D Franklin

@dlibris

Weegie bookseller and book enthusiast. SFF reader. Co-head of Programme, Eastercon 2027. Angry queer. Nonbinary. They/them.

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D Franklin@dlibris· Jul 6

"Police should be neutral on the rise of fascism and racism" is, I suppose, slightly better than admitting the reality, which is that police at-a-minumum-tacitly support the rise of fascism and racism...

D Franklin@dlibris· Jul 3

How am I quelling my envy of those at Metropolcon this weekend? Well, other than looking at comparative temperatures? With my choice of reading matter, that's how: the forthcoming Becky Chambers!

A hand holding a book against a white background. The cover of the book shows a red planet covered in cracks with a city on, half in shadow, and a green planet with holes showing green parks, half in shadow as if from the same light source. A couple, standing between the planets, are holding hands. Text reads The Stars Are Waiting in white.

D Franklin@dlibris· Jun 16

Text reading
"He said: “I’m so happy to be releasing the second Pagans novel with Moonflower. They’ve been incredible with everything from editing to book design to somehow getting me into television studios to talk about my weird alt-history crime procedural with interviewers who seemed as startled about the whole thing as I was. Basically, everything authors are constantly being told publishers can no longer do for them. On top of that, they got it in front of Waterstones who gave it their full support, meaning the first book did better than any of us had any right to expect. Thankfully, no real pressure for book two, so that’s good.”

Waring commented: “Returning to the world of Pagans has been an absolute gift and I am so excited to share the next instalment of Aedith and Drustan’s adventures with the world. With James’ signature blend of grit, wit and glorious world-building, Dead Gods takes everything that made Pagans so special and turns it up to 11. Alt-history at its finest, it’s going to appeal to crime and fantasy readers alike – and they won’t be able to put it down.”

Spackman added: “As a reader, I couldn’t have been happier to spend more time with Aedith and Drustan – a ‘buddy cop’ pairing for the ages – in their sweary, sarky, violent, pagan world. As an agent, I felt the same about continuing James’ partnership with Moonflower, whose work on Pagans I literally, hand on heart, cannot fault. Emma Waring is simply the perfect editor and the creative commitment and commercial hustle she and the Moonflower team have applied to this series has been extraordinary. Hence the sales – not rune-science, is it?”"

D Franklin@dlibris· Jun 12

How on earth do you fail to understand the link between the treatment of children's books as not worth criticism, and their treatment by kids as not worth their time??? www.newyorker.com/culture/prog...

A block of text reading "In urging his audience to see children’s books as “real books,” Barnett skips over larger, more pressing questions about why so many children aren’t reading books at all, real or otherwise."

D Franklin@dlibris· May 10

Ah, I see we've found out how this government can get rapidly much worse... www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

A screenshot of text reading "Wes Streeting allies say he’s prepared to go for the leadership if Keir Starmer’s premiership falls apart – but that he won’t make the first move – and that he has relayed this message to Downing Street. But the health secretary is understood to be aware that a contest may not happen without him triggering it – and some supporters feel now is his best chance."

D Franklin@dlibris· May 10

You can't call yourself a serious rally against antisemitism and cheer Richard fucking Tice, deputy leader of Reform. You cannot do that and expect to be taken seriously. www.theguardian.com/news/2026/ma...

An angry white man in a suit shouting into a handheld microphone. The photo is captioned "Richard Tice: ‘The scourge of antisemitism has been allowed to flourish in our country.’ Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian"

D Franklin@dlibris· Dec 24

I first read @amalelmohtar.com's The Truth About Owls over a decade ago in an Australian anthology, and I've read (and been read, by @levarburton.bsky.social!) it multiple times since then. Still gets me every time, right in the middle of this amazing collection. strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...

An early reader copy of Seasons of Glass and Iron, Amal El-Mohtar's short story collection, held closed with a fingertip on a wooden surface

D Franklin@dlibris· Sep 17

So @damianbarr.bsky.social sent me a postcard to thank me for doing an event for The Two Roberts at the Glasgow School of Art. A lovely gesture! But also, I grew up visiting Prospect Cottage regularly, and made a queer secular pilgrimage there a few years back, so particularly personally resonant.

