C. J. Lavigne

@cjlavigne.com

1627 Followers 420 Following

Canadian SFF writer. Author of IN VERITAS and THE DROWNED MAN'S DAUGHTER. Short stories in On Spec, Fusion Fragment, Augur, PodCastle, and other fine publications. Rep: Arley Sorg. I like coffee and cats. www.cjlavigne.com

Timothy Omundson as King Richard from Galavant holding his baby dragon, Tad Cooper.
Comic of a bee in front of a red phone, by floccinaucinihilipilification.tumblr.com. Panel 1: Offscreen voice says "Bad news the Earth is about to explode" Bee: "Oh no" Voice: "But you can stop it" Panel 2: "All you have to do is make one phone call" "That's easy!" Bee is smiling. Panel 3: Closes in on bee and phone, bee's smile is smaller. Panel 4: Closer yet on bee and phone. Panel 5: Super close, bee is not making phone call. Panel 6: Planet explodes.
A copy of Kate Heartfield's novel MERCUTIO sitting on a table.
A results grid from the Clues by Sam game, at "brutal" level with no mistakes and a 37-minute time.
The cover for C. J. Lavigne's novella The Drowned Man's Daughter, with a pair of green eyes superimposed over a painted ocean.
The cover for C. J. Lavigne's novella THE DROWNED MAN'S DAUGHTER, featuring a pair of green eyes superimposed over a painted ocean.
The Drowned Man's Daughter is a fine book: rich, dark, intense, sneaky, secretly literary. On first reading I was simply lost in the strange and complex world of Naia and her cohort of generational slow-apocalypse survivors. As I read, I also wondered: does every generation of writers write the apocalypse that they have not earned but their forebears deserve?
Cover of C. J. Lavigne's The Drowned Man's Daughter (green eyes floating above a painted ocean). To the right of the book cover, text: "The Drowned Man's Daughter by C. J. Lavigne (NeWest Press, 2025). Eligible for Best Novella in fine awards everywhere -- yes that one, and also that other one. Graphic design is absolutely not my passion. Thank you for your consideration! Look at my cute cat." In the lower right corner is a close-up of an adorable grey and white mantle tabby with golden eyes. He does not know he is being used for marketing. No thoughts, only crimes.
Text: The Drowned Man's Daughter by C. J. Lavigne (NeWest Press, 2025). Eligible for Best Novella in fine awards everywhere -- yes that one, and also that other one. Graphic design is absolutely not my passion. Thank you for your consideration! Look at my cute cat. Text is awkwardly arranged in gold text on a green background, along with the cover of Drowned Man's Daughter (green eyes on a painted ocean) and a close-up of a grey mantle tabby with a white face and gold eyes.
A two-panel comic. Top panel, a femme-presenting person holding a sparkling ball and smiling. Caption: Enjoying Something. Bottom panel, person with same sparkly ball totally freaking out, screaming pointing holding it up to the world AHHHHHH. Caption: Enjoying Something Made By Your Friend. Comic is by @ArtbyMoga.
A white bag of herbal tea blend labelled IN VERITAS. The brew contains: chicory root, lavender, clove, cardamom, lemongrass, sage, elderberry, orange peel, dandelion root, cacao nibs.
The cover of C. J. Lavigne's The Drowned Man's Daughter (green eyes on an ocean background), along with text that reads: "Eligible for Best Novella in fine awards everywhere -- yes that one, and also that other one. Graphic design is absolutely not my passion. Thank you for your consideration! Look at my cute cat." There is a small photo of a grey and white mantle tabby looking out at the reader; he's so adorable.
It's Clippy! He's saying "Hey, it looks like you're waiting for ideal conditions to do that thing you've been wanting to do. Need I remind you that ideal conditions do not exist and will never happen?" Your options for response are "I'm aware" and "Wow, rude."
There's no way that I could really remember the drowned man. People have told me the story so many times, though, that I've seen him all my life. He washed up on the shore below the station, in the crescent bay where the jut of the dead reef lends respite from the sea. Matin saw hm lying there in the first light of dawn, years past, long and pale and unmoving. He was tangled in seaweed, his hand outstretched, but Matin knew even from the bluff's edge that there was no life in him, and she did not hurry on her way down the rocks to the water.
A fluffy grey and white mantle tabby sitting on a lap, totally uncaring that he just tried to be an attack hat during a reading.
