Keith W. Dickinson

@keithwdickinson

Author of Dexter & Sinister, and The Dragonfly Delivery Company. New novella, Glunda the Veg Witch, out now! BBNYA 2024 Finalist. #SafeSpace 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇦 keithwdickinson.com

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Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jul 9

Trying to keep the heat out. Wonder if the neighbours will think I'm growing weed it something.

A photo of a floor ro ceiling window, with a sliding door next to it, both of which are mostly covered by long strips of tinfoil. The coverage isn't perfect, but it should reflect some of the heat over the next week, keeping the flat a little cooler.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jul 8

This image haunts me. 'Dead SS prison guard floating in canal', by war correspondent Lee Miller, 1945.

A black and white photograph of a man in his twenties, wearing a thick army jacket, lying submerged in the dark waters of a canal. We are looking down at him, and can only see the top half of his body, the bottom half being cut off by the picture framing. He is on his side, with just his right arm poking above the water. His head is completely submerged. It almost looks like he's asleep. There's no indication how he died. Most of the image is water, with a little bit of grass and the edge of the canal intruding from the left. The jacket is completely soaked. Light glints off the mostly flat water.

The image is haunting because it looks like he just lay down in the river to take a nap and didn't wake up. The lack of wounds makes you wonder how he died, and his calm, emotionless face suggests a sadness in death, like he finally understood what he had done and knew that he was wrong. This is, of course, my own interpretation.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jul 8

#AttackMars

Tromboni smiled back at Ilsa, his heart filled with joy. The open road, the sun on his face, and a beautiful woman by his side. What more could a man want? Despite a rocky start, today was turning out to be a good day after all. In fact, so long as nothing came along to spoil everything, he might go so far as to say it was the best day he'd had in a long time.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jul 6

eg. "It was nearly noon and the King was still in bed." means nothing. But put it into context...

It was nearly noon and the King was still in bed. This was, of course, perfectly fine. He was the King, he could stay in bed all day if he wanted, and indeed had done on many occasion. Of course on those days he hadn't been alone. As far as anyone knew the King didn't have anyone with him at the moment, which made his still being in bed all the more strange. And he'd skipped breakfast. The King never skipped breakfast. Even when he had *ahem* company he would call down for a tray of swan's tongues and badger's noses to nibble on. Especially if he had company come to think of it. The King was a great believer in keeping ones strength up when one was “exercising”. And now here they were coming up on noon and not only had the King skipped breakfast but he appeared to be showing no interest in lunch either. And it was his favourite too, stuffed eel with sautéed bull's... well, parts of the bull the bull would have preferred to keep, let's put it that way. For the King to be missing out on that something had to be very, very wrong.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jul 5

Maybe I just need to read Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz, "a cozy near-future novella about a crew of abandoned food service bots opening their very own restaurant." I will do at some point. but it's only available in hardback at the moment. When the paperback comes out I'll give it a try.

Cover of Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz. In neon pinks, oranges, yellows, and blues, a line drawn robot hand reaches in with chopsticks to take noodles out of a large rectangular pot, with other robots and a city skyline drawn along the bottom in front of the pot.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jul 3

The table equivalent of 'It's not me, it's you.'

A small coffee table, with a central column that has four feet on the ground, splayed out in a cross. Each food has a wad of tissue stuffed under it, suggesting a search for stability that says more about the stuffer than it does about the table.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jul 3

German rail operator showing us how it's done. 🌈 NB: I'm not sure why I see Deutsche Bahn trains going through Manchester but I do. 🤷‍♂️

A red Deutsch Bahn train engine with DB Proud To Be Diverse on the side in rainbow letters. The picture it taken from up high looking down and is a little blurry because it was a moving train.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jul 2

My #TBR shelf, for the curious.

Fifteen books on a shelf, with a little clay elephant next to them. The books include such works as Dune, The Obelisk Gate, and The Lies Of Locke Lamora.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jul 2

Seen in a charity shop. #RIPLola 💔

On a shelf, with a number of odd mugs and cup, one of which has a face on it, is a beige beaker with a wood lid. Written in green on it is an image of a dog bone, and the text below reads 'A spoilt rotten dog called LOLA keeps their TREATS here.'

