J.R.R. Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel) was born on this day in 1892. #books📚 #📚💙

"Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus" by Mary Shelley was published anonymously on this day in 1818. Mary's name as the author wouldn't appear until the book was republished in 1823. #books📚 #📚💙

Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm published the first version of their collection of fairy tales on this day in 1812. #books📚 #📚💙

It's Arthur C Clarke's birthday! Born in 1917, Clarke gave us a whole whack of science fiction including, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rendezvous With Rama, and Childhood's End. #books📚 #💙📚

Shirley Jackson, creator of one of the all-time great short stories "The Lottery," (as well as over 200 other short stories and 6 novels) was born on this day in 1916. #books📚 #📚💙

"I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov was published on this day in 1950. 🤖 #books📚 #📚💙

3 big author birthdays today! Lucy Maud Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables), was born in 1874. Samuel Clemens a.k.a. Mark Twain 9The Adventures of Tom Sawyer) was born in 1835. And Jonathan Swift (Gulliver's Travels) was born in 1667. #books📚 #📚💙

Mark Twain's short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was first published on this day in 1865. It would gain enough notice and praise to kick off his fiction-writing career. #books📚 #📚💙

Fyodor Dostoevsky ("Crime and Punishment," "The House of the Dead") was sentenced to death on this day in 1849 for belonging to a radical, anti-government, intellectual group. They put him in front of a firing squad before his sentence was commuted to 4 years hard labour in a prison camp. #💙📚

"Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson was published in novel form on this day in 1883. Apparently it was responsible for shaping a number of pirate archetypes like one-legged peg-leg pirates, parrots on shoulders, X marking a spot on a map, etc. #books📚 #📚💙

"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad was published in its novella form on this day in 1902 (it was previously published in serialized form). 🛥️ #books📚 #📚💙

Fyodor Dostoevsky, author of "Crime and Punishment," "The Brother Karamazov," "Notes From the Underground," and more was born on this day in 1821. #books📚 #📚💙

Benjamin Franklin founded the first public library in the U.S., The Library Company of Philadelphia, on this day in 1731. You had to pay a deposit, but you got the money back when you returned the book. #booksky📚💙 #books📚

Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams" was published this day in 1899, and ever since then every dream you have means you want to have sex with your mom.

The very first "Godzilla" movie premiered in Japan on this day in 1954! #📽️Film

John Carpenter's "Halloween" was released on this day in 1978! 🎃🔪 #horror #📽️Film

You know what's super fun around this time of year? If you said, "Reading Halloween-themed horror anthologies," then HECK YA! You were right. A bunch of us inkspillers contributed to this bad boy of a book which is available now! #books📚 #📚💙 #horrorbooks🩸📚 www.amazon.com/Samhain-Scre...

"The Return of the King" was published on this day in 1955. #books📚 #📚💙

Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" was published this day in 1847. TIL that it was originally criticized for being anti-Christian because of Jane's rebellious nature. #books📚 #📚💙

E.B. White's "Charlotte's Web" was published on this day in 1952! 🕸️🕷️🕸️ #books📚 #📚💙

Hey gang, do you like anthologies with the theme of diabolical deals? Of course you do! And would ya look at that, here's an anthology that I contributed to about that very thing! A whole whack of short stories about bargains made with devils. www.amazon.ca/Unseen-Agree...?

TIL that originally Edgar Allen Poe didn't have a raven saying "Nevermore," it was a parrot. He needed a bird that could repeat the word over and over, and a parrot fit the bill. However, a parrot wasn't melancholy enough, so he swapped in a raven and the rest is history. #books📚 #📚💙

Happy Birthday to author Anne Rice who was born on this day in 1941. #📚💙 #books📚

"Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott was published on this day in 1868. Or at least half of it was. The first half was put out with only 2000 copies and nobody expected much. But those copies sold out quickly. The second half came out the next year and became a critical and commercial success. #📚💙

Truman Capote was born on this day in 1924. He gave us the character Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," and the chilling nonfiction account of two murderers in "In Cold Blood." #books📚 #📚💙

T.S. Eliot was born on this day in 1888. He would go on to write "The Waste Land" and the screenplay for 2019's "Cats". (It's possible that some of the above is not totally accurate.)

It's William Faulkner's birthday today. Born in 1897, he would go on to write "The Sound and the Fury," "Light in August," "As I Lay Dying," and the short story "A Rose for Emily." He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949.

Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born on this day in 1896. He was one of the great writers depicting the Jazz Age, writing "The Great Gatsby," "Tender Is The Night," and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." #books📚 #📚💙

It's Stephen King's birthday today! Born on this day in 1947, Stephen would go on to star as Jordy Verrill in the "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" segment of 1982's "Creepshow." He also wrote some books. #books📚 #📚💙

It's George R.R. Martin's birthday today! Born on this day in 1948, George would write "The Pear-shaped Man" and, I don't know, maybe some other books. #books📚 #📚💙

Today is Agatha Christie's birthday! Born in 1890, she would become the best-selling novelist of all time, selling over 2 *billion* books! She also created the longest continuous-running play of all time, "The Mousetrap," which has been in production since 1952. #books📚 #📚💙

Mary Shelley, creator of Frankenstein, was born on this day in 1797. #books📚💙 #horrorbooks🩸📚

I love the way art creates more art by existing. It's like a microdosed religious experience. You get moved to creation. If I see an amazing painting, I have to paint. If I read a great comic, I have to make comics. Good art awakens something inside of you that you have to let out.

Edgar Rice Burroughs published "Tarzan and the Apes," the first Tarzan novel, on this date in 1912. Ray Bradbury cites this book as an influence not just on his writing, but on a generation of boys: "...Burroughs caused them to go out and decide to become special." #📚💙 #books📚

It's Ray Bradbury's birthday today! One of my all-time favourites, Ray was born on this day in 1920. #books📚 #📚💙

Hey gang, do you like cozy mysteries? A bunch of us writer-types, some Canucks, some worldwide, contributed to this mail-themed anthology of cozy mysteries. (I want to make a "Lett 'er Done" like "Get 'er Done" joke here, but I'll refrain.) #📚💙 #Books📚 www.amazon.com/Signed-Seale...

💙📚 #booksky

Author History! Herman Melville, author of "Moby Dick" was born on this day in 1819. 🐳 #books📚 #📚💙

Bonus points for having multiple TBR piles: I don't have many people over, but when I do, they never forget me. "I met this dude with a *weird* amount of books." #Books📚 #📚💙

Book history! J.R.R. Tolkien published the first volume of "The Lord of the Rings" on this day in 1954. #books📚 #📚💙

Author History! Raymond Chandler, author of some of the greatest hardboiled detective novels of all time, was born on this day in 1888. He would also write on some of the big crime movies of his day like "Double Indemnity" and "Strangers On A Train." #📚💙 #books📚

Book history! Author S. E. Hinton was born this day in 1948. Her novel "The Outsiders" (which she wrote when she was 16!), aimed at young readers, is often credited as being the start of the YA category of fiction. #books📚 #📚💙

Author History! Hunter S. Thompson was born on this day in 1937. He would change journalism forever and he wrote a couple of pretty great books along the way. (He also had some of the most memorable appearances on Conan's late night show as well.) #books📚 #📚💙

Book History! Jack Kerouac set out on this day in 1947 on the first of his road trips. His journals from these trips would become the foundation of "On The Road." #booksky📚💙 #books📚

Video game history! On this date in 1983 Mario Bros was first released as an arcade game in Japan. #GameDev

Book history! "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee was first published on this day in 1960. Lee was told that it would probably only sell a thousand or so copies. Turns out, it has never been out of print. #📚💙 #books📚

Book History! Lewis Carroll started writing "Alice In Wonderland" on this day in 1862. It was based on a story he made up for his friend's daughter, Alice Liddell. Alice (the real one) loved the story, so she asked Lewis to write it down. #books📚 #📚💙

Stay to the very end.

Here's something fun! A bunch of us Canuck writers contributed stories to this horror anthology: "Dark Canadiana: An Anthology of Canadian Horror." If you're not celebrating Canada Day by reading some Hoser Horror, what are you even doing? www.amazon.com/Dark-Canadia... #books📚 #📚💙 #Canada