Paul Marshall
@fouroclockcup.bsky.social
Reading, books, nature.
Reposted by Paul Marshall
lol she got his ass and he knows it
November 9, 2025 at 3:36 PM
lol she got his ass and he knows it
This feels very @backlisted.bsky.social; Anita Brookner calling William Maxwell a master storyteller
November 1, 2025 at 3:25 PM
This feels very @backlisted.bsky.social; Anita Brookner calling William Maxwell a master storyteller
Reposted by Paul Marshall
This is the ad Donald Trump woke up furious about.
Would be a shame if it went viral.
Would be a shame if it went viral.
October 24, 2025 at 12:59 PM
This is the ad Donald Trump woke up furious about.
Would be a shame if it went viral.
Would be a shame if it went viral.
Reposted by Paul Marshall
a page of Krasznahorkai
October 10, 2025 at 3:04 PM
a page of Krasznahorkai
Reposted by Paul Marshall
the booker prize judges make a lot of fuss about having to read 153 books. but assuming an average weight of 750g per book, that comes in at 115kg of literature - or just under the weight of a single adult male ostrich
September 24, 2025 at 1:41 PM
the booker prize judges make a lot of fuss about having to read 153 books. but assuming an average weight of 750g per book, that comes in at 115kg of literature - or just under the weight of a single adult male ostrich
Vinyl in Waterstones now I see… a recent thing?
September 23, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Vinyl in Waterstones now I see… a recent thing?
Reposted by Paul Marshall
A hugely underrated contribution to the Irish literary canon. The nondescript empty landscape Peppa and her family is an oblique reference to nothing less than the works of Brian Ó Nualláin/Flann O'Brien, an absurdist comment on the post-independence lethargy of the so-called Free State. #booksky
August 17, 2025 at 7:49 PM
A hugely underrated contribution to the Irish literary canon. The nondescript empty landscape Peppa and her family is an oblique reference to nothing less than the works of Brian Ó Nualláin/Flann O'Brien, an absurdist comment on the post-independence lethargy of the so-called Free State. #booksky
Reposted by Paul Marshall
usually if you ask experts why an empire fell they’ll say it’s nuanced and multifaceted, so i think it’s kind of cool that with America future historians will get to just say like “oh they took the idiot train to moronsville”
August 10, 2025 at 3:36 AM
usually if you ask experts why an empire fell they’ll say it’s nuanced and multifaceted, so i think it’s kind of cool that with America future historians will get to just say like “oh they took the idiot train to moronsville”
Reposted by Paul Marshall
It’s every parent’s nightmare, isn’t it? you check your child’s bulletproof backpack and find a picture book about gay penguins
June 27, 2025 at 6:47 PM
It’s every parent’s nightmare, isn’t it? you check your child’s bulletproof backpack and find a picture book about gay penguins
Reposted by Paul Marshall
..gets eclipsed & govt fails to get credit for it. This is a package esp on social housing that people have waited literally decades for, it's transformative, it's what people think of when they think of a Lab govt. But outside the housing world you'd barely know: welfare cuts just eclipse it.
June 25, 2025 at 5:02 PM
..gets eclipsed & govt fails to get credit for it. This is a package esp on social housing that people have waited literally decades for, it's transformative, it's what people think of when they think of a Lab govt. But outside the housing world you'd barely know: welfare cuts just eclipse it.
Reposted by Paul Marshall
I'm currently at a housing conference & it's a slightly out of body experience politically, given the vibe here is thrilled with getting £39bn + basically all they asked for in spending review. Not that govt isn't in deep trouble elsewhere but it's a striking eg of how easily the popular stuff...
June 25, 2025 at 4:59 PM
I'm currently at a housing conference & it's a slightly out of body experience politically, given the vibe here is thrilled with getting £39bn + basically all they asked for in spending review. Not that govt isn't in deep trouble elsewhere but it's a striking eg of how easily the popular stuff...
Reposted by Paul Marshall
O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch.
June 5, 2025 at 7:01 PM
O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch.
Reposted by Paul Marshall
A little while ago, my parents' cat Bridget went missing. As the weeks dragged on, they became extremely worried. My dad devised a way to distract himself: he began to paint Bridget's adventures, imagining her travelling through time and popping up in some of art and music's most iconic scenes.
April 6, 2025 at 10:24 AM
A little while ago, my parents' cat Bridget went missing. As the weeks dragged on, they became extremely worried. My dad devised a way to distract himself: he began to paint Bridget's adventures, imagining her travelling through time and popping up in some of art and music's most iconic scenes.
Reposted by Paul Marshall
I have tariffed
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
April 3, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I have tariffed
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
Reposted by Paul Marshall
I must say Americans dream up such awful horrors.
April 3, 2025 at 7:10 AM
I must say Americans dream up such awful horrors.
Reposted by Paul Marshall
On Monday our instagram account was hacked and then deleted. We received a ransom note to recover it; obviously we couldn't and wouldn't pay, and therefore lost thousands of followers. Meta support was useless. But we're BACK with a new account: @littletollerbooks. Can you follow us there and share?
March 28, 2025 at 1:46 PM
On Monday our instagram account was hacked and then deleted. We received a ransom note to recover it; obviously we couldn't and wouldn't pay, and therefore lost thousands of followers. Meta support was useless. But we're BACK with a new account: @littletollerbooks. Can you follow us there and share?
Reposted by Paul Marshall
I thought Adolescence was brilliant. But I am not sure a drama, the power of which lay in its rejection of easy explanations and answers, should be used as a catalyst for quick fix policies. My @heraldscotland.bsky.social column. www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...
Disturbing TV hit Adolescence exposes a chasm that has opened up between generations
Disturbing TV show exposes the chasm that’s opened up between generations
www.heraldscotland.com
March 23, 2025 at 8:57 AM
I thought Adolescence was brilliant. But I am not sure a drama, the power of which lay in its rejection of easy explanations and answers, should be used as a catalyst for quick fix policies. My @heraldscotland.bsky.social column. www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...
Reposted by Paul Marshall
My publisher, Unbound, has recently gone bust & I’ve no idea what’s going on, apart from impersonal emails resembling re-hashed press releases sent by yet another CEO brought in to save the business. Here, Tom Cox (who’s lost £15k from this) describes what it’s been like. Like me, he’s disappointed.
Me and @eanstruther.bsky.social chatting yesterday about writing (and publishing industry nonsense) in case anybody would like a watch/listen: eleanoranstruther.substack.com/p/tom-cox-an...
Tom Cox & Eleanor Anstruther LIVE
A recording from Eleanor Anstruther's live video
eleanoranstruther.substack.com
March 22, 2025 at 9:01 AM
My publisher, Unbound, has recently gone bust & I’ve no idea what’s going on, apart from impersonal emails resembling re-hashed press releases sent by yet another CEO brought in to save the business. Here, Tom Cox (who’s lost £15k from this) describes what it’s been like. Like me, he’s disappointed.
Reposted by Paul Marshall
Reposted by Paul Marshall
..through your banks, credit card providers and Paypal etc. People are having some success with this approach. In the process of administration Unbound are rebranding as Boundless and sidestepping their debts to carry on business as usual. There are hundreds of authors who haven't been paid...
March 18, 2025 at 9:09 PM
..through your banks, credit card providers and Paypal etc. People are having some success with this approach. In the process of administration Unbound are rebranding as Boundless and sidestepping their debts to carry on business as usual. There are hundreds of authors who haven't been paid...
Reposted by Paul Marshall
There is absolutely no way I'm ever supporting anything done by Boundless (formerly Unbound - www.thebookseller.com/news/unbound... - aka fuckers-over of authors and piss-takers of supporters).
Unbound goes into administration as Archna Sharma and John Mitchinson launch new publisher
The independent publisher Unbound has gone into administration, with Allister Manson and Charles Turner of Opus Restructuring appointed administrators of the company on 10th March 2025.
www.thebookseller.com
March 14, 2025 at 5:32 PM
There is absolutely no way I'm ever supporting anything done by Boundless (formerly Unbound - www.thebookseller.com/news/unbound... - aka fuckers-over of authors and piss-takers of supporters).
Reposted by Paul Marshall
It would appear that @unbounders.bsky.social have turned out to be bounders after all.
March 14, 2025 at 7:03 PM
It would appear that @unbounders.bsky.social have turned out to be bounders after all.
Reposted by Paul Marshall
Managed to login to Unbound's site, where I have some outstanding preorders from many years ago. Assuming they don't refund those ones either I'm nearly £50 out of pocket. These orders are for other books than Tom's below. To say I'm furious at @unbounders.bsky.social is nowhere even close. #BookSky
As a postscript to this, I have now found out Unbound - or the company that has been spawned from their ashes - will not be refunding the readers who pledged for my last book, having previously, only very recently, said they would.
I'm sorry.
And I'm furious.
I'm sorry.
And I'm furious.
It's official: I now own the rights to my books again! Today's newsletter is about why I took them back from my publisher, and how you can get hold of signed copies of them (without giving money to that same publisher)... tomcox.substack.com/p/hurray-i-n...?
March 14, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Managed to login to Unbound's site, where I have some outstanding preorders from many years ago. Assuming they don't refund those ones either I'm nearly £50 out of pocket. These orders are for other books than Tom's below. To say I'm furious at @unbounders.bsky.social is nowhere even close. #BookSky
Reposted by Paul Marshall
As an Unbound author/editor, this is what I don’t understand most. We crowdfund our books. Where have the royalties (that we’re all still waiting to be paid btw, and were paid late before anyway) gone? If someone could please look into the previous CEO and senior leadership, it would be appreciated.
This whole saga is kind of weird, and I'm rather confused how a publisher that crowdfunded its expenses has managed to go into administration.
To be noted, Unbound weren't paying royalties by the end, and that is a big old nope.
To be noted, Unbound weren't paying royalties by the end, and that is a big old nope.
Unbound goes into administration as Archna Sharma and John Mitchinson launch new publisher
The independent publisher Unbound has gone into administration, with Allister Manson and Charles Turner of Opus Restructuring appointed administrators of the company on 10th March 2025.
www.thebookseller.com
March 14, 2025 at 1:04 PM
As an Unbound author/editor, this is what I don’t understand most. We crowdfund our books. Where have the royalties (that we’re all still waiting to be paid btw, and were paid late before anyway) gone? If someone could please look into the previous CEO and senior leadership, it would be appreciated.