Eden Lee Lackner
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edenlackner.bsky.social
Eden Lee Lackner
@edenlackner.bsky.social
100 followers 130 following 270 posts
Author: Horror & Fantasy Romance | Editor: Genre Fiction | Scholar: 19th C. & Popular Culture

Canadian | Owned by a Samoyed | Obsessed with Vampires | LotR Fan from Way Back
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edenlackner.bsky.social
Today's the Fall Equinox! Are you thinking of crunchy leaves & crisp air? I have a #historical romance anthology that'll hit the spot: A Season for Second Chances. We were #1 in Victorian Historical Romance for a week post-launch & we're still in the top 5! #romancelandia 📚💙

a.co/d/4PqBkUE
The cover of A Season for Second Chances, a historical romance anthology. The title is written in pale yellow and occupies the top half of the cover. Underneath and to the left, in smaller text, is the book's logline: "When autumn chills the air, only an old flame can warm the heart." At the very bottom of the cover it says, "A Hearts Through History Autumn Anthology." All of the text is overlaid on a picture where a fair-skinned woman in a deep red dress stands on a path through an autumn wood. She looks over her shoulder at the viewer as she brushes her hair back from her face. Around her are trees, and in the foreground a few maple leaves in red, yellow and orange float across the scene. Link to book: a.co/d/4PqBkUE
September 22, 2025 at 6:51 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
A Season for Second Chances, a #historical romance anthology (spanning 1010 through 1960 & roaming around the world) has been #1 in Victorian Historical Romances for 3 days now! #romancelandia 📚💙

Notably, this is also the 3rd consecutive day in which I have not drunk a spider. 🕷️🤢

a.co/d/4PqBkUE
The cover of A Season for Second Chances, a historical romance anthology. The title is written in pale yellow and occupies the top half of the cover. Underneath and to the left, in smaller text, is the book's logline: "When autumn chills the air, only an old flame can warm the heart." At the very bottom of the cover it says, "A Hearts Through History Autumn Anthology." All of the text is overlaid on a picture where a fair-skinned woman in a deep red dress stands on a path through an autumn wood. She looks over her shoulder at the viewer as she brushes her hair back from her face. Around her are trees, and in the foreground a few maple leaves in red, yellow and orange float across the scene. Link to book: a.co/d/4PqBkUE
September 14, 2025 at 1:15 AM
edenlackner.bsky.social
A Season for Second Chances: When autumn chills the air, only an old flame can warm the heart.

Not only is the anthology containing my #sapphic #historical story "Pearls Before Swine" available, but it's been #1 in Victorian Historical Romances for 2 days now! 🥳🥰 #romancelandia 📚💙

a.co/d/4PqBkUE
A screencap of sales rankings from Amazon.com. The teal banner at the top reads "Amazon Hot New Releases" in large text, followed by "Our best-selling new and future releases. Updated frequently" in smaller text. Underneath that is the title "New Releases in Victorian Historical Romance." In the #1 spot is the cover, title, and purchasing information for A Season for Second Chances, a Hearts Through History Autumn Anthology. The cover depicts a woman in a deep red velvet dress looking at the viewer over her shoulder as she proceeds down a path through a forest full of trees with turning leaves. The entry also indicates that 3 people have given the book 5 stars, provides the price for the paperback ($21.99 US -- it's a BIG book, just FYI; 800+ pages), and makes it clear there are two formats available (the other being Kindle). In second place is The Scot's Seduction by Megan Frampton, which is Book 2 of a series.
September 13, 2025 at 1:49 AM
edenlackner.bsky.social
"Books & all forms of writing are a terror to those who wish to suppress the truth." -Wole Soyinka

Literature is powerful. Stories show us how to build better worlds. Book bans, though, are about stripping away all but blind obedience. #wolesoyinka #margaretatwood #canpoli #cndpoli #ableg #abpoli
A screencap of a tweet by Margaret Atwood, major Canadian author. She is addressing the Alberta government's regressive book ban. The tweet reads: Here's a piece of literature by me, suitable for seventeen-year-olds in Alberta schools, unlike -- we are told -- The Handmaid's Tale. (Sorry, kids; your Minister of Education thinks you are stupid babies.) John and Mary were both very, very good children. They never picked their noses or had bowel movements or zits. They grew up and married each other, and produced five perfect children without ever having sex. Although they claimed to be Christian, they paid no attention to what Jesus actually said about the poor and the Good Samaritan and forgiving your enemies and such; instead, they practised selfish rapacious capitalism, because they worshipped Ayn Rand. (Though they ignored the scene in The Fountainhead where “welcomed rape” is advocated, because who wants to dwell, and also that would have involved sex and would de facto be pornographic. Well, it kind of is, eh?) Oh, and they never died, because who wants to dwell on, you know, death and corpses and yuk? So they lived happily ever after. But while they were doing that The Handmaid’s Tale came true and Danielle Smith found herself with a nice new blue dress but no job. The end.
September 2, 2025 at 12:29 AM
edenlackner.bsky.social
My #sapphic #historical story, "Pearls Before Swine," is coming out in early Sept! 🥳 Find it in the anthology A Season for Second Chances. ❤️

