Gareth Southwell
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garethsouthwell.bsky.social
Gareth Southwell
@garethsouthwell.bsky.social
Self-employed writer, illustrator, philosopher. All views are those of my employer. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Runs woodpigpress.com, woodpigpress.bsky.social

Sci-fi, philosophy and illustration: garethsouthwell.com

Diary of a Micro-Press: https://woodpigpress.substack.com/
Wonderful comment on this on Instagram which sums up how I feel.
October 2, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Oh, dear. Is it just me that has a bad feeling about this? I've been using Affinity programmes for years, and they're great. But anything that mentions "the future" gives off an aura of bullshit and AI flangery.

#AI #art #books
October 2, 2025 at 3:33 PM
I ran a poll on Mastodon and Bluesky asking who'd read a book where the author used AI to some extent. Combining the results: of the 56 respondents, 82% said never, 16% said only if AI was used for editing, and 1% said they didn't care as long as it was a good book.

#books #writing #AI #reading
September 24, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Book cover design and illustration for Clif Haley's comedy Western, "Emory Crider and the One Dollar Bounty".

garethsouthwell.com/book-design-...

#books #illustration #art #covers #booksky
September 23, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Dear book marketer, thanks so much for your email, and for your eloquent praise of my book. You were "profoundly moved", you say? I am flattered - and doubly so that you've taken the trouble to hunt me down all the way from ... [checks website visitor stats] ... oh.

#books #writing #AI #booksky
September 22, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Reading Peter de Vries' wonderful "Reuben, Reuben" and came across a passage about how places are named after the natural features they've destroyed, which exactly parallels something I'd written in "MUNKi. This ever happen to you?

#books #writing #philosophy

garethsouthwell.com/books/munki/
September 19, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Cover design for my sci-fi comedy novella Pale Kings. I spent quite a while trying to give the virtual mermaids a sort of degraded, retro, cathode ray TV look. Not sure if I could remember how to do it now!

garethsouthwell.com/books/pale-k...

#books #illustration #coverdesign #scifi #art #booksky
September 18, 2025 at 3:33 PM
September 18, 2025 at 12:03 PM
September 17, 2025 at 3:33 PM
I spent ages adding all the detail to this cover, and then realised it's all sort of lost when it's reproduced at actual paperback size. So, for those interested, here are some of the details!

#art #illustration #books #design #bookcovers #scifi #sff #booksky

garethsouthwell.com/books/tidela...
September 17, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Cover design and illustration for Garry Seabrook's "Cracking the Quantum Mystery". Had great fun doing this - any eggheads out there spot all the Easter eggs? :)

garethsouthwell.com/book-design-...

#books #philosophy #science #illustration #bookcovers #booksky
September 16, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Just reading an academic text on the history of censorship in the UK, and came across this little gem.

#philosophy #books #booksky
September 15, 2025 at 7:05 PM
A little portfolio piece of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". See more here: garethsouthwell.com/book-design-...

Interested in cover design, illustration or formatting? Contact me here: garethsouthwell.com/contact/

#books #illustration #design #art #booksky
September 15, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Oooh... This came in the post today. :)

Met him in Bristol at a talk. What a lovely and humble guy.

#books #MickHerron #SlowHorses #amreading #reading #booksky
September 14, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Book cover design and illustration for "Fun With Nuns" by A.J. Caliendo.

Want illustration, cover design or book formatting? See more: garethsouthwell.com/book-design-...

Get in touch: garethsouthwell.com/contact/

#books #illustration #art #design #booksky
September 13, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Design and illustration for Doug Hardenstein's upcoming kid's time travel adventure, "Tolly to the Titanic".

Want illustration, cover design or book formatting? See more: garethsouthwell.com/book-design-...

Get in touch: garethsouthwell.com/contact/

#books #illustration #art #design #booksky
September 12, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Caricature of Trump from 1988 by brilliant New Yorker artist David Levine. Even then he knew he was a man-baby!

#books #art #illustration #booksky
September 10, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Startling ChatGPT usage graph. Though it is also kind of funny - in an end-of-the-world, death-of-education sort of way.

#books #AI #ChatGPT
September 8, 2025 at 12:03 PM
A satirical little short story/novella I wrote a little while ago about automated content creation, which seems very timely now.

garethsouthwell.com/books/conten...

#philosophy #books #AI
September 8, 2025 at 7:58 AM
WoodPig Press is currently giving away free copies of Tidelands: Ghosts and Monsters. Enter the draw on Storygraph to win 1 of 250 ebooks or 5 paperbacks. (NOTE: Paperback prizes are available to UK residents only)

app.thestorygraph.com/giveaways/bb...

#Booksky #books #Storygraph #draw
June 21, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Please share:

The ebook of Tidelands: Ghosts & Monsters is currently only 0.99 (£/$/€). Available direct from WoodPig Press, or the usual retailers:

woodpigpress.com/the-tideland...

#booksky #books #deals #discounts #scifi #sff #fantasy
June 15, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Please share:

Do you hate AI?

Are you an editor, proofreader, designer, illustrator, typesetter, marketer, book blogger, audio narrator, reviewer, ARC/beta reader?

WoodPig Press is creating a pool of freelancers for future paid work.

woodpigpress.com/call-for-pub...

#booksky #books #publishing
June 7, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Please share:

So today sees the launch of Part 4 of my SFF novel Tidelands, "The Sleepers" (WoodPig Press):

garethsouthwell.com/books/tidela...

If you want to catch up from the beginning, Part 1 is currently only 0.99 (£/$/€):

garethsouthwell.com/books/tidela...

#sff #booksky #books #scifi
May 23, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Just finished the cover for Tidelands Part IV: The Sleepers, which I'm hoping to release next week.

#illustration #bookcovers #books #booksky
May 16, 2025 at 7:41 PM
And here's how they define the difference:
May 7, 2025 at 2:11 PM