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James Alistair Henry

@jamesbluecat.bsky.social

4.5K followers 1.7K following 3.6K posts

Surrounded by yowling, nebulous forms. Writer: Green Wing, Smack The Pony, Delivery Man, Piglets, my first novel Pagans out now: https://www.waterstones.com/book/pagans/james-alistair-henry/9781916678064

www.waterstones.com

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Pinned

James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · Aug 4

Just realised that, brilliantly, my pinned tweet for ages has been for the exclusive edition of Pagans that sold out some time ago, so here's a link to the other one. www.waterstones.com/book/pagans/...

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Reposted by James Alistair Henry

Big Green Books (Simon) @biggreenbooks.bsky.social · 8h

This #buyastrangerabook offer from @notmoro.bsky.social is still up for grabs.

Jess is offering to buy one lucky person the book of their choice, up to £20!

So, if there's a particular book you're after, let us know!

UK only

Big Green Books (Simon) @biggreenbooks.bsky.social · 15h

More #buyastrangerabook day action!

@notmoro.bsky.social is offering to buy one lucky person the book of their choice, up to £20!

So, if there's a particular book you're after, let us know!

UK only

Jess (Eldritch mode) 🎃 @notmoro.bsky.social · 16h

Yes please, I would like to BUY A STRANGER A BOOK, up to £20. ("Strangers" can include mutuals I don't know very well, unless I have already bought them a book previously.)

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James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 8h

At least he can spell it.

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 13h

My secret evil plot to ‘destroy Britain’ has been unveiled by (checks notes) the same paper that endorsed Liz Truss.

If I don’t know better I’d say we’ve got them entirely rattled.

Join.greenparty.org.uk

Greens who want to save the world by destroying Britain.

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Reposted by James Alistair Henry

Phoebe Maltz Bovy @phoebebovy.bsky.social · 1d

thecjn.ca/arts-culture...

Emma Forrest wrote a seminal Jewish novel—and was quietly ghosted for it

The British author discusses the muted reaction to her Jewish work and the Manchester attack on Yom Kippur.

thecjn.ca

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Reposted by James Alistair Henry

Willard Foxton @willardfoxton.bsky.social · 1d

I know I've bigged up her book but I'm also a big fan of @katemckean.bsky.social 's blog, which I'd recommend to anyone trying to get published.

Most recently I learned those Publishers deal announcements HAVE A CODE. A "significant deal" is $250k-$499k!

www.agentsandbooks.com/how-to-misre...

How to Misread a Deal Announcement

Hi friends, I have been a longtime reader of Publishers Marketplace, and in fact, it's deep in my lore that the Publishers Lunch newsletter is why I became an agent. I strongly recommend regularly re...

www.agentsandbooks.com

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Reposted by James Alistair Henry

Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 1d

I will die on this hill.

As someone who grew up with and continues to know a lot of fundamentalists: state-funded faith schools are the *only way* to make sure that children growing up in religious extremism are receiving an education that broadly accords with modern life and values.

Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 1d

Am wondering if all of those suddenly deciding they’re against communities living “parallel lives” might reconsider their support of religious schools? Or indeed private ones?

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James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 1d

Oh god, I'd forgotten about that.

James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 1d

Yup.

James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 1d

Exactly, especially in the later books, he could NOT be clearer what he's writing about, bloody hell.

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James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 1d

Worryingly possible, I suppose, although I fail to see how you could read more than ONE Pratchett book and not get what he's furious about (inequality, entitlement and a TONNE of other stuff, including people being treated badly for trying to break out of traditional gender roles!)

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James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 1d

FFS someone make her go back and read them again.

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James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 1d

Worse than US tech bros naming everything after Tolkien or Musk constantly referencing Iain M. Banks without apparently having understood a single word.

Paul Haine @paulhaine.bsky.social · 1d

Kemi Badenoch claiming Terry Pratchett as her favourite author is wild

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James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 1d

Good LORD

James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 1d

Ugh, that's so depressing.

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James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 2d

Weirdly fascinating. I wonder what a UK version would be like.

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 2d

Nice chart from @ourworldindata.org showing the contrast between what Americans die of (heart disease and cancer) v what the US media reports on (homicide and terrorism). This naturally leads to it being trickier to build a fact based world view
ourworldindata.org/does-the-new...

What Americans die from
and the causes of death the US media reports on
Causes of death in the US in 2023
Heart disease (29%)
Cancer (26%)
Accidents (9.5%)
Stroke (6.9%)
Lower respiratory diseases
(6.2%)
Alzheimer's disease (4.8%)
Diabetes (4.0%)
Kidney failure (2.4%)
Liver disease (2.2%)
Homicide (<1%)
Terrorism (<0.001%)|
COVID-19 (2.1%)
Influenza/Pneu
monia (19%6)

Media coverage of these causes of death in 2023 in...
The New York Times
The Washington Post
Fox News
Heart disease (2.8%)
Heart disease (2.9%)
Cancer (4.1%)
Cancer (4.7%)
Accidents (5.9%)
Cancer (3.8%)
Accidents (6.1%)
Accidents (9.7%)
Suicide (4.1%)
Suicide (3.3%)
COVID-19 (6.0%)
COVID-19 (7.9%)
Suicide (3.8%)
COVID-19 (5.3%)
Drug overdose (7.5%)
Drug overdose (9.8%)
Drug overdose (9.5%)
Cancer (26%)
Accidents (9.5%)
Stroke (6.9%)
Lower respiratory diseases
(6.2%)
Alzheimer's disease (4.8%)
Diabetes (4.0%)
Kidney failure (24%)
Suicide (2.1%0)
COVID-19 (2.1%0
Homicide (42%)
Homicide (52%)
Homicide (46%)
Terrorism (18%)
Terrorism (12%)
Terrorism (11%)
Homicide (<1%)
Terrorism (<0.001%)
Note: Based on the share of causes of death in the US and the share of mentions for each of the causes in the New York Times, the Washington Post and Fox News. All values are normalized to 100%, so the shares are relative to all deaths caused by the 12 most common causes + drug overdoses, homicides and terrorism. These causes account for more than 75% of deaths in the US.
A "media mention" is a published article in one of the outlets which mentions the cause (e,g. "influenza) or related keywords (e.g. "fu") least twice.
Data sources: Media mentions from Media Cloud (2025): deaths data from the US CDC (2025) and Global Terrorism Index.|
CC BY

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Reposted by James Alistair Henry

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 2d

The Greens requested an interview on the Laura Kuenssberg Show with Zack Polanski when he was elected leader, but were denied, with a promise to interview him during Green conference instead.

This was then scrapped citing the Manchester synagogue attack. Polanski is both Jewish and from Manchester

BBC Laura Kuenssberg Show Accused of Anti-Green Bias After Cancelling Zack Polanski Interview

The new Green Party leader was the only major party leader not to have been granted a conference interview on the flagship BBC show

bylinetimes.com

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James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 2d

Never did :(

James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 2d

Dreamed I was back working in a bookshop and the Christmas rush had just began but I was distracted trying to find where they were displaying my own book. Then the Terminator turned up and I fled to the sewers under the building but got lost and had to go back. Luckily he was only browsing.

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Reposted by James Alistair Henry

Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 5d

“The world used to be run by serious people, love them or hate them, but now the Losers have taken over, desperately trying to exert control over everything instead of going to therapy.”

When Losers Ruled The World

If the end is coming at least we can laugh at it

open.substack.com

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James Alistair Henry @jamesbluecat.bsky.social · 5d

This is like when daughter and her friends started calling each other 'You landlord' as an insult (although they've stopped now they're in their later teens and have realised they'd probably quite like to own some property, thanks).