Thomas Ruys Smith
@thomasruyssmith.com
Prof of Lit and Culture, mostly nineteenth century. Coming soon: 🎅 🔎 Searching for Santa Claus: An Anthology of the Poems, Stories and Illustrations That Shaped an American Icon. Writing a book about Mark Twain & London.
http://www.thomasruyssmith.com
http://www.thomasruyssmith.com
Pinned
🎅🔎 Searching for Santa Claus, my collection of the stories, poems and illustrations that shaped a global icon, has a cover (by the amazing Studio GRRR)! Available for preorder from @bhousepress.bsky.social now!
🎅👉 www.boilerhouse.press/product-page...
🎅👉 www.boilerhouse.press/product-page...
Taylor is writing songs about Travis Kelce, Charli is collaborating with John Cale, may we all be this triumphant.
Charli working with John Cale, what a riposte to the Swift drama.
November 11, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Taylor is writing songs about Travis Kelce, Charli is collaborating with John Cale, may we all be this triumphant.
Charli working with John Cale, what a riposte to the Swift drama.
November 11, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Charli working with John Cale, what a riposte to the Swift drama.
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
Got writers or editors in your feed? Please consider reposting my writing contest/anthology (ConThology!!!!) [it's only nominally a contest because I like to make things complicated]. It's strange, seasonal, anti-seasonal, and fun af.
weirdchristmas.com/2025/10/30/a...
weirdchristmas.com/2025/10/30/a...
Announcing the EIGHTH Annual Weird Christmas Flash Fiction ConThology!
Yes, the (non) contest is alive, and, yes, it’s late. It’s been a rough year, and I’ve lost a lot of the time for REAL work because of all that half-ass work that actually pays. I had to figure out…
weirdchristmas.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Got writers or editors in your feed? Please consider reposting my writing contest/anthology (ConThology!!!!) [it's only nominally a contest because I like to make things complicated]. It's strange, seasonal, anti-seasonal, and fun af.
weirdchristmas.com/2025/10/30/a...
weirdchristmas.com/2025/10/30/a...
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
Today is also a good time to tell your comics retailer you would like to reserve a copy of STARTLING TALES OF SANTA CLAUS, because time to pre-order is running out
I know it's 2 days to Halloween and very few of you want to think about Xmas yet, but the nature of comics means the time to order STARTLING TALES OF SANTA CLAUS is now!
Please let your retailer know you want a copy, and please let me know if you're a media outlet who would like to talk about it!
Please let your retailer know you want a copy, and please let me know if you're a media outlet who would like to talk about it!
November 6, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Today is also a good time to tell your comics retailer you would like to reserve a copy of STARTLING TALES OF SANTA CLAUS, because time to pre-order is running out
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
This Wednesday, I kick off season 2 with my episode on Mickey's Christmas Carol (including the long history of it, which you may not know about). Join my Patreon for as little as $1/month and get episodes 24 hours early.
Scrooge: A Christmas Carol Podcast | Patreon
A podcast about every TV and film adaptation of A Christmas Caro
www.patreon.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:49 PM
This Wednesday, I kick off season 2 with my episode on Mickey's Christmas Carol (including the long history of it, which you may not know about). Join my Patreon for as little as $1/month and get episodes 24 hours early.
In next month’s BBC History Magazine 🎅👍
November 2, 2025 at 2:21 PM
In next month’s BBC History Magazine 🎅👍
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
And my book, Selling Out Santa, for the history and film lovers looking for the cross over event of the season, explores the tumultuous 1946-1961 post-war, early Cold War period in Hollywood via a case study exploring the political, and cultural changes in the Christmas films of the long 1950s:
Selling Out Santa
Christmas is not just a day or a frame of mind as Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) imparts in Miracle on 34 th Street (1947); Christmas is also a vehicle for national mythmaking as an idealising mirror for...
