My new fandom/revenge/murder novelLast Seen Online launched a fortnight ago, and it’s already gone to reprints and received this amazing review in the Irish Times:

One of the things Lauren James has handled well in her fiction is internet culture, deftly weaving snippets of articles and posts into various books, always capturing that particular “online” tone of the form in questions. So her latest novel, Last Seen Online, based on a 2019 digital storytelling project, is an absolute treat.

The affection, obsession and insanity of fandom are explored via the fictional Loch & Ness franchise (featured elsewhere in James’s work), a book and then TV series involving a “sexy selkie police detective” who has some serious chemistry with the local werewolf (obviously).

James, born in the 1990s, is ideally placed to capture the specifics of internet fandom in the 21st century – it’s not just the references to particular websites, but the understanding of the different mentalities within fan spaces, reflected in the range of comments included after each instalment of an online “treatise” arguing that the actors in the TV show were in love but forced to remain closeted.

(If this sounds completely unhinged, well – this book is not for you. If it sounds a little unhinged, but also you must know more, step on inside. And if you’re already finding parallels with real-world fandom conspiracy theories – why do you not own this book already?)

The insane-shipper vibes give way to something more sinister, though, as we learn that one of the actors is in jail for murdering the other. In the present day, two LA-based teenagers use their detective skills to try to figure out what really happened – ending up in danger themselves. Tremendously enjoyable.

I’ve been going on a flurry of events, which I’ve been trying to document in all their neon glory via Instagram reels (a Pink Pony Club-themed launch featuring cake baking, a London bookshop tour, Coventry Pride, Waterstones Piccadilly’s BookFest day where they had an iconic suspect board for all the LSO villains, and a Heartstopper day at Edinburgh Book Festival). I highly recommend watching the Heartstopper reel for many, many dog cuddles – the festival put on a Therapets event in honour of all the Nelson family dogs.

I feel so so lucky and overwhelmed by all the support and love for Last Seen Online. Every day people have been messaging to tell me they read it in one sitting, or it’s their book of the year. My last few books have been Rather Serious climate fiction, which isn’t really ‘read it in one sitting’ material, so this has all gone to my head a little bit. I’m so happy to have such a fun, silly book to share with you all.

Thank you to everyone who has ordered or reviewed or shouted about the book. I’m truly the luckiest. My next event is in Oxford next Friday – see below for details.

If you’ve already finished the book, I’d love to hear your thoughts on if you guessed any of the twists. I’m of the strong opinion that the best twists are foreshadowed enough that a suitably alert reader can spot them before the answer is revealed, and I’d love to see if I nailed that in this book properly. 🙂

And if you haven’t read it yet, well – what are you waiting for?! Forbidden Planet even have signed copies in stock.

Amazon UK Waterstones Audible Foyles

In other news, I have two local community projects I’ve been working on in my hometown Coventry. From November I’m going to be running a reading group for the Royal Literary Fund, one of a network of only sixteen in the country funded in 2024. The meetings will discover stories and poems for sheer enjoyment, looking at how writers weave their effects.

Secondly, for a year now I’ve been holding a Queer writers group in Coventry city centre, and I’m super excited that we’ve just been awarded Arts Council funding. I’m really excited to be able to level up our events for 2025.

(I also run a climate action group of 200 writers, so I imagine I’m going to need to hire someone to help with admin for all my projects soon, woof!)

Events

If you want to meet me, here are a few events I’m going to be appearing at:

OXFORD//23rd August – Kat McKenna and Lauren James ‘Swifties, Fame and Fandom’ – Blackwells Oxford, 6pm

COVENTRY//1st Sept – True Crime Thrillers at Coventry Queer Writers workshop at St Marys Guildhall (1-3pm)

CHELTENHAM//12th October – Thrillers panel with Kate Weston, Josh Silver, and Amie Jordan – Cheltenham Literature Festival

BIRMINGHAM//28th Oct – 2nd Nov – Writer in Residence at The Exchange, Birmingham – book a one-to-one writing advice session or a panel on writing with Lorna French and Philip Holyman

COVENTRY//7th Nov onwards – weekly Coventry Reading group (12.15 – 1.45pm)

LONDON//17th Nov – YALC – Heart rate critical panel with Karen McManus, Ravena Guron and Finn Longman

Variety released the news today:

Amazon MGM Studios is developing the YA novel “The Loneliest Girl in the Universe” as a feature film.

