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!

Dark Crescent Out Now!

Dark Crescent launched just over a month ago on June 3rd with Luna Press Publishing, and its glorious cover by Jenni Coutts, and it’s been great to see people find and engage with this dark folkloric book of my heart! Order now from all the usual places! Or ask your local bookshop to get it in!

It’s been a busy launch month, and have been enjoying lots of exciting events and celebrating the book launch. Some highlights:

• Attended Cymera Fest, including joining a Folklore & Other Stories Panel with CL Hellisen, V. Castro and Gustaffo Vargas - the event was sold out, and afterwards Dark Crescent sold out at both the Luna Press stall and the Festival bookshop (very cool!)

• Joined writer friends at Dundee Book Festival for Thrills at the Mills, special genre events organised by MK Hardy! Really enjoyed chatting folklore with author Sandra Ireland and local storyteller and folklorist Erin Farley.

• Was a guest for a live recording of new podcast Writing Worlds with Chris Gregory and Emily Inkpen of Alternative Stories & Fake Realities. Listen here!

• Held an official launch at The Edinburgh Bookshop with friends and family which was really lovely - thanks to Joe and the bookshop for hosting me.

• Joined The Folklore Podcast with Mark Norman to talk about folklore and writing inspirations. I’m a huge fan of the podcast, so this was great to be part of! Listen to the episode here.

• Was featured in The Scots Magazine’s The Scottish Bookshelf for July.

• Joined Val McDermid, Jo Sharp, and Scottish Makar Peter Mackay for a session on the power of imagination for shaping futures - spoke about environment themes in Dark Crescent and more.

Book of the Month and a special giveaway!

Dark Crescent is the Scottish Book Trust’s Book of the Month for July which is very exciting! You can read a Q&A about the book, folklore, and writing inspirations here, as well as enter a competition to win 1 of 5 copies of the book!

And a wee extra…

If you’re a subscriber and have bought a copy of Dark Crescent, feel free to drop me an email or message on social media with your address, and I’ll post you a special bookmark and lino stickers by yours truly (pictured below!) I’m happy to do this throughout the rest of July/early August for anyone who would like some wee extras!!

Three Award Shortlistings…!

The Girl With Barnacles for Eyes is a Shirley Jackson Award Finalist

I definitely was in quite disbelief when I got the email to say that I’m a Shirley Jackson Award Finalist! It’s super exciting and such an honour to be nominated for such an award, recognising the legacy of one of horror’s greats! Huge thank you to Alex Ebenstein and the Tenebrous Press team for championing this strange wee novelette in their Split Scream Series last year. Winners are announced 19th July (tomorrow!), and I’m so in awe of the great work included in the shortlists, and I’m delighted to be there with them.

Limelight Shortlisted for Two British Fantasy Awards

And another very exciting thing to find out that my debut collection Limelight and Other Stories, published by Shortwave Publishing last September, is a finalist for both Best Collection and Best Newcomer at the British Fantasy Awards. Again, the list is jampacked with talent and I’m so excited to be shortlisted. Thank you to anyone who nominated the book! I’m now extra looking forward to going to World Fantasy Con in October!

Short fiction news!

• ‘The Rot’ a microfiction story about won Third Place in Apex Magazine’s and you can read it now!

• ‘Under a Bleeding Sky’ a Scottish-folklore inspired story based on the Mirrie Dancers and Bloodstones folklore, will be out in Parsec Magazine Issue 14.

• ‘When the Blood Runs Dry’ will be published in New Con Press Blood in the Bricks, edited by Neil Williamson out in October! Pre-order here.

• Daughter of Fire and Water my audio drama is now available to listen to on Spec Fiction Radio Theatre in one part - find it here!

• Also just signed a contract for a very exciting anthology, more soon!

Events

• On 24th July, looking forward to joining Angie Spoto and Lorraine Wilson to chat Scottish Folklore at Blackwell’s Edinburgh - it’s sold out and can’t wait!

• 7th August: I’ll be doing an author chat at Ink & Quill Bookshop in Montrose

• 29th August: Find me at Waterstones St Andrews at 1pm doing an author signing of Dark Crescent.

Please do come along if you’re nearby to any of these! I’ll be signing books, and will have some special merch with me for these in-person events.

What I've Been Reading

• Send Flowers by Emily Buchanan - Hard to fully capture the range of emotions I went through reading this book, but this was a thought provoking, deeply moving, and incisive exploration of grief, activism, resistance, justice, and finding yourself in a world that feels impossible to navigate. It is also heartfelt and funny, with a great cast of characters, and I laughed and cried reading it.

• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk - this one completely surprised me and I absolutely loved the storytelling style. Hard to say much without spoilers, but I loved the themes it explored of engaging with nature, and our role in safeguarding it, and the forces that drive us to protect our communities.

• Thirsty Animals by Rachelle Atalla - powerful, tense and far too prescient, exploring the dynamics of what would happen if water shortages hit the UK, and Scotland became a desirable refuge. Set on a farm trying to keep going amidst such turmoil, it so brilliantly explores how far people may go to keep them and their loved ones safe. Brilliant read!

• City of All Seasons by Aliya Whiteley and Oliver K Langmead - Knowing and loving the work of both of these authors individually, I was excited to see what a joint project would be like and it didn't disappoint. I absolutely loved the worldbuilding, the fantastical and surreal, the family mysteries and secrets, the folkloric elements and alternative future/history/however you want to class the strange world of Fairharbour! Reading the book was like working out a puzzle, much like the characters themselves and their strange creations - definitely recommend this genre-blending beauty!

• An Unbreakable World by Ren Hutchings (out in September) Action packed, fantastic worldbuilding, heartfelt, and full of twist and turns. Was drawn in straight away by the intrigue and storytelling style, following Page, Maelle, and Dalya's stories through such a richly imagined universe. I loved the snippets of history of the system, the folklore and how they all wove together so neatly by the end. Really brilliant and immediately added to my top space opera reads!

• The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet by Lindz Mcleod - a Jane Austen reimagining putting Mary Bennet and Charlotte Lucas, where of course Mr Collins dies in the first line…! What follows is a charming, funny and heartfelt story that I really enjoyed!

• Currently Reading: The Shape of Monsters by CL Hellisen and The Elysium Heist by YM Resnik - both great so far!

• I’m also very much looking forward to The Needfire by MK Hardy (out 31st July), which will be jumping to the top of my TBR pile!

Submission Calls

• Diabolical Plots are open until July 21st.

• AaN Press are open for submission on theme of Mmemory until August 15th.

• Flash Fiction Online are open for stories on the theme of “regret” with Guest Editor Ai Jiang.

• Inner Worlds are open for subs of speculative stories about inner worlds until 31st July.

• Augur Books are open for Novelettes and Novels until 30th August.

• Old Moon Quarterly are open for subs of sword and sorcery and dark fantasy.

Scottish Folklore of the Month

My new story When The Blood Runs Dry (in Blood in the Bricks anthology) features a fearsome creature that haunts a mansion, but the idea was inspired by the folklore of the Red Cap from the Scottish Borders. These are goblin-like creatures living in ruined castles. They survive by soaking their hats red with the blood of their victims. If the Red Cap's red hat dries, they die...( image below Beasts by Eugene Smith)

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

Well it’s ben a busy month for launch, but I’ve also completed edits for my novella, In This City Where it Rains, out with Luna Press in 2026, and I’ve just finished edits for deep sea project which will be going on submission to publishers very soon! This book has been a lot of work over the past 2+ years, a near future eco thriller with horror elements, exploring grief, environmental exploitation, and dark tech, with conspiracies galore. It’s set partly in the deep sea, partly in Scotland, and with some scenes in Iceland - I’m really proud of it and hope it finds a perfect publishing home (fifth novel on submission lucky I hope!)

Next up, I’m taking a bit of a break after some intense editing work, but then I’ll be tackling a novella/short novel dark SF project I’m excited about. This one is set in a world with Gotham City meets PanEm vibes, and Black Mirror-esque near future sci fi concepts, and ridiculously 7 POVs so far (which I promise makes sense!) Sort of interconnected stories, but one narrative through it. And maybe I’ll work on a short story or two in the interim.

And of course, enjoy this Pippin update (kept you scrolling just to get to it…!)