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bethkesh.bsky.social
E.M. Faulds / Beth or Taxes
@bethkesh.bsky.social
2.6K followers 760 following 8.5K posts
Award-winning Scottish science fiction & fantasy writer. Podcastle, Strange Horizons, Shoreline of Infinity, ParSec, ECO24 anthology. More info: emfaulds.com
#scruffyGarden
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bethkesh.bsky.social
E.M. Faulds / Beth or Taxes @bethkesh.bsky.social · Dec 17
Here's a graphic for my personal categories, but also a link for full lists including anthologies and artists and editors who should also get their flowers! 💐It's like the credits at the end of the film...
emfaulds.com/news/end-of-...
Graphic with colourful blue to orange gradient. Text reads "E.M. Faulds 2025 awards eligibility. Best Short Story: "Godzilla as a Young Man Named Mike" - July 2025, PodCastle, "Hand of Fire" - June 2025 Fission #5, BSFA. Best Novella: "Bring Me Home" (in Wiz Duos Book 2)- May 2025, Wizard's Tower Press.
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remotecore.bsky.social
This was what I was saying last week - how do you feel make under16 ban happen, how do you extrapolate that to VPN without forcing every person to provide ID? Perhaps that no longer mandatory digital ID the government would like people to use?
cstross.bsky.social Charlie Stross @cstross.bsky.social · 3h
UK PEOPLE: this is REALLY IMPORTANT. If the government bans under-16s from using VPNs, then logically they must intend to REQUIRE AGE VERIFICATION FOR ALL VPN USE. Which will affect adults too!

*Your* right to anonymous web browsing is at risk!

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/754408
January 27, 2026 at 12:54 PM
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jolantru.bsky.social
Would someone like to read The Sea (recently drafted)?
jolantru.bsky.social Joyce (Wolf) Chng/Ch'ng 🐺 @jolantru.bsky.social · 10h
The Barricade.
The Freedom.
The Sea.

My ruminations of solarpunk/hopepunk/post-apoc Singapore/Temasek.
January 27, 2026 at 8:48 AM
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shoreinf.bsky.social
Terrific News! SF Caledonia Anthology One is on the longlist for the BSFA awards for Best Collection 2025.

And it's in some fine company too...

www.bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-...
Vote for the BSFA Awards
www.bsfa.co.uk
January 22, 2026 at 8:46 PM
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britfantasysoc.bsky.social
BFS Online is excited to announce our next event, Faith, Science & Folklore, taking place Wednesday 28th January 2026, 7pm (GMT).

Ticket: tinyurl.com/fascifolk

@samkhorton.bsky.social @rainewilson.bsky.social @mkhardywrites.com @davidgreenwriter.bsky.social
Shown is a graphic of a stone maze with lava running between the gaps. In the centre is a golden tree with many leaves. Top left and right is the BFS logo, a silver dragon design curling around the letters ‘BFS’. Photos (left to right): David Green; MK Hardy; Sam K Horton; Lorraine Wilson.
January 26, 2026 at 4:10 PM
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fiyahlitmag.bsky.social
A friendly reminder that submissions CLOSE for our upcoming issue this Saturday. Keep them coming! Share with a Black SFF writer in your circle 🖤🖤🖤

Guidelines here: fiyahlitmag.com/submissions/
January 26, 2026 at 3:27 PM
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trudieskies.readindiefantasy.com
Fuck ICE, fuck Reform, and fuck anyone who actually wants this.
ayoub.bsky.social elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 1d
The UK version of “Project 2025” by the Reform party includes a British ICE, a concentration camp for 24,000 people, mass surveillance and withdrawing from refugee, anti-torture and anti-trafficking conventions.

It’s on their website. That’s how comfortable fascists are in the UK today.
The Legislation Upon winning a general election, a Reform government under Prime Minister Nigel Farage will: 1) Leave the ECHR 2.) Repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights. 3.) Pass The Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill: This Bill will: Create a legal duty to remove illegal migrants for the Home Secretary The Bill opens with a blunt obligation for the Home Secretary: "The Secretary of State shall ensure the removal from the United Kingdom of each person who does not have extant leave to remain and is not an Irish citizen or otherwise protected by regulations made under this Act." The following parts of the legislation are introduced on an emergency basis, with an in-built sunset clause after 5 years: Disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture, the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention (ECAT) Derogation is justified under the Vienna Convention doctrine of state of necessity: Britain faces a national emergency in which uncontrolled illegal migration undermines public order. These treaties will otherwise be used by activist judges to frustrate deportations, even after the repeals of the HRA and ECHR. Create Detention Power Without Hardial Singh Constraints This means illegal migrants can be detained until they are deported. Activist lawyers routinely use Hardial Singh to secure their client's bail, after which the client absconds. If you came to the UK illegally, you are ineligible for asylum. End of story All asylum claims will become inadmissible if made by a person within the Act's scope. If you came to the country illegally, you are ineligible for asylum in the UK. This strips the Home Office, the immigration tribunals and the higher courts of jurisdiction to even consider claims. A claim that cannot be considered cannot suspend removal and therefore, cannot delay a flight. Re-entering after deportation and destroying ID becomes a serious criminal offence Re-entry after deportation will be… The Operational Plan We will create an enforcement unit called UK Deportation Command, including an Illegal Migrant Identification Centre - harnessing cutting edge data fusion A Reform government will create a cutting edge enforcement data centre to relentlessly identify and detain all illegal migrants in the UK. Using powers granted by the new legislation, it will automatically share data between the Home Office, NHS, HMRC, DVLA, banks and the police. It will power bulk warrants, including mandatory biometric capture during any police encounter. Each power addresses a failure mode observed over the past decade - for example, banks and GP surgeries unaware of a customer's status, or overstayers slipping through because a warrant covered only a single property. Secure Immigration Removal Centres (SIRC) will be built rapidly to detain up to 24,000 Detention capacity for up to 24,000 will be created within 18 months. The Home Office will build Secure Immigration Removal Centres. This will be modular accommodation built in remote parts of the country. Conditions are basic but not punitive: prefabricated two-person rooms, canteen catering, on-site medical suites. Robust perimeters and internal movement controls prevent escapes. This enables detention-on-arrest: no more bail. This capacity would allow for up to 24,000 illegal migrants to be deported per month. Initial Voluntary Return Window A six-month Assisted Voluntary Return window precedes large-scale raids. Illegal migrants will be offered a financial incentive to self-deport. An app will be launched to facilitate this. The Deportation Flights The Home Office will scale up charters to 5 flights per day. To guard against last-minute aircraft unserviceability, the RAF will keep one Voyager aircraft on six-hour 'hot-spare' readiness. If a commercial charter breaks down, detainees can still be flown out that night, preserving operational integrity. The legal reset will mean activist lawyers will no longer be able preven…
January 26, 2026 at 2:25 PM
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ldlapinski.bsky.social
Heads up, publishing. Hold off transferring anything under copyright and or an NDA
ramiismail.com Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · Jul 14
Bye forever, WeTransfer.
WeTransfer TOS says they can use all your uploaded content for genAI
January 26, 2026 at 2:20 PM
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matthighton.bsky.social
I think at this point the UK has accepted Paddington as the Death Bear, collector of souls. So, I think as a nation we should start smearing marmalade on the eyes of the dead and whisper “fare for the crossing”. It’ll feel weird now but, in three of four generations, no one will question it.
January 26, 2026 at 11:36 AM
bethkesh.bsky.social
Music theory nerds, I have a quick question: when choosing a key sig for your works, you sometimes choose between sharp or flat e.g. A# could also be Bb. But Bb has fewer flats than A# has sharps, so that would often be the key chosen because it's easier to notate, right? Or are there more factors?
January 26, 2026 at 10:20 AM
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swansonian.bsky.social
As I'm spectacularly poor at marketing I forgot to point out I have a shop where you buy prints of these pictures and others. My apologies. I will learn from this. marswasrubbish.etsy.com
swansonian.bsky.social Graeme Swanson @swansonian.bsky.social · 2d
Happy Burns Night. A more important national day than St Andrew’s and it’s for a poet. My art isn’t very Scottish (people who don’t know me often guess I’m Irish for some reason) but there are occasional clues.
A very rough some would describe as “poor” sketch of a giant stag with a tiny head. Alan of the Glen is written next to it. Ghosts of Scottish churchyards shows a huge ghost dressed in tartan outside a rain swept church and graveyard THE LAST THiNG I REMEMBER BEFORE I LOST MY CLOTHES shows a highland cow with glowing eyes This one is called hashtag visit Scotland and is one of my most popular prints. It shows a highland cow on two legs with misty hills and a farmhouse behind her
January 25, 2026 at 11:42 AM
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tomsbrown.bsky.social
A female presenting figure on a tiny outcrop of cliff, wrapped in strips of fabric in the wind. Wild power emanates from their upraised hand.
January 25, 2026 at 12:05 PM
bethkesh.bsky.social
Can we also just admit the mural's shit when put against the human-made ones in Glasgow and the person who greenlit it should not be in charge of decisions around public art?
scotnational.bsky.social The National @scotnational.bsky.social · 2d
Public murals sit at a higher ethical bar than fridge magnets, an expert has said, while calling for mandatory disclosures in planning applications when artificial intelligence is used
When AI art stops being cute and starts rewriting Scotland’s visual identity
www.thenational.scot
January 25, 2026 at 11:54 AM
bethkesh.bsky.social
Show your lockscreen seems like the most blatant social engineering way of getting hold of your device brand and mobile provider, with a bonus extra helping of maybe a picture of your kids or whatever. So maybe think about that in this time of no fed posting, eh.
January 25, 2026 at 11:41 AM
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discordiankitty.bsky.social
We know for a fact resistance movements are infiltrated by agents that exist to sow discord and damage any momentum those movements have. A big, popular account that always seems to be beyond moral reproach but also somehow constantly manages to damage any momentum may actually not be a coincidence
January 25, 2026 at 11:07 AM
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jim.londoncentric.media
This is one of the strangest and most screwed-up stories I’ve worked on. www.londoncentric.media/p/tiktok-lon...
Who's secretly filming fake TikToks inside Londoners' homes?
We tracked down the viral video account invading people's houses to spread false claims about immigrants.
www.londoncentric.media
January 24, 2026 at 6:55 AM
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chiarab.bsky.social
I found a petition to ban smart glasses in public spaces that needs a bit of a boost, if anyone else feels strongly about this: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...
Petition: Ban the use of smart glasses with recording capability in public spaces
We ask the Government to ban smart glasses with cameras in public spaces. We believe they allow secret filming, and undermine privacy, safety and the public’s right to know when they’re being recorded...
petition.parliament.uk
January 24, 2026 at 9:04 AM
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polisloizou.bsky.social
It's finally coming to London! 🇨🇾

ISLAND OF LOVE blends myth, folklore, history & bio to tell the stories of me, my family and our motherland of Cyprus through the prism of our home deity, Aphrodite: goddess of love, beauty, desire... and conflict.

9 April, Theatre Deli
storypickandmix.co.uk#april
A beardy man (shown from the shoulders up) looking upwards as a propaganda image of a blood-soaked Cyprus is projected on him and the wall behind him.
January 24, 2026 at 7:40 AM
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andrewhickey.500songs.com
Any complaint about Bluesky that isn't specifically about moderation decisions or site architecture is just you saying "my friends are boring as shit". Get better friends.
January 24, 2026 at 8:55 AM
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falseknees.bsky.social
Finished is better than terrible #oldknees
A crow kicks a small ball of snow. They then start rolling it into a larger ball while saying "trust the process...". They kick more snow into a pile and stick a branch in repeating "trust the process" to itself. They place small stones. They say "Phew!" and stand back to look at its creation, which we see now is a mess of a project that looks somewhat like a melted bird. The final panel the crow says "haha it's terrible".
January 23, 2026 at 4:06 PM
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rainewilson.bsky.social
Really important review of The Everlasting here by the ever-thoughtful @stewarthotston.com. I felt too uncomfortable with the opening chapters to read the book but Stew has done an excellent job of exploring why.

stewarthotston.com/2026/01/23/r...
A review of the deeply problematic, The Everlasting
I wrote this review because I feel like I live in a time where we have to draw attention to narratives that abuse our sentiments about right and wrong, that use sleight of hand to have us accept da…
stewarthotston.com
January 23, 2026 at 3:23 PM
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drfionamoore.bsky.social
Godzilla as a Young Man Named Mike is brilliant-- not going to tell people how to vote, but do read it!
bethkesh.bsky.social E.M. Faulds / Beth or Taxes @bethkesh.bsky.social · 5d
Oh no way! I got onto the BSFA longlist!

Bring Me Home for novella, and Godzilla as a Young Man Named Mike for short!

Thank you to everyone who voted for it, I'm so grateful! ❤️‍🔥
www.bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-...
Vote for the BSFA Awards
www.bsfa.co.uk
January 23, 2026 at 2:36 PM
bethkesh.bsky.social
Just started using the OnlyPosts feed to filter out reposts for my main timeline and already I feel like a weight is slipping off my shoulders. I'll still look at reposts occasionally, but so much doom abounding is making me want to scream and I still need to live.
January 23, 2026 at 1:06 PM
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annablackwell.bsky.social
Once again for the AM crowd :)
annablackwell.bsky.social Blackwell Games - Maker of fine titterpigs @annablackwell.bsky.social · 4d
The first DELVE: Reforged blog post is now live www.patreon.com/posts/delve-...

Come and see what I've got planned for the future of DELVE and consider joining the Patreon to support development of this epic sequel!
DELVE: Reforged - Dev Log #1 - Strike The Earth | Anna Blackwell
Get more from Anna Blackwell on Patreon
www.patreon.com
January 23, 2026 at 10:20 AM
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hexthervvv.bsky.social
I've booked my Glasgow Film Festival tickets for this year! I know I have followers who are A) Glasgow-based film lovers but B) not as unhinged about reading 126 film listings as me, so here's a few punt suggestions. General ticket sales go up Monday at 10am, loyalty card sales are open now.
January 23, 2026 at 11:18 AM
bethkesh.bsky.social
Honestly with awards, especially popular vote ones in a small arena like the British SFFH scene, every *single* vote from a member actually can make a difference to a result!

So, if you're giving of your precious time to read and vote, I salute your awesomeness 🫡
bethkesh.bsky.social E.M. Faulds / Beth or Taxes @bethkesh.bsky.social · 5d
Oh no way! I got onto the BSFA longlist!

Bring Me Home for novella, and Godzilla as a Young Man Named Mike for short!

Thank you to everyone who voted for it, I'm so grateful! ❤️‍🔥
www.bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-...
Vote for the BSFA Awards
www.bsfa.co.uk
January 23, 2026 at 10:32 AM