Joe Roth and Jeffrey Kirschenbaum (“Anyone but You,” “Fast X,” the upcoming “Jackpot”) will produce the film alongside Katherine Langford, best known for starring in Netflix’s hit YA series “13 Reasons Why”; Seldy Gray will oversee development for Roth Kirschenbaum Films.

The project is in early development at the studio with Sarah Conradt-Kroehler writing the script, from a treatment by Gary Dauberman.

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe was first published in 2017. It was nominated for the 2019 Carnegie medal, named one of Barnes & Noble’s Top 15 YA Books of 2018, and shortlisted for the STEAM Children’s Book Prize 2019.

Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew-member of a spaceship travelling to a new planet, on a mission to establish a second home for humanity. Alone in space, she is the loneliest girl in the universe until she hears about a new ship which has launched from Earth with a single passenger on board. A boy called J.

Their only communication is via email and due to the distance between them, their messages take months to transmit. And yet Romy finds herself falling in love.

But what does Romy really know about J? And what do the mysterious messages which have started arriving from Earth really mean?

Sometimes, there’s something worse than being alone…

I’ve been holding onto this secret for four long years, so I’m beyond thrilled to finally be able to share it.

The production company, Roth/Kirschenbaum, made Damsel (Milly Bobby Brown/Netflix), Anyone but You (Sydney Sweeney/Glen Powell), The School for Good and Evil (Paul Feig/Netflix), Fast X (Vin Diesel) and The Gray Man (Ryan Gosling), so Romy is in very, very good hands indeed.

A movie deal is, obviously, a dream come true. It’s not something I ever thought would happen to me. I feel lucky enough to get to keep writing new books, let alone for someone to make an adaptation of something that came out of my brain.

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe is a very special story to me. I wrote it when I was 22, fresh out of a physics degree. On the surface, it was inspired by some of the physics I’d learnt about deep space travel at university, but mainly it was propelled by the complicated feelings I had about technically being an ‘adult’ while really just feeling like a naiive kid. It was about internet dating, and fandom as a form of self expression, and my complicated relationship with girlhood (as someone who no longer really identifies as a ‘girl’).

Romy is one of the most precious character I’ve ever created. I poured so much of myself into her personality; her insecurities; her flaws and strengths. So many readers respond to her vulnerability (and mine) with deep love. People have told me that they would die for Romy. That she’s their favourite fictional character of all time. That she’s helped them process so much of their own anxiety, trauma and imposter syndrome. That she’s a role model for girls who are deciding to study science at university. As a writer, it’s the biggest honour to have created someone who feels so real and important to so many people.

I can’t wait for Romy to reach a whole new audience on screen through Amazon MGM Studios. The team at R/K have a very clear vision for Romy’s story, and so much respect for her journey as a character. I’m very excited to see what they create.

I have some experience of the TV industry in UK through my work in the Heartstopper writer’s room as story consultant, but movies and Hollywood are obviously a whole new ballgame. I’m excited and nervous to learn more!

For everyone who’s been with me and Romy since 2017, I hope the The Loneliest Girl in the Universe movie lives up to all your expectations, when it launches (which might be a while off!). Thank you for sticking with me.

And for new readers, you can read the book now. It’s published in the UK, Australia, USA, and in translation in Indonesia, Brazil, Poland and Turkey.

Goodreads

Amazon UK

Waterstones

Foyles

Audible

Amazon US

“A strange, witty, compulsively unpredictable read which blows most of its new YA-suspense brethren out of the water.” – Entertainment Weekly

“Black Mirror-esque. A fantastic slow-build drama. Lauren James is a genius.” – SFX

“Gripping romantic sci-fi thriller.” – Wall Street Journal

“This slow-burning psychological thriller has a killer twist that will make you gasp.” – Bustle

And while you’re all here, a reminder that my next novel Last Seen Online is being published on August 1st. A scandal occurs within the cast of the TV show that Romy writes fanfiction about in The Loneliest Girl in the Universe.

Goodreads

Amazon UK

Waterstones

Audible

Foyles

Fill out this form to receive a signed postcard of character art for Last Seen Online – open to anyone in the UK who preorders the book before 1st August 2024.

A contemporary YA murder mystery set in sun-drenched LA, for fans of Malibu Rising, We Were Liars and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

When Delilah meets Sawyer Saffitz (son of Anya Saffitz, aka Hollywood royalty), she becomes hooked on a decade-old scandal. In her quest for the truth, Delilah uncovers blogposts written by the mysterious “gottiewrites” and is soon caught up in a world of greed, fandom conspiracy theories … and murder. And the deeper Delilah digs, the more dangerous it becomes – because someone is willing to kill to hide the truth.

– Wren x

THE FINAL COPIES ARE HEREEEEE ✨✨✨

Which means you have LESS THAN THIRTY DAYS to get your preorders in and snag a goody bag of signed postcards and bookmarks! Go go go!

Goodreads

Amazon UK

Waterstones

Audible

Foyles

Netgalley (for book bloggers)

Last Seen Online is a murder mystery set in the iconic LA of teen movies like Clueless and Booksmart. Through glam hollywood parties, two teen detectives investigate an old murder case by the cast of a paranormal TV show. The OJ- style press frenzy that followed the death has almost been forgotten when our teen characters start stirring up the past.

This is a book for people who, like me, grew up with the internet. A lot of the murder clues in the story are discovered online, in a multimedia ‘blog’ format that mimics the obsessive fan culture circling celebrities’ lives. It interrogates how teenagers interact with digital culture. It’s for fans of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Gone Girl and Knives Out, or anyone who obsesses over Taylor Swift’s dating life, reads Vanity Fair articles about Caroline Calloway and mainlines true crime podcasts. It’s for people who loves messy, toxic women – and unreliable narrators.

Like We Were Liars, I wanted to create a book that changes when you read it for the second time. This is for readers who don’t accept what they’re told at face value, and want stories that stay in the mind after reading, that they can discuss in the group chat. There’s not just one twist in this story – it’s twist upon twist, all the way down. Get ready to dig in. 🔍

If you can’t wait, here are…

TEN OTHER BOOKS ABOUT FANDOM

MY TOP THREE REAL LIFE INTERNET DRAMAS (Instagram reel)

BOOK VIBES VIDEO (Instagram reel)

Please preorder if you can! Here’s that Waterstones link again. To quote Robin Sloan (whose new book Moonbound is out this week!!), here’s why preorders matter:

“I know you understand very well the power of the algorithm: the way attention compounds. What you might not understand is the relatively modest scale of book publishing success. It only requires sales in the single-digit thousands to pop a book onto the bestseller lists, which can become gateways to further success. The point of the preorder, then, is to focus a diffuse field of interest into the hot week of a book’s release.”

14th July – Coventry Queer Writers workshop at St Marys Guildhall (1-3pm)

7th August – Scream Queens panel at Waterstones Piccadilly

13th August – Chairing Alice Oseman at Edinburgh Book Festival

21st August – Future Hopes with LR Lam and Tola Okogwu at Edinburgh Book Festival Schools programme

21st August – Internet Sleuthing for Beginners at Edinburgh Book Festival Schools programme

1st Sept – True Crime Thrillers at Coventry Queer Writers workshop at St Marys Guildhall (1-3pm)

28th Oct – 2nd Nov – Writer in Residence at The Exchange, Birmingham – book a one-to-one writing advice session

17th Nov – YALC – Heart rate critical panel with Karen McManus, Ravena Guron and Finn Longman

The novel for ‘An Unauthorized Fan Treatise’ is now up for preorder! If you’re in the UK, you can get a goody bag of signed merch by preordering. I’m so excited by all the love for this book already, so I wanted to do something special to count down to release day!

