Read: Last One Out A Novel by Jane Harper 📚Her usual territory: resident returns to Australian small town and insular relationships (often between 3 male friends) which led to a tragedy a few years before. Realistic characters, well observed interactions, but nothing new. #booksky #reading#books#books

Read: Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe 📚Fantastically researched especially the bits the TV series smoothed over. You do wonder exactly why Adams hasn’t sued over the allegations it makes about him. #books #booksky #readingcommunity

Read: Pearl by Siân Hughes 📚Hughes is an award winning poet, and it shows, in a good way as her narator writes intensely and immersively about her mother’s death. As someone who felt no cause to grieve my own mother’s death, it was… informative. #books #booksky #readingcommunity

Read: Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell 📚Big, detailed, accurate and gruesome. Also a cracking story (though not exactly genre-expanding). Great for immersion… #booksky#books#books #readingcommunity

Read: Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow 📚Freshman outrage at the shock of big companies being unscrupulous about how they make money. Nothing you can’t hear him perform any day of the week for free. #books #booksky #readingcommunity

Read: Agents of Innocence by David Ignatius 📚Drips realism and apparently the CIA uses it as an exemplar of Middle Eastern espionage. The detail draws you in and the conflicts between ethnicities and sects is tragically still relevant. #booksky#books#books #readingcommunity

The squid reached up and pulled the lever. The conveyor carried him out over the sea. They'd planned it all along. I hope "Squid Jigger" stays with you. 🦑 bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

The best horror makes you feel complicit. I wanted "Squid Jigger" to do that — by the final page, you understand why this happened. And you can't entirely disagree. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

People complained that the printing press meant people wouldn't put in the effort to learn things off by heart.: https://matthewhurst.micro.blog/2026/05/05/people-complained-that-the-printing.html

Humboldt squid are pack hunters. They do coordinate. I just asked: what if they adapted to the ships harvesting them? My story "Squid Jigger" is the answer. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

He was winched down onto a ghost ship in the dark, armed with a gun and his nerve. He didn't have enough of either. My story "Squid Jigger" — free and worth your time. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

Read: Golden Hill by Francis Spufford 📚Dark smart pastiche of Fielding, Sterne, etc, in late 18th century New York, but there’s more to it than just quality fanfiction. The characters are ludicrously alive and you can smell the horse shit and ambition. #booksky#books#books #readingcommunity

The thing about great monster horror: the monster reflects something true. I hope what the squid represent in "Squid Jigger" sits uncomfortably with you. The ending earns it. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

Industrial fishing. A missing crew. A fixer who thinks he's seen everything. I hid a horror story inside a real-world injustice. "Squid Jigger" — free to read. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

What I wanted Liu to fear most wasn't the dark water. It was looking into those wide, blinking eyes and realizing something behind them understood exactly what it was doing. "Squid Jigger." bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

The helicopter is coming. He just has to hold on. I'm proud of the tension in the last act of "Squid Jigger," and the ending is the only one it could have had. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

If you love horror rooted in real-world dread — isolated locations, unstoppable forces, nature as existential threat — I think "Squid Jigger" is your next read. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

The squid parted to let him through. Like an honour guard. That's the moment in "Squid Jigger" where I wanted you to realize this isn't a rampage — it's an execution. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

Humboldt squid are real apex predators and real pack hunters. I took that fact and asked: what if they adapted? The answer is my story "Squid Jigger." bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

Our deepest fear isn't death. It's being rendered insignificant — becoming prey in something else's food chain. I went there in "Squid Jigger." Free fiction. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

The squid didn't just attack. They planned. They maneuvered. They used the ship's own machinery against him. I wanted the horror in "Squid Jigger" to be terrifyingly logical. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

They sorted him. Like catch. The crew, dismembered and packed into blue trays, ready for the freezer. I didn't flinch writing it. I hope you don't flinch reading it. "Squid Jigger." bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

The deep ocean is the last place on Earth we truly don't understand. "Squid Jigger" is my horror story about what might have been evolving down there. 🌊 bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

Read: The Unwanted Dead by Chris Lloyd 📚 Juicy atmospheric procedural set in Paris just after the Germans marched in during June 1940. Not spies, but feels like Furst, Gerlis, Robert Harris. #booksky#books#books #readingcommunity

Baseball. Invented by BF Skinner: https://matthewhurst.micro.blog/2026/04/23/baseball-invented-by-bf-skinner.html I’ve stumbled into being a sportsfan for the first time in my life, as a 57 year old Brit. Mostly, I’m in it for the incomprehensible commentary.

