Dr Chiara Bullen

[explaining to a child why they are living in poverty] for every hundredth pint i drink i can get one free pint

I remember calling it a dress down day at school!

Copies of In This City, Where it Rains on a shelf with various ghostly themed knick knacks

It's publication day for In This City, Where it Rains out now from @lunapress.bsky.social! This is my Scottish gothic love letter to Edinburgh, a weird tale of ghosts, curses, family secrets, weird moths, & dark rituals 🖤 All links: linktr.ee/lyndseycroal Bonus Q: how many ghosts can you see here? 👀

Agnes Owens’ writing was championed by Kelman and Gray but she remained mysteriously un-celebrated. “One publisher said people don’t want that kind of writing… about poor people.”

Agnes Owens, as seen through objects in the Glasgow @womenslibrary.bsky.social
womenslibrary.org.uk/exhibition/a...

This is wonderful! Huge huge congrats!

Michael Smith's is one of my favourite editions. Just remembered it was published by Unbound though...

🇵🇸 Gaza Needs Your Support: Help Build a Lifeline for Students and Remote Workers! In Gaza, war has destroyed homes, blocked roads, and left countless people without work. Yet, amidst the rubble, hope remains. Students and remote workers face daily struggles—power outages, broken...

Once a week, a simple ask: KEEP SPARK OPEN!

This is a youth volunteer project working around the clock—through siege & more—for a year so their community can access shelter, electricity, internet. To work, earn income, EAT.

Join in & click "weekly" !

Stunning. Absolutely stunning. Now do Hades 2

EXCUSE ME?!?!

Ice and Inspiration: An Ode to Writing in Winter From Val McDermid I’m not a person who sets much store by rituals. I don’t have to put my left sock on before my right; I don’t have to write longhand in a Moleskine notebook of a particular size; I don’t care in wh…

“I love winter… I love the blitz of wee birds at the feeders in the garden. I’m not so keen on the damp grey days, I admit. So It’s no hardship to stay at my desk”

@valmcdermid.bsky.social on how winter fuels her creative process – via @literaryhub.bsky.social
💙📚
lithub.com/ice-and-insp...

The same AI that thinks there’s two ‘r’s in raspberry?!?!?!

A photograph of a protest sticker stuck to a lamp post which reads: The rich are robbing us blind and yer da’s greetin about small boats. Migrants welcome in Dundee.

Spotted in Dundee.

big L for transphobes to end the week, you say?

This photo shows a hardcover copy of Enchanting the Fae Queen, presented face out, with the gold foil glinting around the cover's illustrations. The front cover image has a green background with a frame of climbing roses and branches rising through a night sky full of stars. In the center of the image, just beneath the moon, stands a massive, ominous castle with a hedge maze before it. A blonde woman in a long gown scattters sparkles in her wake as she leads her tall. uniformed male companion through the moonlit hedge maze at a run, while giant butterflies flutter overhead. The tag line reads: “All’s fae in love and war” and a blurb from Sarah Beth Durst reads: “Full of charm, wit and magic.”

The back cover of Enchanting the Fae Queen shows the back of the illustrated castle from the front cover, surrounded by leaves and roses and butterflies. A snippet from the book reads: "Lorelei adored popping into her enemies' parties, and she never bothered to wait for an invitation." Then a header reads: Praise for Stephanie Burgis, followed by several blurbs: 'Stephanie Burgis is a fresh new voice." - Ilona Andrews. "Spectacular" - Sarah Beth Durst. "The perfect blend of fantasy and romance." - Jessie Mihalik. "A warm and lovely story with a big heart." - Sangu Mandanna.

Above a box full of author copies of Enchanting the Fae Queen, one copy is held spine-out to show the lovely foil-embossed illustration of a rose at the top of the book's spine and the butterfly at its bottom. Magical stars ornament the title in between the two illustrations.

Hooray, Enchanting the Fae Queen is finally out in the UK today!

I love the glittering gold foil on this hardcover copy - so perfect for Lorelei, who showers glitter and sparkles everywhere she goes...with dangerous intent. ;)

www.panmacmillan.com/authors/step...

#romancelandia

£42k for a lead (I.e. extensive experience) curatorial post - with management responsibilities - at a national library in one of the most expensive cities in the world? no wonder they’ve been on strike!

A Stormlight Archive TV series means everything to me 🙏🙏🙏

I had the strongest urge to write Waterstones with an apostrophe there, like I was briefly possessed by an early 2000s spirit

Two books sit on a table. The bottom spine is Sister Wake by Dave Rudden. The book on top is The Salt Bind by Rebecca Ferrier. Both books are hardbacks. In the background is my fireplace with candles in a candle holder grate in front of it. A green cabinet with books atop it sits next to that.

A small white and ginger cat stands on a wooden windowsill, tenements and a blue sky visible behind her.

Waterstones haul + my youngest enjoying the concept of blue skies past 4pm.

Enjoyed this episode with Scotland's @lyndseycroal.bsky.social, talking novellas, short stories, closed room horror, her recent and upcoming releases, and her path of discovery writing.

(My own approach is similar - if I plot something out extensively, i get too bored to go back in and write it.)

The #BSFA Awards longlist is out - and the GSFWC are all over it! Christopher Caldwell, Jenni Coutts, E.M. Faulds and Neil Williamson are all up for awards this year. Incoming..

@seraph76.bsky.social @jennicoutts.bsky.social @bethkesh.bsky.social @neilwilliamson.bsky.social @bsfa.bsky.social (1/)

A plate of veggie haggis, neeps and tatties with whisky sauce. In the background, hands dish out servings from a platter of haggis, and a decanter of whisky sits in front of it.

A selfie of me in a black dress. My hair is past my shoulders and curly. I’m wearing a necklace with a goldfinch, and my hand is up at my face. I have gold eyeshadow on and winged eyeliner.

Burns weekend eats (+ fit): a delish veggie haggis Burns Supper by the fab @drcleoocy.bsky.social 💙

Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to leave half-eaten cereal bars in my bag that escape the confines of their folded-over wrapper and wither into wide-reaching crumbs.

When AI art stops being cute and starts rewriting Scotland’s visual identity

Public murals sit at a higher ethical bar than fridge magnets, an expert has said, while calling for mandatory disclosures in planning applications when artificial intelligence is used

Yeah not being able to save and/or export the recording could be a shout. And yeah same tbh

Yeah absolutely. Maybe there’s some sort of middle ground here or better regulation or something.

Petition: Ban the use of smart glasses with recording capability in public spaces We ask the Government to ban smart glasses with cameras in public spaces. We believe they allow secret filming, and undermine privacy, safety and the public’s right to know when they’re being recorded...

I found a petition to ban smart glasses in public spaces that needs a bit of a boost, if anyone else feels strongly about this: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...

I was at a comedy night the other day and during the crowd work one of the participants told the host their pal was using smart glasses to make tonnes of money on TikTok. Mostly filming dog walking but still, I knew they’d be in Glasgow but hate hate hate that they’re normalised in such a way

When I first saw ads for smart glasses I was immediately terrified that I’d be filmed in this way. I hoped it was just a passing fad, something that wouldn’t catch on. 🫠

Smart glasses *need* to be banned. Struggling to think of any value they actually bring to day to day life that outweighs the sickeningly easy ways they can be used to violate privacy.

Her hydrated smugness tells a different story!