Fill out this form.

Follow me on Instagram for event news and other updates in the run-up to release day.

• COVENTRY – 9th June, 14th July – Queer Writers workshops
• EDINBURGH – 13th August – Chairing Alice Oseman at Edinburgh Book Festival
• EDINBURGH – 21st August – Future Hopes with LR Lam and Tola Okogwu at Edinburgh Book Festival Schools programme
• EDINBURGH – 21st August – Internet Sleuthing for Beginners at Edinburgh Book Festival Schools programme

Here are some early reviews:

✨ Unputdownable stories, morally grey characters you can’t help but love, and twists you’ll never see coming: Lauren James’s books are addictive nosedives into everything from space exploration to parasocial obsession – Alice Oseman

✨ Insanely addictive. ― Laura Steven

✨ Last Seen Online is the perfect read for anyone who has ever fallen deep down an internet rabbit hole. A wild trip into the world of fandom, social media and true crime, you will NOT be able to put this book down. Lauren James has cemented her place as one of the most innovative writers in YA right now – I will read anything she writes. ― Laura Wood

✨ There’s nothing out there quite like LAST SEEN ONLINE; it is completely addictive and utterly genius and I loved every second of reading it – Sarah Underwood

✨ I inhaled this book. Utterly compelling, very clever, and a thrill ride of a read. My favorite Lauren James book yet. – Katherine Webber

✨ This book is a wild ride and I loved every minute of it. ― Sara Barnard

A contemporary YA murder mystery set in sun-drenched LA, for fans of Malibu Rising, We Were Liars and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

The novel of Lauren James’ hugely popular online story An Unauthorized Fan Treatise.

When Delilah meets Sawyer Saffitz (son of the Anya Saffitz, aka Hollywood royalty), she becomes hooked on a decade-old scandal. In her quest for the truth, Delilah uncovers blogposts written by the mysterious “gottiewrites” and is soon caught up in a world of greed, fandom conspiracy theories … and murder. And the deeper Delilah digs, the more dangerous it becomes – because someone is willing to kill to hide the truth.

Word count: 75,000 Aimed at ages 13+

Publishing in August 2024 by Walker Books in the UK and Australia

You might have also seen the news that a character created by me will be played by Jonathan Bailey in Season 3 of Heartstopper! In the writer’s room, we simply could not resist the sweetness of Charlie and Nick meeting a celeb crush. And this casting is so perfect that it’s like he stepped right off the page. Jonathan Bailey!!!!! My life goals have officially been smashed out of the park!!!! Could not have picked a better person to play the first of my characters to appear on-screen!! I got to visit set to watch him bring Mr Maddox to life, and you’re in for a treat. (We’ve changed his name to Jack, for dog-related reasons – Henry the pug got there first!) You can read a mini-comic about Jack Maddox here.

I’ve also written the text for the official Heartstopper character cards (September 2024). Featuring Alice Oseman’s artwork and behind-the-scenes details, you’ll find all your favourite characters in this official Heartstopper deck, as well as conversation cards to help you explore essential themes raised by the books and Netflix series – including Pride, Allyship, Gender and Identity.

My favourite part was deciding with Alice what each character’s love language is. 🤭

Fill out this form to receive a signed postcard of character art for Last Seen Online – open to anyone in the UK who preorders the book before 1st August 2024.

I’m super excited to announce that I have a new anthology coming out today! Future Hopes is suitable for ages 9-12 and features stories by Eli Brown, L. R. Lam, M. G. Leonard, Rebecca Lim, Oisín McGann, Tolá Okogwu, Neal and Brendan Shusterman, Louie Stowell and Bijal Vachharajani.

Amazon UK Waterstones Goodreads

Ajji walked past the tamarind tree, inviting Ara and Chhaya to do the same. “We never changed our methods. We still farm like my grandparents did. And my parents. Our trees – we worship them. They welcome birds and animals and us; they provide shade to the coffee plants. Even more important now that the summers are so hot and dry. We grow millets and coffee, vegetables and rice. All one big happy family.”