Parted by fear, reunited by desire, two women navigate the way back to each other in the early years of the Canadian West. #romancelandia 📚💙 a.co/d/a8ghniF
August 31, 2025 at 5:21 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
Murder by Cheesecake: A Golden Girls Cozy Mystery by Rachel Ekstrom Courage — Bought on a whim, loving the really authentic Golden Girls feel.

Fun Quote: "I'm in a serious pickle—and not one of those delicious fried ones."

#Booksky💙📚 #FridayReads #GoldenGirls #CozyMystery
The cover of Murder by Cheesecake: A Golden Girls Cozy Mystery by Rachel Ekstrom Courage. Alongside the text (which is in white and red lettering) are illustrations hinting at the contents of the book: Near the bottom, a yellow cheesecake slice with red drizzle sits on a white plate with a big knife with a black handle stabbed through the top. Two red drinks with straws and little green umbrellas flank the author's name at the bottom. In the middle are big green fern fronds, flanking the book title. Above that, at the top of the cover, are illustrations of the heads of (L to R) Dorothy, Blanche, Sophia and Rose. To the left and right of the women are palm trees and flamingos. The book itself is a neutral pink, and the entire cover illustration is bordered by a yellow and green frame decorated with leaf fronds. It is *very* Miami-core. Is that a thing? Eh, it is now.
August 22, 2025 at 4:50 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
Forgot to post this over the weekend:

Excellent way to begin Saturday? #ForeverCanadian signing! Amazing turnout & a great reminder that Albertans aren't all regressive, insular & hateful (like the UCP & media want us to believe). The vibe was happy, hopeful & positive. 🍁 #ABpoli #CANpoli #CNDpoli
A sign, attached to a barrier in the foreground, reads "Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada? Forever Canadian." The last two words are beneath (and part of) a red maple lead with a flame superimposed on top. Underneath are the three things one needs to possess to sign this petition: you must be a Canadian citizen, 18+ years of age, and a resident of Alberta. Each one has a small picture indicating these requirements. ...Behind the sign is a small slice of the multiple lines of people waiting their turn to sign the petition in a park. A man dressed entirely in white, including a white cowboy hat, stands near people waiting in line. He is holding a sign above his head that says: "Bellowing Separatism, Bullying Transgender, Burning Books. What/Who next?" The pockets of his shirt sport a dollar sign ($), a green circle, and a red circle with the centre crossed out. The words in the latter 2 are blurry and hard to read in this picture. Behind the man is grass, and a tiny sliver of a packed parking lot that is, on a normal day, easy to find parking in. (Not on this day!) The same gentleman, but from behind. The back of his sign says "Our Premier's Anti-Vax Disciples Spread..." These words are written over a skull, and lead down to the back of his shirt, where he has drawn a dartboard. At the top of the target circles it says "$mith's Hit List," and then the circles list different people/things the UCP has targeted, including seniors, education, and health care. At the bottom of the target he has written "Everything Public." ...After I signed, I chatted with this gentleman, who told me he'd spent years (before he retired) as an MLA fighting against fascism, and he wasn't going to stop now. ❤️ A small sense of how busy it was at this signing location (and it wasn't the only one that day, or even at that time of day). In this picture, you can see half of a packed parking lot at a large public park, and three different signing locations: to the right, near a small building with a turquoise roof, in a cluster on the left, halfway up the hill, and on top the hill, at the entrance to the park. Many cars pass through the intersection. It's just a lot of people. The parking lot was so packed, people were parking up and down the green space at the side of the road for lack of overflow, or turned in to the subdivision on the other side and just hoofed it over. Cars occasionally honked in support as they went by, and the actual location was full of people. Walking to and from the park, I heard people telling strangers how happy they were to see such a turnout, and how much more positive it made everyone feel about the state of things here. Also, there were a LOT of dogs. Always a plus as far as I'm concerned. 🐾
August 19, 2025 at 8:29 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
Clove & sandalwood scent the air. Strands of a beaded curtain swing & click, the sound all but swallowed by the carpeted tent.