A picture of a small black cottage with yellow windowframes on a stony beach with beautiful flowers planted around it on the stones. The picture is on top of a book titled The Two Roberts by Damian Barr.

D Franklin@dlibris· Sep 8

Damn, @tashasuri.bsky.social, Isle is a bit of a brick, isn't it! Thank you @orbitbooks.bsky.social for the advance copy!

A photo of a hand holding up a large size paperback book, The Isle In The Silver Sea by Tasha Suri, with the front cover facing the camera and the right- hand edge visible to give an impression of the thickness of the book. The cover shows the hands of two South Asian women touching, one wearing a gauntlet, over a circular opening through which a castle on the sea is visible. The cover also has a small white circle with the text "Not for sale. This is an uncorrected bound proof from Orbit."

D Franklin@dlibris· Aug 25

Started today getting up far too early to take apart Edinburgh International Book Festival before rushing myself back to Glasgow for @junodawson.bsky.social's event at Waterstones Sauchiehall St. Yes, I did just rush from a mad month of book events... to a book event. But as a fan this time!

A photo of the backs of the heads of a crowded audience looking towards a stage on which Kirsty Logan and Juno Dawson are sitting. Juno is speaking into a handheld microphone.

D Franklin@dlibris· Aug 18

But this is perfect. Being very clear about putting her money where her mouth is, and the people that arguably implicates, and the ridiculousness of this proscription.

A screenshot of text reading In this context I feel obliged to state once more that – like the hundreds of protesters arrested last weekend – I too support Palestine Action. If this makes me a “supporter of terror” under UK law, so be it. My books, at least for now, are still published in Britain, and are widely available in bookshops and even supermarkets. In recent years the UK’s state broadcaster has also televised two fine adaptations of my novels, and therefore regularly pays me residual fees. I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can. If the British state considers this “terrorism”, then perhaps it should investigate the shady organisations that continue to promote my work and fund my activities, such as WH Smith and the BBC

D Franklin@dlibris· Aug 18

A particularly pointed example of double standards here from Sally Rooney www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

A screenshot of text, headed with a black bar with text reading The Irish Times. The main text reads "The arrest of a protester in Belfast surely represents a particularly egregious example of political policing. When a storm damaged an infamous loyalist mural in north Belfast last year, rebuilding commenced immediately, and the wall is now once again emblazoned with the iconography of the Ulster Volunteer Force. No arrests were made on that basis, nor has the mural been taken down, though the UVF is a proscribed terrorist organisation responsible for the murders of hundreds of civilians. Palestine Action, proscribed under the same law, is responsible for zero deaths and has never advocated the use of violence against any human being. Why then are its supporters arrested for wearing T-shirts, while murals celebrating loyalist death squads are left untouched?

D Franklin@dlibris· Aug 2

A gif of a posh white man in a suit, in the back of a car, saying "you might very well think that. I could not possibly comment". The gif is from the original House of Cards TV series

D Franklin@dlibris· Jul 7

Hey @404ink.bsky.social look at this beautiful display in BookBar in Chelsea!

A display of shelves alternating Penguin Archive titles with 404 Inklings just inside the front door of a bookshop

D Franklin@dlibris· Jul 2

Hey @maxgladstone.bsky.social, @amalelmohtar.com! 40!!!!

A photograph of the copyright page of the UK edition of This Is How You Lose The Time War showing it is on its 40th printing

D Franklin@dlibris· Jun 27

This is entirely @cnlester.bsky.social's fault

A copy of Erik Satie Three Piece Suite by Ian Penman, a plain white book with blue text of the title, author, and publisher, Fitzcarraldo Editions.

D Franklin@dlibris· Jun 22

David Lammy is a principle-less coward utterly bought off by a Cabinet position. Monstrous warmongering bullshit. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

A screenshot from the Guardian liveblog posted at 19.36 BST reading "The UK foreign minister David Lammy said that he has spoken to his Iranian and Israeli counterparts on Sunday and said that he “urged a diplomatic, negotiated solution to end this crisis”.

