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Helen Grant

@helengrantsays.bsky.social

2.7K followers 2.9K following 5.4K posts

Lives in Scotland & writes books. Latest novel JUMP CUT published by Fledgling Press. Short story collection ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES available from Swan River Press. Perthshire Gothic. M.R.James fiend. Represented by Fraser Ross Associates.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 13h

After our trip to the Library in the Woods we stopped off for tea and scones at the Glenisle Hotel, which is magnificently dog friendly and also has this cool bar:

Illuminated bar with timber salvaged from a steamer, with name reading TALISMAN and carved image of a man.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 13h

Lovely old book, possibly the oldest there.

Title page of book shown in previous pic. Dated 1925.

Illustration of bird with nest and eggs.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 13h

Inside the Library in the Woods!

Interior with table, six chairs, several shelves of books and leaves of paper pinned up everywhere.

Bookshelves full of books surrounded by papers pinned to the wall.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 13h

The Library in the Woods, Arran!

Log cabin style building with grass growing on the roof.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 13h

"Bow your head for you enter sacred and magical lands" - trip today to see the Library in the Woods on Arran.

Small black and white dog going under a tree trunk across a path with a carved wooden notice on it.

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Reposted by Helen Grant

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 19h

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 19h

Yes, absolutely. Just tell people to use a free online tax calculator now and again if they need to know their tax liability. Sorted.

Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 19h

Eep! Good luck with that!

Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 21h

Some (absolutely free) Hallowe'en listening: the peerless @davelonghorn.bsky.social reads 4 of my stories including my completion of M.R.James's THE GAME OF BEAR:
youtu.be/Wd_8tt6KWl8?...

4 Helen Grant Stories - ASMR

YouTube video by David Longhorn

youtu.be

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Reposted by Helen Grant

Tim Worthington @outonbluesix.bsky.social · 22h

How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 1d

Wandering in the kirkyard

Helen Grant, back to camera, walking in a graveyard with lichenous stones

Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 1d

Went for a walk and found an old burial ground. Some of the stones were illegible but I found one from 1820. #Scotland #Arran

Lichenous tombstones including one tall one with an obelisk.

Close up of a marble relief of Jesus's face on a lichenous tombstone.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 1d

@mariadahvana.bsky.social My son finished BEOWULF last night and messaged: "Has to be one of my favourite books yet... He rode hard, he stayed thirsty, he was the man. He was the man... Fantastic stuff... I loved the flow of the entire thing."

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Reposted by Helen Grant

Cat Rees @catrees.bsky.social · 2d

Absolutely devastating news about a major theft from Amgueddfa Cymru - thieves have stolen Bronze Age gold artefacts held at the St Fagans galleries 😭! St Fagans: Bronze Age gold jewellery stolen from musuem - BBC News share.google/wHR1bDtJxDq4...

St Fagans: Bronze Age gold jewellery stolen from musuem - BBC News

Police are investigating a burglary at St Fagans museum in the early hours of Monday morning.

share.google

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Reposted by Helen Grant

Swan River Press @swanriverpress.bsky.social · 2d

STRANGE EPIPHANIES by Peter Bell

“Bell is not a purveyor of pure horror, but of something much more interesting.” Wormwood

“Bell has a talent for finding isolated and less known corners.” Ghosts & Scholars

“Poetic in style and emotionally intimate.” Hellnotes

swanriverpress.ie/srp-title/st...

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 2d

The dog is now comatose as she generally is after long trips. She probably thinks humans are all nuts.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 2d

Not your normal household waste these days...

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 2d

Daughter also with great heroism completed a 450 piece jigsaw of Botticelli's Venus, mostly by candlelight, which was no mean feat because you couldn't really make out shades of colour or anything.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 2d

We also had karaoke with the dog (who grunted along in time) until we realised we probably couldn't charge the speaker or phone up again once they ran out of juice. Queen's greatest hits including naturally Bohemian Rhapsody.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 2d

So that was a bit of an adventure. Still, we all love a good disaster, and we had a lot of fun too. I carried on reading MOBY DICK by candlelight, which was probably how a lot of people originally read it.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 2d

Had fish and chips at home, because I was just NOT cooking after all that. Then daughter had a massive long hot shower, and I bunged all our stuff in the washing machine.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 2d

Reached Tyndrum with high hopes of the Real Food Cafe, but everything seemed to be shut, presumably also because of power cuts. So we drove on, feeling very keen to get back.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 2d

Eventually drove through Glencoe, which is one of the most gorgeous pieces of scenery in the entire British isles, but by this point we were both so jaded that we just went PFFFT.

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 2d

You'd think some of those big fancy 4x4s would show their mettle and go off road a bit, but...

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Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 2d

Anyway, once on the road again we met heaps of people coming the other way, a sizeable number with trailers with cars on, because there is some event coming up in Mull. So there were a few snarl ups as the traffic queues wouldn't fit into the passing spaces. 🙄

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