Had to think about this one but my origin story book is probably the (almost) complete omnibus set of Cadfael books my parents got me to stop me finishing my Christmas book by Boxing Day like I did every year Went on to do a PhD in medieval saints' lives & write daft monastic dark fantasy stories 🤷

I've reached the "cold spicy coconut rice on toast for breakfast" stage of Christmas leftovers and I'm pretty happy with my life choices.

Hey, fair warning for any people who programme lit events/festivals. Convicted stalker Sarah Stovell is publishing her books under the name of Mollie Kendrick now. She specfically stalked a writer she met on retreat for FIFTEEN YEARS. www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/2393909...

Mourning Doves, 2025 🎨 Acrylic on canvas textured paper 8x10 . . . Painting for my mom for Christmas . . . #mourningdove #painting #birds #birdpainting #hillarywhiterabbit

I introduced two ad hoc elderly lady characters as counsellors to pad the numbers and now they are going fully chaos aunt on one of my protagonists about their Feelings No matter how hard I try, the pantsing always gets me.

Varg [setting out mousetraps, sticks of dynamite, etc] I'll get him, I'll get him if it's the last thing I do Euronymouse [holding a pair of scissors next to a giant suspended weight labeled ACME] squeak

Me: *trying to plot a council of war scene* Shortcloak: Oh yeah, did I mention that we're yearning here? Thorn: Yes. Yearning. Me: OK, we can yearn at the war council, that's fine. Thorn: Burly, serious yearning. Me: Me: Of course, lord princess.

Come for the excellent creature-collector, stay for the delightfully niche puns about Merseyside.

US readers! There are 25 *finished copies* (that's the hardback with sprayed edges) of THE WOLF AND HIS KING available in this Goodreads giveaway for the next two weeks: www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

Thinking about how moving away from people-first is a growing trend, and how this is something quite important. It's been on my mind since my local McDonald's refurbished, and there's a reason for that.

Released this year, my best collection to date! It’s weird and horrifying. And illustrated! Mad Days: Stories and Curses is available on Amazon and Bookshop, ebook is only $1.99! Amazon bit.ly/4lZImtq Bookshop bit.ly/41USpIQ

Thanks Gabino!! #FridayReads it’s time to read BETWEEN THE LINES…book one of #ThePlanarPages by @dhalerambo.bsky.social Dive into a fantasy mystery adventure across worlds with investigator Fiona Thorne. The fifth & final book is out January 15th. www.dhalerambo.com/the-planar-p...

It’s the last #FridayReads of 2025 AND folks have book money, so let’s share some books! Repost this and let us know what to repost for you. Here’s a festive little monster full of magic, violence, friendship, revenge, and ghosts. www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316... bookshop.org/p/books/hous...

Boxing Day writing is reading over the WIP novel so far. It's been a few weeks break from it and, actually, I'm pretty happy with the first fifth or so I have written. I also found a whole chariot tournament I'd forgotten I'd put in, which was fun.

Met a ginger cat with a slight wobble in its back legs that made it almost do an anime girl run, and there must be some sort of reverse catgirl isekai where an anime girl gets zapped into the body of a completely mundane cat and gets to do normal cat stuff instead of being sexualised all day.

Just finished my annual Christmas rewatch of The Exorcism (1972) and I'd love to see it remade for the present day with updated effects - but they'd never air an angry socialist parable today and though it's 53 years old it feels more and more relevant with each year Merry Christmas one and all

Adding shredded sprouts to my coconut rice because that makes it FESTIVE

Merry Holidays and Happy #InverteFest !! Hope everyone is having a tentalicious time today ✨🐙 #inverts 🦐🐞

The innkeeper isn't the bad guy in the story, he's a *good guy* in the story. He *doesn't have room in his inn* and then *finds a spot for Mary anyway*. And this act of kindness is why Jesus is born in a manger -- warm, dry, safe, surrounded by people that love him -- instead of out in the desert

Merry Christmas and happy holidays! I tidied up this little thumbnail (of approximately 100 × 60 mm). It's all I could manage for now. 🥲

Merry #Crustmas to all who celebrate! Hoping you are firmly attached to people you love, are able to scoop up large amounts of food, and can hide in an impervious shell when the social situation requires it ❤️

Christmas is hard for many. The years roll, the ghosts at the table increase. We’re haunted by the absence of voices, of laughter engines who drank and ate with us. This can be day of remembrance rituals. For what it’s worth, Hooklanders near and far are in my candles today. Be gentle on yourselves.