“It’s called intercropping,” Chhaya chimed in.

“Don’t show off, Chhaya!” Ajji clucked at her.

from The Drongo’s Call by Bijal Vachharajani

I’ve spent the last few years working hard to use my platform as a writer to promote climate action. After publishing several climate fiction books like Green Rising and The Deep-Sea Duke, I set up the Climate Fiction Writers League, a group of 200+ authors.

I advise people on how to write hopeful climate fiction, and have consulted with museums & production companies and worked with the Society of Authors’ Sustainability committee to represent the interests of British authors. I have also participated in the Hollywood Climate Summit Pitchfest and spoken at the Movers and Makers Conference at BBC Television Centre.

Why mention climate change in books? It is proven that hope and optimism will inspire more action than anything else. Fiction can inspire a huge amount of empathy, and that’s a force that we can use collectively to inspire change on a global level.

62% of people say they hear much more about the negative impacts of climate change than they do about progress towards reducing climate change, resulting in a perceived Solutions Gap.

A great example of something doing climate change discussion properly is the TV show Ted Lasso, which is about a football team in the UK. In an episode, it is discovered that the football team kit sponsor Dubai Air is owned by Cerithium Oil, who have refused to clean up oil spills in player Sam’s native Nigeria. He sets out to get the team to find a new sponsor.

The plot is uplifting and joyful, being focussed on Sam’s character growth as he stands up for his beliefs. It doesn’t shy away from politics, and shows the true ways to act involve finances, such as changing to a green bank/pensions scheme. It is a relatable, contemporary issue that people can connect to, and shows the connections between countries’ climate issues.

Helping writers weave in climate issues is done in the TV/Film industries through initiatives such as The Albert project, which shows production companies how to weave climate themes into their storytelling through ‘planet placement’. There is also the Good Energy Playbook and Climate Story Labs.

It needs to be more of a focus in publishing too, so I try to help authors see how they can be promoting activism in any type of novel. To create more of the kinds of hopeful stories I want to see, I pitched a ‘positive’ climate anthology for children to my publisher.

It’s especially important for children to see hopeful visions of the future world they are going to grow up in.

“Climate anxiety and dissatisfaction with government responses are widespread in children and young people in countries across the world and impact their daily functioning. A perceived failure by governments to respond to the climate crisis is associated with increased distress.” – The Lancet

With my publisher, I worked to create the Future Hopes anthology. Nine authors pose ingenious and thought-provoking solutions to the climate crisis in this anthology of climate fiction, such as skyscraper farms, insect food and guerilla gardening.

“Hundreds of people are going to be swimming in the sea,” I said, in my talking-to-nerds voice. “Including me. And there’s a big-assed squid out there. In the sea.”

“Squids don’t really have asses,” Dad replied.

from Eyeballs, Tentacles and Teeth by Oisín McGann

The authors, who include Neal Schusterman and M. G. Leonard, were given a list of solutions believed to combat climate change most effectively, based on science research from Project Drawdown.

For example, green city planning such as rentable electric car-pooling, electric bike-sharing, secure cycle and pedestrian lanes, free buses, free insulation upgrades. The importance of rewilding urban areas – roadside fruit and nut orchards, verge allotments, vertical skyscraper farms, rooftop gardens for cooling. Types of sustainable agriculture – tree alleyways in crop fields, perennial crops, free-roaming livestock, no tillage, no fertilizers.

I was buzzing. I took a large wooden spoon from the cutlery drawer and waved it like a magic wand. “Let the mixing begin!”

I dumped a heap of flour into the bowl. I wasn’t sure how much was needed, so I added a bit more. A puff of flour wafted up my nostrils, making me sneeze into the mixture.

“Snot is sustainable!” I shrugged.

from Food of the Future by M. G. Leonard

Once the first drafts were written, I then helped the writers to increase the climate content. This included suggestions to provide more of the characters’ thoughts on the future world they live in.

For example, intergenerational conversations can give a lot of insights – what was different when the characters’ parents/grandparents were growing up? Do young characters remember how the world used to be? What changes do they appreciate and what goes unnoticed?

