Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Will @willcouper.bsky.social · 18h

"Of course it weighed several tonnes by the time it made it back. Though it was pockmarked, most of the surface was intact." Lulu's Barrels (1968).

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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 19h

Oh, we are in for a DECADE at least of "I Was Just Following Orders, How Was I To Know"

Tim Just Tim @timkrauss.bsky.social · 22h

Waiting for all the assholes to start with the "I was NEVER MAGA!!" bullshit like "good Germans" after WW II

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Will @willcouper.bsky.social · 1d

"He tumbled off the side of the motorway, doughnuts flying everywhere. Skidding to a muddy halt at the bottom of the hill was something of a surprise." Emperor Bob (2017).

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Glasgow SF Writers' Circle @gsfwc.bsky.social · 2d

Hey, overseas friends! We've got a lot of spooky story news coming this week, so why not throw us a follow if you're not already?

@hexthervvv.bsky.social @neilwilliamson.bsky.social

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Ginger Nuts of Horror @gnofhorror.com · 1d

Weaveworld’s Magic: How Clive Barker’s Novel Fights Fascism and Celebrates Queer Identity: A My Life in Horror

I’m honoured to work with such great writers. This essay from @exaggeratedelegy.bsky.social is immense and a must read.

gnofhorror.com/weaveworld-s...

Weaveworld's Magic: How Clive Barker's Novel Fights Fascism And Celebrates Queer Identity: A My Life In Horror - The Ginger Nuts Of Horror Review Website

Clive Barker's Weaveworld is more than a fantasy novel, it's a sacred text of queer awakening and a radical critique of fascism. and why its celebration of magic and desire forever alters its readers.

gnofhorror.com

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DAVE! (like "Them!" but Dave) @daveexmachina.bsky.social · 2d

normal person: i just want a place to hang out with my friends
tech weirdo: and shitheads
np: no just my friends
tw: but what about hearing alternative views on race and gender?
np: we just want to hang out and goof around
tw: so where do the shitheads fit in then
np: no shitheads
tw: not following

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Matt Neil Hill @mattneilhill.bsky.social · 2d

Wow. It's so great that the UK has brave politicians like Helen who aren't afraid to tell it like it is!

And by "brave" I mean petty, vindictive, ill-informed shitheads with no understanding of mental illness who happily take tens of thousands of public money in expenses for a job they're shit at.

Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 2d

"Welfare system should be a safety net, not a lifestyle choice... that’s why we will stop benefits for anxiety" Helen Whately, Shadow Secretary for State, work and pensions. Daily Mail.

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Will @willcouper.bsky.social · 2d

"'And you can ram that in your blep-hole!' cried Imogen.

"'I've been standing in the mush house all day,' Sandra replied, cocking her head." Bitsmesh and Overfurns (2003).

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Ginger Nuts of Horror @gnofhorror.com · 2d

"And the River Drags Her Down” is an extraordinary debut. It succeeds on multiple levels, as a creepy supernatural tale, as a powerful family drama, and as a profound meditation on grief that refuses to offer easy answers."

And the River Drags Her Down by Jihyun Yun

gnofhorror.com/and-the-rive...

And The River Drags Her Down By Jihyun Yun: A Hauntingly Beautiful Tale Of Grief And Sisterhood - The Ginger Nuts Of Horror Review Website

And the River Drags Her Down by Jihyun Yun: A Hauntingly Beautiful Tale of Grief and Sisterhood

gnofhorror.com

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G. Willow Wilson @gwillow.me · 6d

In all seriousness, publishers are going to have to figure out how to market books in the post-social-media landscape. That should be an implicit part of their job. What authors/artists can do on their own is increasingly limited and siloed.

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dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 2d

"the Bad Faith Threshold" is a great coinage.

The first wave of comments on a post, from those who do actually follow you, is usually interesting or fun or both.

But the later waves are of scolds, humourless reply-guys, "sorry to be pedantics", "whatabouts", and "why are you insulting".

Caroline Dodds Pennock @carolinepennock.bsky.social · 2d

Ah, I see this post has crossed the Bad Faith Threshold: that indefinable moment on social media when people stop behaving as if you’re a normal human person who, say, loves your child and is making a mildly humorous observation, and start responding with wild criticisms and imagined slights.

Caroline Dodds Pennock @carolinepennock.bsky.social · 3d

Yesterday my eleven-year-old daughter claimed that Taylor Swift had embraced a range of genres which included punk. The retribution was swift and included considerable mockery and a lesson on punk which probably took longer than she would have liked.

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Stellaween? @antlervel.vet · 4d

I think it’s really funny when people who have everything, absolutely everything, the kind of wealth you and I could only dream of, are just miserable because people don’t like them quite enough

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Will @willcouper.bsky.social · 3d

"Devin looked at the tiny, thin branches with great resentment and covetousness. How dare he not be hanging gravid with bright fruit?" Mocker and Vendor (1922).

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Juliet E McKenna @julietemckenna.bsky.social · 3d

NB This article is taken from Cory Doctorow's writing, so is worth reading, in case you were thinking it'd be pointless Sunday opinion piece handwringing.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 3d

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and what we can do about it

www.theguardian.com

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Will @willcouper.bsky.social · 4d

"He stepped onto the plain. The horse was unhappy with the change. His bags full of rhubarb shifted." Dusty Fingernails (1966).

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Spooook-o Booooo-piss @seej500.bsky.social · 5d

If you were a white ethnic German in 1939, you were having a great time - money stolen from Jewish businesses, everyone was in the fun early days of a meth addiction, & all the lebensraum you could want

You've gotta give the people a few good years to get them to buy-in

But Trump half-assed it

jeff computers @helldude.bsky.social · 5d

it's weird that a clown car full of freaks like stephen miller and jd vance feeding the populace a strict diet of state violence, austerity, and cringe are not getting more popular. bread and circus but there's no bread and the circus is one sclerotic monkey vomiting on his balls

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Ginger Nuts of Horror @gnofhorror.com · 4d

Canines in horror seem to be having a bit of a resurgence, what with Good Boy and now Coyotes hitting the big screen.

"Coyotes is not one of Minihan’s strongest, and it certainly doesn’t measure up to Long’s better genre titles. " and yet I really wantg to watch it

gnofhorror.com/coyotes-just...

Coyotes: Justin Long's Goofy Charm Shines - The Ginger Nuts Of Horror Review Website

Coyotes: Justin Long's Goofy Charm Shines Trapped in their Hollywood Hills home, a family must fight for survival as a pack of savage coyotes closes in.

gnofhorror.com

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Ginger Nuts of Horror @gnofhorror.com · 4d

We bring you news of this year's Nightmare Film Festival

Nightmares Film Festival (Oct. 16 to 19, at the legendary Gateway Film Center) has unwrapped its complete tenth anniversary edition lineup.

gnofhorror.com/nightmares-u...

@maddwolfcolumbus.bsky.social

NIGHTMARES UNVEILS FULL 10th ANNIVERSARY PROGRAM - The Ginger Nuts Of Horror Review Website

Nightmares Film Festival (Oct. 16 to 19, at the legendary Gateway Film Center) has unwrapped its complete tenth anniversary edition lineup

gnofhorror.com

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Malarkey @malarkeybooks.bsky.social · 5d

Got a few left, a small handful, and you might as well buy one!

Malarkey @malarkeybooks.bsky.social · 11d

Thought we were sold out of Hellarkey but @renbolger.bsky.social conjured some extra haunted copies. Get one, if you dare: malarkeybooks.com/store/hellar...

Hellarkey vol. IV — Malarkey

Hellarkey IV 56 pages. 6.14 by 9.21 inches. This item will ship in September or early October. Hellarkey is a horror-themed magazine published by Malarkey every October. Each summer, mystical ed...

malarkeybooks.com

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Fantasy Book Nerd @fantasybooknerd.bsky.social · 5d

Hope Madden reviews the new film Good boy over on @gnofhorror.com today.

gnofhorror.com/good-boy-a-h...

Good Boy: A Horror Film That Will Break Your Heart - The Ginger Nuts Of Horror Review Website

Good Boy A man moves into a new home that has supernatural forces lurking in the shadows. As entities start to threaten him, his brave dog comes to the rescue.

gnofhorror.com

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Will @willcouper.bsky.social · 5d

I've been published on this site. She is a bit odd, but nice enough. You're right, she doesn't really want horror, she states she wants basically Tales of the Unexpected, probably verging on weird stuff.

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Will @willcouper.bsky.social · 5d

"He was still mumbling when he walked back into the house. Vera looked at him and went back to re-lagging the pipes." Obstinate Streets (1952).

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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 5d

Counter-opinion: it’s a f***ing tragedy that corporate greed has broken the medium which facilitated Tahrir Square etc and is now doing its best to break the rest of the Internet.

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 5d

Opinion: It would be a hugely welcome development to discover that we have not merely reached social media saturation point, but that the experience has been degraded to such an extent that it has shocked people out of their stupor. on.ft.com/476Dcr8

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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 6d

Reminder that @theguardian.com has a partnership with OpenAI, and has of late published a spate of asinine articles that are uncritical in framing, and just read as press releases for the company and for "AI" in general.
The headline/implicit framing of this article seems consistent with its biases.

Waitman Wade Beorn, PhD, FRHistS @waitmanwbeorn.com · 6d

Oh, man. After reading the article, what it actually says is that an historian did a lot of archival work and spatial research to determine the site of a killing and then the family of the likely perpetrator stepped forward with photographs to confirm identity.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Historian uses AI to help identify Nazi in notorious Holocaust murder image

Jürgen Matthäus has for years been investigating the killer – and is confident he has finally solved the mystery

www.theguardian.com

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Will @willcouper.bsky.social · 6d

I think the big thing that's got me is that I've been struggling to get published for a quarter of a century and I seem to be making all the same stupid errors I was in my early twenties. Like I'm actually incapable of learning.

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