Author of Fairy Tales, Fantasy, and Science Fiction
Happy New Year!!!
I wish you lots of cosiness, inspiration, and wonderful stories for 2024!
May the day be full of fun traditions or marvellous new discoveries.
It’s also the first day of the month, so of course there is a new edition of Paranatellonta! You can read the 369th edition here.
Love,
Minerva
The Rise anthology came out yesterday!
This anthology is packed with 120 stories under 300 words each, all with a speculative element and queer characters. One of these stories is my little piece “Ace-tral Projection”, and the book also includes L.S. Reinholt’s “Flood”.
You can buy the book in ebook, paperback, AND hardcover format. Find all the info and buy links via the publisher’s website, and add the book on Goodreads here.
The winners of this edition were Aidee Ladnier’s “Getting The Proper Rise” in third place, Sorren Briarwood’s “Dead Name” in second place, and Meghan Hyland’s “So High Up We’ll Never Hear Them Shouting” in first place. Congratulations!
The winner announcement can be found here, judge’s picks were announced here, honorable mentions were announced here, and the full list of stories in the book is on this page.
And we’ll continue celebrating today, because I have great news for everyone in Belgium who wants to buy The Dragon of Ynys at an independent bookshop: it is now available at Boekhandel Grim in Hasselt!
Happy autumn, and happy Ace Week!
P.S. My postcard sets are still available! Read about them here.
Hi!
See these cool cards?
These are ten of the designs I’ve drawn this year (plus my business card at the bottom right). I made them into a postcard set, which, if you like them, YOU can buy right now!
These are the prices for 1 set of the 10 different postcards, printed on high-quality paper, including shipping (via bpost):
to Belgium: €13 per set
to the rest of Europe: €17 per set
to the rest of the world: €18 per set
To order them, please send the correct amount to my PayPal, specifying how many sets you would like to order and to which name and address I can send them. If you have questions or would rather get in touch before ordering, please send me an email to minervacerridwen@gmail.com so I can help you out!
For a better look at some of the illustrations, I refer to the Illustrations page on my website.
Some more news:
Have a nice Sunday!
Minerva
Hi!
It’s that time of the year when the stories are being announced that will be part of the Queer Sci Fi Flash Fiction Contest anthology. The theme this year was “Rise”, once again prompting authors to write a story of 300 words, and I’m proud to say I submitted a story called “Ace-tral Projection” and it was selected. This is the fifth year in a row I have a story in the contest anthology! Everyone who’s friends with me on Duolingo knows I do love a good long streak.
You can read the full list of anthology picks via this link – and you may notice that my friend and co-writer LS Reinholt’s story “Flood” made it in there too! *high fives*
In other news, Fie and I posted the 359th edition of Paranatellonta yesterday—remember there’s a new post on the 1st and 15th of every month. Our next edition, on August 15, will be very special, and not just because 360 is a nice round number—we will celebrate that Paranatellonta will have existed for 10 years!!! Keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime, you can go read the latest editions via the main page (click on the “[time] ago and x notes” line under a post to enlarge both its photo and text, or click the “Random post” button at the top to be catapulted up to ten years back in time). As ever, everything Paranatellonta is free to read. Enjoy!
Love from rainy Germany, where I’ve been having a very cosy autumnish holiday in the middle of summer (but also some sunny hobbit adventures on mountains),
Minerva
Hi!
I’ve just returned from Copenhagen, where I spent a marvellous week—LS and I got to see Hannah Gadsby live!!! The show was absolutely brilliant. Other than that we also had a lot of fun, finally meeting up after such a long time, and I got united with my author copy of Skulls & Spells!
Are you also intrigued by this gorgeous full-colour publication of queer horror stories, poetry, and art? Read all about it on the Skulls & Spells page of my website.
Now, in true dragon fashion, I actually wanted to talk to you about even more treasures. Literal ones, from the house of Atthis Arts (publisher of my novella The Dragon of Ynys as well as anthologies Five Minutes at Hotel Stormcove and Community of Magic Pens). A True Travelling Treasure Trove!
What’s this all about? Well, Atthis Arts has set up a Kickstarter with the main goal of funding an audiobook for The Traveling Triple-C Incorporeal Circus by Alanna McFall. This book sounds like so much fun and has been on my to-read list literally since it came out in 2019—but since I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump, I think this will be the moment I’ll finally get to it, whether on page or in audiobook form. Either way it sounds amazing, with a road trip, theatre, ghosts, and a really fun writing style from what I’ve heard. Add to that the fact that the audiobook will be performed by C.S.E. Cooney, who hosted the Atthis Arts Reading last September, and this will be reason enough to go have a look at the Kickstarter. But. BUT!
Before you think this is just another Kickstarter, I have to tell you about these treasures. Because Atthis Arts hasn’t gone with your average rewards, but set up an entire set of actual limited-edition (metaphorical) gems to go with each of their 2022 publications. The one I’m personally most excited about is the Alia Terra colouring book—I mean, wow!!! Have you seen the Alia Terra art? Can you imagine getting to colour it yourself with whatever media you prefer? And not only that, but the colouring book will contain the original text, so you can enjoy the stories while you unleash your own creativity! I really love that this is a thing that will exist.
