Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alexander Rooksmoor

@arcrooksmoor.bsky.social

690 followers 1.1K following 2.8K posts

Author: 55 'what if?' history; historical crime; fantasy & steampunk books available on Amazon & some published by SeaLionPress too. See also: https://rooksmoor.blogspot.com/

rooksmoor.blogspot.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · Sep 11

For my latest novel I have gone back into the Magic Realism genre. 'The Obscured' is set among the community of the Obscured in contemporary UK and Pakistan. It was influenced by Christopher Priest's 'The Glamour', but seeking to explore the challenges for such people facing 2020s technology.

Book cover for 'The Obscured. A Magic Realism Novel', showing a woman looking into a mirror but instead of her own reflection only see the chair and bookcase behind her. The image is surrounded by words in Farsi.

1 5

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1h

I guess we go where the spirit takes us. Probably best not to fight it.

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1h

He might be level 100 but he gets left behind when they run from the monsters!

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1h

Such a great cover.

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1h

I am guessing, yes. However, I have never seen or read an explanation of the Gallifreyan academic system, so it might be like the USA where everyone gets called Professor even if they are just starting out. I had to keep reminding my US students that I was never likely to ever be a professor.

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1h

Not a 324?

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1h

Also forgets Operation Torch in 1942.

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1h

I have a copy of this on my second-hand bookstall but have not read it. I will keep an eye out for what you say about it so I can advise customers accordingly.

1 1

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1h

Really getting into 'The Terracotta Dog'. I know it is translated but Camilleri has a really deft style which marks his books out from other crime novelists of the time. I can see why my mother, who gave me these, liked his work.

1 6

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

This sounds so much like how some people spoke and behaved during Stalin's purges.

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

It is amazing what 'laws' teachers cling to and constantly disseminate. In Year 8 we were told we could not use any direct speech only reported speech in what we wrote, and this from a teacher who thought the Battle of Waterloo was fought where the London railway station is located.

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

Now have the image of him rolling on the floor and the line:
'They say we were an item, my thoughts, I try and hide them'

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

I had it described as 'pain of chocolate' by a shop assistant this week, with 'pain' said the English way. I did wonder if they were allergic to chocolate so this was an accurate description. Then I thought I was just being foolishly snobby, after all, I got what I was seeking.

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2hX...

The Zombies - She's Not There

YouTube video by nothinking4meman

www.youtube.com

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

Some of us work weekends. However, I have a new book, 'The Terracotta Dog' by Andrea Camilleri to read on my breaks. I was given a lot of Camilleri's books by my mother, so I am religiously working through them.

1 1

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, apparently she rang him up and said she received it in his honour. He said he did not ask her to give it to him, but feels he should have done. The man has no shame.

1 3

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

I think it would be an apt time for Paul McCartney to re-release this, 'We All Stand Together':
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PMi...

The Frog Chorus & Paul McCartney - We All Stand Together

YouTube video by Zig Zag

www.youtube.com

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

Lovely weather up here today, 17°C and sunny; great golden light.

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

I think people will soon be perceiving the Reagan and Bush eras as precursors to what is now going on.

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

Images of the Doges of Venice on the wall in the Great Council Room in Venice with the face of Doge Marin Falier erased as he was deemed to have betrayed the city-state.

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

Tesco is currently selling large hourglasses which were perfect for my wife's grim reaper costume, though she had to make her own holder to avoid dropping the hourglass on the floor and it smashing.

1 1

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

So is AI then the equivalent of abandoning reusable glass milk bottles for disposable plastic ones from the supermarket?

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

I only discovered that fact today!

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 1d

Giant spider on the back of character Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen, in the 'Doctor Who' story, 'Planet of the Spiders', broadcast May-June 1974.

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 2d

'Do not despise the snake for having no horns, for who is to say that it will not become a dragon. So may one just man become an army.'

Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 2d

It is always a toss up between 'The Flashing Blade' and 'The Water Margin', you can imagine what toxic male fantasies I grew up holding to!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KYW...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLWe...

The Flashing Blade - Full Theme (Ceefax Twin Video Edit)

YouTube video by Ceefax Twin