Caustic Cover Critic
@causticcovercritic.bsky.social
Uncharismatic megafauna.
Too fat to ride a horse, too poor to own a carriage.
Buy my book, keep me off the streets: http://bit.ly/JMgibbons
Too fat to ride a horse, too poor to own a carriage.
Buy my book, keep me off the streets: http://bit.ly/JMgibbons
Pinned
A new addition ('The Woman in Cabin 10') to the surprisingly extensive Keira Knightley library, for people who only want to read books with Keira Knightley on them.
Canadians watching '80s Australian horror movies (in this case 'Howling III: The Marsupials'), from Lee Lai's wonderful graphic novel CANNON:
December 19, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Canadians watching '80s Australian horror movies (in this case 'Howling III: The Marsupials'), from Lee Lai's wonderful graphic novel CANNON:
And what fucken thanks do I get?
December 18, 2025 at 10:39 PM
And what fucken thanks do I get?
Not sure which is the biggest insult to her memory--the soft-focus AI pap cover image or the ludicrous typo in the title.
December 18, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Not sure which is the biggest insult to her memory--the soft-focus AI pap cover image or the ludicrous typo in the title.
Oh, this one's easy, it's because Woolf was a vile, self-regarding bigoted snob:
December 17, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Oh, this one's easy, it's because Woolf was a vile, self-regarding bigoted snob:
From William Donaldson's GREAT DISASTERS OF THE STAGE:
December 17, 2025 at 5:49 AM
From William Donaldson's GREAT DISASTERS OF THE STAGE:
Reposted by Caustic Cover Critic
Some brain genius thought they would host this work meeting from a cafe while they had breakfast. A cafe without internet, so the rest of us have to talk to her and the other attendees via Whatsapp. The audio quality means this is like listening to R2-D2 fart in a bath for 90 minutes.
December 16, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Some brain genius thought they would host this work meeting from a cafe while they had breakfast. A cafe without internet, so the rest of us have to talk to her and the other attendees via Whatsapp. The audio quality means this is like listening to R2-D2 fart in a bath for 90 minutes.
The very fact that you enjoy the idea of shooting a living thing with a gun should automatically disqualify you from ever being allowed to have one.
December 16, 2025 at 3:43 AM
The very fact that you enjoy the idea of shooting a living thing with a gun should automatically disqualify you from ever being allowed to have one.
Part of the problem is, when was the last time a mass-market paperback didn't look as ugly as shit? From the mid-'80s on this was the format where design went to die.
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Last Call for Mass Market Paperbacks
After years of steady sales declines, the format will largely disappear next year.
www.publishersweekly.com
December 15, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Part of the problem is, when was the last time a mass-market paperback didn't look as ugly as shit? From the mid-'80s on this was the format where design went to die.
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
At Christmas I like to think about when I was a bookseller and, though I miss the staff discount, don't miss people who did things like trying to track down the new Nigella Lawson cookbook by asking for "that book by Mrs Bites".
December 14, 2025 at 8:35 AM
At Christmas I like to think about when I was a bookseller and, though I miss the staff discount, don't miss people who did things like trying to track down the new Nigella Lawson cookbook by asking for "that book by Mrs Bites".
Tom Drury! Tobias Wolff! ZZ Packer! Wells Tower! Publish some more books you lazy American bastards.
December 13, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Tom Drury! Tobias Wolff! ZZ Packer! Wells Tower! Publish some more books you lazy American bastards.
New crap publisher alert: Zenith Whispering Pines Publishers, who love to slap an AI cover on a classic and not bother counting the fingers.
December 12, 2025 at 5:23 AM
New crap publisher alert: Zenith Whispering Pines Publishers, who love to slap an AI cover on a classic and not bother counting the fingers.
One of the best (new to me) writers I came across this year was Charles Ferdinand Ramuz (1878-1947). All 3 of these books have the same basic idea (Horrible Thing Happens in the Mountains) but go in very different directions. Creepy, subtle, strange, modernist, fractal, and way ahead of their time.
December 12, 2025 at 4:12 AM
One of the best (new to me) writers I came across this year was Charles Ferdinand Ramuz (1878-1947). All 3 of these books have the same basic idea (Horrible Thing Happens in the Mountains) but go in very different directions. Creepy, subtle, strange, modernist, fractal, and way ahead of their time.
Hey, guys, for 2026 can we try STOP TURNING THINGS INTO MUSICALS?!?!?!?!
December 11, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Hey, guys, for 2026 can we try STOP TURNING THINGS INTO MUSICALS?!?!?!?!
Author of widely panned Alan Turing hetero-sex thriller on "finding authenticity in history":
December 11, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Author of widely panned Alan Turing hetero-sex thriller on "finding authenticity in history":
If you can't even write it down, how the fuck are you going to say it in a confrontation?
December 11, 2025 at 12:55 AM
If you can't even write it down, how the fuck are you going to say it in a confrontation?
Subject to change at a moment's notice, but...
December 9, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Subject to change at a moment's notice, but...
Coming soon: 'Nurses', 'Attractive People Fucking' and 'Morons on TV'
December 9, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Coming soon: 'Nurses', 'Attractive People Fucking' and 'Morons on TV'
I would bet a largeish amount of money on this septology never actually being finished, given that the author, at book 2, already seems bored/over-constrained by the central conceit, and that the current rate of production will not see the final volume until the late 2030s.
December 9, 2025 at 7:05 AM
I would bet a largeish amount of money on this septology never actually being finished, given that the author, at book 2, already seems bored/over-constrained by the central conceit, and that the current rate of production will not see the final volume until the late 2030s.
Tempted to do a WORST BOOKS I READ IN 2025 thread.
December 8, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Tempted to do a WORST BOOKS I READ IN 2025 thread.
neighbourhood christmas street party, am drunk
(very real neighbours just out of frame)
(very real neighbours just out of frame)
December 7, 2025 at 10:28 AM
neighbourhood christmas street party, am drunk
(very real neighbours just out of frame)
(very real neighbours just out of frame)
I have some bad news for her.
December 5, 2025 at 10:40 PM
I have some bad news for her.
Reading an ARC of a book by an English writer being published by a US press and it’s full of worried incorrect corrections of UK slang/usage by the copy editor.
December 5, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Reading an ARC of a book by an English writer being published by a US press and it’s full of worried incorrect corrections of UK slang/usage by the copy editor.
"American Pie" by Don McLean in a tie with "November Rain" by GnR. Two interminable bids for seriousness by tedious numbnuts with less depth than a coat of cheap varnish, swallowed whole by an audience of dumbarses. When I die I've already gone through purgatory; it was listening to these songs.
December 4, 2025 at 10:26 PM
"American Pie" by Don McLean in a tie with "November Rain" by GnR. Two interminable bids for seriousness by tedious numbnuts with less depth than a coat of cheap varnish, swallowed whole by an audience of dumbarses. When I die I've already gone through purgatory; it was listening to these songs.
Bought some books, only 2/3 of which feature women on the covers getting their kit off.
December 4, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Bought some books, only 2/3 of which feature women on the covers getting their kit off.