Finn Longman is only here occasionally

@finnlongman

Author (THE BUTTERFLY ASSASSIN trilogy; THE WOLF AND HIS KING) and medievalist specialising in the Ulster Cycle. #1 fan of Láeg mac Ríangabra. 🏳️‍🌈 they/them | siad/iad 📍Cambridge, UK ♿

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Bluesky

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Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· 27d

The shelf I keep my own books on isn't tall enough for hardbacks, which isn't helping with the storage situation. Can't use the top of the shelves, that's the overflow library book storage. Might need to get some larger shelves for this space; these are a remnant of an old flat with sloping eaves.

Small white bookshelves full of books -- mostly copies of The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman! The hardback copies are horizontally stacked, some showing sprayed edges. On the top of the shelf are two French editions, one in plastic wrapping. The bottom shelf also holds French editions of The Butterfly Assassin and The Hummingbird Killer; the English copies of the whole trilogy are on the right hand shelf, above an eclectic selection of DVDs. The top of the shelf is shared with a random assortment of academic library books.

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jul 10

It's 4.5 years since I read it and this chapter opener has stuck in my head ever since because of how complete an impression it gives me of these people. Like oh yeah I know exactly who you mean

In November we went for brunch on Aberdeen Street with Ralph, pronounced 'Rafe', who'd gone to Balliol with Julian, now worked at his bank, and had an alleged flotilla of Hibernian great-grandparents. (Two, he ex-panded. One great-grandparent on each side, which meant Éire owed him a whole grandparent, morally.) He'd voted for Brexit to have tighter borders, and was applying for an Irish passport to avoid being stopped at them. Later in the conversation he called himself 'a PPEist' who'd been 'a bit of a Union hack'. Julian said: 'Ralph, you're thirty.'

Ralph's girlfriend Victoria was good at wearing clothes. She was so beautiful I couldn't see why she was talking to me. Sometimes her eyes said: I don't know why, either. We talked and talked, mutually baffled as to why such a thing was happening when neither of us thought it should.

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jul 8

Never thought I'd relate to a Middle Irish noun

The gender in Mid.Ir. is capricious, often varying in same text

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jul 8

It's the French release day for THE WOLF AND HIS KING! (I think? Idk, nobody tells me anything.) I intended to make a Serious Video showing you the book, but the heatwave is getting to me, so I made this incoherent mess instead. Hopefully the book speaks for itself:

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jun 30

Mind you, ParcelForce wants to charge me £10,000, and they won't even print the label for me

Screen cap showing Parcel Force "Drop at Post Office DDP" postage option. Sender pays tax/duty. Printer required. Drop off today. Est. Delivery 3-4 days. Includes £60 protection (upgradable to £2,500). It's priced at £10,000. Which is probably a mistake but frankly, given the cost of postage, I wouldn't like to say that for sure

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· May 27

Níl mé abalta é a úsaid ar mo tháibléad :( Is Android é ach b'fhéidir an Android mícheart. Fón amháin!

"Looking for Cogar? This app won't work for your device"

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· May 5

This is the alternative to being on benefits, but applying for this scheme requires evidence. I don't have any of the first half. The latter half has to be "recent", which elsewhere they say is within 6 months. I have a chronic condition diagnosed in 2012. It costs money to obtain new letters.

Any supporting evidence you can provide such as;

Confirmation of Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, or Attendance Allowance
This must be recent and clearly show the Name and Address of the recipient
This must clearly show the rates of Mobility and Personal Care / Daily Living components you have been awarded
We cannot take into account Covid Extension letters, ESA, UC, Blue Badges, Appointment Letters or Christmas Bonus letters
A letter from a medical professional aware of your needs
This must be recent and clearly state the diagnosis and impact of your conditions described in your application.
This must be on surgery/official headed paper, signed and stamped.
Confirmation of diagnosis alone for conditions with variable impact may not be enough to process your application

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· May 5

And the reason I would have to pay for specific recent letters is that "it's too easy to fake" other letters. For an organisation supposedly run by disabled people they sure are buying into the same bullshit everyone else pulls on us

The letter must be dated within the last 6 months and will not be accepted without being stamped with the surgery’s stamp. A letterhead alone will not be sufficient to process your application. If you are able to ask your surgery to email us a digital copy directly this will be fine.

