Susan Murray
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pulpthorn.bsky.social
Susan Murray
@pulpthorn.bsky.social
1.2K followers 620 following 12K posts
Writer of Fantasy & SF. Northerner. Girly swot. She/her. Ooh, squirrel...
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pulpthorn.bsky.social
Susan Murray @pulpthorn.bsky.social · Oct 23
"AWAKE! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light."
Morning sunlight is finding its way round (and through) a yellow curtain which is still closed over an east-facing window. In the foreground is a floofy black cat, leaning forwards and slightly sideways from the right of the frame to peer intently into the camera with wide eyes, pupils dilated.
Reposted by Susan Murray
acripedes.bsky.social
Every medical professional should read this! It's quite long but worth it - right to the end.
charlotteaugst.bsky.social Charlotte Augst @charlotteaugst.bsky.social · 1h
This is heart breaking of course, but also really important and insightful about the arrogance of the medical system despite its clear limitations in dealing with uncertainty and complexity. lucyfoulkes3.medium.com/welcome-to-m...
Welcome to my body
After twenty years of pain and repeated medical dead ends, a stranger sent me a message on Instagram. It led to a diagnosis all the doctors…
lucyfoulkes3.medium.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Reposted by Susan Murray
eamonngriffin.bsky.social
On behalf of a student:

University of South Wales literary magazine The Flock - @theflocklitmag.bsky.social - is after submissions for its new issue - details here linktr.ee/theflocklitmag
Deadline extension to Dec 4th for submissions to The Flock, a lit mag run at University of South Wales. Details here: linktr.ee/theflocklitmag
November 25, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Reposted by Susan Murray
qospress.bsky.social
#Booksky Only a few days left to get our Vendor of the Month deal!
Use code WisCon26 at checkout, you save some $ and we’ll make a donation to a long running cool feminist sf convention! queenofswordspress.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Susan Murray
scottedelman.bsky.social
And for those who missed the original story of that fiasco, here's the whole of it, now updated to include the rediscovered clause. www.scottedelman.com/wordpress/20...
A dream denied: My 54-year quest to publish a short story in F&SF ‹ Scott Edelman
www.scottedelman.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by Susan Murray
theobserveruk.bsky.social
"Cancer is very much like the Spanish Inquisition: nobody expects it. And its chief weapons are surprise, fear and ruthless efficiency."

Read as David Barnett opens up about his cancer diagnosis:
https://bit.ly/4rnmDPG
‘He suggested we go to a quiet room to talk. I knew that was not good news’ | The Observer
bit.ly
November 26, 2025 at 7:08 PM
pulpthorn.bsky.social
It may seem daft sticking with a project that was written off a decade ago, but the truth is, between it and the other projects I've been working on, I've been honing my craft.

...

I've got really, really good at dodging the WEIGHED, MEASURED, FOUND WANTING stage of the writing process.
November 26, 2025 at 8:43 PM
pulpthorn.bsky.social
Huh. UK politics seem to have joined the circus.
Screenshot of Bluesky trending topics 26/11/2025 (UK budget day): SEGA criticism Hong Kong Fire Kristi Noem Rachel Reeves
November 26, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Susan Murray
gilesyb.bsky.social
I'm hearing criticisms of the end to the two child limit, because it was done just to mollify Labour backbenchers, at a cost of £billions.

I remember another govt delivering a referendum on EU membership, just to mollify restive backbenchers. That's costing way, way more... A little perspective?
November 26, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Susan Murray
julietemckenna.bsky.social
What's Book Quote Wednesday? #BookQW
Authors - find the word of the week in your work and share a quote to entertain or intrigue.
Readers - browse the hashtag entries for new books to read.
It really is as simple as that. Feel free to join in 😊
aliciadeanauthor.bsky.social Alicia Dean Author @aliciadeanauthor.bsky.social · 17h
Today is Book Quote Wednesday!

The word is: RUN

#bookqw
November 26, 2025 at 6:53 PM
pulpthorn.bsky.social
¡así es la vida!

*all eyes turn to Trump*

(re previous repost)
November 26, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Susan Murray
miamidsa.org
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Reposted by Susan Murray
pauljholden.com
It’s insane that a tool like this a) exists and b) is useful.
tyleraking.com Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 18h
Slop Evader is a tool from artist and researcher Tega Brain that lets you search the web for results exclusively before November 30, 2022—the day that ChatGPT was released to the public.
'Slop Evader' Lets You Surf the Web Like It’s 2022
Artist Tega Brain is fighting the internet’s enshittification by turning back the clock to before ChatGPT existed.
www.404media.co
November 26, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Susan Murray
mythopoetica.bsky.social
Just a reminder that I wrote a book and you absolutely should not read it if you hate chonky first books of multi-volume fantasy series with ornate and byzantine world-building with mostly Asian/Global-South coded characters.
mythopoetica.bsky.social Anita 🧜🏽‍♀️🏴‍☠️🪐 @mythopoetica.bsky.social · Nov 29
An epic revisitation of the myth of Cupid and Psyche as seen through the eyes of a memory-wiped storytelling mermaid-siren living in a house-share with an automaton-building Javanese engineer with a traumatic past. 🧜‍♀️

