Farming edition: muck, farry, swill.

I have just received a rejection for a manuscript that was published by someone else five years ago. So … maybe seven years after submission? Can anyone else beat that?

Makina Books (not currently on here I think) have a 50%-off sale at the moment. Works by Jen Calleja, Rebecca Tamas, and many others: makinabooks.com/shop/

Meanwhile, a politician actually doing something to help people:

@waterstones.bsky.social have a 25% sale for pre-ordering new titles this month. I ordered Neil Griffiths' forthcoming memoir from @weatherglassbooks.bsky.social and the new novella from David Flusfeder with @saltpublishing.com: www.waterstones.com/book/the-wro...

Out today!!! Congrats @stuhennigan.bsky.social and @ortacpress.bsky.social 🙌🏼 This book resides on the dark side of town - a razor sharp tale of what it means to be part of the human struggle. It’s superb - well worth £12.99 of anyone’s cash. #getkeshed

Congratulations @stuhennigan.bsky.social!

Awesome! One of my favourite albums: m.youtube.com/watch?v=QFx5...

Happy Publication Day to @stuhennigan.bsky.social This extraordinary work of brutal beauty is blazing into the world today & I wholeheartedly recommend that everyone #GetKeshed

Great to see some love for my publisher @ortacpress.bsky.social here!

£500 given out to a working class writer every month. Details in link. Please share :)

You might consider throwing them a couple of quid to keep them going:

Get ready to get Keshed! We publish @stuhennigan.bsky.social’s ‘Molotov cocktail’ of a debut novel in one month. Keshed really is something special, and a reading experience you will not forget. Order from your local bookshop, or from ortacpress.com/shop. @turnarounduk.bsky.social

I chair the acquisitions meeting of @reaktionbooks.bsky.social, an independent publisher. We're open to unsolicited book proposals: history, art, music, film, food, animal studies and any great indefinable non-fiction book ideas you might have. Check out the list and get in touch.

Amazing film! Well worth watching:

A thread of genius:

The last two time I went to the cinema, there was no one else in there, and the adverts and trailers had started playing to an empty auditorium before I entered. One of these occasions was for The Shining, which seemed appropriate.

I clicked with some trepidation, expecting the usual bromides. But this excellent piece by none other than Elizabeth McCracken is full of wisdom and practical thoughts. @elizmccrack.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

Apropos of nothing, I fucking loathe practical jokes. All of them, no exceptions. Passive-aggressive (or just straight-up aggressive) exercises in public humiliation.

I live in public housing and a small thing that utterly baffles me is people constantly dropping litter in the shared stairwell.

A quick review of The Trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover by Sybille Bedford, including this eloquent line from the prosecution: Mr Griffith-Jones (furiously): Cunt! Cunt! Cunt! Cunt! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

'Ninety percent of writers are failed writers.' I'm enjoying #TheLowdown, which has something of the vibe of the late, lamented Terriers.

Merry Christmas from HMRC: a tax bill sent to me at 4am this morning.

Listen to Fiction and the Fantastic with Marina Warner here. Fifteen-minute preview episodes are free, and you can use the 7-day free trial to see if you’d to subscribe in full. 🎧 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

It’s very good!

I’ve never written every day and I never will. Admittedly my slow publication rate reflects this, but I can live with that.

Obviously The Sting is great, but I like The Great Waldo Pepper by the same director better. I discuss it in detail here: jonathanwalkersblog.blogspot.com/search/label...

I’ve really been enjoying the Glasgow Bell, a complete antidote to the advert blighted subliterate slop which so often passes for local news. It’s well worth the subscription. 🗞️ www.glasgowbell.co.uk

Anyone, anyone? Bueller?

I didn’t read too many new releases this year, but I thought Greyhound by @joannapocock.bsky.social was excellent: like all the best memoirs, it doubles as an insightful and very timely piece of social history.

The flat is full of the cat-piss smell of drying trainers. Very Christmas-y.

Obviously aspects of this are dated, but it was a groundbreaking show, and one of my favourites as a teen. I used to stay up late by myself to watch it on Channel 4, and it was also the first time I was aware of a production company - MTM - because they also did the similar St Elsewhere.

About half of proofreading is taking out or putting in hyphens.

I like the Discover tab, ackchewally.

@lrb.co.uk Hey, why has the Fiction and the Fantastic episode that was up this morning now disappeared?

At uni in the 1990s, my girlfriend and I (both history students) used to quote this a lot. The exam papers were a particular favourite: sketch the bosom of the pope, etc. I once sent her a Valentine's card inscribed: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Discuss. Be brutal.

ERRATUM FICTIONS opens for subs this January www.erratumpress.com/about

Evri parcel has been ‘out for delivery’ since last Thursday.

Yes! I absolutely believe this!

Martin Parr has died & this grimmest gloomiest greyest, Sundayest of Sundays is the perfect day to watch Signs of the Times. All four extraordinary episodes are full of pathos, beauty & humour, life & love stories told through relationships with interiors & objects www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Great piece by Dani. Without immigration, Scotland would be in an event worse economic position due to the death rate being higher than the birth rate - without young people working, who will pay the tax that pays the pensions, fund public services etc?

If you see this, quote with your model of positive masculinity:

We're currently engaged in the most brutal local dispute I've witnessed. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

If you're looking for books this Friday, may I recommend one of my favourite small bookshops? Portal in York! They specialise in queer literature of all varieties and there are so many great reads available for delivery! the-portal-bookshop.square.site/about

Indies are reputed to take publishing risks, and do, even though financially they're in the worst possible financial position to do it. @ortacpress.bsky.social are one of the most eclectic and interesting presses around and i've said that since they started. Delighted to be working with him 🙏💪🖤

Film is great. The novel is even better:

UNBOUND AUTHORS: Leftover copies of your books in the UK (MacMillan) warehouse will be pulped within the next week or two. DM me for a link to the warehouse stock list and contacts. If you have no dosh, another publisher (Wilton Sq) is willing to buy the books & distribute on a 50/50 profit split

Looking forward to taking part in the BBC Radio 4 book club discussion of Leonard and Hungry Paul on 17th December in Glasgow. If anyone would like to attend the recording, the details are in the link below. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/a...

I am just going to keep reposting this every month or so:

Sale from my publisher, including my novel with photographs Push Process and many other great titles!