Horrific, but typical. Labour stopped Rosa's support workers from assisting her in council meetings, then as she was unable to attend, removed her from her seat. They were fine with her support until she did inconvenient things like speak against disability benefits cuts and genocide in Palestine.

LONDON POETRY PEOPLE. Um. do you, maybe want to come to my book launch? www.outsavvy.com/event/34936/...

The guardian

This gibberish machine is what our political and economic leaders have decided to bet our entire civilisation on

Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller March 30,1956

Good morning from Joel-Peter Witkin

they dont even make haunted video game cartridges that kill you if you play them anymore. shits all digital now

Charities and disabled people’s organisations, including Mind, Scope, MS Soc, Turn2Us and Mencap told the Guardian that a wide range of debilitating conditions may not meet the strict eligibility criteria. This includes MS, learning disabilities, bipolar, Parkinson’s, ME and long Covid. 3/5

Glen Baxter has died. His drawings of cowboy art critics and wimples were an absurdist joy. RIP

'Cat Fancy' Edward Gorey

Adding googly eyes to the bezoar is a great way to make your spell feel more fun.

I adore with this dark, queer, experimentally dystopian short story about monks, by Annie Hayter & shortlisted for the Galley Beggar Short Story prize. (CW; religious abuse, violence, CSA) "One of the monks is pregnant again..." www.galleybeggar.co.uk/06-devils-al...

Mousepotamian family

A sample poem from my forthcoming @ninearchespress.bsky.social collection and a blog post. Something about time, booksellers and folklore 💚

why are people critiquing my metre here. like, oh no, the handmade thing isn't perfect. FUCKING FUNNY, THAT.

Absolutely, and if one would like some inspiration one could buy a book written by a human called Eleanor Baker.

Okay, I get publishers affirming that the books we've produced are human-made, but have we also considered bringing back medieval book curses??? Just saying.

A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy! All noble things are touched with that.

We all know bsky is like This. But why on earth are people offended on behalf of my parents dog. You dont have to defend his honour, I promise you, he can't fucking read.

My parents have the world's most ridiculous dog. He has 0 teeth and almost as many braincells.

The fact that this painting was named the “damned” or the “cursed” woman tells me everything I need to know about a world that does not in fact want to let girls have fun.

Sharing this absolutely extraordinary and unfortunately very relevant ghazal by @gitaralleigh.bsky.social which features in her upcoming pamphlet, Empirical, published by us here at The Braag.

For whoever needs to hear this I'm the only Jewish person to lead a political party - third largest in the country. The Daily Mail have been & always will be my enemy - they historically supported fascists & continue to do so. I'll take no lectures from them on Antisemitism.

Anyway, my book comes out in a month and it's a Poetry Book Society Reccomendation, one of the poems in it came 3rd in the Oxford Poetry Prize and another one was longlisted for the National Poetry Prize. Also? Its pretty damn good.

I think we need to celebrate the death of Sora a bit more. This is a technology that, just MONTHS AGO, we were being told was going to literally destroy Hollywood and Disney was going to give them a BILLION DOLLARS and NONE OF THAT EVEN REMOTELY HAPPENED

thinking back to when I had a friend who would tell me that "pride is a sin" when I would express a positive opinion about my own creative work, and I'd shoot back "yeah, only if you're Christian, which NEITHER of us are!"

How I feel reading 99% of art and media critique these days

Remember all my mad book drama? (If not, buy me a pint and I'll sing you the ballad of the dodgy ex-publisher...) Well, I'm absolutely delighted to say it's over! An enormous thanks to my wonderful new publisher @manchesterup.bsky.social Queer As Folklore will be back in the wild! 🧜🏼‍♂️

<innocently whistles>

Findings: 1b Books in Heston is great, it’s about 30 minutes walk from Newcastle city centre or a few Metro stops You should order @gitaralleigh.bsky.social’s pamphlet from @thebraag.bsky.social, and probably also Kirsten Luckins’ (which I haven’t read but it sounds great)

I love not using AI. I love making things by hand, writing, chatting, petting my cats, looking at ducks, making friends with crows. Not using AI is very fun.

i am a multiple award nominated disabled writer who has never once used an LLM. don't even know where to get one (and am not interested in finding out). folks who say this are just mad they're not good. skill issues abound.

oh just one more thing

A novel should be a question about something not an answer to it.

imagine taking even one moment to consider why women from Afghanistan might want to come to the UK to pursue education and concluding that it’s definitely for scam reasons

Wikipedia does what is essentially a full ban on AI content: www.404media.co/wikipedia-ba...

both my flatmate and I have ME/CFS, and whats absolutely crazy is both our spice tolerances' tank when our fatigue is bad. She and I can have the same meal two days in a row, one on a bad fatigue day one on a good one and they are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES. Do other CFS people get this??

𝕻𝖆𝖚𝖑𝖉𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕷𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 Paulding, MI.

reactions to the green nymph has shown a painful lack of John Bauer awareness in my anglophone audience. these are swede trolls don't let hollywood fool you

"She did not look anything like a horned horse, as unicorns are often pictured, being smaller and cloven-hooved, and possessing that oldest, wildest grace that horses have never had, that deer have only in a shy, thin imitation and goats in dancing mockery."

i think its coming from a poetry background, but I've got to the point where I cannot read a fiction book if the prose isn't so gorgeous it causes me physical and spiritual pain sentence to sentence.

sometimes i read a fantasy novel and i can tell the author's primary inspirations are other (often recent) fantasy media

The thing about writing fantasy is that you need two things. One is the fantasy bit. The other is the niche hyperfixation you know a lot about that works its way into your fantasy worldbuilding whether you want it to or not.

Because dykes love the trans youth and have had about fucking enough of having our names taken in vain by het transphobes.

FOLKS LOCAL TO NEWCASTLE: quick reminder that @thebraag.bsky.social is launching @gitaralleigh.bsky.social and @andrewblair.co.uk 's pamphlets at 1b Books tomorrow night!

This is what peak wizarding performance looks like

In the Okefenokee, the land is alive. The Muscogee call it "Land of the Trembling Earth"—floating peat mats that sway underfoot. Local lore warns: never stand still too long. If you do, the swamp decides to keep you, pulling you down into the dark "shaking" muck. 🌿👣 #FolkloreThursday #Okefenokee

In Sintra (Portugal) lies Quinta da Regaleira, a mansion acquired in 1892 by coffee magnate António Carvalho Monteiro, transformed to his eccentric tastes. One of its most famous landmarks is in its park: the "Initiation Well". A mysterious well-like inverted tower, built for ceremonial purposes.