Tim Clare
@timclare.bsky.social
(he/him) Author, podcaster & tabletop games writer. Books: The Game Changers, Coward, The Honours & The Ice House.
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-game-changers-how-playing-games-changed-the-world-and-can-change-you-too-tim-clare/7687024
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-game-changers-how-playing-games-changed-the-world-and-can-change-you-too-tim-clare/7687024
Pinned
Tim Clare
@timclare.bsky.social
· Oct 12
Intro post to pin to profile:
I'm an author & podcaster. I've written 2 gothic Fantasy novels, The Honours & The Ice House, a book on the science of anxiety & panic called Coward, & a book on how boardgames make us human, The Game Changers.
I make a podcast for writers called Death of 1000 Cuts.
I'm an author & podcaster. I've written 2 gothic Fantasy novels, The Honours & The Ice House, a book on the science of anxiety & panic called Coward, & a book on how boardgames make us human, The Game Changers.
I make a podcast for writers called Death of 1000 Cuts.
I have mixed feelings about WFH, in the sense that it often assumes space for a home office where someone can work & participate in home meetings in quiet privacy, & it can blur boundaries between work & leisure. I work from home, but I think the *option* of office space can be positive.
February 10, 2026 at 9:36 AM
I have mixed feelings about WFH, in the sense that it often assumes space for a home office where someone can work & participate in home meetings in quiet privacy, & it can blur boundaries between work & leisure. I work from home, but I think the *option* of office space can be positive.
Ah Alex Randolph is the guy who said 'chess is the greatest game humans invented. Go is the greatest game humans discovered', right?
February 10, 2026 at 9:12 AM
Ah Alex Randolph is the guy who said 'chess is the greatest game humans invented. Go is the greatest game humans discovered', right?
I enjoy reading reviews of my books where they say 'Clare's background as a poet is evident in his lyrical prose' when the poetry I wrote was stuff like:
'What is this life, if, full of care
We have no time to stand & stare
While one man calmly fucks a bear
The choice is clear
The choice is Clare'
'What is this life, if, full of care
We have no time to stand & stare
While one man calmly fucks a bear
The choice is clear
The choice is Clare'
February 10, 2026 at 8:32 AM
I enjoy reading reviews of my books where they say 'Clare's background as a poet is evident in his lyrical prose' when the poetry I wrote was stuff like:
'What is this life, if, full of care
We have no time to stand & stare
While one man calmly fucks a bear
The choice is clear
The choice is Clare'
'What is this life, if, full of care
We have no time to stand & stare
While one man calmly fucks a bear
The choice is clear
The choice is Clare'
I spent all day writing & I've added almost no words but I've done a lot of fiddling & thought a lot about attention and monsters and beetles. I have no idea if I'm whittling a very intricate & finely textured scrimshaw dog turd or if the stuff I care about will matter one whit to anyone else.
February 9, 2026 at 7:10 PM
I spent all day writing & I've added almost no words but I've done a lot of fiddling & thought a lot about attention and monsters and beetles. I have no idea if I'm whittling a very intricate & finely textured scrimshaw dog turd or if the stuff I care about will matter one whit to anyone else.
'Dietrich was beginning to see how the new hell operated. The place worked like a jigsaw. Nothing would be a whole pain again.' - Dummyland, Steve Aylett
February 9, 2026 at 1:58 PM
'Dietrich was beginning to see how the new hell operated. The place worked like a jigsaw. Nothing would be a whole pain again.' - Dummyland, Steve Aylett
I like to think this is because you didn't dance like nobody's watching
February 9, 2026 at 1:35 PM
I like to think this is because you didn't dance like nobody's watching
My favourite bit in The Gates of Anubis is when the time traveller stranded in early Victorian London is walking through a crowd when he hears, distinctly, someone somewhere whistling Yesterday by The Beatles, & he releases he's not alone.
February 9, 2026 at 9:43 AM
My favourite bit in The Gates of Anubis is when the time traveller stranded in early Victorian London is walking through a crowd when he hears, distinctly, someone somewhere whistling Yesterday by The Beatles, & he releases he's not alone.
