Congrats to all those who got into #SPFBO 11; especially The renowned @stevepannett.com The mythical @hollytinsl3y.bsky.social The esteemed @resandersauthor.bsky.social The pre-eminent @ajcalvin.bsky.social The illustrious @philspeculates.bsky.social & the fabled @rasandpiper.bsky.social

I’m not sure how Trump is going to tie Maduro to Hillary Clinton but I’ve got faith he can do it

It's time to finally talk about my favourite books of 2025, so I made a list, without any kind of order, that pretty much covers it. It may be great to fill your TBR! You can check it here: jamreads.com/articles/my-... 💙📚

Doing final self-edits of my horror novel & I’ve just realised that the final confrontation is an unintended tribute to the last, mad, 20 minutes of The Cabin in the Woods, one of my favourite parts of any film, which does explain now why it was the most fun couple of chapters I’ve ever written

2026 is almost here & so are some amazing books. I had a fear that 2025 had truly spoilt us in terms of books but as I started building the 2026 list, there were so many books that I am now properly primed for 2026 vinayvasan.substack.com/p/26-for-2026

So if I’m about to read book 2 of an ongoing fantasy series I like, what I’ll tend to do is re-read book 1, and it never occurred to me people would do that with my series but I’m getting some messages confirming these intentions and it is sort of blowing my mind. My mind is half blown.

📚✏️🐺 GET CROCKED IS BACK 🐺✏️📚 After an awkwardly long break, my newsletter has returned due to great demand*... end of year edition dropping NYE Sign up: link in bio, if you like top tens and have too much time to waste *citation needed

I’m the only left in my apartment building as all the elder Gen Z and young Millennial couples have gone to their parents for Christmas…. Which means I get to enact my dream of laying Home Alone-style traps for burglars everywhere. I’ll have to invite the burglars as my neighbourhood’s very safe

obligatory best of the year list for your perusal: fanfiaddict.com/george-dunns...

Does anyone else research the best rated films, tv shows, books and video games they haven’t caught up on yet and make a big list and and then just hide away and make their way through that list over the Christmas break and emerge in jan like a media-saturated hibernating bear? No? Me neither…

What a better way to start a Monday than with the second part of "A Jam's list to 2026 releases"? Second part of my most awaited titles for 2026 and that I hope to cover in the blog (depending on review copies and all): jamreads.com/articles/a-j... 💙📚

Bit awkward for Time that they have a cover for ‘Person of the Year’ but I don’t see a single human being on there

I made the GOLDEN CROALS (Scottish spec fic wunderkind Lyndsey’s end of year book list if you’re not familiar with my made up names) This is great ☺️

📚😱 INDIE PRESS HORROR BOOKS RELEASED THIS YEAR THAT ARE LEGALLY* REQUIRED READING 😱📚 *My post, my laws ⬇️

🩸🐺 Chapter titles for Moonfall, the sequel to my banter blood book Lightfall, out June 2🩸🐺 Open question whether showing chapter titles is more boring than your neighbor back from holiday who wants to tell you about it But here they are regardless Most are v. silly. But I cried writing 14 and 31

My ambitious 2026 TBR has evolved into "A Jam's list to 2026 releases"; and it's time for the first part (I would say there are a few more). First part of my most awaited titles for 2026 and that I hope to cover in the blog: jamreads.com/articles/a-j... 💙📚

The Salt Oracle, by @rainewilson.bsky.social (pub by @solarisbooks.bsky.social) is another excellent novel set in the world of We Are All Ghosts in the Forest, a gorgeous exploration of dark academia blended together with a locked room mystery. Full thoughts: jamreads.com/reviews/the-... 💙📚

Who's going to stop these plague rat AI tech bros before they destroy all culture, all jobs and the entire planet. Because it seems to me no one's doing shit

Ughhhh I’m getting to the point in writing book 3 where the plot demands I kill one of my favourite characters and I desperately don’t want to, I want them to have their [occasionally]-happy-ever -after but I know the story will be better for it Don’t become an author, emotional turmoil awaits

Headlights by @ceejthemoment.bsky.social is gruesome, goregeous, and brimming with melancholy that is signature to our humanity. It really looks at grief and death and longing and finding comfort in the unknown And, god, do I love this book. My review: capesandtights.com/headlights-g...

My frolicking gremlin self getting to appear on this show was one of my highlights of 2025, very grateful to holy trinity of Adrian, Greta and MJ for letting that happen. Definitely the most fun interview I've had so far in my early author life

Sensible move by a games company’s employees to protect themselves against the apocalypse If I could say ONE THING ever on social media it would be this: Self employed artists & authors not being legally allowed to unionise is killing us So many threats to our future from AI would be mitigated

Hold onto your baubles it’s time for the biggest event of the year. Join Holly “Tinsel” Tinsley @hollytinsl3y.bsky.social and Tiny Tim Hardie @timhardieauthor.bsky.social & The Four Beardsmen for….. The Four Beardsmen's Big Fat Bookish Quiz of the year!

I’m sure I’m not the only person who has this thing where if I meet new people and have a great time I’ll still go away convinced they find me incredibly annoying. I call this Schrödinger’s neurosis, because I’m aware it’s illogical while being completely convinced it’s true I worry in quantum

Biting your own cheek/tongue/lip always feels like that bit at the start of a new video game where you don’t know the controls well yet so you blow yourself up with your own grenade

‘What are you doing this festive season? Got some meet ups lined up? Lots of seeing family? Film watching?’ ‘No I’m just cycling through the wittiest versions of the Jon Hamm club dancing meme’

📚👹 New review! 👹📚 Play Nice by @rachelharrison.bsky.social "Harrison’s most layered, meta, and tricksy work yet, whose rage can’t be quelled. It’s bold, brutal, and maybe the best of an incredible canon; Harrison is evolving, and long may her playground of horrors continue."

