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@ficooper.bsky.social

81 followers 120 following 260 posts

Uni Admin some of the time. Pottery a lot of the rest, when not with nose in book/up a hill/knitting.

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Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · Jul 4

A thread of books I've read in 2025, in no particular order:

Mischief Acts by Zoe Gilbert.

A sequence of stories set in one place (Ulverton-style). Earthy, magical and enchanting it's such a fantastic read! AND it has maps and songs. I've read it twice, so far.

#booksky #mischiefacts #folklore

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Reposted by Fi

Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 1d

How A Publisher Almost Killed The Book I Waited My Whole Life To Write: a thread

My novel Villager came out in 2022. It was published by Unbound, who had little marketing/sales power. But I was excited & proud, since I worked so f-ing hard on it.

Here's an extract: www.tom-cox.com/the-village-...

our cat Charles with Villager, shortly after it was published

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Reposted by Fi

Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 3d

This is devastating but hard to think of more important journalism. 18,457 children have been killed in Gaza (many more not accounted for). Here, The Guardian prints their names and beautiful faces and tells us what they were like before Israel stole their lives. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Young lives cut short on an unimaginable scale: the 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead

Every name on a list compiled by health authorities in Gaza of the child victims of Israel’s offensive

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Fi

Dan Hicks @profdanhicks.bsky.social · 2d

the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is a treaty Churchill helped create in the ashes of World War II

It protects our rights to protest, to a fair trial, to privacy, family life, safety from torture or degrading treatment

Farage and now the Tories want to take Britain out of it (1/2)

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Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 4d

This really has "strange individual with a placard on Oxford Street" energy.

But he was definitely harmless.

Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 5d

I despise these ads so much, they are *cringe*. Special hatred for the ones in which grown humans are asking how to get dressed. JUST USE YOUR BRAIN.

hayden johnson @haydenjohnsonn.bsky.social · 15d

every AI ad is like

“hey gemini, what would i have for lunch?”

and then the phone is like

“sandwich”

and the guy is like

“wow”

Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 5d

It's really wonderful, thank you for writing it.

Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 5d

It's fabulous (in both senses of the word). I felt a real connection to the characters, which may be because I'm old now and so have old old friends, as well as new ones; and to place, I do love Dorset. I enjoyed the little echoes from other books a lot.

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Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 6d

...which doesn't need explanation, it just IS. Looping through time and landscape (Dorset mainly, so brilliantly captured here) it's a world to get completely lost in - I need that these days, at least for some of the time, isn't that what all the best books do?. I really loved it. 2/2

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Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 6d

I can't remember the last time I read a story about deep and lasting friendship, of all the joy AND melancholy, it can bring. At its heart that's what I think "Everything Will Swallow You" is about. It has that wonderful strangeness Tom Cox (@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social) brings to his fiction...1/2

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Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 6d

Oooof, I hear you.

And I just said to my husband that being on the social media, even for this lovely event and with all the support from the team, has reminded me why I massively cut down my social media use in the first place!

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Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 7d

Fabulous, the joy of old things!

Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 7d

This could be a long and rambling thread. Be patient with me.

I bought an old mahogany bureau on Ebay. I didn't really want a bureau as we're meant to be downsizing, but it was a beautiful piece & obviously very old. Google lens suggests the brass chased handles are Queen Anne. That's 1702-1714 😯

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Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 7d

I love living here, surrounded by trees! This cherry is next door, ours died sadly. We put three silver birches (waving from the side here) in her place. 🧡🌳

Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 7d

Some cups in my Super Seconds sale shop: www.ficooperceramics.com/ceramicsshop...

#supersecondsfestival

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Reposted by Fi

Jess Taylor @loadofolbobbins.bsky.social · 7d

I've created starter pack of as many #SuperSecondsFestival makers on here, some more active than others, but if you look in the posts section you'll see lovely deals from myself, @abistevensart.bsky.social @ficooper.bsky.social @or8design.bsky.social @jemgoodingart.bsky.social

go.bsky.app/4pntMHf

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Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 7d

It's a fab thing called Super Seconds Festival this weekend! 250 independent makers & artists are offering bargains today and tomorrow.

You don't even need to battle storm Amy because it's all online: www.supersecondsfestival.co.uk/makerlineup/

...and here are some of my sale items 🛍️:

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Reposted by Fi

Jess Taylor @loadofolbobbins.bsky.social · 7d

Okay my beautiful bargain hunters, my mega seconds and sample sale is now live! There's lots of bird prints and a handful of my birb zines available, US shipping is also back up!

www.loadofolbobbins.com/collections/...

#BirdArt #SciArt #Illustration #ArtistSupport #Nature #Wildlife

A flat lay of a selection of original bird illustration prints by Loadofolbobbins. They’re all muddled together overlapping to create a joyful mass of birds. The birds you can see as illustrations are a goldfinch, pukeko, white browed tit warbler, curl crested aracari, brown hooded kingfisher, Californian sage grouse, king penguin, red billed oxpecker, bluejay, harpy eagle, Bluethroat, white created helmetshrike and a red and yellow barbet.

A photo of a double page spread from the 2025 Birbs Zine by Loadofolbobbins. The page on the right shows an ooriginal illustration of a Wyandotte Chicken strutting across some grass. The hen is side on to the viewer head facing to the left and has one foot raised caught mid stride. Its feathers are a mixture of black and white, with black being particularly prominent. The white feathers are particularly distinct on the wings and chest and are bordered in black creating a lacy patterned effect. Like most chickens its wattle is the familiar pinky red with a yellow beak and striking yellow legs. The chicken is striding amongst short clipped lush green grass that has been drawn in a sketchy pencil effect. The rest of the background is white.The page on the left tells you the common and latin name of the bird as well as a facts and it's conservation status, least concern. There's also a black outline map showing where the bird originates from. Text says The Wyandotte Chicken was first bred in the United States in the 1870s and was originally known as the American Sebright. Alongside the original silver-laced there are many other colour variants.

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Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 7d

This is absolutely true:

Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 7d

For those accused of having too many books Robinince.com #poetry #poem

UNREAD
There in a stack
Of irresistible potential
Mainly unread
But don't ask
"Why do you still buy When so many words
are not touched by your eyes"
Because
before the spine is cracked
Without my fingers touching pages, the ideas leak and spread around the room Seep through the ears
And into the synapses while I sleep
Listen carefully
You'll hear the hum
Of future thoughts becoming present

Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 13d

I'm so sorry to hear this Tom - it does feel like it justifies the move, though you have had enough hassle over the past few years to fill a lifetime and surely it's time for the universe to just stop it!! How bizarre of these subscribers to behave in this way.

Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 16d

This, even 🙄

Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 16d

Those looks excellent!

Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 16d

Very excited to share that I'm writing a new book, THE GHOSTS OF CHALK COUNTRY - about the loss of England's chalk downland: a tale of flowers, fascism & freedom.

To be published by @wmcollinsbooks.bsky.social in April 2027:
www.thebookseller.com/rights/willi...

Website: ghostsofchalkcountry.org

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Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 17d

I'm taking part in #SuperSecondsFestival on 4th and 5th October. Lots of bargains in this online event, from loads of lovely independent makers!

#ssfoct2025

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Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 23d

Some things (not many!) I just order the minute they're available...

Hellebore @helleborezine.bsky.social · 24d

Ready for a new issue? Pre-orders for The Mirror Issue are now open worldwide! ✨🪞✨

Mirror magic, ritual masks, films that cast a spell, doppelgängers and fetches, changelings, evil portraits, spirit traps and much more.

👉🏼 helleborezine.com

Cover of Hellebore: The Mirror Issue, showing a woman with eyes closed and her reflections in two mirrors, both with open eyes

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Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 23d

I love nothing more than a time-slip tale (I was deeply into A Traveller in Time and Tom's Midnight Garden at the same time as this).

Scarred For Life @scarredforlife.bsky.social · 23d

COME BACK LUCY (1978): Adapted from Pamela Sykes' timeslip/ghost story about a lonely orphan befriended by Alice, a Victorian ghost girl. But is Lucy's new bestie more sinister than she seems...? Anyone unnerved by mirrors, look away now!

Fi @ficooper.bsky.social · 27d

All the best Tom, this is completely understandable - you must be beyond exhausted! Here's to simplicity.