Y'all really need Ben Bracken in your life, and considering the price it would be rude not to stock up! #BookSky 📚💙

I don't get a book signed till I've read it <and know I want to keep it> (sorry, authors). #BookSky 📚💙

Frightening but essential if you have any interest in the US right now. (And if you don't, you should.)

Catherine: A Retelling of Wuthering Heights by Essie Fox @EssieFox @OrendaBooks @RandomTTours Source: Review copyPublication day :12 February 2026 from Orenda BooksPP: 296ISBN-13:978-1917764421 My thanks to Orenda Books for an advance copy for review With a nature as wild as the moors she loves to…

New interview! Emma Christie (pub'd @mountainleopard.bsky.social @headlinebooks.bsky.social) answers my questions about her journey to publication, her fave crime fiction characters and more! "I know now that the bad times always pass, and the plot holes always get filled" #BookSky

In this particularly January-esque February, it's nice to have a modest spring on the living room windowsill #BloomScrolling 🌸

Meanwhile, in the UK, councils are slashing arts budgets - in some cases to zero - and central govts don't give a **** about the wellbeing factor, the jobs and £ the arts creates, and the biggest source of soft power the UK has. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

Pipers, eh... I feel the Scottish press could use an interview with this guy! @danigaravelli.bsky.social @peteralanross.bsky.social this is surely someone you'd like to chat with 😁

To sanitise the Stonewall National Monument basically means they are going to bulldoze it, doesn't it. JFC these people...

One of the best Scottish writers from the end of the last century, Iain Banks's still-subversive debut novel, THE WASP FACTORY is currently 99p for Kindle readers and I urge you to go discover his works... he was an incredible influence on young me (& passed far too young): amzn.eu/d/028koOqT

PEOPLE OF EDINBURGH! I'm doing a lovely event TOMORROW EVENING at Muirhouse Library as part of @edbookfest.bsky.social's Paper Trails mini-festival. Please come and hear me blether with Nyla Ahmad, it's FREE BUT TICKETED, go here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/edi... @orendabooks.bsky.social

Oh, f*** off, f*** off some more, and get in the f***ing sea. Does he have pals who own office blocks? Likely. Does he give a f*** about people who work for companies who have offices? No.

No, being white isn't enough to protect you from ICE. It's not long til St Patrick's Day, which the US loves to get ridiculous about. Be a good day to protest if this guy is still in detention, no? And let's see what the Irish govt is doing, too ... FFS, America

😱😂 #BookSky 📚💙

Liar Thief by May Rinaldi @mayrinaldi56 @BlackSpringC @randomttours Source: Review copyPublication: 2 December 2025 from Black Spring CrimePP: 420ISBN-13: 978-1917788205 Two childhood friends: one ‘killer ’, one cop. Ginnie says she is a serial killer who kills people who have wronged her. No one…

A whole heap of reviews from Raven if you're in need of assistance in choosing a new read! #BookSky 📚💙

This includes a reporter in Ukraine covering the war. It's really time to find an alternative to Amazon for, well, everything...

@scotlandchris1.bsky.social @portybelle.bsky.social not bad today! A cheeky accuracy board spot, too. I played squaredle.com 02/08: 68/68 words (+11 bonus words) 🎯 In the top 7% by accuracy 🔥 Solve streak: 56

Mm, that's one where the paper really should have pulled and pulped the magazine and apologised to readers for no mag this week. The rest of the content and ads could go in next week, or add pages to the main book and shoehorn them in there. The cover line is just priceless in the circumstances...

@scotlandchris1.bsky.social @portybelle.bsky.social no boards but pleasingly speedy and accurate! And a cheeky perfect accuracy on the express too 😁 I played squaredle.com 02/07: 46/46 words (+8 bonus words) 🎯 In the top 9% by accuracy 🔥 Solve streak: 55

This would be absolutely brilliant...

I’ve a new giveaway over on my #bookstagram where you could win a proof copy of #thehollowboys by @tariqashkanani.bsky.social – published by @viperbooks.bsky.social in May. Full terms here: www.instagram.com/p/DUTAi_9jCm... Ends Tuesday 10th February at Noon. UK only.

Just close the bloody paper and be done, Jeff, you gigantic c***

Raven reviews-Paul E. Hardisty-The Hope "I loved this trilogy, not only for its poignancy, urgency and prescient observations, but also for its energy and sense of danger that kept me completely engaged." #PaulHardisty @orendabooks.bsky.social ravencrimereads.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/b...

