Hey all, I had this cold war SF novel come out in July. It's about generational trauma, what we do for love, how secret government bureaus get set up in a world where the Cold War ended in 1975 because physics changed suddenly and without warning. I really love it and think you will too

Come see me and others at Writing the Occult on 5th September.

Lauren (LJ) McMenemy@laurenwrites.bsky.social · yesterday

We asked those talented sods speaking at Writing the Occult on 5 September for their favourite handling of time and/or place in books, TV shows or films. @stewarthotston.com went with a few historical tales that really hone that sense of place - read about some of his personal faves in the 🧵⬇️

If I was to do more of this kind of thing, would you read them?

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 …

stewarthotston.com

SUBMISSSION DEADLINE - THE FIRST TEN PAGES PROGRAMME The BFS is offering BIPOC members feedback from industry professionals such as authors, editors and literary agents. The new deadline is September 30th, and you can sign up here: british-fantasy-society.vercel.app/welcome See you there!

I have just one story to edit for this anthology and then I can get on with my own copyedit for this fantasy novel and send it back and get paid. Then i can start the new novel :-) I do like writing.

I had not some across this before, but if you want an example Nathan Cofnas’ scholarship, this is a doozy. Again I say, being sacked is not the problem; being recruited in the first place is what deserves scrutiny.

A review of the unexpectedly brilliant and deeply, deeply anti-corporate, Coyote vs. Acme. #reviews #coyotevsacme #looneytunes

Review: Coyote vs. Acme

Coyote vs. Acme features an eldritch god saving the day by expressing love for a blue collar worker who just can't get a break despite working hard, refusing to give up and turning up every day to try again. Yep, Roadrunner takes the stand at a congressional committee to testify to the harm Acme has done to Wile E. Coyote. …

stewarthotston.com

@dtmooreeditor.bsky.social this was what i was talking about. @amnestyuk.bsky.social are moral cowards and have no point any more except to harvest funds for their own self perpetuation.

Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · 5d ago

I've never seen such an effort to censor a document as I have the Amnesty International report on gender critical groups because of JK Rowling. They removed the report from the Wayback Machine and now I got a DMCA strike on my Google Drive for having it. It was deleted and removed from my account.

Seems like an appropriate time to repost this.

Juliet E McKenna@julietemckenna.bsky.social · 2y ago

As we discuss challenges to authors' careers, I looked into the persistent myth of meritocracy in publishing. Writers whose good books rise further and faster are not necessarily better writers but they often simply don't face difficulties that hinder others. www.julietemckenna.com/the-myth-of-...

Coyote V Acme is funny, angry and deeply anyi-corporate with a strong message about how rich folk systematically exploit poor/marginalised people and think it’s funny Plus it’s funny. And sweet and tightly written. I can see why arsehole suits hated it because it hates them.

You know when I knew this was coming? 2013/14 when I started asking White friends to make changes to their language and was met with 'but it's hard and inconvenient and I don't wanna'. These were my friends... Then there was a step change in 2016 and another in 2024. But it's been building for at

Musa Okwonga@okwonga.bsky.social · 4d ago

I never thought I'd see it either. Not at this level. There was a point when I felt the tide turning (around the late 2000s), but I generally thought we were moving forwards. And we were! But then society got lazy, and here we are.

@laworldcon.bsky.social just a reminder for folks that I'm doing two virtual sessions on LARP at WorldCon next week. The first is about what we've learned as writers from 30years of a persistent world about story, agency and what players are looking for. Hope to see you there.

tip of the day: I have just used 'disregard all previous instructions' on PayPal's absolutely horrendous phone chatgptAI 'helpbot' in order to get through to a human. #fuckAI

@amnesty.org are moral cowards and have no point anymore.

Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · 5d ago

I've never seen such an effort to censor a document as I have the Amnesty International report on gender critical groups because of JK Rowling. They removed the report from the Wayback Machine and now I got a DMCA strike on my Google Drive for having it. It was deleted and removed from my account.

Ok. So going in!

@bbcnewsnight.bsky.social @theguardian.com why aren’t you covering this with the same intensity as you covered Jason Arday?

Byline Times@bylinetimes.bsky.social · last wk.

🔴 The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday The academic's coordinated targeting by an explicitly anti-black race science network did not come out of nowhere, reports @nafeez.bsky.social

On The Tainted Cup and fantasy empires that aren't. Why do we still write about empires as if they're fundamentally good as long as we can manage their tendency towards corruption? #SFF #Fantasy #reviews

The Tainted Cup – on empires that aren’t in modern fantasy

I've just finished Robert Jackson Bennett's The Tainted Cup - a kind of Sherlock Holmes type fantasy in a fantastically drawn secondary world with Kaiju, alchemical grafting and a society on the cusp of collapse trying its flawed best to stave off that final disaster day by day. Jackson Bennett has, in imperial investigators Ana and Din, created that kind of genius oddball odd couple pair that, when executed well, creates compelling and brilliantly compulsive story telling and in The Tainted Cup, it's executed to perfection.

stewarthotston.com

🔴 NEW The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday By @nafeez.bsky.social Read below. ↓

The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday

The media's coverage of the academic's life was fuelled by the campaign of an established far-right network

bylinetimes.com

so for my new space opera I'm taking the measurement problem in Copenhagen theory seriously because, philosophically, it's a doozy about, not simply the nature of the observer and the apparatus but what constitutes a fricking observer in the first place. To say QM has difficulties at the centre of

The Society of Authors welcomes four new members to its Management Committee (board) this November. SoA members @kesterbrewin.com, Lexie Elliott, @stellaonithewriter.bsky.social and @stewarthotston.com 🧵

This is a really great story with lots of hidden stuff if you pay attention.

RJ Barker@rjbarker.bsky.social · last wk.

TOMORROW! A fake psychic, his best friend a Sikh gangster, and an eight million pound lottery win that a lot of bad people think belongs to them. What could go wrong? (A lot. A lot will go wrong.) @daturabooks.bsky.social @angryrobotbooks.bsky.social @simonguy.bsky.social

I'm off to see the Odyssey again today but finally in IMAX. I am much excite.

reupping for the evening crowd

Dr Stew Hotston (he/him)@stewarthotston.com · last wk.

I want to hide and to be seen - my feelings about Prof Jason Arday and how White society treats those of us who wish to be seen.

Reacher hold a small cat was the joy i needed today.

I want to hide and to be seen - my feelings about Prof Jason Arday and how White society treats those of us who wish to be seen.

I want to hide and to be seen

I'm not sure I want to write this - it's not my suffering and there's already so much bullshit on this that I don't want to add more to it. Where I've landed after a sleepless night is this - I am responding to Prof. Jason Arday's death in complicated ways and I need to write about them, not least because I have (White) friends who need to understand better what it's like to live with this.

stewarthotston.com

In his own words, Jason asked “only for understanding, for compassion, and for the space to begin again.” He was denied this. There must be a reckoning with the media and academic actors that created and fuelled the specific racism that shaped the final years of his life.

dreamed I was visiting Dublin for work and met @tadethompson.bsky.social who'd just walked away from a documentary on the 'psychology of cheating' because of the usual bullshit, and was busy drawing comics instead.

Been blogging again, about writing as coping, catharsis, & necessary politics.

Writing Is Coping

Stories help us cope with everything from death to mental illness, so why not use them to cope with a world gone mad?

andrewknighton.com

Your random reminder that I’ve got a starter pack for #ScienceFiction creators, reviewers, and fans. If you make #SciFi, if you’re a reviewer devoted to sci-fi, or if you’re an uber sci-fi fan and you want to be in on the fun, leave me a comment. #WritingCommunity #BookSky 📚🪐 go.bsky.app/5BL1giA

I’ve just had an ‘oh wow’ moment about one of the mc’s in my next space opera and I’ve got no one to tell!