If you're looking for a story about grieving, revenant mothers, laying the undead to rest, about diaspora families who come together only at funerals, about how childhood neglect echoes through generations and the magic of plastic baby dolls. Then I am here to meet your very specific needs.

Just finished The Excavation of Hob's Barrow, a neat little folk horror point and click, as a New Years treat. It's 55% off on Steam right now and well worth it! store.steampowered.com/app/1182310/...

HNY pals x

Things are so dark now it's easy to lose all hope, but our ancestors knew that light would return and we continue to celebrate that fact. ko-fi.com/post/What-th... Reminder, the UK government has a consultation about its proposed immigration changes. Take part, if you can. ko-fi.com/post/How-to-...

Get your Gothic fix this holiday season! 🔥🔥🔥

HW, HW, HWFG

This opinion will not surprise anyone, but: Your ability to live a comfortable life should not be dependent on your ability to contribute to capitalism. Universal basic income is a good thing NOT because it benefits society financially (it does), but because it is good and kind and correct.

in 2026 we are NOT hustling, we are NOT grinding, we are doing just enough Job to have money for Video Game

I wrote a Your Guide to Farscape story a few years ago and I'm always so happy to see folks get into the show, which I love a lot. Talked to Brian Henson of Jim Henson Company for this as well. This was such a labor of love: www.ign.com/articles/201...

Nothing pisses me off more than seeing some shitty AI 'art' attributed to William Morris. Bro, he would've HATED that.

Parrot waxcaps!! Another bucket list fungi found on a Boxing Day tree walk. 🍄📸

A merry (and cold!) Christmas from us to you all! (and join your union)

May you grow old together sharing the same pin cushion.

M: A thin year for film due to writing deadlines, and lots of 3.5 stars. Letterboxd says Sinners was out in front, with Speak No Evil (saw it this year) and Flow close behind. Honourable mentions for Heretic, Presence, Black Bag, Hallow Road, Dead of Winter... [tbc]

Putting cornstarch in my hot chocolate is a game changer.

Being on the same list as Sarah Waters = the dream!

Just watched Dead of Winter which is a film that asks "what if Taken but instead of Liam Neeson it's Emma Thompson as a Minnesotan fisherwoman rescuing a girl from a derelict cabin and every time you, the watcher, say "That's not very sensible why didn't she do X?" she then does X very sensibly".

important

For anyone who may be hastily returning certain books they bought as Christmas presents, here's a thread of excellent children's books I highly recommend you buy instead: Loki A Bad God's Guide To Being Good by Louie Stowell Funny, chaotic and a little bit naughty okay, a lot naughty

A fantastic list for all your spooky reading needs!

Put her heating pad in her box and now she's feeling very smug about it.

Very excited about this!

Oh beautiful bridge on the river Moray! You have fallen down, and I'm sorry to say That our public finances are in such disarray It seems (as of the date I write this rhyme) You will remain down for a very long time

Black queer surfers. Black queer bank-robbers. Black queer sea monsters. Black queer sorcerers. Black queer rootworkers. Black queer sailors. Black queer saints. Black queer sinners. It’s Black! It’s queer! It’s Here! Now available! www.neonhemlock.com/books/call-a...

This is incredibly important. If you read one thing this week: marcusolang.substack.com/p/im-kenyan-...

This book is REAL GOOD folks, get yours now!!

✨Next event is live!!✨ What do you need to get you through the January slump? How about coming to hang out with me and these three splendid humans, surrounded by books? www.waterstones.com/events/an-ev... @solarisbooks.bsky.social @waterstonesargyle.bsky.social

Guffawed out loud at this.

If I had 5p every time I used the wrong tense in this WIP I'd soon have enough to buy a rocket to take me far away from this WIP lyfkgdkgzmvclhclhc

"He heard the voice calling from the direction of the river, so clear and ringing through the trees that he hardly knew it as Mr Oakes's; 'Who is he dares enter these my woods?'" Happy birthday, Shirley Jackson.

Interesting Scottish history fact

Behindthename.com has just suggested 'Johnnie Pythagoras' as a potential character name and I can't stop laughing. It sounds like something a mobster would call someone trying to be a wise guy in an old-timey movie.

Saw a dinosaur on our walk today.

Having researched cold reading a lot for boat book, this analogy is extremely apt. "The chatbot gives the impression of an intelligence that is specifically engaging with you and your work, but that impression is nothing more than a statistical trick." softwarecrisis.dev/letters/llme...

Louder for people in the back: the court rules trans women are not prevented from using women's spaces. Also your weekly reminder from a business school professor that trans status is still a protected category under the Equalities Act (2010).

Did you know Cymera is a registered charity? Become a member today to enjoy a closer relationship with the UK’s biggest scifi, fantasy & horror writing festival. You'll receive exclusive benefits, including early booking and an invite to our next AGM. www.cymerafestival.co.uk/membership

Still looking for a Christmas present for the Scottish folklore enthusiast in your life? Dark Crescent has you covered - "a terrific collection of Scottish folktales with a modern twist" (according to Joanne Harris!) ✨️ Available in the usual places/via @lunapress.bsky.social! linktr.ee/lyndseycroal

Keep forgetting to say that my novel is *ideal* for cold weather, full of candle-spots of warmth swallowed up by the chill gloom. Victorian London and West Country folklore tied into a seasonal bundle. Also has an artist heroine, unrequited/inadvisable love, and a chap who's back from the dead.

When M's friends know the only things she ever needs to hear.

There hasn’t been a wild wolf in Hookland since 1483, but the land is long memory told in ghosts. The King’s Chase Forest has phantom pack. Wolves grown in size with each generation’s telling. Red-eyed, shadow-furred. They howl so we don’t forget our extinguishing sin. - #CLNolan

maybe i am going insane

One of my top books of 2025. Shopping centre Gothic at its finest.

Being a co-writer is having a very clear idea what happens next in the book you're drafting, having your co-writer come in and write something else, being incensed they've hijacked your beautiful work of genius... and then reading it and realising it's much better than what you had planned. 😅

Just typed 'godsmacked' and that needs to be a thing now. Maybe in a fantasy novel where the Godsmacked are cursed people trying to escape their fate.

Hey Audible members! The Needfire is currently on a deep discount for the next week so if you've been waiting to buy, now's your chance!

Yesterday was #StAndrewsDay, so, may we interest you in the works of Solaris' superb Scottish contingent? @mkhardywrites.com 's https://geni.us/needfire @rhiannonagrist.bsky.social 's https://geni.us/homesick @rainewilson.bsky.social#StAndrewsDay's https://geni.us/saltorac & https://geni.us/weallghostsPB

Incredibly good deal here!!

Bonne Maman Advent Calendar thread, because why not.

Some great recs in here! (If we do say so... but forreal, some really good reads to fit all tastes.)