Just back from “Geekway to the West” with ten new plays over the weekend. Here are my favourites: Up or Down @capstone-games.com, Skara Brae @garphillgames.bsky.social, Finspan @stonemaiergames.com, and Nusfjord @lookoutgames.bsky.social A great convention and community. #boardgames

Almost too cool to unwrap. I’ve been looking forward to “Even Deeper Regrets” for a while. Thanks @tettix.bsky.social #boardgames

Hard to get my head around this duology …did I like it? Yes, I think, though I’m not entirely sure it made a lot of sense. #booksky #sff

So … Clarke has a great ear for 18thC prose, and skillfully reproduces it in this expansion of the Strange/Norrell universe. But I struggled with the collection. Not anything to do with Clarke, but I remembered how much I dislike 18thC British fiction while I was reading it. #Booksky

😍 🐸 *not my content* #poetry #MaryOliver #poetrymonth

…ye’ll maybe think it’s a – funny day to be celebrating – well, no, but ye see I wasny working, and I like to celebrate when I’m no working… —Edwin Morgan, “Good Friday” from CENTENARY SELECTED POEMS, @carcanet.bsky.social 2020 #Easter #poem #poetry #GoodFriday www.carcanet.co.uk/978178410996...

Short but powerful Northern novel, “Seascraper,” by Benjamin Wood. A lovely, slow read that takes place over the span of about a day, about class, small-town stigma, and creativity. #booksky

A feel fur thon wee Lewis keelies stuck in Lunnon Goggle-e’ed wi chowin the taps aff their shields, Haimseek fur Norroway ower the faem. —Jim Alison, “Ingaunees” originally published as a poster for @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social #poem #poetry #chess #Vikings #medievalsky

By some odd coincidence, I read two, quite different, “heist” novels at the same time. Comparisons are odorous … but I’ll only say that I LOVED @eddierobson.bsky.social ‘s book from start to finish. I’m going to miss those characters.

Scotland, you have invoked her name just once too often in your Presbyterian living rooms. She’s heard, yea even unto heathenish Arabia your vixen’s bark of poverty… —Kathleen Jamie, “The Queen of Sheba” from THE QUEEN OF SHEBA, @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social 1994 A #poem for #InternationalWomensDay

Trees filled with red-winged blackbirds. #birdsky

Quick try-out of a new one-player game, Resist!, which I lost (just had to push it one more round … one too many as it turned out). Nice to have two one-player games about the Maquis, both of them fun and lovely to look at. #boardgames #boardgamesky @25thcentury.games

Our first game of Wyrmspan. We loved it! #boardgames #boardgamesky @stonemaiergames.com

Another attempt at Arkham Horror again last night … we almost didn’t lose again this time. But, alas. #boardgames

Soooooo happy to have backed “Blades ‘68” today. We’ve been playtesting it for a year, and it’s groovy, baby. @olddog.games @evilhat.bsky.social youtu.be/oRlhKBRU8VU

Looking through my game archives today and found this from 1981! I suppose I really have been playing this game for more than 40 years. Better get these Call of Cthulhu counters put together before there aren’t any pennies left! #TTRPG @chaosium.bsky.social

Another bout with Arkham Horror. Another unsuccessful attempt to save the city from destruction! #boardgames

"Oh, and uh, just one more question, Dr. Morcroft... I see a lotta pilots from Blueraker 5 sign into the visitor logs for the Lusk Reform Clinic. I didn't see any of them sign out." The Hound. 1 of 8 Playbooks in Blades '68 Get more info and sign up to follow here: www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...

I’m often not thrilled with Booker winners, and this one took a few chapters before I was hooked. I ended up liking Szalay’s “Flesh” a lot. I know it took a beating from some readers but I thought it was a compelling meditation on trauma and masculinity, and what’s not said. #booksky

We unseated Denethor in Minas Tirith and mustered the Elves, but the Eye of Sauron found Frodo and Sam in Mordor and that was the end for Middle Earth. #boardgames

C L Polk’s “Witchmark” was an enjoyable read, though mystery novels are not my thing, usually. But a fabulously conceived world. Great Edwardian #SFF #booksky

Our next crowdfunder! Blades '68 grabs Blades in the Dark by the lapels of its woolen jacket and launches the game 100 years into the future! New crews, new rules and subversive acts of radical revolution await you under the light of an artificial sun. Sign up here: www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...

