The latest instalment of #ThePhobiaFiles - STATUES - is now live. Get into it at the link in my bio or below. www.davidbamford.me/2025/09/30/S...

Imagine the horniness of Anne Rice writing a version of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern… that’s the book I’m reading. Name that book!

#ReleaseTheEpsteinFiles #TrumpIsOnTheList #PredatorTrump #TrumpIsACriminal

Every day I think about how fire Jay-Z’s verse is on Beyoncé’s ‘Deja-vu’. That is some under-appreciated shit. Say what you want about him but the man is a machine.

Watched the season finale of FOUNDATION last night and, without giving anything away, to say I was open-mouthed in shock is not an understatement. Absolutely brutal.

Every few months Dark Owl Publishing does something bad and every few months I come here and remind people that shitty indie presses run by racists always do bad things.

Dunno what’s happening to the years lately. January seems to be 85 weeks long. You blink and it’s May. You sit down for 5 minutes and it’s mid-September. I mean what next? Christmas?! Oh wait-

I know for a FACT I read somewhere fairly recently that Robert Jackson Bennett was a supporter of AI and had trashed/called people idiots for not doing so. Now I can’t find it anywhere - can someone point me in a direction please?

bumblebutt

This thread is diabolical. Excellent work.

It felt like a cup of tea afternoon. Like the mug? You can get one (as well as other things) here: https://easterconglasgow.org/shop

Trans people have been around your whole life. You’ve been sharing bathrooms with them your whole life. They’ve been in your communities your whole life. They’ve even been playing sport your whole life. And you didn’t care *at all* till a few years ago when every right wing org decided you should

If anyone here is already thinking about #Shocktober - here’s my current list. Enjoy! 🍁🎃👻

My favourite ever interaction with a customer when I worked in a call centre was when a lady was complaining about something and she said ‘I’m gonna take this to the financial ombudsman and we’ll see what he has to say about it’. I think about her a lot. I hope she’s ok.

Sure sex is good but have you ever had an online grocery shop delivered with no substitutions?

Can't even build death star anymore, because of ewok

Went to see WEAPONS last night. Amy Madigan is an unhinged revelation. Julia Garner is sublime. Benedict Wong is perfect. Josh Brolin plays the grieving father role with a rare kind of conviction. The whole thing is a sort of insane delight. Not perfect, but close.

Platinumfrapp.

The horror community is no better. True facts: I have never read a single word of Shirley Jackson’s work. Am I still a horror fan? Absolutely. The ‘required reading/must-read authors’ crowd are, to a man, the most boring set of folk out there. Have a day off and let people enjoy things. End of rant.

Gatekeeping, by way of “Have you studied the canon” is patently stupid, and no matter what medium or genre, is just going to turn ppl off from the medium or the genre or you. “OMG, this is so cool! I can’t wait for you to experience it, if you want to,” is far, far more successful.

*pinches bridge of nose until it turns white* *points at Lintel, reading READ WHAT YOU LOVE. IF YOU READ AUDIOBOOKS, COMICS, FANFIC, ANYTHING, IT'S STILL READING. ALSO GATEKEEPERS ARE TERRIFIED OF YOU NOT LISTENING TO THEM. DON'T LISTEN TO THEM* *finishes his protein shake*

The reason my TBR is so out of control (365-ish) is because for ages I kept buying books purely because I felt like I *should* read them, or because someone else said I should - consequently there is stuff on there that I can say with certainty I will never read.

There should be no ‘required reading’ for people wanting to get into SFF/horror. Try not to support the JKRs and Gaimans of the world but other than that, it’s really very simple: read what you want. Ask for recommendations, sure. But feel no obligation to read anything you don’t want to. 1/3

Bah. Demanding people read half-century-old work as a purity test for genre membership is a fine way to kill the genre dead. I wrote about such nonsense here; whatever.scalzi.com/2020/08/07/o...

creepily reminiscent also, if you're an old enough gay from the UK, of the unequal age of consent, whereby I remember being deemed incapable of consent until the age of 21, and it was absolutely just down to the same bullshit about predatory adult gays "recruiting" young men that gave us Section 28

Okay, long shot - is there anyone on here who works in UK VAT and is prepared to answer me one question about the Flat Rate Scheme application process? It's a very simple question, but VAT helpline, the email they gave me, and the webinar I've just attended have all been equally unable to answer it.

