Fifteenth wedding anniversary with @asianastroboy.bsky.social tomorrow and I'm remembering my Haldi in Mauritius. Turmeric is wonderful on brown skin, giving a gorgeous glow. It er... isn't quite the same on whiter-than-whities like me! Thanks to @rhi.bsky.social for de-simpsonifying me after!

Hannah Spencer walking into Westminster, sucking her teeth, tutting, and muttering "tell you what, you've had some cowboys in here."

I’m not one for analyzing the style choices of women in politics, but when a politician is trying so hard to appeal to flaggers, it’s hard not to notice they wouldn’t look at all out of place around the conference table on the Death Star. #DressForTheJobYouWant

Hi, my name's Jack. Here is the text of Terry Pratchett interviewing Bill Gates in 1995. Thanks to @rhi.bsky.social for summoning help, and to @20thcenturymarc.marcburrows.co.uk for the source, I have manually transcribed its 3,481 words into a Google doc. Enjoy. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Researching flattery as a manipulation tool for a vile character and realising the people we should truly fear are those whispering flattery to world leaders with fragile egos. The path to power and riches just requires no moral compass and the stomach for insincerity debretts.com/the-flattery...

Gah! On top of everything else, Brexit has stolen dresses with massive pockets from us. Always in our hearts, Joanie! www.business-live.co.uk/retail-consu... Please share your ethical, quirky alternatives with responsible fabrics and pockets! I'll start with Sugarhill Brighton: tinyurl.com/5bkzcxve

Children have INSET day, so half-term has started early for them. For any parents and carers in the same boat, here’s my regular reminder of this thread videos of easy-to-make TOYS which all work on some sort of science / engineering principle

Pretty sure this Public Information Film is the reason my generation is wary of clowns. On Saturday, I had to explain to two younger friends that we were made to sit in school watching videos of children suffering all sorts of horrific accidents to scare us careful! player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/wa...

This year marks the 20th Edition of Thought Bubble: The Yorkshire Comic Art Festival! With a week long festival from 9-15 November 2026, taking place across Yorkshire. And our GIANT Comic Convention will be on 14 & 15 November 2025 at Harrogate Convention Centre.

Wonderful news! We paid for this vaccine and after seeing some of wee one’s friends suffer nasty complications from Chickenpox, we were glad we went for it! There’s no reason for kids to suffer the virus, and run the risk of shingles later, when a vaccine exists! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Raiders of the Lost Ark has always said ‘Christmas’ to me as my Granddad put it on every year. ITV obviously agree! What are your non-Christmassy Christmas movies?

@asianastroboy.bsky.social is in Norway for a few days. Autocorrect changed my ‘gute nacht’ text to ‘gluten bitch’ which is henceforth my default way to say goodnight.

This week I'm visiting three Teesside schools with National Literacy Trust to talk about writing with a Halloween twist. Popped this in for teachers as old as me and just learnt that carving turnips wasn't just a poor 80s kid thing, it's an old Celt tradition to ward off evil spirits at Samhain!

I’m running a short survey on how players experience horror games 👻 — what makes them tense, memorable, and terrifying 👀 I’d really appreciate your input fellow horror fans🩸(Pls share!) 👉 bit.ly/horror-survey #IndieDev #GameDev #Horror #HorrorGames #PlayerFeedback #IndieGame #IndieGameDeveloper

Some summer born children are ready for school, but delaying our August born daughter’s reception start was the best thing we ever did.It took lots of research to get it approved, but all her teachers believe we did the right thing. Happy to chat to anyone considering it!https://tinyurl.com/ysv69msj

Whaaaat? I checked the WeTransfer terms for myself and this really is in there.

Launch day for Rani Reports on the Tropical Island Treasure by @asianastroboy.bsky.social and me! Endless thanks to our brilliant illustrator Navya Raju, editor Katie Jennings at @rocktheboatnews.bsky.social and agent @hslanews.bsky.social It is a very special book, dedicated to a very special woman

Classic tweet from a more innocent time

Finally getting around to Yellowface by @rfkuang.bsky.social on audiobook. It is gooood. Enjoying the discomfort of being in the head of a petulant, self absorbed protagonist, who feels personally attacked by diversity. A particularly engaging read if you're an author or publisher! bit.ly/4k5fcb3

Awesome 80’s themed co-op game now half price! And no, I am not at all biased!

The great north author tour is underway! Come meet us across the north east and Yorkshire! Times in pic and alt text! Lisette Auton Jack Jackman Siobhan McDermott James Harris Annaliese Avery Gabrielle Kent /Shewhorak Marie Basting Mike Edwards Alex Foulkes Jason Rohan Bethany Walker Tom Vaughan

I can hugely recommend drawing with Rob for all ages!