The fortune teller ashes her cigarette against a crystal ball. "Have you come to learn about your future?"

"No," you murmur. "I want you to tell me about my past." #hbp17
A crystal ball dominates the centre of the image, reflecting tiny pinpoints of light in its surface. Two aged, wizened hands with pointed nails cup the crystal ball. One of the hands sports a large ring, partially obscured in shadow. The owner of the hands is softly out of focus in the background. The image is mostly neutral tones of tan, brown and black. (Image by myshoun from Pixabay.)
August 13, 2025 at 6:08 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
"It may not have rides."

"Mm."

"Or stage shows."

"Right."

"Or character meet-n-greets."

"Sure."

"But they're used to wearing the hats."

"Ok."

"And they've almost got the soft-shoe routine down."

"Huh."

"If Walt could do it, so can I."

The box squeaks & shudders in the girl's hands. #hbp16
A still from the Royal Ballet's December 2007 performance of The Tales of Beatrix Potter, performed at the Royal Opera House in London, England. They look like the mice from The Roly-Poly Pudding, but I could be wrong. Either way, two mice dance in hold together on stage. One wears a blue waistcoat, and the other a patterned dress. Behind them and to the right is a brick wall with a curtained window. On the left is a simple table with a white tablecloth and a dish of food on top. Behind the table is a wall covered in flower-themed wallpaper.
August 12, 2025 at 3:13 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
Drip. Drip.

Not again. He'd just patched that wall! Aspen scampered over to the breach, patted at the wood, assessing the crack. Keeping the lodge shipshape was such a chore.

He should have listened to his mother. She knew which way the trees fell. He would have made a great dam engineer. #hbp15
The side-profile of a dark brown beaver crouched on a collection of partially-submerged branches. It has its mouth open as if it is yelling, and its tail is curled under its body. It doesn't look at all happy.
August 11, 2025 at 7:35 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
The hairs on my neck prickle, sensing a storm. Yet the sky is clear, the weather calm.

I know this feeling. It comes when I've made friends, built a family. It comes when I'm sure my duty is done.

The portal opens. I cry out, but broken clocks hold no quarter for an errant time traveler. #hbp14
A brass analog watch face is superimposed across a stormy yellow sky. Lightning forks downward from the number 12 at the top of the clock towards a road. The road is bordered on either side by tracks, all of which stretch into the distance. (Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay.)
August 10, 2025 at 9:44 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
Aponi gazes at her husband, beheaded & broken at her feet. Rage mingles with grief, scenting the breeze.

"Awaken, my flock! Awaken in anger & avenge your fallen king!"

Wreathed in orange & black, unfurling her fury, she launches herself into air.

Answering her call, the bivouac takes wing. #hbp13
A monarch butterfly bivouac (a group of butterflies, usually resting together during migration). This group is clustered together on a few adjacent tree/bush branches, covering the green leaves in their orange and black wings. A white sky and some bare brown branches are softly out of focus behind them. (Photograph: Tom Fishburn, September 13, 2015.)
August 10, 2025 at 1:58 AM
edenlackner.bsky.social
"Doesn't have to be like thisss." The news anchor's forked tongue flicks over scaly lips.

"Shoot him, Theo! Do it!"

Theo swallows. Sara sounds so far away.

"Don't you want new parentsss? You won't remember what you don't misss."

His life could be so different.

The gun wavers in his grip. #hbp12
A orange and tan iguana sits on a branch. Its head is in profile, and its front claws curl over part of the branch. In the background are green out-of-focus leaves. (Image by Andre Mouton from Pixabay.)
August 9, 2025 at 11:19 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
A pack of shrieking kids, led by her cousins, run past Mei. Her aunts bicker in the breezeway: Whose turn is it to collect Mrs. Sharply's rent?

Her flip-flops slap against the concrete. Family togetherness isn't all it's cracked up to be.

At least she can be alone at the bottom of the pool. #hbp11
A woman in a black swimsuit meditates in the lotus position at the bottom of a pool. Blue stripes on the pool floor stretch off into the distance on either side of her. The surface of the water ripples above her head. (Image from everydayyoga.com)
August 9, 2025 at 3:17 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
3 days & the edge isn't closer. He knew it'd be far, but... He sighs & sips his bahama mama, peering out at the sea. He's never gonna see a serpent. Not without taking it into his own hands.

His hands. On the rail. Hmm.

