Danai's Dispatch: June 2025

Welcome to Danai's Dispatch, where I pop into your inbox once a month whenever something exciting happens, bearing gifts: VILE LADY VILLAINS updates, writing resources, short story and book roundups, and exclusive giveaways! Thank you for reading. If you haven’t subscribed already, please consider signing up below.

June is a riot.

Greetings, fellow villain. The sun has graced us with her presence in the verdant Swedish forest, lingering languidly until midnight (she’s very all or nothing, this gal). The birds have reacted to this development by singing their little lungs out every day at 3am. Owls hoot. Deer scream. Even a moose made a rare appearance. It’s chaos over here. I’m sure you didn’t notice, but I haven’t sent a dispatch since January; the first half of the year fell through my fingers. Work, and survival, and the world have been a lot, so here we are. June. A month where Nature rebels with Pride. But hey, that’s not to say nothing has happened in the meantime. Here’s a quick highlight reel:

• Published a short story in Translunar Travelers Lounge: 12 Things No One Will Tell You About Being a Demigod is about the 12 labors of Herakles, but mostly it’s about toxic hero worship and the consequences of our actions.

• Survived another winter in the frozen forest thanks to red heating lamps (like the ones for chickens). Wasn’t pretty, but we’re still alive, humans and chickens alike.

• Closed my very first book deal as an assistant literary agent over at The Tobias Literary Agency: a fascinating non-fiction project about the intersection of romance and horror, by the super talented and super cool Emma Cole.

• Pegasus, the first short story I’ve ever written, was in Flame Tree Press’ new podcast—give it a listen, it’s about Medusa from the POV of her child.

• Worked on two very cool projects as a freelance editor: Red Demon by Sill Bihagia, a science fantasy that punches you in the feels about bioengineered immortals causing havoc and about memory and found family; and Unseen by Christy Healy, the second book in her Queens of Éire series about a desperate young queen who makes an unholy alliance with the dread lord of death. Excited for both to be out in the world! (And if you want to work with me, click here.)

• Penned an essay for Writer’s Digest upcoming July/August issue on writing liminal spaces and the inspiration for Vile Lady Villains. Super proud of that one!

And, in a fascinating turn of events, my book is coming to the US and Canada!

If you’re new here: my debut novel VILE LADY VILLAINS about Klytemnestra meeting Lady Macbeth in a limbo realm where they have to work together to escape was announced back in November 2024, and because time is tricky like that (publishing time doubly so), it comes out in April 2026 in the UK by Penguin Michael Joseph. My UK publisher retained the rights for all languages and territories apart from Greece and Sweden (Έλληνες εκδότες, εδώ είμαι, μη διστάζετε) so selling my very sapphic book in the US and Canada was definitely not a given—especially with how the US is doing right now in terms of, well, everything. But my UK team are superheroes, and I’m so thrilled to announce that we found the perfect North America partner in Union Square & Co, which is now a part of Hachette. Still shaking my head in amazement that my debut novel comes out with 2 different Big 5 publishers in two countries… The US publication comes out in the summer of 2026, and my US editor Mali Clinton is absolutely brilliant.

STREET TEAM CALL: Join my BAND OF VILLAINS

Did I mention that my UK team are superheroes? We’ve worked super fast, and we’ve already finished edits—I’m going through proof pages as we speak, which means I’ve already had the immense joy of seeing how my book will look … like a real book. And this also means that I have been blessed with e-arcs to share for blurbs from other authors (a terrifying, humbling process I have undertaken since transforming into a goat and disappearing even deeper into the woods apparently isn’t an option) and for putting together a street team to help spread the word of VILE LADY VILLAINS and their murderous sapphic antics. I’m calling it BAND OF VILLAINS. Wanna join? Fill in this form:

Short fiction I’ve loved so far in 2025

As always, here’s a few short stories I can’t stop thinking about:

• "Lucinda Espinosa’s Twenty-Seventh Death" by M. M. Robinson in Fusion Fragment, a sapphic love story crackling with mirth and sharp as razor wire, as inescapable as the storm coming the protagonists’ way.

• “What we don’t know about angels” by Kristina Ten in Lightspeed, a surreal story about severing parts of yourself to fit in and what happens when those parts grow back.

• “To Kill a Language” by Rukman Ragas in Apex, an unflinching flash fiction on erasure, subjugation and all the places a language resides within a body.

• “möbius loop” by Samir Sirk Morató in khōréō, a time loop story about forgiving, and hopefully learning to love, ourselves. (Edited by yours truly, so I cannot officially nominate it for any awards, please nominate it if you like it.)

• “The Significance Cofactor” by H.H. Pak in khōréō, a gorgeous meditation on the beauty of mundane lives and all the things we take for granted. (Also edited by yours truly, please nominate it for awards if you like it.)

Thank you for chasing the Midnight Sun with me

Even the deer have gone to bed now, although the sun still shines. When shall we two meet again, in thunder, lightning or in rain? Perhaps, in the next instalment of this dispatch. So if you liked what you read, I hope you’ll subscribe, if you haven't already! And maybe help my ravens spread the word by sharing it on your social media?