I’m thrilled to announce that The Favorites has been optioned by Welle Entertainment and Netflix for development as a feature, and they’ve hired an absolutely stellar screenwriter: Kate Gersten, who also wrote The Last Showgirl starring Pamela Anderson. She’s going to bring the perfect mix of glam and grit to the adaptation, and I can’t wait to see how she translates my hot mess ice dancers to the screen.

This is not the first time my work has been optioned: those of you who’ve been around awhile may recall that The Favorites was once in development as a television series rather than a movie, and They Never Learn was also optioned for TV at one point. It is, however, the first time the project has gotten far enough along to merit an official Deadline announcement — a major item checked off the Author Bucket List for me!

My philosophy about Hollywood projects, and really being a published author in general is: don’t get too attached to any particular outcome, just enjoy the hell out of the process and celebrate every win along the way. So while I hope The Favorites is destined for Netflix stardom, whatever happens, I’m going to relish the experience — and of course, keep all of you posted along the way ❤️

Before I go, a couple other quick news hits from the past week or so:

• I recorded an interview with Tali & Lauren of The Prose Pros podcast, in which we discussed my fanfic writing past, how a “business crush” led me to my dream agent, being unapologetically yourself, and much more.

The Prose Pros

Writing a Marketable Premise with Layne Fargo

Layne Fargo has a background in theater, women’s studies, and library science, so it’s only fitting that she now writes deliciously dramatic, unapologetically feminist stories for a living…

Listen now

2 months ago · Tali Shammas

• I also contributed some Favorites sales data to an informative and infuriating post on Andrea Bartz’s Get It Write Substack about bestseller lists (spoiler alert: they are not lists of the best sellers).

Andrea Bartz: Get It Write

Absolutely everything I know about bestseller lists

Ugh, bestseller lists. Who understands ‘em?! They’re shrouded in mystery and lend a book bragging rights but sometimes seem to have little relationship with actual book sales…slash, reality. We should probably all worry about them less. But…

Read more

2 months ago · 24 likes · 16 comments · Andrea Bartz

• Sexy Ice Sports Winter continues, and so does my Heated Rivalry-related sales bump! Good Housekeeping UK included The Favourites in their round-up of “8 Steamy Romances to Read if You Loved Heated Rivalry.” I appreciate the shout-out even though my book is a) not a romance and b) not particularly steamy, unless you’re turned on my emotional turmoil (hey, no judgment).

• Speaking of emotional turmoil: the World Figure Skating Championships are this week in Prague, and Canadian ice dance team Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier just announced that they’re bringing back one of my favorite programs of all time, their Wuthering Heights free dance. When they premiered this back in the 2023-2024 season, I had finished writing The Favorites but was still wondering who would want to read a Wuthering Heights x ice dance mashup, like do those things even go together?? And then Piper & Paul proved that hell yes they do 🖤

As always, I recommend following The Nice Capades for all your skating competition coverage needs, but I’ll probably share some of my thoughts on the Worlds results in next week’s post, as well as my experience seeing the Ice Dance International tour when it came through the Chicago area recently. (There was a sapphic pas de trois, and I still have not recovered.)

So here I am in your inbox now with far LESS exciting news: there is a scammer who has been impersonating me via email. I made a post about this on my Instagram earlier this month, but as the scammy messages seem to be ramping up, I wanted to provide a more thorough (and easily Google-able) warning here.

I’ve heard from multiple people in the past 24 hours alone saying they got similar emails from the account info.authorlaynefargo@gmail.com. One person even had a whole conversation with this fake me, which is disturbing to say the least!

These emails seem to be targeting other authors, complimenting their work in (I assume) an attempt to sell them publishing consultations or other fraudulent services. They’re pretty convincing, including a signature with my official headshot, the titles of my books, and a link to my official website:

So just to be clear:

• That is not my email address.

• I don’t have a fancy email signature like that (and if I did, it wouldn’t include that random / after the URL, cause it makes my eye twitch)

• The only online accounts I currently use are this Substack and my Instagram.

• I do not offer services like consultation or editing or mentoring or whatever the fuck these scammers are pretending to sell.

• I am not in the habit of cold-emailing people I’ve never met to compliment their work — and certainly not random men, like are you kidding?? The very last way I would ever choose to spend my time.

Anyway if you get one of these messages, please report it as spam and block the address. And be vigilant in general, cause these AI scams have been everywhere lately, in the publishing world especially. I know of several other authors who’ve been impersonated this way, and I myself get fake emails each and every week offering me book club placements or television interviews or other “opportunities” for just a small administrative fee or whatever the latest scammer bullshit is.

Now back to writing The Ice Queens word by painstaking word because I am a creative human being not a loser hiding behind a bot ✌️ Hope to slide back into your inbox very soon with glad tidings instead of annoying shit like this!

I was so excited when my publisher told me about this, because I love FairyLoot’s fancy-pants special editions and thought I’d never get one since I don’t write fantasy.

You can find all the details about this version, including when it’ll be available to order, here. A few answers to questions you may have:

• While I am not yet allowed to show you the glorious endpapers created by artist Gianny Filizzola, I can tell you that they depict my toxic babies Kat & Heath skating together in various aesthetically-pleasing settings, and that I gasped when I saw them.

• Every copy of the FairyLoot edition will have a title page signed by yours truly, and in fact I signed most of them while watching the Winter Olympics!

• I too have no idea why there are swans on the sprayed edges, but they are very pretty (and I love their cunty little crowns 😂)

I’m going to keep it short and sweet today because my deadline for The Ice Queens is in less than a month, so it’s time to get back to my new toxic babies Madison & Harper ❤️ I can’t wait for you to meet them!

My beloved dog / longtime writing assistant Finn died in November, and we adopted a new dog a few weeks ago. My partner and I bought a new home, which we’re currently renovating. The Favorites celebrated its one-year release-a-versary and was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award (in the wrong category, but whatever), a Book of the Month Lolly Award, and an Audie Award, among others.

(And of course, I switched over to Substack — welcome, OG subscribers!)

In the midst of all this, though, I’ve been hard at work on my next novel, and now that it’s been officially announced, I can finally talk about it. (Although, if you’ve met me in person any time in the past few months you know this book was the worst-kept secret in publishing… I’m a Gemini and I was born to yap, not keep secrets!)

The Ice Queens follows elite ice dancers Madison and Harper, former BFFs turned bitter rivals who team up to try to become the first female/female ice dance team to compete in the Olympics.

I was inspired to write about a female/female ice dance team after seeing Olympians Gabriella Papadakis and Madison Hubbell’s stunning show program last year. The character of Madison is named for both Madison Hubbell and 2026 Olympic gold medal favorite Madison Chock, though when I originally picked the name, I had no idea she’d one day become the heroine of her own story!

Here’s a bit more about the book:

❄️ Readers of The Favorites may remember Madison from her small role as a teen ice dancer / Katarina Shaw fangirl training at the Lin Ice Academy in 2013. The Ice Queens takes place in the present day, so Madison’s all grown up now.

❄️ While this isn’t a straight-up sequel to The Favorites, the story does take place in the same world, starting shortly after the Favorites epilogue, and you’ll definitely see some familiar faces. I’ve been referring to it as The Favorites’ sapphic little sister.

❄️ So yes, The Ice Queens is indeed sapphic (though still not a traditional romance, honestly I don’t think I’m capable of writing one — I like my fictional relationships dark and toxic and twisty). Madison and Harper are both bisexual, and there are a couple of queer side characters as well.

❄️ The Ice Queens will be out in 2027, though I’m not sure quite when in 2027, in part because I’m still writing the manuscript. Major scenes take place at the 2026 U.S. National Championships (which happened last month) and the 2026 Winter Olympics (which start today!). It’s been a fun challenge to write something based on such extremely recent history, but it also means I have to wait to see what happens in real life before I can decide how I want to fictionalize it. Like this morning I watched the real-life rhythm dance in the figure skating team event, and this afternoon I’ll be working on my fictional version of it.

❄️ I’m keeping my full Ice Queens playlist-in-progress private for now, but here are a few tracks that have been in heavy rotation to give you a sense of the vibe:

Much more to come as I wrap up the writing process and get closer to launch! Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any of the juicy details.

Subscribe now