He downs the drink. "Here be dragons," he shouts, his leap all faith. #hbp10
A corner of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum map from 1570. This part of the map is illustrated with a series of creatures: mermaids at the bottom of the image, floating on top the waves, and two sea monsters attempting to capsize a ship, not far from Japan. The map itself is mostly shades of yellow, brown, and red. All text is in a language other than English.
August 6, 2025 at 8:08 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
"Honey?"

"Down here, Mom! By the stairs."

"What? Why?"

Sam grunts, prying a nail free. "Sauna. Ada's idea. Spruce up the homestead!"

"No. Oh, no—"

The drywall creaks. A bony hand waves from the beyond.

Mom's eyes are ice. Turning heel, she stalks upstairs, leaving Sam to greet her uncle. #hbp9
A still from Roger Corman’s Tales of Terror (1962). Peter Lorre spreads mortar on top of a couple bricks as he walls up Vincent Price. Both Lorre and Price look fairly unconcerned. Price is dressed in a frock coat. He stands behind the growing rows of bricks that will eventually entomb him behind the wall. This particular tale is a mashup of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" and "The Cask of Amontillado."
August 5, 2025 at 10:49 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
A ground-shaking roar. Frequent. Familiar.

Dust rains down, settling rust-brown over sludge. Few still look up. They're as safe as houses, a river of waste flowing through their living room.

Refuge exists in the sewers. The nauseating stench blinds the giant lizard better than they'd hoped. #hbp8
Still from Shin Gojira (Godzilla: Resurgence), 2016. Godzilla, a giant lizard, towers over a bridge. It is surrounded by power lines which, surprisingly, are still intact. The sky behind it is a yellowish-brown. Trees frame the shot on both the left and right of the picture. In the foreground, on a road slightly lower but parallel to the bridge, terrified people run away from the monster, towards the viewer.
August 4, 2025 at 9:22 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
On Tuesday, Aug. 5, my talk, "You Are Not Alone: The Importance of Building Community as a Burgeoning Writer" will be available through the Find Your Readers summit, hosted by Daniel David Wallace. #Writing #WritingCommunity #Authorsky #Booksky 💙📚

summit.findyournextreader.com?ac=vUp1NNge
Image text says "Share your vision, connect to your audience, and build a writing community. The Online Summit. Find Your Readers." The picture is of a woman sitting in front of a laptop with a coffee in one hand. Beside her is a small pile of books, the top one propped open against the other two. There is a plant behind her, and an envelope, a sheet of paper, and a paper plane fly around her head.
July 31, 2025 at 10:17 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
Michael Ende's The Neverending Story. It did, in fact, end. 😭 I love that book so much, and I was prepared to remain lost in Fantasia alongside Bastian Balthazar Bux.💔 #ChildrensBooks #KidLit #FantasyBooks #BookishQOTD 📖🦋 #Booksky 💙📚
Cover of the English hardback edition of The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, translated from German by Ralph Manheim. The main colours are warm and mostly oranges and reds, and the picture takes inspiration from medieval illustrations. There is a collection of men and one woman in the foreground, as well as a horse (with a knight on its back) and a lion. In the background, on green rolling land, there are white tents and hills. There is a white fortress on top the hills. In the sky, a young man rides a flying steed. The steed is a monster of some kind. Underneath the title is an illustration of an orange book with a snake ouroboros. Inside the ouroboros are the words "The Spellbinding International Best-Seller."
March 10, 2025 at 1:00 AM
edenlackner.bsky.social
Bo hated high-rises. Filled to the brim with the 1%, their crimes were the cruelest ones, forever flashing through his brain.

Embezzling pensions. Murdering the missing. Selling countries to kiss the oligarch's ring.

He'd bang his head on their windows, but he'd have to clean off the smears. #hbp7
Photo by Albert Dros. A high-rise window washer (in blue coveralls and an orange hat) in Dubai dangles from safety cables attached to the building he is cleaning, looking down at the ground far, far below. The photograph's perspective makes the next building across from them look like it is twisting. Fog rolls across the city beneath them.
March 10, 2025 at 12:45 AM
edenlackner.bsky.social
"Surely we hold the bowl's edges & chant backwards this time," the boy in the banker's suit blustered.

"Or maybe there's a spell? A better one?" The man waved an arm awkwardly, ungainly & over-tall.

