Tim Leach
@timleachwriter.bsky.social
Writer of historical fiction, Associate Professor at University of Warwick.
Website: https://www.tim-leach.co.uk/
Books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Tim-Leach/author/B07GRBS3VD.
Website: https://www.tim-leach.co.uk/
Books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Tim-Leach/author/B07GRBS3VD.
Reposted by Tim Leach
We've been on the Northern Line. The idea that it's 2000 years old seems completely reasonable.
February 17, 2026 at 9:18 AM
We've been on the Northern Line. The idea that it's 2000 years old seems completely reasonable.
Reading some old Irish myths, and certain things remain true across the centuries - don't piss off a poet.
February 17, 2026 at 9:06 AM
Reading some old Irish myths, and certain things remain true across the centuries - don't piss off a poet.
Reposted by Tim Leach
An Ancient Greek athlete concealing a scandalous heterosexual affair
Shane and Ilya, but Hoplites from rival successor states
February 16, 2026 at 8:25 PM
An Ancient Greek athlete concealing a scandalous heterosexual affair
Reposted by Tim Leach
But they were all of them deceived, for Sauron, in his cunning, fashioned a crap-ton of rings in various sizes.
July 24, 2024 at 4:24 PM
But they were all of them deceived, for Sauron, in his cunning, fashioned a crap-ton of rings in various sizes.
Reposted by Tim Leach
I propose to make universal the old policy of the Blackfriars conference at the American Shakespeare Center:
If you do not end your paper on time, you will be forced to exit, pursued by a bear. Literally, a bear will come take your paper from you.
If you do not end your paper on time, you will be forced to exit, pursued by a bear. Literally, a bear will come take your paper from you.
February 16, 2026 at 1:14 AM
I propose to make universal the old policy of the Blackfriars conference at the American Shakespeare Center:
If you do not end your paper on time, you will be forced to exit, pursued by a bear. Literally, a bear will come take your paper from you.
If you do not end your paper on time, you will be forced to exit, pursued by a bear. Literally, a bear will come take your paper from you.
Reposted by Tim Leach
More T.H. White. The Wart explains why corvidae are his favourite birds.
I once saw a crow disporting itself around a flag on a church tower (St John’s in Coventry) in windy weather. Balancing above it, dropping under it, flapping beside it, keeping just out of range of being snapped by it.
I once saw a crow disporting itself around a flag on a church tower (St John’s in Coventry) in windy weather. Balancing above it, dropping under it, flapping beside it, keeping just out of range of being snapped by it.
February 16, 2026 at 9:28 AM
More T.H. White. The Wart explains why corvidae are his favourite birds.
I once saw a crow disporting itself around a flag on a church tower (St John’s in Coventry) in windy weather. Balancing above it, dropping under it, flapping beside it, keeping just out of range of being snapped by it.
I once saw a crow disporting itself around a flag on a church tower (St John’s in Coventry) in windy weather. Balancing above it, dropping under it, flapping beside it, keeping just out of range of being snapped by it.
Reposted by Tim Leach
I think about how when they sang La Marseillaise they were still in the midst of a war they did not know they were going to win.
You ever stop and think about CASABLANCA? You ever stop and think about "Welcome back to the fight, this time, I know our side will win?" You ever think about a bar full of people defiantly singing La Marseillaise, played by a soundstage full of Jewish refugees? You ever think about CASABLANCA??????
February 15, 2026 at 3:17 AM
I think about how when they sang La Marseillaise they were still in the midst of a war they did not know they were going to win.
Reposted by Tim Leach
“Do you know how to read?”
“No. It is one of the black arts.”
He nodded. “But a useful one,” he said.
“No. It is one of the black arts.”
He nodded. “But a useful one,” he said.
February 15, 2026 at 7:30 AM
“Do you know how to read?”
“No. It is one of the black arts.”
He nodded. “But a useful one,” he said.
“No. It is one of the black arts.”
He nodded. “But a useful one,” he said.
Reposted by Tim Leach
Valentine's Day is almost over, which means it's now time to select one happy couple and sacrifice them to the old gods to guarantee a bountiful harvest
February 14, 2026 at 8:12 PM
Valentine's Day is almost over, which means it's now time to select one happy couple and sacrifice them to the old gods to guarantee a bountiful harvest
I feel this, especially since I think the personal qualities required for social media self-promotion usually don't have much crossover with the personal qualities of most writers (we tend to be freaky little gremlins who go hide in a dark place with a hyperfixation for years at a time).
I am not interested in being a person on Instagram, doing collaborative posts with people or filming myself talking to the camera. I want to be a person who fucks off away from the noise and works hard and writes better and better books for the rest of his life and then dies. Why is that not ok?
Fist bump to anyone else caught between the need to bow down & accept the dire, broken reality of the attention economy to continue surviving via their creativity & a desire to disconnect which becomes more vast, and more potentially vital to their sense of inner peace, with every year that passes.
February 13, 2026 at 11:28 AM
I feel this, especially since I think the personal qualities required for social media self-promotion usually don't have much crossover with the personal qualities of most writers (we tend to be freaky little gremlins who go hide in a dark place with a hyperfixation for years at a time).
Reposted by Tim Leach
The only other place it rains so consistently is Gotham City and now I understand why so many of the citizens turn to circus themed crime.
November 15, 2025 at 10:18 AM
The only other place it rains so consistently is Gotham City and now I understand why so many of the citizens turn to circus themed crime.
Reposted by Tim Leach
When Lucy from Compass Books in Dartmouth, Devon, was victim to shoplifting people told her to install CCTV. Instead she put this ancient book thief curse on the wall from the Monastery of San Pedro in Barcelona so book stealers would be consumed by "the flames of hell" with "their members blasted".
November 11, 2025 at 7:59 AM
When Lucy from Compass Books in Dartmouth, Devon, was victim to shoplifting people told her to install CCTV. Instead she put this ancient book thief curse on the wall from the Monastery of San Pedro in Barcelona so book stealers would be consumed by "the flames of hell" with "their members blasted".
Reposted by Tim Leach
This comes up in the submissions queue every now and then, and it’s likely to result in a rejection unless we can see a very simple fix. As Joanne says, song TITLES are okay, but stay away from lyrics!
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 643: It may be tempting to include song lyrics in your work. (And why not? Stephen King does it all the time.) But beware; the rights to even a line of a song can run into the thousands of pounds- and the publisher will expect YOU to pay for them…
February 11, 2026 at 1:52 PM
This comes up in the submissions queue every now and then, and it’s likely to result in a rejection unless we can see a very simple fix. As Joanne says, song TITLES are okay, but stay away from lyrics!
Reposted by Tim Leach
Age verification? Look at my driver’s license:
February 10, 2026 at 1:47 PM
Age verification? Look at my driver’s license:
Reposted by Tim Leach
One of my favourite facts about Iceland is that there are about 75 Eagle's nests in the country, scientists know where they are, but because the White-tailed eagle is endangered here that knowledge is guarded like a state secret.
So if you ever meet a biologist that knows, he will not tell you.
So if you ever meet a biologist that knows, he will not tell you.
February 10, 2026 at 10:28 AM
One of my favourite facts about Iceland is that there are about 75 Eagle's nests in the country, scientists know where they are, but because the White-tailed eagle is endangered here that knowledge is guarded like a state secret.
So if you ever meet a biologist that knows, he will not tell you.
So if you ever meet a biologist that knows, he will not tell you.
This is both amusing and accurate in where it positions me - hovering on the fringes of the Arts Community and Progressive Voices like that hilarious Javert gif from Les Miserables...
February 9, 2026 at 12:03 PM
This is both amusing and accurate in where it positions me - hovering on the fringes of the Arts Community and Progressive Voices like that hilarious Javert gif from Les Miserables...