Close on the beige beaker with a wood lid, and the text that reads 'A spoilt rotten dog called LOLA keeps their TREATS here.'

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jul 2

Retail therapy. Spent £60-70 on real and fake plants. The ones in the bathroom are plastic as they won't get any sun.

A fake grass like plant in a round beige cermaic pot.

A fake orchid with white flowers and broad leaves, quite tall, in a mottled brown pot.

On top of a bookcase, a plant with a fan of flat leaves with yellow edges, next to a fern in a yellow ceramic pot.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jul 1

29/06/26

Half the building is dark, with five flats lit on the left hand side in an erratic pattern. Two purple and white, one orange, one pink, and one bright white.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jul 1

Rewrites, AWAY! 🦸‍♂️

Two overlapping pages of text, one with printed lines, but both covered in scribbles and crossings out. Across them both lays a white pen with black ends on which is written The Lindisfarne Prize.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jul 1

The author's note in full. 🙏

Author's Note

Whilst character descriptions have been added to help tell the story,
where those descriptions do not affect the storyline (and they seldom do)
the author invites you to see those characters in whatever way pleases you best.
See yourself in them, and them in you, and know that you are not wrong to do so.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 30

I made myself laugh, so hopefully it'll make other people laugh too. 😂 #AttackMars

The soldiers stepped to one side to give them a clear path to the door. For a moment it looked like the chimpanzee was happy to just leave, but as it walked past Captain Kincaid it lashed out with its twisted blanket rope, flicking him right in the crotch with a satisfying thwack! The captain double over in pain, grabbing on to McGuffin's desk as he went pale and dropped to his knees. The other men in the room all winced, covering their groins as they turned away from Mr Gigglepuss, in case he decided they were next.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 29

Really pleased with all the work I've commissioned for Glunda. Along with the cover and the original character art, I've ended up with a really nice collection of stuff. books2read.com/GlundaTheVeg...

The cover of Glunda The Veg Witch. Illustrated in a simplistic and colourful style. The cover is flat dark green with a garland of various fruits and vegetables around the outside edge, a pair of black boots with a witch's hat resting on them in the bottom half, and the yellow title Glunda The Veg Witch at the top.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 29

Until I get some fan art I'll just keep having to commission some of my own. 😋 Check out this portrait of Glunda Ashwillow by @meanderingunicorns.bsky.social. I think it's great! 😁 #GlundaTheVegWitch 🥕🧙‍♀️

A head and shoulders colour illustration of a smiling witch with a round face and warm, friendly eyes. Her shoulder length red wavy hair frames her rosy face, and she had a green shawl over top of her black tunic, a black pointed hat with purple flowers in its band upon her head. The joy in her face gives her great beauty, her smile so wide it crinkles the corners of her eyes.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 29

One of these spam messages is not like the others. Guess which one I'd be most interested in? 😏

Screenshot of a list of spam names. The names are FUCK_ME, FUCKBOOK, Meet&Fuck, Costco_Rewards, 😈TouchMe_Now, Naked👅Body, and InstaSexDate💋.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 25

So warm in my flat there's a cold mist coming off my ice lolly. You can't see it much in the picture but it's there.

The base of a swirly fruit lolly with what should be a light mist coming off it. There is, it just doesn't photo very well.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 22

22/06/26

Half dark, half lit. A selection of oranges and yellows, with some purple and white. Food is being cooked, football watched, the small things that make up life are being lived.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 20

Some lovely colours in the city tonight. #ManchesterNights

A city skyline at night. The sun has just set, throwing yellows, oranges, pinks, and blues into the sky. The moon is up in the top ledt corner. A line of apartment buildings, vanishing to the left, have lights in ransom windows, their glass reflecting the setting sun. At the bottom a yellow lit tram trundles through the dark.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 19

So upset I had to make my own when I got home. Not enough cheese!

