Jez Conolly
@jezconolly.bsky.social
I’ve got away with words
Books: The Thing | Dead of Night | Seconds
Essays: Routledge Companion to Folk Horror | Scarred for Life volume 3
Horror fiction writer
NEW BOOK: CAPTURE SPIRAL
Aberdeen dweller
He/Him
https://linktr.ee/jezconolly
Books: The Thing | Dead of Night | Seconds
Essays: Routledge Companion to Folk Horror | Scarred for Life volume 3
Horror fiction writer
NEW BOOK: CAPTURE SPIRAL
Aberdeen dweller
He/Him
https://linktr.ee/jezconolly
Pinned
'Capture Spiral: An Escape From Memory' by Jez Conolly Book Event
Join us for an event with Jez Conolly about his new book 'Capture Spiral: An Escape from Memory'
www.eventbrite.co.uk
A heads-up that I’ll be launching my new book, Capture Spiral, at Somerville Books on Friday 27 March. Please do come along. It’s free but you’ll need to book through Eventbrite. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/capture-sp...
I’m sorry to be rude, but I honestly think that people who support and vote for Reform UK are utter shit. I’ve a feeling that many of them vote that way purely because they keep being told not to. They’re gutter contrarians. They have the values of the football thug. Screw. Them. All. To. Fuck.
February 14, 2026 at 5:04 PM
I’m sorry to be rude, but I honestly think that people who support and vote for Reform UK are utter shit. I’ve a feeling that many of them vote that way purely because they keep being told not to. They’re gutter contrarians. They have the values of the football thug. Screw. Them. All. To. Fuck.
Another track from Melissa Guerts’ second album ‘Maintenance Mode’, due out end of March. Yes, it’s AI generated, but unlike the other slop that’s now widely available on music platforms, I can see real human fingerprints all over this. youtu.be/h2cCwqR5jao?...
temper temper (lumière menteuse) Official Video
YouTube video by @melissageurts
youtu.be
February 13, 2026 at 9:53 PM
Another track from Melissa Guerts’ second album ‘Maintenance Mode’, due out end of March. Yes, it’s AI generated, but unlike the other slop that’s now widely available on music platforms, I can see real human fingerprints all over this. youtu.be/h2cCwqR5jao?...
I’m pretty anti AI, but I’m starting to hear it get used in music in an interesting glitchy, messy way. There could be room for it when used in this way. I can’t deny that I really like what Melissa Guerts is doing. youtu.be/ohaRy3B95wk?...
not because it's romantic (official video)
YouTube video by @melissageurts
youtu.be
February 13, 2026 at 9:45 PM
I’m pretty anti AI, but I’m starting to hear it get used in music in an interesting glitchy, messy way. There could be room for it when used in this way. I can’t deny that I really like what Melissa Guerts is doing. youtu.be/ohaRy3B95wk?...
Caroline and I ‘got together’ on February *13* 23 years ago, so Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean that much to us. We like to do things differently ☺️
February 13, 2026 at 8:32 PM
Caroline and I ‘got together’ on February *13* 23 years ago, so Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean that much to us. We like to do things differently ☺️
Thank you if you’ve preordered a copy of my new book Capture Spiral! Apologies that it’s been a wee while since I first shared details, but I’m confident that copies will start shipping in March. If you haven’t ordered a copy yet, now’s the time!
temporalboundary.bigcartel.com/product/capt...
temporalboundary.bigcartel.com/product/capt...
Capture Spiral by Jez Conolly PREORDER
In Capture Spiral: An Escape from Memory, Jez Conolly revisits the haunted textures of a 1970s childhood on the Lincolnshire coast, where faded...
temporalboundary.bigcartel.com
February 13, 2026 at 7:43 PM
Thank you if you’ve preordered a copy of my new book Capture Spiral! Apologies that it’s been a wee while since I first shared details, but I’m confident that copies will start shipping in March. If you haven’t ordered a copy yet, now’s the time!
temporalboundary.bigcartel.com/product/capt...
temporalboundary.bigcartel.com/product/capt...
