Alys Wilfred Earl
@alysdragon.bsky.social
Writer, aesthete, reprobate.
Writes as A W Earl (and, previously, Alys Earl) but you can call me Fred.
Has sword, will travel. They/them.
Writes as A W Earl (and, previously, Alys Earl) but you can call me Fred.
Has sword, will travel. They/them.
Me: I should wind the clock. Surprised it’s still running as it’s been way more than a week since I wound it.
*listens*
*listens*
Clock’s stopped.
*listens*
*listens*
Clock’s stopped.
January 18, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Me: I should wind the clock. Surprised it’s still running as it’s been way more than a week since I wound it.
*listens*
*listens*
Clock’s stopped.
*listens*
*listens*
Clock’s stopped.
Reposted by Alys Wilfred Earl
John Boorman is 93.
This anecdote about him & Lee Marvin has quite the punchline.
This anecdote about him & Lee Marvin has quite the punchline.
January 18, 2026 at 12:14 PM
John Boorman is 93.
This anecdote about him & Lee Marvin has quite the punchline.
This anecdote about him & Lee Marvin has quite the punchline.
Finally got a draft of my St Columba poem. Which, in the way of these things, isn’t really about St Columba at all.
January 16, 2026 at 11:55 PM
Finally got a draft of my St Columba poem. Which, in the way of these things, isn’t really about St Columba at all.
Does anyone know anything that a knitting novice like me can make with 50g of wool?
Because otherwise it’s baby hats for next door.
Because otherwise it’s baby hats for next door.
January 16, 2026 at 9:57 PM
Does anyone know anything that a knitting novice like me can make with 50g of wool?
Because otherwise it’s baby hats for next door.
Because otherwise it’s baby hats for next door.
That said, I need to prune the gooseberry and take jasmine cuttings and there’s no hope of doing it in this 🥶
January 16, 2026 at 1:05 PM
That said, I need to prune the gooseberry and take jasmine cuttings and there’s no hope of doing it in this 🥶
I know I talk about the garden a lot these days, but I just think it’s so important that when we’ve had two days of hard frost, the winter jasmine is still blooming, and the forsythia is getting ready to burst with more splendid yellow? That the bulbs are creeping up through the lawn…
January 16, 2026 at 12:55 PM
I know I talk about the garden a lot these days, but I just think it’s so important that when we’ve had two days of hard frost, the winter jasmine is still blooming, and the forsythia is getting ready to burst with more splendid yellow? That the bulbs are creeping up through the lawn…
I am a grownup, please just let me see the smut. I do not need my delicate eyes averted from it.
January 15, 2026 at 12:54 PM
I am a grownup, please just let me see the smut. I do not need my delicate eyes averted from it.
Reposted by Alys Wilfred Earl
You might think it was a mistake for me to launch the paperback of my space exploration series on the same day as a new Star Trek series, but I put it to you that it's their mistake for launching on 15/01 when 17/01 is RIGHT THERE (yes I know how American dates work, but still!)
To celebrate, I'm releasing the Fermi's latest adventures in the paperback edition of Fermi's Wake!: www.amazon.co.uk/Fermis-Wake-...
And the combined e-book from @scarletferret.com where (soon) it will also come with a cutaway diagram of the ship itself!: scarletferret.com/books/fermis...
And the combined e-book from @scarletferret.com where (soon) it will also come with a cutaway diagram of the ship itself!: scarletferret.com/books/fermis...
January 15, 2026 at 12:44 PM
You might think it was a mistake for me to launch the paperback of my space exploration series on the same day as a new Star Trek series, but I put it to you that it's their mistake for launching on 15/01 when 17/01 is RIGHT THERE (yes I know how American dates work, but still!)
So much of the text in the original Cranks is just *deeply* horrifying?
“An exotic blend of ingredients gives the bean sprouts an exciting sweet and sour flavour.”
Nope. Nope nope nope.
“An exotic blend of ingredients gives the bean sprouts an exciting sweet and sour flavour.”
Nope. Nope nope nope.
January 14, 2026 at 4:24 PM
So much of the text in the original Cranks is just *deeply* horrifying?
