Publishers, publicity peeps, take note, I'm back in the saddle for Wigtown Book Festival 2026. Please send catalogues, AI sheets, proofs. Using [email protected] email again (after a year off). Writers, please have publishers get in touch! www.wigtownbookfestival.com/blog/welcome...

Maybe the Birds, by @ajashworth.bsky.social featured on MIT Reader from @mitpress.bsky.social @goldsmithspress.bsky.social @unamccormack.bsky.social @sffoundation.bsky.social #newwriting #newreleases #newbooks #SF #FeministSF #IntersectionalSF thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-j-ashworth...

Want to read a story about bats predicting extreme weather? Of course you do! With thanks to the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University, my story "The Way Out" is here: issues.org/futuretensef...

In which I recommend (some of) my fave short stories!

🇯🇲 Poets Read for Hurricane Melissa Relief Fundraiser: November 19th. Organised by @outspokenpress.bsky.social hosted by Leone Ross with an introduction from Akala, such an amazing line up, please show solidarity, donate and share and repost! Thank you! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/poets-read...

My fave short stories! (Well, some of them, anyway.) Huge thanks to @jonathangibbs.bsky.social for organising:

I'm lucky enough to have the time and other resources to spend a lot of time with my children doing "making" activities. A few years ago, I organised a "Month of Making" to encourage people to make gifts for Christmas instead of buying them - some of you might like these ideas to try:

"Let's not forget, when we remember the service and the sacrifice with this poppy, that the people who bled and died for our democracy and our freedom, weren't just my grandfather who looked like me & worshipped the same God, but people across Empire & Commonwealth, who were Muslim, Sikh & Hindu'

This Tory "policy" is going to be an absolute gift to the SNP. Can't imagine any better way of convincing Scottish people that they'd be better off by setting themselves free from this immoral sh*te once and for all. (Same is probably true of Sinn Fein in NI.)

#WritingCommunity! Submissions invited to NEW WRITING SCOTLAND 44! We want poetry & prose in English, #Gaelic, & #Scots from writers who are Scottish by residence, birth, or inclination. All successful contributors are paid – deadline 31 Oct! Submit free via Submittable 👇 nws.submittable.com/submit

Resistance is not futile

‘One of the oldest urban centres on the planet’: Gaza’s rich history in ruins. My @guardian piece on the erasure of Gaza's past. As we mourn incalculable human losses, learning about its past can help us better understand the present www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Why is having covid such hard work? I lie on the sofa, arrange the hot water bottle over my feet, tuck myself under a blanket, sort out the cushion under my head, realise I can't reach the tv remote control and have forgotten to fetch the hankies, paracetamol and other assorted drugs (1/n)

Pretty disturbing. Authors need to argue for the legal right (written into their contracts with publishers) to veto AI translations of their work.

You don't need to have read it to get the joke www.worldofmoose.com/products/tri...

Our October sale has gone EVEN deeper! 🤩 33% off selected items while stocks last! 🚀 Discount applied automatically in our checkout. Head now to: www.saltpublishing.com/collections/...

Happy pub day to this wonder anthology which includes my story "Lord of the Fruit Flies" about the biologist Hermann Muller, big thanks to editor @nicholasroyle.bsky.social and publisher @saltpublishing.com

Happy #WorldPorridgeDay to all who celebrate! 🥣 Captain of oats, braw brose, fine gruel, you are thi Scotsman’s constant fuel fae New Year’s Dey till end o Yule (we don’t do Simmer)… —WN Herbert, “TO PORRIDGE” #poem #poetry #porridge poetryinternationalweb.org/pi/site/poem...

Join us in commemorating Black Speculative Fiction Month at Arizona State University! This series of events on October 16 explores how artists, scholars, and cultural leaders use speculative storytelling to imagine more just and inclusive futures. 🔗 asuevents.asu.edu?searchText=b...

BREAKING: The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis "for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit" Stay tuned for more.

It’s happened again

😭 IG newberlinlibrary

“A full harvest moon is rising, though it is still only twilight” Artist: CF Tunnicliffe Writer: EL GrantWatson

Happy #DayofGermanUnity #TagderDeutschenEinheit to everyone in Germany, 35 years since East and West Germany reunited and a timely reminder that we can overcome divisions

Great news! JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month www.jstor.org/action/showL...

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Intelligence and Security Committee to launch a new probe investigating Russian interference in British politics, after Reform’s former leader in Wales Nathan Gill admitted to taking bribes to make statements in favour of Russia

NEXT BOOK PROJECT. We could do with a little help. We've gone live with our @crowdfunder.bsky.social today! Please do help us spread the word, Mr Schwitters is a remarkable book, he was a remarkable man. There are some lovely rewards. Huge thanks www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/looking-fo... #BookSky

🧪 Open to Science Poetry Submissions 🖋️ The Consilience journal is now open for submissions of science-themed poetry and artwork! Issue 23 explores the topic of ‘Tension’. Submit your work for free here: www.consilience-journal.com/submit #SciComm #SciArt #Poetry

Best political anecdote ever ...

I really enjoyed writing this near-future story about a flooded Edinburgh and a colony of bats who can predict extreme weather. Big thanks to @imaginationasu.bsky.social for asking me to write it!

A sad loss. I watched a dramatization of 'V' by Volcano Theatre Company in about 1990 that was probably the most exciting and dangerous theatrical event I've ever seen.

"And that was how the Wittgensteinian dynastic wars began!"

Someone left their heart on the beach in Musselburgh...

For some deep-seated reason that I've not yet fathomed, I'm always fascinated by crab shells. Here's today's (spotted on Musselburgh beach):

Can't wait to read this!

Thrilled! Goldsmiths Press/Gold SF will publish ALSTON MOOR in Autumn 2026. Epic eco-fiction with two entwined storylines, 500 years apart! I’ve adored every minute of research for this novel. @goldsmithspress.bsky.social @goldsf.bsky.social @unamccormack.bsky.social @sarahsuch.bsky.social

Best Wall-Fall Quote Eva 😆

Interested in coming to Eastercon Iridescence next year but might need help. There is a scheme for that. Details in quoted post and link.

Queen

This makes me smile Me, and Carly Simon

And it's go time! Submissions to our Lost/Found imprint are now open. Is your out-of-print prose book in need of a new home? If so, we'd love to consider your book for republication. Our Lost/Found Editor @abigailoswald.bsky.social is waiting at splitlippress.submittable.com (also linked in bio)!

“the word Metropolis – even as I type it here I feel it – stirs my blood” @gregchthomas.bsky.social on how Glasgow’s post-war high-rise construction gave ‘concrete poetry’ its most site-specific connotation for Edwin Morgan #SkyscraperDay #concretepoetry 2/2 www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2023/11/i-am...

Look what just arrived! Hugely looking forward to reading this beautiful book by @taniahershman.bsky.social and pub'd by @guillemotpress.bsky.social

🌟 We're looking for enthusiastic and compassionate volunteers to join our team! 🌟 Make a difference in the lives of people rebuilding their lives in Scotland. 🧡 🗓 Deadline to apply: 15 September 👉Find out more & apply: scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk/get-involved...

We’re delighted to reveal the shortlist for the inaugural Aldiss Award for World Building in speculative fiction. thealdissaward.com/the-2025-sho... This year’s winner will be announced on Sunday, 2nd October 2025, at the World Fantasy Convention, Brighton, UK.

Migrants didn't cut council funding. Migrants didn't cut NHS funding. Migrants didn't close youth centres. Migrants didn't sell off council houses. Migrants aren't filling our rivers with sewage. Farage and co. will tell you to point the finger at migrants. Don't fall for it.

With news of a reported settlement with Anthropic I went back to check the class action form and it now allows authors outside the US to input their address, so it may be worth adding your known pirated titles (from the LibGen pirate database) www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...

We are open for #submissions of #shortstories #flashfiction #microfiction #translations and looking fwd to reading your work #callforsubmissions. Please click on the link for our guidelines fictivedream.com/submission-g...