Since I didn’t use this story in the December 2025 list, and since I was AT Basingstoke station today… There’s a Kiosk at the Back of Basingstoke Station 🐢 thefictionphial.wordpress.com/2022/09/27/t...

all this is both foolish and unnecessary

Holy shit. I am in some EXCELLENT company here! A fantastic list of recs, including the names of people I grew up reading back when I was just a mopey little goth girl! 🤯

Wow! 🤩

Well, hey!

I'm pleased and honored to share that my short story, "If You Don't Want a Cat, Don't Get a Kitten," made @datlow.bsky.social's Best Horror of the Year Vol. 17's recommendations list! Congratulations to my fellow authors on the list! Full list here:

Aquarius: It's time to put all the disappointments and misery of 2025 behind you and look forward to 2026, which will have lots of new disappointments and misery in store for you.

If you’re doing #Veganuary this month, or even just aiming to eat less meat, you might try plant-based alternatives. How are these made and how does chemistry improve their appearance and flavour? This edition of #PeriodicGraphics in @cenmag.bsky.social has the answers: cen.acs.org/food/food-sc...

Any time someone pops a “sample” into a “machine” and the chemical structure immediately appears. I mean, the *time* chemists could save studying NMR, GC-MS and IR

One of my pointless bugbears: bullion is metal, bouillon is for making soup.

PseudoPod 1010: A Rose For Emily “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral” A Rose For Emily, by William Faulkner Narrator: Ben Phillips Host: Alasdair Stuart Audio: Chelsea Davis CW: racial slurs (see website for more) pseudopod.org/2026/01/02/p...

US chicken is chlorinated because America has no animal welfare laws where poultry is concerned. It has to be chlorinated because Salmonella and e. coli run rife The EU banned that practice in 1997 and as such the UK has among the highest welfare and standards in the world. 1/2

It’s terribly inconvenient for searches that people are using the word “traitors” for actual legitimate political reasons just at the start of the new telly series of The Traitors

Just out of Inside No. 9’s Stage Fright. It was absolutely bloody brilliant.

I’m staying in my favourite London hotel. I like it for many reasons, but high among them is the fact that the hero that designed the rooms took the decision to install full-length bathtubs which I, a tall person, can fit in without bending my knees.

Doing #DryJanuary? If you're reaching for a beer of the alcohol-free variety, here's a look at how it's made 🍺 www.compoundchem.com/2022/08/24/a...#DryJanuary #ChemSky 🧪

Japanese artist Kumi Yamashita winds a single black thread around a grid of nails on a wooden board to create intricate portraits #WomensArt

General reminder that if you mute the current US president's surname on here, you will miss absolutely zero important news. Even right now. But your timeline will do way less stacking damage to your mental health.

"Art is our weapon. Culture is a form of resistance..." Shirin Neshat, Iranian artist #WomensArt

The first full moon of the year: the wolf moon, also the ice or old moon. Traditionally, a bright first moon of the year forecasts a bountiful harvest (the farmers will be glad of that!) 🌝

Right-wing politicians and press: “hunt restrictions are waging war on rural life!” Actual person living in a rural area:

Thank you so much to @dawngilldesigns.bsky.social (check out her beautiful jewellery) for the Ko-fi donation! ☕️

All or nothing, the true lover says, and that's the truth of it. My love will never die, he says. He claims eternity. And rightly. How can it die when it's life itself? What do we know of eternity but the glimpse we get of it when we enter in that bond?

‘Cancel’ comes from a Latin word meaning “to make like a lattice.” When people needed to annul or void a document, they sometimes would mark it with crosshatches XXXXX which resembled a lattice. So the document became ‘canceled.’ ...we hope this post doesn’t get us that.

Unsolicited writing advice: no. 678: It's fine to write just for pleasure. Writers who write just for pleasure are still writers. (Also applies to readers, and reading.)

At the risk of stating what should be obvious: sharing potentially illegal images, (or screenshots containing images) because you’re horrified that they exist, or to prove they exist, is STILL SHARING THEM. Do not do it. Protect yourself AND those whose feed your post might cross.

