The calm of the stream in our Tasmanian front paddock/field this morning.

Michelle Diener has a new #scifi romance out today! Defender (book 8 in her awesome Verdant Strings series) #booksky Oops! My Australian today - it may still be tomorrow for you :)

Last Christmas...

I was just recommending Tuyo by Rachel Neumeier over on FB and I saw this popular highlight on the book's page as I was linking to it. "Every man is glad to stop looking for the truth when he’s handed a lie he likes better." #fantasy #booksky

We are pleased to see public #Libraries recognised in the government's new Child Poverty Strategy. The strategy highlights the vital support libraries can give to families who are experiencing - or at risk of - poverty. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6931e2...

Gígja Einarsdóttir, photographer who was born and raised around Icelandic horses #WomensArt #December8th #ArtAdvent 🎄

Upper Norwood, Crystal Palace, London https://botfrens.com/collections/49/contents/15043

Books make the best gifts🎁. Might I suggest these for the curious, inquisitive folk in your life: 🏛️ #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World's Natural History #Museums. 🦘 #PlatypusMatters: The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals. 💯 Animal Kingdom: A Natural History in 100 Objects. 🦇 Wild

Bookmarking. Will download report tomorrow.

Scientists now believe that the human brain--a magic goo for worrying--can also be used to do other things

@boninox.bsky.social thanks for reposting 😀

@dennined.bsky.social thanks for reposting :) and have a lovely week!

Quick reminder! "Hexes Fly" is a half-price Kindle Monthly Deal (US & Canada) this December. Popular highlight: Sometimes a safe space was all you could give a person. You couldn’t live their life for them. You had to allow them room to become themselves. #booksky

It's a new week! Rock on!

"Quantum information researchers began looking for ways to generate and enhance magic in quantum systems." But not magic as this fantasy author understands it!

I never knew why limestone varied

More than 25 years after it published a study finding that use of glyphosate is safe for humans, Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology retracted it after an astrophysicist and science historian raised concerns about the study’s authorship. cen.acs.org/research-int... #chemsky 🧪

For #AncientSiteSunday this fabulous aerial photo of the Acropolis at #Athens - a site I would love to be right now! 📷 Christos Kapoulas #Greece 🏺

Kitty Flanagan & Dave O'Neil are back in the Junkees' judgement of all things snacky #listening

Do we have archives relating to your history? Probably! Our archive reflects global histories & is open to all. Conservator Shabnam Balouch has helped uncover our Persian archive, and you can find out more at an upcoming talk & our free public workshops in January! #EYAYourArchives #KewLA

Did you know that there is a penguin serving as a major-general in the Norwegian army? Sir Nils Olav is a king penguin who serves as the mascot of His Majesty the King’s Guard. 🧵

🎨 A Street in Tripoli, #Libya, 1884

Interesting history/inspiration for The Sentimental Bloke. "The book comforted a divided, war-ravaged and mourning fledgling Australian federation. It is testimony to the power of story, of characters inspired by – but diverging from the grittier elements of – life, to entertain and give succour."

I have survived! (I almost added an Eye of the Tiger soundclip to this post) Woohoo! go me! Yup, it's the end of release week for "Rogues Lie". That was the last huge writing thing I had to do this year. 2025, you have been a heck of a year, but I SURVIVED!

Two independent studies found that AI chatbots were better at persuading voters than political ads. The most persuasive bots also lied the most. This is something that humans working in psyops have known for decades. AI is psyops at scale. www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/04/1...

Pondering taglines for my current series, Caldryn Parliament: Cozy political fantasy Futuristic political fantasy Cozy futuristic political fantasy! Futuristic golden age magic parliament mysteries Cozy intrigue Manners & mystery science fantasy #booksky #writing

“I’ve been out there, and sitting on a rock, and you can hear the chatter (of the old people), the yabber going on and there’s nobody there, but you can hear it.” I have experienced this. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Sundial Ivory (carved Germany?) 1500-1650 Each half was found 8 years apart by Thames mudlarkers Peter Olivant & Gabriel Schmitt. Probably once owned by a ship’s captain. It told the time by measuring the sun's position. “Secrets of the Thames” exhibition. #London Museum - Docklands #FindsFriday

Heading into summer it's great news for all of us who plan to live on potato salad, pasta salad, rice salad, etc :)

Enjoying my morning coffee and reading The Parliament. Came across this great line: "hypocrisy is only possible if you have values to betray..."

They can call that Pantone Colour of the Year 2026 'Cloud Dancer' as often as they like but it's 'A4 Copy Paper White' and we all know it.

✨Inside the medieval roof timbers at Beverley Minster, Yorkshire, one of the rafters has been dated (c. 921) and was a sapling during the reign of King Æthelstan, before England was an entity. Touch it and you feel a kind of altitude and sense that the past is cheek by jowl.

The first school to market itself as AI free is going to corner the market on people interested in actually learning. And I would not be surprised if rich families and the children of people creating this tech were the first movers.

'Let them drink data'. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Discoverability may be the make-or-break across creative industries. I'm certainly obsessed with it as an indie author.

::sighs exhaustedly::

I'm picturing my new release "Rogues Lie" as a feral book with teeth and claws. The reason? It's clinging on to the orange Amazon best seller tag with ferocious energy. Good book! #booksky #UrbanFantasy #GalacticEmpireSciFi

Some 1,900 years ago a child was buried with an array of terracotta figurines in the #Roman town of Arae Flaviae, #Rottweil: 2 pigeons, 2 dogs, 2 roosters, a chicken, a duck, and a female figure, commonly identified as Iuventas, the personification of youth. Rather than....🧵1/2 🏺 📷 me

You might spot some of my artwork around the boardwalk at the Minnamurra Rainforest Centre 😄 #rainforest #art #australia #birdart

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 4 ‘Winter Village’ Artist: Ronald Lampitt

I cheered at the end

Long before modern horror named the femme fatale, Chinese folklore whispered of the Painted Skin Ghost (畫皮鬼), a demon who steals human skin to walk among the living. Beneath its beauty lies decay, a mirror to the masks we craft for acceptance. Across dynasties and retellings, 1/2 #folklore

The Nijmegen Helmet - a #Roman 'cavalry sports' helmet with a slightly chilling face mask attached. It is about 1900-2000 years old, & was found in the Waal river near Nijmegen (Netherlands) in 1915 #AncientBlueSky

Angry bird. An Australian wood duck showing the other ducks who's boss 😆

@dlseltzer.bsky.social thanks for reposting :)

Thanks for sharing the memory. Something so serene and perfect, and fleeting is a good counter to my current doomscrolling.

What hell is this? confirming recovery emails and logging in and out of things. I am too stupid for 2025. Bring back pen and paper and friendly posties!

Congratulations!

My huge thank you post to everyone who helped with the release of "Rogues Lie". #booksky

Bobcats climb cacti to escape predators. Thanks to their tough, thickly-padded paws, they don’t get injured by the spines.