A four panel comic. 1) hand of a drowning person in the ocean. Text: me sharing a meme about how difficult everything is rn. 2) another drowning person hand appears. Text: you 3) the two hands high five. Text: "hard relate" 4) both hands sink into the ocean. Text: us
A fluffy grey and white mantle tabby who is still in the box.
A fluffy grey and white mantle tabby curled in a cardboard box that he adopted two months ago and apparently has no intention to ever abandon. This is his home now.
CJL: Oh, hey, I am not a fan of the environmentally ruinous plagiarism machine. Current LLMs were trained on stolen work, without consent or recompense, and now a bunch of tech evangelists are promising to replace writers and other artists by producing poor sludge imitations of human creativity (and facts, and news, and history). These programs are devaluing our very real skills, and they’re burning the planet. I value our air, water, and work; generative AI is for people who want to feel like they “made” something but don’t actually want to put in any effort or thought. No, thank you.
A fluffy grey and white mantle tabby lying on the floor and looking up at the camera, being both puzzled and patient about the copy of The Drowned Man's Daughter that some person has leaned against him like he's some sort of fuzzy display rack.
A fluffy grey and white mantle tabby who was supposed to pose with a book but has instead shoved the book off himself onto the floor and is busy licking his paw. Author's foot visible at bottom right.
A fluffy grey and white mantle tabby who is looking up at the camera with wide golden eyes, wondering why the photographer is making him lie there with a copy of C. J. Lavigne's The Drowned Man's Daughter leaning against his soft tum. He certainly wants you to read this book.
Part of a Canada Post tracking screenshot, indicating a package was sent on August 29 and is expected today between 9am-1pm
"I have to say when I read the opening paragraph of The Drowned Man’s Daughter, I had that delicious feeling I was going to be pulled into a transportive story, and Lavigne delivered beautifully. Her writing and story-telling ability are top of the game, a novelist capable of creating stories which transcend genre and are just simply excellent literature."
A dark glass statue for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association 2025 Kevin O'Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award, with C. J. Lavigne's name on it. It's rectangular, roughly eight inches tall and an inch thick, with a gold swirly nebula in it. Random things on the shelf include an image of the author's cat, a partially viewed monster finger puppet, and a painted egg. Reflected in the shiny statue you can see shocking details of the office, like a bookshelf, a low filing cabinet, and a printer.
The cover for C. J. Lavigne's The Drowned Man's Daughter, with a pair of green eyes superimposed over a painted ocean.
An ad for "New VitaCup Peeps Coffee" -- if it uploads as a GIF there's a pink peep and then a blue peep bursting out of a yellow coffee cup. I don't know why I have this. It looks like it might have been an April Fool's thing? What is a VitaCup? Who can say and there is no possible way to find out.
The movie poster for Josie and the Pussycats, with Tara Reid holding drumsticks, Rachael Leigh Cook holding a guitar, and Rosario Dawson holding a bass. They are dressed in various forms of purple/pink glittery things. Reid and Cook have kitty ear headbands. So sassy.
A hardcopy of C. J. Lavigne's The Drowned Man's Daughter, nestled into a couch corner because the cat was not available to do his duty and pose. The cover has green eyes superimposed over a painted ocean. This is an ARC (an advance copy/uncorrected proof), and the cover is stamped "on sale Sept 2025."
The "This is Fine" dog enjoying a coffee in the house that's burning down, except in the panel that zooms in on him in the fire, he's cheerfully saying, "So I have a book coming out."
Screenshot of the bottom corner of Microsoft Word, for some unidentified file. Page: 80 of 80. Words: 50,042.
A fluffy grey and white mantle tabby stretched out on his back, right paw extended toward the camera, showing beans and his fuzzy white belly. He looks extraordinarily self-satisfied. He is lying on some sort of human couch that is mostly visible as jeans and purple socks.
A screenshot of the air quality health index for Red Deer, AB, on June 11, 2025. On a scale of 1-11 where high numbers are bad, the air is at 11 ("very high risk"). Above is a red line reading Air Quality Warning.
A screenshot of C. J. Lavigne's Bluesky bio. It reads, "Canadian SFF writer. Author of In Veritas. The Drowned Man's Daughter coming fall 2025. Short stories in On Spec, Fusion Fragment, Augur, PodCastle, and other fine publications. Rep: Arley Sorg. I like coffee and cats. www.cjlavigne.com." Two scribbled red arrows are pointing to Arley's name, which has also been underlined twice.