If you would like us to provide you with a form to use for them to complete please let us know

We’re sorry for this extra layer but we are aware that GP letters are incredibly easy to fabricate and the impact is that services for disabled people such as Ride Access Passes are being overloaded so want to ensure that we are protecting these valuable services for those that need them the most.

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· May 4

Instead of writing the word "súil" (eye), they've drawn an eyeball. But they've made sure to include the fadas and lenition. That's right. They've lenited the eyeballs. (RIA 23 B 21)

Uch a shúil, ón uch a shúil, except the word 'súil' has been replaced by a circle with a central dot to represent an eyeball, with a lenition dot and a fada over it

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· May 4

Côr Meibion Tafarn y Maypole, Caergrawnt 😅 (The Welsh takeover of the Sunday night session at The Maypole in Cambridge continues.)

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· May 1

The great thing about getting up at 4am is that after you get home at 9.30 you can fit in two naps before lunchtime.

A selfie of the author with the sunrise in the background. They are looking off-camera, distracted at the last minute by shenanigans in the background, and holding a fiddle on their knee with the scroll resting against their chin.

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· May 1

Castle Mound, Cambridge, 4.54am / 5.40am

A view from Castle Mound over Cambridge, just before dawn with a slowly lightening sky.

The same view forty minutes later, now with enough light to see the green trees and blossom in the foreground, and to bathe the distant rooftops with an orange glow.

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· May 1

You're welcome.

Sunlight streams across bushes and trees seen from Castle Hill, Cambridge.

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· May 1

Another year, another May morning playing for the dancers as we brought up the sun for the first day of summer.

A view from Castle Hill, Cambridge before sunrise, showing the black silhouettes of trees and shrubs against a reddening sky.

A red sun peeks over the horizon and through the branches of a tree.

A yellow sun peeks out from around the tree.

The sun is turning white, the sky lightening.

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Apr 27

Quite a few years ago, one of my group chats wilfully misinterpreted this (already misleading) line from Alfred Nutt's "Cuchulainn: The Irish Achilles" (1900) to mean that Lug has an MA, and it's been a running joke ever since. There's a spiritual degree for you

Lug, at once Sun-god and Master of Arts (and Crafts in Irish mythology, transformed himself, according to one version, into a small insect) (but who needs that part of the sentence)

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Apr 25

That does sound lovely, minus the pollen! It's not too bad for me yet; grass is the real killer for me and unfortunately Cambridge grass pollen levels look like this :') At least I'm away for a week in June, somewhere less low-lying and landlocked, so I might get a reprieve.

Annual pollen overview for Cambridge, England, showing grass pollen levels of 1508.8 in June and 542.8 in July.

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Apr 25

In this variant of Comrac Fir Diad that I'm translating, Medb appears to say that Cú Chulainn's *mother* was one of the Túatha Dé Danann. Now that's a new one on me. "A mathoir"? An bhfuil tú cinnte, a Mheadhbh?

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Apr 11

Sent three minutes before I finally found it:

i've been chopping it up and sticking it in edil with wildcards but have yet to land on something but i bet when i eventually figure it out it'll seem really obvious lol. it's taunting me

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Mar 13

As we all know, usefulness of academic books can be directly measured by the number of index tabs applied while reading them. Might be another 6 months before I've finished typing all of this up.

A hardback book with a lot of coloured index tabs sticking out of it.

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jan 28

Ferns and rowan berries and a moss-covered trunk of a living tree

A fallen tree trunk covered in moss amidst the woods

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jan 28

"Here the sunlight settled on ferns and gorse and the needle-strewn track one beast or another wore in the unceasing fight for endurance..."

A narrow track through thick ferns among trees in the woods.

Sunlight filtering through tall fir (?) trees to rest on gorse bushes, smaller tres, and other undergrowth.

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jan 28

"The paths were not true paths, a wanderer would quickly learn, only the echo of animal feet, making their winding way towards the sky with no respect for human limits..."

