Gazing into the abyss

Now I know why the rabbit I saw in the moonlight before dawn was holding so still

Hard to imagine anyone's having a better morning than the squirrel up our tree with a whole Eggo waffle all to itself.

The inspector is on the case

Every time I see a girl, a dog, a scarecrow, a lion, and a tin man walking around together, I think of that one old movie

Email subject, I am insulted by your insinuation and challenge you to a notice-off at first light

Sublimation in progress

Wonderful ice on the marsh lately

A new epic fantasy by @willwiles.bsky.social? Click if you'd like the chance to see if you agree... "I haven't been as surprised and enthralled by a fantasy series in years." Francis Spufford "Fantasy is rarely as smart, immersive or scintillant." Adam Roberts docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

@hookland.bsky.social Hm, any record of the Children migrating into this area?

that's right. humanities and arts teachers we need to see the frame and decide whether what we're being given is GOOD and meaningful. it's not the essay that matters. it's the essay insofar as it makes a space for prolonged thought--for changing one's mind. and there are lots of ways to do that

Free Stuff. Possible trap?

I'm really pleased to share some research notes about @agri.bsky.social's novel HYPER at @necessaryfiction.com today.

Sharks, I'm asking for a one million dollar investment in "Dadly Poison!", a line of snack foods dosed with a mild toxin that repels young people, so the treats you buy yourself will still be in the pantry when you're ready to eat them.

I wrote about Dan open.substack.com/pub/tommcall...

Not how I imagined the yeti, to be honest

Today's pigeon is from a photo @musicologyduck.bsky.social took, of a pigeon eating an entire human size portion of spaghetti off the ground

Who wore it best?

Made redundant, I guess

Follow the signs

I wrote about the political left and right, and why class analysis falls short of explaining how they operate. aeon.co/essays/why-h...

Get ready to get Keshed! We publish @stuhennigan.bsky.social’s ‘Molotov cocktail’ of a debut novel in one month. Keshed really is something special, and a reading experience you will not forget. Order from your local bookshop, or from ortacpress.com/shop. @turnarounduk.bsky.social

Please preorder my album

I'm launching a literary journal of food writing this year. The sections are specs and prompts. Here are the pitch guidelines: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

At long last we have cracked the Sanyo Continuum

Happy birthday UofG! I was only your student for one of those 575 years but what a great year it was.

It’s not all bad out there

You hate to see it but some ratheaded legless turtles just aren’t built for the cold

‘The potato’s imprint became a waxing moon, a row of beans, a set of scans, the inside of a skull. One single potato which held so much.’ In 2025, for Annie Lord, love and grief took the shape of wreaths, potato prints and frost flowers www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/01/shad...

Day 4 of our gathering greets the year with writing by @rachelmhollis.bsky.social, Bethany Bruno, Gabriella Navas, @cclarklewes.bsky.social, Vaughn M. Watson, Elodie Ashcroft, Gideon Leek, @kathrynreese.bsky.social, Emil DeAndreis, Michael Hyde, & J.M.C. Kane necessaryfiction.com/stories/poin...

Day 3 of our gathering brings @tmcallister.bsky.social, @feed-me-poetry.bsky.social, @sidsibo.bsky.social, Kathleen Hellen, @philippabowe.bsky.social, Kathryn Edie, @iamchrisscott.bsky.social, Michael Colonnese, David Capps, & @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social. necessaryfiction.com/stories/poin...

Day 2 of our solstice gathering features writing by @mizuki-yama.bsky.social, Catherine Reedy, Kendra Cardin, @garetherees.bsky.social, @nonabiding.bsky.social, @erinkeane.bsky.social, @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social, Lleyton Michael Kane, and Warren Stoddard II. necessaryfiction.com/stories/poin...

Another constellation of lights to brighten these short days.

Nothing I need to do today except pluck away at some carols on my mandolin until my daughter kicks off her school vacation by throwing things at me so I'll stop.

Day 21 of #HooklandChristmasTree. Midwinter. Only one ornament is apposite - the porcelain Bone Horse Grigest - the grey mare of winter. Clip-clop, clip-clop, where will the Bone Horse stop? Roast your ale, make sure your torch is alight, the Grisgest roams tonight. #WinterSolstice

I've had a great time selecting some pieces to mark the solstice and year's end at @necessaryfiction.com, and am grateful to the writers who shared their work. Here is the first gathering of lights, with three more to follow in the days ahead.

there is a crack in everything / that's why

Happy #WinterSolstice. Today's #LentoAdvent day 21 theme is 🌇 sunset 🌅 Did you see a particularly amazing sunset this year? Or enjoy or make some sunset art? Please share with alt text.

In other solstice pleasures, BBC Sounds may be gone in the US (boooo!) but their adaptation of The Dark Is Rising remains available for listening.

I've had a great time selecting some pieces to mark the solstice and year's end at @necessaryfiction.com, and am grateful to the writers who shared their work. Here is the first gathering of lights, with three more to follow in the days ahead.

You will be haunted by three spirits

Are you a writer who can't get away for a residency? Spend your holiday break at Barrelhouse Write-in’s Imagine Cabins Writing Retreat! Join us between Christmas & New Year’s in a (make-believe, Zoom-based) Imagine Cabin in the woods, and get some writing done! www.barrelhousemag.com/writeins

Be on the lookout for a carrot-infused xenomorph out there somewhere

'tis the season to be annoyed that publishers sell their backlists in poorly printed, thin papered, hard to read, unpleasant to touch POD editions and you don't know which books you asked for are going to get that cruel treatment until it's too late

Poetry mashup: a mind of winter doesn’t love a wall

My most fundamental belief is that we do not have to live like this.

Universal sign

Something reminded me this morning of this song and its brilliant album, to which it is has been too since I listened

ending the day doing clumsy things to a tune that deserves to be heard like this instead

"I don't know what most things are called in fiction, being a writer and not a scholar; I am, as a colleague once suggested of creative writers in a literature department, an amoeba teaching in a biology lab." —Elizabeth McCracken, A Long Life