Cieran
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cieran.co.uk
Cieran
@cieran.co.uk
34 followers 55 following 50 posts
Writer, north of England. Currently working on a SF novel and a retro adventure game 🧙‍♂️
>portfolio: www.cieran.co.uk
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cieran.co.uk
"This is a feast of incredible animation and a novel mix of styles [...] For appreciators of the art form it is worth seeing in the largest screen possible for this mesmerising experience alone."
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My ★★★½ review of #AllYouNeedIsKill on Letterboxd boxd.it/bIjRxf

#FilmSky #liff #filmreview
A ★★★½ review of ALL YOU NEED IS KILL (2025)
A novel, manga and even a high-grossing action film with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow (2014) - this latest adaption had a clear path laid for it; perhaps, too clear. This is a feast ...
boxd.it
November 17, 2025 at 1:25 PM
cieran.co.uk
"Some genre conventions are familiar here: curses, death and disease haunt the town... Beneath this surface, however, is deftly tied a feverish coming-of-age that wrenches at the heart of bittersweet youth. "
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My ★★★★ review of The V... on Letterboxd boxd.it/bHKPjP

#FilmSky #liff #filmreview
A ★★★★ review of The Virgin of the Quarry Lake (2025)
A cunning and creeping horror-thriller from director Laura Casabe. This sweltering summer is a suffocation of style and cinematics. Long close-ups give an invasive and claustrophobic setting to the mo...
boxd.it
November 14, 2025 at 11:13 PM
cieran.co.uk
"Absurd, joyous and hilarious satire. A delight for all aliens watching.
I am happy that my high expectations were met in director Yorgos Lanthimos's most recent picture of the bizarre and the philosophical."
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My ★★★★ review of #Bugonia on Letterboxd boxd.it/bHIfLz

#FilmSky #liff #filmreview
A ★★★★ review of Bugonia (2025)
Absurd, joyous and hilarious satire. A delight for all aliens watching. I am happy that my high expectations were met in director Yorgos Lanthimos's most recent picture of the bizarre and the philosop...
boxd.it
November 14, 2025 at 12:41 PM
cieran.co.uk
"All the vision, style and filmmaking capability for a curious, original sci-fi/horror: this could have been a showstopping short film, and that is a compliment."
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My ★★ review of Redux Redux on Letterboxd boxd.it/bGdFkD

#FilmSky #liff #filmreview
A ★★ review of Redux Redux (2025)
All the vision, style and filmmaking capability for a curious, original sci-fi/horror: this could have been a showstopping short film, and that is a compliment. Through a feature, I felt the premise w...
boxd.it
November 11, 2025 at 4:39 PM
cieran.co.uk
"TaDhaKeTaDhaKeTaKeTaDhaKeThun...

This is the percussive rhythm of bols; the spoken beat that draws together this vibrant second feature from actor and director, Uttera Singh."
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My ★★★½ review of Pinch on Letterboxd boxd.it/bCZLxt

#FilmSky #liff #review
A ★★★½ review of Pinch (2025)
TaDhaKeTaDhaKeTaKeTaDhaKeThun... This is the percussive rhythm of bols; the spoken beat in Hindi music that draws together this vibrant second feature from actor and director, Uttera Singh. Set in the...
boxd.it
November 7, 2025 at 12:55 PM
cieran.co.uk
"It is not often that a film can draw; hypnotise; toy with its audience across genre, dreamscape and myth, before spitting the setting's context into our eager mouth; dry and waiting in the desert sun."
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My ★★★★ review of The Mysterious... on Letterboxd boxd.it/bCdcYj

#FilmSky #liff #review
A ★★★★ review of The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo (2025)
It is not often that a film can draw; hypnotise; toy with its audience across genre, dreamscape and myth, before spitting the setting's context into our eager mouth; dry and waiting in the desert sun....
boxd.it
November 6, 2025 at 12:09 AM
cieran.co.uk
Okay I knew I had a good one so...
Here's a sneaky #WIPSnips excerpt from Chapter 4 of my SF/cyberpunk novel 'Worm'.
⚠️ Content Warning: Surgery ⚠️

Cool thing about this section is I had it reviewed by a doctor to make sure the process sounds reasonable.
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
Screenshot shows an excerpt from SF/cyberpunk novel WIP, 'Worm', by Cieran Ryan. Excerpt: "Grinding, twisting dull pain through my back and chest signifies my cracked rib being guided back into place as the needle hand injects another concoction into the fracture. Some kind of glue, maybe, as it’s held there to set for a few moments before the fine steel instruments find their way out of my wound and start to clean once more."
November 4, 2025 at 11:41 AM
cieran.co.uk
Some reflections, (no spoilers!)

