Jess Popplewell
@jesspopps.bsky.social
I know writers who use subtext, and they’re all cowards.
Author: THE DARK WITHIN US.
Rep’d by: Louise Lamont at LBA.
See also: Careers Consultant; views own & not representative of employer, obviously.
See more of my nonsense at jesspopplewell.com
Author: THE DARK WITHIN US.
Rep’d by: Louise Lamont at LBA.
See also: Careers Consultant; views own & not representative of employer, obviously.
See more of my nonsense at jesspopplewell.com
Pinned
Jess Popplewell
@jesspopps.bsky.social
· Nov 19
Hello! I’m Jess, I wrote a book called THE DARK WITHIN US. It’s a YA portal fantasy inspired equally by Dante’s INFERNO and 2007-era SKINS.
Jenny is looking for a way to fix her life so when a demon tells her she doesn’t have a soul, she agrees to go with him on a journey to Hell to get it back.
Jenny is looking for a way to fix her life so when a demon tells her she doesn’t have a soul, she agrees to go with him on a journey to Hell to get it back.
Reposted by Jess Popplewell
Good Morning Blue Sky! Hope you’re all ok? Today I’m currently reading and highly enjoying Firstborn of the Sun by Marvellous Michael Anton for some epic fantasy back in my life. What are you reading at the moment?
November 2, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Good Morning Blue Sky! Hope you’re all ok? Today I’m currently reading and highly enjoying Firstborn of the Sun by Marvellous Michael Anton for some epic fantasy back in my life. What are you reading at the moment?
Reposted by Jess Popplewell
Shall we talk about ebooks?
It might be a bit of a weird thing for a physical bookshop to do, but bear with me. There's a reason.
Take a seat for a short thread. 1/?
It might be a bit of a weird thing for a physical bookshop to do, but bear with me. There's a reason.
Take a seat for a short thread. 1/?
a woman in a suit and tie is smiling with #schitts creek written on the bottom
Alt: a woman in a suit and tie is smiling with #schitts creek written on the bottom
media.tenor.com
October 26, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Shall we talk about ebooks?
It might be a bit of a weird thing for a physical bookshop to do, but bear with me. There's a reason.
Take a seat for a short thread. 1/?
It might be a bit of a weird thing for a physical bookshop to do, but bear with me. There's a reason.
Take a seat for a short thread. 1/?
Reposted by Jess Popplewell
Delivering a face-to-face workshop today about how to write winning flash fiction. Look out NQW contestants, we have some newbies in the wings ready to take the crown!
October 23, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Delivering a face-to-face workshop today about how to write winning flash fiction. Look out NQW contestants, we have some newbies in the wings ready to take the crown!
Reposted by Jess Popplewell
Reposted by Jess Popplewell
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 154:
Feed your writing daily. Feed it with fiction, non-fiction, news, games, theatre, films, art. Feed it with conversation. Feed it with experience. Feed it with curiosity. Don't expect to get anything out unless you also keep putting in.
Feed your writing daily. Feed it with fiction, non-fiction, news, games, theatre, films, art. Feed it with conversation. Feed it with experience. Feed it with curiosity. Don't expect to get anything out unless you also keep putting in.
October 17, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 154:
Feed your writing daily. Feed it with fiction, non-fiction, news, games, theatre, films, art. Feed it with conversation. Feed it with experience. Feed it with curiosity. Don't expect to get anything out unless you also keep putting in.
Feed your writing daily. Feed it with fiction, non-fiction, news, games, theatre, films, art. Feed it with conversation. Feed it with experience. Feed it with curiosity. Don't expect to get anything out unless you also keep putting in.
Reposted by Jess Popplewell
#KidLitUK a great letter
An Open Letter to the Book Trade, Educators and Reading Community from Walker Books: In defence of stories that challenge, inspire and transform
Read the full open letter: www.walker.co.uk/an-open-lett...
Read the full open letter: www.walker.co.uk/an-open-lett...
October 15, 2025 at 4:49 PM
#KidLitUK a great letter
Kitty - Patricia Routledge (1929-2025)
YouTube video by comedy_express
youtu.be
October 6, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Reposted by Jess Popplewell
Happy International Translation Day!
A big thank you to the translators that have helped us publish well over 100 translations at Clarkesworld. Your work is valued here.
A big thank you to the translators that have helped us publish well over 100 translations at Clarkesworld. Your work is valued here.
September 30, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Happy International Translation Day!
A big thank you to the translators that have helped us publish well over 100 translations at Clarkesworld. Your work is valued here.
A big thank you to the translators that have helped us publish well over 100 translations at Clarkesworld. Your work is valued here.
Duality is knowing that a) I would really enjoy having a device that could record my inner monologue so I could review it later for interesting nuggets and equally, b) I would NEVER trust a government or private entity with that kind of data about myself.
September 30, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Duality is knowing that a) I would really enjoy having a device that could record my inner monologue so I could review it later for interesting nuggets and equally, b) I would NEVER trust a government or private entity with that kind of data about myself.
Honestly, Educating Yorkshire brings me so much joy. It’s the accents, I want more Yorkshire on my screen, always.
September 29, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Honestly, Educating Yorkshire brings me so much joy. It’s the accents, I want more Yorkshire on my screen, always.
Just moved house to discover the kitchen sink isn’t connected properly, rendering it entirely useless for its intended purpose, so I’ve been washing up in the bathroom LIKE A SIM and I’m not thrilled about it.
September 22, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Just moved house to discover the kitchen sink isn’t connected properly, rendering it entirely useless for its intended purpose, so I’ve been washing up in the bathroom LIKE A SIM and I’m not thrilled about it.
Reposted by Jess Popplewell
If you’re in driving distance of the Central Coast, join me for one or both of these lively in-person workshops!
It’s ridiculously cheap ($8??? Thank you Central Coast Council! 🙏🏻)
Let me know if I will see you there!
libraries.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/whats-on?tit...
It’s ridiculously cheap ($8??? Thank you Central Coast Council! 🙏🏻)
Let me know if I will see you there!
libraries.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/whats-on?tit...
September 22, 2025 at 12:28 AM
If you’re in driving distance of the Central Coast, join me for one or both of these lively in-person workshops!
It’s ridiculously cheap ($8??? Thank you Central Coast Council! 🙏🏻)
Let me know if I will see you there!
libraries.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/whats-on?tit...
It’s ridiculously cheap ($8??? Thank you Central Coast Council! 🙏🏻)
Let me know if I will see you there!
libraries.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/whats-on?tit...
Reposted by Jess Popplewell
This, from the Quakers, is a pretty good example of how to resist pressure from bigot lobbying groups. Effectively “we legally can allow trans people to use the loo, we morally should, and we tried it and nothing bad happened”
www.quaker.org.uk
August 28, 2025 at 12:16 PM
This, from the Quakers, is a pretty good example of how to resist pressure from bigot lobbying groups. Effectively “we legally can allow trans people to use the loo, we morally should, and we tried it and nothing bad happened”
Just discovered a diary of sorts I wrote about 6/7 years ago, and I am reminded that I am SO FUNNY but also I can’t prove it because if I showed any of this to anyone else I’d have to immediately destroy at least one of us.
August 25, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Just discovered a diary of sorts I wrote about 6/7 years ago, and I am reminded that I am SO FUNNY but also I can’t prove it because if I showed any of this to anyone else I’d have to immediately destroy at least one of us.
Reposted by Jess Popplewell
Reposted by Jess Popplewell
This is a big reasom why students are increasingly living at home and commuting to their local university — and why we need good strong local universities in all regions of the UK.
'Updating their work on the amount of money students need to get by, the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) and Loughborough University researchers have estimated that first-year students in halls of residence need £418 per week to cover their living costs – including £158 on rent.' 1/3
English university degree ‘costs £90,000 over three years’
‘Traditional student experience’ off limits for most, researchers warn after estimating living costs at double available maintenance loans
www.timeshighereducation.com
August 12, 2025 at 6:56 AM
This is a big reasom why students are increasingly living at home and commuting to their local university — and why we need good strong local universities in all regions of the UK.
Speaking as an English Lit graduate, I find the sentence “there’s no need to be accurate, it’s just a book” deeply funny on approximately 62 levels.
‘Aggressively provocative’: first screening of Saltburn director’s Wuthering Heights gets mixed reaction
‘Aggressively provocative’: first screening of Saltburn director’s Wuthering Heights gets mixed reaction
An early test showing of the forthcoming Brontë adaptation starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi reveals film features horse rein sex, suggestive egg yolks and necrophile nuns
Equal parts intrigue and scepticism had already dogged the forthcoming adaptation of Wuthering Heights from Emerald Fennell – whose first two films, Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, displayed a love of mordant and explicit envelope-pushing.
As reported by World of Reel, a first test screening for the film, which stars Margot Robbie and Saltburn’s Jacob Elordi, took place earlier this week in Dallas, and audience reaction was “mixed”. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
August 7, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Speaking as an English Lit graduate, I find the sentence “there’s no need to be accurate, it’s just a book” deeply funny on approximately 62 levels.
Found this article infuriating but illuminating. Infuriating they managed to say all of this without push back, and unfortunately illuminating on the way so many are STILL claiming they’re the wronged parties.
Regret, resentment and Reform UK: jailed Rotherham rioters one year on
Regret, resentment and Reform UK: jailed Rotherham rioters one year on
Men sentenced to prison time for role in violent protests after the Southport murders describe their feelings of injustice
www.theguardian.com
August 5, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Found this article infuriating but illuminating. Infuriating they managed to say all of this without push back, and unfortunately illuminating on the way so many are STILL claiming they’re the wronged parties.
Reposted by Jess Popplewell
With "writers" embracing the mediocrity of AI-produced slop, it's on us to fight back.
And by fight back I mean be feral in your writing, be deeply weird and vulnerable and obsessive and human.
Let the predictive text write its anodyne MoR bs.
Spill your wild and your strange onto the page.
And by fight back I mean be feral in your writing, be deeply weird and vulnerable and obsessive and human.
Let the predictive text write its anodyne MoR bs.
Spill your wild and your strange onto the page.
August 1, 2025 at 7:28 AM
With "writers" embracing the mediocrity of AI-produced slop, it's on us to fight back.
And by fight back I mean be feral in your writing, be deeply weird and vulnerable and obsessive and human.
Let the predictive text write its anodyne MoR bs.
Spill your wild and your strange onto the page.
And by fight back I mean be feral in your writing, be deeply weird and vulnerable and obsessive and human.
Let the predictive text write its anodyne MoR bs.
Spill your wild and your strange onto the page.
Reposted by Jess Popplewell
God, the number of people who were willing to believe that the South Yorkshire police were too woke to prosecute sexual abuse cases, when in fact the police force was itself an instrument of patriarchal sexual violence. It’s like a case study in the worst excesses of the British press.
Five survivors of Rotherham grooming gangs say they were also raped by police officers
Three former South Yorkshire police officers arrested in investigation into claims by the women, as young as 12 at the time
www.theguardian.com
July 30, 2025 at 9:57 AM
God, the number of people who were willing to believe that the South Yorkshire police were too woke to prosecute sexual abuse cases, when in fact the police force was itself an instrument of patriarchal sexual violence. It’s like a case study in the worst excesses of the British press.