Toy soldier on the move, with insectile friends…

This piece makes me wonder about the relationship between illustration and comics. How do they speak to one another? Are they different arts or branches of the same one? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Soldier on the windowsill, with wood louse!

THE CITY WE BECAME is the NYPL's first "Big Summer Book Club" pick! All summer long, UNLIMITED borrows of the ebook or audiobook for any NYPL cardholder! And for a finale, a NEW STORY in the Great Cities world will be performed at the Delacorte Theater in Aug! www.nypl.org/summer/2026/...

(not sure how much of that they kept in!) @profrmaslen.bsky.social is in it too, and so is @ellenkushner.bsky.social! IMDB link: www.imdb.com/title/tt3946... It is available on Amazon Prime in the UK, apparently, and I hear it’s available on Hoopla in the US. 2/2

Off to Edinburgh today, to give a talk about Tolkien, and was just alerted that a documentary I was filmed for ages ago has aired. Haven’t seen it yet, but I remember talking about Middle-earth, Narnia, the Harry Potter series, and fantasy’s roots in myth and legend. 1/2 @uofgfantasy.bsky.social

A new post in The City of Lost Books. What says April better than the ever-spouting inventions of William Heath Robinson? His epic picture book Uncle Lubin gets the treatment. thecityoflostbooks.glasgow.ac.uk/william-heat...

Toy soldier struggling through long grass while dawn breaks

Another April and another day with all the seasons in it, with lapwings falling out of sunlight into rain… —James Aitchison, “Landscape with Lapwings” in The Edinburgh Book of Twentieth-Century Scottish Poetry, @edinburghup.bsky.social 2005 #poem #poetry edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-edi...

My latest illustration!

Thrilled to have contributed to this lovely book, 'Brian Froud's Green Women', along with many distinguished writers, some of whom are friends. It'll be published 6th October this year, and fans of Brian Froud will love it - as will anyone who loves fantasy. More at Brian's website: bit.ly/4cOoxUT

A decent man (from the Tao Te Ching).

At The City of Lost Books today: a long-gestating post on R.F. Kuang's Babel. thecityoflostbooks.glasgow.ac.uk/r-f-kuang-ba...

My latest illustration for the Little Toy Soldier saga. The mood darkens!

A new post over at The City of Lost Books: Karel Čapek's War with the Newts (1936), an essay by my mother, Elizabeth Maslen, with help from my father, John Maslen. Will appeal to all who love the Slavic fantastic! thecityoflostbooks.glasgow.ac.uk/karel-capek-...

The BBC’s Small Prophets is a very beautiful show. Please give it some love if you can!

An excelllent post on the impact of place, viewed through the lens of fantasy literature:

The magnificent Romanesque nave of Dunfermline Abbey!

Seize your chance!

This one was intended for Christmas but took too long so it’s the first picture for 2026. Christmas tree darts!

If you’re in the UK & are so inclined, from Dec 25 to Jan 5 you can get the Kindle edition of THE RIVER HAS ROOTS for 99p as part of their 12 Days of Kindle event! This means in the UK you can also get that price matched at other etailers, like Kobo! Merry Christmas! www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/...

If you’re working on any area of fantasy and the fantastic, come and join us at Glasgow in June 2026 and do consider presenting or running a workshop! All the info you need and the full CFP is here: fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/20... @uofgfantasy.bsky.social @uofgartshums.bsky.social

✨GIFCon is back for 2026! ✨ We’re very excited to launch the Call for Papers for GIFCon 2026, with the theme “Technologies of the Fantastic” You can find out more here: fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/20...

Over at The City of Lost Books: Christmas illustrations for the most colourful of books in dazzling black and white. A despatch from the past, when I thought of being an artist. With compliments of the season! thecityoflostbooks.glasgow.ac.uk/jo-heaton-re...

in case you missed our announcement We're seeking short stories in Jan 2026 for our upcoming anthology, Modern Decadent, which embraces the fin de siècle literary & arts of the decadents, along with 19th century symbolism and aestheticism. We also welcome stories with a good dash of proto-Weird 🖤

Over at The City of Lost Books: Elizabeth Maslen, Poems on Death. They're much more cheerful than the title suggests! thecityoflostbooks.glasgow.ac.uk/elizabeth-ma...

