Alex Boyd

In Crisis, On Crisis: Essays in Troubled Times, James Cairns Are things going to get worse before they get better? It’s among the questions In Crisis, On Crisis ponders. We have a decaying social safety net, or maybe the rising cost of living has forced more…

In Crisis, On Crisis: Essays in Troubled Times (James Cairns) is a worthy and timely book. Here's my review. #amreading @wolsakandwynn.bsky.social

boydwords.wordpress.com/2025/12/06/i...

Excerpt: Dust, More Lives of the Poets by Ray Robertson In 2016, Ray Robertson published Lives of the Poets (With Guitars), essays on the lives of different musicians, reviewed on Goodreads as “essays every bit as rollicking and energetic as many …

An excerpt from Dust: More Lives of the Poets (With Guitars), more portraits of musicians by Ray Robertson, new from @biblioasis.bsky.social

boydwords.wordpress.com/2025/11/28/e...

My Dog Tulip by Ackerley: so far so charming. A great gift for anyone who loves dogs, and in the first thirty pages already advocating gentleness instead of cruelty.

#amreading

Smith’s quasi-satirical gen Z characters navigate pitfalls of work, sex and alienation

"Smith often accurately and anthropologically puts his finger directly on the throbbing purple bruise of modern discontent, disaffection and alienation."—Jill Wilson on Russell Smith's new novel SELF CARE in the Winnipeg Free Press:
www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...

Every year I tip my hat to Biblioasis for producing Best Canadian Essays, Best Canadian Stories and Best Canadian Poetry, and this year is no exception. #amreading

Still proud of the #BlueJays

A comic have a kid trick or treating dressed up as a book. Caption, I'm that book you've been meaning to read

👻📚

a man in a costume says your time has come in red letters ALT: a man in a costume says your time has come in red letters

Someone has compared my novel to Time Bandits, and I think that works for me.

cc: @nightwoodeditions.bsky.social

"Please go on being yourself."

William Maxwell, letter to John Updike (2000).

‘What shorts should I wear? The shorts that go down and a... Bill Nighy has strong opinions on the art of living. And now he is imparting his wisdom as an agony uncle. Choice tips: become a glory hunter, shake you...

“Also, how clever is anyone supposed to be? How interesting is anyone supposed to be? Just open up your heart and let him walk around there for a while.”

There is no better way to “squander” your time than this delightful interview with Bill Nighy ⭐️

Fan Mail: A Guide to What We Love, Loathe and Mourn, Jason Guriel There’s a reason I’ve revisited Citizen Kane (including the commentary by Peter Bogdanovitch), listened to the 1966 recording of “River Deep, Mountain High,” and enjoyed a cartoon mashup of Godzill…

I've enjoyed (and reviewed) Fan Mail, essays and articles by Jason Guriel, new from Vehicule Press. #amreading

boydwords.wordpress.com/2025/09/27/f...

Fan Mail: A Guide to What We Love, Loathe and Mourn, Jason Guriel There’s a reason I’ve revisited Citizen Kane (including the commentary by Peter Bogdanovitch), listened to the 1966 recording of “River Deep, Mountain High,” and enjoyed a cartoon mashup of Godzill…

I've enjoyed (and reviewed) Fan Mail, essays and articles by Jason Guriel, new from Vehicule Press. #amreading

boydwords.wordpress.com/2025/09/27/f...

army of the brave and accidental cover with ship at sea

Seems I've never mentioned it here: Army of the Brave and Accidental is a modern retelling of The Odyssey reviewed as "timely, original, and profound." #amwriting #novels

cc: @nightwoodeditions.bsky.social

"The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new."

Murphy (opening line), Samuel Beckett.

#amreading

VIRTUAL: Defending the Right to Read: A Conversation with Ira Wells, author of On Book Banning, and Authors Against Book Bans members Fin Leary, Padma Venkatraman, and Josh Cook

Tonight, join Ira Wells, author of ON BOOK BANNING, and several members of Authors Against Book Bans for a lively and timely discussion on censorship and defending the right to read.
This is a free virtual event, hosted by Porter Square Books. Register here: portersquarebooks.com/event/2025-0...

They keep asserting they're going to put AI in everything, including critical, dangerous systems. Meanwhile, AI is like, "sure, eat those yard mushrooms, the word strawberry has 88 Rs, I'm Mecha Hitler, here's Taylor Swift naked when you didn't even ask for it and she has eleven fingers lol"

YouTube video by MarvelMusicVEVO The Fantastic Four: First Steps Main Theme Extended Version (From "The Fantastic Four: First Steps"

I think Michael Giacchino is the best in the business:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXo5...

Possibly "ridiculous," given its use now for everything people don't like.

Men who cut down Britain's famed Sycamore Gap tree sentenced to more than 4 years in prison | CBC News Two British men who felled the beloved Sycamore Gap tree that had stood nearly 150 years were sentenced Tuesday to four years and three months in prison, minus time served.

The HIdden Life of Trees should be required reading.

www.cbc.ca/news/world/u...

Going to take a break from not writing any more poetry and go back to not writing any more short fiction.

We at the Review mourn the loss of Fanny Howe (1940-2025). In celebration of her life and work, we’ve unlocked her Art of Poetry interview, along with her poems, from our archive. buff.ly/YtQzXpd

"Memory is always more true to the present mind than to the past, always more true to itself than to anything else."

-- Robert Olmstead, Stay Here with Me.

#amreading

Of all the terms invented by #SF writers I've seen, I think driving around in a "quibble," is my favourite (from Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, Philip K. Dick).

#amreading

On Book Banning by Ira Wells Book review and summary of On Book Banning by Ira Wells, published by Biblioasis in 2025. Review by Anne Logan.

My #reading friend, Anne, has been into one of the newer books in the Field Notes series from @biblioasis.bsky.social

And I know there are a lot of people here who also want to know more about #bookbanning and #censorship:

ivereadthis.com/2025/06/24/b...

Via www.biblioasis.com/shop/new-rel...

Lowfield by Mark Sampson I have to admit, I didn’t have reading a horror novel set in PEI on my list of things to do for 2025, but I enjoyed Lowfield by Mark Sampson. Riley Fuller is a traumatized officer on leave when he …

A horror novel set in PEI? Sure, why not. I've reviewed Lowfield by Mark Sampson here:

boydwords.wordpress.com/2025/05/31/l...

Lowfield by Mark Sampson I have to admit, I didn’t have reading a horror novel set in PEI on my list of things to do for 2025, but I enjoyed Lowfield by Mark Sampson. Riley Fuller is a traumatized officer on leave when he …

A horror novel set in PEI? Sure, why not. I've reviewed Lowfield by Mark Sampson here:

boydwords.wordpress.com/2025/05/31/l...

"The people who used to ask, “Is it news?” now seem to be asking, “Will it stimulate?” And the change is felt, high and low, throughout the culture."

-- George Saunders, The Braindead Megaphone #quote

"Behind what happens
there is that stillness, the wings that wait
the things to try, the wondering, the music."

-- William Stafford #poetry #amreading

I don't know why there's often a new Pope around when there's going to be a new Bond, but someone else can figure that out. 🤪