I absolutely love it when I have chatted up a book to some friends and come home to an email telling me that the 2nd book in that is available for me to read/review. It's time to devour Moonfall by @edcrockerbooks.bsky.social. If you haven't read Lightfall, do so immediately. 1 of my best of 2025

My parents have finally stopped asking me if I want kids… It takes decades, but it can be done!* *(Getting through to your family, not having kids, that’s a lot quicker)

Not a lot of people know this, but the "67" phenomenon all the kids are shouting about is a reference to one of the most humiliating British military defeats when, in 1667, the Dutch fleet sailed right up into Kent and destroyed a good portion of the English fleet laid up there. The more you know!

🚨 THERE ARE 24 HOURS LEFT TO BACK THE BOOK OF SPORES ON KICKSTARTER! 🍄 You have until tomorrow at 9pm GMT/5pm EST to back the deluxe edition of our mushroom infested anthology, and we have 1 more stretch goal we'd love to hit before crossing the finishing line! www.kickstarter.com/projects/fan...

My favorite part of recording videos is the bit where I pick a filter that makes my forehead look less sweaty

Book review! ALPHA by @afictionalescapist.bsky.social is a shockingly addicting debut. It's a story of personal growth and found family, and a great start for this new series. fanfiaddict.com/review-alpha...

That cancelled show you’ll never stop thinking about Don’t even need to say it do I

To celebrate Cameron Day (the author not the ex British Prime Minister) I insist you buy: The Maleficient Seven: heroic last stand but the heroes are all villainous monsters (unbelievably fun and gripping) Or The Last Shield: Die Hard in a castle, somehow even better than it sounds GO NOW, BUY

Want to hear the music that inspired the stories in THE BOOK OF SPORES anthology? Check out our official Spotify playlist, with one song per story, chosen by the authors themselves 🍄🍄‍🟫 Listen HERE: open.spotify.com/playlist/4km...

The North is going well

📚🧟🚢 New Review! 🚢🧟📚 This Gilded Abyss by @rebeccathorne.bsky.social from @torbooksuk.bsky.social "Wants to be everything: fantasy, horror, twisty thriller, sapphic romance, and wild action ride. And, like a Dyson vacuum, it just works. A seriously addictive, dark, and well-written series opener."

📚🔍🚀 New Review! 🚀🔍📚 A Stellar Spy by @mayadarjani.bsky.social "A stunning achievement; a science fantasy spy thriller—space magic Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy but from the mole's perspective—which combines utterly thrilling spycraft with a deeply emotional take on the personal sacrifices of a spy."

📚 🐛🔫New review! 🔫🐛📚 The Works of Vermin by @hironennes.bsky.social from @torbooks.bsky.social "...not just a landmark novel of dystopian satire but one of the great speculative works of the twenty-first century." Have I found my SFF book of the year? We'll see...

🔥 COVER +TITLE REVEAL + SUBMISSIONS OPEN🔥 YOUR BODY IS A FEVER DREAM: A Cosmic Body Horror Anthology from Trans & Gender Nonconforming Voices A Charity collection coming in October 2026🖤☠️🏳️‍⚧️ Art by @mxmorgan.com All the info here: tenebrouspress.com/blog/2025/11...

LIGHTFALL by @edcrockerbooks.bsky.social - bi MC - vampires, werewolves, and sorceresses -- oh my! - but not a human in sight - instead, vampires are confined to their own city - where class divides and rebellion is brewing

Putting together a video of 2026 horror fiction and I know I say this every year but the upcoming year in horror is going to be more off the hook than a cunning fish. We live in thrilling horror times

If you want to hear a Gothicist's geeky-ass response to @realgdt.bsky.social's FRANKENSTEIN, I uploaded a 30-minute immediate-response to Patreon. Subscribe / enjoy / support the show.

📚🌊🩸 New Review! 🩸🌊📚 Tides of Torment by @scrimscribes.bsky.social "A desperate race against time to end a cycle of violence full of impossible choices & pulse-pounding high seas action that pauses for breath only to rip apart your heart. Concludes one of the decade's unmissable fantasy series."

2025 News is that friend who every time you see them has gone back to the same ex again ‘Yeah I’m back with the Epstein Files how about you?’

Standard caveats apply for 1 study but its finding that only 49% of authors are never using gen AI is a useful reminder that the normal arguments aren't working so we need to rely on social stigma Let them know that if they don't respect your right to employment, you don't respect their friendship

I’m multitasking at the moment between writing a contemporary horror mystery set in my suburb and a secondary world fantasy in a world with few rules. It feels like I’m in a meeting about the colour of post-it notes and every now and again I leave the meeting to attend a raccoon rave in a volcano.

I found friends in the wild (at the American Book Center) Wooing the Witch Queen by @stephanieburgis.bsky.social is a staff pick Lightfall by @edcrockerbooks.bsky.social was the last copy. Obviously, they should order more.

It's Sunday video time! This weekend, Frasier and Alex got to chat with the extremely talented @scrimscribes.bsky.social about all things writing, fantasy and indie experience. The video is live now and ready to watch right here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V03O...