Patrick Samphire 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Mahmood loves Kristi Noem

A reminder that Mahmood said she was inspired by the architect of the Minneapolis migrant crackdown, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who left "a lasting and positive impression on her."

"you need to learn how to use gAI or you'll get left behind!"

counterpoint!

the absolute fastest way to render yourself unemployable is to build your skillset around a tool that does your thinking for you, that everyone has access to, and that one company can change or take away at any time

A little reported fact is that the Iranian frigate destroyed 2000 miles from the combat zone was carrying ZERO AMMUNITION (a condition of the exercise it was invited to participate in).

The ship was, by any definition, defenceless.

Much like the 80+ sailors left to drown.

Infamy.

Ouch. 🔥

The illustrated cover for Enchanting the Fae Queen, by Stephanie Burgis, shows a mischievously grinning woman with long blonde curls, a moonstone crown, a pink dress and bare feet, sitting perched in a tree teasing the uniformed general who stands before her, his expression determined and one of his hands around her closest leg while she pokes his strong nose with one finger. Vines of leaves sweep magically out from the tree around her to draw him towards her. The tagline reads: All’s fae in love and war. The text beside and below it reads: “I take it you abducted my travel trunk at the same time you abducted me?” he asked wryly. “It was the only polite option,” she assured him. “You see, none of the men’s clothing left with me across the years would have been nearly large enough to fit. You wouldn’t have cared for it at all.” His expression was skeptical. “And you were, of course, terribly concerned about my preferences when you chose to abduct me.” “Of course!” Lorelei said piously. “I might be wicked, darling, but it’s never necessary to be cruel.”

This week's Thursday snippet comes from Enchanting the Fae Queen, which is out now in ebook, paper, and audiobook:

stephanieburgis.com/books/enchanting-the-fae-queen

#romancelandia

Ever seen a baby dolphin with the zoomies?

The Magic Noir Bundle - Curated by Simon Kewin:

Welcome to a collection of works that fall under the magic noir umbrella: gritty worlds full of supernatural danger and mystery. And rain. Quite a bit of rain. storybundle.com/magic

This farcical clown is going to Dubai and thinks he's Rambo.

✨MAGIC NOIR STORY BUNDLE✨
I’m excited to share that Mushroom Blues is part of this eBook bundle on StoryBundle, including 14 amazing SFF titles by @krystlematar.bsky.social @patricksamphire.bsky.social & more!

Available for a limited time. Buy the bundle here, starting at $5: storybundle.com/magic

Graphic showing the covers of all fourteen books that are available as part of the Magic Noir Story Bundle. The bundle is available March 5th to April 2nd. The list of books is as follows: Dexter & Sinister: Detecting Agents, by Keith W. Dickinson. The British Bureau For Arcane Crime, by Phil Parker. Resurrection Men, by David Craig. Mushroom Blues, by Adrian M. Gibson. Kalanon's Rising, by Darian Smith. Ducket & Dyer: Dicks For Hire, by G.M. Nair. The Hallows, by H.L. Tinsley. Legacy Of The Brightwash, by Krystle Matar. New York Minute, by Stephen Aryan. Kept From Cages, by Phil Williams. Madame Antie's Hotel Grotesque, by Milo James Fowler. The Eye Collector, by Simon Kewin. Poison And Power, by M. Patrick Duggan. Shadow Of A Dead God, by Patrick Samphire.

It's StoryBundle time!

If you ever thought to yourself, "I wish I had 14 fantasy mystery novels and it only costs me $25", then your very specific wish has come true!

storybundle.com/magic

I convinced some friends that octopuses were closely related to cats.

Preliminary concept for the Cataclysm expansion of World of Warcraft featuring the dragon Deathwing emerging explosively from the ocean as waves rock the surface. Fire erupts white hot at its mouth, tapering to red and blue at its tip. Burning contrails arc like flares from the water. A massive billowing cloud of smoky orange builds in the background. Water drips from its wings as they spread wide colored like magma between structural ribs. A reptilian fin of the same orange runs underneath its stocky neck.

DEATHWING: THE DESTROYER
Preliminary concept for World of Warcraft
Acrylic - 8” x 11”

Michael Whelan has painted a variety of dragons in his career, but none match the fury and destructive power of Deathwing. Commissioned by Blizzard Entertainment for the massively popular online RPG. 1/2

Definitely! I ended up doing both front end and back end dev work, and the back end stuff was so much easier: it just worked, and you didn't have to see if it was going to all collapse on 7 year old phone.

In 2013/2014 the UK was Europe's trend setter in Transgender Equality. In 2025, after years of decline, it ranked 22nd with a score of only 45.65% on ILGA Europe's metrics. We cannot accept this continued decline, we must fight it in every way we can - from the ballot box and beyond.

Very cool! A Roman dice tower.

It’s important to remember that billionaires are parasites with a vested interest in persuading you they are predators.

My mother once made me call and threaten a mafia guy (like, THE mafia) because… I don’t know, I was the “man” of the family or something?

I was maybe 16, 110 pounds soaking wet, and played with computers in a dark room like a goblin.

Oddly, it worked as we didn’t see that guy again.

Screenshot of a book cover showing an illustration of a crow perched on an "ICE" jacket lying in the middle of a snow-lined road under the light of a full moon. The cover reads "ICE Out " by Charles de Lint. Text to the right of the cover reads "ICE came to Newford. Big mistake." and "Download for free!"

Urban fantasy author Charles de Lint just published a new "novelet" and released it for free, his stories of myth and magic and community and found family are full of so much love and hope and we could all use some of that right now

www.charlesdelint.com/IceOut.html

Greens deputy leader calls for apology from Starmer over false claims that led to death threats Mothin Ali fears for his life after anti-war protest was wrongly described as being in support of Iranian regime

When the Prime Minister spreads lies about people - there are consequences.

He's made some outrageous smears. It's debasing our politics.

Anything to try to quieten dissent about the US and Israel starting an illegal war.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Wealthy Dubai residents race back to UAE to avoid tax bills Some risk spending too few days in the emirate and too many in the UK

Tax exiles stuck in London desperately trying to get *back* to Dubai to avoid becoming tax resident in the UK? Just great stuff. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

magic noir book bundle

KEPT FROM CAGES is part of a tremendous magic noir book bundle this month – for cheap as chips you can get a whole heap of quality, moody fantasy with modern twists from some very fine authors. And me.

You want it, you need it and you must get it now.

storybundle.com/magic

I picked up a copy of this in Waterstones in the UK, but mine had a much nicer sprayed edge. :D

(If you're in the UK, Waterstones has a very nice special edition, signed.)

That frigate was at the international fleet review in India BTW, along with US forces. This amounts to sinking a ship under a flag of truce so it's even worse than it seems

The question is always "what if a kid is wrongfully transitioned" and never "what if a trans kid is denied the ability to transition and endures years of excruciating dysphoria and has to have multiple surgeries later in life to fix the issues caused by going through the wrong puberty."

Friends, you don't want thyroid problems. Protect yourselves against Covid. Use a mask. Filter the air.

One was in the navy. The other was a solicitor's clerk (other than during the war, when he was a radio operator). Never met the former

Crypto investor based in Thailand donates further £3m to Reform Christopher Harborne’s gift is latest to party’s election war chest and comes amid calls for cap on political donations

This is who really owns Reform.

I cannot wait for the insights on this! He's going to:

1. Sample some local street food.
2. Ride a train.
3. Visit a temple.
4. Not mention the pogroms that the serving Prime Minister presided over.
5. Smile at some elephants.
6. Top up his kids' private school fees.
7. Say "India is changing".

Wales, famously, has absolutely no attractive landscapes that you could use a photo of for the front of your manifesto.

BTW it is EXTREMELY common for academic papers to declare Lara Croft the first playable female game character (a very easy fact to debunk). As a grad student I wrote a paper that traced every appearance of this "fact" to a single paper, which is why you don't only engage with academic texts!!