Should you still have quite a few clementines about the place, you might be particularly interested in #RecipeOfTheDay, even if you did make (as I did) this Clementine Cake over Christmas. Its bright sunniness is just what’s needed now, I rather feel! www.nigella.com/recipes/clem...

This could well be a serious offence in UK law. Stay off X. Not just because it’s generally horrible, also for your own protection.

More on #TheArchers, particularly for podcast listeners: there's a special episode which is not (yet?) in the main podcast feed and also doesn't seem to show up in BBC sounds if you just search for "The Archers" Search for "The Archers: Truth and Lies" in BBC Sounds and you'll find it.

Qualtagh [KWAL-tahk] or [KWAYL-tehk] (n.) -The first person to enter a house on New Year's Day; known as the “first foot.” Used in a sentence: “I have to scurryfunge before my qualtagh arrives... I just hope he can make it over that pile of rubbish on the stoop!”

Assuming I’m not going to start generating direct current (origin story incoming), it means “intensely exciting”. Let’s hope that’s in a good way…

Be a hand-written letter in a world full of text messages.

So, yes, tonight’s episode is #TheArchers 75th anniversary. Something dramatic this way comes.

This year is next year's yesteryear. You're going to need more coffee, and a sharper sword.

Solvitur ambulando is my favourite Latin phrase. It means "it is solved by walking".

SF writers in 1976: in 50 years time everyone will be living in space and driving hovercars Me in 2026: ooh, I can’t wait to find out what happened to George in The Archers tonight!

Happy New Year, everyone! This is a @theguardian.com books cartoon from a few years ago.

Meanwhile, in the bad place, a white man is yelling about “embarrassing” and “offensive” London fireworks (the display included other countries’ flags, rainbow colours and a call for peace and unity – the horror). And EVEN THERE everyone is telling him to stop being a knob.

GUYS IM FROM 2026 AND IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT. I HAVE TO WARN YOU. YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO ME TO SAVE YOUR FUTURE. THE YEARS BEYOND WILL BE AWFUL IF YOU DON'T HEED MY WARNING you should draw more, write more, or make more games. If you don't, consider picking up a craft!

“It is simply this: do not tire, never lose interest, never grow indifferent—lose your invaluable curiosity... It’s as simple as that.” -Tove Jansson

Our Solar System is orbiting the center of our Galaxy at about 220 km/s so in 2025 we collectively traveled something like 7 billion kilometers across the Milky Way. Once in a while, when you have a moment, it’s worthwhile to take a look around, see where you are, and appreciate how far you’ve come.

Oh, did you think think I was done with #DecFic? Not quite... here's one last piece for this year, and it's all about moving forwards: Where The Sky Begins thefictionphial.wordpress.com/2025/12/31/w...

Happy Hogswatchnight, everyone! (IYKYK)

Dec 31st - H. George Wells explained time travel to his friends, using a small prototype of his time machine. Once they'd gone home, he climbed into his full size time machine and started his journey. 📽️📅 The Time Machine (1960)

Feeling guilty about Christmas over-indulgence? Maybe you should think about it differently. “Many of us have been conditioned to try to shrink, remove or hide our body fat. But the real task is to understand it.” www.newscientist.com/article/2503...

Wanna see real-life miracles? Fund scientific research. A team of US scientists just cured Alzheimer’s in mice — and there is now hope that the disease can be reversed in humans. futurism.com/health-medic...

My brother got me a chemistry joke book for Christmas, and I'm sure you'd love to hear some, #chemchat. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, some are silly, a couple are a bit off-colour 🙃 Q: What professions make the best conductors? A: The police: everyone knows copper is a good conductor

Planning on seeing in 2026 in with Champagne? Here's the science behind the celebratory bubbles! www.compoundchem.com/2014/12/30/c... #ChemSky 🧪

Every now and then some social media account will pop up claiming to be a parent and acting horrified that their child has been taught that there are “a hundred different pronouns.” The thing is, there really are. www.thefreedictionary.com/List-of-pron...

Want to know something? They actually do know. Autofocus in modern cameras usually uses infrared light bursts, which your pets can see. To them it’s like a flash of light, and it startles them.