Kathryn Harkup (she/her)
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rotwangsrobot.bsky.social
Kathryn Harkup (she/her)
@rotwangsrobot.bsky.social
1.7K followers 690 following 71 posts
Writer, Science Communicator and Vampirologist
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rotwangsrobot.bsky.social
Today's office
Fullwell cross library. A circular building with a central dome of windows and a green canopy roof that is a cross between a circus tent and a Spanish villa. Xanadu meets Seville's islamic architecture. Love it.
April 24, 2025 at 12:04 PM
rotwangsrobot.bsky.social
#AmReading We Are Bellingcat: An Intelligence Agency for the People by Eliot Higgins #BookSky 📚
Cover of the book showing the title inside the curve of an upside down question mark
April 22, 2025 at 10:53 AM
rotwangsrobot.bsky.social
#AmReading The World of Yesterday: Memoirs of a European by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book with an illustration of a moustached man sitting at a desk with pen in hand. On the desk is a miniature street scene with a lamppost, an advertising column, a ballerina and three women walking along in typical turn of the century dress - hats, long skirts - two of them are holding umbrellas.
April 19, 2025 at 11:35 AM
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#AmReading The Post Office Girl by Stefan Zweig #BookSky 📚
Cover of the book showing a young woman with dark hair and downcast eyes looking very sad
February 4, 2025 at 11:17 AM
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#AmReasing The Complete Mapp & Lucia: Volume One by E. F. Benson #BookSky
Cover of the book showing a painting of a hut at Rye Harbour by Anna Teasdale. The red roofed hut is in the middle distance. Big grey clouds roll overhead and the foreground is filled with wild flowers and gentle rolling dunes leading up to the water. Benson's fictional world is based on the real town of Rye.
December 11, 2024 at 3:58 PM
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#AmReading The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman #BookSky
Cover of the book showing a fox strutting along in a Zorro (geddit?) mask
December 9, 2024 at 12:30 PM
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#AmReading Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift #BookSky
Cover of the book showing Gulliver held captive by the Lilliputians
December 3, 2024 at 11:14 AM
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#AmReading The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman #BookSky
Cover of the book showing a red fox looking over its shoulder.
December 2, 2024 at 11:58 AM
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#AmReading Original Sin by P. D. James #Booksky
Cover of the book showing the shoreline of the river Thames with a jetty and tower bridge to the right. There is also a drawing of a snake in the bottom right corner looking as though it has just slithered over to the shore from the jetty.
November 23, 2024 at 4:55 PM
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Feeling a little overwhelmed with new followers. Hello and welcome and sorry if I missed you in the crowd.
After the ball, a painting by Ramon Casas of a woman in a long black dress collapsed on a green sofa and staring bemused into the middle distance.
November 18, 2024 at 9:24 AM
rotwangsrobot.bsky.social
#AmReading #Books The Machine Stops, The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories by E. M. Forster.
Cove of the book which is black with yellow lines running across it at right angles, like a road map.
November 15, 2024 at 9:36 AM
rotwangsrobot.bsky.social
On December 3rd I'm going to Nottingham to talk about Death and Shakespeare. 💀🗡️💔You can come along and hear me if you'd like. It's free but you need to register here institutemh.org.uk/events/event...
Poster advertising the event Death by Shakespeare with a drawing of Shakespeare in one corner and event details in the other. The talk is at 2pm at the Institute of Mental Health on the University of Nottingham's Jubilee campus, room A08. The text reads 'a captivating guest lecture by Dr Kathryn Harkup, a former chemist who has embraced her calling as a vampirologist and science communicator.' It then goes on to say 'William Shakespeare found dozens of different ways to kill off his characters and audiences today still enjoy the same reactions - shock, sadness, fear - that they did more than 400 years ago when these plays were first performed. but how realistic are these deaths, and did Shakespeare have the knowledge to back them up?'
November 14, 2024 at 2:02 PM
rotwangsrobot.bsky.social
I know I haven't posted anything here for a while, but I've been a bit busy writing a book about poisons and Agatha Christie. V is for Venom should be out next year.
Cover of the book showing a big black V and the words 'is for venom' in white art deco letters and the subtitle 'Agatha Christie's chemicals of death'. There is a yellow art deco snake curling around one arm of the big v and giving a warning hiss
November 4, 2024 at 12:29 PM
rotwangsrobot.bsky.social
#AmReading Cecily: Wife, Mother, Politician, Traitor, Fighter, Survivor by Annie Garthwaite
Cover of the book showing the title over what looks like a stained glass window
March 11, 2024 at 4:28 PM
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I forgot to say it's called Superspy Science: Science, Death and Tech in the world of James Bond. Sorry.
A big red advert that says 'out now in paperback' in big black shouty letters and a picture of the cover of the book Superspy Science: Science, Death and Tech in the World of James Bond
February 15, 2024 at 4:37 PM
rotwangsrobot.bsky.social
I wrote a thing, and it's published in paperback today! It's about James Bond, well, a little bit, but mostly about how Bond villains plot to take over the world, or break into Fort Knox, or kill 007. Lots of top tips for wannabe supervillains.*

*Please do not use this book to take over the world.
Photo of the book with a red hand gun on the cover (which I assume is a Walther PPK but I honestly don't know). There are also casino chips, a martini glass, a black bow tie (pre-tied, sigh) and some very sixties looking sunglasses with big thick square frames.
February 15, 2024 at 4:30 PM
rotwangsrobot.bsky.social
#AmReading The Aspern Papers by Henry James
Cover of the books showing a painting of a dark room with a bright window at the back. A women sits by the window reading a book.
February 12, 2024 at 11:49 AM
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#AmReading Love in a Cold Climate and Other Novels by Nancy Mitford
Cover of the book showing a red rose frozen in ice
February 1, 2024 at 11:05 AM
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#AmReading Map by Wislawa Szymborska 📖🇵🇱
Cover of the book showering a sepia photo of a woman dressed in skirt, jumper, pearls and heels leaning over a balncony looking at blocks of housing opposite.
January 28, 2024 at 5:01 PM
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#AmReading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Cover of the book showing a blurred image of a girl in a green dress as she twists away from the viewer.
January 27, 2024 at 4:39 PM
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#AmReading #AmReReading One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie
Cover of the book showing a gun, aimed at the viewer, bursting through a page with the one, two buckle my shoe nursery rhyme written on it
January 25, 2024 at 11:18 AM
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They are so good.
The cartoon character Totoro smiling and looking very pleased, which is how I feel and look in my big hoodie.
January 15, 2024 at 3:02 PM