I don't believe that old saying about writers hating writing but loving having written. The writing is the best part. When you're in it, it's pure magic. The non-fun bit is the stuff that sometimes goes with it. A publisher running off with £20,000+ of your earnings, just to pick one random example.

A digital subscription is the perfect gift this festive season Use the code DIGITALBLZBUNDLE at checkout when taking out a digital subscription to get four issues of The Blizzard a year and a FREE GIFT BUNDLE Subscribe: theblizzard.co.uk/shop/subscri...

How I’m turning up to the Bluesky Christmas party.

Bit of new (very short) fiction from me. Not even remotely festive. For £2 you can read the whole thing (& everything else I post, plus my archive). www.tom-cox.com/the-box-of-f...

If you're feeling a bit glum about the state of, well, everything, then the @positivenews.bsky.social 2025 roundup might help. www.positive.news/society/what...

Happy holidays! Probably my favorite stop-motion from the past few years. Really enjoyed creating this one.

Massive thanks to the kind independent bookshops who went out of their way to support me this year after my ex-publishers imploded (taking my earnings & my readers' money with them). It made a big difference. And thanks if you used a purchase of one of my books to support an independent business.

‘At the end of the day, when the shops closed, the city felt like the bottom of a glass that too many people had been drinking from.’ — Tom Cox

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Boom. Fuck you pal. I AM Christmas.

Apparently this received a few million hits. Julia Roberts, a roast potato and me. @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social @bbcradio2bot.bsky.social @bbcradio6musicbot.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...

If you like a book? Review it. Ask your library to buy it. If you can afford it, buy a copy for a friend. Recommend it wherever you're social. Send the author an email, or a skeet, or a Ko-Fi. Write fanfic. Blow under the wings of the paper airplane so it can fly a little farther.

Christmas giveaway time! I've got a 2026 Calendar in need of a good home. For a chance to win it just click Follow/Like/Retweet (and if you can spare a couple of quid a month & want to encourage me, sign up to my Patreon.com/happytoast - but that bit's not necessary to win)

@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social is the best Bluesky account I have followed this year. You'll follow him too if you know what's good for you.

In case anyone else would like to download this but avoid Audible, I recommend @libro.fm libro.fm/audiobooks/9...

I’ll #BuyAStrangerABook 🤗 Personalised recommendations are my thing, so don’t forget to mention what kinds of things you like to read and I’ll suggest accordingly 📚 @biggreenbooks.bsky.social

Here's another #buyastrangerabook day offer. After the sad news recently of the passing of Sophie Kinsella, @monsterofcoffee.bsky.social is offering to buy someone a copy of one of her books. Here is a selection. If there's one of these (or another) you'd like, get in touch. UK only

#booksky UK Only... It's a day earlier because of some Bank Holiday coming up. As we're doing things differently, though - I would like to buy @biggreenbooks.bsky.social something of their choice. Would you like @melissaschuh.bsky.social to choose, Simon?

OK. I've made a decision. Tomorrow is Wednesday, which is traditionally #buyastrangerabook. However, as you may be aware, it's also Christmas Eve. And I don't think I want to do #buyastrangerabook on Christmas Eve. So, I'm going to do it today instead. I hope that doesn't upset your plans.

“I sat down on something that wasn’t there. I sat down again and listened to the buzz of a last thought a last thought leaving its empty hive for the winter.” ‘After the Bee’ by Matthew Francis (from Blizzard, 1996)

And from this day in 2014.

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I have actually closed my shop for Christmas now but on Boxing Day it’s open again. marswasrubbish.etsy.com

Discworld QOTD, from Lords and Ladies

Come see me in London in the New Year! Last minute Christmas gift? Wanna hear my beef story? sohotheatre.com/events/pierr...

My first poetry book came out in Summer 2025 - ice cream models own cosmicshambles.myshopify.com/products/ice...

Then they came for the sarcastic people and I was like oh great that's exactly what we need right now well done to all concerned.

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Should be finished on my last manuscript before Christmas tonight (have edited 30+ this year), so it's time for my favourite - only? - copyediting joke. How many copyeditors does it take to change a lightbulb? This is the first time you've mentioned a lightbulb.

… This is the correct one. My most wintry book. A first toe dipped into fiction, not without flaws, but huge fun to write, despite the fact that I did much of it while trapped in a terrifying house by huge snow drifts. blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...

Is there anything more special than getting a book in the post? Thank you so much @apcrft.bsky.social and @biggreenbooks.bsky.social for this #BuyAStrangerABook offer. So pleased to report that @ronanhession.bsky.social book, Panenka, has arrived safe and sound. #booksky #tbrpile

"Oh no! I need a last minute present for a book lover!" Why not get a subscription to The Big Green Book Club? I individually pick, wrap & send out a book each month to people based on the stuff they like reading. I do 3, 6 & 12 month subs. INFO HERE biggreenbookshop.com/book-club/in...

Thread. Something nice happened to me yesterday: the conclusion - or maybe not - of a story of interconnectedness, that made the world feel momentarily very small and intertwined. The story begins on April 21 2024 on a walk I'd taken along the Jurassic Coast for research for a book I was writing.

Post a book you love from the 80s. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books

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"if we need that extra push over the cliffs of insanity"

Starting line up for #ITFC for this afternoon’s game against Sheff Wed.

My dad sells some of his art here, by the way (including a few postcard sets of this series which haven't quite sold out): michaelcoxmoredaysthansausages.bigcartel.com

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I once heard a cutting assessment of someone’s intellect in Argentinian Spanish that went jugas al tetris y giras el cuadradito. It means “you spin the square tile on Tetris.”

“CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND” (1977) dir. Steven Spielberg Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, François Truffaut 🎬 Columbia Pictures

slow day in the office so figured we'd start some beef with museums

I think Kit Boyd is one of the most underrated artists in the universe right now. I truly don't understand why people aren't yelling about his prolific psychedelic brilliance from the rooftops. www.greenwichprintmakers.co.uk/kit-boyd

The Empire Strikes Back. Hmm, does not bode well.

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