www.degruyterbrill.com
October 11, 2025 at 7:02 PM
And my book, Selling Out Santa, for the history and film lovers looking for the cross over event of the season, explores the tumultuous 1946-1961 post-war, early Cold War period in Hollywood via a case study exploring the political, and cultural changes in the Christmas films of the long 1950s:
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
. @thomasruyssmith.com's Searching for Santa Claus is a sugar plum-filled dream for the academics and Christmas connoisseurs among us as an unmatched, first if its kind anthology tracing the origins and evolutions of the icon:
Searching for Santa Claus by Thomas Ruys Smith | boiler-house-press
"Searching for Santa is both a lovely gift book for serious Santa fans and an important resource for anyone studying the history of American children's literature.”- Linda Raedisch, author of The Old ...
www.boilerhouse.press
October 11, 2025 at 7:02 PM
. @thomasruyssmith.com's Searching for Santa Claus is a sugar plum-filled dream for the academics and Christmas connoisseurs among us as an unmatched, first if its kind anthology tracing the origins and evolutions of the icon:
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
For the film lovers on your nice list, @aduralde.bsky.social's Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas is recently revised and updated to include Christmas films from the last 15 years with fun facts, rare films, and merry movie magic in a fun and informative guide to the genre:
Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas
Don't waste a second of your valuable holiday time on another boring Christmas movie. In this merry and informative guide, film critic Alonso Duralde takes us o…
www.bloomsbury.com
October 11, 2025 at 7:02 PM
For the film lovers on your nice list, @aduralde.bsky.social's Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas is recently revised and updated to include Christmas films from the last 15 years with fun facts, rare films, and merry movie magic in a fun and informative guide to the genre:
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
Hey guess what!!?
🎄🎄🎄 It's 75 days til Christmas 🎄🎄🎄
And I just so happen to have the perfect gift right here in a Christmassy book bundle for the readers in your life:
My book, @aduralde.bsky.social's Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, and @thomasruyssmith.com's Searching for Santa Claus ↓↓
🎄🎄🎄 It's 75 days til Christmas 🎄🎄🎄
And I just so happen to have the perfect gift right here in a Christmassy book bundle for the readers in your life:
My book, @aduralde.bsky.social's Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, and @thomasruyssmith.com's Searching for Santa Claus ↓↓
Everything is terrible right now in general, but in personal good news, my book has a cover and I'm so excited to share it!!!
Selling Out Santa is about Hollywood's manipulation of the Christmas holiday for socially conservative ends in the early Cold War 🗃️
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/selling-ou...
Selling Out Santa is about Hollywood's manipulation of the Christmas holiday for socially conservative ends in the early Cold War 🗃️
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/selling-ou...
October 11, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Hey guess what!!?
🎄🎄🎄 It's 75 days til Christmas 🎄🎄🎄
And I just so happen to have the perfect gift right here in a Christmassy book bundle for the readers in your life:
My book, @aduralde.bsky.social's Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, and @thomasruyssmith.com's Searching for Santa Claus ↓↓
🎄🎄🎄 It's 75 days til Christmas 🎄🎄🎄
And I just so happen to have the perfect gift right here in a Christmassy book bundle for the readers in your life:
My book, @aduralde.bsky.social's Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, and @thomasruyssmith.com's Searching for Santa Claus ↓↓
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
Our next virtual launch from the Recovered Books series at @bhousepress.bsky.social will be for Malachi Whitaker's unique memoir, And So Did I, on Tuesday, 14 October, at 7PM BST. Our special guests will be Catherine Taylor and Valerie Waterhouse.
Register on Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.co.uk...
Register on Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.co.uk...
September 30, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Our next virtual launch from the Recovered Books series at @bhousepress.bsky.social will be for Malachi Whitaker's unique memoir, And So Did I, on Tuesday, 14 October, at 7PM BST. Our special guests will be Catherine Taylor and Valerie Waterhouse.
Register on Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.co.uk...
Register on Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.co.uk...
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
If you are a comics reviewer or a writer of or about Christmas stuff and you would like an advance pdf of STARTLING TALES OF SANTA CLAUS 2025 (in stores December 3), let me know and I will hook you up. If you would like to talk to me about the book for your publication, hmu
September 30, 2025 at 7:01 PM
If you are a comics reviewer or a writer of or about Christmas stuff and you would like an advance pdf of STARTLING TALES OF SANTA CLAUS 2025 (in stores December 3), let me know and I will hook you up. If you would like to talk to me about the book for your publication, hmu
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
Coming in December!
STARTLING TALES OF SANTA CLAUS 2025 ANNUAL!
80 pages of fantasy adventure Christmas comics feat.
@seakae.com
@docshaner.bsky.social
@nedroid.com
@emmetthgraham.bsky.social
@nickfil.bsky.social
@longtalljodie.com
Six stories, all new or in print for the first time!
STARTLING TALES OF SANTA CLAUS 2025 ANNUAL!
80 pages of fantasy adventure Christmas comics feat.
@seakae.com
@docshaner.bsky.social
@nedroid.com
@emmetthgraham.bsky.social
@nickfil.bsky.social
@longtalljodie.com
Six stories, all new or in print for the first time!
September 19, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Coming in December!
STARTLING TALES OF SANTA CLAUS 2025 ANNUAL!
80 pages of fantasy adventure Christmas comics feat.
@seakae.com
@docshaner.bsky.social
@nedroid.com
@emmetthgraham.bsky.social
@nickfil.bsky.social
@longtalljodie.com
Six stories, all new or in print for the first time!
STARTLING TALES OF SANTA CLAUS 2025 ANNUAL!
80 pages of fantasy adventure Christmas comics feat.
@seakae.com
@docshaner.bsky.social
@nedroid.com
@emmetthgraham.bsky.social
@nickfil.bsky.social
@longtalljodie.com
Six stories, all new or in print for the first time!
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
🎅🔎 Searching for Santa Claus, my collection of the stories, poems and illustrations that shaped a global icon, has a cover (by the amazing Studio GRRR)! Available for preorder from @bhousepress.bsky.social now!
🎅👉 www.boilerhouse.press/product-page...
🎅👉 www.boilerhouse.press/product-page...
September 5, 2025 at 6:14 PM
🎅🔎 Searching for Santa Claus, my collection of the stories, poems and illustrations that shaped a global icon, has a cover (by the amazing Studio GRRR)! Available for preorder from @bhousepress.bsky.social now!
🎅👉 www.boilerhouse.press/product-page...
🎅👉 www.boilerhouse.press/product-page...
An exciting arrival today from @christmaspast.bsky.social! Congratulations Brian - order your copies now!
September 9, 2025 at 7:49 PM
An exciting arrival today from @christmaspast.bsky.social! Congratulations Brian - order your copies now!
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
MNHS has been nominated for an EMMY for their documentary on how Harry Smith's Anthology helped save a St. Paul theater that really needed saving. The result is beautiful art, richly informative, and precisely accurate. Gratitude to @pedigreedbunk.bsky.social !
Music Making History: How A Song Saved A Theater
YouTube video by Minnesota Historical Society
www.youtube.com
September 9, 2025 at 6:31 PM
MNHS has been nominated for an EMMY for their documentary on how Harry Smith's Anthology helped save a St. Paul theater that really needed saving. The result is beautiful art, richly informative, and precisely accurate. Gratitude to @pedigreedbunk.bsky.social !
🎅🔎 Searching for Santa Claus, my collection of the stories, poems and illustrations that shaped a global icon, has a cover (by the amazing Studio GRRR)! Available for preorder from @bhousepress.bsky.social now!
🎅👉 www.boilerhouse.press/product-page...
🎅👉 www.boilerhouse.press/product-page...
September 5, 2025 at 6:14 PM
🎅🔎 Searching for Santa Claus, my collection of the stories, poems and illustrations that shaped a global icon, has a cover (by the amazing Studio GRRR)! Available for preorder from @bhousepress.bsky.social now!
🎅👉 www.boilerhouse.press/product-page...
🎅👉 www.boilerhouse.press/product-page...
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
Everything is terrible right now in general, but in personal good news, my book has a cover and I'm so excited to share it!!!
Selling Out Santa is about Hollywood's manipulation of the Christmas holiday for socially conservative ends in the early Cold War 🗃️
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/selling-ou...
Selling Out Santa is about Hollywood's manipulation of the Christmas holiday for socially conservative ends in the early Cold War 🗃️
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/selling-ou...
August 28, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Everything is terrible right now in general, but in personal good news, my book has a cover and I'm so excited to share it!!!
Selling Out Santa is about Hollywood's manipulation of the Christmas holiday for socially conservative ends in the early Cold War 🗃️
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/selling-ou...
Selling Out Santa is about Hollywood's manipulation of the Christmas holiday for socially conservative ends in the early Cold War 🗃️
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/selling-ou...
@rickriordan.bsky.social Are you a fan of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Wonder Book for Girls and Boys? We’ve just produced a new edition with our students and would love to send you a copy! Unsurprisingly your work was a big inspiration for everyone involved!
www.ueapublishingproject.com/product-page...
www.ueapublishingproject.com/product-page...
A Wonder-Book for Girls & Boys by Nathaniel Hawthorne | uea-publishing
“The ideal of happiness of many American children is to lose themselves in A Wonder-Book.” - Henry JamesIn 1851, many decades before Percy Jackson and his fellow demi-gods and heroes conquered popular...
www.ueapublishingproject.com
August 7, 2025 at 2:57 PM
@rickriordan.bsky.social Are you a fan of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Wonder Book for Girls and Boys? We’ve just produced a new edition with our students and would love to send you a copy! Unsurprisingly your work was a big inspiration for everyone involved!
www.ueapublishingproject.com/product-page...
www.ueapublishingproject.com/product-page...
Coming soon! Our new @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's A Wonder-Book for Girls & Boys - his groundbreaking collection of mythological stories retold for younger readers, first published in 1851! More here 👉 www.ueapublishingproject.com/product-page...
August 5, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Coming soon! Our new @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's A Wonder-Book for Girls & Boys - his groundbreaking collection of mythological stories retold for younger readers, first published in 1851! More here 👉 www.ueapublishingproject.com/product-page...
Went to visit Hank (closed on Wednesdays 🚫).
July 23, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Went to visit Hank (closed on Wednesdays 🚫).
Superman was joyful.
July 12, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Superman was joyful.
I love a choice block quote - I love letting my subjects speak! Letting their voice breathe again!
July 9, 2025 at 5:05 PM
I love a choice block quote - I love letting my subjects speak! Letting their voice breathe again!
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
Huge props to brilliant UEA American Studies student Daisy who has won the BAAS MA scholarship to Wyoming for this September. Shout out to supervisor extraordinaire @thomasruyssmith.com! @officialbaas.bsky.social @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social
eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
How study abroad and a love for country music changed Daisy’s life
Inspired by her transformative study abroad experience in Vermont, final-year American Studies student Daisy Innes prepares to begin her Master’s degree at the University of Wyoming, ahead of graduati...
eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
July 2, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Huge props to brilliant UEA American Studies student Daisy who has won the BAAS MA scholarship to Wyoming for this September. Shout out to supervisor extraordinaire @thomasruyssmith.com! @officialbaas.bsky.social @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social
eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
Reposted by Thomas Ruys Smith
Check it out: the pre-order link for Lingering Inland: A Literary Tour of the Midwest! This book collects dozens of #LiteraryLandscapes essays, and pre-orders will ship in November—perfect for Christmas! www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...
Lingering Inland
www.press.uillinois.edu
June 23, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Check it out: the pre-order link for Lingering Inland: A Literary Tour of the Midwest! This book collects dozens of #LiteraryLandscapes essays, and pre-orders will ship in November—perfect for Christmas! www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...