What, and I cannot say this loudly enough, a TWAT this man turned out to be. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Short/flash fiction, CNF, other strange things under 1k words. www.matchbooklitmag.com/guidelines Dare you.

Your work will never be accepted unless you submit it. Don’t self reject. The world needs your art. 💚 Link in bio.

Discussions on preventing water shortages in Kent delayed until July as Reform-led council prioritises debate on introducing reciting the Lord's Prayer at Council meetings: bylinetimes.com/2026/05/26/r...

"Let women speak!" *women vote overwhelmingly against trans-exclusive policy* "Not like that!"

If you write or read flash fiction (and/or entered Comp 33), FFF recommend you read the brilliant... FFF Competition Thirty-Three Judge’s Report by Rosaleen Lynch @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social 52quotes.blogspot.com freeflashfiction.com/fff-competit...

Goodnight from Sadie Clemens, wondering if she’ll have the dream where she’s a crow with a beakful of corpse-flesh again. Goodnight from Joshua Handford, failing to disguise his voice while phoning in a bomb warning on behalf of the Ghost Preservation Society. Goodnight from Hookland.

this is why I find climate dooming so frustrating there is no point - none - at which throwing up your hands and going “well we’re fucked” is the correct response every tenth of a degree matters and can make a big difference and is worth fighting for

As an aside as well as being immensely pleased with my @bestmicrofiction.bsky.social banner, I’d note a decent number of my companions this year have stories in @neitherfishnorfoul.com So you could do a lot worse things with time than giving it a read

🤗🤗🤗🤗

PUT AWAY YOUR MACE, TODAY YOU WILL BATTLE SELF DOUBT. AND YOU WILL WIN.

Looking through the archives you discover Hookland has suffered falls of glass, falls of fish and even falls of toads. There have been several rains of blood and showers of nails. Being a county metrologist seems an exciting profession, but one which should involve danger money. – #MattAdams

The ship in a bottle is often an act of sympathetic magic. Mariners make models of their ships to safely voyage a still sea of glass, place them on even shelves. In this act of folk magic is hope both vessels become entangled, that the bottled craft will lend safety to its counterpart. – Dr. M. Benn

Goodnight from Guy Tovey, desperately flicking through the Yellow Pages in hope of finding a 24-hour spirit banishing service. Goodnight from Wendy Cooper, hoping her new witchcraft correspondence course will include sections on anti-landlord magic. Goodnight from Hookland.

Trains home delayed but I have this Tour de Force and so far have barely noticed the inconvenience (stuck in Derby currently, waiting for onward train) The Hyena’s Daughter by @jupiterjonz.bsky.social

For those who missed my recent talk at the wonderful London Fortean Society, you might be pleased to know that it is going to be published alongside some additional Hookland material in a small booklet. I will update across the next few weeks.

McDonald's has got to be the most humiliating place to get angry. Oh no did you lose your McTemper? Do you demand to speak with The Clown?

Another fabulous choice of story here - what a beauty

Ah so gorgeously tender

Goodnight from Aubrey Weg, wishing they didn’t have the last outside toilet on the Clay End estate what with all the recent Children-Made-of-Thorns sightings. Goodnight from the hopelessly underpowered panda cars chasing UFOs on the Marshwood Road. Goodnight from Hookland.

THE NEW SORROWSCOPES ARE HERE! TELL YOUR FRIENDS. TELL YOUR ENEMIES. TELL THE HEADLESS BOG WITCH WHO CRIES FOR VENGEANCE

Leo: Love is in the air! It will bind to your hemoglobin as you breathe it in, depriving you of oxygen.

I dust my house. My AI Robot watches. "It should be you doing this." "Can't. I'm writing a novel for Primark." "That's not why you were invented." "These 153,000 fan letters say otherwise." "They're all from upcycled toasters. And you programmed them." "Literary snobbery will get you nowhere."

What was the inspiration behind Moon Over Brendle? What does the novel say about how Jeff writes? @jeffnoon.bsky.social tells the story in this essay.

It's an English summer now, so cool, so grey. Yet I think of my revenge and hurricanes.

Exciting read

Trains home delayed but I have this Tour de Force and so far have barely noticed the inconvenience (stuck in Derby currently, waiting for onward train) The Hyena’s Daughter by @jupiterjonz.bsky.social

Lovely weekend away up North. Fell in love with Fig, who believes she cannot jump over the fence. Stone walls, yes. Sofas, yes. But not this fence

Goodnight from Coreham General Hospital, where staff nurse Hayley Hodge is not sure everyone waiting in A&E is still in the world of the living. Goodnight from the rooftop parliament of Winged-cats, where territorial disputes are being settled amongst much hissing. Goodnight from Hookland.

