Here we go. It's Friday, and this dropped.

As always, read the alt-text.

Cover reveal! @gollancz.bsky.social

The Smiling God has broken containment and escaped from Night Vale.

I do have a horse in the race (four horses actually) but would encourage people to vote for works by Rick Danforth, Thomas Ha, E.M. Faulds, Juliet E. McKenna, David Hutchinson, EJ Swift, Emily Inkpen, Tade Thompson (...oh God, I know I'm missing some)

The BBC are apparently saying the last royal to be arrested and tried was Charles I. The BBC are wrong.

All children with broken legs will lose their automatic right to casts at age 11.

I used to quite like Reese's but had been noticing that they'd been getting sweeter and less peanutty lately. I've mostly been eating the vegan cashew-butter ones from the FreeFrom aisle instead.

And here's the other side of Gallery Omelas. Well-fed, well-medicated, happy artists makes for less drama, but better art on the whole.

Roses are redde Noble are the manatees For a bettir future Teach artes and humanityes

"Gallery Omelas"-- perfect.

New on my blog: The Baratheon Family of Sylvania! I'll be bringing these little guys to Eastercon, but in the meantime-- Ours the Furry! adoctorofmanythings.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/m...

I can’t believe you lefty Luddites hate tech so much that you embrace mRNA vaccines, heat pumps, electric bikes, hybrid work, renewable power (and awesome advancements in storage), space telescopes, and hot/cold running water but reject the planet destroying plagiarism enrich the worst people bots!

Gangs of Coruscant The Defel of Wall Street Obi-Wan Doesn't Live Here Anymore The Last Temptation of Anakin

Reposting for those of my colleagues who haven't got the memo yet.

Can't. I'm onto something, picking up, picking up, this heat.

Heard an interview today where a guy said (and I'm paraphrasing) "LLMs have had years to train on every aspect of chess, read every book and article about it, review every match, but when they play, they STILL makes illegal moves. That tells you everything." And. Yup.

Not sure whether to make udon or pancakes for dinner.

We've been on the Northern Line. The idea that it's 2000 years old seems completely reasonable.

Today’s literal #tinyjoys: a fridge with working doors and shelves.

Super interesting look at how private equity is killing pubs— and communities with them.

How is Tolkien still relevant in the modern era? Part 94.

"I was worried about today because of the dream I told you about..."

The cover of The Book of Lost Recipes, a Tolkien cookbook. It is slim and shows a hobbity landscape.

Well, well. www.forbes.com/sites/ronsch...

I asked a policeman friend what sort of crimes he mostly sees in London and he said domestic violence (mostly alcohol-related) and pub scuffles (ditto).

Monster gives you the Travelling Wilburys.

If you've never watched B5, now's the time to start. And as you do, you'll start to realise you're seeing TV transform from 20th to 21st century standards.

FFer Read of the Day: "The Walled Garden" by @drfionamoore.bsky.social in @clarkesworldmagazine.com clarkesworldmagazine.com/moore_07_25/

Has Jellycat Gone Too Far, part 94: wearable anthropomorphic mittens.

I have vowed that if I ever win a Hugo, I will get a tattoo. If you like any of the works below, or just want to see me get ink, give me a nod on your ballot.

One of my favourites!

I have legacy citizenship thanks to my Dad, and when I got my citizenship back in the early Nineties, there was minimal fuss; I had to pay a reasonable sum and provide proof that Dad was born/adopted in the UK. This is a recent shift and a terrible one.

When folk-Christian divine beings get political.

I took a university entrance credit in calculus and scored 93%.

Repair Manifesto: If we can't fix it, we don't own it. - Repair is better than recycling. - Repair saves us money. - Repair teaches basic engineering. - Repair saves the planet. - Repair connects people and things. - Repair is sustainable. #Minimalism

A quick reminder my Gothic Paris books are re-releasing March 10th and you can preorder them in order to get this exclusive novella! (you can also buy a new UK edition, that would also count).

For Irish writers, the next application cycle opens in May! www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

Delighted to share the full ToC for Best of British Science Fiction 2025. Pre-orders now available on the Newcon Press website! www.newconpress.co.uk/info/book.as...

You know who isn't in the Epstein Files? Solomon Epstein, creator of the Epstein Drive in the Expanse.

I'm in the Best of British SF for the seventh consecutive time! Well, Morag and Seamus are in it, I just write them: www.newconpress.co.uk/info/book.as...

Dear students who think that cheating with AI will make your course easier...

Great list I've been working my way through this week. reactormag.com/tenish-of-th...

Age verification? Computer Science class involved shoving us in a room with 30 Commodore Vic20s and leaving us there for an hour unsupervised.

I am baffled by the idea of removing "Black music" from a cheerleader music playlist. Surely literally all popular music from the 1900s on is Black music? Do they expect cheerleaders to do routines to Vivaldi?

South Bank! My favourite brutalist dystopian arts venue!

Back in pre-AI days, I knew a guy who thought that since romance is "just formula", he would try his hand at writing them and make decent money. He abandoned the effort after a few chapters, and developed a new respect for "formula" romance writing. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/b...

Literal #tinyjoys: I am currently customising a Rolife A-frame kit into my dream summer cottage. There are tiny plants.

Miss Piggy and Link Hogthrob would totally be hawking academic software “solutions” in the booth alleys. Scooter would be the local committee chair.

John Lydon, Ian Dury, Michael Flanders, EW Hornung.