Simon Spanton
@simonguy.bsky.social
"I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself."
Wandering. Wondering. Freelancing. Often acquiring and editing SFFH for Angry Robot Books. Live in Edinburgh. Views my own and independent of my employers. Photos my own unless otherwise etc.
Wandering. Wondering. Freelancing. Often acquiring and editing SFFH for Angry Robot Books. Live in Edinburgh. Views my own and independent of my employers. Photos my own unless otherwise etc.
Pinned
Simon Spanton
@simonguy.bsky.social
· Nov 26
"Out on the pale criss-crossed sand, high-stepping, fringed, gauntleted, stalked some fantastic leviathan..."
To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
Possibly? Not a theory that I personally am willing to test though.
February 5, 2026 at 12:15 PM
Possibly? Not a theory that I personally am willing to test though.
Post of the week.
And very much here for heroic posties. Our dog ADORES ours and goes frantic with joy even if he spots him down the street.
We used to think it was just Ollie but apparently every single dog in the neighbourhood goes into similar fervent passionate throes.
What is Gary's secret?
And very much here for heroic posties. Our dog ADORES ours and goes frantic with joy even if he spots him down the street.
We used to think it was just Ollie but apparently every single dog in the neighbourhood goes into similar fervent passionate throes.
What is Gary's secret?
Postman EXPLODES through shop door (which also has a jingly old-school bell for full attack mode). “BILL! BILL! SPAM!” he chants as he hands me three envelopes, one at a time. EXPLODES out of shop. I love our postman (we have discussed his v operatic entrances and exits before)
two men are carrying a statue of a deer on a dolly
Alt: two men are carrying a statue of a deer on a dolly
media.tenor.com
February 5, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Post of the week.
And very much here for heroic posties. Our dog ADORES ours and goes frantic with joy even if he spots him down the street.
We used to think it was just Ollie but apparently every single dog in the neighbourhood goes into similar fervent passionate throes.
What is Gary's secret?
And very much here for heroic posties. Our dog ADORES ours and goes frantic with joy even if he spots him down the street.
We used to think it was just Ollie but apparently every single dog in the neighbourhood goes into similar fervent passionate throes.
What is Gary's secret?
No one ever can. And thank goodness for that.
February 5, 2026 at 11:47 AM
No one ever can. And thank goodness for that.
Lordy, I published a good few of those, especially in the second picture. Always feel quite conflicted seeing them in secondhand shops...
(PS Pick up that copy of Steph Swainston's The Year of Our War if you have the chance and it's a decent price - it's an absolutely fantastic novel.)
(PS Pick up that copy of Steph Swainston's The Year of Our War if you have the chance and it's a decent price - it's an absolutely fantastic novel.)
February 5, 2026 at 11:11 AM
Lordy, I published a good few of those, especially in the second picture. Always feel quite conflicted seeing them in secondhand shops...
(PS Pick up that copy of Steph Swainston's The Year of Our War if you have the chance and it's a decent price - it's an absolutely fantastic novel.)
(PS Pick up that copy of Steph Swainston's The Year of Our War if you have the chance and it's a decent price - it's an absolutely fantastic novel.)
As the saying goes:
"I've got the one thing you'll never have - enough."
"I've got the one thing you'll never have - enough."
February 5, 2026 at 11:05 AM
As the saying goes:
"I've got the one thing you'll never have - enough."
"I've got the one thing you'll never have - enough."
I spell diarreaha right first time without fail.
February 5, 2026 at 10:37 AM
I spell diarreaha right first time without fail.
Laura. You have this.
February 5, 2026 at 10:10 AM
Laura. You have this.
Opposing teams warming up?
February 5, 2026 at 9:59 AM
Opposing teams warming up?
Forty curlews busy on the school rugby pitch.
February 5, 2026 at 9:24 AM
Forty curlews busy on the school rugby pitch.
"Like many of those who give their lives in loyalty to a cause or banner, these people were also betrayed by their banner. The great Austrian myth of the servant faithful to his master teaches us that the servant is indeed faithful, but the lord is often faithless."
