Francesca Astraea's Blog, page 4

The Princess and the Dragon on sale on Google Play!

Hi hi, if you're an Android user, you can get my first book THE PRINCESS AND THE DRAGON AND OTHER STORIES ABOUT UNLIKELY HEROES on Google Play for just £1!

Reviews are here if that's your bag: The Princess and the Dragon and Other Stories About Unlikely Heroes

Best Books of 2024 (so far)

Since we’re halfway through the year, I thought I’d do a little round up of some of my favourite books this year so far. I’ve done a lot of rereads, because I can never take in new texts when I’m knee-deep in editing… and because sometimes you need to spend the entire Easter weekend with Harrow the Ninth.

Best standalone novel

Oh, this is awkward. Almost everything I’ve read this year has been part of a series. Hang on, I’ll consult Goodreads, which I keep using entirely for when I can’t r...

Introducing my new book series, in collaboration with…

Kidding. Register to vote by 18th June.

(I don’t even know who I’d collaborate with. Whomever organises NHS phone hold music?)

Things Googled for Rotting Trees

I had completely forgotten I keep a vague, meandering list of weird shit I look up for every manuscript. I just dug out the Rotting Trees list and I’m pleased that I have absolutely no memory of why I needed to look up Ed Sheeran.

The ArchersConsumptionLondon to Southend train timesEd SheeranVictorian necklaces (spoiler! she cackles)Old timey newspapers*Southend high street and surrounding places. So many businesses have gone bust were shit closed since 2015, and I di...

Read, If You Like… Death Rituals & Questionable Medical Ethics Edition

Looking for something to read over the long weekend? May I interest you in... anthropodermic bibliopegy and international death rituals? https://wp.me/pGREj-4Nd

Read, If You Like… Death Rituals & Questionable Medical Ethics Edition

I can’t remember the last time I did a Read, If You Like (I think it was for Gideon the Ninth? We may be seeing a theme emerge) and I have been reading some absolutely tip top non fiction lately. Quite a bit of it is about death. Rituals, evolving attitudes to human remains, death as preferable to immortality. I thought I would do a post about some of the books I’ve enjoyed. In time for Easter! This was not deliberate but if you would like to make a Jesus joke here, I will not stop you.

Read ...

New Bezzina's Emporium short story!

Enjoy: https://www.patreon.com/posts/measure...

A Week in the Life of an Undergrad Student and Professional Creator in Deadline Season (ft. chronic fatigue and probably too much time thinking about cheese)

I last did a week in the life back in… 2021. Someone on Patreon suggested doing another, and I have chosen this week to record because a) I have a deadline, and if I’m talking about it here then I will meet the deadline, b) I’ve had a horrible few weeks of chronic fatigue and some new joint pain, and I sometimes forget I am a person who exists outside of planning my day around how much I think I can walk before I need to sit down for half an hour. Before you ask, I’m seeing a lot of doctors. If ...

ARC Giveaway for Rotting Trees

Hello!

If you're a Tumblr user, I'm giving away an ARC or two of Rotting Trees: https://www.tumblr.com/francescasword...

Wintery Book Recommendations!

As I recall, most of the regulars to this space live in the Northern Hemisphere and are, presumably, currently quite cold. So I thought I would put together a list of cosy books to distract you as your nose runs and your glasses steam up every time you go from outdoors to indoors. Don’t need glasses yet? Just wait.

Carmilla

The vampire novel that came before Dracula, I have a very specific memory of reading this on Project Gutenberg, on my phone, in the snow as I awaited a bus for over an ...