Katie McIvor

@mckatie

Scottish writer 🐾 Stories in / soon in Strange Horizons, The Deadlands, The Dark, PodCastle, PseudoPod, The Rumpus, Gamut, Uncharted, Fusion Fragment, Interzone & others 🐾 katiemcivor.com

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Katie McIvor@mckatie· 11d

Forever behind on this sort of thing, but I finally had a look at the 2025 Stoker Awards recommended list aaaaand... The Somnambulist was on it! I had so much fun with this story, it's really nice to see it getting some love 🥰

Katie McIvor@mckatie· 13d

Me trying to swap boobs while my baby screams at me

Gandalf telling Bilbo he's not trying to rob him he's trying to help him

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Jul 10

A postpartum poem for my Maeve 🩷

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Jul 7

This happened to me 4hrs after giving birth, when they wanted to move me off labour ward & send husband home. Crying, shaking, midwife offering "reassurance". Got to pp ward, had a >1.5L haemorrhage, sent straight back to labour ward. At least they let husband stay after that 🙃

Twitter post about "impending sense of doom" before medical emergencies being dismissed as anxiety

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Jun 25

We had a visitor in the kitchen yesterday! Not sure what kind of bird (song thrush maybe?) but she was fine and flew out again without even pooping anywhere

Small brown bird on a windowsill behind a very sad and neglected Aloe Vera plant

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Jun 1

An unanticipated perk of breastfeeding is actually having more time than usual to read! When someone else is watching the toddler that is 😂 I just finished Katabasis and have started A Stranger in Olondria 📚

Katie McIvor@mckatie· May 27

Thrilled to have a story in the latest Three-Lobed Burning Eye anthology! If you like stories about insomniac hitmen, creepy deer, and Scottish bogs, 'The Somnambulist' is for you 🦌 Huge thanks to Andrew @3lobedmag.com for publishing my weird stuff!

The gorgeous cover of Three-Lobed Burning Eye Volume XI

3LBE artwork on stickers, bookmarks and postcards

First page of The Somnambulist with stunning artwork showing a bog and a tower

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Apr 13

Baby Maeve is here and she is perfect 🩷

Baby Maeve asleep in her hospital cot with her toy moomin

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Mar 25

Happy due date baby girl! Time to get your lil butt out of there now 😂

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Feb 22

Today is a bit of a milestone - we are now as far along in this pregnancy as we were the day Marnie was born! So happy that everything seems to be going more smoothly this time round 🤞 and thankful as always for NHS Scotland and their excellent medical care ❤️

Tiny Marnie asleep in an incubator with her dada's hand on her back

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Jan 18

Two 28 Years Later films in one pregnancy, what a time to be alive

Me with my big pregnant bump and my facemask standing in front of the cinema poster for 28 Years Later: the Bone Temple

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Jan 7

Chances of me finishing this giant pile of parenting & cleaning self-help books by the time the baby arrives in March, what do we reckon 🤔

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Jan 3

Things I read in December! I especially loved Liar, Dreamer, Thief by @mariadongwrites.bsky.social - it kept surprising me all the way through ❤️ I'm not sure if I'll keep tracking my 2026 reads as I'll be busy with baby number 2, but it's been fun posting book & short story recs for the past year :)

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson, Liar, Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong, and Billy Summers by Stephen King

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Dec 22

All dressed up for a beautiful winter wedding 💕 💍 ❄️

Me and handsome husband all dressed up and wearing cool face masks so we don't get sick 🤘

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Dec 16

The experience of eating popcorn when there is a corgi in your home 🍿👀

Popcorn in a bowl, Gwen the corgi staring at it

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Dec 6

We're so lucky to live in this beautiful part of the world 🩷 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Little Marnie toddling through the woods in her pink raincoat

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Dec 5

Things I read in November 📚 no short stories this month as it's khoreo season and also life has been crazy busy, but I enjoyed this slightly chaotic selection of novels and poetry

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewicka, and Found at Sea by Andrew Greig

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Nov 26

1-year-old is randomly obsessed with this balti recipe book and it's the cutest thing ever. She just sits on the floor poring over pictures of baltis and saying things like "Is that... tomatoes?" 😭❤️

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Nov 16

A slow and beautiful autumn with our little leaf obsessive 🍂 ❤️

Little Marnie out on a walk wearing her red boots, cosy knitwear and guinea pig pompom hat, holding a fallen leaf in front of her face and also holding my hand

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Nov 7

Things I read in October - 3 solid choices for spooky season! Hugely recommend this short story collection by the always brilliant @thomasha.bsky.social . On my third (I think?) reread of @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social 's Area X novels, Authority is still my fave ❤️ And Fevre Dream was just insane fun 🧛‍♂️

Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, Fevre Dream by George RR Martin, and Uncertain Sons by Thomas Ha

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Nov 2

Scotland y u so pretty 🥺❤️❤️ Photo credit: my 1-year-old for waking me up early enough to see this

Autumn trees framing the hills in the distance, beyond fields completely flooded with mist

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Oct 26

The view from my desk today 🩷

Laptop, book, and Gwen the corgi asleep on the sofa

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Oct 11

I spent baby's naptime today going through edits for my upcoming 3LBE story. It's about a sleep-deprived hitman going slowly insane on an interminable car chase across Scotland, and I can't wait for you all to read it! And, yes, it has a bog in it :) 💚

Forsinard Flows bog with boardwalk and viewing tower. Photo by Hidden Scotland

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Oct 8

Please enjoy this video of a nice ba ba, with commentary by my 1 year old 🐑

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Oct 1

Things I read in September! It's not been an easy month as reading, like everything else this preggo, has been making me nauseous, but I managed a couple of new books and a(nother) re-read of the brilliant Annihilation

Stone Spring by Stephen Baxter, Orbital by Samantha Harvey, and Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Sep 30

Riverside run the other evening. If you zoom right in in the middle you will see a ridiculously tall heron

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Sep 29

Husband just spent a week on holiday in Italy with his friends and the thing I am most jealous about is that their villa had a view of the actual big boat from Big Boat Stuck

View from the villa: wicker egg chairs in the sunlight, a town, the sea, and a green circle drawn around Big Boat in the harbour

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Sep 22

Things that make me feel sick right now: Food Music Being awake Literally any smell Reading ☹️ Being hungry The only things that don't make me feel sick right now: Gilmore girls Cheesy doritos Baby number 2 arriving next year!

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Sep 20

I've lived here nearly 2 years and run this route about once a week, how have I only just noticed this field is surrounded by a huge border of wild sunflowers? 😭 🌻 💛

Sunflowers, wheat stalks and other wildflowers with a tawny-brown field stretching towards trees in the distance

Katie McIvor@mckatie· Sep 17

Today I finished writing a short story for the first time this year. I love parenting this wee poppet but it's so, SO hard to find time to write. Trying to feel good about what I've managed to do instead of beating myself up for not being able to do more.