Every time I try to use Google Maps for cycling around London I'm certain it's plotting my death.
10.11.2025 09:14 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0@sambeckbessinger.bsky.social
Novelist, creative writing lecturer & aspiring bog witch. FEMME FERAL (my perimenopausal werewolf novel) is out April 2026 πΊ www.sambeckbessinger.com She/her π³οΈβππΏπ¦π¬π§
Every time I try to use Google Maps for cycling around London I'm certain it's plotting my death.
10.11.2025 09:14 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Terence! That's SO KIND, thank you! It was extremely cathartic to exorcise all my time working in tech into this book π
04.11.2025 09:54 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Purple leaves surround a text. The text reads 'On Writing for Young People. Panel 4: Practical Process. Online Conference 20-21 Nov 2025.'
We're so excited to be joined by the wonderful @clarefurniss.bsky.social and @sambeckbessinger.bsky.social for 'Practical Process' as part of On Writing for Young People, the online conference, 20-21 Nov. Last few tickets left: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/on-writing... #ukkidlit #academicsky #booksky
31.10.2025 10:18 β π 9 π 5 π¬ 0 π 0
Ever felt ready to HOWL?
I'm thrilledddddd to reveal the UK cover for my adult debut novel FEMME FERAL, coming April 2026.
Hyper-competent Ellie thinks sheβs going through perimenopause, but discovers sheβs actually turning into a werewolf.
More: www.sambeckbessinger.com/upcoming-fem...
I love this city with my whole heart.
18.09.2025 07:13 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0itβs London in September and Iβm leaving the house for an hour, better pack sunglasses, a cardigan, a brolly, SPF50, a hat, raincoat, thickest woollen socks
16.09.2025 11:09 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 2 π 0OH MY, what's this, a pre-order link for my perimenopause werewolf novel, OUT IN THE WILD??? U.S. @barnesandnoble.com Premium and Rewards members, use PREORDER25 at checkout for 25% off if you order before tomorrow: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/femme-fera...
04.09.2025 07:21 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Medieval dog licking its own testicles. Somewhat sheepish expression.
A collection of extremely good medieval dogs painted on tiles: williammorristile.com/medieval/med...
31.07.2025 08:02 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Iβm currently updating a book I wrote 10 years ago, and it is the most excruciating writing project of my life!
23.07.2025 11:19 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0(Although I totally agree it wonβt make a huge difference on election outcomes in the short-term - theyβre a tiny % of the population - although I do hope it re-energises faith in democracy in the long-term!)
18.07.2025 06:44 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Interestingly, the data shows 16-17s vote at higher rates than 18-20s, because theyβre not in as transitory a life stage (uni, moving out of home etc) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
18.07.2025 06:42 β π 7 π 0 π¬ 2 π 0Writing a description of a boujie London neighbourhood, but nothing I could invent is as funny as the real nonsense I've seen walking around Chelsea: "Boutique Fitness Cafe", a "face gym" (face massages + electric stimulation of your cheeks), an on-demand therapy centre for "self-improvers".
29.05.2025 09:29 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0I covet MANY things up for grabs on the Genre for Trans auction, but I really, really want sweet revenge. @sambeckbessinger.bsky.social is offering the chance to immortalise your worst (male) boss in her upcoming menopausal werewolf novel all about that rage. www.32auctions.com/organization...
21.05.2025 14:13 β π 100 π 66 π¬ 3 π 6
Donate here:
π www.streetlightschools.org/support-us (tax deductible) [5/5]
Iβve personally known the team since the beginning, and met many of these kids. Their stories are so inspiring I canβt even begin to tell you.
Itβs easy to feel like everything is on fire right now. But this is a tangible, real thing you can do to help. [4/5]
Β£50/month = a full scholarship. Thatβs all it takes to put a child from a low-income area through a school that can transform their life prospects.
But truly, every bit helps. Even a Β£20 once-off. [3/5]
But gobal trumpfuckery has disrupted their funding - just when their model is starting to scale. They need donations to see them through the next few months until they can re-stabilise. [2/5]
25.04.2025 13:57 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
81% of kids in South Africa canβt read for meaning by age 10. In countries like Norway? Just 6%.
Streetlight Schools is proving that low-cost, high-quality education is possible. Theyβve already brought the cost of excellent education down to a fraction of what the government spends. [1/5]
Ultimately, Freemanβs column isnβt pitiful because it rubs salt in the woundβitβs pitiful because it lays bare the true aim of the anti-trans movement. This was never about policy or bathrooms or youth sports. Itβs about a cohort of people who feel culture shifting beneath their feet, who were raised in a world where casual cruelty toward transgender people was normalized, and who now find themselves resentful that society has moved on. Rather than reflect or grow, they double down, demanding that their revulsion be seen as virtueβthat their discomfort be not only accepted but celebrated. Freemanβs yearning for social validation, cloaked in the language of righteous indignation, reveals the movementβs hollow core. The title of her piece says it all: this isnβt about the law, itβs about the isolation that comes from being wrong. And no court decisionβno matter how cruelβwill win back the friendships lost to hate, or rescue those who chose the wrong side of history from the consequences of that choice.
From my latest piece.
The true motivating energy behind the anti-trans activists of today.
I think so often of this video made by the Topsy Foundation. HIV treatment is one of the most amazing achievements of the human race. To be taking this away from our world's most vulnerable people to score cheap political points is a moral stain on our species. www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdol...
17.04.2025 12:03 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0I really struggled to read this.
17.04.2025 11:58 β π 2 π 1 π¬ 1 π 0Possibly the purest & greatest thing to ever happen at a book event: a fire alarm went off at a romance book con, so actual firefigters arrived: www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/fa...
17.04.2025 07:57 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0As an author, logging onto Goodreads feels like hiding in a bathroom stall to try to eavesdrop on people gossiping about you.
16.04.2025 11:16 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Love and solidarity to my trans sisters in the UK today.
16.04.2025 11:07 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Extremely random question for my novel: when they're just sitting on the shelves, before you light them, do fireworks have a smell?
16.04.2025 10:59 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Obsessed with this poem. "I am falling in love and I don't know what to do about it | Throw me in a haunted wheelbarrow and set me on fire" thespinoff.co.nz/books/13-05-...
08.04.2025 08:10 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Many things freak me out about AGI/superintelligence, but this extremely plausible and well-researched (albeit annoyingly US-centric) scenario about how misaligned AGI could wipe out all life on earth by 2030 is probably the freakiest: ai-2027.com
08.04.2025 08:08 β π 1 π 1 π¬ 1 π 0Graphic for the Society of Authors' day of action against Meta. Compensation for creators. Meta must #DoTheRightThing
Copyright law is clear. If you want to use a creator's original, copyright work for any purpose, you need to get their permission and agree payment.
Copyright law does not need revising. It needs enforcing.
#DoTheWriteThing
META BOOK THIEVES - They Must Do The Write Thing The Society of Authors are protesting Metaβs HQ today This image shows illustrations of authors holding placards saying βmake it fairβ and βdo the write thingβ
Today UK authors are protesting against Meta for stealing our work to train their AI model. Authors earn an average of Β£7000 per year, we are not rich, and yet a trillion dollar company decided it didnβt want to license our work fairly as it was βtoo expensiveβ
Theft is not a valid alternative.
1. One of capitalismβs greatest successes is to shut down our imaginations. With the help of its favoured tools - neoliberalism and fascism - it persuades us that βthere is no alternativeβ. Our first task is to re-ignite our moral imaginations and name our alternatives. π§΅
28.03.2025 08:08 β π 2077 π 677 π¬ 54 π 114