Stocking up for some events this year 😍

Over on Instagram, I—somewhat facetiously—suggested that I might add “% read” info next to the page numbers in my *printed* books (in order to mimic the ebook experience) and a fair few people are…actually on board with the idea. Is this genius, or is it madness? #BookSky #Reading #Books

The Sins of Steel and Shadow is an #SPFBO semifinalist 🙌🏻 Well chuffed, and hats off to anyone who entered this year’s contest. There are some incredible looking titles on that list and my TBR is getting longer every day! stevepannett.com/the-sins-of-...

Humble beginnings I know, but I’m proud that my website has hit this milestone from organic search (on Google, at least). I blog primarily for myself, but that’s not to say there’s no method in the madness! stevepannett.com

I reviewed an absolute classic of Celtic-inspired fantasy (and the start of one of my favourite ever series) stevepannett.com/book-review-... #DavidGemmell #Bookreview #BookSky

It’s early so I can’t tell if my bran flakes are getting heavy with the affirmations or aggressively calling me out. Thanks, though? I’ll try? 🤷🏻‍♂️

A little behind-the-scenes explanation of my self-pub imprint, Broken Hilt Publishing. What it is, what it isn’t, and what inspired the name 👀 📚 stevepannett.com/what-is-brok... #BookSky #fantasybooks #indieauthor

A little behind-the-scenes explanation of my self-pub imprint, Broken Hilt Publishing. What it is, what it isn’t, and what inspired the name 👀 📚 stevepannett.com/what-is-brok... #BookSky #fantasybooks #indieauthor

Hats off to the people of Gorton and Denton. Voting in a representative who actually cares, from a party with some good ideas 🟢👏🏻 Still alarming how much support Reform is getting through lies and fear-mongering, but I’m glad that the politics of hate was edged out this time.

What can you expect to find at Spotlight Indie Live? Good vibes, a warm welcome, supportive people and plenty of book chat. You can find advice, writing conversations and fellow authors, creatives and storytellers. The best bit? It's FREE. See you in #Shrewsbury! www.spotlightindie.co.uk

The silver lining of my email inbox being regularly accosted by AI-written scam/spammers trying to flog me shit is that it shows my SEO strategy is working. The latest effort even referenced some page enrichment that I’ve been testing.

Credit has to go to @lyonspen.bsky.social for being the first person I've ever interviewed in arctic conditions 🥶check out this awesome panel with @stevepannett.com @skbalstrup.bsky.social and @authoriseult.bsky.social

Myth, monsters and making sense of a disenchanted world: why everyone is reading fantasy

That's it, the guests are ready, the streams are set up and Frasier's snack stash is towering over us all. The Big Indie Weekend starts at 10am tomorrow! Three days of #indieauthor guests, #writingchat, #bookchat, advice and conversation. LET'S GO INDIES! #writingcommunity #BookSky #amreading

Writing a speech is really hard. Writing a speech and then having one of your characters deliver it is even harder. I don’t think I’ve ever spent this long revising one part of a book before 😳

This local Wolfdog joined an Olympic ski event and triggered the finish-line camera. This is Nazgul. He snuck into a cross-country skiing sprint this morning and raced the homestretch with some competitors before being escorted home. 14/10 someone get him a medal

Thought I’d try something different to soundtrack my day, so I put some whale song on while I worked. Holy crap was that a mistake! Shit sounds like some unnamed Lovecraftian horrors. Hard pass from me, sorry whales. 🐋 🎶 🚫

Excited for this event. And it’s *free* to attend! If fantasy, science fiction, horror and/or speculative fiction is your jam, come on down and say hullo/check out all of the awesome stuff going on!

If I win the lottery I won’t tell anyone, but there will be signs… …primarily a more consistent publishing schedule, owing to the fact that the only other commitment I’ll have will be parenting.

It's time to give you a look at our 2026 live event line up. We can't wait to bring you a fantastic day of talks, book signings and writing chat. Our 2026 event is free to attend and is designed for indie authors and book fans #AuthorEvents #Shrewsbury #IndieAuthors #IndieBooks

Starting out in the indie community and need some support? Spotlight Indie Live is a free to attend event designed for indie authors and creatives. Writing craft panels, walk-up advice sessions and Q&As - come along, join in and get involved! #AuthorEvents #IndieAuthors #Shrewsbury #WritingCommunity

I penned some thoughts about “Show, don’t tell” up on my website. stevepannett.com/what-does-sh... I cover why this advice has such longevity, and how I use it across three key areas to improve my writing. #BookThreads #IndieAuthor

SPFBO 11 officially starts today! Let the reviews flow! #SPFBO

I don’t particularly care for the PJ Hobbit movies, but I think we can all agree that Billy Boyd absolutely *nailed* this track on the score. Beautiful song, beautifully sung. open.spotify.com/track/0j2Tw0...

Sometimes I think my writing projects are ambitious but then I remember when all the tech-bros tried to mainstream the word “fungible” and I don’t feel so daunted anymore Anyway, go buy my fungible* books. stevepannett.com *may not be fungible, absolutely no one knows what that means

Full episodes of Behind the Bastards will be streaming on Netflix starting January 26! Hit “Remind Me” on Netflix so you don’t miss the premiere 📺👀 @iwriteok.bsky.social @whysophiewhy.bsky.social

Not sure how to properly articulate the disgust/rage I feel at that bloated orange fuck denigrating the sacrifice of allied servicemen and women when America called for help. (1/3)

I thought this line might be a bit on the nose when I first wrote it. Given the last year or so, I’m not sure I went far enough.

One of the unseen casualties of social media is landscape format media. Growing up, 6x4 photos (that were actually printed) was the norm. Now, even movie trailers get edited for the portrait format. Not as big a casualty as mental health or general global sanity, but it’s there all the same 🤷🏻‍♂️

Fantasy authors! I wanna chat! 💬 I’d like to try doing something new, where I chat to other authors in the fantasy space and then provide a write-up of our conversation online. I wanna know what you’re writing, what you’re reading, what drives you to write and what you love about the craft! 🔗 ⬇️

The First Law books are all awesome, but if you *had* to rank them in order… stevepannett.com/the-first-la...

Casual reminder to go and read one of the best fantasy series ever written… stevepannett.com/the-best-gae... #BookSky #FantasyBooks #DavidGemmell

File under the ever-growing subgenre of my work which I’m calling ‘Inanimate Object Has A Massive Go At A Person For No Reason’

I don’t drink coffee but that first brew of the day is an absolute necessiTEA Ah? Ah!? 😀 I’m here all week

Delighted that Sins is in the mix for this year’s #SPFBO competition. I’m really proud of this book and excited to get the story in front of more readers! Also… (1/2)

Want a free short story? Sure you do! The Weeping Grey, a 1000-word taster of my writing style written in response to the prompt of “boats”, is available to download here: mailchi.mp/78cdec212eff... #BookSky #Books #FreeBook

The Sins of Steel and Shadow has been thrown into the hat for this year’s #SPFBO! Here’s hoping it makes it through the lottery this year! 🤞🏻

Looking for a gritty fantasy book? 🗡️📙 The Sins of Steel and Shadow 📙🗡️ Hated and reviled by humans and vampyrs alike, every day for a Turned is a deadly struggle. But when Bail is offered the chance of a lifetime, there’s much more at stake than just his survival. stevepannett.com/books/the-si...

Looking to dive into the fantasy genre? Here are six series for 2026! stevepannett.com/six-fantasy-...

Looking for a gritty fantasy book? 🗡️📙 The Sins of Steel and Shadow 📙🗡️ Hated and reviled by humans and vampyrs alike, every day for a Turned is a deadly struggle. But when Bail is offered the chance of a lifetime, there’s much more at stake than just his survival. stevepannett.com/books/the-si...

2025 is the year that AI really seemed to enter the common zeitgeist. And—quite honestly—it can’t fuck far enough away, fast enough, in my opinion. AI is a joyless, soulless, perversion of actual creation. Keep that shit out of the arts. And yes, those em dashes were my own—they always will be.

Hey I wrote two Christmas short stories. In no way should they be taken seriously. But they are a lot of fun (if your humour is slightly janky like mine is) and here they are, for free: drive.google.com/drive/folder... 🦙 🎄

One of my favourite videos to make (but not to edit!) is my reading plan for the upcoming year. Come and check out what I've put on my plan for 2026 here: youtu.be/SvHv3pHvlNI What do you think will be a hit, and what's on your own plan for next year?

I try not to grumble and grouse on social media (because, honestly, who has the time for that!?) but can we all agree that not *everything* needs a “your year, wrapped”? Expecting an email from the council to tell me how many times I missed bin-day this year (July was a bad month, Steve!)

I have decided that people who can wrap Christmas presents neatly and cleanly are, in fact, practising witchcraft. I will keep my badly stuffed, over-taped messy-as-sin parcels. And I shall denounce you as the elves of Beelzebub. The Belveslebubs, if you will.

Word of the day, should you be feeling a little huffish, is ‘apanthropy’ (18th century): a love of solitude and the desire to be away from other people.

1. Yes this is real 2. Yes it’s a sequel (the first one got made last Christmas) 3. Yes I’ve scanned it in and made it into a 15-page ebook 4. Yes you can have it for free, DM me and I’ll send you a link 🦙 #BookSky #FreeBook

⚔️📘⚔️ If you like books, stuff that’s free and signatures, well then this might be for you: www.instagram.com/reel/DQr0ule... #BookSky

Going early with it, but this is my read of the year. Dark, visceral, brutal. I loved every minute with it.