Lou Morgan

We have seven new books coming your way in April. Here's a taster.

THIS IS SPINAL TAP was released 42 years ago this week. Widely regarded as one of the funniest comedies ever made, and the film that spawned the ‘mockumentary’, the behind the scenes tale goes to 11…

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From the recent Old Firm match

pic via Paul Fisher

UK Society of Authors launches logo to identify books written by humans not AI Tracy Chevalier announces registration scheme at the London Book Fair as AI works flood market The Society of Authors (SoA) has launched a scheme to help identify works written by humans in a market increasingly flooded by AI-generated books. The scheme is the first of its kind launched by a UK trade association, and allows authors to register their books and download a “Human Authored” logo to display on their back cover. Continue reading...

UK Society of Authors launches logo to identify books written by humans not AI

I mean, the only logical explanation for seeing people go into it but never come out (other than it being murderously, agonisingly steep) was that there was some kind of monster that ate everyone as they approached the halfway point. And honestly? That would probably have been less unpleasant.

Bath is a city of not just hills but HILLS, and you might think that after thirteen years here, I’d have worked out that if I only ever saw people going into the little footpath I’d never used - and never out of it - that might suggest only an idiot would try and find the other end of it. And yet.

One of my favourite ‘after’ poems- Mary Ruefle’s Red, a response to William Carlos Williams’ Red Wheebarrow.

I love the conversation between these poems so much because you can HEAR it.

Umm. Whose bones?

Good call: Adam Nagaitis, who played Hickey, and Dave Kagjanich, the showrunner and lead writer, have both explicitly mentioned the Judge as a character reference.

We urge the government in the strongest possible terms to rule out legalising this large-scale theft.

And to AI companies we say: stop stealing our books!

buff.ly/cYnU2Mw

#DontStealThisBook

2,000-year-old Phoenician coin was used as bus fare in England, but 'how it got there will always be a mystery' News By Kristina Killgrove published 29 minutes ago The ancient coin was probably minted in what is now Spain in the first century B.C., but no one knows why it was used to pay a 1950s transport fare.

Rory Pond off Doctor Who in his Last Centurion gear

Buzón con siguiente texto en italiano: “no publicidad, solo cartas de amor”

Ayer vi esto:

Pondering since last night's rewatch of IKWIG about how much the works of Powell & Pressburger insist that life has magic in it, but it's magic that you have to actively welcome and tune into. The wonder is all around, but the real trick is to crack your heart open for it.

I mean, it’s nice not to have them cluttering up Bath for weeks at a time while they film - although I definitely had a bit of an uncanny valley moment at all the shots in S4 that were almost-but-not-quite the Royal Crescent. Until now, though, I hadn’t realised how much of a visual impact it had.

Rewatching the Bridgerton Queen Charlotte spinoff, and it’s striking how different it looks from the most recent season: moving to a backlot has really changed the way it’s shot, and the scale of it. In this shots are much wider, there’s more sky, the lighting is different; the world feels more real

Hoping they bring as much joy / baffled frustration to your office as the UnTemp did for so long

Shocked. Stunned. Absolutely gobsmacked etc etc

Maybe? I wonder if it's as simple as the length of time that's passed since "YA" was branded and emerged as a big trend: it's easily been long enough for some of today's writers (and adult readers) to have been YA readers from the 2010s, and first person present is very much its default voice.

Oh that’s my friend Montressor’s wine cellar

Seconding this. I’ve noticed a huge increase in the present tense (in the books I read, at least) and I’d love someone cleverer than me to really dig into it. My gut feeling is there’s a tonal connection to YA, but I could be miles off. Either way, I’d love to know what’s behind the shift.

This is exactly what I was thinking! I’ve really noticed it recently, and I wondered whether it had some connection to 1st person present being the default for most YA books: it’s been long enough since YA became a big, defined thing that its earlier readers are adult writers themselves now.

It’s when those first couple of really good jokes land, isn’t it, and they realise just how silly this film is going to be.

Everything is terrible, but last night I got to watch Clue with someone who had never seen it and knew nothing about it. Their gasp when we got into the last five or ten minutes was a moment of pure joy.

In accepting his WGA award, Stephen Colbert named and said something funny about each of his 20 writers so they’d be hired when his show ends 🥹

@wgaeast.bsky.social
#WGAAwards

A certified dish

I love Roger Livesey so much. If I’d been Joan in I Know Where I’m Going! there wouldn’t have been a film because I’d have said “yes, you” within five minutes of meeting him

Still from Maya Rudolph’s Mother’s Day appearance on Saturday Night Live. She is wearing a mirrored catsuit and surrounded by dancers and mirrorballs with a giant sign reading MOTHER over her head. It is very high camp

Every single brand for the next week

I don’t know whether to go see it next week or not: the people I know who have are almost exactly split 50/50 on whether it’s brilliant or terrible.

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