‘Is there cake in your lands?’ ‘Oh yes,’ I say. ‘Sweeter than anything on Earth. It’s one of our primary food groups. We metabolise sugary stuff more efficiently than humans.’ Clara glowers. ‘I hate you.’ -The Border Guard

For all the gods I've heard of, it seems my people are the only ones with a god of secrets. I know of a secret god, and if I ever meet him I will kill him, but no other gods of secrets. Considering what ours did to us, it's probably just as well. -Tales of the Thief-City

He connected it to the laptop and transferred the data. The process completed, he detached the eye, reassembled it, cleaned it, then popped it back in. With a few clicks, he opened a window that started playing the silent video recorded by his eye. -Hotel Murder

This assumes what I just read is at all close to the actual events. It has, after all, gone through the prism of a storyteller, and those bastards will distort any fact in the name of dramatic license. -The Border Guard

Heads up! Amazon have a deal on the print version of @wtpress.bsky.social Fight Like A Girl 2 - a mere 4.99 for something both signable and absorbent, if you like that sort of thing... please share? www.amazon.co.uk/Fight-Like-G...

An odd feeling comes over me as I hear the door. I turn to see an angel walk in. With wildly unkempt dirty golden hair, drooping grey wings, and green boils around one corner of its mouth, it looks to have caught the kind of disease it isn't equipped to catch. -Tales of the Thief-City

Science is the journey, not the destination. It isn’t absolute certainty. Certainty is its opposite. The fundamental truth of any scientific law is that it can be disproved. Replaced with something better. But science itself always survives, and will outlive any tyrant. -The Darkness Below

And why do there seem to be so few desktops being sold (that aren't gaming ones)?

‘I’m sure if you ask, they can fry some of this up fer you,’ said Abe. ‘Even rub it in the mud, if you ask nicely.’ Sam sniggered. ‘That ain’t the point,’ said Ely. ‘Expensive place like this, we shouldn’t have to ask.’ -Hotel Murder

I need a new computer, but trying to find a reasonable one without AI forced in might not be possible. I'm wondering about getting a cheap one just to see me through until the bubble collapses and AI is considered poison to sales, then get a proper one.

Let me start with a lie, to accustom you to the experience. -The Border Guard

Why did my brain wait until after I submitted to inform me that the story is boring drivel that will ensure anyone who reads it will never want to read anything of mine ever again? It usually tells me that before I submit.

‘I thought I’d die in my eighties, on a beach in Mali, of a cocktail of STDs.’ -The Finder’s Compass (Ghost Bullets book 4)

He had barely a few hundred followers at his height, and, like so many of the little gods, was neglectful, eventually losing them. Like others, he was reduced to begging for prayers in exchange for miracles on the Street of Lost Gods. -Tales of the Thief-City

It's TRANS AWARENESS WEEK and that means it's a great week to ignore the hysterical nonsense of bigots and understand that Trans people are awesome and deserve respect and love.

The United States was the last bastion of capitalism haunting the world. They’d suffered riots at the prospect of losing capitalism... until realising that the only resource that retained value was people. They relegalized slavery. First, they took the illegal aliens... -Once We Were Stardust

‘Opinions are like assholes. Everybody’s got one, but exposing yours in public is just asking for trouble.’ -All Roads Lead to Hell

‘What genre do you see our story being?’ I ask. She shrugs. ‘Action, maybe. Would this class as a thriller? I suppose it should be fantasy, technically. Why? What genre do you see it as?’ ‘Hoping for romance, settle for erotica.’ -The Border Guard

‘It’s okay for me to say that. I self-identify as an asshole.’ -Hotel Murder

With alt text.

Convincing you to read my novel by the first sentence. Share yours if you want. (Here's the opening of THE BORDER GUARD)

The fifth #SPSFC is about to close for entries and we're looking for a few more judges: spsfc.space/2025/11/07/l... Come for the free books. Stay for the Discord community full of self-published authors and avid science fiction readers.

Good morning world. It is still yesterday in California so we still have an hour or so left of the Kickstarter campaign. We are currently at £7223. Anyone else fancy joining the fun? www.kickstarter.com/...

Conventions usually leave me swearing never to attend any again (along with a spike in my suicidal depression). Now they're also nudging me towards giving up on publishing, possibly even writing.

The fifth Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (#SPSFC) has begun taking entries from authors. Details and the entry link here: spsfc.space/2025/10/13/h... If you're not entering a book join us as a judge! spsfc.space/2025/09/19/j...

A group of strangers win invites to a hotel on a remote island paradise, most of them unaware they’re entertainment for a serial killer reality show live-streamed on the dark web. Hotel Murder will be available wide from the 30th of Sept.

Surely this makes techbro claims of 'training' their generative AIs on illegally obtained copyright work inaccurate to the point of lying. 'Training' implies retention of knowledge/skill. If genAIs retain nothing and search copyright work afresh for every query, that's ongoing use and exploitation

The Law of Mischief, a new anthology, is out now. Magic has rules, but mischief was made to bend them. Content Warning: Contains my writing. May cause a mild rash. books2read.com/u/4jjpzY

Your last chance to clog up your inventory with another free book you’ll never read. A group of strangers win invites to a hotel on a remote island paradise, most of them unaware they’re entertainment for a serial killer reality show live-streamed on the dark web. books2read.com/u/47A7Zq

Note to brain: 'Everything we Pass was Once Stardust' does not work as a title for a (relatively) serious science fiction story.

The Law of Mischief, a new anthology, is out now. Magic has rules, but mischief was made to bend them. Content Warning: Contains my writing. May cause a mild rash. books2read.com/u/4jjpzY

We're nearly 30% funded with 12 days to go! Thank you to everyone who is backing the project — please repost and help us make our goal! ☀️ www.kickstarter.com/projects/sam... #solarpunk #scifi #fantasy #scififantasy #scifimagazine #fantasymagazine

It’s time to make mischief… Our new anthology, available in ebook now. Paperback coming soon! books2read.com/u/4jjpzY

A group of strangers win invites to a hotel on a remote island paradise, most of them unaware they’re entertainment for a serial killer reality show live-streamed on the dark web. books2read.com/u/47A7Zq Free July 31st – Aug 4th

New anthology out now. Magic has rules, but mischief was made to bend them. Content Warning: Contains my writing. May cause a mild rash. www.amazon.co.uk/Law-Mischief... www.amazon.com/Law-Mischief...

A group of strangers win invites to a hotel on a remote island paradise, most of them unaware they’re entertainment for a serial killer reality show live-streamed on the dark web. US www.amazon.com/dp/B0FDCNNWZH UK www.amazon.co.uk/Hotel-Murder... Be 1st to post a 1-star review. Or, ideally, not.

It's so rare to see a politician in the UK fighting back against scapegoating of immigrants and refugees. Let's see more of it.

If you'd like to run away to the 1660s and have an adventure featuring sapphic romance, sword fights, pirates, werewolves, and vampires, instead of thinking about... [gestures widely], the ebook of THE VENGEANCE is currently on sale for 99p! geni.us/Solarissale Any boosts gratefully received!

A group of strangers win invites to a hotel on a remote island paradise, most of them unaware they’re entertainment for a serial killer reality show live-streamed on the dark web. Hotel Murder is now available at books2read.com/u/47A7Zq

A group of strangers win invites to a hotel on a remote island paradise, most of them unaware they’re entertainment for a serial killer reality show live-streamed on the dark web. Hotel Murder is now available at books2read.com/u/47A7Zq

How long is too long to spend deleting and restoring the last line of a short story?

Righto, time for a #giveaway! To celebrate reaching 3000 followers, I'm giving away two pb copies of Airship Shape and Bristol 2, published by @wtpress.bsky.social and signed by myself and @rozc.bsky.social . UK only (sorry!) Reply with Yes Please if you want one and I'll randomly pick recipients!

A group of strangers win invites to a hotel on a remote island paradise, most of them unaware they’re entertainment for a serial killer reality show live-streamed on the dark web. Hotel Murder is available for pre-order at only 99c, out July 1st. www.amazon.com/dp/B0FDCNNWZH

Please could you help me to spread the word about my swashbuckling adventure story with a pirate protagonist, sapphic romance, with a dash of werewolves and vampires? My latest novel THE VENGEANCE is available in all formats geni.us/thevengeance Perfect for escaping the horrors of our time.

Implement a 100% tariff and ruin a movie. LX

A sneak preview of the contents of the next Law Anthology - "The Law of Mischief & Magic" out in July. Containing many talented authors - 20 in total - and at current total 115k words. #BookRecommendation #ComingSoon #Booksky

I have a story on the Longlist of the Writers' & Artists' Short Story Competition 2025. www.writersandartists.co.uk/advice/longl...

The bigger problem highlighted by Substack, X, Meta etc is that the rest of the world just hopped on America's bandwagon, built our lives around services made by the same US-billionaire mindset, & so when they all fail in the same way it weakens us too. Diversity in approach is an essential strength

Battle Royale x And Then There Were None x Glass Onion A group of strangers win invites to a hotel on a remote island paradise, unaware they’re the entertainment at a serial killer reality show live-streamed on the dark web. #LuckyPit #PopUpPitA #A #T

Here's my review of SPSFC Quarterfinalist The Ghost Gun by Gareth Lewis. davedobsonbooks.com/spsfc4-quart...