Two halves of a croissant on a flowery plate, covered in barely enough melted cheese.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 18

You can get Glunda most places. Follow the link below to your favourite retailer. 👍 books2read.com/GlundaTheVegWitch #GlundaTheVegWitch 🥕🧙‍♀️

The cover of Glunda The Veg Witch, shown twice, once on a Kindle, and once as a paperback.

Illustrated in a simplistic and colourful style, the cover is flat dark green with a garland of various fruits and vegetables around the outside edge, a pair of black boots with a witch's hat resting on them in the bottom half, and the yellow title Glunda The Veg Witch at the top.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 18

Today I realised I can flip the character art I had made for Glunda The Veg Witch and effectively get two images for the price of one! 🤯 Anyway, read my cosy fantasy, Glunda The Veg Witch. Fans of Pratchett say they can see his influence on the witches within, which to me is high praise. 🙏

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 17

Oh, go on then. 😉

Screenshot of Time Paradox: Preludes pledge, showing I backed All The Books plus the Paperback upgrade.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 15

Trying to eat better food for a while. The air fryer is too easy.

A wide bowl with white rice, a roast cauliflower and potato seasoned with curry spices mix, and a portion of lentil dahl.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 14

Alfred Bumbleton is a journalist, on his way out of town after having broke the big story.

Alfred Bumbleton had been a frequent witness to the casual bribery and corruption that kept the empire running. In his line of work it was hard not to. He'd even participated in some of it himself. Backhanders, both financial and physical, were the grease that kept the wheels of industry running, but no one had any interest in the grease, not really. They liked the smoothness of the carriage seats, not the grime of the stoker's shovel, and who could blame them. Seeing up close the way things really were had made Bumbleton a cynical man, one unable to hold down a proper job or keep a girl on his arm longer than a few weeks. At least that's what he blamed his situation on, and not having a wife around there was no one to contradict him. Let them have their fantasies of everyone being nice to each other and everything working out for the best. If it made them happy what did he care? Ignorance is bliss, as they say, and since knowing the unvarnished truth had never done Bumbleton any good (except financially, perhaps), who was he to deny them a bit of polish to get them through the day.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 14

And if you like that there's a sequel, The Dragonfly Delivery Company. John Sinister and Dexter the cat team up once more with everyone's favourite muscle for hire, Agnes Goodenough, for more detecting shenanigans, this time on an airship! #InternationalSteampunkDay books2read.com/DragonflyDel...

Cover for The Dragonfly Delivery Company. A plain blue background with the title of the book in gold at the top, and the author's name, Keith W Dickinson in white at the bottom. Above the title in white it reads "Dexter & Sinister are back in..." In the centre is an illustration of an airship. Made from an old sailing ship it has a wooden hull with two large round glass observation booths at the front reminiscent of a dragonfly's eyes. A beam sticks out the front between them looking like an insect's proboscis. Out the side stick two sets of curved sails that look like gossamer wings, while below hang mechanical legs for grabbing and transporting cargo. The balloon above is long and oval, in a pink and off white chequerboard pattern (very large). It is attached to the ship by cables and by two long loops of netting fore and aft.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 14

You know what you need in your life? A talking mechanical cat. Pick up a copy of Dexter & Sinister: Detecting Agents this #InternationalSteampunkDay, a Pratchett inspired steampunk detective story that's more 'who fun it' than whodunnit. 😏 books2read.com/DexterAndSin...

Cover for Dexter and Sinister, Detecting Agents. A plain red background with the title of the book in gold at the top, and the author's name, Keith W Dickinson in white at the bottom. In the centre is an illustration of a grey and white tabby cat sitting. He is wearing brass goggles and a green scarf. He looks out at us with a lopsided grin. His tail is segmented with metal joints and his eyes have mechanical irises.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 13

I also have a page of original comic book art, from the 1991 Superman annual, drawn, inked, and signed by Bryan Hitch.

A black and white page of comic book art, approx A3. Three panels, full oage width. The top two have a robed figure talking to a giant mechanical spider person with a muscular human body and head. The bottom is a close on the robed figure's head.

Keith W. Dickinson@keithwdickinson· Jun 13

I own a copy of an unproduced William Goldman pirate movie.