BTW, if you're newly interested in ice hockey like me, the PWHL (top women's league in Canada and America) is GREAT, and have all their games free on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@thepwhloffi...
And unlike the NHL, loads of out players (Montreal Victoire even has a wife-and-wife duo playing up front).
And unlike the NHL, loads of out players (Montreal Victoire even has a wife-and-wife duo playing up front).
February 8, 2026 at 2:24 PM
BTW, if you're newly interested in ice hockey like me, the PWHL (top women's league in Canada and America) is GREAT, and have all their games free on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@thepwhloffi...
And unlike the NHL, loads of out players (Montreal Victoire even has a wife-and-wife duo playing up front).
And unlike the NHL, loads of out players (Montreal Victoire even has a wife-and-wife duo playing up front).
Reposted by Tim Leach
We men dream dreams, we work magic, we do good, we do evil. The dragons do not dream. They are dreams. They do not work magic: it is their substance, their being. They do not do; they are.
February 8, 2026 at 11:30 AM
We men dream dreams, we work magic, we do good, we do evil. The dragons do not dream. They are dreams. They do not work magic: it is their substance, their being. They do not do; they are.
Reposted by Tim Leach
And in later years he strove long to learn what can be learned, in silence, from the eyes of animals, the flight of birds, the great slow gestures of trees.
February 4, 2026 at 9:30 PM
And in later years he strove long to learn what can be learned, in silence, from the eyes of animals, the flight of birds, the great slow gestures of trees.
Reposted by Tim Leach
Thank you for the 30 day free trial of 2026 but I’d like to cancel my subscription.
February 4, 2026 at 9:37 AM
Thank you for the 30 day free trial of 2026 but I’d like to cancel my subscription.
Reposted by Tim Leach
A list of the finest honey-based drinks, called Maslow's Hierarchy of Meads
The library of medieval histories called Maslow's Hierarchy of Bedes
The haematological consultancy called Maslow's Hierarchy of Bleeds.
February 4, 2026 at 9:57 AM
A list of the finest honey-based drinks, called Maslow's Hierarchy of Meads
Reposted by Tim Leach
I do think CS Lewis was on to something when he wrote about the lure of being in the Inner Ring. (“Of all the passions, the passion for the Inner Ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things”)
www.lewissociety.org/innerring/
www.lewissociety.org/innerring/
The Inner Ring - CS Lewis Society of California
www.lewissociety.org
February 2, 2026 at 11:39 AM
I do think CS Lewis was on to something when he wrote about the lure of being in the Inner Ring. (“Of all the passions, the passion for the Inner Ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things”)
www.lewissociety.org/innerring/
www.lewissociety.org/innerring/
This.
Fist bump to anyone else caught between the need to bow down & accept the dire, broken reality of the attention economy to continue surviving via their creativity & a desire to disconnect which becomes more vast, and more potentially vital to their sense of inner peace, with every year that passes.
February 2, 2026 at 10:17 AM
This.
Reposted by Tim Leach
People talk about our food killing a medieval peasant, but in the Middle Ages they were drinking viscous beer made with egg whites and flour that made you shit yourself
![image text: Typically, Boorde was rude about the drink, writing of Cornish ale that it was “stark nought, lokinge whyte and thycke, as pygges had wrasteled in it,” adding that “it wyll make one to kacke, also to spew; it is dycke [thick] and smoky, and also it is dyn”.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:o7cjkbvotxydby7uvvx32hkm/bafkreidm66c3zb6bsd6kjcdkkcoestrdqtukcp7zzhjf7dijtt7btxjkyu@jpeg)
February 1, 2026 at 11:37 AM
People talk about our food killing a medieval peasant, but in the Middle Ages they were drinking viscous beer made with egg whites and flour that made you shit yourself
Me whenever I see someone with a 1977 Penguin edition of Watership Down:
January 28, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Me whenever I see someone with a 1977 Penguin edition of Watership Down: