Thanks @goingmedieval.bsky.social, @mattlewishistory.bsky.social and @profcarolyne.bsky.social for the norse myth eps of Gone Medieval. Perfect listening for drawing pictures of Loki. On the qu of "is loki a drinker", I think Lokasenna at least proves he's a MEAN drunk, whatever his liquid capacity

The Bloomsbury Oxford Summer School in Fantasy is in full swing. A wonderful first day with exploration of fantasy past. Tomorrow the present and Thursday is fantasy future. Livestreamed and recorded too.

The Vestmannaeyjar in glorious weather. Spot the sheep who must have been wearing crampons. And a pufflingur awaiting a launch out to sea.

Coming next spring ... yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...

The west fjords looking particularly splendid today

The trolls are in Reykjavík!

Tomorrow you can watch the livestream of the Oseberg viking ship being moved to its new home in Oslo's Vikingtidsmuseet!

“The chances of my first three books (all of which are out of print anyway) going into profit are roughly akin to my marrying Taylor Swift, or Travis Kelce for that matter.” @alexlarman.bsky.social on the grim economics of publishing:

You might assume “Anglo-Saxons” is a simple phrase with a simple meaning, but it’s meant various things during the past centuries. This is a brilliant open-access summary of those evolutions by Prof Rory Naismith @rorynaismith.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Step through the gates of St John’s this weekend! From 10am to 5pm, explore our stunning quads, gardens, and historic buildings, attend expert lectures, and see a whole new side of college life. Free entry, no booking required. #OxfordOpenDoors

Off to Iceland tomorrow there to circumnavigate the island with #RoadScholars floating campus in the good ship Ocean Albatros. Looking forward to it immensely— if it’s half as much fun as last year I am in for a terrific time.

Word of the day is ‘tamalou’: a French name for an older person who no longer greets their friends with ‘how was your holiday?, but with ‘t’as mal où ?’, ‘where does it hurt?’. There follows an enthusiastic account of aches and pains and doctor’s appointments.

The Little Book of Dragons is published today (though you wouldn't know it from the British Library shop website). But all good retailers should be able to supply, unless you're in N. America where you have to wait a whole month for lovely dragon pix ..

We have eight medieval courses coming up in the next several weeks - this week you can use the code 'backtoschool' to get 15% off - go to medievalstudies.thinkific.com to check out all the courses #medieval

Amazing story: one of the organisers of the group putting Union Flags up around Manchester previously did time for being part of a people smuggling gang. manchestermill.co.uk/manchester-f...

We are the only developed country where mass shootings happen on a regular basis. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Christ, some of Farage's joke made-up migrants 'policy' fell apart within 24hrs. Clownshoes grifterism to the max. Will someone, anyone, please start taking these people on - and apart?

Our medieval offerings for #InternationalDogDay: 1. Dog leaps over an initial in Ms Bodl 264. 2.'Drop it!': a dog with a rabbit in its mouth runs away from its owner. MS Bodl 264. 3. Dog jousts a monkey MS Douce 131. 4. Lapdog sits by their ailing mistress MS. Douce 195.

This podcast episode with @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social offers a very lively and interesting interview with the author of a very well-researched, well-written, and informative book. What more could you want? Well done @themerl.bsky.social! #Booksky

A piece in The Conversation, contextualising our results from the Bedale hoard theconversation.com/vikings-were... @unioxarchaeology.bsky.social @yorkmuseumstrust.bsky.social @bgs.ac.uk

{New book} Medievalism in English Canadian Identity and Literature by M. J. Toswell www.arc-humanities.org/978180270267...

Cette annonce est susceptible d'intéresser les copains @nenemy51.bsky.social , @padrepio.bsky.social, @guilhem-histoire.bsky.social , ainsi que @uneheuredepeine.bsky.social et @clemsbarlet.bsky.social. #GNUTerryPratchett

BBC News - Fair Isle: UK's most remote inhabited island seeks new nurse - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

BRITAIN'S FOLKLORE YEAR, published by @harpercollins.bsky.social and @nationaltrust.org.uk is rocketing up the book charts, even though it isn't out until Sept. 11 Pre-order now and help us get to the top, and you can get yourself a saving on the RRP too www.amazon.co.uk/National-Tru... #folklore

My latest article is out in the a Journal of Medieval History (open access). It examines depictions of viking activity in the Sagas of Icelanders and the perceived moral implications of raiding in pre-/post-conversion settings. Quickest proofs turnaround ever...

It’s here! Little Book of Dragons cover and some favourite illustrations: the fearsome Tarascon and the amiable Puff

OUP's Women in Antiquity is such a good idea - with recent additions on Balthild, Radegund and Theodora. global.oup.com/academic/con...

Hurrah!

For the next three years I'll have the (additional) post of Frank Jackson Professor of the Environment at Gresham College, giving a series of free public lectures on Earth and how it works. All will be freely available online. You can see their whole programme here: www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on?see...

Hmmmm

Everything about this is glorious.

With pride, joy and a great deal of nerves, I'd like to reveal the cover for my book 'Why Q Needs U'!, published by @bonnierbooksuk.bsky.social! I love the cover, with the endorsement from its first reviewer, who also called it "a wonderful achievement" and "just couldn't recommend it more highly".

Only four days left!

Good news! You can preorder the Little Book of Dragons at 25 per cent off all this coming week from Waterstones, either through their app or online: www.waterstones.com/campaign/jul... Use the code SUMMER25 and by October you’ll have this fine book for around a tenner — the ideal stocking filler.

Meanwhile, these tiny, racist protests are getting all the coverage they crave entirely as planned with approving media. bsky.app/profile/sund...

Cultural appropriation

Few if any experts know more about the deliberate use of starvation as a war crime than Alex de Waal. If he says it's happening, it's so.

😃 #archaeology #shipwreck #Scotland #education

CHLOE KELLY. THE SUPER SUB OF ALL SUPER SUBS.

Warum war Immanuel so schlau? Er aß stets die:

Wie das noch irgendjemand rechtfertigen kann, ist mir absolut schleierhaft. Dieses tödliche Leiden ist unerträglich.

Anyone still unsure of the difference between a publisher and a vanity press? Here it is. Publishers make money from selling books to the public. Vanity presses make money from selling publishing services to authors. In one model, the author gets paid. In the other, the author gets charged. Simple.

It's kind of astonishing that in the post-John Clark world people still keep coming up with attempts to reductively explain the Green Children www.exeterpress.co.uk/products/the...

he's bitin the heads off the angels now

This life-sized polar bear mural painted on a garage in a neighbouring alleyway has made me smile this week (notwithstanding my anxieties about what climate change now means for polar bears). Don't you like this bear's grin? It's enjoying its swim. #TinyJoys