Love this ❤️❤️❤️

I happen to think @kristiedegaris.bsky.social is one of the most vital and relevant writers whose thoughts are challenging and refreshing in equal measure. Her book Drystone was one of my most important reads of 2025 and she continues to write brilliant essays. Worth a read👇

First read of 2026 – The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I began the book ages ago but for reasons didn’t get round to finishing, so I decided to start from the beginning. A unique exploration of the English class system and the notion of duty. Charming and disturbing in equal measure.

One of mine: not all first lines and pages have to be ‘hooky’ or ‘explosive’. My favourite books have nothing of the sort.

“In her many years of quiet devotion and in the dignity with which she endured so much, Giménez was a rare blaze of grace and humility in an ever-darker, ever-crueller world. That – and not Monkey Christ – was her life’s work and its legacy.”

Early on in my writing career at the very first writing thing I went to in order to learn the craft, a well known and respected author shat all over me. I very much wanted to give up but I’m glad I didn’t. Every day since has been a learning curve and I’m so pleased I have readers I trust now.

I totally used overmorrow in my new novel. Absolutely bringing this one back.

Wanna see real-life miracles? Fund scientific research. A team of US scientists just cured Alzheimer’s in mice — and there is now hope that the disease can be reversed in humans. futurism.com/health-medic...

As an aside, if you wanted this and other photographs like this in high resolution and in colour, I worked with Unsplash and the Library of Congress to make them available for the first time in colour, for free. 👇 unsplash.com/collections/...

“Bouvat-Merlin says he was drawn to Sauron by both the mission and an opportunity to solve a real customer problem.” I suppose dominion over all living things counts as a ‘customer problem’.

True Detective S1 is still the pinnacle of television for me, and I’m so pleased it introduced a new generation of readers to Robert W. Chambers’ seminal anthology, The King in Yellow.

“Evil Lemon” 🍋

The end of year history book review has arrived!👇

Management is looking for *any* excuse to compromise worker pay or conditions in the interest of convenience👇

I bloody loved Sinners when it came out but hearing director Ryan Coogler talk about the technical aspects of the shoot is simply incredible: knowledgeable, enthusiastic and completely devoid of ego. Worth a watch. youtu.be/78Ru62uFM0s?...

Over the last year I’ve come to the conclusion that creation and curation is an act of rebellion. Write. Paint. Draw. Make. There is no inevitability to the digital asbestos generated by these companies run by sociopaths if we quietly refuse to use their products.

A friend was telling me about the problems with booking a driving test in the UK — according to their experience, test spots as released by the DVSA are snapped up by scalpers who then sell on the appointments to desperate bidders. If true this certainly deserves more journalistic investigation, no?

Atkinson has an uncanny talent for making the most mundane scene comedy gold👇

“For every pound of emotional pressure you want your readers to feel, you must apply five hundred pounds on your side of the page. That's just physics.” —Elizabeth McCracken, A Long Game

And now I find out that The Salt Path wasn't even published by a real penguin.

Spotted in Bookazine Hong Kong 🇭🇰 — a trade paperback of @vaseemkhanuk.bsky.social’s Quantum of Menace #007

This is one of my favourite songs and this is just absolutely brilliant.

@bookshop-org-uk.bsky.social is my go to for books now, I love the fact they now do ebooks through their own dedicated reader now.

I’m a ‘two reminders for every meeting’ kind of guy myself. On the day. On my calendar it’s a two day countdown.

This is a brilliant listen on Audible, definitely worth a credit👇

Lidl has put Toy Banks in stores where you can donate a gift for a child who wouldn’t otherwise have one on Christmas Day. Must be unopened and dropped off by 15th. Wonderful thing to do if you can (and there’s loads of cheap but great toy deals online still). www.lidl.co.uk/c/christmas-...

Martin Parr in 1974. RIP to one of the most influential photographers of his generation. Photo by Geoff Howard.

I immediately thought ‘this is the kind of thing that could be on Ancient Aliens’, then I looked at the account name.

kind of obsessed with this custom binding for Moby dick by Susan and Chaim Ebanks at Exeter Bookbinders

@garethjohnbrown.bsky.social is a great guy and an even better writer 👇

I like LOTR but it had nowhere near the impact it did to me as a young teenager reading the Redwall series by Brian Jacques.

How an invasion of purple flowers made Iceland an Instagram paradise – and caused a biodiversity crisis

In the days before Spotify, I'd look through the CD wallets in customers cars that I was working on. If there was anything in there that I wanted I would burn a copy of it to CDR for myself. Also once added 15% to a bill for finding a Nickelback CD.

The pleasure is in the execution, not the surprise.

The Needfire by @mkhardywrites.com - set in a perfectly isolated and unforgiving Scottish landscape, it was a gothic dream of a book - atmospheric, full of intrigue, longing, and secrets, deliciously dark, and beautifully haunting ✨️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🌊🖤

Translation: a bunch of entitled nerds are angry that other people are encroaching on ‘their’ interests and they can no longer push their weirdly racist and/or misogynistic views on other impressionable nerds. Also a big problem with Warhammer. (Source: been dealing with it for decades)

THE BOOK OF SPORES campaign has exactly FIVE DAYS LEFT! Don’t miss your chance to back this fungal SFF anthology and get in on the exclusive deluxe edition hardcover (only available through our Kickstarter) 🍄 Back it HERE until Dec. 4 at 5pm EST: www.kickstarter.com/projects/fan...

Black Friday reminder: You can support independent bookstores and get great deals without lining the pockets of billionaires 😌

This is a huge tragedy near where I grew up — once again, we see the fatal consequences of irresponsible profiteering. Cost cutting and negligence kills ordinary people. I’m just so gutted for innocent residents who have lost loved ones and their homes to this entirely preventable tragedy.

I am incredibly stoked to have ABYSS by @bingewriting.bsky.social dedicated to yours truly and @benedictanning.bsky.social — for that reason alone I think you should buy this book👇

This is actually quite hard to do in practice, but it’s absolutely worth the effort. Your readers will thank you.

It’s pronounced Christmas jifts

@frasierarmitage.bsky.social am I missing anything?

Well done @lyndseycroal.bsky.social!

Finally out into the world, the labour of many months. My long essay in the inaugural edition of the Alter Magazine on the pasts, presents, and futures of Indian science fiction. “The Secret History of Indian Science Fiction” — altermag.com/articles/the...

One of the all time greats.

That fact this is so complicated shows you how desperate Microsoft is to recoup their insane investment.

Up until recently I was in a cyberpunk group on Facebook. On it, someone wrote a very long and very well received post on why AI in art is okay and fucking hell I'm just tired. The AI techbros are the real world manifestation of everything cyberpunk detests and warned against.

@scrivenerapp.bsky.social – I'm very excited about your upcoming product and I'm gutted to have missed the iOS and MacOS beta. Do you have a release date in mind for it? www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/somethi...

So far, so excellent. @clhellisen.bsky.social writes some absolutely mad fiction, you’d do well to inject it into your ears.