"Described as "Hitchcockian"; the mystery here is internal. Tender scenes of psychiatrist Lilian and ex-husband Gabriel shape the heart of this unfurling drama."
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My ★★★ review of #APrivateLife on Letterboxd boxd.it/bAMTCR

#RebeccaZlotowski #liff2025 #review
A ★★★ review of A Private Life (2025)
Described as "Hitchcockian"; the mystery here is internal. Tender scenes of psychiatrist Lilian (Jodie Foster) and ex-husband Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil) shape the heart of this unfurling drama. As each ...
boxd.it
November 3, 2025 at 4:14 PM
cieran.co.uk
Two lovely atmospheric scares back to back from my folk horror screenplay...
Gotta love an omen.

#SFFChat #folkhorror
October 31, 2025 at 12:20 PM
cieran.co.uk
First up, @finalsentence.bsky.social
Dystopian multiplayer typing battle royale. Play time: 1hr

For a writer who spends most of his time typing, this is as addictive as it is challenging. No autocorrect here - each spelling mistake could be the last you ever make. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#steam #nextfest #typinggame
Screenshot shows a screencap of FINAL SENTENCE's lobby screen. Here stats are shown, printed on a dystopian looking typewriter
October 20, 2025 at 4:40 PM
cieran.co.uk
Starting a collection for demos of new games I'm playing from #Steam 's #NextFest !
Tagging them here, maybe post a lil review 🕹️
Trying to branch out and pick stuff I wouldn't usally buy... Also, as a writer I'm exploring broad genres to see how and where writing and narrative can be used ✍️
#writer
October 20, 2025 at 4:25 PM
cieran.co.uk
I saw campaigners for a disruptive British party recently: in the moment I drove past, one held out a phone at arms length; like a knife, or a scorpion, camera trained on a passerby who had challenged them. I read in the campaigner's face a mix of power and perverse excitement.
#RefusePropaganda.
eva.computer eva (^_^)/ @eva.computer · Oct 17
white house has joined bluesky
click here to block all official us government accounts instantly

bsky.app/profile/did:...
October 18, 2025 at 9:48 AM
cieran.co.uk
Age yourself with a movie you saw in the theatre as a kid.
September 29, 2025 at 8:43 AM
cieran.co.uk
Fun one at the opening of 'Worm', where our "diver" explains how they disguise illicit Metanet activity; laundering income through tips on a tech-troubleshooting forum.
Character tone set on the second page here: Creative, tongue-in-cheek and morally ambiguous.
#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity
Screenshot shows excerpt of 'Worm', WIP by Cieran Ryan: "To keep it sweet I code a holo-livestream answering tech requests. The questions are generated by a keyword-tracer I leave in the .mpk of any client that under-pays me, or I don’t like the look of. It’s mostly non-malicious, the user’s data just feeds a zeitgeist suggesting quick-fix solutions to rookie queries: “why doesn’t my beautyFix holo work on radiation scarring?”, “How to stop concealed_arms.mpk being blocked by Federal Cybernetics?”. The advice I’ve programmed replies from a list of basic troubleshooting methods then auto-resolves and closes the query, depositing a tip into my FC. Clean, traceable and funded by the ignorance of the metanet."
September 24, 2025 at 9:07 AM
cieran.co.uk
Well, looks like everyone in 'Worm' is pretty agreeable so far.
First person writing though, perhaps it makes sense that the narrator is consistent?
#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
The screenshot shows a search bar with "disagree" and "No results".
September 21, 2025 at 4:03 PM
cieran.co.uk
These vibes 🎤 🥁
Recording weekend with my band... Excited to hear what the day's efforts bring!
Picture shows a drum kit mic'd up in a warm attic recording studio
September 13, 2025 at 2:00 PM
cieran.co.uk
#WIPSnips word: "worst"
And I have a double!
From chapter one of my SF-noir WIP.

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
A screenshot of Cieran's WIP novel, Worm. The passage has the word "worst" highlighted. Passage: "Worst comes to worst, I could just disconnect it – it’s probably a hidden section front end anyway. I take a seat at the bar and order a beer while I scan the crowd watching Starling. Strange, I don’t recognise the song."
September 12, 2025 at 12:46 PM
cieran.co.uk
#SFFChat #4 - picking this one, as I love the description of sensations - he stuffs a forkful into his mouth, it's too much and the sauce is shockingly sharp, it makes him cough - I can feel all of this as I read it. Plus it sounds tasty.
audconnelly.bsky.social Aud Connelly @audconnelly.bsky.social · Sep 11
#SFFChat 1
world-building, dialogue, culture, characterization, on-page tomfoolery, unfortunate use of the word "pegging"
September 12, 2025 at 2:24 AM
cieran.co.uk
The scene's interesting in that we hear the first sentimental reflection from our POV character. Much of their commentary so far has been deadpan, even cynical - here we discover a new facet of our protagonist, a kind of soulfulness. It may be a change of pace, but I think it's quite sweet. #SFFChat
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · Sep 11
#SFFChat Q3: Read your snippet over again. Is there anything else that stands out to you about the passage? (e.g. a strength it showcases, maybe it's both setting the scene & conveying character, maybe you see room for improvement, etc).

OR

How would the scene read from a different POV? 1/2
A badly photoshopped image of a muscular man flexing with butterly wings erupting from his shoulder because I suck at this. There's a jar of pens and pencils obscuring the badly photoshopped wings so that you can't tell the image is still weirdly squared off. Also there's a chalkboard with the prompt on it for some reason. Life is confusing and so is SFFChat.
September 12, 2025 at 2:10 AM
cieran.co.uk
I remember the process of this being a challenge for myself: how can I write the sound of jazz musicians gently breathing their tune into being - that moment of 'finding' the tune, my favourite part of both playing and listening to jazz... That's the scene I'm going for. #SFFChat
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · Sep 11
#SFFChat Q2: What made you choose this particular snippet? What is it doing?

OR, if you already answered that, share what you remember about your process writing the scene (thoughts that you had about it, intentions, maybe the fact that you *didn't* think but wrote intuitively, etc).
A badly photoshopped image of a muscular man flexing with butterly wings erupting from his shoulder because I suck at this. There's a jar of pens and pencils obscuring the badly photoshopped wings so that you can't tell the image is still weirdly squared off. Also there's a chalkboard with the prompt on it for some reason. Life is confusing and so is SFFChat.
September 12, 2025 at 1:56 AM
cieran.co.uk
A snippet from Worm, SF-noir novel I put all my favourite ideas into at the moment.
And I didn't answer the question from before - a strength in my writing is rhythm. I have played music since I was young, and listen to music while I write. A satisfying rhythm in phrasing is often my aim. #SFFChat
September 12, 2025 at 1:51 AM
cieran.co.uk
Firstly, what an incredible post image from #SFFChat - there's a compelling story in gym bro/fairies and I'm tempted to write it.
I'm a writer in the north of England working on a SF novel, a folk horror screenplay and retro fantasy-adventure video game. They're all wonderful fun 🧙‍♂️
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · Sep 11
#SFFChat Intro: Introduce yourself and share a writing strength!
A badly photoshopped image of a muscular man flexing with butterly wings erupting from his shoulder because I suck at this. There's a jar of pens and pencils obscuring the badly photoshopped wings so that you can't tell the image is still weirdly squared off. Also there's a chalkboard with the prompt on it for some reason. Life is confusing and so is SFFChat.
September 11, 2025 at 11:43 PM
cieran.co.uk
Such a great scene. Sets up all that fear and curiosity together, like finding a long dead house spider as a kid - inspecting it intently but still hesitant to reach out and touch it...
scifiart.bsky.social Scifi Art @scifiart.bsky.social · Sep 7
Reveal 🔥 🔥 Alien (1979)
September 7, 2025 at 1:02 PM
cieran.co.uk
We're all using @heroforgeminis.bsky.social to conceptualise characters for our TTRPG, right...?

#gamedesign #ttrpg
Picture shows a 3d model of a woman in black clothing, crouching with one smoking pistol while she draws another Picture shows a 3d model of a cyberpunk biker, laid back on her ride gazing into the sky. Picture shows a 3d model of a cyberpunk goblin, fitted with cybernetic enhancements Image shows a 3d model of a long haired man clad in black technical gear. He is smoking a cigarette while his other hand holds a silenced pistol
September 5, 2025 at 5:40 PM
cieran.co.uk
"Starling steps out onto the stage. She’s small, eyes-down, timid. Her dress is a myriad of
layers, made up of thin, iridescent pieces. When she walks it rolls like the shore."
- from the first chapter of my (WIP) SF novel: you can read the full chapter on cieran.co.uk

#SSFChat
September 5, 2025 at 2:38 PM