Gareth Southwell

@garethsouthwell

Self-employed writer, illustrator, philosopher. All views are those of my employer. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Runs woodpigpress.com, woodpigpress.bsky.social Sci-fi, philosophy and illustration: Diary of a Micro-Press:

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Website Bluesky

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Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Jul 14

Illustration and Whiskey Leavin's comic novel, "The Devil's Own Piss". Available for commissions through garethsouthwell.com #books #booksky #authors #covers #coverdesign #illustration

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Jul 12

"Everyday Stoicism" by Gareth Southwell. A practical guide to Stoic philosophy for modern day-to-day life. #philosophy #books #stoicism

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Jul 9

Illustration and cover design for Bonnie Stock's cozy crime novel, "Vengeance in Vermont". Available for commissions through garethsouthwell.com #books #booksky #authors #covers #coverdesign #illustration

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Jul 7

Cover design and illustration for "Emory Crider and the One Dollar Bounty" by Clif Haley. Available for commissions through garethsouthwell.com #books #authors #covers #coverdesign #illustration

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Jul 7

Animals feel pain – that much is obvious. Isn't it? Descartes's Dog, by Gareth Southwell, investigates the roots of our modern view of the mind, Descartes’s view of animals, AI, and the persisting puzzle of consciousness. Available from WoodPigpress.com and a range of online retailers. #booksky

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Jun 15

This always feels timely. Illustration: Gareth Southwell Woodpigpress.com/publishing-services #booksky

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Oct 2

Wonderful comment on this on Instagram which sums up how I feel.

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Oct 2

Oh, dear. Is it just me that has a bad feeling about this? I've been using Affinity programmes for years, and they're great. But anything that mentions "the future" gives off an aura of bullshit and AI flangery. #AI #art #books

"Creative freedom is coming". Affinity announcement.

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 24

I ran a poll on Mastodon and Bluesky asking who'd read a book where the author used AI to some extent. Combining the results: of the 56 respondents, 82% said never, 16% said only if AI was used for editing, and 1% said they didn't care as long as it was a good book. #books #writing #AI #reading

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 23

Book cover design and illustration for Clif Haley's comedy Western, "Emory Crider and the One Dollar Bounty". garethsouthwell.com/book-design-... #books #illustration #art #covers #booksky

Book cover design and illustration for Clif Haley's "Emory Crider and the One Dollar Bounty"

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 22

Dear book marketer, thanks so much for your email, and for your eloquent praise of my book. You were "profoundly moved", you say? I am flattered - and doubly so that you've taken the trouble to hunt me down all the way from ... [checks website visitor stats] ... oh. #books #writing #AI #booksky

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 19

Reading Peter de Vries' wonderful "Reuben, Reuben" and came across a passage about how places are named after the natural features they've destroyed, which exactly parallels something I'd written in "MUNKi. This ever happen to you? #books #writing #philosophy garethsouthwell.com/books/munki/

Excerpt from "Reuben, Reuben", by Peter de Vries: "Out there are also the subdivisions named, by God, after what the contractors had to eradicate to build them - Birch Hills (named after the grove bulldozed away preparatory to laying the foundation), Vineyard Acres after the rows of Concord grapes plowed under to make way for them."

Excerpt from "MUNKi" by Gareth J. Southwell: "And so by the January preceding Tadcu's death they'd swapped a seaonally gloomy Port Talbot for a similarly dank and chilly Guildford; for an up-market estate whose streets, each an architectural sibling of the next, commemorated the various glades, groves and natural features bulldozed to build them, leaving as its sole attraction its prime position within the commuter belt."

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 18

Cover design for my sci-fi comedy novella Pale Kings. I spent quite a while trying to give the virtual mermaids a sort of degraded, retro, cathode ray TV look. Not sure if I could remember how to do it now! garethsouthwell.com/books/pale-k... #books #illustration #coverdesign #scifi #art #booksky

Book cover illustration for Pale Kings by Gareth Southwell. A man floats in water with VR glasses surrounded by virtual mermaids.

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 18

#philosophy #books #booksky

A professor of mine went to go hear Derrida speak once. The entire talk was about cows; everyone was flummoxed but listened carefully, and took notes about…cows. There was a short break, and when Derrida came back, he was like, ‘I’m told it is pronounced “chaos”.’

– Phil Gentry, Twitter

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 17

And a few more #art #illustration #books #design #bookcovers #scifi #sff #booksky

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 17

I spent ages adding all the detail to this cover, and then realised it's all sort of lost when it's reproduced at actual paperback size. So, for those interested, here are some of the details! #art #illustration #books #design #bookcovers #scifi #sff #booksky garethsouthwell.com/books/tidela...

