Phillip Irving
@irvingphil.bsky.social
Writer, sometime editor, sometimes comic. Querying one comedy noir and one swashbuckling fantasy. Short fiction in Best of British Science Fiction 21 and 22 (Newcon Press), Laughs in Space (The Slab Press), Severed Souls (Space Cat Press).
Reposted by Phillip Irving
Via Gary Marcus.
Wow.
Wow.
November 3, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Via Gary Marcus.
Wow.
Wow.
Just noticed that the pocket programme for #worldfantasyconvention2025 has cut the 9.00PM slots off the programme grid for today (Thursday). They are there to see in the full listings! @worldfantasy2025.bsky.social
October 30, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Just noticed that the pocket programme for #worldfantasyconvention2025 has cut the 9.00PM slots off the programme grid for today (Thursday). They are there to see in the full listings! @worldfantasy2025.bsky.social
Having great Thai food in Brighton ahead of the start of #worldfantasycon2025 tomorrow. First panel (ever!) will be Satirical Fantasy in Edinburgh Panel Room 3 tomorrow at 21.00 😊
October 29, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Having great Thai food in Brighton ahead of the start of #worldfantasycon2025 tomorrow. First panel (ever!) will be Satirical Fantasy in Edinburgh Panel Room 3 tomorrow at 21.00 😊
Reposted by Phillip Irving
Going to the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, UK next week? I'll be there!
Thurs 30 Oct
9-10PM
Satirical Fantasy
Me! (moderator), with @irvingphil.bsky.social , @mikebrooks668.bsky.social, and Karin J. Robinson!
Thurs 30 Oct
9-10PM
Satirical Fantasy
Me! (moderator), with @irvingphil.bsky.social , @mikebrooks668.bsky.social, and Karin J. Robinson!
October 24, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Going to the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, UK next week? I'll be there!
Thurs 30 Oct
9-10PM
Satirical Fantasy
Me! (moderator), with @irvingphil.bsky.social , @mikebrooks668.bsky.social, and Karin J. Robinson!
Thurs 30 Oct
9-10PM
Satirical Fantasy
Me! (moderator), with @irvingphil.bsky.social , @mikebrooks668.bsky.social, and Karin J. Robinson!
Reposted by Phillip Irving
"But when the team looked at the employees’ actual work output, they found that the developers had completed tasks 20% slower when using AI than when working without it. Researchers were stunned. “No one expected that outcome. We didn’t even really consider a slowdown as a possibility.”
🎁link
🎁link
October 19, 2025 at 10:51 PM
"But when the team looked at the employees’ actual work output, they found that the developers had completed tasks 20% slower when using AI than when working without it. Researchers were stunned. “No one expected that outcome. We didn’t even really consider a slowdown as a possibility.”
🎁link
🎁link
Disney has the opportunity to make the loudest political statement by any media organisation in history.
By moving to Canada.
By moving to Canada.
Nuremberg laws:
FCC Investigates Disney for DEI Practices, Chair Says www.wsj.com/business/med...
FCC Investigates Disney for DEI Practices, Chair Says www.wsj.com/business/med...
FCC Investigates Disney for DEI Practices, Chair Says
Brendan Carr posted a letter to the entertainment company on X.
www.wsj.com
March 29, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Disney has the opportunity to make the loudest political statement by any media organisation in history.
By moving to Canada.
By moving to Canada.
Reposted by Phillip Irving
I'm looking for an artist to do a book cover. Full disclosure - I'm on a time crunch. I would need it by August 1st. I know what I want on the cover, and I'm looking for a realistic style. I can give more info. Drop your examples of your work below.
#BookSky💙📚 #ArtSky
#BookSky💙📚 #ArtSky
March 21, 2025 at 12:24 AM
I'm looking for an artist to do a book cover. Full disclosure - I'm on a time crunch. I would need it by August 1st. I know what I want on the cover, and I'm looking for a realistic style. I can give more info. Drop your examples of your work below.
#BookSky💙📚 #ArtSky
#BookSky💙📚 #ArtSky
As I recover from the much-underpromoted but fantastic #Leicester Comedy Festival, I’m eyeing up #Derby Comedy Festival in May/June, with a couple of late March and mid-May spots to tide me over. Great to see #standup #comedy doing so well in the #EastMidlands.
March 5, 2025 at 8:08 PM
As I recover from the much-underpromoted but fantastic #Leicester Comedy Festival, I’m eyeing up #Derby Comedy Festival in May/June, with a couple of late March and mid-May spots to tide me over. Great to see #standup #comedy doing so well in the #EastMidlands.
Reposted by Phillip Irving
Well done @irvingphil.bsky.social last night for winning Some-Antics
February 8, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Well done @irvingphil.bsky.social last night for winning Some-Antics
Reposted by Phillip Irving
They cant get my data if i am Fully Dissolved in a bath tub full of sodium hydroxide
January 14, 2025 at 9:52 PM
They cant get my data if i am Fully Dissolved in a bath tub full of sodium hydroxide
This is an example of extreme reactions being represented as common behaviour (for “anti-spoiler culture”?😂). I think most of us avoid major revelations ahead of time and, given that there are quite a lot of books, how long a book has been out isn’t really a good indicator of whether it’s fair game.
Anti-spoiler culture has absolutely rotted people's brains. Can't count how many times I'll write a piece about a book that's been out for years or decades, touch upon one of its themes & inevitably get a comment like, "Thanks for spoiling it!" Is giving you the protagonist's name also a spoiler?
January 15, 2025 at 9:18 AM
This is an example of extreme reactions being represented as common behaviour (for “anti-spoiler culture”?😂). I think most of us avoid major revelations ahead of time and, given that there are quite a lot of books, how long a book has been out isn’t really a good indicator of whether it’s fair game.
Oh no. Just did a [word] vs [word] Google lookup to check something and for the first time all the initial results were from AI proofreading sites 🤦🏻♂️
January 8, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Oh no. Just did a [word] vs [word] Google lookup to check something and for the first time all the initial results were from AI proofreading sites 🤦🏻♂️
I’ve written three beginnings to my latest #WIP (anything to avoid editing the manuscript I actually need to query!🤦🏻♂️) and now realise that rather than having three alternate beginnings, I’ve got a prologue and two short chapters. There really are no wasted words. #amwriting
December 21, 2024 at 2:03 PM
I’ve written three beginnings to my latest #WIP (anything to avoid editing the manuscript I actually need to query!🤦🏻♂️) and now realise that rather than having three alternate beginnings, I’ve got a prologue and two short chapters. There really are no wasted words. #amwriting
FFS, Keith, you're not helping
Keir Starmer, "AI is going to be transformative for the better in art, culture, industry, government, public services.. Not ten years but five"
"Getting the balance right between the potential of AI and the protection of copyright"
"Getting the balance right between the potential of AI and the protection of copyright"
December 20, 2024 at 1:53 PM
FFS, Keith, you're not helping
Reposted by Phillip Irving
My Darling Boy begins with a shocking death on New Year’s Eve. And aptly, the paperback is out in UK on January 2nd (the closest we could get to NYE given that books are generally published on a Thursday!).
Pre-order to start your new year safely tucked up in bed with a book!
amzn.eu/d/7as09oz
Pre-order to start your new year safely tucked up in bed with a book!
amzn.eu/d/7as09oz
December 17, 2024 at 7:41 PM
My Darling Boy begins with a shocking death on New Year’s Eve. And aptly, the paperback is out in UK on January 2nd (the closest we could get to NYE given that books are generally published on a Thursday!).
Pre-order to start your new year safely tucked up in bed with a book!
amzn.eu/d/7as09oz
Pre-order to start your new year safely tucked up in bed with a book!
amzn.eu/d/7as09oz
What on Earth is going on at #Meta? What has Trump’s team told them? This is dystopian.
Here's my original email. The list of "sensitive" subjects is scarily broad and also vague, and covers most marginalized people and communities.
December 14, 2024 at 10:35 PM
What on Earth is going on at #Meta? What has Trump’s team told them? This is dystopian.
Reposted by Phillip Irving
Today’s poem is called ‘A Traditional Family Christmas’.
December 13, 2024 at 10:07 AM
Today’s poem is called ‘A Traditional Family Christmas’.
“Unlucky Friday the 13th is just a myth.”
(Does the Wordle)
“Oh.”
(Does the Wordle)
“Oh.”
December 13, 2024 at 10:07 AM
“Unlucky Friday the 13th is just a myth.”
(Does the Wordle)
“Oh.”
(Does the Wordle)
“Oh.”
Reposted by Phillip Irving
On the plus side he's just pissed off every menopausal woman in the country, which is a bit like picking a fight with a battle adapted combine harvester, so let's see how that goes for him.
December 1, 2024 at 11:19 AM
On the plus side he's just pissed off every menopausal woman in the country, which is a bit like picking a fight with a battle adapted combine harvester, so let's see how that goes for him.
Reposted by Phillip Irving
Bluesky has grown massively in recent weeks and has a feel-good vibe like X-Twitter did way back when. But be aware fake accounts are also popping up here. A now-deleted fake Jamie Lee Curtis account asked people to DM her their scariest fiction ideas. This Tamsyn Muir account also appears fake. 1/2
November 27, 2024 at 1:01 PM
Bluesky has grown massively in recent weeks and has a feel-good vibe like X-Twitter did way back when. But be aware fake accounts are also popping up here. A now-deleted fake Jamie Lee Curtis account asked people to DM her their scariest fiction ideas. This Tamsyn Muir account also appears fake. 1/2
Reposted by Phillip Irving
Others have noted it but I will too: The big reason Bluesky is so hot right now is that the people who add value to social media - the frequent posters in specific fields - are here now, talking to each other and creating the "spectator value" that draws users and attention.
Twitter’s heir apparent isn’t X or Threads — it’s Bluesky
The blue bird is dead. Long live the blue sky.
www.theverge.com
November 23, 2024 at 6:30 PM
Others have noted it but I will too: The big reason Bluesky is so hot right now is that the people who add value to social media - the frequent posters in specific fields - are here now, talking to each other and creating the "spectator value" that draws users and attention.
Noticing some “author” accounts popping up here with AI-generated posts, reposting other “author” accounts with AI-generated posts ([book] is a journey/voyage/exploration…). Some of them DMing people. Not sure if there aren’t some scammers taking advantage of the #X-odus. Careful out there, folks.
November 21, 2024 at 10:45 AM
Noticing some “author” accounts popping up here with AI-generated posts, reposting other “author” accounts with AI-generated posts ([book] is a journey/voyage/exploration…). Some of them DMing people. Not sure if there aren’t some scammers taking advantage of the #X-odus. Careful out there, folks.
May be biased, but I can't recommend this #thriller highly enough #amreading
November 20, 2024 at 3:17 PM
May be biased, but I can't recommend this #thriller highly enough #amreading
Reposted by Phillip Irving
First trade review of My Darling Boy in the US, from Kirkus, ahead of its publication there in December.
I’ll take “vertigo-inducing denouement of Hitchcockian proportions” any day!!
I’ll take “vertigo-inducing denouement of Hitchcockian proportions” any day!!
September 10, 2024 at 5:49 PM
First trade review of My Darling Boy in the US, from Kirkus, ahead of its publication there in December.
I’ll take “vertigo-inducing denouement of Hitchcockian proportions” any day!!
I’ll take “vertigo-inducing denouement of Hitchcockian proportions” any day!!
Reposted by Phillip Irving
More talk of this this evening: in particular right-wing accounts setting up supposedly far-right block lists which actually contain the exact opposite. Be cautious
Tiny warning: make sure you vet any blocklists you use. I’ve seen a couple of reports now of people being added to them with bad intent (notably, recently, some fake ones being made with a lot of LGBTQIA+ users 😖).
November 18, 2024 at 11:49 PM
More talk of this this evening: in particular right-wing accounts setting up supposedly far-right block lists which actually contain the exact opposite. Be cautious