This sounds like a bit but I’m being serious: kids using chat gpt for their homework are denying themselves the invaluable experience of learning how to bullshit their way through a problem. You drink some caffeine the night before and figure it the fuck out. That’s a skill. You need it in life.

So this sits above my writing desk – one of my favourite Paul Kidby pieces from Tiffany Aching's Guide to being a Witch, gifted by @terryandrob.bsky.social. After a year and a half of looking at it, I've only just realised that it's not a giclee, it's the bloody original art!

I love Norwegians and how massively popular Discworld is in Norway, but this, by @nerdforge.bsky.social ... this is another level! www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAdn...

A procrastination of authors is touring Northern bookshops on Saturday 21st June, times below! Shops may have advance copies of Rani Reports on the Tropical Island Treasure, and I'm MORE than happy to sign copies of Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being a Witch and generally geek out over Discworld!

Yup⤵️ Many earn far less and celebs skew stats. From what I'm hearing at the moment for middle grade, many folks are typically getting 3-6k advance, which is split into three payments which can span years, and from which agents are paid 15%. This is why there are so few full-time authors.

ADHD medication day one…. I am staying on task and finishing one thought before having another!

I have a joke about Chronos, but I have to get the timing right

Today I'm delivering newswriting workshops for Stephenson Way Primary School in Newton Aycliffe Library. I was delighted to discover that the incredible Knife Angel is in town, right outside the library!

This is true. Those authors who get huge advances HAVE to sell well for the publisher to justify it and recoup costs, so massive amounts of marketing spend and effort go to those books. Books with less publisher confidence/subsequent spend obviously won’t do as well. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy.

Excited to show off Navya Raju's cover of #3 in our junior journalist series, Rani Reports on the Tropical Island Treasure. Set on Mauritius and full of facts about pirates, cryptography, colonialism +geological & evolutionary wonders. Preorders gratefully received!🙏 www.amazon.co.uk/Rani-Reports...

It’s possible that, while discussing Gender on the Discworld (episode available on YouTube: youtu.be/OXJYfghjUDA?... ) as well as the usual places, we occasionally wondered off topic. Donate to the Good Law Project’s trans rights fundraiser here: goodlawproject.org/crowdfunder/...

The other teacher I thanked in the book was Mr Hughes. A wonderful, creative teacher I had in Junior 3. Last week I was speaking at Aycliffe library so visited my old school to donate my books. They posted a pic on fb and his daughter-in-law got in touch! I get to meet and thank him 40 years later!

In Rani Reports end pages we thanked teachers who inspired our writing. I'd always wanted to thank my 6th form teacher in person so posted on a fb group for old staff & students. Guys, he lived 30 seconds away for 20yrs and had just passed away. RIP Mr Early, the ripples you made are still spreading

The DC shooter's neighbor was perfectly on message. Solidarity, sir.

Whaaat! Oh, this ticks ALL my boxes! theempirestripsback.com/london/

This was just posted by @tbretc.bsky.social on another platform. The Chicago Sun-Times obviously gets ChatGPT to write a ‘summer reads’ feature almost entirely made up of real authors but completely fake books. What are we coming to?

Two Scousers working on the road as I walked back from dropping the girleen off at school. Scouser 1 "E' acts like an eagle that got bitten by a f***ing werewolf" I am no longer a writer. My imagination has been dealt a career ending injury.

Goth nature is my favourite nature.

Fantastic ending to Baroness Kidron's speech in the House of Lords yesterday, which led to the government's defeat on AI & copyright. Speaking the UK's creators: "Their property, their labour, is worthy of your protection - because apart from anything else, it is not ours to give away."

I'm giving a talk in a few months to some children's publishing and bookselling bods. If you could say one thing to a capitive audience of publishers and booksellers, what would YOU say? #KidLitUK (Dm me if it's something you'd rather not say out loud...)

Oh Labour, I don't even know what you are anymore. Certainly not a friend to the creative industries.

The Child picked the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer as our bank holiday family movie. Amilyn’s death gets me every time 😂

Love Andor, but that plot line in season 2 was far too Inglorious Basterds for me.

THE BIGGEST NEWS! Rob and I are offering up a hand-signed hardback, first edition/first printing copy of Monstrous Regiment straight from the Pratchett archives. Those who know the story will know why it’s a pertinent one for this cause. (More pics to come.) www.32auctions.com/organization...

This is so exciting! Congrats @rhi.bsky.social, @garychud.bsky.social and Rachael Stott, and thank you @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social

Still lots to do, but creating a little Ghibli scene with driftwood and moss inside a dome lamp from Dunelm. Need to make a little stone Dōsojin statue and add extra fun details

Catching the last half of Professor Stuart Sumida's talk on animal anatomy and locomotion at DVRS. So valuable for animators, and incredibly interesting for anyone else! www.youtube.com/live/YtD8T7r...

Day 1 livestream of #DVRS2025 Games Festival (hosted by me) will start 10am: