Melinda Roy

Augur press novella and novelette submissions now open! Be a part of augur press’ debut line up. We’re looking for works from 12,500-40,000 words to launch as print books in 2027-2029. Canadian & international authors welcomed. Open July 6-August 30. Guidelines at augursociety.org/press-submissions.

HEY SFF WRITERS 👋✨

We want your books.

So we can acquire them.

And print them.

For our ✨🪶 SOON TO BE LAUNCHED PRESS 🪶✨

Submissions are open until August 30. 12.5k-40k words.

Guidelines are live on our site, found down-thread.

Pass it on 👀

** deep breath **

✨ I am now accepting novella & novelette submissions for Augur Press — launching 2027! ✨

Nine years in the making, we’re making the leap to print books.

Guidelines are on our site.

Questions? AMA in the comments and I’ll answer.

#sciart

This is a great relief, this post is good, and maybe I don’t have to ditch iNaturalist after all :)

June 7th, 11am CST - Poet Jessica Lohafer is hosting a cowriting session for pride month. Free, everyone welcome, optional prompts. Sign up :)
www.eventbrite.com/e/pride-writ...

Illustration of a smug-looking cassowary’s head next to text reading “kick your problems to death”

life advice from the cassowary

A dark brown bird with a dark orange breast stands in a tree looking down with an apparently displeased expression.

LOCAL BIRD OUTRAGED BY PRESENCE OF HUMAN

"I went to my usual pond and she was just THERE, this big ugly creature. What does she even want?"

When questioned, human claims "But I live here. Also I built the pond."

The human retreated quickly while the bird hurled insults.

(American Robin) #birds 🌿

The work from a distance, hanging from the ceiling cats reflections on the box on the floor below and the mounting hardware above. It is at the centre of the art gallery.

The whole piece:

Artist: Arezou Moeini
Installed at Two Rivers Art Gallery, a 3D representation of a 2d motif of the eight-pointed star a motif often seen in Iranian tiles and mosaics. Look for the star in the gaps as the video rotates.

Exhausted but very appreciative of the Canadian medical system, its doctors, nurses, and support staff.

"If you or any other Canadians are not happy living on Treaty lands, they are free to apply for citizenship elsewhere."

Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation issues a scathing rebuke of Danielle Smith's talks on a national unity crisis.

How much wildlife do cats ACTUALLY kill – and should we keep our pet cats indoors? — BBC Wildlife Magazine We may love our pets, but the truth is that they can be a real problem for wildlife, says James Fair April 23, 2025 The Kerguelen Islands lie deep in the southern Indian Ocean about halfway between Ma...

In the US, domestic cats kill up to 4 billion birds and 22 billion mammals every year—plus hundreds of millions of reptiles and amphibians. In just 5 months, Britain’s 9 million cats killed 57 million mammals and 27M birds. The global toll on biodiversity is staggering.

apple.news/ArfCzk6grQ9W...

Brown and cream coloured moth resting on pavement. The pavement has a green sheen from moss/lichen starting to form, and a brown slat fence is in the background. The moths wings have two main dark brown vertical stripes in the middle, with rusty and dirty yellow coloured patches. The wing edges are ruffled, and its body has definitive lines where the segments of the abdomen. It is facing away by from the camera, but its hairy antennae is just visible curving over its thorax. Its legs have two spines/spikes at the tibia-tarsomere joint. A quick internet search says it eats mainly willow, oak, hazel, and paper birch leaves, and of those in this location, oak is the main available plant.

I was in a hurry yesterday when I saw this friend. Had I known what I was looking at, I’d have taken a better picture of their face, which is noteworthily proud for a #moth. Brown-tipped Thorn.
Good day, sir. 🎩🫡 🦋🌿🍂
#lepidoptera
#insect

Echo Azure, a small pale blue butterfly with black spots and small chevrons on its underwings, tucked itself into a dead fern and ocean spray plant.

Echo Azure, a small pale blue butterfly with wings open, topside is silvery-purpley blue with dark line and white rimming the edges of the doors wing. It’s antennae are black and white striped, and it has a fuzzy blue body. It is sitting on a dead fern, with the background of the photo mottled green and black.

Today’s winged thing: Echo Azure #butterfly on a dead fern 🦋🌿

Female red-winged blackbird, brown and cream stripes with a white eyebrow and pale orange chin, takes off from a dry rush stem in a shallow marsh. Her wings are open and moving but feet haven’t let go of the rush yet. In the background the still marsh water reflects the green of new leaves from the trees on the far bank.

Today’s bird is a female Red-winged Blackbird, who was too busy nest building to sit still for long. 🪶🌿

Osmia conjuncta Osmia conjuncta from Moraine, OH, USA on April 16, 2025 at 10:31 AM by dillonmr. Found inside an empty land snail shell. Found with RASAMOTO

People in eastern North America: when you're out on a nature walk, please remember to CHECK EMPTY SNAIL SHELLS FOR BEES. An iNaturalist user in Ohio just found the extremely rare eastern snail-shell mason bee (Osmia conjuncta). 🐌🐝🌿 #inaturalist #bees #osmia www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Webinar happening tomorrow!

Jungle Myna Acridotheres fuscus in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Photo: JM Garg, Wikimedia Commons

Hole-nesting birds adapt to the urbanised world by using human-made structures (drain pipes, ventilation openings, mailboxes etc). Report those unique places in an @inaturalist.bsky.social project run by @igstadnicki.bsky.social and help to protect wildlife.
🧪🌏🪶🪺
www.inaturalist.org/projects/urb...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Butterflies in My Backyard (BIMBY) 2025 Intro webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. This webinar will provide an introduction to the David Suzuki Foundation's Butterflies in My Backyard (BIMBY) project. Participants will learn more about this community science project, including how ...

Canadian field naturalists and citizen scientists 🧪, have you joined the #Butterflies in My Backyard project on #inaturalist yet? Goal is matching butterfly and plant observations. Register for the intro session Sunday 2PM ET here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
🌿🦋

A black carpenter ant is backing over a blade of grass with the back end of a brown and black striped caterpillar in its pincers, while another ant adjusts its hold on the front end. There is morning dew left on the grass and juniper haircap moss.

A black carpenter ant is walking backwards in the grass, tugging at the just-visible end of a brown and black caterpillar.

A caterpillar is curling up while a black ant stands on some moss above it and adjusts its grip on it. If you zoom in you can see the caterpillar feet.

A black carpenter ant adjusts its hold on a caterpillar by standing on the caterpillars underside, the caterpillar has its back up against a blade of grass.

Spotted these busy ants carrying a caterpillar this morning.

#ants
#caterpillar
🌿

This would’ve changed my dad’s life. Born with a significant congenital defect in the fifties, he’s beaten every odd to survive, but as a kid he couldn’t run or do sports or lift anything. This would’ve changed his and his parents lives, which is the topic of my WIP memoir.

giant fawn lily, a white star shaped flower that faces the ground, its petals curving like the start of a spiral, against a mossy foreground

a field of giant fawn lilies

It’s the season where my depression starts to lift, hopefully. These delicate ground facing fawn lilies don’t last long but are out in numbers under seaside Garry Oaks.

It takes them 7 years to bloom, please don’t trample them, or let your dogs trample them.

This sweet face! I love him!

Yesterday’s cat call, as I am in deep conversation with a friend, we walk past an open moving truck, and a voice from inside calls: “hey, wanna help us move in?”

No, I do not want to get into a dark trailer full of crappy furniture. Or your house. Also, I’m almost 40, thought I’d aged out of this.

Today a friend told me I reminded him of Ms. Frizzle. Best compliment ever.
🪄🚌🦎🌿🐸🪲🐍🐢

A woman in a green toque, brown ball cap, yellow rain jacket with the hood up, a high-vis vest, and black rain pants is looking down at a arough-skinned newt she is holding in her left palm and a flashlight in her right. You can just see her smile from under the brim of her hat. She is standing in the dark, on a wet paved road.

Living my dream life, saving newts in the dark. 🦎🔦

Western Toad in the road! Watch where you’re driving especially on wet warm nights, as amphibians of all sorts are travelling to their breeding grounds. Western toads don’t mature to breeding age until they are 6 years old, and are endangered in British Columbia.

New tiniest frog I’ve ever seen:

Green coloured Pacific Chorus Frog with dark copper stripe up the centre of its back and hind legs, on a cement road next to my pointer finger. The frog is about as long as my finger tip to first knuckle, and the same width. Likely migrating to a nearby breeding as the chorus was loud tonight.

The tiniest frog I’ve ever seen
#PacificChorusFrog

#salamanders #newt