Paul McAuley
@unlikelyworlds.bsky.social
Scribble scribble scribble
Latest novel: Beyond the Burn Line
Incoming (12th Feb 2026): Loss Protocol
Working on: Heaven's Grand Design
Website: https://www.unlikelyworlds.co.uk
Agent: Oliver Cheetham at Mic Cheetham Agency
Latest novel: Beyond the Burn Line
Incoming (12th Feb 2026): Loss Protocol
Working on: Heaven's Grand Design
Website: https://www.unlikelyworlds.co.uk
Agent: Oliver Cheetham at Mic Cheetham Agency
Reposted by Paul McAuley
Reposted by Paul McAuley
If you want to feel old, we are now further from the formation of the Kenorland Supercontinent than the formation of the Kenorland Supercontinent is from the formation of the Solar System.
November 25, 2025 at 5:35 AM
If you want to feel old, we are now further from the formation of the Kenorland Supercontinent than the formation of the Kenorland Supercontinent is from the formation of the Solar System.
Follow the thread
‘I wrote a fan letter to David Thomson. In his reply, he urged me to develop interests other than film. That was Spielberg’s problem, Thomson said – he didn’t know anything else. But there seemed little danger of that in my case.’
Leo Robson’s teenage film obsession:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Leo Robson’s teenage film obsession:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Leo Robson · Diary: What I Saw at the Movies
Jean Epstein compared going to a movie to entering a state of hypnosis, an aesthetic experience that ‘modifies the...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Follow the thread
Reposted by Paul McAuley
(1) Write genre from outside of it in, not the inside of it out.
(2) Try not to model yourself on the best of genre writers, only on the best of writers. Obviously your choices there will be subjective, but the risk with genre is it's a rabbit hole.
(3) Don't try to undo genre using its own tools.
(2) Try not to model yourself on the best of genre writers, only on the best of writers. Obviously your choices there will be subjective, but the risk with genre is it's a rabbit hole.
(3) Don't try to undo genre using its own tools.
November 7, 2025 at 11:40 AM
(1) Write genre from outside of it in, not the inside of it out.
(2) Try not to model yourself on the best of genre writers, only on the best of writers. Obviously your choices there will be subjective, but the risk with genre is it's a rabbit hole.
(3) Don't try to undo genre using its own tools.
(2) Try not to model yourself on the best of genre writers, only on the best of writers. Obviously your choices there will be subjective, but the risk with genre is it's a rabbit hole.
(3) Don't try to undo genre using its own tools.
Reposted by Paul McAuley
November 24, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Paul McAuley
This next in actual book, 1988 debut novel from @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social. A Brazilian-inflected Federation has several planets and is fighting a war against a mysterious enemy. Dorthy Yoshida has been sent to investigate a mystery. 🪐📚💙 #scifibooks #sciencefiction #nowreading
November 24, 2025 at 8:08 AM
This next in actual book, 1988 debut novel from @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social. A Brazilian-inflected Federation has several planets and is fighting a war against a mysterious enemy. Dorthy Yoshida has been sent to investigate a mystery. 🪐📚💙 #scifibooks #sciencefiction #nowreading
Reposted by Paul McAuley
Flatiron Building, New York City, Built 1902
November 23, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Flatiron Building, New York City, Built 1902
Reposted by Paul McAuley
Udo Kier's Criterion Closet picks.
Udo Kier’s Closet Picks
YouTube video by CRITERION
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Udo Kier's Criterion Closet picks.
Reposted by Paul McAuley
Stand by your radios at 09:00 UK time! I’ll be on R4’s Start the Week with @adamrutherford.bsky.social talking about CRICK. Also with Alison Bashford talking about science and the occult in the history of palmistry and Charlotte Houldcroft describing her work on DNA viruses.
November 24, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Stand by your radios at 09:00 UK time! I’ll be on R4’s Start the Week with @adamrutherford.bsky.social talking about CRICK. Also with Alison Bashford talking about science and the occult in the history of palmistry and Charlotte Houldcroft describing her work on DNA viruses.
Reposted by Paul McAuley
It's not just the Klamath River where salmon are making a triumphant return. Nice success story in Alameda Creek, too: www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
‘Epic’: Salmon seen far upstream in Bay Area creek for first time in 70 years
After the removal of small dams and the addition of fish ladders, salmon have been seen swimming further up a Bay Area creek than at anytime since the 1950s.
www.sfchronicle.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:14 AM
It's not just the Klamath River where salmon are making a triumphant return. Nice success story in Alameda Creek, too: www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
Reposted by Paul McAuley
RIP Udo Kier!
Damn!
Damn!
November 24, 2025 at 6:29 AM
RIP Udo Kier!
Damn!
Damn!
Reposted by Paul McAuley
Centaurus A
NGC 5128
Distance 13 million light years
Discovered 1826 by James Dunlop
Centaurus A is the result of a large elliptical galaxy colliding with a spiral galaxy.
NGC 5128
Distance 13 million light years
Discovered 1826 by James Dunlop
Centaurus A is the result of a large elliptical galaxy colliding with a spiral galaxy.
November 24, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Centaurus A
NGC 5128
Distance 13 million light years
Discovered 1826 by James Dunlop
Centaurus A is the result of a large elliptical galaxy colliding with a spiral galaxy.