#HorrorWritersChat
Cheers Eryn! My aforementioned story Vinegar and Brown Paper will be appearing very soon in the next volume in the BHF Book of Horror Stories series. Here’s the draft cover. Oh, and here’s me according to Chat PG Tips.
Cheers Eryn! My aforementioned story Vinegar and Brown Paper will be appearing very soon in the next volume in the BHF Book of Horror Stories series. Here’s the draft cover. Oh, and here’s me according to Chat PG Tips.
February 11, 2026 at 8:05 PM
#HorrorWritersChat
Cheers Eryn! My aforementioned story Vinegar and Brown Paper will be appearing very soon in the next volume in the BHF Book of Horror Stories series. Here’s the draft cover. Oh, and here’s me according to Chat PG Tips.
Cheers Eryn! My aforementioned story Vinegar and Brown Paper will be appearing very soon in the next volume in the BHF Book of Horror Stories series. Here’s the draft cover. Oh, and here’s me according to Chat PG Tips.
#HorrorWritersChat
It can’t be. I made sure. There was no doubt. No room for error. I don’t make mistakes. And yet, somehow, here I am. Still alive. I look at the day and I think ‘please, not this again’. I’m not supposed to be here. And now I can’t face another attempt. Just in case I fail, again.
It can’t be. I made sure. There was no doubt. No room for error. I don’t make mistakes. And yet, somehow, here I am. Still alive. I look at the day and I think ‘please, not this again’. I’m not supposed to be here. And now I can’t face another attempt. Just in case I fail, again.
February 11, 2026 at 7:47 PM
#HorrorWritersChat
It can’t be. I made sure. There was no doubt. No room for error. I don’t make mistakes. And yet, somehow, here I am. Still alive. I look at the day and I think ‘please, not this again’. I’m not supposed to be here. And now I can’t face another attempt. Just in case I fail, again.
It can’t be. I made sure. There was no doubt. No room for error. I don’t make mistakes. And yet, somehow, here I am. Still alive. I look at the day and I think ‘please, not this again’. I’m not supposed to be here. And now I can’t face another attempt. Just in case I fail, again.
#HorrorWritersChat
You know, I don’t think there is. And the reason for that is, when I wrote my story Nuggets, one of early ones, I deliberately hit every sacred cow I could come up with, so I’ve been there, done that, at the outset. If you read it you’ll need a bucket and a priest.
You know, I don’t think there is. And the reason for that is, when I wrote my story Nuggets, one of early ones, I deliberately hit every sacred cow I could come up with, so I’ve been there, done that, at the outset. If you read it you’ll need a bucket and a priest.
Q3:
Here at #HorrorWritersChat we really do like to peel back those insecurities and fears and expose them to the light. You can do this.
Which scene do you keep putting off? And why?
Here at #HorrorWritersChat we really do like to peel back those insecurities and fears and expose them to the light. You can do this.
Which scene do you keep putting off? And why?
February 11, 2026 at 7:29 PM
#HorrorWritersChat
You know, I don’t think there is. And the reason for that is, when I wrote my story Nuggets, one of early ones, I deliberately hit every sacred cow I could come up with, so I’ve been there, done that, at the outset. If you read it you’ll need a bucket and a priest.
You know, I don’t think there is. And the reason for that is, when I wrote my story Nuggets, one of early ones, I deliberately hit every sacred cow I could come up with, so I’ve been there, done that, at the outset. If you read it you’ll need a bucket and a priest.
#HorrorWritersChat
Small town cannibalism. You’ll be able to hear my story ‘Vinegar and Brown Paper’ in narrated form on the Nocturnal Transmissions podcast very soon. It’s all about biscuits and TV remote controls and the eating of a brain with spoons. You’ll love it.
Small town cannibalism. You’ll be able to hear my story ‘Vinegar and Brown Paper’ in narrated form on the Nocturnal Transmissions podcast very soon. It’s all about biscuits and TV remote controls and the eating of a brain with spoons. You’ll love it.
Q2.
This question is not about the comfortable places that we go with horror. But the uncomfortable ones. The ones that turn us inside out even as we write them. The ones that make us wonder who we are, at the end. #HorrorWritersChat
This question is not about the comfortable places that we go with horror. But the uncomfortable ones. The ones that turn us inside out even as we write them. The ones that make us wonder who we are, at the end. #HorrorWritersChat
February 11, 2026 at 7:20 PM
#HorrorWritersChat
Small town cannibalism. You’ll be able to hear my story ‘Vinegar and Brown Paper’ in narrated form on the Nocturnal Transmissions podcast very soon. It’s all about biscuits and TV remote controls and the eating of a brain with spoons. You’ll love it.
Small town cannibalism. You’ll be able to hear my story ‘Vinegar and Brown Paper’ in narrated form on the Nocturnal Transmissions podcast very soon. It’s all about biscuits and TV remote controls and the eating of a brain with spoons. You’ll love it.
#HorrorWritersChat
Jez in wet and windy Scotland. I write ‘kitchen sink horror’. That’s just how it comes out. I don’t know how to write any other kind of horror. My monsters are entirely human.
Jez in wet and windy Scotland. I write ‘kitchen sink horror’. That’s just how it comes out. I don’t know how to write any other kind of horror. My monsters are entirely human.
OK, so here we go, #HorrorWritersChat bods.
You know the drill. Four questions, repost as many as you like, no links: promo at the end.
First I want to know.
What makes you write the kind of horror that you write?
You know the drill. Four questions, repost as many as you like, no links: promo at the end.
First I want to know.
What makes you write the kind of horror that you write?
February 11, 2026 at 7:08 PM
#HorrorWritersChat
Jez in wet and windy Scotland. I write ‘kitchen sink horror’. That’s just how it comes out. I don’t know how to write any other kind of horror. My monsters are entirely human.
Jez in wet and windy Scotland. I write ‘kitchen sink horror’. That’s just how it comes out. I don’t know how to write any other kind of horror. My monsters are entirely human.
Oh dear, how many gallons of water did it take to generate this rubbish? Also, it looks nothing like me.
February 11, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Oh dear, how many gallons of water did it take to generate this rubbish? Also, it looks nothing like me.
This is the draft cover artwork for the next volume of the BHF Book of Horror Stories. This one will contain my new story ‘Vinegar and Brown Paper’.
February 10, 2026 at 11:15 PM
This is the draft cover artwork for the next volume of the BHF Book of Horror Stories. This one will contain my new story ‘Vinegar and Brown Paper’.
Understanding the Reform voter #428: when they see all of the reasons not to vote Reform getting posted on social media, they think ‘right, ‘cos nobody’s gonna tell me what not to do, I’m gonna fuckin’ vote Reform anyway, just to piss off these clever bastards’. Poundshop contrarian bants, innit.
a man in a suit and tie is smiling in front of a painting of london
Alt: a man in a suit and tie is smiling in front of a painting of london
media.tenor.com
February 8, 2026 at 9:07 PM
Understanding the Reform voter #428: when they see all of the reasons not to vote Reform getting posted on social media, they think ‘right, ‘cos nobody’s gonna tell me what not to do, I’m gonna fuckin’ vote Reform anyway, just to piss off these clever bastards’. Poundshop contrarian bants, innit.
Holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, bless this cross, that it may be a saving help to mankind. Let it be the support of faith, an encouragement to good works, the redemption of souls, let it be consolation, protection, a shield against the cruel darts of the enemy; through Christ our Lord.
February 6, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, bless this cross, that it may be a saving help to mankind. Let it be the support of faith, an encouragement to good works, the redemption of souls, let it be consolation, protection, a shield against the cruel darts of the enemy; through Christ our Lord.
He should count himself lucky it was only boos.
February 6, 2026 at 10:51 PM
He should count himself lucky it was only boos.
I saw this shelf label in Armchair Books on Westport today. Can’t say I noticed any ‘smut’ mind you. Which reminds me: I once saw a label in a charity bookshop in Morningside which read ‘Old Penguins’. I remember thinking that it was aptly descriptive of the shop staff that day.
