As a young television researcher I had to phone novelist Ian Rankin about his appearance in a forthcoming series. Opening the call, I ask him if it was a nice day in North Queensferry. He was somewhat miffed that I had confused his home for that of fellow Scots novelist Iain Banks. Oops. Sorry Ian.

I once stood across the same television greenroom from Robert Plant, each of us eating Refresher Chew lollypops. While he regaled the assembled with his love of that particular confectionary, I could only look on in tacit agreement, with little to add to the conversation.

The Agnes Owens Archive opens January 2026, celebrating one of Scotland’s most distinctive literary voices. Marking her centenary, a programme of events and free guided tours will be announced soon. #AgnesOwens

"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future." - @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit. Incredible words. Listen to all of it!

People ask me why I'm publishing on Amazon, who are indisputably evil. They say I should publish via an ethical company. So here's why. I've published 3 Sunday Times Bestsellers through ethical publishers, and made - drum roll - absolutely zero. Literally not one penny. In fact ...

The album I've listened to most this year is this one and I think it stands up pretty well 😊 #5albums25 thefamilygrave.bandcamp.com/album/old-so...

21 fabulously freaky fictions. Definitely not recommended for readers of a nervous disposition. #booksky #HorrorFiction #FolkHorror

🧵 Is it a super flu year? Who knows, but I think the current reporting is stupid. A pissed off thread using data. Firstly - here are today's headlines and some from the last 3 years... spot the difference. 1/10

Should also mention that all profits from this collection of creepy tales will be donated to the PD James Memorial Fund, a charity that helps retired authors in financial hardship. www.amazon.co.uk/Shadows-Veil...

Great to finally have the anthology in my hands. Seven 5star reviews so far from readers loving our creepy vibes. Paperback £7.99, free on Kindle Unlimited. tinyurl.com/54u8uxpr #booksky #ghoststories

Absolutely magnificent. The best song ever written about one of the best cities in the world. 🙂🙂🙂

Quite wonderful. Take a minute.

So glad to see Edinburgh honouring Jane Haining with this stolperstein at the foot of the steps of St Stephen's Church in Stockbridge, where she worshipped.

As the nights become dark and chilly, best stay at home with a good book. As editor & publisher @ianskewis.bsky.social puts it: Our book takes a less is more approach to the genre, so there's little gore or outright horror. This is a collection of subtle, refined & quite elegant stories. #booksky

On sale now: tinyurl.com/54u8uxpr #ghoststories #booksky

This creepy collection featuring my Dahl inspired short story 'Framing Mildred' is published tomorrow. Buy here: tinyurl.com/54u8uxpr Edited by @ianskewis.bsky.social it's on kindle and in paperback. My story was born from a prompt in @thiwurd.bsky.social writing classes. #ghoststories #booksky

The big “why do you hate AI?” Thread got comments and quotes turned off, but here’s the main reason I hate AI: It’s being developed by the worst people on the planet solely to enrich themselves at the expense and labor of the world’s vulnerable populations. Everything else stems from that

This is something I keep telling creative friends. Make the thing that is most *you*, not the thing tailored to what people say the market wants. The gatekeepers won't pay you anyway, but a few thousand odd nerds who like the same weird thing you do might.

Today at 1.30pm for anyone interested.

If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features." There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.

So to summarize, your image is packed with mistakes, uses an exploitative tech, fails to communicate a clear message, displays your ignorance, insults the people of that county, makes you look like environmental vandals and fails to describe your key demographic. This is why you pay a designer. 7/7

I wrote about a relic of George Orwell that has been a lucky charm during the writing of my books. smallfinds.substack.com/p/small-find...

Zack Polanski on President Trump, "It's difficult to call him anything other than a fool" "This is sociopathic behaviour" "He is toxic, misogynistic, racist" "I'm not a fan of Trump" Christiane Amanpour, "It's pretty clear"

Yesterday in Parliament I said that the government should leave X.

Flesh really is a superb novel; if you'd like a taster, this is an excerpt published in Granta earlier this year - not exactly the same as the passage in the book, but very much gives the flavour (and also contains a huge, crippling OOF at the end) granta.com/flesh/

Here’s Norman photographed at the Electric Ballroom in 2018. Watch Teenage Fanclub performing Broken at one of those shows at ▶️📺 youtu.be/yYJ_MnKr92w

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 999: It’s not just the story that matters, it’s the person telling it. Your stories are filtered through your experience, your culture, your upbringing, your identity. Don’t be afraid to let it show. Those things matter. You matter.

The death of multi-camera TV: a thread. I know most of you will know the technical parts of this (and may have read it in the other place) but bear with me. 1/ 🧵

Alela Diane performing a beautiful version of Daniel Johnston's True Love Will Find You in the End with members of The Earlies at Hackney Church last night. HiDef video at youtu.be/jV0s-4ZG8VY

Carrion Crow hellscape. Cathcart, Glasgow. #birds

He doesn't mind!!

‘Editing Your Fiction’. Tomorrow in Glasgow's west end. Sold out, but one space has become available www.thi-wurd.com/product/edit...

On Trump’s terror memo and regime change. Basic points on the rule of law, phantom conspiracies, big lies, and civic action. (Audio) snyder.substack.com/p/trumps-ter...

Grant Wood (1891-1942), “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” (1931), oil on masonite, 100 x 76 cm.

this exists it is called thinking

Written by a doctor at St Thomas' Hospital, London after the Tommy Robinson march on 13/9.

This a smart way of getting the Green Party message across. ⬇️⬇️

The primary aim must be getting the govt off X. This offers the possibility of a cascade effect taking journalists etc off it. We need to seperate the national debate from the extremism engine.

I love how the second part of Banksy's newest mural, which is a comment on censorship and oppression, was done by the very people he is critiquing. Their response was predictable, and relied upon, and imho has created a masterpiece.

Northern Ireland man from Lisburn kidnapped by Trump’s Ice raids because he “looked like a Mexican”. He had the correct visa, all his documents. He’s never been in trouble with police. Held in terrible conditions. A fellow captive couldn’t get his medication and dropped dead of a heart attack

'Of every living room I’ve ever been in, and every home I’ve ever heard described or commented on, I’ve never seen a flag up as an ornament. Just Keir Starmer. He is outright f*****g weird.' Robin McAlpine robinmcalpine.org/no...

America is utterly lost...

Sometimes these short clips divorced from the wider context exaggerate the unhinged nature of what's being said, but this is pure nutjobbery, utterly mental flag-shagging whackjobs of the highest order.

Twice in the last 30 years the Labour Party has had the total power to change our electoral system to proportional representation. If we end up with a majority fascist government in 2029 on 28% of the popular vote it will be the fault of the Labour Party entirely. #PRNOW

Loved meeting Terence Stamp, hearing about his world youtube.com/watch?v=ViJ3...

February 22, 1985: Wham!'s 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 tops the Billboard charts, followed by Billy Ocean's 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘰𝘺, and Philip Baily & Phil Collins crooning 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳. Meanwhile, the Butthole Surfers: "OK, we're gonna need 2 stand-up drum kits, all the acid in Detroit, & a sousaphone" youtu.be/Zu8OS4BFjGI

🚨The UK's Nuclear Weapons are leaking radioactive materials into a Scottish Loch! It's time to get these dangerous weapons of mass destruction out of Scotland.

Much as I'd love to bring back Tomorrow's World, what we really need is Today's World, explaining the predatory nature of the tech industry, internet and phone scams, and online culture to people who aren't terminally online