The British Library have just sent me photos of ILLUSIONS OF PRESENCE - it has been printed!!! EMINENT ANTHOLOGIST Aww yeah. #FESTIVESHINYSHINY Book out October 16, pre-order your copy from links below:

At the UK Masters of horror dinner FRONT ROW James Moran Stephen Volk Naomi Wright Ashley Thorpe Jed Shepherd Me Marko Mäkilaakso Ethan Evans Jessica Bartlett Lesley Manning BACK ROW Steve Pemberton Jeremy Dyson Reece Shearsmith Neil Marshall Christopher Smith Paul Davis Juan Martinez Moreno

‘Inside the Mind of Sherlock Holmes’ new book, first part (of 2) of a new story (set in Scotland) "THE NIGHTMARE OF LOCH LEATHAN" will be out in French version Dec. 5th from Ankama Editions

Check your email, check your spam folder — a newsletter went out last night announcing the next Parker novel: hosted.verticalresponse.com/205621/d24c9...

A happy 80th birthday to the excellent Clive Merrison born #OTD 15 September 1945. Merrison famously gave voice to Sherlock Holmes (alongside the late Michael Williams as Watson) in the fine BBC Radio dramatizations of all 60 Sherlock Holmes stories...

Billionaires keeping us busy with culture wars to avoid tackling the real problems - them!

It was #OTD 30 years ago that Jeremy Brett (3 Nov 1933 – 12 Sept 1995) died. His portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in the Granada series defined the character for a whole generation of television viewers. Here’s my old pen & ink tribute sketch from 1995.

BOUND IN BLOOD is now out in paperback! 🩸 A chilling anthology of nineteen stories of cursed and haunted books; featuring malevolent second-hand books, cursed novelizations, unsettling journals and the end of the world. Order now: https://tinyurl.com/2wrcer9f

The artist of one of my favorite paintings, Caspar David Friedrich (September 5, 1774 – May 7, 1840), was born #OTD in 1774. The painting is, of course, Friedrich's 1818 composition - Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer (Wanderer above the Sea of Fog).

The 'birth' of my fave Sherlock Holmes tale and Wilde's only novel took place at the Langham Hotel #OTD in 1889... "Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle dined here with the publisher of 'Lippincott's Magazine' on 30 August 1889, a meeting that led to 'The Sign Of Four' & 'The Picture Of Dorian Gray'"

Born #OTD Mary Shelley (30 Aug 1797 – 1 Feb 1851) "The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine." - Mary Shelley, Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818).

Hmm, reasons to finally visit Montreal sooner rather than later are mounting... Sherlock Holmes is always a good excuse, although I'd prefer my first trip to not be in winter, dammit. 😉

Born #OTD in 1814 Irish author of the supernatural, Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (28 August 1814 – 7 Feb 1873). Among his best known works are "Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter" (1839), Uncle Silas (1864) and In a Glass Darkly (1872)...

On top of the warships sent to Venezuela, the US has now deployed the USS Lake Erie, a guided missile cruiser, and the USS Newport News, a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, to the Southern Caribbean to tackle what it calls “narco-terrorist organisations”.

Just finished. That was perfect story telling. Best weird western ever and a thoroughly excellent read regardless of genre too. This one will stick with me in a way that classics like Treasure Island stick with me. I was not expecting that going in. ❤️

Important read. What Is Danielle Smith's Real Plan for Alberta? via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/Analysis/202...

The UN has declared famine in Gaza, the first in the Middle East. Half a million people are in “catastrophic condition”. (AFP)

Our pathetic premier, in the province with the most cases of measles in North America, is going to force Albertans to go to BC to get immunizations for Covid and the flu! Smith is the most unqualified and irresponsible politician besides Trump! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

New column. With a US military force arriving in Venezuela this weekend, you might want to read this one.

Airline workers won a historic win this week. They won it on the anniversary of another line in the sand moment - when Canadian auto workers defied the junk bond crooks and Reaganomics. Resistance is more than a word. It is something we need to make real in our lives. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEkG...

Gap fires shots at American Eagle with brown jeans, blue jeans and black jeans oh my! An all diverse casting too and a great song. /

It is stunning and still takes my breath away when I walk through.

"I think it is the very best story of diablerie which I have read for many years." Arthur Conan Doyle #OTD in 1897 - on August 20th - sent a fan letter to Bram Stoker congratulating him on the publication of DRACULA.

