Tomorrow! Free to join and all welcome.

David Collard@davidcollard.bsky.social · 6d ago

Next Thursday 6th August at 7pm (BST) join me and author S J Fowler for the online launch of his powerful new novella BARABUS. If you're not already invited and would like to come along please email me via my website davidjcollard.wixsite.com/my-site

The young Isaac Newton, a Victorian vicar set on climbing the Matterhorn, and the actor David Niven ... Cover photo here by John Ruskin, 1849. The CBe August newsletter: sonofabook.blogspot.com/2026/08/news...

Mabel Normand chained to a railroad track in 'Race for a Life' (1913). She looks straight into the camera, becoming the first film actor to break the fourth wall.

Many people outside the UK have been asking me who Fraser Nelson is. All you need to know is that he's the Lidl Liddle.

David Collard@davidcollard.bsky.social · yesterday

Many people outside the UK have been asking me who Rod Liddle was. Here's Stewart Lee (from 08:53 onwards) on the man described by Fraser Nelson (former editor of The Spectator) as 'the greatest satirist since Swift.' Let this be the last word on the subject. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFt3...

A fine, thoughtful review. It's interesting to see how many writers with skin in the game recognise this as a great novel, and many readers too. Some critics have got it all very wrong.

Jeff Chon@jeffchon.bsky.social · yesterday

I review of The Coast of Everything by @guillermostitch.bsky.social. Thanks to @ocreviewofbooks.bsky.social for allowing me the space to do so.

Please share this widely. Marvellous opportunity for emerging writers

Emma Devlin@theactualemma.bsky.social · 5d ago

Very excited to present UNDERTOW. This will be a showcase of new and emerging writers of weird and wonderful fiction. If you'd like to take part, please click here: www.seamusheaneycentre.com/news/Callfor...

This is just to say I have read 14 Ways of Looking by Erin Vincent that was in your icebox and which you were probably saving for others Forgive me it was delicious so sad and so warm cbeditions.com/ErinVincent....

Charles Boyle@cbeditions.bsky.social · yesterday

Summer reading

Is somebody working on a sequel to Humphrey Jennings's 'Pandæmonium, 1660–1886: The Coming of the Machine as Seen by Contemporary Observers' but in this case entirely about the arrival of AI? Jennings' book was published posthumously in 1985, and is by any objective measure a masterpiece.

Many people outside the UK have been asking me who Rod Liddle was. Here's Stewart Lee (from 08:53 onwards) on the man described by Fraser Nelson (former editor of The Spectator) as 'the greatest satirist since Swift.' Let this be the last word on the subject. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFt3...

Stewart Lee Comedy Vehicle - 4.5 Migrants

YouTube video by Ian Kenny

youtube.com

Good point well made. Critics (and not just amateur critics) should note this. Identifying the mechanism (or genre or antecedent or whatever) is where criticism begins, not ends.

Man alive but he was cool.

David Collard@davidcollard.bsky.social · yesterday

The motoring correspondent L.J.K. Setright and his Bristol Fighter. We get Clarkson FFS. Don't tell me that modern life isn't rubbish.

The motoring correspondent L.J.K. Setright and his Bristol Fighter. We get Clarkson FFS. Don't tell me that modern life isn't rubbish.

public libraries ftw

'He had a wonderful way with words.'

Stewart Lee eating poppadoms like Rod Liddle did. Stay to the end. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFae...

Stewart Lee 'Poppadoms' Full 1-Hour uncut version Comedy Vehicle Vehicular!

YouTube video by Kling Klang

youtube.com

Whereas a country governed by a depraved sackload of offal whining incoherently is a winner?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d ago

Trump: "Any country with windmills is a loser"

Good to see Luke Kennard on the Booker longlist. Last month he joined Guillermo Stitch online for the launch of the latter's astonishing novel 'The Coast of Everything' which is (he said) 'one of the most engaging, strange and disorientating novels that I've read in years.' Luke knows what's what.

Illuminating! All recent, current and prospective readers of this extraordinary novel should read the author's thoughtful response to some very superficial and uncomprehending reviews. It was like this in 1922, when Ulysses was published - the philistine take was conservative, chippy and dim.

Guillermo Stitch@guillermostitch.bsky.social · 6d ago

"What each review has in common with the others is that it reads like the report of a surveyor who can’t find the front door, and so (for his supper) surveys the facade." A response to some baffling reviews of The Coast of Everything. Share if you care. www.3ammagazine.com/3am/a-litera...

US readers! 1st edition 1st printing of this great novel for just £9 (usually around £200). This one has the added value of a sticker quoting me. Caveat emptor: there's some dispute surrounding the true first edition/printing. But at this price you can't go wrong. www.abebooks.co.uk/first-editio...

Bedroom bookshelves tidied up. Not that you'd notice.

I certainly had to catch my breath to write it

Sagging Meniscus@saggingmeniscus.bsky.social · 6d ago

In 3:AM Magazine, @guillermostitch.bsky.social  responds to his critics with a breathtaking essay about his novel, or "literary action," THE COAST OF EVERYTHING.

You have a month to write a 33 1/3 book about the album of your choice. Which record are you going to write about? (No previously covered albums allowed; new shit must come to light: see below.) (For all books in the series: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_1/3)

Stop Calling Me Frank@stopcallingmefrank.bsky.social · 5d ago

You have a month to write a 33 1/3 book about the album of your choice. Which record are you going to write about? (No previously covered albums allowed; new shit must come to light: see below.) (For all books in the series: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_1/3) (H/t @monostich.bsky.social

Something I never thought I'd do. Unwrapping a package from CB editions featuring three books: Axholme by Mike Bradwell www.cbeditions.com/Bradwell.html Fourteen Ways of Looking by Erin Vincent www.cbeditions.com/ErinVincent.... Telegraphy by Farah Ali www.cbeditions.com/FarahAli.html

Share a book you'd love to see adapted into a movie

Jonathan Calder@lordbonkers.bsky.social · 4d ago

Share a book you'd love to see adapted into a movie

John Ford's supremely entertaining 'Men Without Women' (1930) is a silent film made two years after the coming of sound, and has terrific intertitles. Absolutely one to watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RmH...

Detail from Francis Bacon's 'Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion' (left) and Trump's petulant little cakehole.

This Guardian review caught me on the hop - I didn't know the show would transfer from Manchester Ticket immediately booked! www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/j...

Tao of Glass review – stage magic as McDermott meditates on the minimalist master

This multifaceted and intensely personal homage to – and collaboration with – composer Philip Glass is a transcendent tapestry suffused with joy and wonder.

theguardian.com

I do not often endorse authorial explanations but having read this book, and it’s criticisms, the author’s take in this rare case is a more accurate introduction to the book than any of its crude, other interpretations.

Guillermo Stitch@guillermostitch.bsky.social · 5d ago

I would give my right arm never to have had to write it, but there it is. @houmanbarekat.bsky.social @martindoyle.bsky.social @dwightgarner.bsky.social @tobylichtig.bsky.social @michaelcaines.bsky.social www.3ammagazine.com/3am/a-litera...

I haven’t read this book, but this essay definitely makes me want to!

Guillermo Stitch@guillermostitch.bsky.social · 6d ago

"What each review has in common with the others is that it reads like the report of a surveyor who can’t find the front door, and so (for his supper) surveys the facade." A response to some baffling reviews of The Coast of Everything. Share if you care. www.3ammagazine.com/3am/a-litera...

I love you for saying this. We shall be married on the morrow.