Susan Maxwell @ Bibliothèque des Refusés
@bibliorefuses.bsky.social
linktr.ee/dr.susan.maxwell Bibliothèque des Refusés is the imprint of independent author & scholar Susan Maxwell. Fiction: Literary — Fantasy — Mystery (as R.S. Maxwell). Non-fiction: academic themes related to archives & fiction. Reviews.
A vast, dramatic painting—by John Martin, perhaps—forms in my mind: The Gates of Literature Open to China Miéville. [As an aside, both the ISFDB & @sfencyclopedia.bsky.social, less interested in policing literary borders, contain entries on Bolaño & Cărtărescu.] www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...
I am doomed! I have just stumbled across a gargantuan rabbit-hole, created and curated by wargaluk.com (who sounds so suspiciously like me that I wonder if my sleeping self is managing to get through all the books that my waking self has no time to read...) figcat.com/categories/l...
Literature category
All the lists filed under the Literature category.
figcat.com
it's the day guys! my novel is finally out in the world whaaaat WHAAAAT- thank you to everyone who helped bring it to life. i will now celebrate with my favourite koothu song ever. then i will eat some cake. then i will watch a horror movie. it's a good day friends www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQuA...
Theeka Theeka - 4K Video Song | தீக தீக தீக தீகனா | Suriyan Satta Kalloori | Kajni | Mithra | Deva
YouTube video by Ayngaran Music
youtube.com
I’m continuing A Personal Anthology but also thinking about a similar but different project around the novella. So if novellas (novellae?) are your thing, or if you even have strong thoughts about them, and if you have a favourite novella, then do let me know!
Good cover image for any book about higher ed these days.
Zdzisław Beksiński@zbeksinski.bsky.social · last wk.Untitled https://www.wikiart.org/en/zdislav-beksinski/untitled-36
It's always a good time to remember the fundamental things of life...
Zachary Gillan@megapolisomancy.bsky.social · last wk.For October let’s remind ourselves what really matters: weird fiction
Engaging with an existing trope or plot pattern, isn't about simplicity or robot formulas. It's rather about an acknowledgement of the history of your field, a constant intertextual conversation with (or against) the meanings that have built up around certain tropes.
JRR Tolkien: You paint that picture of the key scene from the Two Towers where Frodo and Sam fight Gollum? Donato Giancola: Sure did, Ron, real fuckin' sexy just like you asked. JRRT: What.
@pmamtraveller.bsky.social · last wk.The Taming of Sméagol Donato Giancola
Just got an email from a former student who took my class a decade ago, asking me for the reading list because she enjoyed the course so much and wants to revisit the texts. And she *apologized* for making the request. Are you kidding me?
Sad Old Man Crying
ALT: Sad Old Man Crying
static.klipy.com
for fun i thought i'd do one of the hobart interviews i don't think i did very well tho. is it stealing to do this? probably, right? Social media you most use bluesky Sally Rooney or Ottessa Moshfegh i don’t know who they are. i feel i shouldn't admit this. Literary website you regularly read lol
Happy National Public #Libraries Open Day! As well as being full of books (the highest praise I can think of), libraries are one of the few services left that are genuinely open to all. Which makes them pretty radical, really. Join the biblioresistance! www.librariesireland.ie/national-pub...
National Public Libraries Open Day
Check out your local library on Saturday, September 26th and ‘Take a Closer Look’ at what's on offer.
librariesireland.ie
It is World Maritime Day, so here's a timely reminder of The Perilous Deep: A Supernatural History of the Atlantic @reaktionbooks.bsky.social 'Bell ... brings exemplary scholarship as well as storytelling flair to the lightless depths of the “supernatural and monstrous Atlantic”.
Tomorrow it's Friday, and there's a new Personal Anthology incoming. This week's guest editor, picking and introducing a dozen favourite short stories, is author, salonist and generous supporter of all kinds of literary endeavour @davidcollard.bsky.social. Details & sign-up below. RTs appreciated!
About - A Personal Anthology
A weekly guest-editor picks and introduces a personal anthology of twelve favourite short stories. Click to read A Personal Anthology, by Jonathan Gibbs, a Substack publication with thousands of subsc...
apersonalanthology.substack.com
Picked up these classics yesterday in Khan's bookshop in Kilkenny. Normally a happy occasion to fill some gaps on the shelves at bargain prices, but this was a closing-down sale, with Khan driven out of business by rising costs, particularly electricity. Who needs books when we've got data centres?
Even If I didn't think his work warranted a Booker Prize many times over, I'd still be rooting for M. John Harrison just on the basis of this photo. ambientehotel.wordpress.com/2026/09/23/m...
magical mystery tour (7)
A selection of Booker judges and shortlisters, 22nd September 2026. Left to right: Rebecca Liu, Rebecca Perry, Luke Kennard, Raymond Antrobus, Marlon James and Patricia Lockwood. Who the vague-look…
ambientehotel.wordpress.com
Great to see M. John Harrison on the Booker shortlist. We were honoured to have him contribute to A Personal Anthology, picking and introducing a dozen favourite short stories, with some writers you'll expect, some you won't and some you just love to see: apersonalanthology.com/category/m-j...
M John Harrison (as editor) – A Personal Anthology
M. John Harrison was born in 1945. He published his first story in 1966 and his first novel, The Committed Men, in 1968. Climbers won the Boardman Tasker prize for Mountain Literature in 1989. His …
apersonalanthology.com
A new release on the always great Ramée label. "Hildegard’s mystical sounds alongside impassioned Eastern improvisations and links 12th-century Christian mysticism with Sufism of the same period."
People who read great books and then write about them. go.bsky.app/kwLaK4
The apples on our trees are ready for picking (how TF did it get to be Autumn already?), &—since an exclusive diet of apple crumble is for some reason considered unviable—I've been investigating savoury dishes that use them. Happily, many of the recipes seem to include cheese, sausages, or both. 🍎🧀♥️
Great quote from @portersqbooks.bsky.social's Josh Cook (the Libromancer): "If you aren’t acknowledging those systemic attacks on literary culture, it’s hard for me to muster any enthusiasm for your arguments about apps and young people."
Josh Cook@joshthelibromancer.bsky.social · last mo.Must read from @jpinckney.bsky.social It's focus is bookselling in the face of the "end of reading" but I think it points towards many different pathways out of our current omnicrisis
And a very good course it is, too; shining well-informed lights into (to me, at least) unfamiliar corners to see what darts out. And lots of additional material. Just what your October needs...
Dr Sam Hirst@romgothsam.bsky.social · last mo.I'm running another online course through Liverpool University in October! Come join me for an exploration of the early Gothic in its many forms www.liverpool.ac.uk/continuing-e...
An occupational hazard of research is finding details that inspire new books. Like finding out the Dublin franchise roll (1468 - 1512) records female apprentice armourers, butchers, justices, tanners and vintners. Does Sister Wake need a sidequel about a female armourer in a world of Celtic-kaiju?
Martin Starr as Bohdi: It's A Very Strong Maybe
ALT: Martin Starr as Bohdi: It's A Very Strong Maybe
static.klipy.com
We're delighted to share #TheModernistReview63, the first of two special issues dedicated to this year's MSA & BAMS Weird Modernisms conference. This issue includes a selection of reports and interviews reflecting on the conference's programming: modernistreviewcouk.wordpress.com/2026/08/28/t...
The Modernist Review Issue #63: Weird Modernisms Special Issue Part 1
28 August 2026 For the first part of our special issue celebrating the joint British Association for Modernist Studies and the Modernist Studies Association conference Weird Modernisms (1-4 July 20…
modernistreviewcouk.wordpress.com
Plus, people seem to forget that there were groups in history that fought against this sort of thinking. Abolitionists, anyone? Yes, some were still racist, but many *weren't*. Were they not "people of their time"? So why do we give historical racists a free pass? Populations don't all think alike.
folukeifejola @folukeifejola.bsky.social · 2mo agoWe are told to ignore the racism of Hegel, Kant, Locke etc because they were just "men of their time". So what do we do with the racism of current academics? Are they too just "men of their time"? What is this "time" that seems to make racists of men?