February 5, 2026 at 8:11 AM
"Like many of those who give their lives in loyalty to a cause or banner, these people were also betrayed by their banner. The great Austrian myth of the servant faithful to his master teaches us that the servant is indeed faithful, but the lord is often faithless."
Portalage alone.
A gate in the woods with no wall or fence either side of it is surely some mysterious portal. @simonguy.bsky.social ?
February 5, 2026 at 7:35 AM
Portalage alone.
It was pretty harsh.
February 4, 2026 at 10:15 PM
It was pretty harsh.
"the act of ever-tightening categorisation is one that haunts and harms the genre and all who sail in it" @chloroformtea.bsky.social
PREACH
PREACH
I promised ducks, quacking: well! @chloroformtea.bsky.social (not a duck) provides Thursday's essay on knowing genre when you see it.
"We need a more expansive approach to any attempt at definition today. The genre can and plainly does sit alongside other genres which operate on different axes."
"We need a more expansive approach to any attempt at definition today. The genre can and plainly does sit alongside other genres which operate on different axes."
Quacking Like A Genre
What is SF? Idk, vibes.
strangehorizons.com
February 4, 2026 at 9:57 PM
"the act of ever-tightening categorisation is one that haunts and harms the genre and all who sail in it" @chloroformtea.bsky.social
PREACH
PREACH
Muddy spaniel in the curtains and all's well.
February 4, 2026 at 7:42 PM
Muddy spaniel in the curtains and all's well.
Cooking tea music.
February 4, 2026 at 6:04 PM
Cooking tea music.
Disappointed there isn't an infinite regression of centarms.
February 4, 2026 at 3:39 PM
Disappointed there isn't an infinite regression of centarms.
Of all the covers on all the books I own this has the weirdest cover.
Plus it has a story called The Inspired Chicken Motel ("a motel straight out of revelations").
Plus it has a story called The Inspired Chicken Motel ("a motel straight out of revelations").
February 4, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Of all the covers on all the books I own this has the weirdest cover.
Plus it has a story called The Inspired Chicken Motel ("a motel straight out of revelations").
Plus it has a story called The Inspired Chicken Motel ("a motel straight out of revelations").
Black and white portalage.
When a dry stone wall inadvertently becomes a piece of art - Working Landscape - Lake District Observations
📷Pentax 17
🎞️Ilford HP5 developed with DDX
#believeinfilm #filmphotography
📷Pentax 17
🎞️Ilford HP5 developed with DDX
#believeinfilm #filmphotography
February 4, 2026 at 3:11 PM
Black and white portalage.
"Riddley Walkers ben to show
Riddley Walkers on the go
Dont go Riddley Walkers track
Drop Johns ryding on his back
Stil I wunt have no other track."
Happy birthday Russell Hoban.
Riddley Walkers on the go
Dont go Riddley Walkers track
Drop Johns ryding on his back
Stil I wunt have no other track."
Happy birthday Russell Hoban.
February 4, 2026 at 12:00 PM
"Riddley Walkers ben to show
Riddley Walkers on the go
Dont go Riddley Walkers track
Drop Johns ryding on his back
Stil I wunt have no other track."
Happy birthday Russell Hoban.
Riddley Walkers on the go
Dont go Riddley Walkers track
Drop Johns ryding on his back
Stil I wunt have no other track."
Happy birthday Russell Hoban.
:( There's always that nagging worry.
February 4, 2026 at 11:45 AM
:( There's always that nagging worry.
Charles Keeping was a genius. A short thread of just some examples. All from Neil Philip's The Tale of Sir Gawain.
Illustrations by Charles Keeping for Neil Philip, THE TALE OF SIR GAWAIN (Philomel Books, 1987). Post 1 (of 3).
February 4, 2026 at 10:14 AM
Charles Keeping was a genius. A short thread of just some examples. All from Neil Philip's The Tale of Sir Gawain.