Coming soon; The Lumber Room and Other Tales: The Ghost Stories of Mary Ann Bird. I spent five years rediscovering this forgotten author. What I found was fascinating; emotional turmoil, destitution, ostracism, marital failure. And some great ghost stories. #ghosts #gothic #victorian #literature

Today, for your viewing pleasure, I visited the Angel of the North, a 208-tonne sculpture by Antony Gormley near Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, England. Enjoy...

Yesterday I took a walk to the ruins of a farmhouse called "Top Withens", on Stanbury Moor, near Haworth, West Yorkshire. This house is supposedly the inspiration for Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights". #emilybronte #bronte #WutheringHeights

Today, for your viewing pleasure, a shot across the ruins of the Roman town of Nora, Sardinia. #Sardinia #Archaeology #Roman #History

Hello! It's no doubt partly due to my spectacularly poor marketing skillz, but sales of prints have been pretty woeful of late. So if you are after a gloomy antidote to all this pesky fine weather and sunshine etc, do have a gander. Reposts also much appreciated. sarahcoomershop.etsy.com

I love Sarah’s work so much. Her Watership Down piece is jperfect and sits on my wall just under the portrait of Dante, as poets should. “You've been feeling tired, haven't you?”

Sensational news that isn't sensational no.379: the shortest day on record? 🤔 *Earth's rotation speed changes *The dinosaurs' day was ~23.5 hrs *In the 1970s our 24hr day👆~3ms *Since 2020 it's👇by ~0.1ms *10th July Full moon slightly speeds up the spin (~1ms shorter day) *No, we're not worried 🔭🧪

Today, for your viewing pleasure, the 4000-year-old Duddo Stone Circle (aka The Singing Stones), Northumberland, England. #Archaeology #ancient

Spotify, please, please, please stop throwing Pink Floyd and Dire Straits at me whenever I turn my back on you! Enough already! #spotify

William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) originally studied law but was ultimately destined for a life of letters. His first novel, Antonina, appeared in 1850 and a chance meeting with Dickens a year later soon propelled him to literary stardom. Collins produced some excellent ghost stories. #ghosts

I wrote an article for the good people at BBC Sky at Night magazine @skyatnightmag #astronomy #space #Cosmos #astrophysics

Here's a reminder of my discovery of the true identity of Victorian ghost story writer Lettice Galbraith. She was difficult to track down. Sadly forgotten. #ghosts #supernatural #macabre #gothic #horror amzn.to/3IX2QTg (Amazon UK) bit.ly/3EHVCQz (Amazon US)

Lafcadio Hearn's earliest tale, The Cedar Closet, a traditional ghost story, is always cited as being first published in The Cincinnati Enquirer in March 1874. But I have discovered it first appeared in The Belgravia Annual in November 1873 under the pseudonym "M. K. Woods". #ghosts #gothic

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) is widely regarded (even by M. R. James himself) as the greatest ever exponent of the ghost story genre. His stories include Green Tea, Madam Crowl’s Ghost, Squire Toby’s Will and The Familiar. #ghosts #supernatural #macabre #uncanny #ghost

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865) was an English author best-remembered for her novel Cranford (1851). She was a master of gothic and supernatural fiction (e.g. The Squire’s Story, The Doom of the Griffiths, The Old Nurse’s Story). #ghosts #gothic #supernatural

Happy Beltane! #beltane #mayday

This re-analysis of methods and data casts doubt on the detection of DMS and DMDS biosignatures in the atmosphere of sub-Neptune exoplanet K2-18 b. Great work by @luiswel.bsky.social and team. #astronomy #astrophysics #Cosmos #Universe arxiv.org/abs/2504.21788

The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories The paperback versions of Volumes 20 and 21 are now available on Amazon. #ghosts #gothic #supernatural Amazon US Volume 20 bit.ly/4iCfIge Amazon UK Volume 20 bit.ly/4cWGGho Amazon US Volume 21 bit.ly/4cTgqUT Amazon UK Volume 21 bit.ly/42Ngukl

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-1870) is regarded as a stalwart of Spanish post-romantic literature within his home country; second only to Cervantes. Bécquer’s ghostly tale "Maese Pérez, the Organist" was first published in newspaper El Contemporaneo in December 1861. #ghosts #gothic #supernatural

