Simon Davies
@simonfd.bsky.social
Publishing Manager, @themhra.bsky.social
Co-editor of the MHRA Style Guide
Posting about scholarly publishing • History and future of the book • Book design, typography, typesetting 📚
Also work on the history of witchcraft & magic 🌒
• Views here my own
Co-editor of the MHRA Style Guide
Posting about scholarly publishing • History and future of the book • Book design, typography, typesetting 📚
Also work on the history of witchcraft & magic 🌒
• Views here my own
Had a dream about Thema codes last night 😐
November 11, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Had a dream about Thema codes last night 😐
@heatherfro.bsky.social timeline synchronicity:
November 11, 2025 at 10:16 AM
@heatherfro.bsky.social timeline synchronicity:
Reposted by Simon Davies
This deadline is coming up at the end of this week. If this strikes your fancy at all, then please get in touch!
@sharpnews.bsky.social is looking for a new Editor-in-Chief!!! Applications are due on November 14th. Get in touch if you have any questions!
Call for Applicants: SHARP News Editor-in-Chief
mailchi.mp
November 10, 2025 at 6:28 PM
This deadline is coming up at the end of this week. If this strikes your fancy at all, then please get in touch!
Some good tortured phrases listed in this paper:
‘irresistible infections’ (contagious diseases)
‘respiratory disappointment’ (for ‘failure’)
‘eye torment’ (ocular pain)
‘overwhelming metals’ (heavy metals)
What kind of useless thesaurus are these bots using? 🤖
www.ias.ac.in/article/full...
‘irresistible infections’ (contagious diseases)
‘respiratory disappointment’ (for ‘failure’)
‘eye torment’ (ocular pain)
‘overwhelming metals’ (heavy metals)
What kind of useless thesaurus are these bots using? 🤖
www.ias.ac.in/article/full...
www.ias.ac.in
November 4, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Some good tortured phrases listed in this paper:
‘irresistible infections’ (contagious diseases)
‘respiratory disappointment’ (for ‘failure’)
‘eye torment’ (ocular pain)
‘overwhelming metals’ (heavy metals)
What kind of useless thesaurus are these bots using? 🤖
www.ias.ac.in/article/full...
‘irresistible infections’ (contagious diseases)
‘respiratory disappointment’ (for ‘failure’)
‘eye torment’ (ocular pain)
‘overwhelming metals’ (heavy metals)
What kind of useless thesaurus are these bots using? 🤖
www.ias.ac.in/article/full...
Reposted by Simon Davies
Another event for Jewelled Tortoise vol. 11 is taking place next week (4 Nov) at the University of Turku – also live on Zoom, for those who couldn't make the London event.
Read our interview with the editor & translator here: www.mhra.org.uk/news/2025/07...
Read our interview with the editor & translator here: www.mhra.org.uk/news/2025/07...
October 31, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Another event for Jewelled Tortoise vol. 11 is taking place next week (4 Nov) at the University of Turku – also live on Zoom, for those who couldn't make the London event.
Read our interview with the editor & translator here: www.mhra.org.uk/news/2025/07...
Read our interview with the editor & translator here: www.mhra.org.uk/news/2025/07...
October 29, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Accidentally pasted an email I just wrote into DuckDuckGo instead of a URL, and all the search hits were 'alternatives to saying "hope you're well" in emails' 😳
October 28, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Accidentally pasted an email I just wrote into DuckDuckGo instead of a URL, and all the search hits were 'alternatives to saying "hope you're well" in emails' 😳
October 26, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Saint Benedict reviving a monk killed by the Devil (c. 1505). The Devil killed him by throwing bricks at him, apparently
October 24, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Saint Benedict reviving a monk killed by the Devil (c. 1505). The Devil killed him by throwing bricks at him, apparently
The 'support' process from @microsoft.com: ask question, get AI slop answer tailored for a Mac user(?!). Say no, this is irrelevant, enter full question, clearly mentioning Windows; get sent the same AI slop answer tailored for a Mac user, which I must answer before a human will look at my request.
October 24, 2025 at 10:16 AM
The 'support' process from @microsoft.com: ask question, get AI slop answer tailored for a Mac user(?!). Say no, this is irrelevant, enter full question, clearly mentioning Windows; get sent the same AI slop answer tailored for a Mac user, which I must answer before a human will look at my request.
In a world full of people who bid early on eBay auctions, be someone who doesn’t bid early on eBay auctions ❤️🩹
October 24, 2025 at 9:42 AM
In a world full of people who bid early on eBay auctions, be someone who doesn’t bid early on eBay auctions ❤️🩹
Tonight! Come and hear about morbid pleasure and the wild, fervent gratification of the senses!
Please join us for the book launch of 'Mirdja: A Decadent New Woman' by L. Onerva, translated by Eva Buchwald with an introduction by Viola Parente-Čapková.
🗓️ 23 October at 6pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ Free and open to all: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
@themhra.bsky.social
🗓️ 23 October at 6pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ Free and open to all: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
@themhra.bsky.social
October 23, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Tonight! Come and hear about morbid pleasure and the wild, fervent gratification of the senses!
I've tried to moderate my copy-editing tone, because I think in the past I came over as harsh. But now it looks like I've gone too far the other way; authors are interpreting my 'you could perhaps...' comments as gentle suggestions, when what I really mean is 'you need to do this'
It's so frustrating when authors are resistant to copy-edits. We are trying to make your book better! It's our job to do so, we have literally no other interest in it, and we are experts at doing do. We're not just being annoying for no reason!
October 22, 2025 at 5:28 PM
I've tried to moderate my copy-editing tone, because I think in the past I came over as harsh. But now it looks like I've gone too far the other way; authors are interpreting my 'you could perhaps...' comments as gentle suggestions, when what I really mean is 'you need to do this'
It's so frustrating when authors are resistant to copy-edits. We are trying to make your book better! It's our job to do so, we have literally no other interest in it, and we are experts at doing do. We're not just being annoying for no reason!
October 22, 2025 at 4:23 PM
It's so frustrating when authors are resistant to copy-edits. We are trying to make your book better! It's our job to do so, we have literally no other interest in it, and we are experts at doing do. We're not just being annoying for no reason!
Come along if you're in the London area! I'll be there, with some copies of the book for sale (at a nice discount), plus some pretty flyers. There'll also be wine 😀
Tomorrow!
Please join us for the book launch of 'Mirdja: A Decadent New Woman'.
Free and open to all: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
@themhra.bsky.social @artshumsucl.bsky.social
Please join us for the book launch of 'Mirdja: A Decadent New Woman'.
Free and open to all: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
@themhra.bsky.social @artshumsucl.bsky.social
Please join us for the book launch of 'Mirdja: A Decadent New Woman' by L. Onerva, translated by Eva Buchwald with an introduction by Viola Parente-Čapková.
🗓️ 23 October at 6pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ Free and open to all: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
@themhra.bsky.social
🗓️ 23 October at 6pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ Free and open to all: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
@themhra.bsky.social
October 22, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Come along if you're in the London area! I'll be there, with some copies of the book for sale (at a nice discount), plus some pretty flyers. There'll also be wine 😀
Publishers, let me know if you're interested in collaborating!
Other scholarly publishers! Please get in touch if you'd be interested in offering a discount on your humanities publications to members of the MHRA. Several generous publishers have already signed up, but we'd love to have more on board. Help us increase membership while driving sales of your books
October 22, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Publishers, let me know if you're interested in collaborating!
A world where the only place a person can live – their only 'home' – is the place where they were born is a hateful, horrifying idea to me. I truly despair that views like this that should be fading and dying out are instead growing stronger.
I hate to pull the immigrant card, but as an immigrant, it feels awful when elected MPs say I ‘need to go home’ and propose stripping me and all other immigrants of all our legal rights to live here. No, anywhere immigrants move is their home. The UK is my home.
October 22, 2025 at 11:00 AM
A world where the only place a person can live – their only 'home' – is the place where they were born is a hateful, horrifying idea to me. I truly despair that views like this that should be fading and dying out are instead growing stronger.
When I was a student I applied a couple times for jobs at the university library; never got one, the feedback was I shouldn’t say how much I like books, because as a library worker they might as well be cans of beans. I think about that when I see things like this.
October 22, 2025 at 9:53 AM
When I was a student I applied a couple times for jobs at the university library; never got one, the feedback was I shouldn’t say how much I like books, because as a library worker they might as well be cans of beans. I think about that when I see things like this.
Anyone here know what's happened to the SEELANGS listserv?
October 21, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Anyone here know what's happened to the SEELANGS listserv?
If you need cheering up and/or extreme office/life-choice jealousy, here’s a dreamy photo of Giovanni Mardersteig’s Officina Bodoni in Verona
(From: www.tipoteca.it/en/evento/of...)
(From: www.tipoteca.it/en/evento/of...)
October 21, 2025 at 12:34 PM
If you need cheering up and/or extreme office/life-choice jealousy, here’s a dreamy photo of Giovanni Mardersteig’s Officina Bodoni in Verona
(From: www.tipoteca.it/en/evento/of...)
(From: www.tipoteca.it/en/evento/of...)
So many different ampersand designs on a single page &&&
#bookhistory #typography
(Barthelemy Germain, 1578)
#bookhistory #typography
(Barthelemy Germain, 1578)
October 21, 2025 at 9:17 AM
So many different ampersand designs on a single page &&&
#bookhistory #typography
(Barthelemy Germain, 1578)
#bookhistory #typography
(Barthelemy Germain, 1578)
So Spotify finally introduced lossless streaming, with no fanfare at all that I saw. Don't care about audiobooks, podcasts, videos, chat: this is the only update I wanted from them. So this is the first good tech news for quite a while?! Now if they can make sure it works in Spotify Connect, amazing
October 20, 2025 at 3:38 PM
So Spotify finally introduced lossless streaming, with no fanfare at all that I saw. Don't care about audiobooks, podcasts, videos, chat: this is the only update I wanted from them. So this is the first good tech news for quite a while?! Now if they can make sure it works in Spotify Connect, amazing
Authors, two things you should never do in your manuscript: press the space bar multiple times in a row, or the tab key multiple times in a row (and really you shouldn't be pressing the tab key at all). If you don't know how to do something without doing those things, look it up, or *just ask*!
October 17, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Authors, two things you should never do in your manuscript: press the space bar multiple times in a row, or the tab key multiple times in a row (and really you shouldn't be pressing the tab key at all). If you don't know how to do something without doing those things, look it up, or *just ask*!
Imagine hearing the phrase ‘safe space’ and thinking thats a bad thing
October 16, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Imagine hearing the phrase ‘safe space’ and thinking thats a bad thing