@ajwestauthor.bsky.social Of historical interest:

The Betrayal of Thomas True by @ajwestauthor.bsky.social is a delightful thriller / historical romance, populated by C18th mollies, the queers of their era. Then, as now, no law nor societal disapproval is sufficient to stop us. We have always been here. We will always be here.

Flippin eck! It was only on sale for a month and the Christmas Book Party has sold out! Don't worry if you didn't make it in time, there'll be another party announcement very soon! 🌊😉👌

LISA JEWELL ● ADELE PARKS ● MIKE GAYLE ● AMANDA PROWSE ● TM LOGAN ● MARK EDWARDS ● GD WRIGHT ● The Book Party Christmas Ball on Manchester is going to be an absolutely cracker! And currently only 16 tickets left! thebookparty.co.uk

My cartoons for this week’s @theguardian.com books #holiday #vacation #reading

We have fewer than 50 tickets left (47 to be exact) for the CHRISTMAS BALL! Authors and readers, join us in Manchester beneath the stars in a snow globe of bookish joy. Your chance to spread some Christmas cheer and celebrate some of the UK's top book bloggers. thebookparty.co.uk

Gorgeous day and I'm in the library. Oh well, no complaints!

THE UK BOOK BLOGGER AWARDS 2025 NOMINATIONS ARE LIVE! Vote now for the best and brightest bookish influencers in the UK. Nominate your friends and favourites now ⬇️ The awards will be held in the Manchester snow dome Nov 15! Linktr.ee/thebookparty

A good thing about convalescence is I finally get the time to read again - and for pleasure! Currently, The Betrayal of Thomas True by @ajwestauthor.bsky.social, a wonderfully queer thriller / romance set around the Molly Houses of the C18th.

Well, Thomas True is in the top ten of gay romance on Kindle. Can we make him rise through the soft (apparently quite hard) pornography? 99p until tomorrow! amzn.eu/d/bQ4OKBw

Hello, it's me. #ThomasTrue is only 99p on Kindle for the next couple of days and I'm thinking... wouldn't it be nice to have a true historical story in the top ten of gay romance books? 🦚💜🦚 Can you help Thomas and Gabriel make new friends? amzn.eu/d/bI1LGNS @orendabooks.bsky.social

Love this picture. The fight is real but worth it all the way. Winning the @thecwa.bsky.social Historical Dagger 2025 for The Betrayal of Thomas True has changed my life as an author already. Here with my publisher Karen @orendabooks.bsky.social who won Publisher of the Year 2025. Go team. 🦚🏆

WIN #FollowingSam #TheBetrayalOfThomasTrue #TheSleepwalkers ✅ Follow @jonatrenborough.bsky.social @ajwestauthor.bsky.social ✅ Share ✅ Tag fave charity in reply Ends 5 Aug. UK only. The #StreetLibrary is sponsored by @registry.scot 💚 www.StreetLibrary.co.uk

This book was my favourite of 2024, so to mark the paperback edition being published, it felt right to catch up with author @ajwestauthor.bsky.social on the podcast. You can listen here: podfollow.com/quick-book-r...

Nobody told me before being published that there would be readers who supported authors like this... 🦚🙏🦚

New book delivered this week - The Betrayal of Thomas True by @ajwestauthor.bsky.social in all its stunning purple glory. Goes quite nicely with the rest of the set And another perfectly presented package from @bertsbooks.bsky.social it was too #books #booksky #teamorenda @orendabooks.bsky.social

For the first time in my life I was able to find a book by myself in the London Library. Unfortunately it's Jack Kerouac's On The Road. Utter bore of a book, I've not suffered it since uni and it has not improved in the interim. Still, useful for research.

*NEW BLOG POST* The Betrayal of Thomas True by A.J.West lotuswritingtherapy.com/2025/07/22/t... #RandomThingsTours #BlogTour #TheBetrayalOfThomasTrue @orendabooks.bsky.social @ajwestauthor.bsky.social #booksky

#BookReview I will never miss the opportunity to shout about The Betrayal of Thomas True by @ajwestauthor.bsky.social, I ADORE this book! #ThomasTrue #AlwaysTogether hairpastafreckle72.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-... @orendabooks.bsky.social @annerandomthings.bsky.social #BookSky 💙📚

I am HOME from my mini tour and so very excited to be in receipt of this book. Everything in my research for novel no.3 tells me it's gonna be fascinating and hilarious!

Oops! Harrogate 25 not 26...🤦‍♂️😆 as ever, touring brilliant indie bookshops around the UK has sent me completely mad with exhausted contentment, and my second visit to this unique festival was every bit as brilliant as last year.

I am at the Theakstons Harrogate Festival! Went for a run which was very sweaty but such beautiful parks, wow. I've got dinner with readers at 6 - we will be a table of fabulousness - then I'll be mingling in the tent of dreams this evening. See you there!

So lovely to meet Georgia and Emma at @imaginedthings.bsky.social at last! My first stop at the Theakstons Old Peculiar Harrogate Crime Festival.

I decided to delay my arrival at Harrogate to visit Waterstones in Kendal and thank Myles and the team for this fabulous window display. Only a 4 hour diversion lol, but how often am I this close to such a pretty town with such a fab shop? 🦚💜🦚

Proud to announce I'm now a patron of @humanists.uk - a venerable institution which campaigns for a fairer, more compassionate, more rational world. Laudable aims in an age of increasing fanaticism, confusion, and misinformation.

Well... she had to didn't she, really?