And we are hiring! We have been incredibly lucky to get this funding and are very grateful for the opportunity to work on this. Please circulate to people who would be interested in applying. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPN147/p...

A reminder that we're hosting the first European Conference on the Fantastic, Fantasy's Present Pasts, in Glasgow next summer (23rd-25th June 2026). The Call for Papers and Sessions can be found here: fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/20.... Closes 12th December. Please do consider submitting!

The 1st instalment of my 1st serialized short story has landed in people's inboxes care of @scottishbooktrust.bsky.social! If you want to read "A Road Less Taken" over the course of this week, sign up! You'll get access to previous instalments too. www.scottishbooktrust.com/book-week-sc...

Ruth M. Arthur's books captivated me as a child - they were a blend of past and present, with a hint of the paranormal (Margery Gill was the illustrator). One favorite was The Saracen Lamp. tinyurl.com/bdf22dnd #Bookvember #booksky

Naomi Mitchison (née Haldane, 1897–1999) was born #OTD, 1 Nov, & saw almost every day of the #C20th. A hugely influential writer, with 80+ books – poetry, politics, #HistoricalFiction, #ScienceFiction, #Fantasy, #ChildrensFiction & more – to her credit, she deserves more attention A 🎂🧵 💙📚 1/10

Just in time for Halloween... Thank you NewCon Press for this wondrous bounty. For which we must pay ... in blood.

This time next week, the world(s) of Fantasy descend on Brighton for #WorldFantasycon2025! Your GSFWC pals'll be along to speak on injuries in genre, *not* kicking arse, getting smoochy, Monster on Monster action, and much, much more! (1/4) @worldfantasy2025.bsky.social @hws.bsky.social

In honour of my mother, Elizabeth Maslen, there's an essay of hers on Storm Jameson and Doris Lessing at the City of Lost Books. It seems right to be promoting it today, when the last volume of Pullman's The Book of Dust is being released... thecityoflostbooks.glasgow.ac.uk/elizabeth-ma...

It's here. BAD LANGUAGE 13/11/25 "made with love and horror, & a guidebook for our time" — @adamzmith.bsky.social "Mayer's words & a gift and a gateway" — @elizabethlovatt.bsky.social "incantation & spell distil a complex argument" — Lola Olufemi Pre-order: peninsulapress.co.uk/products/bad...

Great news for Le Guin fans in Glasgow!

# Long lead time scheduled post fail FTW. It's not summer anymore, but that just means it's perfect weather for some chilly chills.

In May this year I had a conversation with Graham Foster about Mervyn Peake's Titus Groan (1946), which he recorded for his brilliant podcast Ninety-Nine Novels. Here it is! www.anthonyburgess.org/podcasts/nin...

Just one highlight from the new Reaktion catalogue reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/the-mus...

📣 TODAY! Don’t miss Of Us & Others – a powerful new film by Maya Rose Edwards 🎬 Screening 12–5pm at Civic House (drop in anytime!). One day only – Sat 4 Oct! AGA’s first visual art commission supported by @creativescots.bsky.social & the Edwin Morgan Trust

Woolf’s fantastical side has a new expression. So excited to read these stories as a lover of Orlando!

I wrote a review! shinynewbooks.co.uk/folklore-a-j...

An anniversary blog post at The City of Lost Books: Ten Years of The City of Lost Books! Find out what I've learned and failed to learn in a decade of blogging! thecityoflostbooks.glasgow.ac.uk/ten-years-of...

Rachel Ayers highlights six of the many fine retellings of the fairy ballad Tam Lin. I was honoured to publish @pameladean.bsky.social's extraordinary Tam Lin in the Fairy Tale Series (Tor Books), and I'm delighted to see it listed as one of the greats. It truly is. reactormag.com/a-knight-to-...

Another illustration, another insect!

My latest effort in the illustration line. That’s a mayfly in the corner!

Interesting newsletter linking antifascist writing to The Name of the Rose. I hadn't thought of the ways TNotR is antifascist before. A great read!

There's a new blog post over at The City of Lost Books, on Amal El-Mohtar's wonderful novella The River Has Roots! @uofgfantasy.bsky.social @dimitrafimi.bsky.social @mjrsangster.bsky.social @tattersdill.bsky.social thecityoflostbooks.glasgow.ac.uk/amal-el-moht...

Follow Ramonkey's account! He has amazing stuff 🔥