Just got touched for a fag which has not happened in ages, and will also read very differently to my American followers.

Someone I love dearly has asked for a specific poem that I used to perform back in the day for a thing they’re putting together and… I either need subtly to rewrite it, or explain to them that it’s ~*very bad*~ because I was ~*sixteen*~ when I wrote it.

I love a really big chunky coat, but the eternal problem is that they’re gonna make me look like Paddington Bear.

Bluesky is alive with the sound of Carnyx this morning, and this is a splendid thing

it would probably also implode UK journalism this is also a positive

Chapter Five part one is now online, and brings some high society swanning about. In which Miss Tooting meets her fiancé socially and talks beaux with Miss Dunning. forthenby.com/2026/01/07/2...

And again, if you’re a British person on here going “oh that ICE stuff would never happen in our country!” that just shows how little you care about how further anti-immigrant the UK has become in the last decade or so. We have raids happen all the time! Why aren’t you paying attention?

As the other Otherside poetry editor, I can't stress this enough. "Please fuck us up. Please make it gayer and more trans and stranger and more unabashedly you than you think would usually be accepted. WE want that kind of shit. We want the othered queer pieces that take forever to find a home 💜

🎉🍾Hello 2026! It’s a new year, but we’re just taking a moment to look at the great books we’ve published in 2025… here’s the best of the year, one(ish) a month, all half price. If you missed it first time round… here’s your chance! (Link in bio) #beautifulbooks #bookstagram #bookig

“i want back my rocking chairs, / solipsist sunsets, / & coastal jungle sounds...” A poem by Renee Nicole Good, who was murdered by ICE earlier today. lithub.com/renee-nicole...

An orange zester - not for zesting like grating, for removing a long strip of orange peel. Utterly unusable for someone as clumsy as me. Elegant little object, though.

Our local sushi and ramen place was closed on Sprog1’s birthday, so instead we discovered a really good new pasta recipe. Caveat - it assumed you are not using homemade stock, so salt accordingly. apple.news/KC7AywerHOee...

Anyone know a good lemon drizzle cake recipe that *isn’t* the Cranks Luscious Lemon Cake?

Well, you all know I love a carnyx…but an Iceni carnyx? Oh my giddy aunt… www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

… the crushing realisation as I get older that at my age, both my parents listened to, and enjoyed, challenging, cutting-edge, and contemporary music. Meanwhile, I mostly listen to classic rock.

I think one of my problems with a fandom-centric response to media is the bit where the audience members get so hung up on the story they *want* told that they fail to engage meaningfully with the story that is *actually being* told.

Well, Stranger Things has happened.

Damn.

This year is the 10th anniversary of me properly starting to transition, it’s also 10 years since I first had therapy, 10 years since Time’s Fool was accepted for publication, 10 years since I’ve had chronic fatigue. Maryle will be 10 years old.

Saw a nice jumper on Vinted and said to myself, “Fred, you can’t wear that. You’d look like someone’s gay dad.” And… Fred. LITERALLY. That is LITERALLY how everyone in this town sees you. You are someone’s gay dad. You are married to another man and have two teenagers at the secondary school.

One day, there will be a Frankenstein adaption where the creature is *not* stitched together from body parts.

👇

🚨 Thread collecting actionable steps to help civilians in Venezuela, Venezuelan refugees fleeing to neighboring countries, and Venezuelan immigrants in the US. 🚨 ✅️ Please post ideas / links, especially to local frontline groups. ❌️ Please avoid non-actions, and be cautious regarding sanctions. 👇

It really is astonishing out there. Snow right up to the edge of the sea. Everything a thin and silvery blue.

Mattie: We’ve got two episodes of Stranger Things left. Me: … huh? But we’ve still got the midseason left, and then the new stuff. Mattie: There’s only one new episode. Me: …. Mattie: But it is two hours long. NO LADS THAT’S A FILM. (Please no spoilers, I’d like to watch this fresh.)

I’ve just been in the sea.

Write with us. We're weird. OK, a few of us aren't, but most of us are weird. WEeeirrd. www.smokelong.com/the-march-mi...

I’m reading The Thirteenth Tale, and I’m enjoying it, but I can’t tell when it’s *set*, and after my little Murder Mystery binge, it is really unsettling me?

Saying “lawyer” after this one feels a bit of a let down. What about Murderer-Artist?

The reason so many are surprised to find that Bardot was a POS is that the French took a novel approach. Instead of giving a racist old has-been's views the oxygen of outrage, they largely shunned her. We could all learn something here.

Occasionally my media criticism feels like, “History will vindicate me!” but I accept that more often it’s a, “Jaws was never really my scene and I don’t like Star Wars.”

Jesus Christ, I could have watched the Mid-Season of Stranger Things instead of that.

Lads, I’ve watched the first episode of The War Between the Land and the Sea and now I actually can’t watch any more because I might then have to tell my beloved spouse what I actually think of it, and then… then they will be very sad.

Accidentally spent 15 minutes winding up Adrian Tchaikovsky at the EIBF because I didn’t recognise him. He was very nice about it.

Ah, the 29th December, or the day I always go, “OH SHIT it’s nearly Sprog1’s birthday and I’ve not lifted a damn finger about it.”

I can sleep with a cat on me. I can even fall asleep with a cat on me. What I generally can’t do is fall asleep lying on my back, if I’m unable to turn over. Maryle utilises this information to secure uninterrupted cuddle time if I wake before my alarm.

Swole Poets.

Rewatching ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ last night has really given me a ton of insight in to Coram - the MC of my current WIP - and an idea of how to make the book less of a downer. It has not, however, let me work out how to do the heist, which is the bit I’m really stuck on. I’ll get there.

This year's gingerbread station is... Kennington!!

The effort I am putting in to not bingeing the new Stranger Things? But also *screaming*

One of my favourite things is that I am always willing to answer questions about the unconventional aspects of my life, and will let you know if a question is too invasive/personal, (or if you DEFINITELY shouldn’t ask another person it) but because I don’t volunteer information… No one. Ever. Asks.

Hello from the @worcesterartmuseum.bsky.social, where we are spending a lovely Christmas Eve looking at medieval and early modern armor from Mughal India, Sudan, and medieval Europe in the newly reopened armor galleries. Truly, this is the way. ⚔️

Remember: There's always strength in a union. Solidarity.

I’ve also been given a necklace that makes it look like a socialite has been murdered by a vampire and I’ve never loved anything more in my life:

For Christmas, I have been given a box of Victorian Parlour Games and literally the only venue I can think of for most of these is a sex party.

Son of the Father, Now in flesh appearing* *Previously in Spirit^ ^ Previously in Velvet ** ** Previously in White, or in PO-OL-ISHED Chrome.

A Christmas Eve update?? What could be more festive than a show of fraternal affection, and deliberately driving your relatives up the wall? forthenby.com/2025/12/24/2...

Half ten on Yule eve. 90% of the necessary jobs done. I’m making blinis, what are you up to?