Val Nolan

Coming soon: The Fall of the House of Valenziaga A queer, science fantasy novel featuring a city beyond the edge of time and space, drag magic, and world-shaking family drama!

Not all mothers love their children.

Not all rulers deserve their crowns.

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF VALENZIAGA

Launching Q1 2026!

Imagine THE CHRONICLES OF AMBER meets POSE by way of SIGIL (PLANESCAPE)

Please Like/Share/Click ‘Notify Me On Launch’!

bit.ly/42H61Ic

As I regularly note, "AI" at this point is an umbrella marketing term for a bunch or generative/machine learning/other formerly differently-termed processes that (of course) have no actual intelligence behind them. It means nothing useful for how the underlying computing proceeds. Thus the quotes.

A digital poster in the style of a World War II propaganda piece. Isolaed on a yellow background, a normal, squarish, 20-something guy with glasses is sitting working on a laptop. A ghostly figure of Hitler has his arm around the guy and is grinning and shaking a fist triumphantly looking at the laptop screen. On the lid of the laptop where an apple might otherwise be is an openAI logo, bright green, and dripping green ooze down the lid. Text on the poster, in combinations of sans-serif type and brush script reads: Using Generative AI? You’re prompting with Hitler! GenAI is a Fascist Project! Try using your brain instead Don’t surrender your creativity to the tech billionaire’s control

New awareness campaign

If you can update your style guide to "Ex-Prince Andrew" then you can update it to "so-called AI".

Images of creative Dutch biking infrastructure

IMPORTANT: The Dutch invest €595 million annually on urban biking, resulting in €19 BILLION saved in public health care costs alone. That’s how smart governments do the math on investing in better mobility.

Let’s be clear— it wastes public money to NOT do it.

#CityMakingMath HT @modacitylife.com

Good luck to everyone up for a British Fantasy Award this evening! 😀

Thanks! 🖖

The really great Star Trek gag in the Halloween ep of Brilliant Minds has inspired us to go back and re-watch the Kelvinverse movies this weekend. Started out with the 2009 instalment last evening... Still a rollicking good time! Into Darkness tonight and Beyond tomorrow so!

Cheers! 🥳

Good luck! 😀

It's not the sixth extinction unless it comes from the Extinction region of France. Otherwise it's just sparkling capitalism.

‘Battle of Clontarf’: history of art and Ireland The oil-on-canvas by Hugh Frazer became an example of how history painting had its anti-establishment uses

Found myself reading about Hugh Frazer’s massive (ten foot by twelve foot!) 1826 Battle of Clontarf painting today. An astonishing piece of work. Here's a fascinating 2014 article about it...

Correction: Evidently a sparrowhawk rather than a kestrel (thank you @graconline.bsky.social for pointing this out!).

That's a fascinating and useful thing for me to look out for in the future, thank you! 😀

A female kestrel (darker than the male; primarily brown, light brown, and white feathers) sits on a rock on the edge of a flower bed (one large pink flower is visible among the grass in the background). Kestrel is looking intently towards the camera. Its eyes and beak are bright yellow.

Look at this amazing visitor we had in the garden this morning! A female kestrel just hanging out on the ground!

The ears and big eyes of a black cat peak out from underneath the corner of a timber chair pulled up underneath a timber table. Please do not judge me (or the cat!) for the *terrible* cable management in evidence on the floor under the table!

Happy Halloween, humans!

"...And on the screen, these words appear:
My name is Clippy, King of Kings;
Would you like some help with your despair?"

It’s a death cult by way of an immortality fetish.

Every time I see a video of a moose I imagine a scenario where the Irish Elk never died out and we just had to casually deal with megafauna on a daily basis.
It would certainly make feeding the deer in Phoenix Park a more intense experience.

Best of luck to everyone off to World Fantasy 2025 in Brighton this weekend! Sorry I can't be there with you, but I hope everyone has a wonderful time! 😀

Shortlist for British Fantasy Award for non-fiction.

As World Fantasy 2025 approaches, I’m going to give shoutouts to all nominees in every category at this year’s British Fantasy Awards. Why? Well, why not? 😂

Here (in no particular order) are the nominees for BEST NON-FICTION ….

Our 4 titles: Weird Horror issues 10 $ 11; Uncertain Sons and Other Stories; The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, Vol. 1.

We published some bangers this year. Hope you got your weird on. Well, I'm sure you did. Thanks to everyone for your support.

undertowpublications.com

Donegal to Dakar: the Irish play about British rule hitting home in post-colonial Senegal An African staging of Brian Friel’s Translations resonates deeply as the country distances itself from France

Donegal to Dakar: the Irish play about British rule hitting home in post-colonial Senegal

Right? Might honestly be the best thing I've seen on TV this year.

The Guardian's list of "TV’s most intense episodes ever" doesn't feature the Paradise episode 'The Day' and, honestly, this feels like an omission to me!

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"

YouTube video by roopert The Firm - Star Trekkin'

Was thinking about Star Trek parodies this morning and now this is stuck in my head... www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCAR...

Please use this space to add context to your answers if you wish. (optional). "Fuck GenAI, fuck its use, fuck its normalization in academia and everywhere else. Absolutely grotesque. Not to mention the bubble is going to burst within a year and then you're going to look foolish for even asking these questions."

School sent me a survey about AI use 🙃

My proposal would be for up to 15 or so commissioned essays/advice in book form from various minority and marginalised "movers and shakers", covering topics from technique to industry experience. With room for an open submission period, of course. And an appendix for further reading and resources.

Actually Frankenstein is the name of the movie...