I think if a discussion were happening in good faith, I wouldn't object. Questions, doubts are ok as long as someone then consults research & listens to answers from the people affected. But so much of what is printed & said on podcasts/radio is purely gut feelings based on nothing.
February 9, 2026 at 9:41 AM
I think if a discussion were happening in good faith, I wouldn't object. Questions, doubts are ok as long as someone then consults research & listens to answers from the people affected. But so much of what is printed & said on podcasts/radio is purely gut feelings based on nothing.
Perennial mood. I'm sorry if it sounded like I was jumping on to contradict or tell you stuff you already know. It was intended in the spirit of enthusiastically jumping onto posts related to my interests as if they were invitations to open a conversation, which they're not, intrinsically.
February 9, 2026 at 9:34 AM
Perennial mood. I'm sorry if it sounded like I was jumping on to contradict or tell you stuff you already know. It was intended in the spirit of enthusiastically jumping onto posts related to my interests as if they were invitations to open a conversation, which they're not, intrinsically.
I expect there's a lot of crossover. I don't really go to any of the ticketed events at UKGE unless someone nudges me because I'm vibratingly allergic to committing to be anywhere at a particular time but I've played lots of ttrpgs there so it makes a lot of sense to me.
February 8, 2026 at 11:37 PM
I expect there's a lot of crossover. I don't really go to any of the ticketed events at UKGE unless someone nudges me because I'm vibratingly allergic to committing to be anywhere at a particular time but I've played lots of ttrpgs there so it makes a lot of sense to me.
Glad I'm not the only one who feels frequently baffled. Good luck!
February 8, 2026 at 9:53 PM
Glad I'm not the only one who feels frequently baffled. Good luck!
If I were Kier Starmer I'd just start mucking around at this point. Announce £15b in subsidies for gala pie manufacturers. Openly consult an EVP device before answering each journalist's question. Appoint a 'Chin Tsar'. Might as well have fun.
February 8, 2026 at 4:31 PM
If I were Kier Starmer I'd just start mucking around at this point. Announce £15b in subsidies for gala pie manufacturers. Openly consult an EVP device before answering each journalist's question. Appoint a 'Chin Tsar'. Might as well have fun.
I mean, I guess I don't know. I don't know if there is a clear, tangible distinction like you say. I've not been inside other people's heads. I certainly think our individual experiences of the world as humans are wildly variable. I don't know if neurodivergent is coherent as a group even
February 8, 2026 at 4:23 PM
I mean, I guess I don't know. I don't know if there is a clear, tangible distinction like you say. I've not been inside other people's heads. I certainly think our individual experiences of the world as humans are wildly variable. I don't know if neurodivergent is coherent as a group even
I always feel a danger now of slipping into a bunch of exoticising 'Inside the Autistic Mind' tropes that treats my experience as a rare bird from a remote island rather than fundamentally on a continuum with all other humans, relatable, somewhat common in many respects.
February 8, 2026 at 1:02 PM
I always feel a danger now of slipping into a bunch of exoticising 'Inside the Autistic Mind' tropes that treats my experience as a rare bird from a remote island rather than fundamentally on a continuum with all other humans, relatable, somewhat common in many respects.
I mean, in another sense, obviously it feels like a big piece that I missed, that would have provided another angle. But the experiences I describe are all still my authentic experiences, & almost everything in terms of how we conceive of & relate to anxiety still obtains.
February 8, 2026 at 12:59 PM
I mean, in another sense, obviously it feels like a big piece that I missed, that would have provided another angle. But the experiences I describe are all still my authentic experiences, & almost everything in terms of how we conceive of & relate to anxiety still obtains.
Even though Pilotwings on the 3DS makes my eyes go wiggly it is my favourite iteration of a very good series
February 8, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Even though Pilotwings on the 3DS makes my eyes go wiggly it is my favourite iteration of a very good series
Um the art looks sublime - & what an intriguing subtitle
February 8, 2026 at 12:45 PM
Um the art looks sublime - & what an intriguing subtitle
I've wondered this a lot! In one sense I'm glad I didn't, because it meant I cast a much broader net in terms of the universal human emotion of anxiety. Also I wonder whether it would have tempted me to collapse a lot of the complexity down to 'AuDHD' as the solution or punchline.
I'd love to hear how much different Coward would be if you'd known you were neurodivergent. I read it after The Game Changers so I was armed with information you yourself might not have had at the time.
February 8, 2026 at 12:25 PM
I've wondered this a lot! In one sense I'm glad I didn't, because it meant I cast a much broader net in terms of the universal human emotion of anxiety. Also I wonder whether it would have tempted me to collapse a lot of the complexity down to 'AuDHD' as the solution or punchline.
I have the pieces for a 3rd book that would somewhat bring the events of the first two to a resolution. It's a question of finding time & impetus to write it & feeling there would be an audience & publisher who wanted it.
Are you planning to write anything further in the same setting as The Honours and The Ice House? Or do you not plan these things ahead of time and then inspiration strikes?
February 8, 2026 at 11:31 AM
I have the pieces for a 3rd book that would somewhat bring the events of the first two to a resolution. It's a question of finding time & impetus to write it & feeling there would be an audience & publisher who wanted it.
Reposted by Tim Clare
I've written books on boardgames, anxiety & panic attacks, dreaming of being an author, & 2 novels. I'm working on a book about autism, wonder & monsters. Answering questions on topics I'm interested in makes me very happy. Can you ask me some questions you'd like answered on any of these subjects?
February 8, 2026 at 8:50 AM
I've written books on boardgames, anxiety & panic attacks, dreaming of being an author, & 2 novels. I'm working on a book about autism, wonder & monsters. Answering questions on topics I'm interested in makes me very happy. Can you ask me some questions you'd like answered on any of these subjects?
It was definitely useful for me to know that breathing hard & washing out CO2 was causing vasoconstriction that was actually reducing the oxygen reaching my brain, which made me feel delirious, shutdown executive function, etc. That to stop breathing so deeply actually restored oxygen
February 8, 2026 at 11:07 AM
It was definitely useful for me to know that breathing hard & washing out CO2 was causing vasoconstriction that was actually reducing the oxygen reaching my brain, which made me feel delirious, shutdown executive function, etc. That to stop breathing so deeply actually restored oxygen
Are you asking me to do that now, or is this a request for something to address in the book? I want to say straight up that constructs like 'the Neurotypical Mind' vs 'the Autistic Mind' are useful, to me, only as rhetorical frames for a very loose kind of cultural analysis, not as real things.
Can you please help explain neurotypical perspectives/desires to autistic people? Not expecting autistic people to change in anyway, but just so they know what's usually going on in neurotypical minds? (I realise, you might have to play your 'I'm an author' card to get some interviews on this topic)
February 8, 2026 at 10:54 AM
Are you asking me to do that now, or is this a request for something to address in the book? I want to say straight up that constructs like 'the Neurotypical Mind' vs 'the Autistic Mind' are useful, to me, only as rhetorical frames for a very loose kind of cultural analysis, not as real things.
They can be the result of cumulative life stresses, & addressing those stresses - as well as tending to the human experiencing repeated traumatic overwhelm - is important. I think just treating it like faulty plumbing is incomplete
February 8, 2026 at 9:41 AM
They can be the result of cumulative life stresses, & addressing those stresses - as well as tending to the human experiencing repeated traumatic overwhelm - is important. I think just treating it like faulty plumbing is incomplete
Knowing the neurological & pulmonary mechanisms behind a panic attack can relieve some of the fear for some people - knowing that it's not a life threatening heart attack, that you're not suffocating or going mad - but not everyone.
February 8, 2026 at 9:31 AM
Knowing the neurological & pulmonary mechanisms behind a panic attack can relieve some of the fear for some people - knowing that it's not a life threatening heart attack, that you're not suffocating or going mad - but not everyone.
We know that the fear of panic attacks can trigger an attack. At it's culturally-bound. In Cambodia, neck ache is an associated symptom, & so people can have panic attacks triggered by neck ache that makes them fear one is coming on which then triggers the adrenaline/cortisol ramp up.
February 8, 2026 at 9:21 AM
We know that the fear of panic attacks can trigger an attack. At it's culturally-bound. In Cambodia, neck ache is an associated symptom, & so people can have panic attacks triggered by neck ache that makes them fear one is coming on which then triggers the adrenaline/cortisol ramp up.