Piers Beckley
@piersb.bsky.social
Writer and software developer.
http://fatpigeons.com
The Forest Of Death: https://books.fatpigeons.com/d714gud0pd
http://fatpigeons.com
The Forest Of Death: https://books.fatpigeons.com/d714gud0pd
Reposted by Piers Beckley
The best thing you will read today, probably all week, no you have a tear in your eye. That visceral reaction of reading a story from childhood after so many years
"Twelfth Night Till Candlemas"
The story of a forty-year book-quest and of its remarkable ending
My popular seasonal post from last year:
emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...
Now with a couple of footnotes one year on:
emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...
The story of a forty-year book-quest and of its remarkable ending
My popular seasonal post from last year:
emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...
Now with a couple of footnotes one year on:
emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...
"Twelfth Night Till Candlemas"
The story of a forty-year book-quest and of its remarkable ending
emptycity.substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 10:27 AM
The best thing you will read today, probably all week, no you have a tear in your eye. That visceral reaction of reading a story from childhood after so many years
Reposted by Piers Beckley
Second anniversary of our Apple TV’s spectacular attempt to understand me asking for “Hercule Poirot’s Christmas”
December 23, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Second anniversary of our Apple TV’s spectacular attempt to understand me asking for “Hercule Poirot’s Christmas”
Reposted by Piers Beckley
it took me a minute to put together that she’s being homophobic, not making a genuinely helpful suggestion about birth control
December 23, 2025 at 10:59 PM
it took me a minute to put together that she’s being homophobic, not making a genuinely helpful suggestion about birth control
Reposted by Piers Beckley
A lot of you are baffled by this note, but the weirdest thing about it is that I first heard it from an A-List director many of you absolutely LOVE. I've seen it in the wild since, and I hate it with all my heart.
"A scene in a script should never be longer in number of pages than it has number of characters." In short, a two person scene should never be longer than 2 pages.
Scott & I include a long dialog scene in every one of our movies that we are ALWAYS told is too long and will be cut, then never is.
Scott & I include a long dialog scene in every one of our movies that we are ALWAYS told is too long and will be cut, then never is.
what is your least favorite piece of writing advice and why? 👀
December 23, 2025 at 11:11 PM
A lot of you are baffled by this note, but the weirdest thing about it is that I first heard it from an A-List director many of you absolutely LOVE. I've seen it in the wild since, and I hate it with all my heart.
Reposted by Piers Beckley
Essentially, I think that LLM-generated dialogue only makes sense if you believe that the product of writing is words.
But the product of writing isn't words, any more than the product of justice is prisoners, or the product of love is weddings. The product of writing is meaning.
But the product of writing isn't words, any more than the product of justice is prisoners, or the product of love is weddings. The product of writing is meaning.
I had five fascinating conversations for this RPS piece, gathering perspectives on genAI chatbots in games, as seen in Where Winds Meet. Thanks to @meghna.bsky.social, @pyrofoux.bsky.social, @maxkreminski.bsky.social, and @chrisgardiner.bsky.social www.rockpapershotgun.com/horrible-bor...
"Horrible", "boring", and "cheap": Experts pan new chatbot NPCs, but some leave room for optimism
We speak to a collection of developers and AI experts about the potential impact of LLM-powered NPCs in videogames.
www.rockpapershotgun.com
December 23, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Essentially, I think that LLM-generated dialogue only makes sense if you believe that the product of writing is words.
But the product of writing isn't words, any more than the product of justice is prisoners, or the product of love is weddings. The product of writing is meaning.
But the product of writing isn't words, any more than the product of justice is prisoners, or the product of love is weddings. The product of writing is meaning.
