Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

I am building my own world 🌱

I discovered ‘Penda’s Fen’ in 2018, when I was writing on the poet Geoffrey Hill and stumbled upon this fascinating essay that reads the play alongside Hill’s ‘Mercian Hymns’ (1971):

I don’t post much on here but this came out today & I’m very proud of it.

Thanks RPS & @edwinet.bsky.social for letting me do this.

Skating, videogames…both things have had a profound impact on how and why I write, so to be able to put this article out in the world means a lot to me.

👀

Hello! And also: argh! I completely missed those messages. I'm sorry to ignore you. Yes, it would be lovely to give the game a go. I'll respond to you by email.

Three students stood behind a table covered in books and book art, some works fold out in unexpected ways across the table, whilst others sit as codex books in a range of dimensions

A close up of a section of the table, featuring a matchbox with a scroll inside, envelopes with poems extending outwards, a copy of speculative frequencies

Same view of table from a slightly different angle - this offers a view of ‘Millers Girl’, an envelope in pink with intricately detailed multimedia collages

Photograph taken from an upper balcony of small publishers fair. Lines of tables covered in books of various colours and shapes. The room is filled with of guest moving around, some holding books and observing in close detail

Photos from the 2025 Small Publishers Fair! Drop by the @royalholloway.bsky.social Poetics Research Centre table for new work from the poetry and poetic practice MA pathways, PhD candidates, and staff 🧡

Poetry pamphlet submissions open! 1st October - 30th November brokensleepbooks.com/submissions

SUBMISSION CALL: We are open for poetry pamphlet/chapbook submissions until 30th November.

A very small percentage of people who submit actually buy a book from us. If everybody who submitted bought a book it'd be a massive boost to us.

Full guidelines here: www.brokensleepbooks.com/submissions

Valnet unfortunately let go of the entire TheGamer features team today alongside several other staff members.

Many incredibly talented and hard working writers I've had the pleasure of working with over the past several years.

Hello both! Itsa me, the writer. Apologies - I accidentally linked to an older GR article when sourcing that quote. It's actually from this one: www.gamesradar.com/games/third-...

EROTIC RIFLING - ROSES ARE RED, VIOLENCE IS TOO There are dozens of games like Beyond Citadel buried on Steam and itch.io, some that consider themselves artworks of erotic gore and others that split themselves into the category of surreal hyper vio...

deep-hell.com/erotic-rifling

NEW, HOT, DARK, BEYOND: CITADEL

Madonna, Dark Souls and Mario meet in a sweet and confounding swimming experiment based on a PS1 obscurity If you're playing a "PS1-style" game these days, odds are it's a horror game. Sometimes, I worry that the association o…

I have a load of notes for a possible follow-up piece on amphibiousness and playing a simulation as learning to swim, partly inspired by plunderludics, such as this one. Swimming was better in the good old days. www.rockpapershotgun.com/madonna-dark...

How a nod to Nietzsche in Soma got me thinking twice about that suffocating buzzword, immersion Frictional's ocean-going philosophical horror game offers a way of rethinking the marketing cult of immersion, with some help from a legendary philosopher.

I tried to relitigate "immersion" using Nietzsche's Apollonian-Dionysian binary. It's all Frictional's fault for turning him into a deep sea desk ornament. Also I accidentally published this on Nietzsche's birthday. HBD, Friedrich. www.rockpapershotgun.com/how-a-nod-to...

I would shoot James Archer an email! www.rockpapershotgun.com/authors/jame...

Nice to chat with these hooligans again. Also nice to rediscover Mass Effect, sort of, and inflict knowledge of the Krogans on Nate.

I should have specified the rates in my earlier post: £300-400, depending on the pitch!

Hello - apologies for not specifying before. It would be £300-400, depending on the pitch.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell PC gaming news, previews, reviews, opinion.

Email is in bio! www.rockpapershotgun.com/authors/edwi...

Some quickfire examples: explaining "mechsploitation" in the context of AC6, or interviewing the LOTRO players who organise the Great Hobbit Run, or investigating why Valve haven't set up their own payment processor. I would particularly like to receive pitches from women and non-binary people.

Re. RPS freelance, I now have a budget for irregular (maybe 6-12 pieces a year) 2000-3000 wordish, more granular and specific reporting and investigative criticism that broaches a new topic or addresses a gap in knowledge regarding something familiar.

We're shortstaffed on RPS and need some rad PC-minded freelancers for urgent review work. Specifically:
- Borderlands 4 (yes I know it's out already)
- Dying Light: The Beast
- Silent Hill f

Standard rate is £200 GBP per review, make yourselves known at james.archer@rockpapershotgun.com

collage of lava, mountains, a time diagram, a baby in the sky the word FATE and the text: there is an absolute truth to all reality and it can be accessed through these means: A CORRECT MODE TO APPREHENDING REALITY AND ASCENDING TO INFINITE KNOWLEDGE

a diagram of an aerial view of a coastal town with a red ring around the bay. Text: the true access zone. the long true reality - a young child has been born in a village in the mountains on the west coast of the peninsula. a card has been pulled from a deck and placed at its birth cot. but what can we know? a cordon has been set up around the area.

collage of hand, fountain and ring on red glass with text The Year of Access a while before this year begins a finger will be extracted from the stomach of a young woman, on its base a ring. at this point a real belief is now being made it can be intensely perceived. look for a valley and a fountain. a red plane of glass, behind which there can be seen some kind of new being.

diagram of pacific with a target and arrow and north sea with pacific and arrow and a crate of aluminium packages text: after the arrival of the being. there was a cold fusion event and spontaneous cratering. wo long crates lowered into the earth that must be accessed simultaneously. this cannot be done alone and you are to create a group. in the past there was a large collision, a sister collision with that in the sea. the silver pit. uncover these during a year of access.

