Philip Purser-Hallard
@purserhallard.com
Philip Purser-Hallard writes stuff -- most recently Sherlock Holmes: The Monster of the Mere. Posting about writing, TV, SF, Doctor Who, politics, language, crosswords, things I like, things I'm interested in, things.
Pinned
Philip Purser-Hallard
@purserhallard.com
· Nov 14
Since new followers are arriving literally in their dozens, here's a quick rundown of my books and why, if you're interested in the stuff I post here, you might like to read them. Or vice versa.
Links are to my website, where there are links to buy from various sources.
Links are to my website, where there are links to buy from various sources.
I was trying to get to sleep last night by thinking of an anagram for HESTON BLUMENTHAL, and I eventually came up with NHS BUMHOLE TALENT.
December 25, 2025 at 7:07 PM
I was trying to get to sleep last night by thinking of an anagram for HESTON BLUMENTHAL, and I eventually came up with NHS BUMHOLE TALENT.
Reposted by Philip Purser-Hallard
Tiny Tim was dead to begin with. Marley did NOT die. No one learned anything.
December 24, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Tiny Tim was dead to begin with. Marley did NOT die. No one learned anything.
Reposted by Philip Purser-Hallard
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, was present at the end of the universe, having witnessed every black hole evaporate and every proton decay. Even so, Death would not come.
December 24, 2025 at 1:32 AM
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, was present at the end of the universe, having witnessed every black hole evaporate and every proton decay. Even so, Death would not come.
He's making a list,
he's painting it black,
no Commie should work
as a Hollywood hack.
Joe McCarthy's coming to town.
he's painting it black,
no Commie should work
as a Hollywood hack.
Joe McCarthy's coming to town.
He's making a list,
He's nailing it high,
Indulgences,
No longer apply,
Martin Luther's coming to town
He's nailing it high,
Indulgences,
No longer apply,
Martin Luther's coming to town
December 22, 2025 at 5:09 PM
He's making a list,
he's painting it black,
no Commie should work
as a Hollywood hack.
Joe McCarthy's coming to town.
he's painting it black,
no Commie should work
as a Hollywood hack.
Joe McCarthy's coming to town.
There are some corners of the fridge which have bred the most terrible things.
December 22, 2025 at 2:52 PM
There are some corners of the fridge which have bred the most terrible things.
Reposted by Philip Purser-Hallard
It's not that I care about the Vlinx, but if it's not there to be the K-9 equivalent in a UNIT spinoff, what's the point of it at all?
December 21, 2025 at 11:31 PM
It's not that I care about the Vlinx, but if it's not there to be the K-9 equivalent in a UNIT spinoff, what's the point of it at all?
I’ve added the story I sent out with Christmas cards in 2024 to my website. It’s called ‘The Santa Bug’ and is another Imogen Tantry story, a sequel to ‘Mission to the Stars’ and ‘Dendrotheology’.
A stellar Christmas to you all.
purserhallard.com/the-santa-bug/
A stellar Christmas to you all.
purserhallard.com/the-santa-bug/
The Santa Bug
by Philip Purser-Hallard This story is a sequel to ‘Mission to the Stars’ and ‘Dendrotheology’. I The Bishop of Cassiopeia, the Right Reverend Erik Lightbourne, is waiting t…
purserhallard.com
December 22, 2025 at 10:01 AM
I’ve added the story I sent out with Christmas cards in 2024 to my website. It’s called ‘The Santa Bug’ and is another Imogen Tantry story, a sequel to ‘Mission to the Stars’ and ‘Dendrotheology’.
A stellar Christmas to you all.
purserhallard.com/the-santa-bug/
A stellar Christmas to you all.
purserhallard.com/the-santa-bug/
The War Between the Land and the Sea was a bit of a mess in the end, I thought, despite the strong central idea. I'm baffled that recent Doctor Who has put so much work into establishing UNIT as an ensemble cast with a standing-set HQ, then used hardly any of it in a UNIT-based spinoff.
December 21, 2025 at 11:03 PM
The War Between the Land and the Sea was a bit of a mess in the end, I thought, despite the strong central idea. I'm baffled that recent Doctor Who has put so much work into establishing UNIT as an ensemble cast with a standing-set HQ, then used hardly any of it in a UNIT-based spinoff.
Reposted by Philip Purser-Hallard
One of the biggest tricks of the car industry was convincing us that parking private cars is a public responsibility, turning shared space into free storage for personal vehicles.
December 20, 2025 at 10:19 AM
One of the biggest tricks of the car industry was convincing us that parking private cars is a public responsibility, turning shared space into free storage for personal vehicles.
Reposted by Philip Purser-Hallard
Manic Piscine Dream Girl.
December 21, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Manic Piscine Dream Girl.
And Farage had a testicle removed in his twenties. There's a whole history of monorchism and fascism waiting to be written.
Came across Clarissa Dickson-Wright’s autobiography in a charity shop. It is everything a devotee of weird history could hope for
December 21, 2025 at 12:00 PM
And Farage had a testicle removed in his twenties. There's a whole history of monorchism and fascism waiting to be written.
Manic Piscine Dream Girl.
December 21, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Manic Piscine Dream Girl.
AI discovers new way to be racist previously unknown to racists.
December 20, 2025 at 4:20 PM
AI discovers new way to be racist previously unknown to racists.
Reposted by Philip Purser-Hallard
We’ve gone on Christmas holiday by mistake!
December 20, 2025 at 1:49 PM
We’ve gone on Christmas holiday by mistake!
Ouch. Difficult to say "Our previous CEO was protecting a sexual predator" more explicitly than this.
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
December 20, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Ouch. Difficult to say "Our previous CEO was protecting a sexual predator" more explicitly than this.
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Mystery novel set at a council of the early church. An unpopular bishop returns from the dead, swinging a crucial vote, and some hapless monk is tasked with finding out which of the saints present miraculously resurrected him.
December 19, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Mystery novel set at a council of the early church. An unpopular bishop returns from the dead, swinging a crucial vote, and some hapless monk is tasked with finding out which of the saints present miraculously resurrected him.
Reposted by Philip Purser-Hallard
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 1726:
Fiction hates coincidences. Just because it happens in real life doesn't mean it will work in fiction. In 1379, in Yorkshire, there was born a girl named Diot Coke. This, although actually true, still doesn't mean you can use her name in your historical novel.
Fiction hates coincidences. Just because it happens in real life doesn't mean it will work in fiction. In 1379, in Yorkshire, there was born a girl named Diot Coke. This, although actually true, still doesn't mean you can use her name in your historical novel.
December 19, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 1726:
Fiction hates coincidences. Just because it happens in real life doesn't mean it will work in fiction. In 1379, in Yorkshire, there was born a girl named Diot Coke. This, although actually true, still doesn't mean you can use her name in your historical novel.
Fiction hates coincidences. Just because it happens in real life doesn't mean it will work in fiction. In 1379, in Yorkshire, there was born a girl named Diot Coke. This, although actually true, still doesn't mean you can use her name in your historical novel.
Watching Black Doves alternating with The Diplomat, I'm surprised how thrown I am by the way the interior of the US embassy in London is completely different in each. Surely there should be one canonical US embassy in London interior for the Netflix thriller universe?
December 18, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Watching Black Doves alternating with The Diplomat, I'm surprised how thrown I am by the way the interior of the US embassy in London is completely different in each. Surely there should be one canonical US embassy in London interior for the Netflix thriller universe?
This year's Christmas story is called "Guided Mistletoe", and I'm about to start signing 80 of them, to go in our (rather late) Christmas cards. If you're on our list, you should have one soon. Thanks to local printers Out of Hand Print for their help getting the copies printed.
www.outofhand.co.uk
www.outofhand.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 2:44 PM
This year's Christmas story is called "Guided Mistletoe", and I'm about to start signing 80 of them, to go in our (rather late) Christmas cards. If you're on our list, you should have one soon. Thanks to local printers Out of Hand Print for their help getting the copies printed.
www.outofhand.co.uk
www.outofhand.co.uk
Reposted by Philip Purser-Hallard
You know this is a trite thing to say but the thing about this insane proscription that gets me is that even if you take the stance that damaging military equipment is in itself terrorism then i'm sorry but what about the violent mobs outside asylum accommodation
Terror arrests surge by 660% due to Palestine Action ban
Terror arrests surge by 660% due to Palestine Action ban
www.independent.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 10:11 AM
You know this is a trite thing to say but the thing about this insane proscription that gets me is that even if you take the stance that damaging military equipment is in itself terrorism then i'm sorry but what about the violent mobs outside asylum accommodation
Reposted by Philip Purser-Hallard
Don’t forget “I have fucked you and now I realise it is I who am fucked”
December 17, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Don’t forget “I have fucked you and now I realise it is I who am fucked”
I love how Meat Loaf's songs express the whole range of human emotion, from "It's hot outside and I want to fuck you" to "It's cold outside and I want to fuck you".
December 17, 2025 at 8:57 AM
I love how Meat Loaf's songs express the whole range of human emotion, from "It's hot outside and I want to fuck you" to "It's cold outside and I want to fuck you".
This review is very good.
reactormag.com/entirely-too...
reactormag.com/entirely-too...
Entirely Too Many Thoughts About Wake Up Dead Man - Reactor
Digging in to the nuances of religion, faith, and grace tucked inside the latest Benoit Blanc mystery
reactormag.com
December 17, 2025 at 8:03 AM
This review is very good.
reactormag.com/entirely-too...
reactormag.com/entirely-too...
Reposted by Philip Purser-Hallard
Gvt: if we make the official way to protest the legalisation of ai copyright theft a long, timewasting bit of admin, worded in corporate speak that makes ppl angrier & angrier, they might not bother
Freelancers, used to chasing laughably small invoices with big companies for months: aww. Bless.
Freelancers, used to chasing laughably small invoices with big companies for months: aww. Bless.
“This is an overwhelming show of support for the commonsense position that AI companies should pay for the resources they use'.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Boost for artists in AI copyright battle as only 3% back UK active opt-out plan
Liz Kendall faces pressure from campaigners as she tells parliament there is no clear consensus on issue
www.theguardian.com
December 16, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Gvt: if we make the official way to protest the legalisation of ai copyright theft a long, timewasting bit of admin, worded in corporate speak that makes ppl angrier & angrier, they might not bother
Freelancers, used to chasing laughably small invoices with big companies for months: aww. Bless.
Freelancers, used to chasing laughably small invoices with big companies for months: aww. Bless.
Glad to see the new edit of The Sea Devils still passes the Bechdel Test.
December 16, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Glad to see the new edit of The Sea Devils still passes the Bechdel Test.