A weird tale for New Year's Eve. "Ancient Lights" by Algernon Blackwood. 31 Dec, streamed live at 8pm, and available to catch up any time. Free to view. Just click here: youtube.com/live/BsrjjVd...

Michael Dirda reviewed our Collected Speculative Works: “Fitz-James O’Brien deserves serious attention for developing some of science fiction’s most familiar tropes—among them microcosmic worlds, invisible monsters, time slips, and robots.” New York Review of Books www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

As the year draws to an end, here's a look at what Swan River Press got up to these past twelve months. Our Haunted Year. swanriverpress.ie/2025/12/our-...

And to all a good night.

And for the editor, Uncertainties III ed. Lynda E. Rucker from @swanriverpress.bsky.social; All My Precious Madness by @markabowles.bsky.social from @galleybeggars.bsky.social; & 3 DVDS with an 🇮🇪 connexion - The Company of Wolves, The Outcasts, & The Farthest [Voyager😍]. bsky.app/profile/perf...

Impossible...

It's Christmas Day! I haven't missed it. The Spirits, have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like.

Here's a real curiosity. Is there a smartypants out there who wants to inform everyone else what it is? ⭐️

Here's another curiosity: Arthur Machen's copy of The Collected Poems of A. E. Waite.

For like the first time ever, the majority of my Blackwoods are together on the same shelf.

Thought this interview I did twenty years ago with E. F. Bleiler was worth posting. "Le Fanu was pretty much a dead end. His Victorian fellows either didn’t understand what he was doing or didn’t care about it." (One question submitted by @realgdt.bsky.social) swanriverpress.ie/2025/12/an-i...

A Warning to the Curious for the solstice celebration.

"Le Fanu inextricably entwined invaders from within and without. Were the ghosts real? Were they hallucinations? None of this mattered. What was important was how the ghost was perceived, and how this perception destroyed the minds of witnesses." markfullerdillon.blogspot.com/2025/12/jim-...

My neighbour's cat is a huge Carpenter fan.

Placed a small order with @swanriverpress.bsky.social and it came with more bonus freebies than I know what to do with! Thanks, very generous. 📚

Some of my earliest prized possessions were Dover paperbacks, which used to feature sewn binding! They were quality. Years ago, I conducted a career-spanning interview with the ever-inspirational E. F. Bleiler. He kindly sent me a couple of signed volumes. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._F._B...

118 years ago today: William Hope Hodgson signs-off his introduction to The House on the Borderland. The novel would be published five months later by Chapman & Hall. (Text photo of the @swanriverpress.bsky.social edition)

Doing some work in the lock-up this evening, sorting boxes of books, putting together racking. It's creepy enough during daylight hours, let alone after hours. Thanks, @realgdt.bsky.social

In addition to the Christmas Eve broadcast, Robert Lloyd Parry will be doing another streamed show on Sunday, 21 December, the winter solstice! Lost Hearts and A Warning to the Curious! events.livetoyourlivingroom.com/events/livet...

Another reminder that An Post’s advised latest posting date to ensure delivery to Great Britain before the holidays is Thursday, 18 December. We'll be making daily trips to the post office to get orders on their way asap. swanriverpress.ie/titles/

'Alluring yet ominous' is an apt description of the new book by @helengrantsays.bsky.social, beautifully produced by @swanriverpress.bsky.social - and the careful attention to packaging, personal notes, postcards and bookmarks are an added reason (if any was needed) to support independent publishers

THE GREEN BOOK 9: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature is now on the LOW STOCK list. The contents feature Dorothy Macardle, Elizabeth Bowen, Rosa Mulholland, Shirley Jackson, Caitlín R. Kiernan, and more! swanriverpress.ie/green-book-i...

Shortly after I posted the below, the new issue of Faunus dropped through my mail slot! Are you a friend of Machen? You need to join our society, the most convivial of literary communities! www.arthurmachen.org.uk

Here's a volume most won't have: A Few Letters from Arthur Machen to Munson Havens, written during the 1920s revival in America of the former's writing. This slim volume was published by the Aylesford Press in 1993, with an introduction by Roger Dobson.

Michael Dirda mentioned our recent publication, A MIND TURNED IN UPON ITSELF: Writings on J. S. Le Fanu by Jim Rockhill in the Washington Post today. Copies still available here: swanriverpress.ie/srp-title/a-...

A few more from @swanriverpress.bsky.social, @pva-books.bsky.social, @writtenoffbooks.bsky.social, @scratchbooks.bsky.social, @renardpress.com

I think horror is sometimes at odds with narrative satisfaction, where we instinctively and powerfully expect certain dramatic beats, resolution being one of them. So it makes sense on some levels, but more often than not doesn't serve the aesthetic goal. Good horror can be subversive that way.

Thought of the day: Origin stories in horror are generally not a good idea. Horror is predicated on mystery, and the more interesting and thought provoking horror on mystery that cannot be resolved. Origin stories often undermine that sense of the unknowable.

An Post’s advised latest posting date to ensure delivery before the holidays: USA—10 Dec. As it is the holiday season, deliveries might take longer than usual, so the sooner you place your order, the faster we'll be able to get it on its way to you! swanriverpress.ie/titles/