Dr Stew Hotston (he/him)
@stewarthotston.com
Author, LARP (Curious Pastimes), physics, finance. Subjective Chaos, BSFA, BFA finalist. Committee @SoA, Treasurer @BFS, Chair @BSFA. Rep: John Baker at PFD. stewarthotston.com Last novel: The next enemy Next novel: Mage against the machine (May 27)
I've decided that this issue and the thoughts I have about it incense me so deeply that I couldn't wait. My long essay about AI as a reminder of a deeper issue with publishing's biases is now free a few days earlier than planned.
An Essay: 'beyond the margin-frame' | Brandon O'Brien
As I've been working on the other essay about LLMs in fiction, I've found myself considering the last few months of AI-related literary scan
patreon.com
I've got no writing to do so, so, being dangerously bored, penned this review of the famous flop, Snakes on a Plate (2020). #reviews #films
Fake review: Snakes on a Plate
Snakes on a Plate, the 2020 movie about a lock down business meeting at the only bougie restaurant still open in London is something of a disappointment. Clearly riffing on the movie about similar themes with a similar name, Bridge over the river Kwai (1957) , it doesn't quite know what it wants to be. Starring several big names who do what they can with the material including Padmé Amidala, Rick Deckard, (and Shaun the Sheep in a supporting role as the maitre de), what starts as a procedural crime drama about a theft from London Zoo turns on its heel at the beginning of Act 4.
stewarthotston.com
“The Nerd Reich is a fantastically unputdownable must-read…Durán documents his case persuasively and convinces the reader that he is not misusing the F-word when he alleges his key figures qualify as fascists. He’s done his homework…and now raises an urgent alarm.” —The Irish Times
A few weeks ago, after a 7 year delay, the UK government quietly dropped the results of their 2019 Call for Evidence on variations in sex characteristics The results are striking but will of course seem deeply familiar to anyone working in this field. www.gov.uk/government/c...
Variations in sex characteristics (VSC): experiences of life in the UK for people with VSC and those who care for them
gov.uk
Remember - cold water bottles are a thing. Just fill with water and stick in the freezer and then retrieve when the heat it unbearable. Same with those wheat filled neck wraps you can put in the microwave.
A review of the big hearted Swedish SF film, Watch the Skies. With hints of Spielberg it's surprisingly lovely. #reviews #SFF
Movie review: Watch The Skies
Watch The Skies is a 2022 Swedish movie (although shot in English) directed by Victor Danell and staring Inez Dahl Torhaug, Sara Shirpey and Jasper Barkselius. Dahl Torhaug plays Denise who as a child lost her father while he was in the mountains searching for a UFO. Ever since then she's been in the care of the state. The only really good thing to come out of that is her relationship with Sara Shirpey, a few years older than her and making her way in the world as a local uniformed police officer who has pulled Denise out of more than a few scrapes.
stewarthotston.com
people seem to have got into the habit of reposting ragebait. Stop it, I don't like having to mute otherwise interesting people.
If you want newspapers to stop publishing ragebait, you're going to have to stop reposting ragebait.
I am writing a novel where communally spoken/sung songs and poems are spells. And the demands of this mean I'm having to write those songs and poems as part of the text. No one told me this would happen! I just want to write prose! It is deeply satisfying though.
NION has hit 110,000 signatures in just 3 DAYS! Is the recent EHRC ‘guidance’ finally showing that we are in an anti trans campaign that offers women nothing in the way of protection? So they’re showing solidarity with trans people by signing. Have you signed? Notinourname.org.uk
Home - Not in our name
Not In our Name: Women in support of the trans+community
notinourname.org.uk
Stéphanie says… 🏴☠️🦈🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️@stephaniejane.bsky.social · 7d agoOn today of all days, we have some good news: This has reached 109,000 signatures. Cis women are still continuing to say ‘No!’ to the marginalisation of trans people in society. If you haven’t already signed, please do and join the voices of women who are standing up for us.👇 Notinourname.org.uk
@andy-burnham.bsky.social do you think you'll get around to commenting on the race riots in Thetford before the autumn comes? Or is your silence a message for every person of colour in the UK that you are prepared to sacrifice us to keep racists happy?
Great piece this. Thanks to Tom for visiting our strange world. How to become a wizard for the weekend - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT
How to become a wizard for the weekend
Thousands turned a Cambridgeshire field off the A10 into the capital city of a sprawling, boozy, bloody fantasy empire
giftarticle.ft.com
Burnham and the Home Office fails to object to racism, racist riots and attacks on innocent people. Good signs.
Tom Freeman@tomfreeman.bsky.social · 4d agoEarly signs are not encouraging about whether Burnham is willing/able to improve on the most odious failure of the Starmer government: responding to racist violence by condemning the violence but being silent, or even placatory, about the motives behind it.