Awesome! THE TAINTED CUP really was a great read. Now it needs to win the World Fantasy Award for which it is short-listed too!

“These anthologies reimagine Sherlock Holmes not simply as a detective, but as a versatile archetype—the rational explorer of the weird. By positioning Holmes at the threshold of the supernatural, horror, and uncanny, the collections expand the possibilities of detective fiction…” #SherlockHolmes

Happy Book Birthday to Shannon Allen, JR Campbell, & all the contributing authors to Starship Librarians! Be sure to add this one to your home library! (& if you ever find bookcarts with rocket thrusters, please let us know). Amazon: www.amazon.com/Stars... Kobo: www.kobo.com/ca/en/e...

Kind words from a great publisher. Thank you to everyone at Flame Tree Press!

Lareina made this event sing. Best conversation partner:

Currently at When Words Collide in Calgary and taking in Lareina Abbott in conversation with Stephen Graham Jones.

Guess I’ll have to check back to Paul Bishop’s Sherlock Adjacent substack next week. I look forward to reading an exploration of this #SherlockHolmes series. 😉 Link to substack sherlockadjacent.substack.com

Treating the Texas gerrymander as shots fired is right and necessary.

"It doesn’t matter whether Sydney Sweeney is promoting white supremacy...What matters is that every hour spent debating jeans ads is an hour not spent organizing resistance to the systematic dismantling of democratic institutions." www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-sydney...

SECRET LIVES OF THE DEAD by @timlebbon.bsky.social hits shelves in just a few weeks! A dark folk horror tale of a deadly family curse, crime and murder that is sure to turn your blood cold... Coming August 28th! 💀 https://tinyurl.com/3dyeda6a

Dipping in to read the Josh Reynolds story, which is basically why I bothered to buy the book at Fair’s Fair a couple weeks ago. Love that John Coulthart cover.

Born in Helena, Montana #OTD in 1905, the incomparable Myrna Loy (August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993). From early roles playing 'exotics' to the role of a lifetime as the divine Nora Charles, I don't think there's an actress I've appreciated more.

Lovecraftian horror meets the wildly inventive mind of Shirley Jackson award-winning author Nathan Ballingrud in CATHEDRAL OF THE DROWNED, the cosmic horror sequel to Crypt of the Moon Spider. 🕸️ 🕷️ Coming October 2025! https://tinyurl.com/mryz58uj

As doug works to destroy Ontario the Federal Liberals have provided $960,000 to protect natural areas in Ontario. This is part of their Canada wide Priority Places for Species at Risk Initiative. Link in the comments. Liberals = + Conservatives = - alus.ca/alus_news_an...

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #ForeverCanadian #Ableg #Cdnpoli

NEW EPISODE: The Stark Munro Letters (1895), with @jfmachin.bsky.social, editor of the new Edinburgh University Press edition. Chat about: reading the book for the first time, Cullingworth-Budd, controversy and the original ending. Plus Buchan's weird tales. www.doingsofdoyle.com/2025/07/65-s...

Happy birthday to the incomparable Catherine "Kate" Bush CBE - born #OTD July 30, 1958. Wuthering Heights, Babooshka, The Man with the Child in His Eyes, Hammer Horror, Sat in Your Lap, Cloudbusting, Hounds of Love, The Dreaming, Experiment IV are all faves,

A map for the novel The Last Vigilant by Mark Latham. Done in an illuminated manuscript style.

Charles has the summertime shiny!!!!

A couple short stories first and then starting this for my next novel read…

‘For the Dead Remember: The Life of M. R. James’ will be published by Oxford University Press on 10 September 2025. Set your watches, mark your calendars, and spread the word!

Pierre Poilievre is a danger to this country. youtube.com/watch?v=qL-4...

Stay on the path! Or maybe don’t… early stock in the office of the August Tales of the Weird - ‘The Wayfarer’s Weird: Wild Tales of Uncanny Rambles’ edited by Weird Walk! We loved The Haunted Trail so much we needed more 🚶‍♂️ 👻 (21/08)

So chuffed that Alison Littlewood is in this. She's proper brilliant.

PoiLIEvre and the Reformafucks are still protecting terrorists. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

🌕 Delve into a world of quiet terror, featuring undying pagan and elemental forces that defy modern civilisation from the isles of Scotland to the plains of South Africa with the The Strange Stories of John Buchan edited by James Machin🌕 Find out more: shop.bl.uk/products/the...