A cartoon drawing of a sad little blue octopus with tears in its eyes. You can't tell, but this octopus is very good at science.
A small pile of books; they are advance reader copies of C. J. Lavigne's The Drowned Man's Daughter. The cover art has a pair of green eyes over a painted ocean backdrop.
A blurry shot of the floor underneath the dining room table; this is mostly black chair legs and a grey laminate floor covered in very small brown pellets that are gonna be super easy to clean up, so easy.
Two boxes of Dare maple cookies, a partially filled bodum of coffee, a net bag of mandarin oranges, a box of Honeycomb cereal
Green eyes superimposed over a painted ocean background; a book cover with text reading, "The Drowned Man's Daughter: a novella." The author is C. J. Lavigne.
A coil-bound hardcopy 8x11" printout of The Drowned Man's Daughter, on a wooden tabletop.
A fluffy grey and white mantle tabby on a black leash, lying in the grass in the sun in front of a black iron fence. He's surrounded by dead leaves that have been left behind by the recently melted snow.
A screenshot of the LibGen search, showing that C. J. Lavigne's novel In Veritas is in the database.
A totally innocent-looking grey mantle tabby, placed on a political compass that measures BRAIN to NO BRAIN and NO CRIMES to CRIMES. He is high in the corner of BRAIN and CRIMES.
An oil painting of the Atlantic ocean after a storm. Dark blue-green waves crash against golden rocks. Dark clouds retreat as the sky lightens above. The painting has been framed (with a dark blue and pale gold border) but not yet hung; it's on a table, resting on the brown wrapping paper in which it was encased.
A fluffy grey mantle tabby shedding all over the laundry that's piled in a white basket. He knows neither shame nor regret.
Two panels of This Is Fine Dog, except when he sits with his coffee in the flames he says brightly, "So I have a book coming out."
An ancient clay cuneiform tablet -- specifically, the one that is a complaint letter regarding shady copper merchant Ea-nāṣir, approx 1750 BCE.
A boxed Hallmark ornament commemorating the classic game The Oregon Trail. It has an ox pulling a wagon. At the bottom, it reads, "You have died of dysentery."
A printed manuscript titled The Drowned Man's Daughter. Scribbled in black ink: "Final edit run Dec 2024". Also, my pen lying across. A couple of random Christmas ornaments on the table.
A fortune cookie that has been broken open. The fortune reads: "You will become an accomplished writer." Also lucky numbers! 3 6 9 11 42 48. Heads up.
A grey and white mantle tabby loafed on a carpet next to a sweet hardcover copy of Premee Mohamed's The Rider, The Ride, The Rich Man's Wife.
A "For Lease" sign taken looking up at the bottom of a balcony in New Orleans. Under the agent's info it reads APARTMENT HAUNTED.
A very complicated crochet blanket (pattern is "Persian Tiles" by Janie Crow), spread across a black couch because IT IS FINISHED. On the blanket is a grey and white mantle tabby who has been waiting months for the opportunity TO TOUCH, but he was only allowed to pose for this photo and then the very complicated, very not kitty-proof blanket was taken from him once more. A cruel world.
POV of person who has her leg up and crooked across to bar her crochet and yarn from a white and grey mantle tabby who is very, very interested.
Photo taken from POV of person who is lying on the couch with crochet on her lap, and a fresh skein of yarn. Lurking, a very interested grey and white mantle tabby who definitely is not thinking of attack.
A black cat inside a cardboard box fort, paws crossed in front of itself. Its ears are laid back, its eyes wide with panic, its whiskers down. This cat has seen the future and it will know no rest, for it is cursed.
A complex flow chart that breaks down the lyric's to Devo's "Whip It." Example: Has a problem come along? No = Has the Cream Sat Out Too Long; Yes = You Must Whip It. This is all very important for science.
A promo image from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Left, Cameron (Summer Glau) holding a handgun; centre, Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) holding some kind of bigger gun, maybe it is a shotgun, look she's badass ok; right, John Connor (Thomas Dekker) wearing a grey hoodie, partially turned away from the viewer and looking back over his shoulder.
A screenshot of the author dressed in an Elmo onesie, throwing her hands up in front of a fiery background (in imitation of that one Elmo apocalypse gif).
Aeryn Sun from Farscape