Reposted by Piers Beckley
Btw this is one of the biggest reasons why it’s not as easy as people think to start up independent newsrooms or just be an indie journalist on substack. If you are actually holding powerful and rich people to account, you WILL need legal representation. Not a matter of whether but when
I say that as someone who has started newsrooms from scratch sometimes with two people - if you’re doing your job correctly you will need a lawyer because the first thing rich people do when you write something they don’t like is threaten you legally. It’s cheap for them and expensive for you
December 23, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Btw this is one of the biggest reasons why it’s not as easy as people think to start up independent newsrooms or just be an indie journalist on substack. If you are actually holding powerful and rich people to account, you WILL need legal representation. Not a matter of whether but when
Reposted by Piers Beckley
on the tramway in Nantes and a pretty old woman gave her seat to a very old woman so I gave my seat to the pretty old woman then a man gave me his seat then a teenager gave a man his seat and then we all laughed, aren't people fantastic
December 23, 2025 at 3:48 PM
on the tramway in Nantes and a pretty old woman gave her seat to a very old woman so I gave my seat to the pretty old woman then a man gave me his seat then a teenager gave a man his seat and then we all laughed, aren't people fantastic
Reposted by Piers Beckley
This government has an uncanny ability to absorb all the flak from a decision only to u-turn when everyone involved already hates them and it's way too late to get any credit
Government waters down farm inheritance tax plan
The government has now said it will lift the intended threshold from £1m to £2.5m.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 23, 2025 at 3:55 PM
This government has an uncanny ability to absorb all the flak from a decision only to u-turn when everyone involved already hates them and it's way too late to get any credit
Reposted by Piers Beckley
I think this is implicit in Novak's post but I'll make it explicit: to discredit victims.
This is wild. Why would a line like this be redacted:
“Epstein also threatened harm to victims and helped release damaging stories about them to damage their credibility when they tried to go public with their stories of being trafficked and sexually abused.”
“Epstein also threatened harm to victims and helped release damaging stories about them to damage their credibility when they tried to go public with their stories of being trafficked and sexually abused.”
Ok. Now had a chance to check and, well, at least some docs do appear to be straight up classic redaction fail. And there are some *interesting* bits here.
www.justice.gov/multimedia/C...
www.justice.gov/multimedia/C...
December 23, 2025 at 10:39 AM
I think this is implicit in Novak's post but I'll make it explicit: to discredit victims.
Reposted by Piers Beckley
New blog: In 2024, I released a 10-part serial novella as part of my #MarcDane series, and now MOSCOW RULES is available in a complete, full-length novella edition, as a free download - follow the link for a chilly thriller Christmas gift... 🎁
jswallow.com/the-complete...
jswallow.com/the-complete...
December 23, 2025 at 10:42 AM
New blog: In 2024, I released a 10-part serial novella as part of my #MarcDane series, and now MOSCOW RULES is available in a complete, full-length novella edition, as a free download - follow the link for a chilly thriller Christmas gift... 🎁
jswallow.com/the-complete...
jswallow.com/the-complete...
Reposted by Piers Beckley
i say this with nothing but love for all of you to whom this applies, but the moral rot in elite journalism is because journalism is a trade and it should be done by tradespeople and instead it's been professionalized in a way that makes it cozy to capital instead
December 22, 2025 at 7:45 PM
i say this with nothing but love for all of you to whom this applies, but the moral rot in elite journalism is because journalism is a trade and it should be done by tradespeople and instead it's been professionalized in a way that makes it cozy to capital instead
But why are people abandoning Labour for the LibDems, Greens, and Your Party when Labour are enacting [checks notes] the exact same evidenceless policies as previous Conservative governments?
We may never know.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.gov.uk/government/n...
We may never know.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.gov.uk/government/n...
Councils warned against adopting four-day week
Local Government Secretary Steve Reed has told council leaders to not introduce four-day working weeks.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 23, 2025 at 10:40 AM
But why are people abandoning Labour for the LibDems, Greens, and Your Party when Labour are enacting [checks notes] the exact same evidenceless policies as previous Conservative governments?
We may never know.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.gov.uk/government/n...
We may never know.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.gov.uk/government/n...
Reposted by Piers Beckley
Bill Clinton releasing a statement saying 'release the Epstein files, you cowards' was not on my bingo list.
December 22, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Bill Clinton releasing a statement saying 'release the Epstein files, you cowards' was not on my bingo list.
Reposted by Piers Beckley
When I teaching the Holocaust I note the Holocaust museum’s definition of a concentration camp is a prison whose inmates are denied due process. These are by definition concentration camps.
These are concentration camps. No other way to describe them. Truly horrific, and none of it surprising in the least.
30 minutes. Some deportees described sexual assault. Detainee describes the guard sexually assaulting most detainees. Lights left on all day. Prisoners not given clean water.
Now the DHS tour. Nobody spoke to the detainees. Noem's video was in a different area of the prison.
Now the DHS tour. Nobody spoke to the detainees. Noem's video was in a different area of the prison.