It turns out @liminalitea.bsky.social fully will "This Will Be Remembered" at any offhand thing I think would be nice, an Andreas wandering their own personal Pentiment

In maybe my most trans Christmas present ever, my partner got me a special box to keep my hormones in.

Spending Christmas with my partner's family for the first time and so far it's involving watching Eric and their mum rewriting We Wish You A Merry Christmas in a minor key.

Just want to put out feelers for a TTRPG writer/dev or two who would be interested in collaborating on a pulpy scifi/fantasy project in 2026 with myself and another artist/writer. Ideally someone who'd fuck with "Frank Frazetta but queer" as an aesthetic. Would love 2 chat if this sounds interesting

Fuck your celebrity culture there is nothing more enthralling to me than a low budget film actor who does their fucking job and when finished with the terrible movie says "thank you for the paycheck I will see you next time"

The face when your human's daft girlfriend woke you up

Me fr fr

Good morning! An episode about Christmas in the Emperor's Palace, in Medieval Constantinople! Enjoy open.spotify.com/episode/2g2o...

Taking a break from writing to read around a few things I ordinarily wouldn't to keep the wells of inspiration fresh. Currently reading 18thC travelogues, mostly one man wandering around being rude about the Cotswolds and The North. It's quite delightful, given I know some of the areas well.

According to my council's website, BINS is the 28th. A Sunday. That doesn't feel very BINS to me, and I remain suspicious.

🖊️ Why did you transition? Wrong answers only. To fuck with people by keeping my male pen name. That and the glory.

There are many people who simply do not understand the stakes and either understate or overstate them. The issue is not that AI will replace writers or w/e: it can't. The issue is that AI will make our working conditions significantly worse and harm the development of new artists in our fields.

I think it says a lot about me that there's a trailer for a Taylor Swift documentary that jumpscares me every time because I have basically no idea what she looks or sounds like

TA’s get assistantships to teach while going to school fulltime. So by firing her from the TA position, she has also most likely lost her assistantship. This means she has to come up with money to pay for school and rent and groceries because now she has no income. This was a hit job.

Rutger Hauer having a drink with a dinosaur. Via Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs on Facebook. www.facebook.com/cpdinosaurs/...

It bothers me that most of the bands I know are resigned to being merchandise businesses. That young bands in my city have a stall of tchochkes but no CDs. It's easy to say musicians need adapt and find new ways to get by, but. No. Fuck it. We should be able to earn our keep from our music.

Give the gift of plenty this Christmas

Five years ago - amazing what hormones can do. I eventually got rid of Meridia's damn Beacon.

Yes, children’s publishing is a business but the focus should be on providing children with entertaining, thought-provoking, stories, rather on paying huge advances to celebrities, some of whom only care about staying relevant and building new fan bases. Put young readers first.

The Ghost Story, Alfred Bestall, 1930 #Christmasghoststories

That's nice Jeevun, but your party is trying to bar me and people like me from most public spaces, to prevent us rubbing shoulders with anyone else. So maybe consider that it's Labour preaching division, not the Greens. But I think you know that, deep down.

I wrote a sappy Christmas story in which Santa rescues a pair of downed aviators during the First World War. It's not the sort of thing that SF/F mags are very interested in picking up, so I'm sharing it for free on my horrible Wordpress site. Enjoy! thomasdleewriter.wordpress.com/2025/12/20/o...

Officially declaring it Christmas seasons with this, my best Christmas film

Anode Heart: Layer Null manages to take the gem that is the Digimon World (200)3 card mini game and both expands it and makes it playable in a sustained way. It's a lot of fun, and the main Anode Heart itself is exactly what I wanted from a truly Digimon World inspired game.

#MGMasonRocked Matt was a load-bearing member of the horror community and was everything that one should be - kind, supportive and welcoming. He will be missed and we will build on his legacy. I only regret that as a fellow medievalist we never got the chance to properly talk monks together.

Honestly this video is horrifying *before* you think about how these creators have the gall to spout this nonsense and then claim to have a Ghibli aesthetic. But after you realize that, it’s downright repulsive.

"As soon as you humanize the monster, it ceases to be a fantasy adventure" is a heck of a quote. It's a heck of a quote to put on something that LOUDLY wears Ghibli as its branding.