February 6, 2026 at 7:42 PM
I saw this shelf label in Armchair Books on Westport today. Can’t say I noticed any ‘smut’ mind you. Which reminds me: I once saw a label in a charity bookshop in Morningside which read ‘Old Penguins’. I remember thinking that it was aptly descriptive of the shop staff that day.
Moments in life that make being alive worthwhile #185: finding out that ‘Braider’ is a real surname (it’s an Anglo-Saxon occupational name, derived from the Old English ‘bregdan’ (“to braid or weave")) and I so want somebody in the world with this surname to go by the first name ‘Tom’.
a video game character is walking down a hallway with a sword in her hand .
Alt: a video game character is walking down a hallway with a sword in her hand .
media.tenor.com
February 5, 2026 at 6:11 PM
Moments in life that make being alive worthwhile #185: finding out that ‘Braider’ is a real surname (it’s an Anglo-Saxon occupational name, derived from the Old English ‘bregdan’ (“to braid or weave")) and I so want somebody in the world with this surname to go by the first name ‘Tom’.
‘Scandalson’. See what I did there?
February 5, 2026 at 12:12 PM
‘Scandalson’. See what I did there?
#HorrorWritersChat
Thank you Mary!
I’ve been chosen as one of the Locals in the Limelight at this year’s Granite Noir festival here in Aberdeen. I’ll be reading my poem ‘The Witch’s Hat’ at an event called Into the Dark. www.aberdeenperformingarts.com/whats-on/gra...
Thank you Mary!
I’ve been chosen as one of the Locals in the Limelight at this year’s Granite Noir festival here in Aberdeen. I’ll be reading my poem ‘The Witch’s Hat’ at an event called Into the Dark. www.aberdeenperformingarts.com/whats-on/gra...
February 4, 2026 at 8:02 PM
#HorrorWritersChat
Thank you Mary!
I’ve been chosen as one of the Locals in the Limelight at this year’s Granite Noir festival here in Aberdeen. I’ll be reading my poem ‘The Witch’s Hat’ at an event called Into the Dark. www.aberdeenperformingarts.com/whats-on/gra...
Thank you Mary!
I’ve been chosen as one of the Locals in the Limelight at this year’s Granite Noir festival here in Aberdeen. I’ll be reading my poem ‘The Witch’s Hat’ at an event called Into the Dark. www.aberdeenperformingarts.com/whats-on/gra...
#HorrorWritersChat
He looked down. It was there. He spoke to it. He said ‘fuck you’. It looked back up at him. It replied. It said ‘fuck *you*’. He scratched his chin. He thought. He answered back. He said ‘no…fuck YOU!’ It was frightened. So it should be. The journey began.
He looked down. It was there. He spoke to it. He said ‘fuck you’. It looked back up at him. It replied. It said ‘fuck *you*’. He scratched his chin. He thought. He answered back. He said ‘no…fuck YOU!’ It was frightened. So it should be. The journey began.
4 February is World Cancer Day. 1 in 5 people develops cancer.
We lost HWC originator Matt to cancer in 2025 🤍🕯️
#HorrorWritersChat - The call is coming from inside the house.
Q4: Write a one-post scene where your character meets the personification of cancer in their home.
---
Outro in 10 mins
We lost HWC originator Matt to cancer in 2025 🤍🕯️
#HorrorWritersChat - The call is coming from inside the house.
Q4: Write a one-post scene where your character meets the personification of cancer in their home.
---
Outro in 10 mins
February 4, 2026 at 7:50 PM
#HorrorWritersChat
He looked down. It was there. He spoke to it. He said ‘fuck you’. It looked back up at him. It replied. It said ‘fuck *you*’. He scratched his chin. He thought. He answered back. He said ‘no…fuck YOU!’ It was frightened. So it should be. The journey began.
He looked down. It was there. He spoke to it. He said ‘fuck you’. It looked back up at him. It replied. It said ‘fuck *you*’. He scratched his chin. He thought. He answered back. He said ‘no…fuck YOU!’ It was frightened. So it should be. The journey began.
#HorrorWritersChat
Halliday from my story Nuggets:
The exercise routine that he had adopted consisted of a single slow painful Y-shaped upper limb stretch, Christ left to rot on the cross, his arms aloft enacting a victorious torture, accompanied by the clicks of his irredeemably knurled joints.
Halliday from my story Nuggets:
The exercise routine that he had adopted consisted of a single slow painful Y-shaped upper limb stretch, Christ left to rot on the cross, his arms aloft enacting a victorious torture, accompanied by the clicks of his irredeemably knurled joints.
#HorrorWritersChat
Our bodies are the homes that house us.
Sometimes they work to our advantage.
Sometimes they can work against us.
Q3: Describe the physical characteristics of one of your horror story characters.
Is there anything about their body that helps or hinders them in their story?
Our bodies are the homes that house us.
Sometimes they work to our advantage.
Sometimes they can work against us.
Q3: Describe the physical characteristics of one of your horror story characters.
Is there anything about their body that helps or hinders them in their story?
February 4, 2026 at 7:37 PM
#HorrorWritersChat
Halliday from my story Nuggets:
The exercise routine that he had adopted consisted of a single slow painful Y-shaped upper limb stretch, Christ left to rot on the cross, his arms aloft enacting a victorious torture, accompanied by the clicks of his irredeemably knurled joints.
Halliday from my story Nuggets:
The exercise routine that he had adopted consisted of a single slow painful Y-shaped upper limb stretch, Christ left to rot on the cross, his arms aloft enacting a victorious torture, accompanied by the clicks of his irredeemably knurled joints.
#HorrorWritersChat
My characters frequently ‘wear’ their interiors. They are almost furniture within the spaces.
My characters frequently ‘wear’ their interiors. They are almost furniture within the spaces.
#HorrorWritersChat
In fiction, homes tell us something about their inhabitants.
Q2: How do the living spaces in your horror reflect your characters?
In fiction, homes tell us something about their inhabitants.
Q2: How do the living spaces in your horror reflect your characters?
February 4, 2026 at 7:22 PM
#HorrorWritersChat
My characters frequently ‘wear’ their interiors. They are almost furniture within the spaces.
My characters frequently ‘wear’ their interiors. They are almost furniture within the spaces.
Hi #HorrorWritersChat!
I'm Lawrence (she/her) and I write folk/religious horror with a Victoriana bent
My favourite horror movie set in a house is The Exorcism, a TV play from 1972 in which former socialists are haunted by the past inhabitants of the house they've renovated. All too relevant today
I'm Lawrence (she/her) and I write folk/religious horror with a Victoriana bent
My favourite horror movie set in a house is The Exorcism, a TV play from 1972 in which former socialists are haunted by the past inhabitants of the house they've renovated. All too relevant today
February 4, 2026 at 7:11 PM
I sometimes feel like I’m in a shrinking minority of horror writers whose work is…unpleasant. Not just gruesome. Psychologically ‘ewww’. I figure it’s supposed to be. I don’t think I’m capable of writing a happy ending. Which is fine by be. ‘Write what you’d like to read’ is my motto. #Horrorsky
a woman says i just threw up in my mouth a little bit in a black and white photo
Alt: a woman says i just threw up in my mouth a little bit in a black and white photo
media.tenor.com
February 3, 2026 at 10:21 PM
I sometimes feel like I’m in a shrinking minority of horror writers whose work is…unpleasant. Not just gruesome. Psychologically ‘ewww’. I figure it’s supposed to be. I don’t think I’m capable of writing a happy ending. Which is fine by be. ‘Write what you’d like to read’ is my motto. #Horrorsky
Some good news… www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/6946...
EXCLUSIVE: £1.5 MILLION National Lottery funding for Belmont Cinema means it could reopen next year: 'We're gaining unstoppable momentum'
The popular entertainment venue in Aberdeen city centre has gained a huge boost with major funding to help it reopen its doors.
www.pressandjournal.co.uk
February 3, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Some good news… www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/6946...