The witch shook her head. "You were warned. Once chosen, there's no switching back at all." #hbp6
Image by Lorraine Cormier (ljcor) from Pixabay. An adult man and a young boy walk down a tree-lined path bathed in golden light. Trees rise on either side of the path in darkness. Both the man and the boy face away from the viewer, only their backs visible.
March 9, 2025 at 8:41 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
"How Does Your Garden Grow?" in Poirot's Early Cases is why I tried to grow roses. I wasn't great at it & stopped around when my dog tried to help weed by yanking them up. (She was thwarted; thorns hurt!) Still, I now have a wealth of floral meanings living in my head. #BookishQOTD 📖🦋 #Booksky 💙📚
An older cover of the short story collection Poirot's Early Cases. The cover itself is a light yellow, and in the middle is a figure dressed as a pierrot clown--a baggy white one-piece outfit with giant ruffle, big orange pompom buttons, black buckled shoes (with orange pompoms), whiteface, and a close-cropped orange wig--surrounded by an outsized set of handcuffs. One of the cuffs is open, the other closed. The clown is touching the locking portion of the closed cuff. Above the clown, in giant letters, is the author's name, and below the clown, in slightly smaller letters, is the title of the book. At the very top of the cover is a black band that says "The Christie Collection." Rosa Agatha Christie, a delicate pink hybrid tea climbing rose named to honour the Queen of Mystery. The picture focuses on one bloom on full display, the background full of dark green leaves and ferns, and while the picture is not scratch-n-sniff (don't scratch the screen!), the flower has a light, pleasant scent. David Suchet as Poirot, leaning over to smell one of a group of roses, growing on a climbing vine. He is dressed in a dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt, white pocket square, maroon bowtie, and black leather gloves. He is looking at the viewer, his eyebrows raised. A small pink rosebud is pinned to the lapel of his jacket.
March 9, 2025 at 3:17 AM
edenlackner.bsky.social
Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho. It was a hard, traumatizing read, one that I had to put down & walk away from several times—days, a week or two—before picking it up again. But it was fascinating, & captured the 1980s like no other book I've ever read. #Satire #Horror #GraphicViolence #Booksky 💙📚
The cover of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. A white man with slicked-back blond hair looks impassively at the viewer, the right side of his face in shadow. In the lower left-hand corner of the cover you can see a small hint of the man's blue plaid blazer and thick white shirt collar. The title and author are in a large white font overlaying the full height and width of the cover.
March 9, 2025 at 1:58 AM
edenlackner.bsky.social
Xylk fished a fleshy tangle out of the cast-off mound. "Look! A human! With both arms!"

"Toss it back on the heap," Zlit didn't look up. "Useless things. Won't earn us 5 creds."

"Short-sighted." Xylk shook his 7th head. "Just have to bolt it to another one & it'll be a hit at the swap meet." #hbp5
A screencap from "Cake the Cat," episode 3 of Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake. The picture is of a Fall farmer's market full of odd characters and strange stalls. Some of the stalls are built on raised wooden platforms attached to trees. The trees have windows all over them, suggesting people live or work in them. The stalls have names like "Stuff I Found in Old Wells," "Please the Fish," "Crystals," "High Class Weapons," "Fermented Pine Cone Juice," "Root Readings," "O.K. Portraits," "Have You Seen My Bones," "Seeds You Will Like," and "Knives." The patrons and vendors are non-human, including forest monsters (some made of trees and leaves), rock monsters, coffee cups, animals (cats and squirrels) and more unidentifiable creatures. All sorts of weird products are on sale.
March 5, 2025 at 7:45 PM
edenlackner.bsky.social
In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle. An Italian gentleman encounters a unicorn on his farm, and for good or ill, everything changes.

A gentle tale, but aimed at adults rather than the all-ages of The Last Unicorn. #PeterBeagle #Fantasy #CozyFantasy #BookishQOTD 📖🦋 #Booksky 💙📚
The cover of In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle. The cover is a dark green, and quite ornate. It reminds the reader that the book is "From the bestselling author of The Last Unicorn." Above the title and author, in the middle of the cover is part of the seventh tapestry in the famous series of Unicorn Tapestries (The Hunt of the Unicorn), made in the late 15th/early 16th century. This one is known as "The Unicorn Rests in a Garden" or "The Unicorn in Captivity." A white unicorn rests under a tree, both encircled by a low yellow fence. Folks, if you want to buy it, please try to purchase directly from Peter Beagle. He has been screwed over by so many people for so long--including the filmmakers for The Last Unicorn, and later an agent who bilked Peter and his fans--and was crippled by his late mother's medical debt. He's doing better now, but it doesn't hurt to make sure he's benefiting directly from people's purchases: https://beagleverse.com/
March 5, 2025 at 6:49 PM