I've spent the morning trying to get my paypal working. Over the last 4 months they've been saying I needed to reverify my ID. I did. 4 different times. It's still saying I need to verify my ID...the help function? A chatgpt chatbot - so useless. Fuck PayPal.
Pre-orders are open for The Green Man's Debt. Thanks to enthusiastic readers sharing their enjoyment, we've reached the ninth book in this small press series! Find purchase links for your preferred vendor here - with others added as they go live. wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/book...
Since it's official today, just to say I've joined the Management Committee of @societyofauthors.bsky.social. Please hmu for issues you want us to be thinking about. Most of you should already know my position on key issues such as AI, inclusion and author pay etc.
You should get in on this. I loved it. Action, pirates, magic and guilt. What’s not to enjoy???
Head of Zeus@headofzeus.bsky.social · 6d ago'#TheDeepAndTheDrowned is a captivating display of Green's narrative power' @rainewilson.bsky.social For publication day, @ianthegreen.bsky.social introduces the first entry in his new fantasy trilogy #CutlassAndCrow 🏴☠️⚔️🏹 Out today: https://geni.us/TDATDorgsoc
If you want to see what smart AI bros think is coming then this is it. ai-2027.com It's...unhinged in a very specific set of ways that I think makes it extremely dangerous not least because this kind of roadmap is what they think is highly plausible and these are the people with the money and power.
AI 2027
A research-backed AI scenario forecast.
ai-2027.com
today is the day, today I finally sort my shit out and move to proton mail from google.
I too was under the impression that mega fauna in ancient periods were permissible because of elevated oxygen levels. Appears that’s not the case!
Brandon Bishop@brandontbishop.bsky.social · last wk.Not remotely clear oxygen levels at any point in the Paleozoic were above modern levels. Direct samples preserved in halite do not show this at all outside of the mid-Silurian.
🚨 BREAKING We are supporting a legal challenge to the Code of Practice. And we need your help. Join us in fighting back 👇
We’re supporting a legal challenge against the code of practice | Good Law Project
The government’s transphobic statutory guidance is now up and running – we’re fighting back
goodlaw.social
🎵 Happy birthday to me Happy birthday to me Black Doe is OUT TODAY Go and buy it, pleeeeease! 🎵 Grab it on kindle now, or order from your favourite bookshop in person or online. #newbook #kindlebooks #historicalfantasy #scottishbooks 🩵 📚 blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro... amzn.eu/d/0a0NApjt
Black Doe
Buy Black Doe by Smith, Cleland from Amazon's Fiction Books Store. Everyday low prices on a huge range of new releases and classic fiction.
amzn.eu
A review of the brutal and funny, Hooked, by Asako Yuzuki. #booksky #reviews
Hooked – a brutal, funny and sad story about female friendship
Asako Yuzuki's Butter was a huge hit here in the UK. For a while it was hard to walk into a bookshop without running into a table with it on. I really enjoyed it and you can find my review here. Again translated by Polly Barton, Hooked is very much adjacent to Butter in terms of its themes - social isolation, expectation and centred on the experience of women.
stewarthotston.com
Goodbye, Farewell and Amen to @scifibulletin.bsky.social (the site - not me, quite yet!) @alasdairstuart.com @smartartz.bsky.social @nickjjoy.bsky.social @bigfinish.bsky.social @dannyrobins.bsky.social scifibulletin.com/2026/08/03/f...
Farewell to SFB
This is the news story that I never quite expected to have to write, but here we are. This is the last day of regular updates to Sci-Fi Bulletin. For those who don’t know the history, Sci-Fi Bullet…
scifibulletin.com
The Arthur C. Clarke Award 2026: A Shortlist Discussion Dan Hartland ( @danhartland.bsky.social ), who is Reviews Editor at Strange Horizons, joins our @chloroformtea.bsky.social for a meaty discussion of the shortlist: www.nerds-feather.com/2026/08/the-... #blueskybooks #booksky
The Arthur C. Clarke Award 2026: A Shortlist Discussion
Awards season rolls around once more, and so it is time for our annual discussion of the Clarke Award shortlist. The Arthur C. Clarke Award...
nerds-feather.com
Allen Stroud and Juliet E. McKenna are at Bolsover Castle today talking about Margaret Cavendish and Science Fiction. If you are in the area, do come and say Hi! @julietemckenna.bsky.social @englishheritage.bsky.social
The BSFA are working in partnership with English Heritage and Flame Tree Press to produce an anthology of works including The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish, one of the earliest works of #ScienceFiction. @englishheritage.bsky.social
