to get away from someone who admired my work and bombarded me with questions about it, i hid at the top of a church out of the prying fan, into the spire

Had a tremendous time this weekend at #NornCon in sunny (not a joke) Belfast. Great Con. Packed to the gills with stuff to do and famous people to annoy. 10/10 would go again. Many thanks to @jozebwrites.bsky.social who sold all the books in the universe and was one of the organizers.

The enchanted forests of Finland-based artist Ulla Thynell

In the last month I’ve visited almost twenty indie bookstores and, honestly folks, why would you buy your books elsewhere when you could have your own personal book expert to hand? Look at these wonders, they’re amazing #SaintsAndWarriors #IndieBooksellers

As you can see, Arab Israelis enjoy full equalities, they even serve as public prosecutors

Loved this book too.

Morning Womble! I have also been reading The Girl With A Thousand Faces, because I'm interviewing Sunyi about it in a couple of weeks. If anyone in the Glasgow area wants to join us, details below. /shamelessplug bsky.app/profile/wate...

At this point, solving climate change is cheaper than not solving it -- not only on some grand 50 year time horizon, but tomorrow, today, immediately. Soving climate change *is* affordability. Maybe Dems should tell voters about that.

I opened a cabinet and a big bottle of Omega 3 capsules fell on my head. Thankfully my injuries were only super fish oil.

I am so sick of the criticism of the "designer" bicyle storage facility in Kerry Hospital. Lets have a look at these costs, understanding them is about reframing what was actually built, and comparing it fairly against the infrastructure society routinely accepts for cars. 1/

This was impossible to imagine just a few weeks ago. What a moment for Hungary and Europe.

Belfast’s putting on a bit of a show this weekend. It’s a good thing Norncon’s programming is top-notch, or the city would be tough competition.

Speaking of #BookSky and shouting about good books, I keep meaning to talk about THE BOOK OF GOLD and THE LORE OF SILVER by Ruth Francis Long. Alternate Renaissance-era with magic and gods, but both have faded since their glory days, leaving mortals to scavenge the pieces.

Please be careful. You don't want Coca-Cola to sue you for revealing their secrets.

And this is why @wtpress.bsky.social exists (that and providing a home for trans writers, of course)

Something that amuses me about how American culture dominates post-apocalyptic fiction is that nobody cycles. The petrol has run out so everyone trudges around.

now thats an anecdote with a punch, from Gillian Tett www.ft.com/content/c0ae...

I must note @thecallya.bsky.social had the audacity to both be a great presenter and a great reader. And @aptshadow.bsky.social SWERVED the narrative reading ‘when you die in the simulation you live.’

Thriller movie about a guy who builds a time machine and then all he does is go back 30 years to buy a house

These viruses have been known problems in Korea for so long that there’s literally a M*A*S*H episode about them. People work their whole careers on viruses most people have never heard of…so that you never have to hear about them.

Kicking off tomorrow evening with our *free* literature night. #Belfast, we are in you!

106 years ago today, on May 7th, an undergraduate at Christchurch College, Oxford, drank a glass of port then left through the main gates for a walk. I've been thinking about him, & his walk, for years now. It's taken a long time for me to figure out why - why I've kept returning, near obsessed.

The odyssey accent thing is weird. They’re supposed to be speaking ionic greek, why should they have british accents

Happy Cartoonist's Day!! With thanks to @extrafabulous.bsky.social for this comic.

Commentary: Taking Advantage Of Other People Was The Best Financial Decision I Ever Made https://theonion.com/taking-advantage-of-other-people-was-the-best-financial-decision-i-ever-made/

Zack Polanski: I hate pizza when it's burnt Trevor Phillips: Why do you hate pizza? ZP: When it's burnt TP: No, no! I listened again and again and I heard you say you hated pizza. Do you understand why the Italian community is upset by this? ZP: I said- TP: Those were your own words!

This might be up alley...

🇵🇸Palestine Action activists dismissed their lawyers yesterday to address the jury directly about why they targeted an Israeli arms firm in Bristol. “I can say with absolute certainty that this is the best thing that I have ever done”, said Zoe Rogers👇 www.declassifieduk.org/palestine-ac...

Worth reading this whole thread. Right now its hard not to see the worse than worse case scenario as more likely the medium case scenario

In 2024, America saw its first all-solar powered solar panel recycling factory, which reclaimed 99% of the materials in a panel that was 20% efficient, and then used those materials to make *two* panels that were each *40%* efficient: interestingengineering.com/energy/solar... 44/

Really love the expression, "the Gretacene". Long may it remain in use!

Ethnic cleansing and apartheid. 'We are killing in the West Bank like we haven't killed since 1967.' Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth said troops avoid shooting Jewish stone-throwers while touting loosened rules allowing soldiers to shoot Palestinians. share.google/jJiU4VWZAr62...

Israel’s National Security Minister Ben Gvir received a birthday cake decorated with a giant gold noose from his wife. The Hebrew text reads in part “sometimes dreams come true”—referring to Ben Gvir’s now-achieved dream of legalizing the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Or you know, you could use the €9bn surplus from this year’s budget alone to install solar panels + batteries for 1 million homes

"The octopus on your plate can feel pain, delay gratification, and probably outthink a toddler. Just something to consider before you order."

🌍Today is the European Union’s Overshoot day. 😱 This means that we have already used up 1 year's worth of resources, and the rest of the year will be tapping into future resources. 💪 We need climate action now.

NINE DAYS and bluesky cannot help? I do not believe this. I believe there's an expert around here for every single thing.

This one is...*chef's fart*

famously the only joke allowed on Wikipedia is, in their List of Whales, any entry that is missing a photo says [cetacean needed] apparently some unfunny losers have made it their job to find public domain images of whales to eradicate this joke only one instance of [cetacean needed] remains

Listened to an interview with a journalist talking about working with AI. ‘You have to be careful how you ask it things’. He talks about how it gives false facts, manipulates emotions and is like dealing with a psychopath. Then he says we’ll soon be able to use it in health, therapy, law and admin.

Morning Womble. Just started Farah Mendlesohn's Rhetorics of Fantasy. Very interesting so far (she is always worth paying attention to).

Really like the sound of this one...

Jaws is a good movie but Spielberg blew it by not ending it with Fin

The Kindle edition of my Celtic kaiju fantasy SISTER WAKE is on sale this month for just NINETY-NINE CENTS. Cheap as chips. Cheaper than chips! And probably more nutritious? I don't know. Please don't eat your Kindle.

Octocon cannot happen without all our valued volunteers. We’re currently looking for people to help with: -Organising and scribing for our committee meetings -Looking after our email inbox -Streaming -Helping with our social media For more information: octocon.com/join-the-oct...

A great collection, to be sure!

"On May 1, Amsterdam became the world’s first capital city to ban ads for fossil fuel products and meat. It’s part of the city’s efforts to discourage consumption of goods linked with high carbon emissions."

Lebanese reports confirmed that Israeli forces demolished the Salvatorian Sisters convent and school in the village of Yaroun on the Lebanese-Israeli border. The decades-old site served generations and stood as part of the Christian minority heritage in south Lebanon.