I've got a dark tale in this, of clickbait paranormal investigators, with "Dante’s Travelling Inferno" “The showman, Mr Dante, though I guess that can’t have been his real name, this was his last year, unless things turned around. Folks say he traded his soul for a full house...”

When you have overwhelming superior military advantage, your biggest danger is incompetence. "DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - US military says Kuwait 'mistakenly shot down' 3 American F-15E Strike Eagles aircraft during combat." (I was going to say "Hegseth" but you get the gist.)

There ain't nothing homely about Home Secretaries. The job description in this "modern" era appears to include xenophobic cruelty, and disposability. They're not meant to be liked or admired, and when Starmer's popularity takes a(nother) hit, it's an "easy" win to swap them out for another.

The @smashwords.bsky.social sale is now live! Get yourself a bargain (or two...) www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos www.smashwords.com/books/view/1...

Why is it NOT a matter for parliament to decide if the US gets to use UK's airbases in this? Why does Starmer alone get to decide, potentially against the will of his party, the will of parliament, the will of the nation?

I guess I'd make a lousy politician. I obviously lack the nuance. But allowing the US to use UK bases for strikes against missile sites in Iran... I just can't work out why that is classed as "defensive"? Is it the same logic that allows an ICE agent to shoot dead a man legally carrying a gun?

What's that? Just Laura Kuenssberg, vomiting up a thought-piece comparing Zack Polanski to Nigel Farage. Same-old same-old, then. Yawn.

How to increase the price of oil so you and your petrochem buddies make billions: 1) Increase demand. Data centres are a great way of pointlessly burning through excess green electricity supply. 2) Decrease supply. Attacking or restricting oil supply from other parts of the world achieves this.

Help us spread the love! We want lots of indie authors, writers and book fans to join us in #Shrewsbury on 23rd May. We need help to get the word out. If you know someone who loves author events, let them know about us! #shrewsburyevents #writerlife #writingcommunity #authorlife #authorevent

Book post! Contributor copy of this Sci-Fi Are we the bad guys? themed anthology, Humans from Earth!! from Daft Notions / edited by Chuck McKenzie.

There are currently plans in the UK for 50 gigawatts worth of data centers. Peak UK electricty demand is 45 gigawatts. That's everything - domestic, commercial, industrial. The UK government is under a legal obligation to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. Something doesn't add up...

Labour coverage of the Gorton and Denton by-election result is clumsy and crass. Reform coverage is predictably vile. Tory coverage is full-blown delusional. Green coverage is kind of wildly optimistic. I know which of them I prefer, for all that.

"Vote for unity" is pretty much the most fascist political statement anyone from any party is likely to make. You wouldn't, perhaps, have thought that it would come from Labour.

For those keeping count (just me, then?) this is my 13th NoSleep story, going all the way back to Season 4! (Isn't it time YOU joined the Sleepless Universe? You know you want to... just turn out the lights and...)

Gosh, I wonder why? (Reminder: Stopping immigration ("stop the boats") is real simple. You just make your country worse in every way than the one they're coming from. Well done the US for outpacing the UK on this.)

"Only Labour can defeat Reform" - Green Party win comfortably, Labour knocked from 13,000 majority into third place. The problem Labour have is that lies damage reputations. It was a stupid claim to make, it was a false claim, and they'd would do a lot better to stop their Green scare-mongering.

S24E02 Enter the dark waters of the Cape Fear River as we present tales about the occult. "The House of Flies" ✍🏽Sam Riding  "Musical Souls"✍🏽 Liam Hogan  "Ferals" ✍🏽 A.T. Blackwater "Cast Iron Clot" ✍🏽 Travis Walters  "In the Neighbor's Corn" ✍🏽K.L. Gergen 🎧 www.thenosleeppodcast.com/episodes/s24...

#20sRec "Up Sticks" by Liam Hogan at Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores For some reason, I'm totally unaffected reading the grimmest of dark fantasy, but hand me a genuinely heartfelt cozy short story and I turn into a sobbing mess. cosmicrootsandeldritchshores.com/fiction-all/fantasy/up-sticks

Light at the end of the very dark, very dank tunnel!

It shouldn't be possible for the Trump administration to withhold financial and health care from a state in which its "deport all funny looking people" campaign has not gone entirely to plan. But that is what is happening in Minnesota. A warning to shut-the-fuck up, to them, and to other states.

Trump, and the US men's ice hockey team may be surprised to find out that YES, gold DOES tarnish...

Had the US men's hockey team turned down the invitation to the White House / State of the Union address in solidarity with the neglected, disrespected women's team, we would have cheered. As it is, the undeniable state of the union is "Sexist".

This is Hillary Knight, captain of the women’s ice hockey team. I love her thoughts on this.

Heading into the final week for the “Tea or Coffee, Stars, & Gravity” anthology KS campaign: www.kickstarter.com/projects/526... - We are currently $798 from our second Stretch Goal (24 backers needed). Check out the campaign and help add addt’l authors #sff #fantasy #book #ks #booksky #tea #coffee

McIntyre's illustrations are always delightful, and you might - if you're lucky - find that the artwork arrives in a hand illustrated envelope as well! And if you can't stump out for an original, her greetings cards are a bargain. Bring on the #AdventureMice!

