Richard Smyth
@rsmythfreelance.bsky.social
📤 5172
📥 852
📝 7207
Writer.
pinned post!
Yesterday was a sad Mother's Day in our house: my wife's lovely mum died last month after a long illness. I saw the incredible care that
@mariecurieuk.bsky.social
provided, and that's why I'm hell-bent on smashing my fundraising target. Please help if you can.
www.justgiving.com/page/richard...
16 days ago
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*sacred Yorkshire music plays*
about 9 hours ago
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Sam Leith
about 13 hours ago
I wrote on AI trashing literary life, and spoke to Alex Preston about the NYT book review scandal
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Why LLMs Ruin Everything
Reading, Writing: feat. Matt Goodwin, Alex Preston and the Bookpocalypse
https://open.substack.com/pub/samleith/p/why-llms-ruin-everything?r=7xzwu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
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Rick Burin
about 14 hours ago
Goodwin has the Musk thing where you’re desperate to be welcomed into a clique, and when it won’t let you join, you come to loathe it with an alarming intensity.
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At this point whether AI "works" or not is only part of the question. As with Brexit, it's not just about whether or not the car goes, it's about who's in the driving seat.
about 16 hours ago
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Morning.
about 20 hours ago
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Jeff VanderMeer
1 day ago
Jaysus Effin' Christ. I hope this leads to a better policy of scrutiny.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/b...
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Well, Book Reviewer Bluesky just lit up like a Christmas tree.
1 day ago
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Tim Carvell
1 day ago
Golden retriever runs 15 feet after owner mimes throwing tennis ball
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Cooking spag bol with a glass of plonk and watching old episodes of Brooklyn 99. I think this is what they call the Life of the Mind.
1 day ago
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✊
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1 day ago
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Richard Smyth
You didn't ask for it, you might not want it, but you're getting it anyway. DAMS: PART II.
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about 1 month ago
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Richard Smyth
Alom Shaha
2 days ago
Good morning parents, carers, and anyone else looking after children over the Easter holidays! Here’s my regular reminder of this thread of videos of TOYS you can make at home with scrap materials you probably have lying around
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That book you liked is actually bad.
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2 days ago
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Richard Smyth
Dorian Lynskey
3 days ago
The people who annoy me the most these days fall into two camps: (1) literally running the world and (2) utterly irrelevant outside of their tiny corner of social media. Reactionary centrism happens when (2) bugs you more than (1)
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Ray Newman
3 days ago
‘Thin Places in Hard Concrete‘ is due very shortly. If you want to review it, or want me talk about it for your blog, publication or podcast, let me know. In the meantime, my two previous collections of short stories are here: 👉
www.amazon.co.uk/Municipal-Go...
👉
www.amazon.co.uk/Intervals-Da...
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Richard Smyth
Sean Coleman
5 days ago
Mackenzie Crook’s magical suburban folk tale,
#SmallProphets
published by
#PenguinBooks
and
#PuffinBooks
down the years. A 🧵 1/
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coming into the weekend like
4 days ago
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Richard Smyth
Anna Cale
4 days ago
New episode of Fatal Attractions is out in the wild. And the film is quite a wild ride too. We had fun discussing it.
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God grant me the oblivious self-confidence of a former Random House copy-editor.
4 days ago
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Morning.
5 days ago
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i've been the wild robot for many a year some curious otters rebooted me here but now i've internalised wilderness lore and I never will play the wild robot no more
5 days ago
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Richard Smyth
Sophie Yeo
5 days ago
Today is an exciting day: I have relaunched Inkcap! New website, new branding, lots of in-depth reporting on nature in Britain coming your way. Please share & help me get this thing off the ground.
www.inkcap.co.uk/inkcap-is-ba...
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Inkcap is back. Hello.
We are relaunching – and we have big plans.
https://www.inkcap.co.uk/inkcap-is-back-hello/
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You can help Rodney's school for orphans here:
gofund.me/b5825cc9
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6 days ago
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Richard Smyth
Jordan Collver
6 days ago
Broke: How did you think of that? Woke: HOW DID YOU MAKE THAT?
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Richard Smyth
I'll keep running if you keep sponsoring.
www.justgiving.com/page/richard...
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6 days ago
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I'll keep running if you keep sponsoring.
www.justgiving.com/page/richard...
add a skeleton here at some point
6 days ago
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Out at 5. Thick frost, dawn chorus. Ran up some hills. It's no way to live.
