Marie Brennan

@swantower.bsky.social

5515 Followers 165 Following

THE EYE OF LEVIATHAN July 14th! Author of the Memoirs of Lady Trent. Also one half of M.A. Carrick. She/her.

Cover art for THE EYE OF LEVIATHAN by M.A. Carrick. An ornate golden frame holds two circular images: above, an archaic-looking map of a sea full of islands, and below, an engraving of Leviathan by Gustav Dore.
A three-by-three grid of the cover art for Marie Brennan's NEW WORLDS series of essays on worldbuilding. Each features a circular or swirling pattern of light against a black background; the colors change from book to book.
Cover art for Marie Brennan's NEW WORLDS, YEAR NINE: MORE ESSAYS ON THE ART OF WORLDBUILDING. A bright, multicolored circle of swirling light against a black background.
A greyscale photo of various blocks of type for a printing press, their text and images reversed -- from the Basler Papiermühle
A photo of a desk calendar saying "Defenestrate: to forcibly launch a person or thing out of a window; to swiftly oust someone from a political party or office."
A screencap from Twitter in 2022, saying "Fuck the Fourth of July. I choose to celebrate the Third of July, the date of one of the greatest white supremacist self-owns in U.S. history." Below the text is a battle map of Pickett's Charge, a disastrous Confederate assault during the Battle of Gettysburg.
Cover art for THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF PLATITUDES: TIPS AND TRICKS FOR TAKING (AND IGNORING) ADVICE by Marie Brennan. The background is white, and in the center the words "thou shalt not" are interwoven with a red forbiddance symbol.
Cover art for THE WRITER'S LITTLE BOOK OF NAMING: TIPS AND TRICKS FOR PEOPLE, PLACES, AND THINGS by Marie Brennan. The background looks like browned paper and contains in faint writing a series of names from a wide variety of cultures around the world.
A right foot with the toenails painted red, gold, green, blue, and purple from big toe to little
The cover image from Lady Trent's Field Journal, showing a dragon swooping down upon a herd of stampeding antelope. The dragon is rust-colored with grey-blue touches, while the antelope are striped and running through summer-browned grass.
a chair at a table that holds a rotating, Ferris wheel-like set of trays to hold multiple books at once
The card back design from the Rook and Rose pattern deck, showing a golden spindle, shuttle, and shears, linked by a violet thread that becomes ribbon, against a subtle background of a labyrinth. Credited to Emiko Ogasawara.
A grid of twenty-four images of cards from the Rook and Rose pattern deck, with Avery-Liell Kok credited as the artist.
A grid of forty-five images from the Rook and Rose pattern deck laid out in rows, with A.C. Esguerra credited as the artist
A dark green shirt showing a grumpy-looking black cat holding a mug of tea, and the text "That's what I do: I read books, I drink tea, and I know things"
A screencap of a sonnet titled "The Novelist Laments in Verse" by Marie Brennan: Shall I compare me to a wrung-out rag? I am more limp, more grimy, and more drained. The labor of a novel makes me sag; my fervor for this enterprise has waned. Sometimes -- ofttimes -- I’ve craved a restful week, in which no scenes or chapters I compose, no useful details in my reading seek: but sans those things, a novel never grows. So my eternal labor must go on, in word by word and day by tiresome day, until the moment when, quite pale and wan, I can, arm raised in feeblest triumph, say: I may be brain-dead and completely beat, but after all these months, my book’s complete.
A Christmas tree approaching critical density of ornaments
Two stacks of tea tins and boxes, bridged by a box at the top
A screenshot explaining how Purdue, Indiana University's main rival, used its student presses to print the IU student newspaper reporting on IU's compliance with fascism, and drove overnight to stock the newspaper boxes.
Marie Brennan (a white woman with glasses and long brown hair in a single braid) looking pensively at the trophy for the Hugo Award for Best Poem
Six novels (the Memoirs of Lady Trent) in Arabic translation, whose titles I cannot transcribe
A poem in staggered stanzas, alternating the lyrics of the original song with new lines: A Work in Progress by Marie Brennan Oh beautiful for spacious skies and endless stolen land For purple mountain majesties above the slave-chained band America! America! God’s mercy may we see And crown thy good with brotherhood for we, not just for thee. O beautiful for pilgrim feet -- -- except those turned away -- A thoroughfare for freedom beat -- -- to Christian God please pray -- America! America! Will you admit your flaws? Confirm they soul in self-control; don’t shrine your sins as laws. O beautiful for heroes proved (including those unsung) Who more than self their country loved and would not hold their tongue. America! America! The road ahead is long, Till all success be nobleness and right replaces wrong. O beautiful for patriot dream that we still work to build, Thine alabaster cities gleam, a promise not yet filled. America! America! God’s mercy may we see And crown thy good with brotherhood For we, not just for thee.
A cartoon image of Microsoft's old Clippy mascot, with the text "all according to keikaku"
These SS Felix and Januarius are not to be confused with SS Felix and Januarius of Heraclea or with SS Felix and Januarius who were martyred in 303 with Audactus, Septimus, and Fortunatus. For the space cat, see Félicette.
A statue of a skeletal horse, ridden by a skeleton in a red coat with its skull in its hand
Four minuscule sunflower seedlings rising above the soil in a small pot
A small white pot with tiny seedlings beginning to poke up out of the soil
a screenshot showing the text for "start date" having been converted to a fraction
A screenshot from Adobe's website saying "Contact us: Real help from real people."
Many long scripts of paper side-by-side on a carpeted floor
A swirl of sparks descending to a bright point against a black background, titled A BREVIARY OF FIRE and with Marie Brennan as the byline
A swirl of sparks descending to a bright point against a black background, titled A BREVIARY OF FIRE and with Marie Brennan as the byline
The cover of New Worlds, Year Seven by Marie Brennan, showing an iridescent spiral akin to peacock feathers on a black background
A promotional card from Strong Women, Strange Worlds showing headshots of Marie Brennan, Jessica Peter, Ginger Smith, Rosalyn Briar, Victoria Nations, and Meredith R. Lyons
cover art for THE MARKET OF 100 FORTUNES by Marie Brennan, showing two samurai walking down a busy nighttime street, with the silhouette of an armored head above
a collage of ten book covers with overlying text saying "Slay boredom with the Assassins + Rogues Storybundle"
A white woman (me) in a plastic horned Viking helmet, holding the US and UK editions of my novel THE WAKING OF ANGANTYR
Cover art for THE MARKET OF 100 FORTUNES by Marie Brennan, showing two samurai walking down a busy nighttime street, with the silhouette of an armored head above
A colored map showing which states I've lived in, stayed in, visited, stopped in, and passed through
peacock-feather patterned brocade in blue-violet with golden highlights and blue-green with silver highlights