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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 13h

I read this at lunchtime but it can be enjoyed at other times of day, also. Worth the subscription.

Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 1d

Some recent diary entries by me, in case anyone would like a read... www.tom-cox.com/autumn-diary/

The full version of today's piece is paywalled but can be read it - along with all my other upcoming pieces, and my archive - for a price beginning at £2 per month/£20 per year. I also wanted to take ...

www.tom-cox.com

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Reposted by Jan Hicks

Kath @kathyburke.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, yes I know I keep banging on about my fucking book! However, if you want one repost this and I’ll do a random winner pick thing by the end of the week because I’m great like that. ♥️📚
#amindofmyown

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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 3d

It's not a book for slight attention. It's a book for dwelling.

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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 3d

Yes, it was fun spotting the links from other books. I don't know Dorset at all, but I do know some of the other places that Eric passes through, especially Sheffield. I also enjoyed the way the connections between people built across the story and into the future. Fabulous indeed!

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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 3d

Isn't it wonderful? I really loved it, too, and didn't want to leave that world. It's the thread of hope in his books that brings me solace, the reminder that there is goodness in the world.

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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 4d

The robin is my favourite bird. Look at this little trouper 😍

Liza Adamczewski aka the accidental ecologist @lizaadamczewski.bsky.social · 4d

Saturday morning in the studio. Available now should you be doing a little early shopping for Christmas. Painted on vintage panels laid with 23 carat gold leaf

A robin in the honeysuckle sings against a gold background

Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 4d

At the end of this week we packed 663 volumes onto 11 pallets at the off-site store and reshelved them in the new store. Pictured are the Rate Books which measure roughly 55cmx60cmx5cm and weigh up to 10kg each. I'm glad I had the DeepStore team's help!
#archives #collectionsmove

Stephen, Jay and Dan from DeepStore removing Rate Books from shelves at the Oldham Archives off-site store and packing them into a giant box on a pallet. When I was cleaning these volumes earlier this year, the work was powered by swearing.

Rate Books from the Oldham Archives collections at the off-site store waiting to be packed onto pallets. At this point, the DeepStore crew had packed 360 and were about to palletise another 70.

Stephen and Jay putting the Rate Books onto shelves in the new Oldham Archives store.

433 Rate Books neatly placed on shelves on the new mobile racking at Oldham Archives.

Reposted by Jan Hicks

Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 5d

I've decided to make this piece permanently unpaywalled, as a sample of the writing I do on my newsletter. If you like it, you might enjoy a subscription. If not, you probably won't.

P.S. It's significantly better if you read it to the end, I promise.

www.tom-cox.com/once-upon-a-...

Once Upon A Time On A Lane

A few of you - but probably not loads - will have read this before but, while I put a few finishing touches to a new piece ready for Sunday, I wanted to post it again, in slightly spruced up form, for...

www.tom-cox.com

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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 8d

Your 14 year old relative is a good sort.

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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 8d

Hard agree. Whimsy, used accurately, is one of my favourite words. It's had all the strangeness taken out of it. A bit like weird has.

Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 8d

I do not know what they are mithering about. My Substack subscription ported over to Ghost, I'm still getting the emails, I've only had to put my email address in at your website once for it to recognise my subscription, and I don't have to battle through the noise of Notes any more. It's all good.

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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 9d

Richard's Woodward and Bernstein fan fiction needs a publisher.

Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 9d

I've written a new (very silly) short story and uploaded it on my new site today. The full thing is behind a paywall. But for £2 per month (or £20 per year) you can read it, plus get access to 100s of 1000s of other words by me: www.tom-cox.com/richards-exi...

Zoom meeting with my cousin. I dislike him, but ultimately have only myself to blame for his presence in my life. I was a lonely child and pestered my parents repeatedly for a cousin, until finally, in a bid for a quieter life, they presented me with one. What I didn’t initially realise was that the cousin they gave me was not my actual cousin, just an entirely random cousin they had found wandering, disorientated, on the grass verge of the busy trunk that connects the town of Bloxwich to the village of Clayhanger. Now, as a result, I must continue to bear witness to his tedious stories about his day-to-day doings. He announces that he has given up dentistry to become a miner. I find it hard to discern his motivation for this, other than the convenience of being able to redeploy the headtorch he used in his former profession. He admits he is already missing being able to talk aggressively and opinionatedly for long periods at strangers who were unable to talk back due to having his fingers in their mouth. “Give it to my straight: am I a bully?” he asks. “Not at all!” I reply, thinking back to the eve of the first of my six weddings, when he drugged my drink, then left me on a well-used municipal golf course 400 miles from home, naked except for a studded belt and a blindfold.

