Paul Marshall

Joyce Carol Oates @Joyce... 17h O So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates— scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend's or relative's accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the "most wealthy person in the world."

Elon Musk ' @elonmusk X.com Oates is a liar and delights in being mean. Not a good human.

lol she got his ass and he knows it

I didn’t. But hope to catch up with it, if I can.

They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell, Harvill edition, with front quote by Anita Brookner.

This feels very @backlisted.bsky.social; Anita Brookner calling William Maxwell a master storyteller

May those who do not clothe themselves in the loose monochromes of an elite millennial cast the first stone.

This is the ad Donald Trump woke up furious about.

Would be a shame if it went viral.

a page of Krasznahorkai

the booker prize judges make a lot of fuss about having to read 153 books. but assuming an average weight of 750g per book, that comes in at 115kg of literature - or just under the weight of a single adult male ostrich

you cannot sit motionless in the heart of these perils

Vinyl in Waterstones now I see… a recent thing?

A hugely underrated contribution to the Irish literary canon. The nondescript empty landscape Peppa and her family is an oblique reference to nothing less than the works of Brian Ó Nualláin/Flann O'Brien, an absurdist comment on the post-independence lethargy of the so-called Free State. #booksky

usually if you ask experts why an empire fell they’ll say it’s nuanced and multifaceted, so i think it’s kind of cool that with America future historians will get to just say like “oh they took the idiot train to moronsville”

Wishing you a speedy resolution and return to full eye health, take care.

It’s every parent’s nightmare, isn’t it? you check your child’s bulletproof backpack and find a picture book about gay penguins

..gets eclipsed & govt fails to get credit for it. This is a package esp on social housing that people have waited literally decades for, it's transformative, it's what people think of when they think of a Lab govt. But outside the housing world you'd barely know: welfare cuts just eclipse it.

I'm currently at a housing conference & it's a slightly out of body experience politically, given the vibe here is thrilled with getting £39bn + basically all they asked for in spending review. Not that govt isn't in deep trouble elsewhere but it's a striking eg of how easily the popular stuff...

All power to your elbow, Andy. I hope you’re able to find the space soon to switch off, recharge, listen to the boss, and read some books about books. You’ve made a huge difference to many.

O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch.

Interesting - I too received that email, but the courier still appears to be saying ‘they are expecting’ it. We will see. Small beer compared to plight of authors of course

Bridget with The Beatles on Abbey Road.

Bridget hanging out in Grant Wood's American Gothic.

Bridget in Bruegel's Hunters In The Snow (with a freshly caught mouse).

The Cat With The Pearl Earring.

A little while ago, my parents' cat Bridget went missing. As the weeks dragged on, they became extremely worried. My dad devised a way to distract himself: he began to paint Bridget's adventures, imagining her travelling through time and popping up in some of art and music's most iconic scenes.

I have tariffed
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island

and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods

forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold

I must say Americans dream up such awful horrors.

On Monday our instagram account was hacked and then deleted. We received a ransom note to recover it; obviously we couldn't and wouldn't pay, and therefore lost thousands of followers. Meta support was useless. But we're BACK with a new account: @littletollerbooks. Can you follow us there and share?

I think we need to go further and faster with this list.

Disturbing TV hit Adolescence exposes a chasm that has opened up between generations Disturbing TV show exposes the chasm that’s opened up between generations

I thought Adolescence was brilliant. But I am not sure a drama, the power of which lay in its rejection of easy explanations and answers, should be used as a catalyst for quick fix policies. My @heraldscotland.bsky.social column. www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...

My publisher, Unbound, has recently gone bust & I’ve no idea what’s going on, apart from impersonal emails resembling re-hashed press releases sent by yet another CEO brought in to save the business. Here, Tom Cox (who’s lost £15k from this) describes what it’s been like. Like me, he’s disappointed.

Unbound pre-packs but Crowd-funded publisher Unbound has been sold in a pre-pack deal, leaving authors uncertain over whether they will receive money they are owed.

More Unbound shadiness.

www.printweek.com/content/news...

..through your banks, credit card providers and Paypal etc. People are having some success with this approach. In the process of administration Unbound are rebranding as Boundless and sidestepping their debts to carry on business as usual. There are hundreds of authors who haven't been paid...

Unbound goes into administration as Archna Sharma and John Mitchinson launch new publisher The independent publisher Unbound has gone into administration, with Allister Manson and Charles Turner of Opus Restructuring appointed administrators of the company on 10th March 2025.

There is absolutely no way I'm ever supporting anything done by Boundless (formerly Unbound - www.thebookseller.com/news/unbound... - aka fuckers-over of authors and piss-takers of supporters).

It would appear that @unbounders.bsky.social have turned out to be bounders after all.

Managed to login to Unbound's site, where I have some outstanding preorders from many years ago. Assuming they don't refund those ones either I'm nearly £50 out of pocket. These orders are for other books than Tom's below. To say I'm furious at @unbounders.bsky.social is nowhere even close. #BookSky