It’s Echo Chamber Day!! Join the Emissaries of the Echo as they crash Duskvol’s Consensus Day parade and infiltrate the Ministry of Discovery. After all, the Blue Array underpinning the city's new golden era isn't going to destroy itself. Episode 1 - Consensus Day www.patreon.com/posts/echo-c...

I really wanted to like “The Night Circus,” and started out enjoying its lush prose. But I never connected with its characters. I’m not sure why. By its end I felt like I was reading only to finish it. Never a good feeling. #booksky

Another crack at Frostpunk tonight … and a win! #boardgames

… and gin, of course. This from the Isle of Wight Distillery.

My Xmas haul, photobombed by my daughter’s pusheen. Games and books. Who could ask for anything more? #booksky @chaosium.bsky.social @atomicmassgames.bsky.social

Techbros seem to love Tolkien, so here's an analogy to help you understand what genAI is. GenAI is The One Ring. You think your use is justified, b/c you don't have evil in your heart. But it came from evil, it is intended for evil purpose, & anything you do with it will be twisted to that end.

Reading round-up for 2025: Best author discoveries were Adrian Tchaikovsky and Malka Older, although they write very different novels. Favourite novel was Carys Davies’ “Clear,” though special mentions for Yangsze Choo’s “The Fox Wife,”Sandra Newman’s “Julia,” and Moore’s “The Great When.” #booksky

Ah, Zombicide. Nothing says the holidays like playing a Molotov-cocktail throwing kid who drives over zombie hoards in a stolen police car. #boardgames.

End of our first game of Getaway Driver. I do love Fowers Games, but this rulebook was a bit challenging. Great two-player game, though. #boardgames www.fowers.games

Life goals. He Wants a New Start. So He Is Taking the Hardest Driving Test in the World. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/w...

Shout to my wife, Stephannie Gearhart, who has an article on Derek Jarman’s “The Tempest” in this volume. 🌬️

First time playing the Epilogue mission of Nemesis’ Aftermath expansion. By a stroke of luck I managed to complete my Psychologist’s “Personal Requirement” in the first turn and squeaked out a win. #boardgames

Lovely game of Aspens today: our first! We were so excited to calculate the final score that we forgot to take a picture. 🙁 www.ludivore.com #boardgames

Look for Blades '68 to crowdfund next year.

Two games on the table tonight: another bout of “Apiary” and a victory over Ithaqua in “Elder Sign.” #boardgames

📣 Notorious: Tales of Hardscrabble Bounty Hunting is now live on Kickstarter! 📣 www.kickstarter.com/projects/alw... 🚀 Forge a sci-fi trilogy in this solo boxed card game 🃏 450+ unique cards with tons of cool art by @turbotorbo.bsky.social 🖊️ A brand new game & system, in collab w/ @mousehole.press

Can’t say I’m looking forward to this new season of Doctor Who #DoctorWho

I looked forward to this for a long time and I really did my best. But I found it deeply disappointing. Couldn’t finish it. #booksky

Not sure why it took us so long before we got around to playing Apiary, but it was great! #boardgames @stonemaiergames.com

A very enjoyable game of “Fate of the Fellowship,” which we won, unexpectedly, at the eleventh hour. We were impressed by the game’s mirroring of Tolkien’s trilogy. #boardgames @zmangamesofficial.bsky.social

Today … Brink! Another great game, though I lost fairly dramatically. #boardgames

Our first, long-awaited game of Vantage. We were happily surprised by how different each of our paths turned out. #boardgames @stonemaiergames.com

My grandfather didn’t know he was a Taoist. He had fished the river Awe for sixty years. Life is sensed as a flowing movement, a power like wind or water. When he cast, it was the bank that moved, not the river… —Lorn Macintyre, “Satori” from The Bridport Prize Anthology 2013 #Zen #poetry #fishing

Lovely game of Harmonies tonight with the family! #boardgames

I’m heading to that London.

Kinder Scout's northern edge, Peak District, Summer Solstice June 2024, photo by Sarah Lister.

Although I forgot to take a picture of the endgame, we played “Deep Regrets” for the first time last night. It resulted in a tie … which I lost because of my long litany of lingering regrets. Fabulous! So happy to have backed its expansion “Deeper Regrets.” #boardgames @tettix.bsky.social

Hilarious times with “Not Today, Murder.”