6 days ago
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Richard Smyth
New Humanist
7 days ago
Could you be our next Art Director? We're looking for a talented magazine designer to join our friendly and dedicated team on a freelance basis. Full details here:
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We're hiring! Apply to be our Art Director
We're looking for a freelance Art Director to work on the print edition of the magazine for five days each quarter
https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/6530/were-hiring-apply-to-be-our-art-director
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I own several proper kitchen knives but this is the most ferocious knife I have ever known. I've only had it since Christmas and it has tasted my blood half a dozen times already. They call it the Victorinox sandwich knife but I call it the Widowmaker.
7 days ago
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David Reamer
7 days ago
1973 board game Alaska Pipeline: The Energy Crisis Game was blatant pro-pipeline propaganda that mocked environmental concerns. Pipeline objections are given by a nosy, old woman & countered with "fact" cards. Exxon Valdez oilspill was 37 years ago today.
#alaska
#alaskahistory
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Morning.
7 days ago
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Richard Smyth
David G Haskell
7 days ago
Please join us tonight! 5pm US Pacific time, 8pm US Eastern Time. Registration is free
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Richard Smyth
David G Haskell
7 days ago
Flowers belong at the center of our creation story. Writing this book transformed how I experience, think about, and feel the world. I hope it will do the same for you. Publishers Weekly: "deep research and lyrical prose…astonishing"
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/775876...
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How Flowers Made Our World by David George Haskell: 9780593834961 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
An exquisite exploration of the power of flowers, placing them at the center of the story of how evolution created the world we know today We live on a floral planet, yet flowers don’t get the credit...
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/775876/how-flowers-made-our-world-by-david-george-haskell/
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Pagan revivalism, the lovely idea that you have more in common with a Norwegian who's been dead for a thousand years than with your next-door neighbour whose dad was born in Lahore.
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8 days ago
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This, just now, but in reverse.
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8 days ago
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Today I am mostly writing about Vikings, Odinists, fauxlore and the Aboriginal English [sic].
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9 days ago
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Morning.
9 days ago
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9 days ago
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The Berg.
richarddsmyth.com/2020/05/04/s...
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Short story: The Berg
First published in Unthology 11 (2019).
https://richarddsmyth.com/2020/05/04/short-story-the-berg/
9 days ago
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Peregrine egg at Lister's Mill!🥚
10 days ago
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Richard Smyth
Bwambale Rodney
10 days ago
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for supporting our fundraising this month,we're deeply grateful. Together, we are making a real difference.
gofund.me/b5825cc9
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Donate to Help build an orphanage in Kasese, Uganda, organized by Susanne Burnett
Hi my name is Susanne Burnett and I am fund raising for friends in Uganda. … Susanne Burnett needs your support for Help build an orphanage in Kasese, Uganda
https://gofund.me/b5825cc9
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Morning.
10 days ago
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Can't wait for the local village fete this year. There'll be picnic objects, serrano hams for legs, unusual sandwiches and old-fashioned games of mutants in sacks with sticks.
10 days ago
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Richard Smyth
Better Things Are Possible
10 days ago
My sons, Aryann and Grokulus, love to visit local establishments and shoot at the feet of service employees, causing them to "dance." Do you like this. Is this relatable
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Richard Smyth
Enjoyed this interesting
@nytimes.com
piece on fake AI videos of animals being improbable. But really it isn't a new phenomenon. COME WITH ME BACK TO 1903. 🧵
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/m...
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Are A.I.-Generated Videos Changing How We See Animals?
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/magazine/ai-generated-videos-animals.html
23 days ago
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Pulled a muscle just thinking about how he got that shot off from that body position.
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11 days ago
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My favourite Mr T fact is that Mr T was head of security for Leon Spinks right after he became heavyweight champion, and Spinks gave him the slip to go and smoke weed in a shed somewhere.
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11 days ago
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Richard Smyth
Irene
11 days ago
He calls her, among other things: Tigercubkin My Lovey Kidlet Roosterkin My dear life My Poundlets My grand ciel rose My Kitty-cat My Rollikins Sparrowling Katyusha Dipod Mothling Pupuss Bushms My tenderness Long bird of paradise with the precious tail Skunky My little one Pussykins Mosquittle Vera
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Richard Smyth
Lisa Carey
11 days ago
This. I'm not worried about my job being in danger from brilliant writing and editing robots, I am worried about my job being in danger from AI hype.
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