Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Gareth Hanrahan

@mytholder.bsky.social

4.7K followers 670 following 3.9K posts

He/Him. Novel THE SWORD TRIUMPHANT out May '25. Currently writing: Black Iron 4, A Different Unannounced Novel, Merryshire Detective Club, Terraforming Mars rpg, other stuff.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · Jan 23

Gar's novels - a thread.
First, we've got the Black Iron Legacy series, starting with THE GUTTER PRAYER.

Three thieves - runaway Carillon Thay, slowly petrifying Spar, and corpse-eating ghoul-monster Rat - get embroiled in a web of intrigue and sorcery. Crazed gods, alchemy-punk, high weirdness.

Cover of the Gutter Prayer, showing three thieves in a spooky quasi-Victorian city

11 27 130

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 18h

So very good

Simon Spanton @simonguy.bsky.social · 20h

"You're a mythago. I made you. My dreams made you. Like the journal said..."

A photo of copies of the 1986 Grafton paperback of Mythago Wood, the 1990 Grafton paperback of Lavondyss and the 1994 Grafton paperback of The Hollowing, all by Robert Holdstock. The cover art of the first is by Peter Goodfellow and of the second and third by Geoff Taylor.

2 15

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 2d

Also using a random table for 'what's next' to keep myself surprised.

1 5

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 2d

Today, two of the to-do things are playtest feedback, so I'm just pomodoroing one of them and powering through the shorter one.

1 2

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 2d

At the moment (i.e. last week), I'm doing 1000 words on X, 1000 words on Y, trying to keep momentum up; the first 500 words of the day on a particular topic are usually easy enough. It helps that many of them are new projects, so there's less overhead in switching right now.

2 4

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 2d

Just fixing up some playtest feedback for a Thing.

1 1

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 2d

Novel is set in weird extra dimensional afterbirth of creation, so yeah!

1 3

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 2d

So far this morning - Eversink, then off to Bree and Tharbad. This afternoon involves a trip to Mars and some novel work.

3 21

Reposted by Gareth Hanrahan

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 3d

Explaining to my wife that I cannot simply “read the books I’ve already bought and haven’t read” like some kind of peasant.

28 170 1.1K

Reposted by Gareth Hanrahan

Why @why.bsky.team · Mar 19

My unified theory of political discourse centers around the fact that the quote post was invented in 2015

20 120 850

Reposted by Gareth Hanrahan

Thomas M, Full-time Rascal @newmadras.bsky.social · 3d

Hi, is there anybody here who is in/from Spain who could help me answer some questions about RPGs in the 90s?

10 36 30

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 3d

Ha!

Like jelly, it sometimes seems as though the shape of an election campaign will never set. Unlike jelly, even when it does seem to be settling down, it can all be reshaped by last minute events, TV moments or just undecided voters not being enthused enough to turn out.
Actually, none of that is like jelly at all. Forget I mentioned jelly

1 3 7

Reposted by Gareth Hanrahan

HeyGMKenny @heygmkenny.bsky.social · 4d

White Dwarf 240, published 1999, might have been onto something.

9 58

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 4d

Oooh, I really like what appears to be “event sheet with arrows along sides, arrows connect to aligned play sheets”

1 1

Reposted by Gareth Hanrahan

Alan Kelly @akellyucc.bsky.social · 5d

Around 10 years ago I met Manchán when we both spoke at an @irishtimes.com food culture event. He was very nice and had a piece of paper for all the speakers with an old Irish word chosen for them. I still have it. He picked well for this dairy scientist.
May he rest in peace.

Piece of paper with old Irish words for ‘yielding milk’ and ‘detective work’, which are clearly linked

3 17

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 5d

(In before the "ho ho ho the reading throne is what I call the toilet" jokes)

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 5d

Maybe the trick is the sunk cost fallacy - if you invest enough into your reading space you feel compelled to use it.

Bring forth the reading throne!

1 4

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 5d

I'm trying to. I've set up a dedicated reading couch away from the computer and other distractions, and try to read a bit before bed. It works sometimes.

1 4

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 5d

That’s what I was trying to type:
bsky.app/profile/coma...

Coman Fullard @comanfullard.bsky.social · 6d

They've vipers and they're keener
Apollo and Athena
They're quick and are serener
Adamas Family

Caprica's a mausoleum
When Cylons come to see 'em
With nukes and lazers beaming
Adamas family

1 2

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 6d

Excellent

Reposted by Gareth Hanrahan

Coman Fullard @comanfullard.bsky.social · 6d

They've vipers and they're keener
Apollo and Athena
They're quick and are serener
Adamas Family

Caprica's a mausoleum
When Cylons come to see 'em
With nukes and lazers beaming
Adamas family

1 1 7

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 6d

"The Adama family" #typoOfTheDay

5 15

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 6d

I've had two random encounters involving you this week. One with a Spanish gamer who nearly did a food science PhD at Cork but ended up in the gaming industry instead, and earlier on when you were the first hit on my search "can you print on cheese"?

1 1

Reposted by Gareth Hanrahan

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 6d

My goodness, this poem. A beautiful, savage, blunt explanation of why we study war and conflict and also why military history is not and should not be just 'for the boys.'

The poem is moving in its unwillingness to whitewash the many tombs of war, as we should too should be unwilling.

Tamar @heartinamber.bsky.social · 6d

I tend to think every nerdy trans woman should read Margaret Atwood's The Loneliness of the Military Historian and sit with it for a moment no matter what it is exactly she's nerdy about, but that goes double for you www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47788/...

The Loneliness of the Military Historian

This is why few people ask me to dinner, though Lord knows I don’t go out of my way to be scary. If I roll my eyes and mutter, if I clutch at my heart and scream in horror like a third-rate actress ch...

www.poetryfoundation.org

3 34 170

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 6d

TWO WOODS ENTER, ONE WOOD WYRDS

2 4

Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 7d

See you there!