PREORDER from @waterstones.bsky.social and get a summertime 25% off Flame Tree Press's dark romantasy collection, "Of Blood and Petals" - featuring a story by me! ("Love, and Other Distractions"). Discount code "SUMMER26" is good until Friday! www.waterstones.com/book/of-bloo...

Used to be you could tell the politics of the politician from the colour of tie he wore. (Good times, good times...)

New PM. Who dis?

On Saturday 25th July there are TWO bookish events in Shrewsbury - in the upstairs of a cafe, which is FREE entry and I'll be at (see flyer), and one for kids in the town square. (originalshrewsbury.co.uk/events/shrew...)

It's terrible that international law continues to be flouted and illegal tariffs imposed on ships passing through the Hormuz Strait...

(Just about - had a handful to eat with icecream, but that counts as the start of the season!)

13 August 2026 is Bin Day. #BinDay #Clacton #TakingOutTheTrash (Pass it on.)

My Award Winning (Quantum Shorts) #ScienceFiction #ShortStory with a brief introductory chat, courtesy of @spotlightindie.bsky.social and @alexsbradshaw.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUpn... Give it a listen! (For FREE!)

If you like this (award winning) story, here's the link to my "biblioblography" : happyendingnotguaranteed.blogspot.com

Whether it's racist UK Raise the Flags groups, or racist US Patriot Front groups, you really can't pretend to be the voice or action of the many AND wear masks to hide your identity from the OTHER, larger many, those who despise everything you flagshaggers stand for...

THE MONSTERS HAVE VOTED! Humans will no longer get a chance to shop from Hoxton Street Monster Supplies during the unfrequented daylight hours. So, if you're a fan of Impacted Earwax or their wide range of tinned fears, STOCK UP before the 18th July... www.monstersupplies.org

“Ye gods! Another squawker!" 3rd Place, Finding The Fairtales! www.thefairtales.com/canary

ANYONE who already has a copy of @bsfa.bsky.social 's Fission #6, and who has rubbed the cover three times and read my science fantasy "Triangulation", and who LIKED it, you'll get more retro #Sci-fi in @northodoxpress.bsky.social's summer sale - "A Short History of the Future", 25% off!

Out now! From @bsfa.bsky.social comes Fission #6, an anthology of sci-fi stories ft my tale Triangulation - don't forget to rub your copy three times to release the djinn, but DON'T trust anything he grants you - not even a chocolate teapot orbiting Mars...

Something (not) to look forward to. Although a couple of degrees might not sound so bad, especially in winter, the extremes get more extreme. The UK isn't "designed" for these sort of temperatures. And - equally obviously - UK's data centres and exploiting oil & gas are NOT going to help.

Contributor copy of Fission #6, from @bsfa.bsky.social , has arrived! Featuring my story "Triangulation" - what happens when a Mars resupply run discovers a chocolate teapot floating in space? A story that inspired the cover, which is nice! :)

Got kids? Are they readers? BIG summer reduction on a now very limited Northern England anthology! (Which I'm in, of course...) northerngravy.com/product/chil...

Two stories for World Refugee Day: fabulistmagazine.com/always-night/ flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2026/06/welc... Be kind, always. #RefugeesWelcome

Ha! "Among the attractions, visitors can pose inside a replica of the Oval Office as it looked when Obama was president." Compared to the gaudy glitz of the current Oval Office, I know which I'd rather be seen in. Recreating it could easily be seen as a sly dig at the pretensions of the 47th...

For those of you with the memory/experience, in terms of the ol' 1KW electric twin-bar heater, that's > 700,000 of them on both barrels day and night, rising to 4,300,000. Powered mostly by fossil fuels, because that is NEW demand, and we haven't got round to completely greening the old demand...

The reflecting pool is doing an excellent job of mirroring the state of Trump's administration: ($14million of US tax payer money vanishes on a vanity project that makes things worse than they were before. Not exactly "draining the swamp" as putting up a sign: "under new mismanagement")

Well gosh. We must be doing SOMETHING right...

The US is more dangerous than Russia, and MUCH more dangerous than Europe. (N.b. - not sure exactly what period this is for - it could, with ICE and immigration detention centres, be even more stark...)

A Very Vexing Murder: 99p eBook deal, ENDS TODAY! Give this cosy Austen flavoured murder mystery a whirl, as Harriet Smith investigates the cast (suspects?) and locations (crime scenes?) of "Emma". Just don't drink the tea! @lucyvandrew.bsky.social www.amazon.co.uk/Very-Vexing-...

The only cage fight I want to see at the White House is Obama vs Trump. Or heck, Harris vs Trump. That's the only valid reason to hold it on government property. Either way, "Bone spurs" Trump is going down in the first round, and it wouldn't be a terrible thing if he stayed down.

Clockwork Heart - my dark little Drabble over at @100footcrow.bsky.social : 100footcrow.com/clockwork-he...

Or just look at the most recent version of the climate stripes. Each record max is a reason to be talking about this - not a reason to ignore it, even if you DO need to distinguish between hill and roller coaster. 35c in London in May - how many years (do you think?) until that new record is broken?

A lone archer with a single arrow in her quiver is stranded behind enemy lines the wrong side of "Hell's Falls". Survival is the best she can hope for - isn't it? Defiler - Five Tales of Dark Fantasy from @shackleboundbooks.bsky.social , out now! www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GX2QKPZ6

Splendid Panels and Spellbound(!) entertainment, at Shrewsbury_Flaxmill, at today's @spotlightindie.bsky.social event! Ft. @emilyinkpen.bsky.social, @hollytinsl3y.bsky.social, @shropshiredm.bsky.social, @alexsbradshaw.bsky.social, Stephen Aryan, and the www.spellbound.productions crew!

So Trump's latest statue ISN'T a golden calf? Agreed. It's gold leaf, so there's barely any gold in it, and Drumpf, whatever else he is, is certainly no calf. Fake Geriatric Bull, perhaps...?