Cover to "The Winter Queen" by Gareth J Southwell

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 16

Cover design and illustration for Garry Seabrook's "Cracking the Quantum Mystery". Had great fun doing this - any eggheads out there spot all the Easter eggs? :) garethsouthwell.com/book-design-... #books #philosophy #science #illustration #bookcovers #booksky

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 15

Just reading an academic text on the history of censorship in the UK, and came across this little gem. #philosophy #books #booksky

Excerpt from a book on censorship: While prosecuting others for obscenity, "the Greater London Council was contemporaneously ordering 5400 canes for London schools from a sex shop".

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 15

A little portfolio piece of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". See more here: garethsouthwell.com/book-design-... Interested in cover design, illustration or formatting? Contact me here: garethsouthwell.com/contact/ #books #illustration #design #art #booksky

Book cover for Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 14

Oooh... This came in the post today. :) Met him in Bristol at a talk. What a lovely and humble guy. #books #MickHerron #SlowHorses #amreading #reading #booksky

Book cover for "Clown Town" by Mick Herron.

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 13

Book cover design and illustration for "Fun With Nuns" by A.J. Caliendo. Want illustration, cover design or book formatting? See more: garethsouthwell.com/book-design-... Get in touch: garethsouthwell.com/contact/ #books #illustration #art #design #booksky

Book cover for "Fun With Nuns" by A.J. Caliendo. A boy hides a pin-up as a nun looms ominously over him, a ruler in her hand. Infernal flames lick around him as the rest of the children in the classroom look on.

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 12

Design and illustration for Doug Hardenstein's upcoming kid's time travel adventure, "Tolly to the Titanic". Want illustration, cover design or book formatting? See more: garethsouthwell.com/book-design-... Get in touch: garethsouthwell.com/contact/ #books #illustration #art #design #booksky

Book cover design and illustration for Doug Hardenstein's "Tolly to the Titanic". A red car converted into a time machine emerges through a wormhole into the distant past. The car contains two kids, an old sea captain, and a dog, and is being attacked by polar bears and spiders.

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 10

Caricature of Trump from 1988 by brilliant New Yorker artist David Levine. Even then he knew he was a man-baby! #books #art #illustration #booksky

Pen and ink caricature of Trump by David Levine.

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 8

Startling ChatGPT usage graph. Though it is also kind of funny - in an end-of-the-world, death-of-education sort of way. #books #AI #ChatGPT

Graph showing sudden drop-off in ChatGPT usage. Text reads:"The school year ends and ChatGPT usage drops ~65% overnight. We are reshaping our society for a tool that's overwhelmingly just used to skip homework."

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Sep 8

A satirical little short story/novella I wrote a little while ago about automated content creation, which seems very timely now. garethsouthwell.com/books/conten... #philosophy #books #AI

Book cover for Content Provider by Gareth J. Southwell, next to book description, which reads: "a satirical insight into the life of the jobbing writer, the enduring mysteries of married life, and what happens to our thoughts when there's no one there to think them." Book review text: "File under sci-fi / humour / philosophy. What's not to lie?" Amazon US review, 5 stars) Book review text: "At once disconcerting, unsettling, intelligent and really funny." (Amazon UK review, 5 stars). Available direct from WoodPig Press and all major retailers. Woodpigpress.com

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Jun 21

WoodPig Press is currently giving away free copies of Tidelands: Ghosts and Monsters. Enter the draw on Storygraph to win 1 of 250 ebooks or 5 paperbacks. (NOTE: Paperback prizes are available to UK residents only) app.thestorygraph.com/giveaways/bb... #Booksky #books #Storygraph #draw

Book cover of Tidelands, Part 1: Ghosts and Monsters. Enter the Storygraph draw to win a free copy of Tidelands: Ghosts and Monsters. 250 ebooks. 5 Paperbacks. (Paperback prizes open to residents of the UK only.) WoodPigPress.com

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Jun 15

Please share: The ebook of Tidelands: Ghosts & Monsters is currently only 0.99 (£/$/€). Available direct from WoodPig Press, or the usual retailers: woodpigpress.com/the-tideland... #booksky #books #deals #discounts #scifi #sff #fantasy

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· Jun 7

Please share: Do you hate AI? Are you an editor, proofreader, designer, illustrator, typesetter, marketer, book blogger, audio narrator, reviewer, ARC/beta reader? WoodPig Press is creating a pool of freelancers for future paid work. woodpigpress.com/call-for-pub... #booksky #books #publishing

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· May 23

Please share: So today sees the launch of Part 4 of my SFF novel Tidelands, "The Sleepers" (WoodPig Press): garethsouthwell.com/books/tidela... If you want to catch up from the beginning, Part 1 is currently only 0.99 (£/$/€): garethsouthwell.com/books/tidela... #sff #booksky #books #scifi

Gareth Southwell@garethsouthwell· May 16

Just finished the cover for Tidelands Part IV: The Sleepers, which I'm hoping to release next week. #illustration #bookcovers #books #booksky