Watching the film version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and thinking about Sam Rockwell’s perfect trilogy of space movies in the late 90s/early noughties; Galaxy Quest, HHGTTG, and Moon. Two of the greatest space movies ever, and HHGTTG, which is just a cult classic in any form.

Between Sunrise on the Reaping and Z for Zachariah, my books for this year’s reading challenge are leaning way too dark at the moment. I’m in dire need of something more cheerful! Going for a Star Trek tie in novel next, that should be better…

Making a chocolate cake while wearing a cream Aran jumper went predictably badly. Have now switched to the cheap £10 knock off instead of the real Aran jumper!

This month’s short story for the Creepy Classics podcast is going to be from Laxdaela Saga, a medieval Icelandic saga - and I’m only sad I can’t get all of the glorious soap opera that is these characters’s stories into one short story!

Loki and I were out filming this month’s dog-walking vlog for Patreon today, and we got really lucky with the weather. It was so good to feel the warmth of the sun!

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit! Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Reading a book on horror literature in the ancient world and suddenly I’m learning all sorts of very technical terms for various types of cannibalism: anthropophagy, which means eating humans whether by another human or something else, and teknophagy, eating one’s own children. Aah, Greek mythology!

My latest ghost story for my Patrons is now up! This month's ghost story, The Maid near the Stones, is inspired by a story I remember my Mum telling me when I was a teenager and we were living in Kent, about the phantom hitchhiker on Blue Bell Hill. www.patreon.com/posts/maid-n...

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

Loki’s and my ghost tour of Aberystwyth is all edited and available now on YouTube! youtu.be/-eydJd1JG_k

Posted in the middle of the night, as per usual these days, some thoughts on Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights”! youtu.be/dPktXCUKGFQ?...

My first Patreon-only ghost story is finally up! This story was inspired by accounts from late 19th-century Welsh newspapers. I will eventually publish these 19th and 20th century stories as books/e-books, but Patrons get access to them as I write them. www.patreon.com/posts/red-an...

Books I would totally buy and read if Suzanne Collins ever feels like writing them: - A book about Finnick’s Hunger Games - A book about the First Quarter Quell - Catching Fire re-told from Haymitch’s POV (how did he and Plutarch and Beetee all get back in touch?!) - Anything about District 13

I’m increasingly realising that I owe Suetonius an apology. I’ve been telling students for years that’s he’s gossipy and unreliable, but the more I listen to the news, the more I realise he was probably telling the truth about every one of those Caesars.

This month's Creepy Classics podcast episode is now up! This new story is based on The Pardoner's Tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: open.substack.com/pub/juliette...

Top 5 movie moments of “eucatastrophe” (coined by JRR Tolkien) 5. “Daddy, my Daddy!” (The Railway Children) 4. Emma Thompson bursts into happy tears (Sense & Sensibility) 3. “I am no man!”/“You bow to no one” (LOTR: ROTK) 2. Sunrise at Helm’s Deep (LOTR: TT) 1. “On your left” (Avengers: Endgame)

Got this posted up at 2.30am this morning and forgot to share it! 🤣 New at my YouTube channel: youtu.be/UdzKPSXNyb8?...

I have come up with a kind of bonkers social media strategy for 2026… YouTube: Folklore, classic literature, British history Instagram/TikTok: Cozy countryside content leaning towards history Substack/podcast: ghost stories, newsletter Patreon: 50% cozy, 50% ghost stories Threads/Bluesky: no idea! 🤣

Some actual news in this month’s newsletter - I’ll try to get back to interesting essays in mid January! open.substack.com/pub/juliette...

New at my YouTube channel, a look at four of my favourite versions of A Christmas Carol: the book (obvs!), The Muppets’ Christmas Carol, Blackadder’s Christmas Carol, and Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol! youtu.be/lquJzNYx9sM?...

We’ve been to a couple of Christingle services this year, one of the Church of England’s odder Christmas traditions! It’s pretty recent: although it has early modern roots it only goes back to the 60s. I made a video about it last year; I thought it was worth explaining! youtu.be/z6lGpoBWl6c?...

SALE!!! If you use Smashwords, all three of my books - including my collection of Christmas ghost stories, Creepy Classics: Haunting Tales for Winter - are on sale for $1.99 (that’s 50% off) on Smashwords only until January 1st - perfect Christmas reading! www.smashwords.com/books/search...

New at my YouTube channel - this is one of the simplest recipes around and I still managed to mess it up! 😆 youtu.be/hFGBNsfpwWs?...

I’ve probably cursed him to lose by putting this on. Verstappen is starting to feel inevitable…

While I was in Glasgow I managed to squeeze in a visit to the Southern Necropolis, where hundreds of children once went vampire hunting! youtu.be/vLn6caMJzvA?...

I’ve been in Glasgow for work for a couple of days and of course I took the opportunity to do some filming too! One long form video and two shorts coming as soon as I can find time to get them edited!

We were putting together our Messy Church Christmas tree today, so the Christmas earrings and Christmas cardigan have come out! :)

I’m selling and signing books in the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry today, up on the first floor, pop by and say hi if you’re in town!

I somehow managed to watch BOTH the new Guillermo Del Toro Frankenstein AND Ken Branagh’s 1994 film Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein over the weekend! youtu.be/rAya1WjRBsM?...

New at my YouTube channel - why Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s novel Frankenstein wasn’t quite what I was expecting! youtu.be/_F2pZlOdITw?...

You can really feel how much people are struggling financially at the moment. Fewer people offering sweets at Halloween, th soft plays are much less busy than before. Just simple small pleasures that people are struggling to afford :(

This year’s Halloween episode of the Creepy Classics podcast is now up! A story of murder and a soul that won’t rest, inspired by a story from Byland Abbey c1400 open.substack.com/pub/juliette...

New at my YouTube channel: the tragic true story of the Hammersmith Ghost, which inspired the first story in my new short story collection Creepy Classics: Haunting Tales for Winter youtu.be/szV8KfhVF9M?...

I sold out of copies of Creey Classics: Haunting Tales for Winter at the Halloween craft fair today!!! So exciting! 🥳🥂

I’m selling my wares at the Himley Hall Halloween craft fair today. Pop by and say hi if you’re in the area!

Readers! Where do you find books? I’m trying to find my readers for my short story collections (ghost stories), which is a bit of a niche interest so it’s a challenge finding where readers are. How do you find new books to read? Where do you go to look for new releases, something a bit different?

Creepy Classics: Haunting Tales for Winter is out now! Journey back in time to Christmases past, from Regency England and Wales, through Reformation Scotland, medieval France, and the fairytale setting of King Arthur’s court, all the way to Iceland in the Viking Age www.julietteharrisson.co.uk

The biggest challenge writing a collection of ghost stories set at Christmas and mostly set during the Little Ice Age or in Iceland is finding more and more ways to describe a) night time and b) snow. There are only so many beautiful, artistic ways to say “it was snowing”! 😆

This morning I decided to get the shorter and quicker of two short stories needing written up done. 🤣🤣🤣 Oh, you sweet summer child. The Scottish story requires an understanding of early modern Scottish religion!!! Hours later, I’ve just about managed to write a sentence or two…!

COVER REVEAL!!! Behold, the gorgeous cover for my upcoming short story collection Creepy Classics: Haunting Tales for Winter! Thanks to Sam Basnett for the beautiful cover art. This image is taken from my re-telling of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a classic tale from Arthurian legend.

We’re at our local hospital today waiting for my son to get grommets, and I’ve brought my Kobo all loaded up with books, but as ever at times like this, I can’t concentrate on them. I’m the same at airports - if I’m waiting for a plane I can read websites or magazines but I struggle with books.

The Historian & Corgi Ghost Tour of Shrewsbury that I’ve been working on for a week and a half is finally up! I’ve spent way too much time on this that I should have been spending writing and lesson planning; if you have any interest in history or cute dogs, do have a look! youtu.be/tUFWdoh_GOE?...

It’s Loki’s birthday today. Happy 1st birthday Loki! 🥳🎉🎂❤️ We’re relieved to have made it this far after the past year - here’s to many more I hope! 🤞🙏

I was late for the school run this morning because i was watching Go Jetters with my son. As in, I was properly watching it - I was very invested in how they were going to rescue the little pig and interested in the place they were visiting too!

Out filming today! We’re making another Historian and Corgi Ghost Tour. But time got away from us and we have to go back to finish tomorrow! in the 2nd pic you can see my very basic vlogging setup: Ozmo Pocket 3 (not sponsored, it’s just what I use!), book of ghost sightings, and coffee! ☕️

I haven’t managed to find a pumpkin spice latte while out yet, but instead my first taste of pumpkin spice this year was this amazing pumpkin spice coffee cake from The Olde House Tearoom. It was amazing, what a great idea!

This morning, I rushed out to take my son to dance class and forgot his water bottle - luckily there was a fruit shoot in the car. I remembered to clutch my half-drunk morning coffee the entire time and bring that with me though! I’m a bad mother….. 🤦‍♀️☕️

I’ve just realised what the redesign on the Gorn in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds reminds me of - the Scarrans from Farscape!

It’s finally September! This is very good news for those of us trying to sell books of ghost stories and aoooky merch! 😆

I’m selling and signing at the Birmingham Book Extravaganza in Lightwoods House in Birmingham UK today - stop by and say hi if you’re in the area!