Had a really lovely weekend, did some writing, went to the V&A in Dundee, slept well… So of course today my mental health is randomly in the toilet. Pics of kittens, puppies, landscapes and rugby props appreciated because I am drowning a bit tbh 🙃

Blur > Oasis Forever Stay mad about it Byeee

‘I’ll never fall in line’, said Sum 41, penning a radio-playable pop-punk single. ‘…become another victim of your conformity’, they continued, ensuring their commercial success for the next 20 years.

#DarkestMargins features 24 essays on liminality and liminal spaces in the horror genre COMING SOON!

Got my first rejection from a publisher today. Taking (and agreeing with) the feedback given, and applying it to future projects. Next!

The Phobia Files - SPIDERS is live! Alive, and skittering across your eyeballs… davidbamford.me/2025/07/31/S...

The Wicker Basket Man #MildHorror

The Blair Witch Crochet Project #MildHorror

I'm Politely Interested in What you Did Last Summer #MildHorror

Apparently it’s JK R*wling’s birthday today, so here are some alternatives to read: 1/? THE BOOKS OF EARTHSEA by Ursula LeGuin UN LUN DUN by China Miéville ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY by @charliejane.bsky.social SHIP BREAKER by Paolo Bacigalupi A MARKET OF DREAMS AND DESTINY by @trip.bsky.social

26) Now more than ever we need queer horror, trans horror, horror that speaks to the pain of the moment. It is cold comfort to write odes to the victims of concentration camps to forget how little we did while they died.

I miss Code Orange. And I hate that Reba Meyers has chosen to join M*rilyn M*nson’s live band - given his treatment of women it doesn’t give good optics. Aaaaanyway - doesn’t look like Code Orange are coming off hiatus anytime soon, but they were pretty great.

*MINOR SANDMAN SPOILERS* Finished S2 of THE SANDMAN last night (I know, I know, sorry) and while I won’t say they fucked up the ending, they could have done something incredible with the whole Wake sequence and they just… didn’t.

Look, I know it’s popular to hate U2, and I’m no great fan of them myself, but you’ve got to admit that With Or Without You, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and Where The Streets Have No Name are near-perfect songs.

I love this

Been sat on this for almost a year but can finally reveal that my essay ‘The Room You Must Not Enter’, making the case against queerness as a force for evil in DAHMER and AHS: HOTEL, will feature in DARKEST MARGINS, the debut release from 1428 Publishing, curated/edited by @bavalamp.bsky.social ! 🥳

“banning pornography” is bad on its own but it is imperative that everyone understand that these people consider the very existence of queer people to be pornographic they consider the most chaste depiction of a queer relationship, or an openly trans person, to be porn and they want it banned

Woken up to the realisation that no, what happened last night was not some horrible dream, and yes, I have roughly outlined an entire book of critical essays about horror movies. Welp.

@octothorpecast.bsky.social Would the potential Best Translated Work Hugo give impetus to Other Countries (eg - Poland, The Netherlands, Spain etc) to want to run a Worldcon? Because at present it feels very much like USA/Canada OR Ireland/Scandinavian countries and basically no one else.

If you didn't know this was about genetically engineered dinos, it could easily be a rant about AI.

TRIGGER WARNING FOR ATTACHED PHOTO - SPIDER Ready for more from #ThePhobiaFiles? Something is coming… 31.07 What are you afraid of?

The meltdown jerks are having over James Gunn’s Superman reflects a culture where even the idea that the powerful should protect rather than dominate is offensive to their fragile world view.

Having an Insta-break. Feel like I’m doom scrolling too much on there. What’s been occurring over here?

Right-wing columnist Charles Gasparino complains that Zohran Mamdani wants to hand out "free bees"