“Iran must never have a nuclear weapon. The US has now taken action to alleviate that threat,” Lammy added."

D Franklin@dlibris· Jun 19

'People are dead but my son had to postpone his wedding and who is to say which is the greater tragedy?' The man is a fucking sociopath! www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

A screenshot from a Guardian liveblog, written by Julian Borger, posted at 13.47 BST, reading "Benjamin Netanyahu has just left Soroka hospital in Beer Sheva. He toured the site and gave a statement to the press.

According Ynet news, he said: “The entire people of Israel are paying a price. We are going through a blitz, and we are going through it in an astonishing way.”

“There are personal costs, people have been hurt, families have lost their loved ones. Each of us bears a personal cost, and my family has not been exempt – this is the second time that my son Avner has cancelled a wedding due to missile threats. It is a personal cost for his fiancee as well, and I must say that my dear wife is a hero, and she bears a personal cost.”"

D Franklin@dlibris· Jun 19

Sorry, let me be clear: bombing a hospital or a civilian population centre is the mark of a terrorist tyrant, is it? Fascinating, fascinating www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

A screenshot from the Guardian news liveblog, posted at 7.20 BST and updated at 7.37 BST. The screenshot reads "Hospital attack by 'terrorist tyrants', says Netanyahu
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will exact the full price from the “tyrants” in Tehran.

“This morning, Iran’s ‘terrorist tyrants’ launched missiles at Soroka hospital in Beersheba and at a civilian population in central Israel,” he said in a post on X"

D Franklin@dlibris· Jun 5

Wear your Locked Tomb fandom with pride with this awesome knitted hat @aeriefaerie.bsky.social is making for the Genre Creators For Trans Rights auction! One flesh, one end, bitch! www.32auctions.com/organization...

A segment of a black knitted beanie. In white it has a skull wearing aviators with the roman numeral 9 on the forehead, and the word ONE beneath it.

D Franklin@dlibris· May 28

I mean. "Serious".

The cover of a Tingler. It shows a muscled conventionally attractive white man wearing only white shorts and glasses next to a phone the same size as him with the face of a different conventionally attractive white man emerging from a white screen. The title is Journalist Pounded By The Physical Manifestation Of An Egregiously Mishandled Group Text From Members Of The Tromp Administration Containing Highly Sensitive Government Information

D Franklin@dlibris· May 25

How do they rise up? #GNUTerryPratchett

A clay egg-coloured egg with the text Freedom Truth Justice Reasonably Priced Love carved into it and coloured in a dark pigment.

D Franklin@dlibris· May 13

My clothbound and special edition Terry Pratchett collection, plus other Pratchett items including swamp dragons and a Glod figurine. That's the slipcased spectacular Ultimate Discworld Companion, there.

D Franklin@dlibris· May 13

My original Terry Pratchett collection and associated nonfiction, plus some additional entries with interesting introductions, and a crocheted Death of Rats made by @aeriefaerie.bsky.social

D Franklin@dlibris· May 13

Massive, massive thanks to @rhi.bsky.social and @terryandrob.bsky.social for this amazing addition to my Discworld collection, shown here with my somewhat worn and very read two-decade-old copy of Monstrous Regiment.

A copy of the UK original hardback edition of Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett and a copy of Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes by Rob Wilkins, on top of which, obscuring both a bit, are a postcard showing Death and Terry Pratchett playing chess drawn by Paul Kidby which reads "Professor Sir Terry Pratchett OBE 1948-2015" and at the bottom of which reads ""DON'T THINK OF IT AS DYING," said Death. "JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.", and a pin badge of a caricature of Terry Pratchett's head in his characteristic black hat.