TRUE ACCESS TO REALITY GUIDE

To be clear, I'm looking to commission a freelance journalist for a written investigative feature. (Thank you freelance artists for your enthusiastic but confused emails.)

I'm looking to commission a freelancer with knowledge of the Russian games industry and preferably some ability to read/speak Russian. If that's you, my email is in my bio: www.rockpapershotgun.com/authors/edwi...

Hello there - sorry about this. If you see it again, can you send me a screenshot? Email in bio: www.rockpapershotgun.com/authors/edwi...

Cheers Ed!

I want to explain a few things and then it might be clearer why UK trans people are upset.
In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.
In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell PC gaming news, previews, reviews, opinion.

Hello! I am, and while we're open to pitches about boardgames that have a solid PC gaming angle, we're also a bit between-the-houses right now in terms of freelance, so I can't guarantee a response. Feel free to email but I would prioritise other outlets. www.rockpapershotgun.com/authors/edwi...

FROM NOW UNTIL FEBRUARY 13TH IGN CREATORS GUILD IS GOING TO... DO OUR JOB! OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, IGN MANAGEMENT HAS GOTTEN AWAY WITH LAYING OFF OUR COWORKERS OVER AND OVER. MEANWHILE, MANY OF OUR COLLEAGUES HAVE LEFT THE COMPANY IN NO SMALL PART DUE TO BUYOUTS, OVERWORK, AND FEELING UNSUPPORTED, EACH TIME, THE COMPANY HAS REFUSED TO BACKFILL MANY ESSENTIAL ROLES, CLAIMING WE'RE ON A HIRING FREEZE, IT'S NOT IN THE BUDGET, OR THAT WE'RE GOING TO DO LESS WORK THIS TIME. AS A RESULT, IGNCG MEMBERS HAVE BEEN FORCED TO TAKE ON MORE OF THEIR FORMER COLLEAGUES' WORKLOADS. MANY OF US NOW WORK LONGER HOURS THAN WE USED TO. A LOT OF US RARELY TAKE LUNCH BREAKS. SOME OF US DO NOT TAKE ADEQUATE TIME OFF DUE TO THERE BEING NO ONE TO PICK UP THE SLACK. OTHERS OF US ARE STUCK DOING WORK WE WERE NEVER HIRED TO DO IN THE FIRST PLACE. UP TO THIS POINT, WE'VE ALL ACCEPTED THIS AS NORMAL, BECAUSE WE CARE DEEPLY ABOUT IGN AND THE WORK WE DO. BUT WITH SO MANY OF US STRUGGLING MORE AND MORE AS EACH NEW WAVE OF OUR COWORKERS ARE DEPRIVED OF A LIVELIHOOD, THIS CYCLE CAN'T CONTINUE. MANAGEMENT IS UNWILLING TO STOP IT, SO IT FALLS TO US. WITH THE LAYOFFS OF EIGHT OF OUR COWORKERS, IGNCG HAS NEGOTIATED A SIX-MONTH RECALL LIST. WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT, FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS, IF IGN WANTS TO FILL ANY OF THOSE ELIMINATED ROLES AGAIN, THEY MUST REHIRE OUR LAID-OFF COLLEAGUES. WE WANT THEM TO HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET THEIR JOBS BACK IF THEY WANT THEM, AND IF NOT, WE WANT THOSE ROLES BACKFILLED TO EASE THE BURDEN ON THE REST OF US. SO STARTING TODAY, LENCE MEMBERS ARE COMMITTING TO DO OUR JOBS. NO MORE, NO LESS. WELL SHOW UP TO WORK ON TIME AND LEAVE ON TIME. WE'RE TAKING ALL OF OUR LUNCH TIME, EVERY DAY. IF WE WORK LATE, WE WILL FIRMLY ASK FOR OUR RIGHTFULLY EARNED COMP TIME. AND IF IGN WANTS OUR LAID-OFF COWORKERS' WORK TO GET DONE, THEY'LL HAVE TO REHIRE THEM TO DO IT INSTEAD OF FOISTING IT UPON US. HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT IGNCG IN ALL THIS? SHARE THIS POST, AND TELL IGN MANAGEMENT THAT Y…

Ziff Davis and IGN routinely decide that work done by our laid off colleagues is not important. But inevitably, that crucial work falls onto those who remain.

Not this time. Not anymore.

Ah, thanks John!