@thetimes.com If you want to get Britain reading, don’t have a firewall beyond the QR code.

Death of a publishing dream: how the Unbound revolution b... The literary disrupters enjoyed great success with their crowdfunding model, signing authors that other publishers overlooked. And then the money ran out…

observer.co.uk/news/busines...
So this is why I’ve been so quiet for so long.

Eye Books rescues award winning historical novel Will Atkinson's first acquisition for the indie publisher is Katharine Quarmby's The Low Road

Hugely chuffed, grateful (and relieved) to share the news that my novel, The Low Road, will be published as a paperback and e-book by @eyebooks.bsky.social this year, following the collapse of my former publisher, Unbound. I love the new cover too! www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article...
#EyeBooks

In November we publish the paperback edition of @katharineq.bsky.social’s powerful historical novel The Low Road, currently on the shortlist for the New Angle Prize. Pre-order it online from Waterstones using the code SUMMER25 and you get 25% off shorturl.at/zUUyu

It won’t stay pink - that’s an old colour 👍

Trying to find the right green for spare bedroom … clearly not there yet!

Dogs and humans loving the garden at this temperature (23C). Can it please not get hotter?

God, I’ve been painting for similar reasons … but not bookshelves!

I needed this post - thank you - and reposting in case you do too ❤️‍🩹

I have spoken at length to @damianhinds.bsky.social who has listened respectfully. I probably haven’t changed his mind but had to try. We are at the sharp end now.

It may not be perfect but it’s all we have. I had to sit on my mum’s legs to keep her from damaging herself with the pain, dying 3 weeks after pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Please don’t let fear of endless potential problems cause agony right now, for real.

I think we all need a dog picture. Unless you’re a cat.

Congratulations to Matt Cain @mattcainwriter.bsky.social on being awarded an MBE in The King's New Year Honours List 2025 for services to #LGBTQIA+ culture! 👑🏳️‍🌈

TheMadonnaofBolton is available from Macmillan, Gardners and your usual supplier (Paperback 9781783528004).

#books #queerlit

Well - my girl has a twin spirit called a skern based on the Norse fylgja … maybe you’re mine 😁

Hope it’s repeated - though I’m always worried with seeing things again that the magic may have gone as the world changes.

Thank you! When I wrote my Bera trilogy I tried to use plain or Norse words + our Welsh terms like caffled for tangled hair. It was fun!

Always up for a Viking word-hoard

And it changes with each decade I view it

The steady gaze of one who can resist all male attention-seeking.

Unless you were right all along …

Word of the Day is ‘uhtcearu’ [ucht-kay-aru, with the 'ch' as in the Scottish ‘loch']:

Old English for ‘the sorrow before dawn', when you lie awake in the darkness and worries crowd your mind.

This is what I call a Peter Pan sky and I love it. Anyone else know what I mean? Or have their own terms for something that’s book nostalgia

I taught in these. No sex that I can remember. But I’m very old.

So true. I was writing a gritty thriller but kept seeing snow and fire. Went to Iceland and found Bera, whose story is now a trilogy @unbounders.bsky.social

The most exciting live update was when Mainoo fell into a bank of snow.

Yellow Labrador holds a toy Brussels sprout

Only a Labrador can look both noble and silly. Our first yellow and probably not the last, for all that we love black Labs.

Death of Shackleton - South Georgia Museum Shackleton’s Rise to Fame Journey to South Georgia The Ship The Crew Death of Shackleton The Quest Continues The Quest Returns End of the Heroic Era Reflections of Shackleton Previous Next Death of Sh...

Sir Ernest Shackleton died on this day, 1922. He was only 47 and fed up being told to give up things by his doctor. I'm a Shackleton by birth and always try to be better.
sgmuseum.gs/death-of-sha...

The magical surprise of lime juice dripped into red cabbage soup brought as much pleasure to this old cook as the magic painting pages in my 1960s Rupert Bear annuals.

A lonely sound, carried across serried rooftops of terraced houses from cold grey Fratton station to the cemetery. Portsmouth, 1963.

See You Later 2024 and a Warm Welcome to 2025 It’s that time of year when I look back at all the incredible books I’ve read and reviewed. It’s a thing a lot of reviewers do at this time of year but how do I choose? Every book…

A great blog from a kind and insightful reviewer (and no, I didn’t have a book out this year) 😘 Plus, reading challenge and charitable giving! Win, win 🏆
www.sarahbroadley.com/2024/12/31/s...