Some more Substacking: open.substack.com/pub/richards...

Some more Substacking: open.substack.com/pub/richards...

From Pompeii to Kim Philby, Renoir to Offa of Mercia, here’s a selection of history books that will be released over the month ahead. With books from @mollycrabapple.bsky.social, @richardstrachan.bsky.social, @rorynaismith.bsky.social and more👇

The first review is in for Night Fire, from Unseen Histories... Absolutely delighted with this! www.unseenhistories.com/new-history-...

The moment of truth! Author copies of Night Fire arrived today, it's always a huge thrill to see the finished article. Just look at that gorgeous cover!

Enjoyed being interviewed by @thelistuk.bsky.social about my new novel, Night Fire, published in only three weeks!

Strolling past Robert Louis Stevenson's old house.

Started using the Merlin birdsong identifier app. Life-changing.

Not long now... Night Fire, my second novel, published 23 April!

Loved this: www.theguardian.com/music/2026/m...

#OwlishMonday 'Owl no. 2' by Italian modernist Sergio Ruffolo, 1974

open.substack.com/pub/richards... New Substack

www.scotsman.com/arts-and-cul... Glad to be picked out in this article from The Scotsman!

Mood.

Four weeks until my second novel is published! Night Fire is a psychological ghost story set during World War II, on a RAF Bomber Command airfield in Lincoln. Perfect for readers of Alice Winn, Sarah Waters, Andrew Michael Hurley and Andrew Miller. Preorder links here! linktr.ee/richstrach

I enjoy research and I *love* writing. But the bit in between, where the research has to be turned into material that you use in the writing, is the most godforsaken activity on earth. Like extracting marrow from your bones.

Duck at the harbour this morning, seemingly having laid an egg on the wall.

Reliably informed now that this is a frog, not a toad. Probably a pregnant one at that, looking for a pond where she can spawn

Is this a frog or a toad? I thought toad originally, but now I'm not so sure

I should try to get this up to 832 posts

New Substack: richardstrachan.substack.com/p/events

New Substack: richardstrachan.substack.com/p/events

Very much looking forward to this event in June at Forum Books in Corbridge! www.ticketsource.co.uk/forumbooks/f...

A pavement encounter yesterday evening.

Proof copy of the new M. John Harrison in hand!

Robert Lowell phase, incoming

More Substacking, about the Iliad this time open.substack.com/pub/richards...

More Substacking, about the Iliad this time open.substack.com/pub/richards...

Sometimes I look at a view like this and wonder about all the different stories behind each window, and then I realise it's probably just people sitting looking at their phones.

Even on the evil horrorshow of Goodreads, people seem to be really enjoying my second novel: five 5-star reviews so far! Only six weeks until Night Fire is published now... www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...

You're not going to make any money doing this and no one is going to read it, so you must hope for a secret third thing to happen

Bit of a detour from my current Iliad-centric reading: an old favourite, The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll.

open.substack.com/pub/richards... New Substack

The only book you need for #Worldbookday (and every day thereafter)...

Currently reading The Mighty Dead by Adam Nicolson: absolutely thrilling, one of the best works of non-fiction I've read for ages.

I'm surprised no one mentions Manic Street Preachers here: their first album essentially provided my teenage reading list. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/m...

Always an exciting moment when you're sent the final cover spread for your book!

"Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us..."

Massive ship at Leith docks today

Moronic Lord of the Flies discourse now as irritating to me as moronic Wuthering Heights discourse.

"Novelists quite often stack the cards to ensure the results they want." Yes... that does tend to be the way it works... unherd.com/2026/02/lord...

This is fascinating; I'd never even heard of the Minitel. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Book launch incoming! The launch for my second novel, Night Fire, will be at Blackwell's Edinburgh on 23 April. Comments and shares very much appreciated, but don't worry - this won't be the last you hear of it... www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/richard-st...

www.scotsman.com/news/opinion... Yet another failure to understand that a work of fiction does not necessarily mean the author is promoting a thesis.

Yet more copies of The Unrecovered signed @goldenharebooks.bsky.social!

Absolutely fascinating interview with Prof Tony Pollard in the Herald today. I was lucky enough to be taught by Tony on the first year of the Battlefield & Conflict Archaeology Masters degree, at Glasgow, in 2006/07, a genuinely transformative experience for me. archive.is/w3ezu

Last day of this offer at Waterstones! Preorder now, etc

Pleased to see Night Fire in @waterstones.bsky.social 25% off preorder off this week! www.waterstones.com/book/night-f...

Hurray for @waterstones.bsky.social's 25% off books publishing very soon www.waterstones.com/campaign/feb... not least because it features some of our cracking @bloomsburyraven.bsky.social authors including @richardstrachan.bsky.social's historical masterpiece, Night Fire