Other advice was to describe the setting more – this naturally leads into opportunities to mention things that are different in infrastructure from our world.

I encouraged the writers to use more dialogue where characters are actively complaining about something about the world they live in, or trying to decide how to fix a problem, since this is a more natural way to give information about the world than in exposition in a chunky paragraph.

It’s important to make sure the world sends the right message – it doesn’t have to be a positive world, but it shouldn’t leave readers feeling guilty about their carbon footprints.

We want to inspire people, not panic them. Writers should use anger and frustration to drive writing, but not write an angry book – people don’t want to read that.

Try to convey the seriousness of the situation without making it seem futile. Show that climate change is solvable. It’s not imminent and long-term, but it is happening right now.

The messaging needs to avoid blaming individuals for their emissions. People won’t engage if they’re just going to be made to feel guilty about not recycling! There is also a lot of space for positivity connected to nature.  

Stetson was doing his jackhammering, moving at a nice clip, when he suddenly broke through to another cavern – one that wasn’t on the map [of the landfill]. Warm, fetid air spilled out. It was awful, smelling so strongly of ammonia it hurt Zak’s eyes. He – all of them – immediately put on their gas masks.

A flood of furry creatures pouring out of the hole. Dozens of them.

“Oh no! We hit a Dump Devil nest!”

from Dump Devil by Neal & Brendan Shusterman

I want to encourage writers try to show that industry, economics and political factors are to blame. Call out the companies who have been specifically working to slow climate activism.

Future Hopes is an uplifting reading experience. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed editing it.

Amazon UK

Waterstones

Goodreads

My climate anthology FUTURE HOPES, which releases on 7th March, has just landed! The finished copy is so beautiful. I’m so proud of all the work that the contributers and team at Walker Books have put into this.

If you’re a book blogger or reviewer, you can now request an early copy to read on Netgalley.

Otherwise, here are some preorder links for you!

Amazon UK  Waterstones   Goodreads

Publishing by Walker Books on 7th March 2024 (UK/Australia). Ages 9 – 12

n this collection of compelling short stories, edited by Lauren James, authors including M. G. Leonard, Neal Shusterman and Tolá Okogwu offer hope for our planet in the face of climate change.

Skyscraper farms. Insects for dinner. Guerilla gardening. Nine authors pose ingenious and thought-provoking solutions to the climate crisis in this anthology of climate fiction. Rooted in real-world science and technology, the stories offer a roadmap for a future where our planet can thrive. From a rewilding project with unexpected consequences to a rebellion against augmented reality, these wide-ranging stories will leave the reader feeling a little less powerless in the fight to save planet Earth.

Full list of contributors: Eli Brown, L. R. Lam, M. G. Leonard, Rebecca Lim, Oisín McGann, Tolá Okogwu, Neal and Brendan Shusterman, Louie Stowell and Bijal Vachharajani

“A brilliant collection of inspiring stories with the power to change the world. Innovative, original & essential.” – Hannah Gold

UPCOMING EVENTS

19th February – COVENTRY -AIDS memorial Zine workshop

23rd February – ABERDEEN - Granite Noir festival panel ‘A Damaged World’

10th March, 14th April – Coventry Queer Writers workshop at St Marys Guildhall (1-3pm)

Coming in March: I’ve edited my first anthology!

As a climate activist, I’ve learnt that it’s so important to speak from a place of hope about the future, especially in fiction. So I asked some of the best children’s writers from around the world to write stories set in a positive future for Future Hopes: Hopeful stories in a time of climate change. They really came through – I cried and laughed and cheered and felt better about the world with each story that came in. With a foreword by Nicola Davies and a jaw-dropping cover by David Litchfield, this is something really special. I’m so grateful to the Walker Books team for seeing my vision here and helping to bring it to life. Each story includes discussion points and questions by me for teaching students aged 9 and up.

In this collection of compelling short stories, edited by Lauren James, authors including M. G. Leonard, Neal Shusterman and Tolá Okogwu offer hope for our planet in the face of climate change.

Skyscraper farms. Insects for dinner. Guerilla gardening. Nine authors pose ingenious and thought-provoking solutions to the climate crisis in this anthology of climate fiction. Rooted in real-world science and technology, the stories offer a roadmap for a future where our planet can thrive. From a rewilding project with unexpected consequences to a rebellion against augmented reality, these wide-ranging stories will leave the reader feeling a little less powerless in the fight to save planet Earth.

Full list of contributors: Eli Brown, L. R. Lam, M. G. Leonard, Rebecca Lim, Oisín McGann, Tolá Okogwu, Neal and Brendan Shusterman, Louie Stowell and Bijal Vachharajani

“A brilliant collection of inspiring stories with the power to change the world. Innovative, original & essential.” – Hannah Gold

Publishing by Walker Books on 7th March 2024 (UK/Australia) for ages 9 – 12

Amazon UK Waterstones Goodreads

In other news…

I had the honour of working on Season 2 of Heartstopper as a story consultant, which is out now on Netflix.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Wren | Lauren James (@laurenelizjames)

I’ve been on set for Season 3 this month and there are some incredible moments coming up. I also joined the Heartstopper team for London Pride, which is a core memory I’m never going to forget.

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A post shared by Wren | Lauren James (@laurenelizjames)

My serialisation of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe is approaching its final act, ending on 18th December. Catch up here.

I revealed the cover for my next novel, Last Seen Online, which is coming in Summer 2024.

Green Rising is currently part of a climate exhibition at Oxford’s Story Museum.

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A post shared by Wren | Lauren James (@laurenelizjames)

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A post shared by Wren | Lauren James (@laurenelizjames)

I’m back at Aston University as a Royal Literary Fund Fellow this academic year. If you are (or know) a student/staff member, they can book a tutorial with me.

Upcoming events:

22nd November – Online Climate Q&A with Irish Writers Centre – free (7pm)

3rd December – Coventry Queer Writers workshop at St Marys Guildhall (1-3pm)

During the summer holidays at the age of sixteen, I spent a heavenly six weeks grinding freeze-dried honeybees into powder in one of Warwick University’s science labs. I’d captured the bees myself, bedecked in a white suit and mask, from a local beekeeper’s wildflower meadow hives.

Once they were thoroughly decimated with a pestle and mortar, the powdered insects were poured into vials so their DNA could be extracted. I wanted to track down the honeybees’ origins. Not their recent Warwickshire origins, but their deep-time, historic ancestry.

Read the rest of this essay at the Royal Literary Fund’s website

Last week I was on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row with Samira Ahmed to review the new Apple TV show Extrapolations by Scott Z Burns, and the Royal Academy of the Arts exhibition Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers.

Listen on BBC Sounds

There’s still time to catch up on my current serialised novel The Loneliest Girl in the Universe, which is being sent out in tiny bite-sized chunks by email. Start here from the beginning.

Read the novel for free

This is such a cool idea. Just like Daily Dracula last year, Lauren is sending out a chapter at a time of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe, a brilliant and haunting novel about space, on the date of the diary entries for free. I really recommend signing up as the book slaps. https://t.co/HhtbQmIMDV

— hux | lizzie huxley-jones 🍟📚 (@littlehux) February 23, 2023

Very delighted to say that Green Rising was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal!

Upcoming events

If you watch the Great British Menu, you should make sure to watch the banquet episode this Friday – you might see a few familiar faces. 🙂

COVENTRY//16th April – ‘A Queer Guide to Medieval Storytelling’ – Coventry Queer Writers workshop at St Marys Guildhall (1-3pm)

OXFORD//2nd May – Panel with Natasha Pulley at Blackwell’s Oxford

Hey folks!

I am unbelievably excited to announce that next month I’m going to be launching a new serialised novel!

I loved posting chapters of An Unauthorised Fan Treatise online week by week. Since my novel The Loneliest Girl in the Universe takes place over the course of a whole year, with each chapter dated, I thought it’d be fun to post real-time updates from Commander Romy Silvers.

She’s alone in space. She has a long journey ahead of her. She needs some companionship.