NGC 5128
Distance 13 million light years
Discovered 1826 by James Dunlop
Centaurus A is the result of a large elliptical galaxy colliding with a spiral galaxy.
Reposted by Paul McAuley
Lucky enough to have been able to read this ahead of publication (Feb 26). It is extraordinary, one of his very best works.
November 23, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Lucky enough to have been able to read this ahead of publication (Feb 26). It is extraordinary, one of his very best works.
Reposted by Paul McAuley
Hampstead Heath, 07:58
November 23, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Hampstead Heath, 07:58
There’s some serious denim in Train Dreams.
November 23, 2025 at 8:24 AM
There’s some serious denim in Train Dreams.
Reposted by Paul McAuley
Two scientists who are fast friends, one Nigerian and one American, have won the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change competition for their network to catch the next disease with pandemic potential.
$100 million prize goes to dynamic duo aiming to stop next pandemic before it starts
Two scientists who are fast friends, one Nigerian and one American, have won the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change competition for their network to catch the next disease with pandemic potential.
n.pr
November 22, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Two scientists who are fast friends, one Nigerian and one American, have won the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change competition for their network to catch the next disease with pandemic potential.
Reposted by Paul McAuley
People who received the mRNA flu vaccine had 35% fewer flu-like illnesses than those who received the traditional vaccine.
www.upi.com/Health_News/...
www.upi.com/Health_News/...
mRNA flu shot shows better results than traditional vaccine in trial - UPI.com
Pfizer's mRNA flu vaccine worked better than a standard flu shot in a large Phase 3 trial, researchers reported in the results of a clinical trial.
www.upi.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:15 AM
People who received the mRNA flu vaccine had 35% fewer flu-like illnesses than those who received the traditional vaccine.
www.upi.com/Health_News/...
www.upi.com/Health_News/...
Robert J. Scherrer, Gravitational effects of a small primordial black hole passing through the human body, International Journal of Modern Physics D (2025).
www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/...
www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/...
November 22, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Robert J. Scherrer, Gravitational effects of a small primordial black hole passing through the human body, International Journal of Modern Physics D (2025).
www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/...
www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/...
Reposted by Paul McAuley
Alex Cox, adapting Gogol as a Spaghetti Western, with himself playing the guy buying the souls? Sure, why not! Bring it on!
November 21, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Alex Cox, adapting Gogol as a Spaghetti Western, with himself playing the guy buying the souls? Sure, why not! Bring it on!
Reposted by Paul McAuley
Long-Necked Titanosaur Skeletons Have Surfaced at a Dinosaur Fossil Site in Transylvania www.discovermagazine.com/long-necked-...
Long-Necked Titanosaur Skeletons Have Surfaced at a Dinosaur Fossil Site in Transylvania
Learn about a fossil site in Transylvania that contains hundreds of vertebrate remains and was once an island full of dwarf dinosaurs.
www.discovermagazine.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Long-Necked Titanosaur Skeletons Have Surfaced at a Dinosaur Fossil Site in Transylvania www.discovermagazine.com/long-necked-...
Reposted by Paul McAuley
Thousands of rare American recordings — some 100 years old — go online for all to enjoy
A collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the nonprofit Dust-to-Digital Foundation
laist.com/news/arts-an...
A collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the nonprofit Dust-to-Digital Foundation
laist.com/news/arts-an...
Thousands of rare American recordings — some 100 years old — go online for all to enjoy
The project, which will include some 50,000 songs from private record collections, is a collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the Dust-to-Digital Foundation.
laist.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Thousands of rare American recordings — some 100 years old — go online for all to enjoy
A collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the nonprofit Dust-to-Digital Foundation
laist.com/news/arts-an...
A collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the nonprofit Dust-to-Digital Foundation
laist.com/news/arts-an...
Reposted by Paul McAuley
How about this: I'll punch myself in the face, and they stop doing this stuff? I will absolutely do that if it will help, because I slightly want to do it right now anyway.
bsky.app/profile/fina...
bsky.app/profile/fina...
High earners to be eligible for UK settlement within 3 years of arrival on.ft.com/44n8xnA
High earners to be eligible for UK settlement within 3 years of arrival
Home secretary says ‘brightest and best’ will be fast-tracked while others will have to wait up to 30 years
on.ft.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:41 PM
How about this: I'll punch myself in the face, and they stop doing this stuff? I will absolutely do that if it will help, because I slightly want to do it right now anyway.
bsky.app/profile/fina...
bsky.app/profile/fina...
Reposted by Paul McAuley
After being declared extinct twice(!), it was on this day in 1948 that the Takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri) was rediscovered again. Thanks to intensive conservation work there are now more than 500. www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/tak...
The incredible takahē story
Thought to be extinct not once but twice, the takahē's remarkable story of survival and rediscovery is a testament to the resilience of nature.
www.doc.govt.nz
November 20, 2025 at 3:10 PM
After being declared extinct twice(!), it was on this day in 1948 that the Takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri) was rediscovered again. Thanks to intensive conservation work there are now more than 500. www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/tak...
Reposted by Paul McAuley
I never expected that AI would flood authors with scam emails from "private" "communities" of "readers." One of many examples from the past few weeks:
November 20, 2025 at 4:42 PM
I never expected that AI would flood authors with scam emails from "private" "communities" of "readers." One of many examples from the past few weeks: