Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ray Newman

@raynewman.bsky.social

6.6K followers 1.6K following 11K posts

He/him. From Bridgwater, in Bristol. Writer, editor, content designer. Ghost stories, films. No alt text, no repost. Not here for politics. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/raynewman Header: my book Intervals of Darkness https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DDR8X9QY

linktr.ee

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · Mar 22

Between them ‘Municipal Gothic’ and ‘Intervals of Darkness’ have 27 stories full of haunted buildings, haunted people, and working class weirdness. Obviously *I* think they're great – but so do strangers who owe me nothing!

👉 www.amazon.co.uk/Municipal-Go...

👉 www.amazon.co.uk/Intervals-Da...

The covers of both books with quotes in praise of them, and of specific stories:

“‘Modern Buildings In Wessex’, which pulls a compelling horror narrative out of several architectural reviews, is an all-timer. Can’t recommend enough... Fans of Ghostwatch and Inside No. 9 – run don’t walk.”

Trevor Henderson

“...a tremendous collection, hugely enjoyable, and essential... for anyone interested in the English ghost story... ‘Men Who Live in Caravans’... is one of my very favourite stories of recent years: a future classic of the English weird, full of an almost unbearable sadness, quite exquisitely told.”

Seán Padraic Birnie

6 37 130

Reposted by Ray Newman

Steven Sheil @scsheil.bsky.social · 1d

I’ve been watching the new Monster: The Ed Gein Story series on Netflix, mostly because I was intrigued by hearing that it traced Gein’s influence on popular horror culture, and how it deals with fictionalizing events is interesting - and to my mind raises difficult questions. SPOILERS AHEAD

3 3 16

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 5h

But most people want a clear set of rules. Or believe that such a set of rules already exists. (And that they can go around policing it...)

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 5h

I've been chatting about this with @neilfaz.bsky.social elsewhere. There's something about mature organisations/fields acknowledging that there's no single correct term most of the time; some members of a group will like one term, others another; you need be to be thoughtful and adapt to context.

1 1

Reposted by Ray Newman

Ewamore, Quoth the Raven @ewacat.bsky.social · 5h

in clearing the house out my dad found what we'd spent years assuming was some spare wooden steering wheel for one of his classic car projects but turns out it's from a Vickers bomber from pre-WW2

4 12 120

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 5h

Anyway, here's that podcast, which is about the CIA, the history of Cuban-American relations, mass hysteria, secret weapons, the scientific process, espionage...

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand...

BBC Sounds - Havana Helmet Club - Available Episodes

Listen to the latest episodes of Havana Helmet Club on BBC Sounds.

www.bbc.co.uk

1 7

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 5h

In all sorts of contexts, I reckon debating terminology can feel like a way of (a) deferring the difficult work; and (b) trying to make something bad, sad, or nasty sound more palatable. Words matter. Language is important. But they're not magic, and cannot fix society on their own.

5 8

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 5h

And I also remember the department I worked at launching a policy/campaign aimed at tackling childhood obesity with a very positive, carefully workshopped name... that also became a playground insult. Kids, eh?

1 5

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 5h

I remember when I was at school that it didn't take long for "he's a bit special" and "he's challenged" to become insults aimed at kids with disabilities.

1 6

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 5h

...rather than doing anything to solve the problems poor kids were experiencing. As a former poor kid myself, I'm very comfortable with the word 'poor'. The stigma attached to it is *your* problem, not mine. And the nice polite new terms sting just as much depending on how they're used, and by whom.

2 7

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 5h

It's something I've been trying to articulate for about 20 years. As a junior civil servant, I once spent several hours fuming in a room as well-meaning middle class professionals debated how best to refer to “children experiencing disadvantage”...

1 5

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 5h

I heard the above from neurologist Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan on the (excellent) BBC podcast ‘Havana Helmet Club’, talking about the concept of mass hysteria, and explaining why she still uses the terms 'hysteria' and 'psychogenic'. It hit me like a bolt of lightning.

1 5

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 5h

“The changing of names in order to destigmatise these conditions has been done for a very long time... And in my opinion, it doesn't work... because history suggests that sanitising a name only works for as long as people don't know what that new name means.”

