Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️

@lhardingwrites.bsky.social

1.7K followers 440 following 5.8K posts

Mum friend transitioning to mum. Recovering medievalist. Writer of gothic, fantasy and horror. Displaced northener. True foodie. Culinary Cenobite. Pigeon möther. Synth/BM gremlin. Writing at patreon.com/lhardingwrites and https://ko-fi.com/lawrenceharding

ko-fi.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · Sep 2

Did you know that I have a Ko-Fi Shop? Where you can buy all my self-published collections, novelettes and novellas?

Well, now you do!

Horror short stories, dark fantasies, medieval shenanigans and more!

#booksky 📚💙

Visit Lawrence Harding's Shop!

I've opened a shop. Come take a look!

ko-fi.com

8 11 12

Reposted by Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · Sep 2

Featuring:

Old Habits Die Hard

12000 words of dark monastic fantasy, in which Brother Statius must steal relics from his former brethren and save his saint.

Featuring:
- heists
- monks
- demons
- demon monks
- relic cults
- battle trauma

#booksky 📚💙

Old Habits Die Hard - Lawrence Harding's Ko-fi Shop

In this fantasy novelette, Brother Statius must break into his old monastery to save the relics of his saint before they're used for nefarious ends - ...

ko-fi.com

5 6

Reposted by Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · Sep 3

Fiends & Phantoms 3

Gothic and horror tales of religion gone wrong

- vampire priests
- Frankensteined saints
- an ill-advised ladder to Heaven
- tormented monks
- an even more tormented priest, pursued by the owner of his precious relic...

#booksky 📚💙

Fiends & Phantoms III - Lawrence Harding's Ko-fi Shop

Lawrence Harding presents six eerie tales of religion going wrong: A bishop building a ladder to heaven A priest fleeing a dark secret A monk more s...

ko-fi.com

3 7

Reposted by Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️

Alex Degen (Magic Serple 2025) @adactivity.bsky.social · 7h

This is cool after the war on everything called “porn” by platforms and payment processors. A machine that stole all your words can generate and sell “erotica” but you can’t haaa

Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 8h

Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.

27 1.8K 3.7K

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · 8h

Oh frabjurous day!

I.e. I have finally booked my first day of leave since *checks notes* probably July...? Which was an intercity house move.

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · 9h

Rest as best you can, hope it passes soon!

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · 9h

Definitely didn't fancast him in a novella off the back of that film

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · 9h

His role in The Banishing almost had me sympathise with him because of those eyes.

Not the best film a quiet favourite, because between him and Sean Harris I am *spoilt*

1 1

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · 9h

And John Lynch. Sweet Jesus that man has *eyes*.

1 2

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · 11h

Now this looks worth having a varda at 👀👀

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼 @bonabooks.bsky.social · 12h

ANNOUNCEMENT🎺🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Introducing our bona new quarterly literary magazine:

FANTABULOSA!

Pushing the boundaries of bold, authentic, QUEER storytelling. Bringing you stories of the uncanny, the dangerous and the fantastical.

& thanks to our brilliant #WrathMonth backers, we're fully funded for 2026 🤘

Bona Books Presents

A new queer literary magazine

FANTABULOSA!

Tales of the uncanny, the dangerous and the fantastical, from radical and unapologetic queer voices.

Science fiction, fantasy and horror
Short fiction & poetry

Submissions open now

Reposted by Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️

Barleybap @barleybap.bsky.social · 12h

Look, I can't lecture others for enjoying low brow entertainment. I literally own a copy of Van Helsing the game based on Van Helsing the hit movie. But if the limit of your creative imagination is "hit TV show, but with famous dead actress instead", I beg you to go and engage with some actual art.

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 1d

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

Want to See Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI Could Make It Soon

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

www.scientificamerican.com

2 15 76

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · 12h

I just saw the "good service on all lines" status for the first time and thought the TFL app was broken for a moment.

Reposted by Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · Sep 3

Fiends & Phantoms 2

More horror for fans of Victorian Weird

- fey porridge-makers
- haunted Gospel Books
- mad-scientist sculptors
- an antiquarian with a mysterious guest

#booksky 📚💙

Fiends and Phantoms II - Lawrence Harding's Ko-fi Shop

Lawrence Harding presents 6 more tales of the weird and occult. Featuring: A gospel book with a mind of its own An antiquarian with a mysterious gues...

ko-fi.com

2 2

Reposted by Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · Sep 3

Fiends & Phantoms

6 tales of horror for fans of M R James and E F Benson

Featuring:
- academics delving too deep into the dark
- folk horror slug gods in the Bavarian hills
- vengeful saints
- Judiciary Mediums with regrets
- ironic fates for bodysnatchers

#booksky 📚💙

Fiends and Phantoms - Lawrence Harding's Ko-fi Shop

Lawrence Harding presents six tales of the Victorian weird, including: An occultist paying his dues A dark entity among the bookstacks An ancient h...

ko-fi.com

1 4 4

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · 14h

👀👀

Reposted by Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️

April Wolfe @aprilwolfe.bsky.social · 1d

Short story collections should be way more popular and marketed better for the short-attention present.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

15 55 450

Reposted by Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️

Uncharismatic Megafauna @liminalitea.bsky.social · 1d

It honestly feels so rare to get a book where you go "Ooh, the editing!" but it felt like a lovingly arranged tracklist, where the editors wanted to bring the best out of the great writing. Absolutely recommend tracking it down, it has everything from anime homages to dream-visions.

1 1

Reposted by Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️

Uncharismatic Megafauna @liminalitea.bsky.social · 1d

Just finished the Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF and it is probably one of the best collections I've ever read. The stories and comics are all fantastic, and it was edited like a great compilation album - everything flowed, everything worked together, it all just *worked*.

1 1

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · 1d

Queer representation deserves more than to be reduced to just marketing tropes.

And lesbians deserve to have something more than a sword. Give the Sapphics crossbows, they can handle it.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

1 9

Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️ @lhardingwrites.bsky.social · 1d

Lavender Town improved this by looming ominously into the heavens instead.

Cherub @polygoncherub.bsky.social · 2d

This is the hill that I stand my ground on.

Best game design:

Reposted by Lawrence Harding (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️

Ampwall @ampwall.com · 1d

More @gonemage.bsky.social so soon— this time with @lammoth.bsky.social!

ICYMI, Gonemage released brand new full-length, Coldest Keep in Bitter Heavens on Friday!

Check it out and buy it here ⬇️

gonemage.ampwall.com/album/coldes...

Check out Lammoth's hobbit black metal ⬇️

lammoth.ampwall.com