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Comma Press @commapress.bsky.social · 9d

Back in print…

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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 10d

Book 28 from my selected 40 from the backlog was well worth the wait. @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social's third novel made me laugh, cry and feel at home.

What's important is now and how we spend it. I recommend spending time with this book.

thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2025/09/28/e...

#BookSky

Everything Will Swallow You

In his third novel, Everything Will Swallow You, Tom Cox introduces us to the world of Eric and Carl, companions who live in a small cottage below a cliff and above the sea in Dorset. They have kno…

thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com

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Reposted by Jan Hicks

Richard Fitch @tudorcook.bsky.social · Nov 16

"this is fine"

British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r

A medieval manuscript illustration from the British Library royal ms 20 a ii f3r.
Image shows a medieval king in a green gown and wearing a crown. He is stood within a burning castle with arms in the air and a look of 'oh dear' on his face

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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 11d

Work news: we had our Open Day today and the Mayor of Oldham cut a ribbon to declare us open, before stopping to chat to visitors. We had #archives, #maps and #photographs out for visitors to browse and I ran tours of the archives store.

The Worshipful Mayor and Mayoress of Oldham speak to a visitor to the Oldham Archives Open Day in the new search room. There are old maps on a table in front of them and another visitor looks on from the opposite side of the table.

Visitors to the Oldham Archives Open Day enjoying a display of historical photographs in the new meeting room. The photographs are on tables surrounded by orange chairs.

Visitors to the Oldham Archives Open Day looking at a selection of historical maps and talking to a member of the archives team.

A view down an aisle in the roller racking in the new store at Oldham Archives, with boxes stacked on shelves to the left and books stored on shelves to the right.

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Reposted by Jan Hicks

Liza Adamczewski aka the accidental ecologist @lizaadamczewski.bsky.social · 11d

A dove of peace for anyone who is feeling frightened, anxious or sad about the state of the world around them today.

A white dove with pink feet purchase on a lichen encrusted twig in front of a mottled blue background

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Reposted by Jan Hicks

Big Green Books (Simon) @biggreenbooks.bsky.social · 12d

Today I'm launching a Crowdfunder with the incredible Grace Quantock.

The aim of this is to get Grace's book "Living Well with Chronic Illness" into health centres across the UK.

We be so grateful for your support.
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/86e1e73e29...

The front cover of Grace's book "Living Well with Chronic Illness"

Here's Grace with her very cute medical alert and response assistance dog Wilfie.

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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 12d

A brilliant piece in @manchestermill.bsky.social about "the north west's answer to Divine". Archives bringing history to life - I love it!
manchestermill.co.uk/the-double-l...

The double life of Avril Eventhal

Housewife by day. Gay village legend by night

manchestermill.co.uk

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Reposted by Jan Hicks

Andy Arthur💃🏰⚓🦌 Threadinburgh 🧵 @threadinburgh.scot · 14d

Look what we have here then.

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Influx Press @influxpress.bsky.social · 14d

'A lush, intoxicating debut where secrets are poison and every touch carries the risk of contamination.'
– Kirsty Logan

A very happy publication day to Lauren DuPlessis! Her wonderful debut novel TENDER is out today.

www.influxpress.com/tender

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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 14d

You're very welcome - enjoy!

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Reposted by Jan Hicks

WHO @who.int · 14d

WHO statement on autism-related issues

The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes that there is currently no conclusive scientific evidence confirming a possible link between #autism and use of acetaminophen (also known as paracetamol) during pregnancy

Full statement bit.ly/47YsgwI

WHO statement on autism-related issues

Follow @WHO for the latest updates

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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 14d

I'm currently reading Everything Will Swallow You and it feels like a really important book for the world we're living in. It's about freedom to be yourself, welcoming others, and accepting difference. Whichever stranger takes this up, I hope you get as much from it as I am.

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Jan Hicks @dustystacks.bsky.social · 19d

Keir-leigh, I thought we'd always be friends

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