William Alexander
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willalex.bsky.social
William Alexander
@willalex.bsky.social
1.7K followers 860 following 400 posts
National Book Award-winning author of unrealisms—mostly for young readers. SUNWARD, my first novel for grownups, is out now from Saga Press. He/him.

www.willalex.net
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willalex.bsky.social
Post a bird to support @sbworkersunited.org and ask folks to shun Starbucks for the duration of the strike.
The mythical roc illustrated by Edward Julius Detmold. It carries an elephant in each of its massive talons.
November 14, 2025 at 4:30 PM
willalex.bsky.social
Vermonters! Science fictional things are happening TONIGHT at @phoenixbooks.biz.

Emily Hamilton, @keklamagoon.bsky.social, @mt-anderson.bsky.social, and I myself will all be there.
This event flyer shows the names and faces of authors Emily Hamilton, M.T. Anderson, Kekla Magoon, and moi. The text at the top says "SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY PANEL" in big black letters. The date and time of the event in question is Thursday, November 13 from 7-8:30pm—which is TONIGHT—and the place is Phoenix Books in Burlington, VT.
November 13, 2025 at 4:16 PM
willalex.bsky.social
Home from the Twin Cities Book Festival!

The bookfest was a fantastic kind of homecoming, since I used to work backstage when I lived in Minneapolis.

Also, kidlit people are the best.
Shannon Hale, Eoin Colfer, George O'Conner, Eleonore Fischer, and myself take a silly selfie at an otherwise serious and literary reception for the Twin Cities Book Festival. Shannon Hale and Trung Le Nguyen grin after their bookfest panel. They are holding their respective graphic novels, DREAM ON and ANGELICA AND THE BEAR PRINCE. George O'Connel is photobombing and holding this new book about LOKI. (He also guest-starred on the panel by live-illustrating Shannon.) I take up most of the foreground by kneeling on the floor, and I'm not holding my new book because I'm bad at marketing.
November 11, 2025 at 8:27 PM
willalex.bsky.social
Convincing you to read my novel with the first sentence. Share yours if you want.

(Here's the opening of SUNWARD.)
This is a screenshot clipped to show only the very first line of the novel SUNWARD, which reads as follows: "Agatha Panza von Sparkles settled into Needle's pilot seat for the very first time."
November 11, 2025 at 8:27 PM
willalex.bsky.social
An upraised hand shows a handmade sign of a big red X over a sloppy yellow crown.
October 19, 2025 at 1:47 PM
willalex.bsky.social
People of Vermont!

The Green Mountain Book Festival is happening this Saturday in Burlington.

Come for the No Kings Rally, stay for the books.

(Sponsored and hosted by @phoenixbooks.biz and the Fletcher Free Library.)

www.greenmountainbookfestival.org
This poster for the Green Mountain Book Festival shows a bunch of beautiful book covers by Craig Alanson, M.T. Anderson, Emily Hamilton, Margo Harrison, Andrew Liptak, Mike Luoma, Brian Staveley, and myself.
October 16, 2025 at 3:21 PM
willalex.bsky.social
People of NYC! One week from TONIGHT I will be chatting with @csecooney.bsky.social and Carlos Hernandez at @kewandwillow.bsky.social:
The text at the top of this poster announces that I will be IN CONVERSATION with fellow authors C.S.E Cooney and Carlos Hernandez at Kew & Willow Books (8163 Lefferts Blvd, Kew Gardens NY 11415) on Thursday, October 23rd at 7pm. The rest of the poster shows the front cover of SUNWARD (by artist Owen Gent) and also my face.
October 16, 2025 at 3:13 PM
willalex.bsky.social
Ahem.
🎶Haaaaaaaappy BOOOOOOOOOK DAAAAAAAAAAY tooooooooooooo meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…🎶
📖🎂🚀
The front cover of SUNWARD, gorgeously illustrated by Owen Gent, shows the title of the book hovering between the sun and the moon. (Something bad seems to have happened on the moon.)
September 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
willalex.bsky.social
🎶One week more.
Another seven days remain my friends,
until the lengthy wait for SUNWARD ends.
What secrets do these pages hold?
What lunacy will soon unfold?
One week more...🎶
A stack of several copies of SUNWARD stand in a stylish way. The cover sports a gorgeous illustration of the sun and the moon by Owen Gent.
September 9, 2025 at 6:50 PM
willalex.bsky.social
NEGOCIOS INFERNALES by @csecooney.bsky.social and Carlos Hernandez has arrived and it is GORGEOUS.
The box for the TTRPG game NEGOCIOS INFERNALES by C.S.E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez sits rakishly atop the unfurled play-mat, daring players to disrupt the Spanish Inquisition.
August 23, 2025 at 9:43 PM
willalex.bsky.social
*dons the resplendent and many-feathered hat of self-promotion once again*

⭐ SUNWARD has a second starred review! ⭐

The full review will be in Booklist's September issue, but meanwhile I am permitted to share that they found it delightful.

@sagapressbooks.bsky.social
@ala-booklist.bsky.social
This poster shows the front cover of SUNWARD (which features a fantastic illustration by Owen Gent) hovering next to the words "STARRED REVIEW" and the brief quote "A delight" from the Booklist review.
August 20, 2025 at 3:49 PM
willalex.bsky.social
Today I must shout joyfully into the void, because SUNWARD will be on bookshelves one month from right now!
The front cover of SUNWARD, gorgeously illustrated by Owen Gent, shows the title of the book hovering between the sun and the moon. (Something bad seems to have happened on the moon.)
August 16, 2025 at 3:55 PM
willalex.bsky.social
"...It was never intended to be enough to simply call something genocide: one is required to act." 2/4

- Omar El Akkad, from ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS
This is the front cover of the book ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS by Omar El Akkad, because we need to see it again. The text is still black against a background of solid red. The only image is still a charcoal sketch of a small girl standing beneath a descending missile. She has flowers in her hand. The petals are falling. The bomb is falling. You are reading this book, and you are falling in love with language while falling out of love with every broken promise ever made in the shadow of the word genocide.
July 28, 2025 at 1:12 PM
willalex.bsky.social
"The very history of the word “genocide” meant as a mechanic of forewarning rather than some after-the-fact resolution, is littered with instances of the world’s most powerful governments going to whatever lengths they can to avoid its usage, because usage is attached to obligation..." 1/4
This is the front cover of the book ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS by Omar El Akkad. The text is black against a background of solid red. The only image is a charcoal sketch of a small girl standing beneath a descending missile. She has flowers in her hand. The petals are falling. The bomb is falling. To read this book is to fall in love with language while falling out of love with every broken promise ever made under the shadow of the word genocide.
July 28, 2025 at 1:12 PM
willalex.bsky.social
Ordering a book that hasn't been published yet is a magnificent leap of faith! The present is on fire and the future is uncertain, but these books will be MINE...

...and SUNWARD could be yours, because @barnesandnoble.com is having a preorder sale:
The gorgeous front cover of SUNWARD, which was illustrated by Owen Gent and shows Luna & Sol in much closer proximity to each other than will actual happen for several billion years, takes center stage on a poster advertising a preorder sale at Barnes & Noble (July 8-11).
July 8, 2025 at 3:22 PM
willalex.bsky.social
Versions of SUNWARD made out of electrons are escaping and one of them could be yours!

(Link below...)

@sagapressbooks.bsky.social
This is a poster for a Goodreads giveaway of SUNWARD. It shows the book cover (which gorgeously shows the sun and the moon getting much too close to each other) and notes that the giveaway will end on 6/25.
June 11, 2025 at 12:58 PM
willalex.bsky.social
I will add that it also features a talking fox who is probably wearing this expression at all times.
A photograph of a fox. He's looking up at you and grinning. His tongue is out, licking his chops as though he just ate your favorite chicken, and he probably did, and you can't even be mad about it.
May 26, 2025 at 4:40 PM
willalex.bsky.social
Imagine a better future.

Lots of them.

Happy bookday to STARSTUFF: TEN SCIENCE FICTION STORIES TO CELEBRATE NEW POSSIBILITIES (edited by @waderoush.com and myself).

#Kidlit #Starstuff
@mitpress.bsky.social
@candlewickpress.bsky.social
The front cover of STARSTUFF shows a gorgeous science fictional cityscape in shades of orange and green. It hovers above this quote from the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books: "This diverse set of intentionally hopeful science fiction stories collectively represents ways that optimism, genius, and activism can change the trajectory of a possible future for a better world. There is significant variety here in formatting, tone, and pace in the ten offerings, resulting in an overall buoyant read."
May 20, 2025 at 1:38 PM
willalex.bsky.social
The tenth story in STARSTUFF is "The Traveler" by Wade Roush, and it starts like this:
These lines hover above the front cover of STARSTUFF: TEN SCIENCE FICTION STORIES TO CELEBRATE NEW POSSIBILITIES: "November 19-20, 2028. Shackleton Station. Mr. Gupta gave Lucy and her classmates the news on the Monday before Thanksgiving. The day of the week named, in so many Earth languages, for the Moon."
May 20, 2025 at 12:25 PM
willalex.bsky.social
The ninth story in STARSTUFF is "Red, Right, Returning" by @franwilde.bsky.social, and it begins with a lovely hat tip to @uncannymagazine.bsky.social:
The first two sentences of Fran's contribution to the anthology hover above the front cover of STARSTUFF: TEN SCIENCE FICTION STORIES TO CELEBRATE NEW POSSIBILITIES, and they read as follows: "Olli Vere sat outside Talulah Station's fifth-grade classroom, kicking her space unicorn graviton sneakers against the console of her piloting training pod and biting her lip. She was in so much trouble."
May 19, 2025 at 12:53 PM
willalex.bsky.social
The eighth story in STARSTUFF is "Of What We Never Were" by David Robertson, and this is (almost) how it starts:
Dialogue in script format appears above the front cover of STARSTUFF: TEN SCIENCE FICTION STORIES TO CELEBRATE NEW POSSIBILITIES. STACY: Denominators sound like mean dinosaurs or something. ADAM: Yes, it really does, doesn't it? STACY: Don't be so agreeable. You were never agreeable. ADAM: ...
May 18, 2025 at 9:14 PM
willalex.bsky.social
The seventh story in STARSTUFF is "A Proposal to the Animal Congress" by @eliotschrefer.bsky.social, and it starts like this:
The front cover of STARSTUFF: TEN SCIENCE FICTION STORIES TO CELEBRATE NEW POSSIBILITIES stands proudly alongside this paragraph: "The following conversation between AI animal congress representatives Hawk01 and Rabbit01 has been modified from its original version. it has been made intelligible to the 1,210 humans who live in a colony within the territory shared by these two animal species in conflict."
May 18, 2025 at 1:45 PM
willalex.bsky.social
The sixth story in STARSTUFF is "The Most Epic Nap in the Universe" by A. R. Capetta.
The 6th story in STARSTUFF: TEN SCIENCE FICTION STORIES TO CELEBRATE NEW POSSIBILITIES begins thusly: "Two hours to epic nap time," said the soothing voice from my watch. "You are not on the correct ship. That's going to be a problem soon."
May 17, 2025 at 4:18 PM
willalex.bsky.social
The fifth story in STARSTUFF is "Zabrina Meets the Retro Club," a comic by Maddi Gonzalez.
The first two panels of the comic "Zabrina Meets the Retro Club" by Maddi Gonzalez (in which we meet Zabrina, who wears glasses and is gleefully excited about the events of the day) appears above the cover of STARSTUFF: TEN SCIENCE FICTION STORIES TO CELEBRATE NEW POSSIBILITIES.
May 16, 2025 at 12:37 PM
willalex.bsky.social
The fourth story in STARSTUFF is "Aesop's Elevator" by... this guy. (It's about a space elevator the size of a small town.)
The front cover of STARSTUFF: TEN SCIENCE FICTION STORIES TO CELEBRATE NEW POSSIBILITIES stands alongside the first line of my own contribution: "You live in an elevator, and you love it here."
May 15, 2025 at 5:18 PM