Marie Brennan

Author of the Memoirs of Lady Trent & more. Also 1/2 of M.A. Carrick. (she/her)

Website: https://www.swantower.com
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/swan_tower

Last Notes

2026-09-17 21:20:16 UTC

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I also think of it as being akin to the thing I see in a lot of urban fantasy, where the protag is careening from one crisis to another without any downtime in between, until I wind up feeling tired rather than thrilled. And that's been going on for decades at this point.

2026-09-17 18:39:10 UTC

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I was saying just the other night that a lot of animated media, especially comedy -- including stuff for adults! -- just moves too fast for me to enjoy it. I need a moment to breathe, to let the beats sink in, before the next one is lobbed at my head.

2026-09-09 17:49:18 UTC

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And it all started with THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF NAMING, when I decided I wanted to go on a random bender of talking about the cultural side of what names mean and how we use them, and therefore how to create them for stories!
https://www.swantower.com/writing/the-writers-little-book-of-naming/

2026-09-09 17:48:56 UTC

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So far, the most popular has (not surprisingly) been the second, THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF PLATITUDES: in which I take on the old saws of standard writing advice and evaluate how to know when to follow them and when to chuck 'em out:
https://www.swantower.com/writing/the-writers-little-book-of-platitudes/

2026-09-09 17:48:36 UTC

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This is fourth in the series of Writer's Little Books, all 99-cent dives into focused topics. Third was the LITTLE BOOK OF RESEARCH, giving advice on how to hunt out the information you need for your stories:
https://www.swantower.com/writing/the-writers-little-book-of-research/

2026-09-09 17:48:10 UTC

#ICYMI, THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF READINGS came out yesterday! 99 cents to level up your ability to read to an audience: aimed at fiction writers, but I think we all know some academics and presenters who could use improvement . . .
https://www.swantower.com/writing/the-writers-little-book-of-readings/

2026-09-08 18:22:07 UTC

@npub17lq…0gkk and I are doing an #AMA today over at r/Fantasy! Come ask us about THE EYE OF LEVIATHAN, the Rook and Rose trilogy, future books, RPGs, archaeology in Wales, or anything else!
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1warf07/were_ma_carrick_aka_marie_brennan_and_alyc_helms/

2026-08-25 17:40:56 UTC

The omnibus of my very first series is currently 25% off at Kobo! (Discount applies at checkout; you won't see it on the book page.)
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-doppelganger-omnibus

2026-07-30 19:26:34 UTC

Do you need two and a half minutes of six (?) sleepy grey kittens attempting to tetris themselves into a basket, purring all the while? I think you do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM5hQ3Qtf-8

2026-05-12 21:17:25 UTC

This is your periodic reminder that word of mouth moves more books than any formal advertising! I invite you to rec something you've recently enjoyed -- preference for the stuff that's *not* already extremely well-known and talked about everywhere.

2025-03-26 20:56:09 UTC

"Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!"
the entire point of that idiom was that you *can't*, it's straight-up impossible
"Just one bad apple"
. . . spoils the rest of the barrel; it's the *opposite* of an isolated problem
Any other idioms we've gotten completely backwards?

2024-11-30 20:32:00 UTC

LISTEN UP KETTLES, A POT IS TALKING
(actual sentence uttered in my household today)

2024-10-16 20:41:04 UTC

Recs for books whose main narrative engine is "let's explore and learn about this place"? Along the lines of Rendevous With Rama (but ideally more recent than that).

2024-10-08 19:46:02 UTC

Bookshop.org is offering free shipping today and tomorrow, as Anti-Prime Day! Support independent bookstores and stick it to Bezos:
https://bookshop.org/

2024-09-25 19:03:56 UTC

Having now tried this, can confirm: you DON'T need to cook pasta in a huge volume of water and you DON'T need to keep the burner on the entire time it's cooking:
https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-cook-pasta-salt-water-boiling-tips-the-food-lab

2024-09-16 07:58:04 UTC

I'm #ISO a Spanish historian who can help me figure out: back when students at the University of Salamanca elected professorial chairs, how were the votes cast? I know all about the chaos around the elections (voter intimidation, b/u/s/i/n/g/ burroing? in extra voters, etc.), but not the actual *voting method*.

2024-08-26 22:12:39 UTC

Just got in touch with the guy who taught my summer course on SF short fiction when I was eleven. Folks, if you remember a teacher and their class fondly, let them know (if you can). Having been on both sides of that exchange, I can say with certainty that you will make their day.

2024-07-31 22:19:05 UTC

If you visit a U.S. national park, consider giving back to the indigenous people that land once belonged to (or still does):
https://lakotalaw.org/parks