A view from halfway up a hill, looking down and across at forested hillsides with dense trees. In the foreground is a sort of clearing with fernes and smaller vegetation, a track worn through them (probably by humans)

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jan 26

I knew there'd be a use for this eventually (though I might want to line/back it with something)

an open violin case with a multicoloured piece of woven cloth covering the violin

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jan 22

I'm not sure my diagrammed version from last year really clears too much up but it did mean I had fewer abbreviations to keep track of.

A manuscript stemma showing a very tangled web of manuscript interactions and source overlap. The actual surviving manuscripts have been highlighted in yellow and the abbreviations expanded (Y to YBL, U to LU, W to Eg 1782, C to O'Curry 1, LL to Book of Leinster, St to Stowe, etc). Each has been labelled with which recension it belongs to. Some of the intermediary stages such as "Uh" and "uh" have also been labelled -- "source for H interps, possibly". In red, in a slightly different style, is a scrawled note reading "Jesus Christ".

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jan 22

Really not grasping the "this is weird and creepy behaviour regardless of who the picture is of" part, are they Don't use somebody else's headshot, which is both of their face and also a pro photo © the photographer, as your profile picture. Regardless of who they are. Hello!!!

Blocked out user:

@finnlongman I apologize if this caused any discomfort. I didn't mean to be disrespectful. I simply found the photo online a long time ago and liked the aesthetic of it, having no idea it belonged to a published author. Now that I know it's you, I will respect your wish and change it. Congratulations on your success!

finnlongman:

For future reference, It's pretty much always disrespectful to use a photo of somebody else as your own photo without asking them, especially if you don't know them! It wouldn't matter if I was published or a complete nobody, I'm still a real person, and this is still a photo of me. I recommend using a landscape or something in future if you don't want to use a photo of yourself, but please don't use my or anybody else's faces.

Blocked out user:

@finnlongman I sincerely apologize for the discomfort caused; I've already changed the picture. I honestly didn't know it was you, but after discovering your work, I've become a huge fan. I truly respect your privacy and wish you nothing but the best with your writing!

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jan 21

"sguirim ⁊ mé ag tuitim im chodladh" I write and I am falling asleep (possibly "and" here meaning when/while)

scribal note reading "sguirim ⁊ mé ag tuitim im chodladh"

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jan 21

I think this is my favourite. Just being like "okay I'm tired of this poem now. Too long. Lemme go to bed"

Ata an duain so dom thuirsiughadh [referring to a very long poem he is copying]. i think literally this translations as "it is this poem that has tired me"

lower in the list: "is olc an dubh ⁊ in pápér" -- the ink and the paper are bad

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jan 20

The additional artwork is by Tom Roberts, who also did the cover art! :)

The endpapers for The Wolf and His King showing a crown and banners against a natural backdrop, in a kind of green and yellow colour scheme.

The foil design under the dustjacket on The Wolf and His King, which is gold on a red background. It continues motifs from the main cover including the crown and wolf, creating a symmetrical design. There is also knotwork down the spine.

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jan 20

It's a weird time to be trying to release a book in the US for the first time, but I guess we all need some medieval werewolves and queer yearning amidst The Horrors? Anyway, it's only a week until THE WOLF AND HIS KING comes out in North America, and the NA edition is VERY pretty:

The North American edition of THE WOLF AND HIS KING. It's a hardback book with a brightly coloured cover featuring a golden wolf and crown against a backdrop of woods and grass, in bright colours like a stained glass window. Next to the copy with the dustjacket on is one without it, showing the foil design under the dustjacket, which develops aspects of the main cover design such as the wolves, crown, and plants in a kind of symmetrical, geometric design, in gold foil on a red background. There is knotwork down the spine of the book. The books are standing on several horizontal copies, showing the stencilled edges, which have a red, blue and gold design with a wolf against a star and some fronds of grass or something.

Finn Longman is only here occasionally@finnlongman· Jan 20

Me trying to understand the hypothetical source relationship between the surviving first recension in Lebor na hUidre and the second in the Book of Leinster and Stowe