From my stuffed folder of notes-towards-a-history-of-fantasy that didn't, in this form, make it into the final history-of-fantasy. profadamroberts.substack.com/p/samantha-s...

He's had his Ready Brek.

Stunning photo: James Bradford in 1961, arrested for reading in the Jackson, Mississippi public library.

TERMINATE THE FILI, KILI, BALIN, DWALIN, OIN, GLOIN, DORI, NORI, ORI, BIFUR, BOFUR, AND BOMBUR!

Good to see @unamccormack.bsky.social, the world's premier Cardassian expert, join the debate over at Critical Star Trek: latestartrek.substack.com/p/how-cardas...

"As Tiddles awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into an enormous insect." Kafka's "Catamorphosis"

Why is Ringo dressed as Neo from The Matrix?

Always worth checking over what you've written before you press send on your email. I nearly dispatched a message that included "when I'm in town and poop into the National Gallery ..."

Latest Washington Review of Books: open.substack.com/pub/thewashi...

Fully expect this to win. Great book.

Well, that's hail.

Adrian's "35,000 spider servants" T-shirt is generating a lot of questions already answered by the T-shirt.

I hear James Bond a-calling Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs Oh my... quite stylish.

*sings in Leonard Cohen* Now Google has a secret search That helps your internet recherche When you don't really care for A.I., do ya? cardcatalogforlife.substack.com/p/google-has...

Just read THE THIS by Adam Roberts. It’s a deep, twisting novel about social media & tech companies, isolation & individuality, human evolution, & also about a plump man who unwillingly goes to war. It’s thought-provoking, wildly inventive & often very funny. Superb stuff! @adamroberts.bsky.social

Death by Locomotive in 19th-Century Fiction profadamroberts.substack.com/p/death-by-l...

My span? Steel-eyed.

I ended up expanding this post into a whole book-length type-work. I ought to see about getting it published, I suppose. medium.com/adams-notebo...

Stravinsky And Nijinski Shared a little drinkski Said N: "that'll put a Spring in your step." Said S: "Rite you are."

William Empson (in "Structure of Complex Words") calling "Nineteen Eighty-four" 'dreadful'. But does he mean 'bad, meretricious', or does he mean it more literally, 'full of dread'?

Is the Pet Shop Boys song "West End Girls" about the West End of London? If so why does it refer to "a West End *town*, a dead end world"? Is the implication that, eg Mayfair is like a town inside the boundaries of the city? Or is the song actually about, say, Truro?

AMY WINEHOUSE: they tried to make me go to classic Japanese theatre and I said ... Nōh, Nōh, Nōh?

Sun setting

shelfie ("shelfy"?) shelfies.beehiiv.com/p/shelfies-4...

On Byron's ‘So We’ll Go No More A-Roving’ (1817) profadamroberts.substack.com/p/byrons-so-...

I mean ...

Same.

Show somebody who absolutely rocks a hat and isn't Indiana Jones.

Blondie's "Hanging on the Telephone" was on the radio earlier, and I thought to check the lyrics online. The line, which I had always assumed (since I was a teenager!) was "Hang up there unrelievéd" turn out to be "Hang up and run to me." This puts a completely different complexion on the song!

I knew about her guitar-playing, but tend to forget about her storming voice. Amazing stuff.

On Byron's ‘So We’ll Go No More A-Roving’ (1817) profadamroberts.substack.com/p/byrons-so-...

Show someone who absolutely rocks a hat (that isn't Indiana Jones).

The Picture of Dorian Meh

Tuesday was my inaugural lecture. Why it took so long (I was promoted to prof 15 years ago!) I don't know. But here I am, apparently pretending to be a teapot.

The late Monkees single "Me & Magdelena" is absolutely gorgeous, one of their best, but the lines "And I don't know if I've ever loved any other/Half as much as I do in this light she's under" sounds to me "... this light cheese under". www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffru...

Matthew Arnold's "Scholar Gipsy" (1852), with particular attention to its last two stanzas. profadamroberts.substack.com/p/arnolds-sc...

Muad Dib Dib Dib (Dob Dob Dob)

"My God ... it's full of stars"

New Culture ship name just dropped.

Kwisatz haderach revealed to be Argentine footballer.

Literally??

To Boldly Go Ing-Underground Start(rek) Down In A Jeffries Tube, Station At Midnight

Ganymede looks fun.

Beef Wellington: the mystery remains profadamroberts.substack.com/p/the-myster...

The Ayn-Rander's Guide to the Galaxy

But what if I don't want to paint Ike Turner?

Vauxhall bridge this morning.