“An exotic blend of ingredients gives the bean sprouts an exciting sweet and sour flavour.”
Nope. Nope nope nope.
“An exotic blend of ingredients gives the bean sprouts an exciting sweet and sour flavour.”
Nope. Nope nope nope.
Reposted by Alys Wilfred Earl
Stay brave, stay queer, stay kinky, stay strange, and for God’s sake, stay alive.
January 14, 2026 at 2:28 PM
Stay brave, stay queer, stay kinky, stay strange, and for God’s sake, stay alive.
Reposted by Alys Wilfred Earl
Chapter Five continues, in which your humble author finally allows you to visit the eponymous Forthenby (and remembers about the A Plot). forthenby.com/2026/01/14/2...
2.5.2
In which your humble author finally takes you to Forthenby…
forthenby.com
January 14, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Chapter Five continues, in which your humble author finally allows you to visit the eponymous Forthenby (and remembers about the A Plot). forthenby.com/2026/01/14/2...
I’ve been cataloguing a small private library lately - and part of the job is making sure all the data/citation of the books listed is correct. So when I saw the foreword to a book of Vedanta mysticism was by a guy called Christopher Isherwood, I thought, “Surely not *that* Christopher Isherwood?”
January 14, 2026 at 12:48 PM
I’ve been cataloguing a small private library lately - and part of the job is making sure all the data/citation of the books listed is correct. So when I saw the foreword to a book of Vedanta mysticism was by a guy called Christopher Isherwood, I thought, “Surely not *that* Christopher Isherwood?”
Reposted by Alys Wilfred Earl
Thread. [the shorthand about her that is often uplifted on social media always does her a disservice and also does Rosa Parks one too. Glad for this thread]
Friends, Claudette Colvin—the 15-year-old who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus in March 1955 & joined the federal case against bus segregation that went to the Supreme Court — died today at age 86. But there are lots of myths and mis-impressions about her. A short corrective thread:
January 14, 2026 at 4:05 AM
Thread. [the shorthand about her that is often uplifted on social media always does her a disservice and also does Rosa Parks one too. Glad for this thread]
I learned a song about this in school - with bits in Latin and Old French as well as English.
American culture had infiltrated sufficiently that we used “donkey”’ instead.
American culture had infiltrated sufficiently that we used “donkey”’ instead.
So: happy... er, yes, well, happy this most holy of days to all who celebrate
January 14, 2026 at 10:45 AM
I learned a song about this in school - with bits in Latin and Old French as well as English.
American culture had infiltrated sufficiently that we used “donkey”’ instead.
American culture had infiltrated sufficiently that we used “donkey”’ instead.
“the culture war zealots who consider every new thing strange and every kindness wicked…”
I missed this when it first came out, but this is the best thing I’ve read on this subject. Absolutely spot on.
I missed this when it first came out, but this is the best thing I’ve read on this subject. Absolutely spot on.
I wrote about how much I detest the fact that so much SCREEN MENACE nonsense is peddled to anxious parents by people like Haidt and Katherine Birbalsingh, last year.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
The dogma of ‘Britain’s Strictest Headmistress’ is a con as old as time - gentle parenting produces happier kids
Disciplinarians claim a stern approach is best, but there’s a lot of evidence to dispute this, says the Observer parenting columnist
www.theguardian.com
January 14, 2026 at 10:31 AM
“the culture war zealots who consider every new thing strange and every kindness wicked…”
I missed this when it first came out, but this is the best thing I’ve read on this subject. Absolutely spot on.
I missed this when it first came out, but this is the best thing I’ve read on this subject. Absolutely spot on.
Reposted by Alys Wilfred Earl
The Home Office’s new TikTok account wants you to see migration through a negative lens.
We refuse this toxic narrative. Migration is a positive force in this country.
We refuse this toxic narrative. Migration is a positive force in this country.
January 13, 2026 at 6:01 PM
The Home Office’s new TikTok account wants you to see migration through a negative lens.
We refuse this toxic narrative. Migration is a positive force in this country.
We refuse this toxic narrative. Migration is a positive force in this country.
Full disclosure, my Seal Friend slightly larger than this Seal Friend.
January 13, 2026 at 9:35 PM
Full disclosure, my Seal Friend slightly larger than this Seal Friend.
I was given an Identical version of this Seal Friend for Christmas, and it has brought me so much joy? Now this handsome chap has turned up on my reccs, so…
If you also wish a Seal Friend to bring you joy, it can! For the low price of £20: www.vinted.co.uk/items/793816...
If you also wish a Seal Friend to bring you joy, it can! For the low price of £20: www.vinted.co.uk/items/793816...
Wedgwood Glass Seal Sculpture | Vinted
Wedgwood Glass Seal Sculpture - Excellent condition size in photos
www.vinted.co.uk
January 13, 2026 at 7:00 PM
I was given an Identical version of this Seal Friend for Christmas, and it has brought me so much joy? Now this handsome chap has turned up on my reccs, so…
If you also wish a Seal Friend to bring you joy, it can! For the low price of £20: www.vinted.co.uk/items/793816...
If you also wish a Seal Friend to bring you joy, it can! For the low price of £20: www.vinted.co.uk/items/793816...
Reposted by Alys Wilfred Earl
✂️ Yesterday I finally responded to @agakowalska.bsky.social’s challenge to make a collage from a single piece of packaging. I present to you a green (tea) woodpecker, made from a big Yorkshire Tea box. It was fun and I’ll be rooting through our recycling bin for more materials later on ♻️
January 12, 2026 at 8:13 PM
✂️ Yesterday I finally responded to @agakowalska.bsky.social’s challenge to make a collage from a single piece of packaging. I present to you a green (tea) woodpecker, made from a big Yorkshire Tea box. It was fun and I’ll be rooting through our recycling bin for more materials later on ♻️
I tend to have deep romances with rivers. It’s why they turn up so much in my poetry.
But in my life, I’ve lived on the Medway, the Yare, the Waveney, the Wensum, and the Tweed. (With honourable mention to the Water of Leith.)
But in my life, I’ve lived on the Medway, the Yare, the Waveney, the Wensum, and the Tweed. (With honourable mention to the Water of Leith.)
My favorite Twitter prompt was "RT this with your home river," so reskeet this with your home river.
Mine is the Patuxent.
Mine is the Patuxent.
January 12, 2026 at 10:45 PM
I tend to have deep romances with rivers. It’s why they turn up so much in my poetry.
But in my life, I’ve lived on the Medway, the Yare, the Waveney, the Wensum, and the Tweed. (With honourable mention to the Water of Leith.)
But in my life, I’ve lived on the Medway, the Yare, the Waveney, the Wensum, and the Tweed. (With honourable mention to the Water of Leith.)
Reposted by Alys Wilfred Earl
Patch and keychain sketch ideas based on Japanese "Beware of Crow" signs.
January 11, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Patch and keychain sketch ideas based on Japanese "Beware of Crow" signs.
I really wish sellers on Vinted could be made to understand that, under no circumstances, is a 38” chest an “men’s medium”.
I had a 36” chest when I was an underfed and pre-T *size 10*. I’m not even sure I can call it an XS. It is a *child’s* size.
I had a 36” chest when I was an underfed and pre-T *size 10*. I’m not even sure I can call it an XS. It is a *child’s* size.
January 10, 2026 at 7:31 PM
I really wish sellers on Vinted could be made to understand that, under no circumstances, is a 38” chest an “men’s medium”.
I had a 36” chest when I was an underfed and pre-T *size 10*. I’m not even sure I can call it an XS. It is a *child’s* size.
I had a 36” chest when I was an underfed and pre-T *size 10*. I’m not even sure I can call it an XS. It is a *child’s* size.
Reposted by Alys Wilfred Earl
Morning sun reflecting off the snow on Cadair Idris
January 10, 2026 at 9:10 AM
Morning sun reflecting off the snow on Cadair Idris
Just got touched for a fag which has not happened in ages, and will also read very differently to my American followers.
January 9, 2026 at 8:55 PM
Just got touched for a fag which has not happened in ages, and will also read very differently to my American followers.