My short story "Squid Jigger" is a ghost ship story, a creature feature, and a meditation on what happens when nature fights back. Free to read right now. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

Being alone on a dead ship at night, knowing something is down in the hold — I wanted to deliver that dread without ever needing the supernatural. "Squid Jigger." bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

We've always assumed we're the apex predator. My story "Squid Jigger" is a short, sharp reminder that the ocean has never agreed. Free fiction that'll stay with you. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

What's scarier than a monster? A monster that hunts in coordinated packs, corners you like prey, and patiently waits. That's what I put in "Squid Jigger." Free read. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

It's not the jump scare. It's the slow realization. The bodies. The blue trays. The eyes in the floodlit water. I hope my horror gets under your skin. "Squid Jigger." bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

I wanted to tap into something primal: the fear that something in the dark is not just dangerous, but organized. And it knows where you are. That's "Squid Jigger." 🦑 bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

Read: The Pariah by Dan Fesperman 📚Happily facetious palate freshener involving the a murderous Eastern European dictator, metoo’d American comedian, chimney cakes (whatever they are), delicate egos and many violent deaths. #booksky#books#books

The moment Liu realizes the crew wasn't murdered in a panic — it was done with precision — is the reveal I'm most proud of in "Squid Jigger." Hope it gets under your skin. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

Humanity has been harvesting the ocean for centuries. In "Squid Jigger," the ocean starts harvesting back — methodically, ruthlessly, and with chilling intelligence. My story, free to read. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

Read: All the Sinners Bleed A Novel by S. A. Cosby 📚Nails the atmosphere of Deep(ish) South small town revenge, tangled up in barely hidden racism, fully developed characters. Solid genre procedural but stands in its own right too. #booksky#books#books

We fear the dark. We fear the deep. We fear things smart enough to plan. I tried to check every one of those boxes in my short story "Squid Jigger." bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

An isolated man. A silent ship. A dismembered crew. And a creature that understands exactly what a gun is. That's what I built in "Squid Jigger." bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

The scariest monsters aren't supernatural. They're real, ancient, and they've been watching us for millennia. My story "Squid Jigger" will make you rethink the ocean. 🌊 bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

A ghost ship. A hardened fixer. Hundreds of intelligent, vengeful squid. My story "Squid Jigger" is tense, smart, and genuinely horrifying. Read it before you sleep. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

What if the thing you've been hunting finally decided to hunt you back? That's the question at the heart of my story "Squid Jigger." Read it free. bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

The lights were on. Nobody was home. And something in the deep had made sure of it. My story "Squid Jigger" is the ocean horror you didn't know you needed. 🦑 bit.ly/squidjigger #booksky #horror

The tape is missing. The musician is dead. The journalist has one last thing to play you. Brace yourself. 'Past Master' by Matthew Hurst — free now at Macabre Magazine. 🎙️👻 macabremagazine.com/posts/past-master #HorrorLit #NowPlaying

The story poses a question that'll stay with you: If you were trusted with something sacred — something that had survived centuries in secret — would your ego let you keep quiet about it? Gerry Solby's answer got him killed. macabremagazine.com/posts/past-master #HorrorLit #BookSky 💙📚

If you love: British rock eccentrics — Gothic Norfolk landscapes — Found footage/transcript horror — Music as a vessel for the supernatural — Endings that stick. Read 'Past Master' by Matthew Hurst. Free at Macabre Magazine. macabremagazine.com/posts/past-master #HorrorLit #BookSky 💙📚

'What would be the point in trying to impress a fanboy?' Or for that matter, a centuries-dead monk with a grudge. 'Past Master' is about hearing music nobody's heard for centuries, and will never hear again. macabremagazine.com/posts/past-master #HorrorLit #WritingCommunity

'The LED lights were from the Middle of Lidl.' But even Lidl don't sell vengeful Gregorian chanting monks. A horror story about really, really going back to the original masters. 🎸👻 macabremagazine.com/posts/past-master #HorrorLit #IndieMusic

The setting: a North Norfolk coastal marsh at dusk. The vibe: Fawlty Towers meets The Wicker Man. The twist: earned, devastating, and completely inevitable in hindsight. 'Past Master' is brilliant. Free at Macabre Magazine. macabremagazine.com/posts/past-master #HorrorLit #BookSky 💙📚

'Tumble driers were sexy new technology. But I was still shocked to get the interview, to be honest.' This story has actual jokes. And a decomposing monk. And the saddest ending in horror this year. Multitasking. 👌 macabremagazine.com/posts/past-master #HorrorLit #WritingCommunity

'Past Master' — Matthew Hurst, Macabre Magazine. Told as a podcast transcript. A music journalist inherits the last secret of a dead rock legend. It goes about as well as you'd expect. 5 minutes. Free. Genuinely unsettling. macabremagazine.com/posts/past-master #ShortHorror #WritingCommunity

'I will always be the only living person to have heard sixteenth-century music.' The ending of 'Past Master' is like a cold hand on a warm night. Go read it. macabremagazine.com/posts/past-master #HorrorLit #BookSky 💙📚