AWS is down, post hog

It's getting ~spooky~ out there, so just a reminder that this book exists. 👻🖤 It has "all the makings of a modern classic...like Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" (SLJ, starred review) and is "certain to be a gateway drug to @stephenking.bsky.social" (Portland Press Herald).

Opened FIEND by the inimitable @almakatsu.bsky.social, read the dedication, felt my heart quiver and grow three sizes. I am seen.

“Ah, let us snerdle! To snerdle on a Saturday is one of life’s great pleasures.” Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra(probably). And we all nod, sip tea, and, sighing, think of Colin Firth.

Some of the many things I collected are postcards of bleak-looking motels (for some odd reason), and looking through them recently, I was inspired to pair up a few of them with a particularly grim excerpt from "Two-Lane Highway," a track from John Zorn's Spillane.

C. Robert Cargill is so good at Bluesky in addition to being one of the best writers out there. A joy to follow.

Catbus is right! I don’t remember the last time I read a list like this and added so many films to my queue.

Showtime Halloween makeup ad, from 1985. Forty years later and I still haven't realized my dream of becoming a shark in a silver tracksuit.

The Welsh for June is Mehefin, which means midsummer. May is Mai which, like the English word, derives from the Roman Maius. However, there is an archaic name, Cyntefin, which means the start of summer. So summer is Wales is 3 months long. It rains in all three.

A World War II-era fad was postcards of cats dressed up like humans and doing everyday things Artist: Eugen Hartung

I love this idea almost more than I can say. (Though it surely helps to have been well copyedited.)

Oh my God watch this.

Check out the unboxing of FIEND by the amazing Alma Katsu! Get yer pre-order in, folks! (Just the lighting in the windows on the cover gave me the most delicious chills)

Honestly we all need to see Macaroni’s back to school pictures.

The Jane Austen scholar video also has claims Jane Austen collected tarantulas, purchased the largest mulberry garden in "western Britain" for breeding silkworms, and sponsored an assassination attempt on George Washington, despite the fact she was 14 when he died, and a baby during the war.

I have so much appreciation for this account and I can always count on some truly banger sentences.

*Weeps in Mid World*

The lovely obviousness and subtlety of this! the distinctive echoes: the wave curve of beast-hedge and skirt and bird wings and flower-hair and bust-shoulder. But behind that, the half-lost shadows, and swoop of misty branches in the same line. 1/3 #artthoughts

The earliest known cinematic kaiju is named... Cutey? Winsor McCay's 1921 animated film THE PET features a tapir-like creature that grows and grows and grows some more... and then engages in a nice little city stomping rampage. moviessilently.com/2025/08/24/t...

Violent Conflicts in Neolithic Europe: 'Violence as spectacle'. theorkneynews.scot/2025/08/23/v...

Just check out this writing by @scumbelievable.bsky.social. Thanks to @oneferalcat.bsky.social for sharing this. Totally made my day. I’m going to be laughing about the “I fancy myself a libertine” in this context for the rest of my years.

My new book 📕 The Story of Tudor Art 🌹 comes out on 25th September. It’s the first book ever (!!) to look at art from across the whole sixteenth century in England and I can’t wait to share it with you.

Thank you, Mother.

Rotating the stage in A GIRL'S FOLLY (1917), a behind-the-scenes dramedy shot on location in the World film company's Fort Lee, New Jersey headquarters. World stayed east while the industry was moving west and it's one of the best little studios you've never heard of.

The SPEAKER implies. The LISTENER infers. The DUDE abides.

AN UNSULLIED SHIELD (1913) is a drama about a wastrel who spends his days dancing and carrying on before the portraits of his ancestors come to life to show him how to die nobly via mystic television.

Chuck Wendig with the definitive Cottentail Virus skeet.

You can always grab a copy of this… just sayin

This week's review covers THE BEGGAR MAID (1921), Mary Astor's breakout role (she was just 15) and an adaptation of the painting by Edward Burne-Jones (itself adapted from the poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson) moviessilently.com/2025/08/10/t...

Lisa Yee is a terrific writer who has a gift for SEEING. Her photos show something mine just don’t seem to capture. I take a photo and it’s a pragmatic record of a moment. @lisayee.bsky.social’s photos have that ineffable MORE and she generously shares them. I like how she SEES. Thanks, Lisa.

As it’s @katesiegel.bsky.social birthday it seems a good time to repost our interview from a year ago. We talked about her greatest horror roles, her creative partnership with @mikeflanaganfilm.com, and her own move into directing. Great stuff. open.spotify.com/episode/4H73...

I wrote something today and I thought I might share: bit.ly/45oIc8u

Stunning.

@amiberger.bsky.social What if you can make a day-cape seem effortless?

My publisher released four of my novels with new gorgeous covers by the great Yuko Shimizu. They’re calling it the LaValle Quartet though each book stands alone. Just look at these things! They’re in bookstores now. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/LVQ/t...

The Vitagraph horror-comedy THE HAUNTED HOTEL (1907) was an innovative blend of animation, puppetry, trick editing and just about every trick that a 1900s filmmaker could possibly dream up.

Celebrating a bunch of new books today!! ‪ @lindsaykingmiller.bsky.social @slimyswampghost.bsky.social @steelhester.bsky.social @evepollychase.bsky.social @johnlangan.bsky.social @sagapressbooks.bsky.social Book details, my thoughts, and links on Patreon

This is one of the best Labors of Love I’ve ever seen.

Annie Oakley demonstrates her skills in the cramped Edison Black Maria studio, a tarpaper shack that served as a location for most of the company's early releases. Movies were a novelty-verging-into-a-craze when this film was released in 1894 and Oakley was one of many celebrities engaged by Edison

I love this account. So on point. And Harold Lloyd is such a gem!

Covid has forced me to cancel Week 2 of the ANGEL DOWN tour. Please support the bookstores: @bluecypressbooks.bsky.social Diesel Book Passage Powells & my apologies to conversation partners: @jamiattenberg.bsky.social @tananarivedue.bsky.social @keithrosson.bsky.social @maryroach.bsky.social

Feather stars are marine invertebrates related to starfish and sea urchins they are characterized by their feathery branching arms which they use to filter food particles from the water many species of feather stars are capable of swimming freely…

Maude George in a small but memorable role as the proprietress of a night club and dance hall (wink wink) in THE GARDEN OF EDEN (1928)

Struggling to finish the novel, so I’m reading this again every morning: A Guide to Writing Your Next Novel in 10 Easy Steps open.substack.com/pub/gabinoig...

The Night of the Hunter turns 70 today, on the short list of the movies that forever changed the medium

we've lost the art of cutting high-waisted, full legged trousers that will show off a man's buttocks

Low key furious at the lack of dedicated horror fiction events in this country. Tired of missing all my friends. Tired of feeling stuck ten years behind the curve because of Britishness. Yeuch. Going to finally do something about it.

Canceling a streaming service? Not sure what to watch? Broke? The archivists have our backs! Here’s my silent movie Free Stuff Thread!