Wendy Palmer

I write light(ish) romantic fantasy fiction & family-friendly puzzle walk trails while enjoying farm life with goats, alpacas & bees in WA's South West Boojarah region.

I follow & boost writing, reading, books, knitting, science, history, linguistics, environment, art & Stoicism.

She/her. Avatar AltText: silhouette of a woman in profile, with glasses & bobbed hair; header is my book covers (alt texts and CWs on website).

My fiction: https://wendypalmer.au/books/
Indie-direct sales: https://payhip.com/wendypalmer
WA Detective Trails: https://www.puzzlewalks.com.au/
Just my toots: https://justmytoots.com/wendypalmer@mastodon.au

Public Key

npub1uvmstcu5fzwcskd0drvr5lcha6v3xxyxc844hnrrefnfg8mygznsnr5uk9

NIP-05 Address

wendypalmer_at_mastodon.au@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqswxdc9uw2y38vgtxhk3kp60ut7axgnrzrvr66me33u5e55rajypfcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsltsulh

Publishing to

nostr-pub.wellorder.net

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1uvmstcu5fzwcskd0drvr5lcha6v3xxyxc844hnrrefnfg8mygznsnr5uk9

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Last Notes

2026-02-10 02:15:26 UTC

I have a window-cleaning robot*. I think it’s dissing me for not cleaning my windows enough — it just passive-aggressively informed me it can be used monthly (this is the whole “we didn’t need to clean clothes nearly so often before we got washing machines” thing again, isn’t it…).
*don’t judge me, I have a lot of windows and glass doors**
**massive digression for Romance main character backstory: my father was a glazier, so we had more glass than walls when my parents built a new house. My mother assigned me all the window cleaning growing up but made me re-do them over and over due to streaks. Meanwhile, we had relatives with dark dingy houses which gave me childhood trauma in the other direction. Therefore I *must* have light-filled rooms, yet hate cleaning the windows and am also (weirdly, given the childhood practice) plain bad at it no matter the technique I use. SF plot twist: the romantic lead is not a professional window cleaner: I used the proceeds from writing romantic leads to buy a robot window cleaner instead 😂
#windowsButNotThatWindows

2025-10-06 03:25:31 UTC

For people who missed out the absolute riot that is My Dad Wrote A Porno podcast the first time around, they’ve just started releasing a remastered version of season 1 for the 10-year-anniversary.
Three old friends, one of them reading aloud from the porno his dad wrote, the other two providing commentary.
It is hilarious, and only gets better: sex positivity, pots and pans, international intrigue, found family, and a pony named Toffee Apple Chew
#MyDadWroteAPorno #RockyFlintstone #podcasts
#BelindaBlinks

2025-07-29 05:44:13 UTC

New fire shed in the locality over from ours. Fully decked out with kitchen, comfortable couches etc.
Meanwhile, bunch of crafting grandmas need somewhere to meet after losing their previous location.
A brigade member tells them to use the new fire shed, it’s empty most of the time anyway.
Win-win!
But no! Some (excuse me while I go full Australian) bloody drongo shows up and tells the grandmas to bugger off.
Brigade member says, not on, mate, and tells the district fire chief.
Who signs the grandmas up as auxiliary brigade members.
Problem solved! With a side of not-very-malicious compliance.
(Also, now the grandmas will come to the annual meeting and you better believe they’ll bring snacks: win-win-WIN)
#LateralThinking #GoodNews #CountryLife

2025-05-24 06:32:14 UTC

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I know, it’s dangerous to the TBR list, isn’t it!

2025-05-24 02:52:48 UTC

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fantastic, thank you 😊

2025-05-24 00:44:15 UTC

#QueerRomanceClub June voting suggestions — Pride theme
We’re “read gay, do crime” all year round, but for the June pick, I need suggestions of LGBTQ books specifically by LGBTQ authors, specifically in the Romance genre (the relationship is central to the plot and there’s a Happy Ever After).
I have TJ Alexander and Alexis Hall on my radar but I confess I don’t usually pay attention to authors, just books, so more suggestions appreciated (especially in the L and B zone)
Indie authors welcome, but must be widely available (no Amazon-only books).
More about QRC here:
https://mastodon.au/@wendypalmer/113144943004145104
@npub15nv…g9dy @npub1ny7…uv57 #bookclub #LGBTQ

2025-04-30 05:32:00 UTC

How to spend $100 of book vouchers in a record 15 minutes:
Park in a 15-minute parking spot 😂
@npub1ny7…uv57

2025-03-18 23:21:46 UTC

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I love her work 🥰 and gosh I love that cover!

2025-03-17 23:07:25 UTC

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You’ve probably read anything recent I can suggest (Gentleman’s Gentleman by TJ Alexander, I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner…)
Back when I had KU, there was a really nice fantasy novel by writing duo Sarah Honey and Lisa Henry, called (I think) Anhara, with a trans character, but just as a by-the-by rather than a feature, IYSWIM. You don’t find out till late-ish and it’s just a fact. That was years ago, but presumably it’s still on KU.

2025-03-15 00:32:03 UTC

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thanks for sharing that, I appreciate her flat statement (with data!) that readers aren’t deserting indie writers by leaving Amazon. It’s been getting a bit *distracted boyfriend meme* on a few sites, the way some exclusive authors have been complaining about customers finding indies at other sources instead.

2025-03-10 12:01:19 UTC

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my friends made a point of taking me to Daunt’s when I visited them in London a decade ago

2025-03-03 07:14:42 UTC

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I’ve just started the biography, I didn’t know they were releasing a collection of stories in tandem!

2025-03-01 01:04:26 UTC

Bit of a historical non-fiction binge recently:
James and John by Chris Bryant — a deep-dive on the last men executed in Britain for sodomy, an absolute travesty of justice.
Strangers by Graham Robb — older book, subtitled Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century and does what it says on the box — single-handedly prevented me from making the MC of my next book, set in 1842, petrified of getting caught and executed by providing the wider context of the narrow focus of James and John.
Embers of the Hands by Eleanor Barraclough — excellent, intimate look at the real lives of the Vikings as drawn from their most remarkable artefacts. Highly recommend!
Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera — an fair-handed overview of British imperialism, good historical account and context for some modern arguments (one inadvertent parallel that struck me: the ill-advised strike of a colonised people against British women and children, followed by the massive literal overkill of the British response, pretty universally condemned now with the distance of the intervening decades and centuries).
Just started Outrageous Fortunes (about Mary Fortune, early Australian crime writer), and I love her already
Looking forward to The Palace by Gareth Russell (a social history of Hampton Court Palace) and Vagabonds by Oskar Jensen (life on the streets of nineteenth century London)
#historicalNonFiction #books @npub1ny7…uv57
https://o.mastodon.au/media_attachments/files/114/084/479/417/121/721/original/278fab4616318ccc.jpeg

2025-02-03 08:49:45 UTC

Look, I made a flowchart to help readers decide if they’d like to read my books ;)
(https://wendypalmer.au/books/ if this silly thing actually piques your interest)
@npub1ny7…uv57 #books #FunWithFlowcharts #ReaderDecisionTree #IndieAuthors
https://o.mastodon.au/media_attachments/files/113/939/064/720/724/141/original/a8358e418d85f0b7.png

2025-01-31 01:49:55 UTC

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Sadly, true
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jan/30/us-authors-guild-to-certify-books-from-human-intellect-rather-than-ai-human-authored

2025-01-29 00:20:22 UTC

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I tried to read the first one and bombed out early — I didn’t like the sheer volume of YA tropes: society explicitly murdering its teens [as opposed to our implicit efforts…]; parent inexplicably determined their child should die; MC selflessly-to-the-point-of-sainthood helping complete stranger at very real risk of her own life; handsome childhood male friend, broody violent male enemy-to-become-love interest-as-part-of-love-triangle; classroom scene to give background info and I’m out!
But I like neither YA or epic fantasy as a rule, so was probably the wrong audience 🤷‍♀️ obviously heaps of people love it.