1 5 11

Reposted by Ray Newman

Alom Shaha @alomshaha.bsky.social · 5h

Publishers to authors: you need to be active on social media
Authors to publishers: Sure! Could you help me make some stuff to help promote my book:
Publisher:
Author: please
Publisher:
Author: at least repost this for me?
Publisher:

1 10 30

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 6h

Maybe one of those films that's best enjoyed as a 'Best Bits of Tron' compilation on YouTube. Or in your memory.

1 2

Reposted by Ray Newman

Anne Billson @annebillson.bsky.social · 6h

Ganterie (2025) photograph by Anne Billson

A man cycles past a glove shop, which is closed because it's night, but its windows are lit up, as are the displays of gloves therein.

1 6

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 8h

Drone scares so often turn out to be either mass hysteria, or someone mucking about, or...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Lithuania: Balloons used to smuggle cigarettes shut Vilnius airport

Officials say 25 weather balloons carrying thousands of illicit cigarettes from Belarus were detected.

www.bbc.co.uk

1 1

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 9h

I actually called this one. There was something about the way they panicked and backed down that was particularly suggestive of homegrown amateurs.

1 8

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 9h

There's something interesting in how we generally assume these hacks are being run by shadowy groups of state-sponsored Russian, Chinese or North Korean hackers right up until they arrest some British nerds:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Two arrested over cyber-attack on nursery chain

Hackers were said to have stolen the photographs, names and addresses of about 8,000 children.

www.bbc.co.uk

1 1 9

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 9h

“The separate but thematically related stories, all interlocking, give a distinct sense of place to Warren Valley, Ohio, Trick 'r Treat’s fictional town. The effect points to the unique world-building possibilities in the anthology.”

www.deadofnightletter.com/pumpkin-mons...

Pumpkin / Monster / Secret Past

This week we're mainlining Halloween vibes, thinking about dangerous rabbits, and meeting a long lost slasher . . . From the Grave. Three ideas from horror cinema's past. It’s officially October, ...

www.deadofnightletter.com

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 9h

This feels like one of those London boroughs made up for film or TV. (Squatney, Harrington, Walford...)

LCC municipal @lccmunicipal.bsky.social · Nov 15

Some pre-1965 Municipal Borough of Beddington & Wallington sign action for you: a Surrey Borough replaced in 1965 by the London Borough of Sutton.

A rectangular metal sign with the text “Borough of Beddington and Wallington” embossed in black on a white background. The sign also includes the former Borough’s coat of arms.

3 13

Reposted by Ray Newman

The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 19h

I lurve this film. I lurved it so much, I wrote a modern day sequel a few years ago and submitted it to Hammer, who rejected it on the grounds that it might attract the sort of audience that liked... (and here rattled off a list of very successful action films). As rejections go, I remain baffled.

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 19h

Now watching: ‘Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter’ dir. Brian Clemens, 1974. 🎥🎬

A poster for the film showing a swashbuckling vampire hunter with a cape and a sword. The tagline is: The only man alive feared by the walking dead.

2 2 19

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 19h

“I know you've got guts, Kronos... I've seen them.”

1 4

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 19h

Now watching: ‘Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter’ dir. Brian Clemens, 1974. 🎥🎬

2 25

Reposted by Ray Newman

Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 20h

Beautiful everyday Ladybird things.
The Trimphone
(How it Works: The Telephone, 1972)
Artist: BH Robinson

Photo realistic illustration of a green trimphone on a beige background.

10 34 310

Reposted by Ray Newman

Rose Ruane @regretteruane.bsky.social · 20h

Lovely endpapers from The Twilight Zone, 13 New Stories from the Supernatural, Especially Written for Young People by Ron Serling, from 1963.
Unwieldy title, but each of the 13 stories begins with one of these extraordinary, atmospheric mixed media illustrations by Earl E. Mayan

Endpapers from a book The Twilight Zone 13 New Stories from the Supernatural Especially Written for Young People which has creepy monk-like hooded figures drawn in black and grey intermingled with purple skeletons against a grey and purple background and in the bottom left corner a black and white photo of an white man, probably in his 60s or 70s, balding with round spectacles which looks as if it has been torn from a photograph and stuck in

3 5 43