I have heard so many writers, including absolutely giant names, talk about #5, I think it's just part of the process... Readers have the end of the thread spooling out as writers wander the labyrinth. We've got you. We know you can do it. We don't mind how long it takes 💕 #BookSky 📚💙

The Cut Up (Rilke #3) by Louse Welsh  @louisewelsh00 @CanongateBooks @NormanTweets @RandomTTours Source: Review copyPublication: 29 January 2026 from Canongate BooksPP: 320ISBN-13:978-1838859862 It's hard to be good when living is expensive. And times are tough on the streets these days. Luckily…

A smashing evening at @portybooks.bsky.social celebrating The Cut Up by @louisewelsh00.bsky.social (@canongate.co.uk @fionabrownlee.bsky.social) with Mary Paulson-Ellis - highly recommended! (Review: crimebookgirl.com/2026/01/30/r...) #BookSky 📚💙

I completely agree with Liz! This is an excellent novel that you should absolutely be preordering 😁

Great interview with @damedenisemina.bsky.social about @bloodyscotland.bsky.social - I can't get enough of this fab festival nor this wonderful writer 🖤 #BookSky 📚💙

The US is just starting to experience what the UK has been experiencing for more than a decade. Quality journalism costs money. If you don't pay, well, there's a saying about peanuts ...

Gods love you, Minnesota 💕

Heading to Greenock for the Beacon Arts Festival on Sunday February 22nd. I'll be chatting about The Cracked Mirror and looking ahead to Quite Ugly One Evening. www.beaconartscentre.co.uk/spektrix-roo...

"For this open call out, Embla will be trialling the use of Storywise – an AI platfrom connecting writers to publishers – to support in the administration side of handling open submissions. All submissions will then be reviewed by Embla’s editorial team."

Nice wander down memory lane, tho there's one Scottish indie band I have only relatively recently heard... 😁

Please gods, this! I seriously hate not knowing where and when I am, those things anchor a reader while they get to grips with unfamiliar people and actions. It's not cheating to put eg "1974 Edinburgh" somewhere in the blurb!

@scotlandchris1.bsky.social @portybelle.bsky.social ticked off the weekly - a couple of dubious words in here! I played squaredle.com/p/weekly 02/02 (Special Weekly Puzzle): 82/82 words (+15 bonus words) 🎯 In the top 17% by accuracy

Here's the lowdown on our next film night! 🎬 We'll be talking all things 'Double Indemnity' with Natalie Marlow at @hulllibraries.bsky.social (Central), 11th April, before we screen the classic noir film. Tickets £5 via the link👇 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hull-noir-...

Recent reads #3 - The Night Watcher by @tariqashkanani.bsky.social Set in Edinburgh (inc lots of places I've lived!); Callie is a great character (love the intro to both sides of her), &overall a pacy, entertaining read from the @bloodyscotland.bsky.social debut and McIlvanney winner. #BookSky 📚💙

Recent reads #2 - To The Shades Descend by @allangaw.bsky.social the third in this series from the @bloodyscotland.bsky.social debut winner and it's another gem. Cuthbert in Glasgow deals with a bombing of a political rally &much more. AG is a wonderful user of nuance in people & plot. #BookSky 📚💙

Recent reads #1 A Haunting In The Arctic by CJ Cooke - it's not a crime novel but lots of crimes are committed; it's a tense, terrifying exploration of what trauma could potentially do to someone. And the details of the whalers and their work, and the mythology explored, is fascinating. #BookSky 📚💙

Things you never noticed in a novel, you just admired the style... #BookSky 📚💙

@scotlandchris1.bsky.social @portybelle.bsky.social squeaked into the accuracy board! And nice to have a fast, easy one for a Monday at last I played squaredle.com 02/02: 25/25 words (+2 bonus words) 🔥 Solve streak: 50

The Edge of Darkness by Vaseem Khan @VaseemKhanUK @HodderBooks Source: Review copyPublication: 22 January 2026 from Hodder and StoughtonPP: 336ISBN-13: 978-1399747851 My thanks to Hodder Books for an advance copy for review India, 1951. After wilfully ignoring orders, Persis Wadia, India's first…

A great book, do grab this deal if you haven't read it!

😂😍

It's St Brigid's Day so... a thread of fabliss Scots/Irish historical women. First up, Margaret Skinnider from Helensburgh, who supported the Republic by becoming a sniper under the command of Countess Marckiewicz. She smuggled detonators in her hat, Some quine. /1

@scotlandchris1.bsky.social @portybelle.bsky.social Fun! Plus accuracy and speed boards!! Best I've done in aaaages 😁 I played squaredle.com 01/31: 41/41 words (+2 bonus words) 🔥 Solve streak: 48

I have just added a few more names to our fabulous book blogger starter pack so do scan the QR code and take a 👀 Make sure to follow for all your literary needs Also via 🔗 go.bsky.app/MQN615J #booksky

Are you full of passion for crime fiction, with a deep knowledge of the genre? Are you a prolific reader? If so, you'll be excited to hear that we’re on the lookout for crime fiction enthusiasts to join our 2026/2027 Daggers’ Judging Panel. Contact [email protected] for details.

There's a new Rilke novel from Louise Welsh, and I have some thoughts about it over on the blog... (tl;dr - read it!) #BookSky 📚💙