Kirstyn McDermott
@fearofemeralds.bsky.social
Australian author of contemporary gothic, horror and fairy tales. Owned by two cats. Drinks too much gin, or maybe not enough. Current status: exhausted.
she/her
www.kirstynmcdermott.com
she/her
www.kirstynmcdermott.com
For your edification and/or infuriation, I wrote an essay on screen horror and late-stage capitalism for Ruadán Books that has just been published. It seems more timely with each passing week.
ruadanbooks.com/when-eat-the...
ruadanbooks.com/when-eat-the...
When ‘EAT THE RICH’ Is Not Enough: Horror Meets Late-Stage Capitalism - Ruadán Books
By Kirstyn McDermott 'When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.'– attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1793 Horror on the screen has a deep and intimate knowledge of mons...
ruadanbooks.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:07 AM
For your edification and/or infuriation, I wrote an essay on screen horror and late-stage capitalism for Ruadán Books that has just been published. It seems more timely with each passing week.
ruadanbooks.com/when-eat-the...
ruadanbooks.com/when-eat-the...
Reposted by Kirstyn McDermott
We can't review what we don't receive! Check out our submission guidelines to consider sending us your work! We love small press authors and are always on the lookout for New & Notable work.
Submission Guidelines
What genres of books and stories does Locus review? We review science fiction, fantasy, horror, speculative, surreal, slipstream, crossed genres, similarly themed YA, art books, and related nonfict…
locusmag.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:52 AM
We can't review what we don't receive! Check out our submission guidelines to consider sending us your work! We love small press authors and are always on the lookout for New & Notable work.
Does my next novel have a fabulous cover that I can finally reveal to the world? WHY YES IT DOES THANK YOU FOR ASKING.
To be released March 2026 and you can pre-order it here: www.harpercollins.com.au/978103892277...
To be released March 2026 and you can pre-order it here: www.harpercollins.com.au/978103892277...
September 10, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Does my next novel have a fabulous cover that I can finally reveal to the world? WHY YES IT DOES THANK YOU FOR ASKING.
To be released March 2026 and you can pre-order it here: www.harpercollins.com.au/978103892277...
To be released March 2026 and you can pre-order it here: www.harpercollins.com.au/978103892277...
Reposted by Kirstyn McDermott
Monthly reminder: Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out.
August 1, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Monthly reminder: Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out.
Reposted by Kirstyn McDermott
When I was little, the U.S. military came to our home at gunpoint and took me and my family away. We were imprisoned for years in barbed wire camps simply because we were Japanese American. I have spent my life telling that story, hoping it would never be repeated.
July 21, 2025 at 5:20 PM
When I was little, the U.S. military came to our home at gunpoint and took me and my family away. We were imprisoned for years in barbed wire camps simply because we were Japanese American. I have spent my life telling that story, hoping it would never be repeated.
This is a magnificent collection which will stick to your ribs like nothing else!
Happy Book Birthday to Lisa L. Hannett's The Fortunate Isles, coming out in ebook and paperback today!
Available everywhere good books are sold, but we always have a special love for folks who buy from Brain Jar Press directly :)
Details: www.brainjarpress.com/product/the-...
Available everywhere good books are sold, but we always have a special love for folks who buy from Brain Jar Press directly :)
Details: www.brainjarpress.com/product/the-...
May 27, 2025 at 7:51 AM
This is a magnificent collection which will stick to your ribs like nothing else!
Reposted by Kirstyn McDermott
I hate that "AIs" (aka people-pleasing hallucinating plagiarism engines) are trained on work stolen from writers, incl. all my books. I hate more that it's eroding our ability or even desire to think. I get it. Thinking is hard. It's ALSO the work. It's the whole point. It's what makes us human.
May 9, 2025 at 10:51 AM
I hate that "AIs" (aka people-pleasing hallucinating plagiarism engines) are trained on work stolen from writers, incl. all my books. I hate more that it's eroding our ability or even desire to think. I get it. Thinking is hard. It's ALSO the work. It's the whole point. It's what makes us human.
My author copies of Never Afters have arrived! It's such a beautiful book and I am so thrilled to see this collection of revisioned fairy tales out in the world.
May 9, 2025 at 1:37 PM
My author copies of Never Afters have arrived! It's such a beautiful book and I am so thrilled to see this collection of revisioned fairy tales out in the world.
Reposted by Kirstyn McDermott
Happy Book Birthday to @fearofemeralds.bsky.social's NEVER AFTERS omnibus, which is out in ebook and trade paperback today.
Brain Jar Press Store: www.brainjarpress.com/product/neve...
Other Retailers: books2read.com/NeverAftersO...
Brain Jar Press Store: www.brainjarpress.com/product/neve...
Other Retailers: books2read.com/NeverAftersO...
May 6, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Happy Book Birthday to @fearofemeralds.bsky.social's NEVER AFTERS omnibus, which is out in ebook and trade paperback today.
Brain Jar Press Store: www.brainjarpress.com/product/neve...
Other Retailers: books2read.com/NeverAftersO...
Brain Jar Press Store: www.brainjarpress.com/product/neve...
Other Retailers: books2read.com/NeverAftersO...
100% agree. It's probably my top tip for new writers. Read your work aloud. Even novel-length manuscripts. Make the time - and stay hydrated!
Unsolicited writing advice, no: 291:
Read your work aloud. Not only does it help refine your dialogue, avoid difficult to pronounce words and eliminate repetitiveness, but it also means that your future audiobook readers will have an easier job making your work sound as good as it can possibly be...
Read your work aloud. Not only does it help refine your dialogue, avoid difficult to pronounce words and eliminate repetitiveness, but it also means that your future audiobook readers will have an easier job making your work sound as good as it can possibly be...
March 26, 2025 at 9:56 AM
100% agree. It's probably my top tip for new writers. Read your work aloud. Even novel-length manuscripts. Make the time - and stay hydrated!
Reposted by Kirstyn McDermott
ICYMI earlier, here's the cover for my new novella (out in October this year): The Cold House!
It's contemporary folk horror and published by Titan Books, the fabulous cover is by @missnatmack. 😍😍😍
It's contemporary folk horror and published by Titan Books, the fabulous cover is by @missnatmack. 😍😍😍
March 21, 2025 at 9:16 AM
ICYMI earlier, here's the cover for my new novella (out in October this year): The Cold House!
It's contemporary folk horror and published by Titan Books, the fabulous cover is by @missnatmack. 😍😍😍
It's contemporary folk horror and published by Titan Books, the fabulous cover is by @missnatmack. 😍😍😍
One of my very favourite novels. So wonderful to see it available again in print!
SKIN is a very intense book about love, art, pain and letting it all go, and if @lostmirror.bsky.social didn't make me laugh so hard this would have been a very serious portrait 💀 And @meerkatpress.bsky.social has the presales now plus incredible swag #queerhorror #industrial #art
March 13, 2025 at 1:49 AM
One of my very favourite novels. So wonderful to see it available again in print!
Reposted by Kirstyn McDermott
NEW: A searing editorial in the The Kyiv Independent.
“It’s time to say it plainly. America’s leadership has switched sides in the war. The American people have not, and they should speak up.
“A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn’t Zelensky.”
@kyivindependent.com
“It’s time to say it plainly. America’s leadership has switched sides in the war. The American people have not, and they should speak up.
“A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn’t Zelensky.”
@kyivindependent.com
Editorial: A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn’t Zelensky
It’s time to say it plainly. America’s leadership has switched sides in the war. The American people have not, and they should speak up.
In the past several weeks, the U.S. leadership has demonstrate...
kyivindependent.com
February 28, 2025 at 10:45 PM
NEW: A searing editorial in the The Kyiv Independent.
“It’s time to say it plainly. America’s leadership has switched sides in the war. The American people have not, and they should speak up.
“A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn’t Zelensky.”
@kyivindependent.com
“It’s time to say it plainly. America’s leadership has switched sides in the war. The American people have not, and they should speak up.
“A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn’t Zelensky.”
@kyivindependent.com
Reposted by Kirstyn McDermott
Reposted by Kirstyn McDermott
Excellent summary of the Creative Australia debacle to date from @beneltham.bsky.social and Catriona Menzies-Pike www.crikey.com.au/2025/02/17/k...
Instead of defending its artists, Creative Australia hangs Sabsabi and Dagostino out to dry
If conservative media is going to dictate cultural policy, Australian culture will face a reckoning.
www.crikey.com.au
February 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Excellent summary of the Creative Australia debacle to date from @beneltham.bsky.social and Catriona Menzies-Pike www.crikey.com.au/2025/02/17/k...
If you want to erase a group of people, you begin with the language that describes them.
Protest at Stonewall tomorrow.
You can’t spell Stonewall without the T.
You can’t spell Stonewall without the T.
February 14, 2025 at 6:22 AM
If you want to erase a group of people, you begin with the language that describes them.
Reposted by Kirstyn McDermott
On sale, today through March 7th.
www.audiobooks.com/promotions/p...
www.audiobooks.com/promotions/p...
February 13, 2025 at 4:19 AM
On sale, today through March 7th.
www.audiobooks.com/promotions/p...
www.audiobooks.com/promotions/p...
Reposted by Kirstyn McDermott
We're extraordinarily pleased to open pre-orders on Angela Slatter aka AG Slatter's chapbook, The Night Stair, featuring a tale of vampires, vengenace, and treachery set in Angela's Sourdough universe.
Get the free ebook today at offers.brainjarpress.com/thenightstair
Get the free ebook today at offers.brainjarpress.com/thenightstair
January 31, 2025 at 8:14 AM
We're extraordinarily pleased to open pre-orders on Angela Slatter aka AG Slatter's chapbook, The Night Stair, featuring a tale of vampires, vengenace, and treachery set in Angela's Sourdough universe.
Get the free ebook today at offers.brainjarpress.com/thenightstair
Get the free ebook today at offers.brainjarpress.com/thenightstair
This looks like a phenomenal anthology. With amazing covers!
January 29, 2025 at 12:20 AM
This looks like a phenomenal anthology. With amazing covers!
If you see this, quote with flowers from your gallery.
January 27, 2025 at 10:04 AM
If you see this, quote with flowers from your gallery.
My cat makes a very good argument for spending the whole day in bed, but alas, I have Stupid Human Things to do.
January 25, 2025 at 12:42 AM
My cat makes a very good argument for spending the whole day in bed, but alas, I have Stupid Human Things to do.
Never thought there would be an opportunity for an appropriate, non-inflammatory use of #notallmen but (hopefully) here we are.
15th consecutive white straight Christian male leader of The Liberal Party complains about diversity hires
January 25, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Never thought there would be an opportunity for an appropriate, non-inflammatory use of #notallmen but (hopefully) here we are.
Yep.
January 25, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Yep.
Reposted by Kirstyn McDermott
When Musk denies that he did a big ol Nazi salute during the inauguration, remember this, from Jean-Paul Sartre, 1944.
January 20, 2025 at 8:22 PM
When Musk denies that he did a big ol Nazi salute during the inauguration, remember this, from Jean-Paul Sartre, 1944.
Reposted by Kirstyn McDermott
For all the doubters, how are these not the same?
January 21, 2025 at 2:15 PM
For all the doubters, how are these not the same?