#Booksky 💙 📚 #Romancelandia

mythopoetica.com/2024/09/01/p...
The cover of Watermyth by Anita Harris Satkunananthan has a woman in silhouette (Finora) with her hair in a bun, resting one hand on the balustrades of her balcony as she stares at a neighbouring Palazzo.
November 26, 2025 at 3:40 PM
pulpthorn.bsky.social
Today's #BookQW word is 'run'.

Drew's been kept in the dark too long, and has resorted to eavesdropping to find out what his lover's getting up to. It's not at all what he suspected.

Extract from Waterborne Exile, second in the series, ebook available here: angryrobotbooks.com/books/waterb...
The sound was far more distinct from the right side of the fireplace. Drew hesitated, then stooped down and gently opened the cupboard doors. The cupboard was more or less empty, containing a few folded cloths and nothing else. And when he peered through to the back he could see a tiny chink of light from the room beyond. On closer inspection he realised that side was closed off by a wooden panel which had split along the grain. It was through this crack the sound of conversation was reaching him. He couldn’t help himself now, and leaned closer. The Ellisquay traders were doing most of the talking. Drew struggled to follow the thick Ellisquay accent at the best of times, but now, well-lubricated, they were talking faster than ever, and talking over one another. He could make out odd words, but could not get the gist of what they were saying at all. Occasionally Jervin, seated at the far side of the room, interpolated a lazy comment in his low voice, but mostly he was letting them run on. Drew could picture him sitting there, glass in hand, smiling to himself as the drunken traders spilled their secrets. It was not the orgiastic scene he’d half expected to find – his initial flush of relief was rapidly followed by shame that he hadn’t trusted Jervin in the first place. Goddess, what was wrong with him these days? How could he have doubted him? Jervin was simply sitting there, smiling to himself, with murder in his heart. Cover of Waterborne Exile by Susan Murray. A woman dressed in a blood-spattered white gown moves past the viewer, holding a bowl of blood before her in both hands. A bloodstained dagger is tucked in her belt. Cover art by Paul Young.
November 26, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Susan Murray
benjeapes.bsky.social
It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is RUN. Two technologically advanced hereditary enemies meet on neutral territory: England in 1645. #bookqw #englishcivilwar #neanderthals www.benjeapes.com/index.php/no...

Hear me read a longer extract at benjeapes.substack.com.
November 26, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Susan Murray
julietemckenna.bsky.social
Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'run' #BookQW
Dan Mackmain and his girlfriend Fin would like to get on with managing their own lives without supernatural interference. They should remember to be careful what they wish for.
A contemporary fantasy series rooted in British myths and folklore.
Cover art by Ben Baldwin shows a creature crouching in a low tunnel entrance lined with grey stones and partly hidden by green undergrowth and white flowers. The creature has pale skin covered in sparse black hair and it looks a bit like an ape, a bit like a bear, and completely unlike either of those. Book extract reads: ‘Fin and I had been talking about moving in together for more than a year now. We’d agreed to find somewhere near Blithehurst. Fin can work from anywhere, but my job isn’t one I can do from home. We’d seen nice enough houses which we could afford within reasonable driving distance. They were in towns though, or much bigger villages than this one. Neither of us was keen on that. I’d grown up in a little old house out on its own in the countryside. These days, I lived in a cottage in the Blithehurst woods, well away from the manor. I wasn’t looking forward to having neighbours. Human neighbours, that is. We’d both be happy to put a bit of distance between us and the dryads in Blithehurst’s woods as well. They seemed to think they could run my life, with or without the Green Man’s permission. Frai, the eldest, who’d lived there since the Norman Conquest, said he hadn’t called on me for months, so I might as well make myself useful. I’d been up and down the country telling solitary dryads living in remnants of wild wood about each other. They started giving me oak saplings to take from one wood to another, and younger dryads began appearing.
November 26, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Susan Murray
queex.bsky.social
For #BookQW, the word is 'run'. Here, we encounter one of the deadlier hazards of the Rust Graveyard.

#BookQuoteWednesday
A lull in the wind coincided with his foot knocking against a pile of debris. A small length of pipe rolled away from him, off the edge of the gantry, and sang a cacophony as it clattered between the supporting struts. The machine geist turned, zeroed in on him instantly, and flew directly for him. Garnas squeezed the trigger and felt the steam pressure build up in the chamber as the water met the heavy coal. The barrel spat angrily, but the rock shards fell harmlessly wide of the geist. It was rushing now, faster than a man could run, fast as nightmares, and taking on a more solid form. Garnas pulled another cartridge from his belt and slipped it into the gun, brought the weapon back up to his cheek, snatched at the trigger. He could hear every ping and whistle as the chamber came up to pressure.
November 26, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Reposted by Susan Murray
wtpress.bsky.social
It is Book Quote Wednesday and the word is 'run'. In 'Walking a Wounded Land' by Andrew Knighton in Wiz Duo 3, Paul is looking for a friend. #BookQW
wizardstowerpress.co...
I follow a twisting, turning route through the streets, trying to follow the thread of her. It’s made more difficult by people walking this way and that, bumping into each other, stopping to stare into shop windows or to wait at crossings for the green man. I switch my pace to match tourists or locals, different memories emerging with different movements. For some this town is the daily grind, swift footsteps carrying them through regular routines. For others, its a place of escape and diversion, of pausing to read a menu or point at a brightly painted boat, then hurrying on to the amusement arcades. Lives lived in a single space but parallel worlds. Through that space run the cars, severing one side of the street from the other, breaking the rhythm of humanity. So close together, we should all be connected, but instead the town is fractured, opaque, like a windscreen in the aftermath of a crash. Star has hidden herself in this.
November 26, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Susan Murray
calthalas.bsky.social
For what is worth my first book is going into paperback now, so you can actually have it for less than 40 euros. (Or even better: recommend it to your librarian!)

www.routledge.com/Roman-Infras...
Roman Infrastructure in Early Medieval Britain: The Adaptations of the Past in Text and Stone
Early Medieval Britain was more Roman than we think. The Roman Empire left vast infrastructural resources on the island. These resources lay buried not only in dirt and soil, but also in texts, laws, ...
www.routledge.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Reposted by Susan Murray
nickharkaway.com
Christ, this is heartbreaking. Looking around my bit of Cornwall... the sheer scale of what was thrown away... millions for farmers, hundreds of thousands for schools, more hundreds for young people and culture and...

www.myeu.uk
myeu.uk – see what the EU has done for you
The EU invests around £5 billion a year in the UK. Search by your address or postcode to see some of the investments near you.
www.myeu.uk
November 26, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Reposted by Susan Murray
tadethompson.bsky.social
Do you know how much of the cover price goes to a trad published writer? About 10-15%.

The various types of indie pub get a higher percentage (but have to do more work with virtually zero publicity budget).

How many publishers have been put out of business by piracy? Not a lot. Writers, tho'...
November 25, 2025 at 11:45 PM
pulpthorn.bsky.social
Cleared the decorating stuff out of the snug, lugged it downstairs to where the doorframes need painting, hoovered, tidied a bit, organised stuff a bit, and feel like I’ve done a day’s hard labour.
November 25, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Susan Murray
scarletferret.com
You may have noticed this quote on the Scarlet Ferret homepage recently. No, I won't be stocking V for Vendetta, but I will be promoting the books I stock a little differently and a little more... aggressively

Indie authors & publishers are struggling, and I believe that urgent activism is needed.
"Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth." V for Vendetta, Alan Moore & David Lloyd
November 25, 2025 at 3:35 PM
pulpthorn.bsky.social
Been for healthful stomp. Switched the exercise app units to miles for a relatable benchmark, then switched it back because the results sound so much better in km.

It continues to be spectacularly grim up north…
Small beck winding over squelchy upland. Stones beneath the surface visible through clear water. Upland area, foreground all tussocky grass with a clump of trees to the left, under huge blue sky, with a few bands of low cloud hanging around above distant hills.
November 25, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Susan Murray
aknighton.bsky.social
Northodox have a sale on now for all of their books, including my fantasy murder mystery The Executioner's Blade. Go grab a copy before it goes out of print in January!
www.northodox.co.uk/product-page...
Blurb 3 image: The cover for the novel The Executioner's Blade by Andrew Knighton. On it, an armoured and grey-haired woman wields a sword in front of a dragon. Next to it is a section of text with blurb quotes from other authors. "A perfect balance of action and character wrapped about a delightfully twisted mystery." - Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time. "A very enjoyable, fast paced read." - Anna Smith-Spark, author of Empires of Dust. “Mature and absorbing epic fantasy, very well worth a look.” – Juliet E. McKenna, author of the Green Man “Flawed yet relatable characters, a corrupt city, and a mystery full of twists and turns. A beautifully thought-out and engagingly written piece of fantasy.” – Charlotte Bond, author of The Fireborne Blade
November 25, 2025 at 1:04 PM