Daniel Pietersen

It’s worth getting in touch. Ande and the team are really cool.

Yeah, it’s a shame. Seemed to happen pretty quickly so I don’t know what the situation was.

[Book Review] ‘Women’s Weird: Strange Stories by Women, 1890–1940’ Think of weird fiction and, probably without even realizing it, you will think of one thing: men. Whether it’s H. P. Lovecraft’s tentacled monstrosities, the decadent necromancies of Clark Ashton Smit...

After the sad demise of Dead Reckonings the team at @whatsleepsbeneath.com were kind enough to offer some of my older reviews a new home. I’ve just noticed that this one for the excellent Women’s Weird is now up on the site!

www.whatsleepsbeneath.com/archive/wome...

@melissae.bsky.social #weird

I’ve finished Bloodborne and DS3. Demons Souls is good but can be a slog in parts.

Dark Souls 3. Absolutely flawless. Bloodborne is not even second place but it’s 1.5 place.

People come up to me in the village street and they shout through the bars of my carriage. “Pietersen,” they growl in their proletarian way. “Why do you play these miserable and difficult games?”

It is, I condescend, because I myself am difficult and miserable.

Seek Misery: Time, Memory and Gitting Gud in Dark Souls 2

In this talk I will…

Falling out of time in the DS3 expansion and finding the weird remnants of Earthen Peak is hell of a thing

a video game scene with a castle and a sword ALT: a video game scene with a castle and a sword

Dark Souls 3 is perhaps the best game of all time but DS2 has a strange charm, a dreamlike quality that’s there right from the start whilst also being absolutely brutal.

a cartoon of a knight and a jester with the words you died in red ALT: a cartoon of a knight and a jester with the words you died in red

Friends fear he’s reinstalling Dark Souls 2

Good luck!!

I’m pleased to say you can now pre-order my next book, ‘Fairies: A History’ (out in February 2026) from
@politybooks.bsky.social. Thank you to Jeremy Harte, Simon Young, Jo Hickey-Hall and Owen Davies for such generous endorsements! 🌿📚 www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...

This stuff blows my mind. Dante wrote in the vernacular, rather than Latin, which led to the creation of modern day Italian. It is likely that I, albeit poorly, could have a conversation with him.

In the year 1300.

“Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.”

Despite being far older at the time of writing Dante the poet gives us a gift; as a protagonist he is 35.

It is the year 1300.

The earlier you make Hallowe’en, the less I like Hallowe’en.

a pixel art drawing of a city at night with a full moon ALT: a pixel art drawing of a city at night with a full moon

Me, hydrated, in my confident era

Machiavelli also wrote that “Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are”, which is a quote I really like.

Machiavelli’s The Prince. There’s an argument as to whether it’s serious or satirical, but Niccoló don’t mess.

“For it must be noted, that men must either be caressed or else annihilated; they will revenge themselves for small injuries, but cannot do so for great ones; the injury therefore that we do to a man must be such that we need not fear his vengeance.”

Did you know I'm giving a free talk next week? I'll be talking women and the Early Gothic! From writers to publishers, renegades and regulars... Come join me (donations very welcomed!)

Sunday 12th

10am - www.tickettailor.com/events/roman...

7pm - www.tickettailor.com/events/roman...

Reminded me of my mother

The funniest thing about this is that even after the crowd dispersed and it could go about its business, the robot bin REMAINED ANGRY.

This is how the uprising starts.

An advent calendar based on an imaginary vintage greetings card of Borley Rectory at Christmas, complete with ghostly nun and Harry Price

An advent calendar window depicting two vampiric choirboys and Mark Gatiss with fangs in front of a gothic arched window.

An advent calendar window featuring an illustration of Krampus

An advent calendar window featuring an illustration of two ghostly youths peering out of a window

It's that time of year again... spooky advent calendars illustrated by me back in the Etsy shop! Borely Rectory Christmas cards with the same design available very soon if you want one / some of those as well. sarahcoomershop.etsy.com/listing/1801...

A rubbish bin on wheels with a monitor mounted on top that displays a kawaii cat face. The bin is surrounded by people and its cat looks very angry, displaying the red flash that is symbolic of anger in anime and manga.

The robot bin at CDG airport’s got itself trapped in a crowd and it is ANGRY AS HECK

*unearthly shrieking intensifies*

TALES OF THE WEIRD MERCH IS GO

@blpublishing.bsky.social @britishlibrary.bsky.social #TalesOfTheWeird

Currently stuck in Italy until Sunday as a (very valid) country-wide strike meant we couldn’t get to our flight home today. Consoling myself by making new friends.

A black wall with the words FUCK OFF DEBBIE MCGEE scratched onto it in white

Unexpectedly brutal graffiti outside Bologna train station

*Cool pastor voice* You know who doesn’t update their terms of usage?

I would argue that, despite his education and position, Clemens is the grounding force in Alien3. Making the prisoners a chromosomal anomaly was one of the film’s missteps for me and I don’t think it’s really necessary. I identify more with prisoners than I do with marines.

Saison d’horreur