Simon Spanton
@simonguy.bsky.social
"I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself."
Wandering. Wondering. Freelancing. Often acquiring and editing SFFH for Angry Robot Books. Live in Edinburgh. Views my own and independent of my employers. Photos my own unless otherwise etc.
Wandering. Wondering. Freelancing. Often acquiring and editing SFFH for Angry Robot Books. Live in Edinburgh. Views my own and independent of my employers. Photos my own unless otherwise etc.
Pinned
Simon Spanton
@simonguy.bsky.social
· Nov 26
"Out on the pale criss-crossed sand, high-stepping, fringed, gauntleted, stalked some fantastic leviathan..."
To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
HMS Surprise.
"Not old; no one would call her old. She has a bluff bow, lovely lines. She's a fine sea-boat: weatherly, stiff and fast … very fast, if she's well handled."
"Not old; no one would call her old. She has a bluff bow, lovely lines. She's a fine sea-boat: weatherly, stiff and fast … very fast, if she's well handled."
Name your favorite tv or film character ship.
November 19, 2025 at 1:12 PM
HMS Surprise.
"Not old; no one would call her old. She has a bluff bow, lovely lines. She's a fine sea-boat: weatherly, stiff and fast … very fast, if she's well handled."
"Not old; no one would call her old. She has a bluff bow, lovely lines. She's a fine sea-boat: weatherly, stiff and fast … very fast, if she's well handled."
Tune.
(Who new Jeff Lynne's production and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers would go together so well.)
(Who new Jeff Lynne's production and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers would go together so well.)
November 19, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Tune.
(Who new Jeff Lynne's production and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers would go together so well.)
(Who new Jeff Lynne's production and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers would go together so well.)
"Patricia McKillip was able to pack into two hundred pages what some other writers need three or more books to say."
Pat Cadigan
Pat Cadigan
November 19, 2025 at 12:19 PM
"Patricia McKillip was able to pack into two hundred pages what some other writers need three or more books to say."
Pat Cadigan
Pat Cadigan
Twenty-eight curlews on the school rugby pitch, calling peevishly as they edge away from the fence as you walk past.
November 19, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Twenty-eight curlews on the school rugby pitch, calling peevishly as they edge away from the fence as you walk past.
Even the scrubby corners of winter allotments.
And their genre fiction equivalents.
And their genre fiction equivalents.
November 19, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Even the scrubby corners of winter allotments.
And their genre fiction equivalents.
And their genre fiction equivalents.
Reposted by Simon Spanton
Line after line after line, Melville grabs you by the collar and STARES at you.
Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries.
November 18, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Line after line after line, Melville grabs you by the collar and STARES at you.
Shall we trudge or twirl toward the three twilights; of the day, of publishing, of the gods?
November 18, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Shall we trudge or twirl toward the three twilights; of the day, of publishing, of the gods?
"The gods' answers to the beseechings of men were full of such reservations and equivocations; so that, though your petition might indeed be granted, it was often granted in such a way that the invocation had perhaps better never have been uttered in the first place."
November 18, 2025 at 1:42 PM
"The gods' answers to the beseechings of men were full of such reservations and equivocations; so that, though your petition might indeed be granted, it was often granted in such a way that the invocation had perhaps better never have been uttered in the first place."
Reposted by Simon Spanton
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:48 AM
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
"Arietty too stood silent - staring and wondering at the pale moonlit faces. Until suddenly there was a rustling sound and a great black beetle ran right over them and she saw that they were not alive."
November 18, 2025 at 11:46 AM
"Arietty too stood silent - staring and wondering at the pale moonlit faces. Until suddenly there was a rustling sound and a great black beetle ran right over them and she saw that they were not alive."
Wet dog in a tight ball on the sofa and all's well.
November 18, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Wet dog in a tight ball on the sofa and all's well.
Happy birthday Blue Moose! Massive respect for all that they have achieved.
20 years ago today Heth and I remortgaged our house and Incorporated Bluemoose Books as a publishing company.
Many thanks to the wonderful librarians, booksellers, reviewers and readers who've promoted and hand sold our books.
Magic!
@thebookseller.com
@waterstones.bsky.social
Many thanks to the wonderful librarians, booksellers, reviewers and readers who've promoted and hand sold our books.
Magic!
@thebookseller.com
@waterstones.bsky.social
November 18, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Happy birthday Blue Moose! Massive respect for all that they have achieved.
Oh for goodness' sake.
November 17, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Oh for goodness' sake.
It's Pollen season again.
"This is my story, your story; my shadow, your shadow; my life of drifting air, my book"
On the left: the 1995 Ringpull hardback of Jeff Noon's Pollen.
On the right: our 2025 30th anniversary edition, with a new introduction by Aliya Whiteley and a new afterword by Jeff.
Coming out next month.
On the left: the 1995 Ringpull hardback of Jeff Noon's Pollen.
On the right: our 2025 30th anniversary edition, with a new introduction by Aliya Whiteley and a new afterword by Jeff.
Coming out next month.
November 17, 2025 at 1:08 PM
It's Pollen season again.
Nicholas Cage as the Face of Bo in the new Hollywood Doctor Who film.
Sequinned cushion in the Kino bar (2025) photograph by Anne Billson
November 17, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Nicholas Cage as the Face of Bo in the new Hollywood Doctor Who film.
Twenty-seven curlews, two standing on a single leg (each, not between them), on the school rugby pitch.
November 17, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Twenty-seven curlews, two standing on a single leg (each, not between them), on the school rugby pitch.
"...back towards town along a three-lane highway washed clean by the rain, past low rolling hills of yellow-white sand terraced with pink moss. Seaward a few gulls wheeled and swooped over something in the surf and far out a white yacht looked as if it was hanging in the sky."
November 17, 2025 at 7:50 AM
"...back towards town along a three-lane highway washed clean by the rain, past low rolling hills of yellow-white sand terraced with pink moss. Seaward a few gulls wheeled and swooped over something in the surf and far out a white yacht looked as if it was hanging in the sky."
Seven curlews busy on the sunny turf of the Police Scotland headquarters playing fields.
November 16, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Seven curlews busy on the sunny turf of the Police Scotland headquarters playing fields.
Each man makes his island.
November 16, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Each man makes his island.
Excellent ancient Greek owl.
November 16, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Excellent ancient Greek owl.
Fabulous.
November 16, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Fabulous.
Reposted by Simon Spanton
The original cover of Kenneth Grahame’s ‘Wind in the Willows’ (1908), designed by W. Graham Robertson. Robertson knew Oscar Wilde and John Singer Sargent, who painted his portrait twice. Peter Hunt’s research suggests Robertson shared a house with Kenneth Grahame at the time.
November 15, 2025 at 1:05 PM
The original cover of Kenneth Grahame’s ‘Wind in the Willows’ (1908), designed by W. Graham Robertson. Robertson knew Oscar Wilde and John Singer Sargent, who painted his portrait twice. Peter Hunt’s research suggests Robertson shared a house with Kenneth Grahame at the time.
"I like tomato soup. I don't like art gallery and museum soups."
Facebook memories highlights this from when my eldest son (now 27) was 12 and told us about both how great tomato was and what had made the greatest impression on him from the various cultural experiences we'd shared.
Facebook memories highlights this from when my eldest son (now 27) was 12 and told us about both how great tomato was and what had made the greatest impression on him from the various cultural experiences we'd shared.
November 15, 2025 at 4:10 PM
"I like tomato soup. I don't like art gallery and museum soups."
Facebook memories highlights this from when my eldest son (now 27) was 12 and told us about both how great tomato was and what had made the greatest impression on him from the various cultural experiences we'd shared.
Facebook memories highlights this from when my eldest son (now 27) was 12 and told us about both how great tomato was and what had made the greatest impression on him from the various cultural experiences we'd shared.
"Then, out of the night, a monster emerged and moved toward Kozhebatkin: a round hidebound head without even the hint of a body beyond, carried aloft by long, spindly , many-jointed legs. The silent monster skittered up slowly, swaying like a sleepy early-morning metro passenger..."
November 15, 2025 at 3:22 PM
"Then, out of the night, a monster emerged and moved toward Kozhebatkin: a round hidebound head without even the hint of a body beyond, carried aloft by long, spindly , many-jointed legs. The silent monster skittered up slowly, swaying like a sleepy early-morning metro passenger..."