For this is England, there is no unghosted path. Everywhere a haunted hodology. Each navigation a crossing into the territory of temporal shades. Those who walk the land cannot help but be the companions of spectres. – #CLNolan

#SundayAfternoonCallaghan in which a cult is explained to Detective Sergeant Nokes and Callaghan is bested.

No borrowed grief. No second-hand pain. Only what you carry. #DoveCry #AntiWarPoetry #PoetryCommunity

WHAT?! Nothing happened to the unicorns. They’re fine in that field behind Big Tesco last I heard.

What fuckwittery is this? I feel like historians will discover PFAs or something similar is the equivalent of lead in petrol in ‘70s and ‘80s (violent crime fell dramatically once we went lead free)

This website is well worth your time

Goodnight from Barry Sumpter, not pleased to have been a called a vexation on the spirit and cursed in front of all the drinkers at The Red Lion. Goodnight from PC Bell, wondering both how and why a double bend ahead road sign on the A3606 is glowing red hot. Goodnight from Hookland.

The ill-lucked churches of the county, poor in brasses and plagued with knocking-ghosts, rarely cause the passing motorist to stop. This is a shame, for in such neglected places strange stories lurk. Here the witch-struck tower. Here the marble monument that weeps. – #CLNolan

A subtle feeling of being, at the end of the day, mostly ok. We are, you know. Mostly. We can be so unrelenting in tearing ourselves to pieces. We need to be as unrelenting in our mending. Friends, our submissions are open to all those things grown in shame, hungering for a new name.

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 91644: if your plot is getting too complicated, try asking these questions: Whose story is this? What do they need? What’s stopping them from achieving it? If you’re not sure if the answers, your plot structure may need looking at…

Just sent some declines for @neitherfishnorfoul.com. Need to say - it’s just my taste. The subs are well past the ’can they craft a sentence/story’ level. It’s quite a leap of faith being brave enough to say no to the lovely words bc they don’t quite fit my current vibe

Communities evolve their own localised languages – visual and verbal – for transmitting folklore, for passing on parental scarelore. There is more than one way for a sign to say: 'WARNING! THIS POOL CONTAINS STAY BELOWS'. – Joanna Vickers #VOH #Folklore

Brian Danbury is the dictionary definition of pseudoscientific crank. If you’re listening to his claims there’s a link between recent disappearances and Woodwose sightings, hand in your press credentials and I’ll personally give you a new I’m A Mug card. – #DICallaghan at a press briefing, 1978

WE DON'T NEED PETROLEUM-BASED PLASTICS ANYMORE! "The [bamboo plastic] outperforms most commercial plastics and bioplastics in mechanical and thermo-mechanical metrics while maintaining full biodegradability in soil within 50 days and closed-loop recyclability with 90% retained strength."

‘If you’re a nativist, you believe in mono-ethnicity, you believe in mono-religion, then London is the antidote and the antithesis, because we are diverse, we are pluralistic, we are liberal and we are incredibly successful on any objective criteria.’

London Mayor Sadiq Khan: UK should rejoin EU through an election, not a second referendum. “Inward investment is lower than it would be, trade is lower… In London our economy is about £30bn smaller than it would otherwise be, the average Londoner is about £3,400 poorer because of Brexit.”

Goodnight from Lenny Lambert, wondering how loud he can have the portable black and white TV before his mother works out he’s watching the BBC2 Horror Double Bill. Goodnight from Lara Micklewood, rattling her tin of lucky teeth as Earlking banishment. Goodnight from Hookland.

Hookland is closed due to sudden hospital admission. Don’t worry if there is no goodnight. Don't attempt to talk to the ghosts on Brighthaven Pier till it re-opens. The only thing likely to be on @cultauthor.bsky.social is pictures of corridors. Please don’t reply to this post.

I don’t think there is anything more compelling than an unapologetically competent, knowledgeable woman. Doesn’t really matter what the subject matter is, the groundedness that comes with it is deeply satisfying. Have been reading some such women today. Lucky to know some irl. Bravo to you all

Was looking for some bookends & found myself wondering, since they always come in pairs, where is the other Professor Yaffle? And now I feel like I’ve asked one of the universe’s deep unspeakable questions, invited forbidden knowledge & knocked on a door I hope will not be answered

Can't prove this but maybe the reason for Attenborough's longevity is that whenever Paddington arrives to shepherd his soul on, he fends him off with his powers of nature narration. "The perplexed ursine psychopomp withdraws, his hunt unsuccessful. Perhaps a 1970s bass player will make easier prey."