December 23, 2025 at 12:39 AM
When I teaching the Holocaust I note the Holocaust museum’s definition of a concentration camp is a prison whose inmates are denied due process. These are by definition concentration camps.
Reposted by Piers Beckley
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
Seems like it's worth posting this one again.
Why Do Historians Still Have To Go To Archives?
Why do historians go to archives? Hasn’t everything already been digitized?
contingentmagazine.org
December 22, 2025 at 1:40 AM
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
Reposted by Piers Beckley
I should note that it probably spoke very well for the future of my marriage when my wife found the magazine the next day, and looked at me archly, and when I started enthusiastically talking about the short story, she just sighed and put it back.
December 21, 2025 at 7:42 PM
I should note that it probably spoke very well for the future of my marriage when my wife found the magazine the next day, and looked at me archly, and when I started enthusiastically talking about the short story, she just sighed and put it back.
Reposted by Piers Beckley
So that kind of meant everything had to pause while I devoured the story, which involved fooling a security guard at an ophthalmologist. I remember nothing else about the magazine.
It was only later that I realized that I really *did* just read it for the articles.
It was only later that I realized that I really *did* just read it for the articles.
December 21, 2025 at 7:34 PM
So that kind of meant everything had to pause while I devoured the story, which involved fooling a security guard at an ophthalmologist. I remember nothing else about the magazine.
It was only later that I realized that I really *did* just read it for the articles.
It was only later that I realized that I really *did* just read it for the articles.
Reposted by Piers Beckley
Here is the kind of Donald Westlake fanboy I am.
My bachelor party was very tame - we went to a Battletech arena - so as a nod to the absence of debauchery, someone brought the latest issue of Playboy.
It was very Ha Ha, until I noticed that it had a new Dortmunder short story.
My bachelor party was very tame - we went to a Battletech arena - so as a nod to the absence of debauchery, someone brought the latest issue of Playboy.
It was very Ha Ha, until I noticed that it had a new Dortmunder short story.
December 21, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Here is the kind of Donald Westlake fanboy I am.
My bachelor party was very tame - we went to a Battletech arena - so as a nod to the absence of debauchery, someone brought the latest issue of Playboy.
It was very Ha Ha, until I noticed that it had a new Dortmunder short story.
My bachelor party was very tame - we went to a Battletech arena - so as a nod to the absence of debauchery, someone brought the latest issue of Playboy.
It was very Ha Ha, until I noticed that it had a new Dortmunder short story.
Reposted by Piers Beckley
This is absolutely fucking bananas the way that these people are *so close* to getting it but still manage to miss it by a fucking mile.
December 21, 2025 at 12:33 AM
This is absolutely fucking bananas the way that these people are *so close* to getting it but still manage to miss it by a fucking mile.
Reposted by Piers Beckley
I strongly suspect many people would be a lot less aggressively anti-AI at this point if they hadn’t just spent two years feeling constantly pressured, often by very unpleasant people and actors, to use it Or Else
As a lawyer I’m getting a daily machine gun of come-ons to use AI in legal research, have AI draft my documents, let AI suggest my arguments, AI can take a flying fuck at a rolling seven-fingered doughnut
December 21, 2025 at 6:12 PM
I strongly suspect many people would be a lot less aggressively anti-AI at this point if they hadn’t just spent two years feeling constantly pressured, often by very unpleasant people and actors, to use it Or Else
Reposted by Piers Beckley
Your annual reminder that if you get this cracker joke and are confused by it, it's apparently because "ffi" is a special character in some fonts and when the typeface is changed to one that doesn't have it, those letters disappear. It's supposed to be "coffin medicine".
December 21, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Your annual reminder that if you get this cracker joke and are confused by it, it's apparently because "ffi" is a special character in some fonts and when the typeface is changed to one that doesn't have it, those letters disappear. It's supposed to be "coffin medicine".
Reposted by Piers Beckley
Reposted by Piers Beckley
Was having a conversation about things that were clearly slightly adjusted to make them more Christmassy for commercial reasons (Stop the Cavalry, Stay Another Day, the movie The Holiday), when I realised that something you could put on that list is "the story of the actual Nativity". Cool
December 21, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Was having a conversation about things that were clearly slightly adjusted to make them more Christmassy for commercial reasons (Stop the Cavalry, Stay Another Day, the movie The Holiday), when I realised that something you could put on that list is "the story of the actual Nativity". Cool