NYPD's response to snow is fucked up. The link they try to make to extreme violence would justify them SHOOTING at overly boisterous youths throwing snowballs. It's the same as "weaponising vehicles" Which, sure, is a real thing, but its a mighty big stretch to imply a threat when you have the guns.

UK Labour busy cheating the electorate on the eve of a by-election, that polls say Green party have best chance of winning. Shame on you, @lucympowell.bsky.social. And would you REALLY rather Reform won, than lose to the Green party?

Dear @lucympowell.bsky.social, Why did you invent a fake tactical voting company to stop the Green Party beating Reform? I'm starting to think your letters haven't always been in good faith...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... NOT international waters. They DID open fire first. They were engaged, NOT blown out of the water. Survivors were NOT then blown out of the water, again. They were rescued and given medical attention. But SURE, "The Communist Cuban regime must be held accountable!"

Do NOT trust a politician without humility. EVER. Even if, for a moment, their views align with yours. Even if, for a moment, you seem to be "winning". Even if they appear to be strong and to "tell it like it is". DO NOT trust a billionaire who backs such a politician. They do so for their own gain.

When Trump announces a "golden age of America", and claims the economy is "roaring like never before", it's important to clarify - for whom? Obviously, the answer is for Trump and his backers. Not for the average American, not for the people of Minnesota, certainly not for Renee Good or Alex Pretti.

Here's the proper link - the other is a rail-replacement or something... blackharepress.com/blogs/dark-m...

Duty. Of. Fucking. Care. If you detain or arrest someone, no matter who, no matter for what reason, you, the agency doing the detaining/arrest, have made it YOUR responsibility that they get home safe, that they have their meds, that YOU don't harm them(!) while they are with you.

One word #StateOfTheUnion? Trashed. (Alternatives include : Embarrassing, Venal, Tarnished, Circus. But "Trashed" seems to encapsulate all of that, without underplaying the wilful destruction and childish POTUS petulance. Got a better one? Share!)

In a microcosm, this is where the current government are going horribly wrong. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Does it really need someone to point out that incentivising GPs to prescribe a particular drug seems distinctly iffy? ESPECIALLY in the wake of a dubious UK-US pharmaceutical deal?

The Trump administration is warehousing pregnant child rape victims in a Texas facility, away from adequate medical care, in a state with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the US, so that these child rape victims won’t be able to get abortions. www.throughline.news/p/the-trump-

Ironically, the biggest snowstorm to hit NYC when I was in the US happened when I was on a winter sports trip to Utah... Returned to slushy ice that had been ploughed to the gutters, making crossing the street a real hazard. (Is it water? Is it ice? How deep?!) Keep safe and warm, NewYorkers!

Isn't it odd that it is easier to prove financial misconduct than sexual misconduct? Almost like there's someone we're not believing...

Who's next to be arrested for misconduct in public office? (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let it be Farage... )

If you missed @spotlightindie.bsky.social's Big Indie Weekend on writing and publishing, you can catch up on the #YouTube Channel, and if you appreciate all that content, they've got a #Patreon for behind the scenes prize draws etc. www.youtube.com/@Spotlight-I... www.patreon.com/cw/Spotlight...

Tax payer money paid for Andrew's massages, because those who felt as outraged by that as we do were "overruled by senior staff." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... These are the boy's club institutions that abuse power, siphon cash, and damage the UK's reputation, and that need to be weeded out.

"She attempted to cross the English Channel and ended up on the American vaudeville circuit." -that's one hell of a wrong turn she took...

LIVE NOW. The Big Weekend is nearly over - but there's much more to come from Spotlight Indie. Join us as we look forward to our in-person event in May. youtube.com/live/S_S1_6O... #indieauthors #indiebooks #indiechat #bookchat #writingcommunity #writingchat #booktalk #authorevent #writerevent

The only TWO votes against making 'access to food as human right' is the same with the TWO votes who are against ending the embargo on Cuba.

I write about science, not business, and also I'm in the UK, but even to my eyes this seems absolutely, unambiguously vile. What shameless wankers these folk are.

Oh, just Farage, on holibobs in the Maldives, pretending to get all outraged for being "denied access" to a highly restricted US military base that happens to nominally be on UK "soil" but which UN international law, and intermittantly Trump, agrees shouldn't be ours.

"Liam Hogan's 'The Fallen God' is almost darkly comical, casting a spacewrecked human as the oblivious instigator of an alien holy war" Thanks Kara! Glad to get a mention, glad you enjoyed it!

No, Vice-President JD Vance, the Supreme Court's decision is not 'lawlessness'. The imposing of those tariffs was. Why? Because the Supreme Court says so and that's the highest court of the US legal system, and that's the US constitution. Even this Brit knows that. Jeez. Miss a civics lesson or two?

Need a #WeekendReads? Prism: an anthology of #queer #love is now available in paperback and ebook from @bookshop.org and more! #BookSky bookshop.org/p/books/pris...