A book held open to show the title page of Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett, signed by Terry Pratchett; on the left hand page facing is a cartoon showing, to quote Terry Pratchett's own description within the book, 'a huge figure, with a large sword, a monstrous monocle and a moustache as wide as a coathanger, menacing a much smaller figure armed with nothing more than an instrument for lifting beets - in fact there was a beet stuck on the end of it. At least, was clearly what had been happening right up to the point when the smaller figure, wearing a not bad attempt at an Ins-and-Outs shako and a face that looked slightly like Polly's, had kicked the other one squarely in the groinal regions. A sort of balloon was coming out of Polly's mouth, containing the words "That for your Royal Prerogative, you Blaggard!" The balloon issuing from the mouth of the ogre, who could only be Prince Heinrich, said "Oh my Succession! That such A Small Thing could hurt so Much!" And in the background a fat old woman in a rumpled ballgown and a huge old-fashioned helmet was clasping her hands to an unbelievably large bosom, staring at the fight with a mixture of concern and admiration, and ballooning "Oh my Swain!" I fear our Liaison is Cut short!""
Next to the book is a postcard showing Death and Terry Pratchett playing chess drawn by Paul Kidby which reads "Professor Sir Terry Pratchett OBE 1948-2015" and at the bottom of which reads ""DON'T THINK OF IT AS DYING," said Death. "JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH."

A black hardback copy of Monstrous Regiment, without dust jacket showing gold lettering on the spine, held upright with its spine showing at a slight angle from vertical as it has warped from over two decades of reading, next to a hardback copy of Monstrous Regiment in its dust jacket. The image on the dust jacket is an illustration by Paul Kidby showing four soldiers wearing Redcoat-style uniforms, one of whom is also wearing an opera cape and with fangs, and a troll wearing a busby, raising a white flag. The image is posed in the same style as the famous photograph of American troops raising the flag over Iwo Jima.

A lightly battered black, dust jacketless hardback that, by context, is a copy of Monstrous Regiment, next to a copy of Monstrous Regiment in its dust jacket

D Franklin@dlibris· Apr 22

Oh, yes, for sure, respect is definitely what I feel from a government whose leader just said trans women aren't women, and whose equalities minister seems to think trans women are immune from violence against women. Respect. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

A screenshot of text reading Rishi Sunak made jokes at the expense of trans people, she says.

By contrast, she claims, the Labour government will ensure trans people are treated with respect.

D Franklin@dlibris· Apr 17

Fucking great time to be trans, huh...

A screenshot of a series of headlines on the Guardian home page, illustrated with a blurred image of a hospital ward. The first headline, tagged NHS, reads "NHS warned it must change guidance on single sex spaces after court ruling". The second headline, tagged rail transport, reads "British Transport Police amends strip searching policy after supreme court ruling". The third, tagged UK, reads "Trans activists accuse head of UK equalities regulator of 'overreach' for suggesting bans". The fourth headline, tagged explainer, reads "How will UK judgement on legal definition of womanhood affect policy?"

D Franklin@dlibris· Apr 9

Yes, this is indeed both pleasure reading and prep reading, for my one panel at #Eastercon, on portal fantasy, moderating @sarahreesbrennan.bsky.social, @cstross.bsky.social, Edward James, and Guest of Honour Jeannette Ng

A screenshot of a panel listing in dark mode. The panel is titled Into The Painting: The Joys of Portal Fantasy and is scheduled to be held on Monday 21st April at 12.30 in ICC Hall 1A. The panelists are listed as D Franklin (moderator), Edward James, Jeannette Ng, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Charles Stross. The panel description reads "From CS Lewis' Narnia to Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan, SFF is full of stories about people from this world visiting another. What do we love about this genre? What are the attractions of stories about people from our world slipping into others? What stories do these ideas make possible that Tolkienesque secondary world fantasies can't tell?" The panel will be streamed and available to catch up after the convention for members.

D Franklin@dlibris· Mar 25

Today's @thebookseller.com email newsletter has an interesting juxtaposition

A snippet of an email with two headlines. The first headline reads Taylor & Francis to use AI translation tools to publish books ‘otherwise unavailable in English’, with a lede reading Academic publisher Taylor & Francis has announced plans to use AI translation tools to publish books “that would otherwise be unavailable to English-language readers”. The second headline reads Society of Authors condemns ‘appalling’ use of pirated books in AI training.

D Franklin@dlibris· Mar 23

The aubergine teal real is working up *beautifully* into a shawl