book cover with yellow jackets on flowers

Don't mess with Mabel

About 20 years ago, I penned (literally) a short about an older woman who, through a series of misunderstood communications, encounters her nemesis from years before. Alas, I lost those pages in one of my many moves. In 2016, however, the main character revisited me, and I wrote a new story about her—Mabel, an underestimated woman who’s fiercely independent, appreciative of beauty, and tenacious when her sense of what’s right and good is challenged....

 · Laura Lis Scott
cropped illustration of a woman in a short dress bending over

Books in my shadow

Imagine a story about Melody Baker, an unemployed woman living in New York City. She has a PhD, huge student debt, and no professional job prospects. Deborah Ann Woll speaking at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California. Photo by Gage Skidmore (Creative Commons). (Picture Debra Ann Woll playing her in the movie version. She’d be perfect in the role.) Out of desperation she applies for a research assistant position upstate—and finds herself smack dab in the middle of a political campaign run by cynical operators, eccentric aristocrats, and absurdly horrible partisans and hangers-on, all scheming to elect an unwilling but convenient old-money recluse who has these quaint ideas about integrity, compassion, and justice....

 · Laura Lis Scott
s600-mabel1.jpg

Free Mabel!

An early cover for “Mabel and the Yellow Jackets” To outsiders, she may seem like a nice older “woman next door.” But the redoubtable Mabel is nobody’s fool, and she’s anything but helpless. When a horde of stinging insects invades her space, they experience the wrath of a woman who’ll have none of it. My short story “Mabel and the Yellow Jackets” is free—as in free free, not just subscription free—this weekend, February 23–26, on Kindle....

 · Laura Lis Scott
buggers2.jpg

Nothing that can’t be solved with a little bug spray

When you believe in independent publishing as a political act, start wondering about alternatives to sending out that odd, non-genre 5200-word short story for more submissions—especially to pubs with loooonnnnngggg response times. Especially when you have all the knowhow to publish a valid and properly formatted ebook. Especially when you think the story really is actually pretty fun. Especially when you have the fabulous Katherine M. Lawrence editing. So you decide to throw it out there…...

 · Laura Lis Scott
4296c-img.jpg

Announcing A Spy in Stilettos: A Comedy of Manners, Politics, and Sex

My new book. So this happened this week. The book (as in my book) is available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle. (Other ebook platforms to come later.) I’ve actually been in something of a state about this all month. And last month, too. As a classic Type B personality, I tend not to show it. I didn’t even see it, myself. Not very observant of me, was it? I’m not very good at touting myself....

 · Laura Lis Scott