlist for Best Collection, as well as its beautiful cover for Best Artwork by the amazing Jenni Coutts. Voting for BSFA members for the shortlist is open until the 19th Feb - always grateful for any consideration!

Other Writing News

• My latest short story, More than Metal, a dark science fiction story exploring AI in domestic life, and a woman who believes her husband had her replaced by a robot, was published in Shortwave Magazine. Excitingly, this marked my 100th published story which is a cool milestone to reach! It’s free to read, so check it out!

• My horror story The Walls in This House is going to be reprinted in The NoSleep Podcast - super cool as I love the podcast and can’t wait to hear it!

• I was delighted to join Page One Podcast to talk 100 stories, folklore, and dark fiction with Marco Rinaldi and Tariq Ashkanani - listen to it here, or watch it on YouTube here. This is such an excellent podcast for writers (and readers!), with 250+ episodes on writing, publishing, and craft!

• For something a little different, my short story The Loneliness of Water is included in an academic textbook Advanced Language and Learning - I had a nosy at some of the stories/works included in the textbook and have to say I’m quite surprised to be in there amongst them, but it will be cool to think of the story being used in an academic setting!

• Finally, I’m really happy to be joining Orion’s Belt Magazine as Fiction Editor from March - it’s an exciting time for the magazine, and I’ve always loved the fiction they publish so I’m looking forward to getting stuck in!

• And a few more things coming soon - keep an eye on my socials also for a couple of upcoming events!

What I've Been Reading

January and February have so far been excellent months for reading - here are some of my highlights!

• The Hamlet by Joanna Corrance in which lives intersect in a remote hamlet when things in the outside world "get strange" - delightfully tense, eerie, and often darkly funny this is the perfect weird horror read!

• My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna Van Veen- a deliciously dark gothic tale, a great twist on the ghost genre, full of intrigue and dread and such beautiful prose.

• The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei - such a fun and expansive space opera, so many cool concepts, great characters, and intrigue and moral dilemmas aplenty! Definitely recommend if you love a space adventure, heists, found family, and rich SF worlds.

• The Salt Bind by Rebecca Ferrier - brilliantly atmospheric and darkly folkloric, this was such a dreamy read. I loved everything about the book - the setting, characters, moral dilemmas, strong female relationships rituals and folklore - such a deftly crafted tale of grief and belonging. Highly recommend!

• Bloodbound by Heather Palmer - this was a really excellent fantasy sequel to Deathbound (which I also loved!) I really enjoyed getting into the additional POVs, getting absorbed in the political intrigue and delicious worldbuilding, and of course, dark magic and shenanigans - can’t wait for book three! The production and narration were fantastic too!

• The Girl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner - this was such a great a dark unravelling mystery, both strange and gripping - the perfect sporror!

• Currently reading: The Murderbot Diaries series (a reread after the recent TV show watch, but having lots of fun!)

Submission Calls

• Orion’s Belt Magazine will be opening for submissions in 2 weeks on March 1st - keep an eye on the website here or on Bsky for all the info! (As mentioned above, I’m joining the team as Fiction Editor so can’t wait to read the submissions!)

• The Tales to Terrify Flash Fiction Contest is open until Feb 28th, horror stories up to 1,000 words.

• Here’s an interesting new Horror Magazine based in Scotland, A Midnight Kind of Place - they have some specific anthology calls, including a Scottish Horror one so worth checking out!

• BSFA’s Fission Magazine is open until 27th February, sci-fi 1-5k words.

• Bit of a different one, but if you have a cat-themed story, you can enter it to Cat’s Protection short story competition until the end of March.

• Seize the Press are open for “unsettling bad time stories” - find out more here!

Scottish Folklore of the Month

While doing research for the new book, I was reading about the Scottish mythological creature the Boobrie. Don’t be drawn in by it’s slightly ridiculous name, the Boobrie is a dangerous blood-sucking malicious creature. It’s a shapeshifter, usually taking the form of a large bird, but could also appear as a water horse (like its Kelpie cousin) or a giant bloodsucking insect. The latter sparked an idea in my new folk horror book, whose main character is an entomologist…. The Boobrie tends to go after livestock, and is said to have a roar like a bull…terrifying to hear at the lochside.

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

I’m going to be honest, the last few months have been quite challenging on the publishing front (and the life front but I won’t go into that here). I’m now on submission with three longer projects, and it’s not been easy - we’ve had books get so close to the finish line, and a couple of those have been the toughest! It does seem like the market is tricky right now, and I think that’s the reality of being on submission for a lot of authors - after five years of it myself, it’s hard not to feel demoralised by it all - but I live in hope and maybe by the next newsletter, things will have moved forwards!

While obviously exciting things have also been happening (see above!) it’s taken me a while to get back to actually writing new things over the last six months.

That said, January has brought a bit of creative spark back, and I’m now well into drafting a new book - this one is a little different than my other novels. It’s a contemporary folk horror set in a small village in Scotland, with a classic homecoming set up, family secrets, religious horror, an unravelling (or two), and a “why is everyone acting so weird”….I’m having a lot of fun with it, and the words have been flowing lately so I’m just going to keep at it and hope that in the meantime we get some progress on the submissions front! Here’s a wee mood board to give a flavour of the book.

I’ve also been enjoying attending bookish events with friends - like the launch of The Salt Bind by Rebecca Ferrier and Brigid Lowe’s Bloody Branch (both that are very up my street!), and the Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award Showcase which is always an annual highlight. And I’m looking forward to celebrating the book releases of some friends later this month.

That’s all for now, but of course, to finish up, enjoy this important Pippin update (kept you scrolling just to get to it…!)

Still reading…here’s a bonus book promo post (with a couple more ridiculous promo ideas to come, watch this space!)