Just published! The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories: Volume 26 (eBook) #ghosts #gothic #Supernatural bit.ly/44v4yGL (Amazon UK) bit.ly/3SapsDm (Amazon US) bit.ly/4jOyr99 (Amazon CA) bit.ly/4jOywJZ (Amazon AU)

Dinah Maria Craik nee Mulock (1826-1887) is not widely known for her supernatural writings, but produced several excellent tales of the macabre (M. Anastasius, The Last House in C- Street). She is best remembered for John Halifax, Gentleman (1857), a tale of a lowly orphan’s rise. #ghosts #gothic

Richard Harris Barham (1788-1845) is most remembered for his verse and prose tales collectively known as The Ingoldsby Legends. If you're brave you can visit (and sleep in) the room haunted by ‘Bad Sir Giles’ (in Denton, Kent) immortalised in Barham's "The Spectre of Tappington". #ghosts #gothic

Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915), best remembered for her 1862 novel Lady Audley’s Secret, was a prolific ghost-story writer (Eveline’s Visitant, At Chrighton Abbey, The Scene-Painter's Wife, The Cold Embrace, John Granger, Her Last Appearance, The Shadow In the Corner etc.). #ghosts #gothic

Great result, but this is just the start of a long road to confirmation. #astronomy #astrophysics #universe

Perhaps one of the most prolific writers of all time, George Manville Fenn (1831-1909) published 161 novels in the space of only 43 years; producing eleven titles in 1890 alone! His writing featured pirates, explorers and smugglers, but he also produced some excellent ghostly tales. #ghosts #gothic

Rhoda Broughton was born in Denbigh, north Wales, in 1840, a granddaughter of the eighth baronet of Broughton, and a niece to J. S. Le Fanu. Her collection, Tales for Christmas Eve (1873) contained five ghost stories that have been described as ‘skilfully wrought’. #ghosts #gothic #ghoststories

It may be April Fool's Day, but in all likelihood any news stories you find suspicious or preposterous will turn out to be absolutely true... #AprilFool #AprilFoolsDay

Make-shift projection, about 20 minutes before mid-eclipse, before the cloud arrived... #astronomy #space #EclipseSolar #Eclipse2025

Today's March Equinox will occur at precisely 09:01 UTC. However, despite common belief, night and day are not the same length at the equinoxes. It is also no longer called the "spring" equinox, as that only applies to the northern hemisphere. #astronomy #cosmos #space #equinox #earth #science

This week I've been in Bologna. Here is the beautiful Baroque Porta Gallieria, completed in 1661, now isolated from the demolished medieval walls it once spanned. #italy #bologna #architecture #baroque

Scientists have discovered the oldest known impact crater on Earth, dating from about 3.5 billion years ago. "A Paleoarchean impact crater in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia" appears in @nature.com Nature Communications. #geology #astronomy #space #nature @curtinuniversity.bsky.social

Is "The Invisible Playmate" (1894), by William Canton (1845-1926), the saddest ghost story ever written? It was both a memorial to a dead daughter and a disturbing premonition of another tragedy in the author's life. Creepy! #ghosts #uncanny #literature #gothic #Victorian amzn.to/2YJBX0z

A painting I did a few years ago called "Islands #8" - inspired by a trip to the Scottish west coast. Acrylic on canvas, 100cm x 80cm. #Scotland #Painting

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! #stdavidsday #wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

My biography and bibliography of hitherto-mysterious Lettice Galbraith is available in paperback. She is remembered mainly for a collection of traditional supernatural tales titled ''New Ghost Stories'' (1893). #ghosts #uncanny #ghoststories #gothic #victorian #supernatural bit.ly/3EHVCQz

Augustus Jessopp (1823-1914) was a cleric, historian, school headmaster and author. As a friend of M. R. James, it may be that his tale "An Antiquary’s Ghost Story", was the inspiration for (at least the title of) James’s later seminal collection. amzn.to/3P71Hs5 #ghoststories #ghosts #uncanny

Popped in to Westminster Abbey to visit an old friend...

You can sign up to the mailing list for The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories on the following webpage... bit.ly/SignUpEbooks #IARTG #BYNR #ASMSG #TWFBG #SNRTG #ghosts #ghoststories #horror