Starting on 23rd Feb, you can sign up at https://laurenjames.substack.com/ to receive free email dispatches from Romy.

To start with, there will be an update each day, but as the months go by, there will sometimes be long gaps as Romy goes quiet. Things aren’t going to be easy for our girl. Space is a lonely, quiet place to live.

If you’ve read The Loneliest Girl in the Universe before, this is a fun chance to reread the story (though please try not to spoil it for new readers!) You can chat about the updates with other fans at https://discord.com/invite/wMMvvS5, or using the hashtag #TheLoneliestGirl. I’ll be sharing your reactions on my Instagram stories each day at @laurenelizjames!

I can’t wait to watch the plot unfold alongside you all. I’ve not reread the novel in full since it was first published in 2017. There are a few bits I’m dreading (the mint green walls! the teeth! the Stores!). I’m sure there will be many parts I’ve forgotten about too.

Please spread the word about this project to anyone who loves psychological horror and sci-fi. I’m super lucky that my amazing publishers @walkerbooksYA and @epicreads have let me do this – it’s not often an author gets to share their writing online like this.

It’s a completely new (and very old-school, Dickens-style) way to consume a novel. Collectively, day by day, living alongside Romy. I can’t wait to see how it alters the reading experience for us all. Brace yourselves – it’s time for take-off.

2021 favourites | 2020 favourites | 2019 favourites | 2018 favourites | 2017 favourites | 2016 favourites | 2015 favourites | 2014 favourites

🏆 FAVOURITES OF 2022 🏆

It’s time! For the best in show! Here are my favourite novels, poetry collections and non-fiction books of the year. 

All of these books hooked me from page 1 and kept me reading in one sitting, which is no small feat in a year when I struggled very badly to complete any book through to the final page. 

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters – I have not stopped thinking about this book since I finished it

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson – Mind-blowing real life true crime about a group of collectors who become obsessed with using real rare birds’ feathers in their fly-fishing hooks. This leads to a heist on the natural history museum archives. A great look at the hysteria of collectors, the isolated echo chambers of internet forums, and a really iconic gentleman thief.

Witch by Rebecca Tamás – Queer, witchy poetry with a visceral, dark tone. I ate this up.

Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts by Christopher de Hamel

The Employees by Olga Ravn – sci-fi horror at its best.

C+nto and Othered Poems by Joelle Taylor – angry, strident and uplifting poetry about womanhood, in the form of cantos.

And outside reading, what have I been doing this year? As always, I started writing this thinking the answer was ‘nothin’, and then wrote a whole load of stuff.

In 2022, I:

• Became a royal literary fellow at Aston University
• Worked in a TV writers room
• Watched my best friend’s book become the bestselling series in the UK 😭💖
• Drafted and structurally edited my next novel, Last Seen Online
• Edited a collection of stories
• Learnt to crochet, mudlark, make sushi and play DnD
• Consulted on climate fiction storytelling for the BBC and the Story Museum
• Cut off all my hair, got a piercing and a second tattoo
• Developed and wrote a sample on commission for an Intellectual Property
• Finished drafting an adult horror novel
• Made a new best friend
• Released 30 issues of the newsletter for my activism group the Climate Fiction Writers League
• Travelled to Amsterdam, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bath, London, Leeds, Winchester, Kent and Wales
• Sold book rights in two new territories and sold a new novel
• Went on submission with a Christmas romcom movie script, unsuccessfully (so far!)
• Saw Lorde in concert (twice)
• Earnt out my advance on The Quiet at the End of the World and The Starlight Watchmaker
• Went to my first Pride! Relatedly, went clubbing several times.
• Was nominated for the Carnegie medal and shortlisted for the Hollywood Climate Pitchfest for Green Rising
• Developed a TV pitch for the story and pitched it live to 8 LA producers
• Restored an antique French mirror, framed a giant crewelwork piece and wallpapered my bedroom
• Met Jacqueline Wilson; cried

And there it is. Phew! I hope you all have a wonderful holidays, and here’s to lots of exciting things in 2023!

Next up for me: