John Berkeley Grout 🏳️🌈🔶
@jrberkeley.bsky.social
John (he/him) aka. John Berkeley; Leovinas. UK-based writer of SFF, player of RPGs, Classics/archaeology/ancient history PhD, process/telecoms specialist.
The sort of gay lefty Liberal your mother warned you about. Views my own, etc. (no TERFs or AI, ta)
The sort of gay lefty Liberal your mother warned you about. Views my own, etc. (no TERFs or AI, ta)
Pinned
I'm still not over seeing my name in print - and yes, this is a shameless plug for the IWTTO collection from @bonabooks.bsky.social, which includes my first published short story.
It's a very fun collection of the queer pulp SFF stories you never realised you needed. And it's now on sale! 😁
It's a very fun collection of the queer pulp SFF stories you never realised you needed. And it's now on sale! 😁
I spotted a badger trundling around the garden a few nights ago while taking a break from writing... 💜
In Celtic folklore, the goddess Brigantia has the badger as her sacred animal totem. This connection highlights new life, wisdom, and the emergence of spring. The badger is an earth-dwelling creature that symbolises new life emerging from beneath the earth.
Art my own
#ArtAdventCalendar
Art my own
#ArtAdventCalendar
December 6, 2025 at 4:23 PM
I spotted a badger trundling around the garden a few nights ago while taking a break from writing... 💜
Thank you, @bigbenclock.bsky.social.
BONG
December 4, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Thank you, @bigbenclock.bsky.social.
These pine trees define the skyline from my living room window, whether they're silhouetted against a dramatic sky or looking Japanese in mist. If we can't see them, we know the weather is awful. And today they're looking lovely in the winter sun from the path beneath.
November 30, 2025 at 12:35 PM
These pine trees define the skyline from my living room window, whether they're silhouetted against a dramatic sky or looking Japanese in mist. If we can't see them, we know the weather is awful. And today they're looking lovely in the winter sun from the path beneath.
If you're a UK person, you should be able to sign this. Please do. 👇
I know this petition has much more support than it currently has. Please share far and wide. Petition to require generative AI to carry a watermark and to make it illegal to use a person’s likeness in generative AI without permission.
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...
Petition: Require generative AI watermarks & ban using people’s likeness without consent
As AI generated content becomes increasingly realistic, we think laws should be put in place to prevent misuse. All such media should carry a permanent watermark or disclosure, alongside a blanket ban...
petition.parliament.uk
November 29, 2025 at 11:13 PM
If you're a UK person, you should be able to sign this. Please do. 👇
Reposted by John Berkeley Grout 🏳️🌈🔶
This is why non-romance people need to read more romance, honestly: will-they-won’t-they is fine but it is not the same narrative as “they did and then they did again and then they keep going but eventually someone’s gonna find out and then they’re REALLY fucked.”
but this? shut the fuck up. guess what, my man, gorgeous young 22 year olds like to fuck. And queer people deserve love stories that are sexy and horny. a "chaste kiss" please be for real.
November 29, 2025 at 10:48 PM
This is why non-romance people need to read more romance, honestly: will-they-won’t-they is fine but it is not the same narrative as “they did and then they did again and then they keep going but eventually someone’s gonna find out and then they’re REALLY fucked.”
Give me 5 games to get to know you:
- Dragon Age II
- StarCraft & StarCraft: Brood War
- Arcanum: of Steamworks & Magick Obscura
- Civilization II: Fantastic Worlds
- Wing Commander III & IV
(And yes, four of those narrow my formative years down rather, don't they?)
- Dragon Age II
- StarCraft & StarCraft: Brood War
- Arcanum: of Steamworks & Magick Obscura
- Civilization II: Fantastic Worlds
- Wing Commander III & IV
(And yes, four of those narrow my formative years down rather, don't they?)
Give me 5 games to get to know you:
- Dragon Age 1-3
- All of Ace Attorney
- Xenoblade Chronicles
- Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
- Spyro the Dragon
- Dragon Age 1-3
- All of Ace Attorney
- Xenoblade Chronicles
- Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
- Spyro the Dragon
Give me 5 games to get to know you:
-Bloodborne
-Heroes of Might and Magic (mostly 4&5)
-Disco Elysium
-AION
-Portal
-Bloodborne
-Heroes of Might and Magic (mostly 4&5)
-Disco Elysium
-AION
-Portal
November 29, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Give me 5 games to get to know you:
- Dragon Age II
- StarCraft & StarCraft: Brood War
- Arcanum: of Steamworks & Magick Obscura
- Civilization II: Fantastic Worlds
- Wing Commander III & IV
(And yes, four of those narrow my formative years down rather, don't they?)
- Dragon Age II
- StarCraft & StarCraft: Brood War
- Arcanum: of Steamworks & Magick Obscura
- Civilization II: Fantastic Worlds
- Wing Commander III & IV
(And yes, four of those narrow my formative years down rather, don't they?)
SeE iT, sAy It, SoRtEd
November 28, 2025 at 8:47 PM
SeE iT, sAy It, SoRtEd
Reposted by John Berkeley Grout 🏳️🌈🔶
You can't set a limit on who writes what. But you can remind folks that the real world oppression and exclusion of LGBTQ+ folks is ongoing, so supporting queer authors is likely far more helpful at ground level than focusing on books that feature one MM kiss written by a straight guy.
TY 🏳️🌈💙🏳️⚧️
TY 🏳️🌈💙🏳️⚧️
November 28, 2025 at 1:30 PM
You can't set a limit on who writes what. But you can remind folks that the real world oppression and exclusion of LGBTQ+ folks is ongoing, so supporting queer authors is likely far more helpful at ground level than focusing on books that feature one MM kiss written by a straight guy.
TY 🏳️🌈💙🏳️⚧️
TY 🏳️🌈💙🏳️⚧️
This is why I'm nervous about the rest of S5. This dynamic was so good, and... well, let's just say there are a lot of tropes I'm desperately hoping they successfully avoid: Bury Your Gays & Gay For You foremost among them, but also nameless ones around toxic romance, queer tragedy and suppression.
#StrangerThings5 fans are celebrating this ‘perfect’ new couple
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/11/27/stranger-things-fans-are-celebrating-this-perfect-new-couple/?utm_content=1764325200&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/11/27/stranger-things-fans-are-celebrating-this-perfect-new-couple/?utm_content=1764325200&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
Stranger Things fans are celebrating this 'perfect' new couple
Stranger Things 5 is finally with us and with it comes a a new coupling that fans are celebrating as "perfect."
www.thepinknews.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:49 AM
This is why I'm nervous about the rest of S5. This dynamic was so good, and... well, let's just say there are a lot of tropes I'm desperately hoping they successfully avoid: Bury Your Gays & Gay For You foremost among them, but also nameless ones around toxic romance, queer tragedy and suppression.
Am up to speed with #StrangerThings and, well, S5 is imperfectly very good so far. My gay old heart is loving it, and if they screw up the landing, I will be more than mildly peeved.
(As ever, it very occasionally goes far beyond my gore tolerance but this is generally flagged very clearly.)
(As ever, it very occasionally goes far beyond my gore tolerance but this is generally flagged very clearly.)
November 27, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Am up to speed with #StrangerThings and, well, S5 is imperfectly very good so far. My gay old heart is loving it, and if they screw up the landing, I will be more than mildly peeved.
(As ever, it very occasionally goes far beyond my gore tolerance but this is generally flagged very clearly.)
(As ever, it very occasionally goes far beyond my gore tolerance but this is generally flagged very clearly.)
This is interesting. I wonder if the solution will be to remove the LLMs, or simply to remove all poets?
Poets are now cybersecurity threats: Researchers used 'adversarial poetry' to trick AI into ignoring its safety guard rails and it worked 62% of the time
Hacking the planet with florid verse.
share.google
November 22, 2025 at 10:59 AM
This is interesting. I wonder if the solution will be to remove the LLMs, or simply to remove all poets?
Happy International Men's Day, folks. I wrote a long thread about it and deleted it... I know, a gay guy with Thoughts (TM) about IMD! Whatever will they think of next?
a green blue and purple flag is flying in the wind
Alt: A graphic of the MLM (men who love men) flag flying in the wind. It's of gradiented stripes going from dark green to white to dark blue.
media.tenor.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Happy International Men's Day, folks. I wrote a long thread about it and deleted it... I know, a gay guy with Thoughts (TM) about IMD! Whatever will they think of next?
Reposted by John Berkeley Grout 🏳️🌈🔶
If you haven't watched the original House of Cards - and especially if you haven't watched the original but have seen the US remake - do yourself a favour and get hold of it somehow.
November 19, 2025 at 12:05 AM
If you haven't watched the original House of Cards - and especially if you haven't watched the original but have seen the US remake - do yourself a favour and get hold of it somehow.
Reposted by John Berkeley Grout 🏳️🌈🔶
Ian Richardson's Francis Urquhart was magnificent, but it was really Susannah Harker as Mattie Storin that made this show work, IMO.
The first episode of House of Cards was broadcast on this day in 1990.
November 18, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Ian Richardson's Francis Urquhart was magnificent, but it was really Susannah Harker as Mattie Storin that made this show work, IMO.
Reposted by John Berkeley Grout 🏳️🌈🔶
It’s really fucking unfair that so many of us have to spend our one precious life fighting for the fundamental right to exist just because some evil fuckheads have decided to waste *their* one precious life trying to eliminate us
November 16, 2025 at 5:43 PM
It’s really fucking unfair that so many of us have to spend our one precious life fighting for the fundamental right to exist just because some evil fuckheads have decided to waste *their* one precious life trying to eliminate us
When you thought TW couldn't be any worse, they always find a new way to surprise you...
Thames "Water" is HQ'd here in Reading #RdgUK - we are appalled at their approach to @libdems.org.uk MP @charliemaynard.bsky.social for daring to stand up to them.
It is past time that this cartoonishly-awful company was held to account and made a Public Benefit Corporation.
It is past time that this cartoonishly-awful company was held to account and made a Public Benefit Corporation.
Thames Water tried to make MP pay its legal fees of up to £1,400 an hour
Exclusive: Charlie Maynard accuses the utility of ‘retaliation’ over his push for government to gain control of company
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:48 PM
When you thought TW couldn't be any worse, they always find a new way to surprise you...
To the left of me I have @rigg.lgbt singing the praises of the mac & cheese lasagne she made earlier, which sounds incredible.
To the right of me I have @scalzi.com singing the praises of the apple pie mac & cheese he made earlier.
I think the universe is trying to tell me to make mac & cheese...
To the right of me I have @scalzi.com singing the praises of the apple pie mac & cheese he made earlier.
I think the universe is trying to tell me to make mac & cheese...
I am making an unholy combination of lasagne and macaroni cheese for dinner tonight. Just so you all know. Instead of flat pasta, layers of macaroni cheese between the layers of ragu.
November 13, 2025 at 7:14 PM
To the left of me I have @rigg.lgbt singing the praises of the mac & cheese lasagne she made earlier, which sounds incredible.
To the right of me I have @scalzi.com singing the praises of the apple pie mac & cheese he made earlier.
I think the universe is trying to tell me to make mac & cheese...
To the right of me I have @scalzi.com singing the praises of the apple pie mac & cheese he made earlier.
I think the universe is trying to tell me to make mac & cheese...
Reposted by John Berkeley Grout 🏳️🌈🔶
The deadline for voting in the #LibDem internal elections is 2pm tomorrow. If you haven't voted already, and you want our party to live its queer-supportive values the @pluslibdems.bsky.social have a handy list of endorsements
Are you a 🔶 @libdems.org.uk member? If so, you get a vote in the party's internal elections, but it's a long ballot. Our recommendations on how to vote are here - some excellent candidates standing. 👇
Candidates for 2025 Internal Elections
LGBT+ Lib Dems and allies standing in the triennial internal party elections
lgbt.libdems.org.uk
November 10, 2025 at 8:27 PM
The deadline for voting in the #LibDem internal elections is 2pm tomorrow. If you haven't voted already, and you want our party to live its queer-supportive values the @pluslibdems.bsky.social have a handy list of endorsements
Reposted by John Berkeley Grout 🏳️🌈🔶
The last two weeks have been a tough one for @libdems.org.uk members, through no fault of their own.
We're grateful to the huge number of members, internal election candidates, and fellow Affiliated Organisations like @libdemwomen.bsky.social who have stood alongside us.
Statement below:
We're grateful to the huge number of members, internal election candidates, and fellow Affiliated Organisations like @libdemwomen.bsky.social who have stood alongside us.
Statement below:
November 10, 2025 at 8:05 PM
The last two weeks have been a tough one for @libdems.org.uk members, through no fault of their own.
We're grateful to the huge number of members, internal election candidates, and fellow Affiliated Organisations like @libdemwomen.bsky.social who have stood alongside us.
Statement below:
We're grateful to the huge number of members, internal election candidates, and fellow Affiliated Organisations like @libdemwomen.bsky.social who have stood alongside us.
Statement below:
Reposted by John Berkeley Grout 🏳️🌈🔶
Utterly insane that a payment processor of all things has this amount of clout. Your job is literally to process money people have willingly paid for an item or service. It doesn’t matter whether you like it or not. That’s irrelevant to your function as a payment processor
greeted by absolutely ~charming~ (/s) news in my e-mail this morning.
anyone else try to launch an NSFW project on Kickstarter recently?
myth of consensual sex, ffs.
(good news is, they approved the project, sigh.)
anyone else try to launch an NSFW project on Kickstarter recently?
myth of consensual sex, ffs.
(good news is, they approved the project, sigh.)
November 6, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Utterly insane that a payment processor of all things has this amount of clout. Your job is literally to process money people have willingly paid for an item or service. It doesn’t matter whether you like it or not. That’s irrelevant to your function as a payment processor
Every year on the 5th of November, we watch V for Vendetta.
Oof. It hits differently these days.
Oof. It hits differently these days.
a man with a mask and a hat says remember remember the 5th of november
Alt: V (Hugo Weaving) from V for Vendetta, a man with a Guy Fawkes mask and mask and black hat, says "Remembe, remember the 5th of November."
media.tenor.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Every year on the 5th of November, we watch V for Vendetta.
Oof. It hits differently these days.
Oof. It hits differently these days.
Reposted by John Berkeley Grout 🏳️🌈🔶
Between Mamdani in NY and D66 in NL, that's two examples of progressives winning that day with a message of hope, unity and solidarity rather than careful milk and water triangulation.
November 5, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Between Mamdani in NY and D66 in NL, that's two examples of progressives winning that day with a message of hope, unity and solidarity rather than careful milk and water triangulation.
So, I recently finished reading the Realm of Fae quadrilogy by @benaldersonauthor.bsky.social, and it's got me thinking: there are some good MM & FF #Fantasy and #Romantasy stories and series around now, exploring queer characters in the context of monarchy and monarchic power - BUUUT...
1/2
1/2
November 4, 2025 at 3:53 PM
So, I recently finished reading the Realm of Fae quadrilogy by @benaldersonauthor.bsky.social, and it's got me thinking: there are some good MM & FF #Fantasy and #Romantasy stories and series around now, exploring queer characters in the context of monarchy and monarchic power - BUUUT...
1/2
1/2
"They're behind you!"
Badenoch says thinking of PMQs 'like a panto' helps her prepare for it - www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
November 4, 2025 at 2:21 PM
"They're behind you!"
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look upon my works, ye mighty, and you won't BELIEVE what else besides remains, click here to find out!
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look upon my works and I'm going need the team to review, please use track changes.
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look upon my works, I make these
November 4, 2025 at 2:05 PM
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look upon my works, ye mighty, and you won't BELIEVE what else besides remains, click here to find out!