Check out this fabulous extract of chapter two of @ajwestauthor.bsky.social's beautifully unforgettable historical thriller, #TheBetrayalOfThomasTrue 💜 Out NOW in stunning paperback edition!

💜 #TheBetrayalOfThomasTrue by @ajwestauthor.bsky.social is out NOW in paperback, with gorgeous purple sprayed edges💜 ‘Heartbreaking, beautiful, lyrical. I was captivated … you won't want to put it down’ Catriona Ward   ‘Utterly thrilling’ Elizabeth MacNeal www.foxlanebooks.co.uk/product-page...

The Betrayal of Thomas True, historical fiction by @ajwestauthor.bsky.social is a superb read. As part of the blog tour for the paperback release I have an extract to share on my blog @orendabooks.bsky.social #booksky 💙📚 #historicalfiction #ThomasTrue www.myreadingcorner.co.uk/2025/07/the-...

A terrific event in the Secret Garden at the back of The Castle Bookshop in Ludlow. I also got to chat properly at last to Philippa of the @quickbookreviews.bsky.social podcast and met reader, Ben. Here to do some edits for a day then on to an archive in Manchester for the next novel!

Well yesterday evening was a scorching success at @gayonwye.bsky.social on the second evening of the mini summer tour. The #ThomasTrue paperback is flying! Thanks Dale and Tom and do lovely to chat properly to @jackstrangeauthor.bsky.social

That's a first! Never signed a kindle before! Thanks Gabby!

A fascinating, perfect evening hearing @ajwestauthor.bsky.social talk about his brilliant, heart-rending and heart-saving novel, The Betrayal of Thomas True (you might remember me live-skeeting it here a couple of months ago) 🦚💖 and yes, that's my kindle he signed & stamped! Skedi needed company 😉

ABSOLUTELY ALL OF THIS! We LOVE bloggers! Thank you for EVERYTHING that you do!

I'm glad to be part of the blog tour for the paperback release of "The Betrayal of Thomas True", I reviewed it in its initial release last July: www.angryalgonquin.com/the-betrayal... @orendabooks.bsky.social @ajwestauthor.bsky.social @annerandomthings.bsky.social

It's. All. About. The. Bloggers. 🥂 Great to talk to @thejeremyvine.bsky.social about #ThomasTrue AND @thebookparty.bsky.social this week! @orendabooks.bsky.social

Struck by the quality of writing in these reviews as part of @annerandomthings.bsky.social - Peter no less: "Hidden away is one man’s search for the meaning of love which is sad and touching but at the same time brings that spark of the human spirit we all need to carry on." Gorgeous. 💜🦚

Sue says #ThomasTrue is: "A historical thriller with immense power, keeping you guessing about who The Rat at the heart of the story really is - and when the truth comes it shocks you to the core." @orendabooks.bsky.social

I reviewed this book a year ago. Trust me, you'll want to read it. www.angryalgonquin.com/the-betrayal... @orendabooks.bsky.social @ajwestauthor.bsky.social

It's The Summer Book Party today! 500 readers and writers in Bristol. And last night we announced the Book Party Christmas Ball on November 15th in... Manchester! We'll be nestled in our own snow globe under the stars. V. limited tix so check it out: thebookparty.co.uk 🎄☃️

Wow. The Betrayal of Thomas True just won the @thecwa.bsky.social Historical Fiction Dagger. I am absolutely floored and after so much work, so grateful. Yes I got tearful in my little speech. Thank you thank you @orendabooks.bsky.social

What better way to celebrate paperback publication day of #ThomasTrue than to visit one of my favourite indie bookshops @welbooks.bsky.social 🌞 A happy sunny day for me and @OrendaBooks 🦚💜🦚

It's paperback publication day for #ThomasTrue! I'm keeping positive but to be honest I'm feeling a bit torn up because @harpercollins.bsky.social Distribution have failed to send out any orders to indie bookshops. We all work SO hard but I sometimes feel like it's hopeless. I'm exhausted.

So nice to come home to a @bertsbooks.bsky.social parcel! An absolutely beautiful paperback edition of #TheBetrayalOfThomasTrue. Thanks so much @ajwestauthor.bsky.social for the lovely dedication! 😘🦚 #Booksky 💙📚

THE BETRAYAL OF THOMAS TRUE by @ajwestauthor.bsky.social is out in paperback this week. Its gay historical thriller meets crime mystery set around Georgian London’s molly houses. Grab up a copy of the paperback (now with purple sprayed edges) from proud-geek.co.uk/product-page... #booksky

The paperback edition of @ajwestauthor.bsky.social's "The Betrayal of Thomas True" comes out this week and @orendabooks.bsky.social have made it a strong contender for prettiest paperback of the year. Gorgeous foil and shine effects and (not shown) lovely spredges too!

I was at @bertsbooks.bsky.social today signing and dedicating a lovely big stack of the Thomas True paperback. 💜🦚💜 I think it must be one of the happiest bookshops in Britain and certainly one of the most supportive. Thank you Alex and Sally!

Victorian autobiographies are like: "Sir Chumley Picklesmith was the grandest wit in the Empire. One day at brandy, some crashing bore was grinding on about his latest foray into Egypt when Pickles jumped in to save the day: "I suppose," he said, "your chap got sand in his boots!" GUFFAW!

My research timeline for my next novel is 105,000 words long. Almost ready to begin turning it into a story...I think.

Aesop’s Fables are over 2,500 years old, yet their simple, powerful stories continue to inspire. Not because they come from 'divine authority', but because they reflect timeless human truths. Exploring their humanist value with @humanismedu.bsky.social understandinghumanism.org.uk/articles/hum...