Stripping away the sensationalism that surrounded these unimaginable crimes, AS IF by Blake Morrison, and THE CASE OF MARY BELL by Gitta Serena boldly and bravely sought answers to the questions the courts did not ask. #books

Hamnet-ing at table lucky 13. #hamnet

Some homes hold their ghosts with quiet forbearance. They do not boast of their phantoms nor advertise for psychic researchers to poke and test them. They accommodate both living and dead residents, afford privacy to both sides. Places of gentle spectral tolerance. – #CJosiffe #Ghosts

Thank you again to @alcs.co.uk for championing authors’ works by collecting money from around the world when someone copies or uses our work. It’s payment day soon thanks to their achievements.

Very Crimey, Espionagey, Bookerey January so far.

Died #onthisday in 1834, Giovanni Aldini, the Italian "galvanist" whose experiments in animating the muscles of the dead with electricity inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Read more in our essay by Sharon Ruston: publicdomainreview.org/essay/t...

A new, light coloured notebook for old, dark stories.

Photographs of the Arctic in the 1880s by self-styled glaciologist, Frenchman Charles Rabot: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/rabot-photographs-of-the-arctic

I was without The World Wide Web for 48 hours and it felt like 48 years. I lost my bearings and wondered if the microwave still worked. Could I still make coffee? Find food? When I woke up from the bad dream the world had tilted again.

I wish you all a good year. As you can see, I’m following the remarkably predictable Health and Wellbeing guidance for January with a bit of light reading and even lighter blackberry hazelnut meringue cake.

Season’s greetings to everyone.

Most likely place to find a ghost on Christmas Eve: The only surviving medieval wooden Watching Loft in England (c.14). Monastic officials conducted surveillance on pilgrims visiting the Shrine. #ghosts #ChristmasEve #history

On a sweltering summer day years ago in Santa Monica, I found these vintage ornaments in their original 50’s boxes at an outdoor antique market. They’re all made of glass and it’s a miracle they’ve survived a couple of transatlantic moves. Meet Harriet, the tree that supports them. #WinterSolstice

So happy to stand in a long queue at a bookshop teeming with people. #books #reading

I stumbled into a fever dream.

Greetings, fellow British citizens. Citizen Kate here. After many years as a resident, I have finally faced the daunting admin challenge and have emerged victorious.

The tree at St Pancras. Not as nice as the book tree last year. OBVIOUSLY

+++ Best Take Extra Care Out & About Today! - As Storm Bram, will be biting hard the UK & Ireland. +++ V''''V #StormBram #BramStoker #Dracula

Zara's gone all gothic this season.

Our traditional December dinner. Lively, warm, joy and mirth with special friends. All authors, we covered absolutley every topic ever, as you do.

I read page-turning translated fiction in 2025. Top 3: THE WIDE WORLD Pierre Lemaitre, Translated by Frank Wynne What a saga. ALONE IN BERLIN Devastating. Hans Fallada, Translated by Michael Hofmann I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MEN Unsettling. Jacqueline Harpman, Translated by Ros Schwartz

The NY Times just posted their '10 best books of 2025' and I'm here to discuss it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvzW...

Turned over the page on your #Countryfile calendar today? Then say hello to my #barnowl :)

I’m on the Radio 2 Book Club with Sara Cox, for the Christmas special! If you’re after some books for those tricky relatives, or just yourself, have a listen. #booksky www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

“Plenty of vociferous readers can sustain themselves by library card alone, but the coveting of the physical object of the codex is its own thing.” In praise of bibliomania.

Bone rattling cold out there this morning. The sunshine is a deceitful mistress. #cold #winter

Something wonderful for a weather dull Monday. www.npr.org/2024/01/12/1...

Who wrote the Gospel of Witches?

Harrowing and heartbreaking, a visceral account of the Ukraine war by Rosemary Jenkinson. drb.ie/articles/aut...

New research by @mctd.bsky.social shows the impact of generative AI on authors in the UK. They found over a third of novelists report their income has already been negatively impacted by AI and 85% expect their future income will be negatively impacted. www.mctd.ac.uk/impact-of-ge...

The Berlin of the 1920s is often associated with a certain excess and decadence, but it was a different side of the city — the “sobriety and desolation” of its industrial and working-class districts — which came to obsess the painter Gustav Wunderwald: publicdomainreview.org/essay/g...

Brutal. #itiscold

Fetching patina on this old door knocker as Jacob Marley season nears. #doorknockers #marleysghost #ghoststory

;-)

“There’s nothing more aesthetically pleasing than a cat lying languidly on a grave.” Wonderful article and photos of the infamous Paris #cemeteries #PèreLachaise #Montmartre #Montparnasse www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/why-p...

The singular glamour that is the warren of streets and alleys of Soho.

Undercroft, Battle Abbey.

Old Town San Diego's Day of the Dead 2019 annual Dia de los Muerto celebration #dayofthedead youtu.be/BVHamXxJ-7w

In the cemetery on All Hallows’ Eve.

Spectropia; or, Surprising Spectral Illusions (1865), a wonderful book of Victorian hi-tech ghost conjuring which allows the reader to summon, as the sub-title proclaims, “ghosts everywhere and of any colour”. More here: publicdomainreview.org/collection/s...

“telling stories about monsters isn’t simply a way of describing beings that are nothing like humans. It’s also how societies define and police who they think counts as fully human.” My words in @aeon.co 💙📚 🧪🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thCentury #politics #psychology 🧵/n

The oldest part of downtown LA, an Olvera Street shop with a "Da̕ de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead) window sign. The street is part of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument. #DayoftheDead

"Photographing the Dark: Nadar’s Descent into the Paris Catacombs", @AllisonCMeier on Nadar’s determined efforts (involving Bunsen batteries, mannequins, and a good deal of patience) to document the beauty and terror of this realm of the dead: publicdomainreview.org/essay/p...

This isn't just any shop... Have a gander, and if you feel moved, it's a good, important cause.

So what is Gothic anyway? Dr Rebecca Marks' Defining 'Gothic' open.substack.com/pub/cultured...

Tuesday. AKA renew my @britishlibrary.bsky.social reader pass day. #britishlibrary #libraries

Sweeney Todd cast members working the morning shift. #pies

Cemetery walk on a day of slate sky and damp autumn air. #cemeteries

My story, Non Omnes Me Peribunt, will be aired on the 21st October 🎃 There are other great stories on now. More will be added every Wednesday & Friday until Hallowe'en. Have a listen 🎃 linktr.ee/thecreepycor...