2025-01-27 01:46:22 UTC

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that dovetails nicely with my personal theory that people cope with constant climate anxiety/fear by moving right.
Even the climate deniers know deep down something’s wrong so their sense of dissonance must be intense as they chase growth and blame everything and everyone else…

2025-01-26 11:43:58 UTC

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good, I hope you enjoy it 😊 Alison Goodman is an Australian author too

2025-01-26 11:32:28 UTC

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies is on sale at Kobo AU (maybe other places)
Older protagonists, well-researched Regency, mysteries based on real events, some romance but the central sibling relationship shines, fun but not fluffy — grim realities of life in those times confronted. Recommend!
https://www.kobo.com/au/en/ebook/the-benevolent-society-of-ill-mannered-ladies-4
@npub1ny7…uv57 #books #Regency #HistoricalMystery

2025-01-26 08:18:35 UTC

#AmReading The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner, in which we finally find out just what the deal is with the murder rate in “Cabot Cove”…
I really liked Waggoner’s first two books, which were quirky historical fantasy. This one is a fresh and funny paranormal with Grady Hendrix and T Kingfisher vibes and an older female lead who’s very Jessica Fletcher on the outside but all kick-arse librarian on the inside — I’m LOVING it.
@npub1ny7…uv57 #books #MurderSheWrote #paranormal
https://o.mastodon.au/media_attachments/files/113/893/638/546/580/887/original/f4e239b257a7a05b.jpeg

2025-01-24 11:26:56 UTC

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that’d be great, thank you! I got my idea from an After Dark podcast and have got some Not Just the Tudors episodes lined up, but anything that gives me more background would be very welcome 😊
(And my next book is set around the guy who introduced garden gnomes to England, so if I can plausibly shoehorn Kew in there, I’ll try it 😂)

2025-01-24 09:12:06 UTC

I’m going to spend the next week or so reading and taking notes from
- The Palace by Gareth Russell
- also volumes 1, 2, and 3 of the 1890s History of Hampton Court Palace by Ernest Law (thank you Internet Archive)
- also the slightly later and shorter Hampton Court by Walter Jerrold unless he proves to be copying Law too much (thank you Project Gutenberg).
This is because my next book is set at Kew Gardens 🤪
It’s at HCP, obviously, and oh boy do I wish I’d had this book idea *before* I visited the place ten years ago, I would have taken lots more photos and paid much more attention to the layout. (TBF, I was wrangling a four year old who couldn’t have cared less, so was distracted)
#WritingCommunity #AmResearching #HamptonCourtPalace

2025-01-07 08:26:19 UTC

#AmReading Thoroughly Disenchanted by Alexandra Almond
Bounced off a couple of light books that weren’t the escapism I was looking for, a historical romance and a what-happens-to-the-heroes-after-they-win fantasy, both of which were perfectly fine, but were both contemporaries in disguise as is a current trend (the historical had young characters with completely modern attitudes in pretty dresses, the fantasy had tv, phones and coffee shops via magic, neither are what I read those genres for).
But then tried this one on a whim and enjoyed it (with a few minor quibbles), Australian debut author, cosy fantasy mystery with a sweet queer romance and a very pleasant set of MCs that I liked spending time with.
And it was only when I read the author bio at the end where she mentions her love of football that I twigged that she is my friend’s sister, because Australia is a very small place 😂
@npub1ny7…uv57 #books #romance #QueerRomance

2024-11-30 10:54:54 UTC

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random colours are working surprisingly well 😊

2024-11-07 03:35:21 UTC

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I await the results with scientific interest 😊