But it’s not just that: Gigi Ganguly has provided the campaign with actual-treasure tassels from a market shop in Delhi to represent her book One Arm Shorter than the Other (very much recommended to sci fi fans!), there’s an enamel pin of the assassin’s dagger from Gregory A. Wilson’s Grayshade, an exclusive scarf for the 2022 Origins Game Fair anthology Rogue Artists, scented candles for E.D.E. Bell’s own Night Ivy, and huggable squid friends matching Brandon Crilly’s Catalyst. (I wasn’t going to buy more plushies for myself, but we all know that when they have tentacles, I’m going to have to break that promise.) And, of course, you can also add the books themselves to your rewards (there will be an add-on window after you’ve picked your pledge level). There are also some digital jewels for those who are now, understandably, gritting their teeth at international shipping and duty.
And for those of you who think “sure, that all sounds fun, but have you noticed it’s 2022 so where would I get the money for all that?”, mind that the audiobook & ebook combo starts at $1 (!). So, really, go have a look, and please consider supporting the publishing house where I would very much love to get some of my future projects published! (👀) Extra link to the Kickstarter so you don’t have to scroll up: CLICK!
Good luck picking your treasures, and have a nice Sunday!
Minerva
P.S. Those of you who have been following my Inktober attempt on Instagram may have noticed that I missed a week of drawings. Some of the ones I did make took a little longer than a quick Inktober sketch. Feel free to leave a reply if you can spot which ones! But I am planning to do a catch-up sketch this week to represent the missing days (19 and 26-31), so stay tuned for that. Thanks for following along on this journey!
Hi!
Did you miss our celebration of storytelling and joy yesterday? Or did you enjoy it so much that you want to experience it again? (You might!)
Then watch the recorded Atthis Arts reading here!
LS and I start reading around 1:18:50, but if you have the time, I absolutely recommend watching the whole video. And if you want to read a background story for E.D.E. Bell’s own reading, check out this hilarious Twitter thread.
Enjoy!
Minerva
Hi!
Just a quick reminder that LS Reinholt and I will be reading a fragment from “Dragon in the Cove” at the Atthis Arts Author Reading on Sunday September 11 – that’s tomorrow, or perhaps even today depending on when and where you are reading this!*
Register for free HERE to attend the event, which will take about 90 minutes, starting at 2:00 PM EDT or 8:00 PM CEST (= 20:00 for the people in and around Belgium, for example).
Aside from our fragment, there will be lots of cool authors presenting their stories the way they sound in their own mind, AND Gregory A. Wilson will be reading the intro to The Gray Assassin Book TWO: Renegade, AND there will be a special announcement at the end! Not a moment you want to miss, is it?
See you then, hopefully!
Minerva
*If you are reading this later than September 11, don’t be absolutely devastated that you missed it! Do check my blog again soon, as I will post the recorded YouTube link when it’s up.
Hello!
On September 11, 2022, you can attend the first Atthis Arts Author Reading, live at 2:00 PM EDT or 8:00 PM CEST. In other words, it’s at 20:00 that Sunday evening in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the rest of the Central European timezone. And for my frequent Australian reader (hi Nala!), I’m afraid it’ll be 3:30 AM for you, but there will be a recording afterwards!
This will be the first time LS Reinholt and I are doing an author reading together and I think it will be so much fun! We’ll pick a fragment from our short story “Dragon in the Cove” from Five Minutes at Hotel Stormcove. Every author (or, in our case, author team) will have 5 minutes to read, making the whole event last 90 minutes. And there’ll be a lot you’ll want to hear: the authors include E.D.E. Bell emself, Ava Kelly, Ether Nepenthes, Gigi Ganguly, Gregory A. Wilson… I’m excited about every single name on the list, but I suggest you check the link here to find out which part of the Atthis family you’re about to meet! With 14 authors from 3 continents, you’re bound to discover some great new writing.
See you there!
Better put the tea and the towels ready.
Love,
Minerva
Hello everyone, and happy Pride Month!
It’s been a while since you heard from me on this blog, and a lot has changed: I moved house and stopped working as a pharmacist. It’s time to properly dive into writing and creating again!
And although, if you’re watching the news, the world isn’t making it easy to feel celebratory this month, we all do our best to find safety and joy.
Natasha aka @bibliophile.nat was so kind as to publish an interview about The Dragon of Ynys, being an author, and being queer: you can read it here! (Note that it continues in the comments below the post, due to Instagram’s character limit.) Thank you so much for having me, Natasha.
And while we’re celebrating, I’d also like to do a shout-out to my good friend and editor E.D.E. Bell: eir book Just Bart (which I recommend wholeheartedly to everyone looking for a kind, funny read) just won a Midwest Book Award!!! Congratulations, Emily!
One more thing while I’m here: everyone interested in a gritty fantasy trilogy and/or a TTRPG in the same universe should go have a look at the Grayshade Kickstarter. This is a collaboration between Alligator Alley Entertainment and Atthis Arts – so you know it’ll be good.
Talk to you soon!
Love,
Minerva
The story has been entered into the webs! You can get it on Audible via this link, or if you already have the Audible app, simply entering “The Dragon of Ynys” in its search bar should lead right to it.
If you were a Kickstarter backer, you should have received it in your emails last Sunday (Feb 6). And if you’re a Kickstarter backer who uses Audible and wants to be able to listen to it there, too, you should keep an eye on the emails with Kickstarter updates, where Chris will explain how that works.
Enjoy listening and have a great weekend!
Minerva Cerridwen 