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Jonathan Walker

@newishpuritan.bsky.social

820 followers 1.9K following 900 posts

Ex-historian of Venice, writer, editor. Author of The Angels of L19, Push Process (a novel with photographs), and other books. (Banner image by Dan Hallett.) https://650749c57a329.site123.me/publications jonathanwalkersblog.blogspot.com

650749c57a329.site123.me

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Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · Mar 27

Besides my several books, I've also created a number of zines and a photobook. Details in this part of my website: 650749c57a329.site123.me/publications...

Although these are not commercially available, I have some samples. DM me if you'd like to buy copies of any of them.

Cover of my photobook Gourock, Greenock, Glasgow, shows a man in an orange hi-vis vest standing in the doorway of a pub in front of a high-rise car park.

Image from a zine showing part of a house visible through a thick hedge.

View from a train window on a bridge on the approach to Glasgow showing railway infrastructure in foreground and flats in the background.

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Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 1d

Walked by the local reservoir yesterday, and it was full of little motorised sailing boats operated by a group of old fellas, likely a club. Made me proud to be a bloke.

Reservoir with tiny model sailboats in the distance.

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 1d

SPOILERS for Task

I am patting myself on the back for getting this right:

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 14d

I am so poisoned by tv conventions I assumed the phone call by Ruffalo’s boss was a fakeout, and kept waiting for Galasso (the obvious choice) to be revealed as the mole.

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 1d

You can always buy yourself a paintbox as a reward for completing the challenge.

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Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 2d

I assume when she refers to ‘stepping on you’, she means the moon’s reflection in a puddle. Just top-notch stuff.

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Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 2d

This is stunning!

Rose Ruane @regretteruane.bsky.social · 2d

Excellently threatening energy from Deborah Findlay’s entry to the Puffin Post’s Concrete Poetry Competition.
A superb, subtle, sarcastic little poetic diss to the moon

Detail from a page from puffin post magazine black text on white reads, Deborah finally 13, the moon above a black outline of a crescent moon inside which is a poem that reads “poor moon, will you really shine so well when men step upon you and break your spell” under which italicised text reads a black and white copy of a charming painting by Deborah Findlay

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Reposted by Jonathan Walker

Wild Hunt Books @wildhuntbooks.bsky.social · 4d

*Submission reminder*

We're open to unagented subs from 6-12 Oct. For this submission period we are looking for novellas only (35K-50K). We're specifically looking for novellas that play w horror, mystery, weird & the unusual.

More info below🐐
www.wildhuntbooks.co.uk/blog/pop-up-...

Pop up submission window — wild hunt books

Wild Hunt Books are open to unagented submissions  from 6-12 October 2025. For this submission period we are looking for novellas only (35K-50K words with a grace of 1000 words, over/under)...

www.wildhuntbooks.co.uk

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Reposted by Jonathan Walker

Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 4d

The future of UK Independent presses hang by a thread. Supporting the sector is vital: this is where ALL the bravery lies. The big houses are risk averse, but copycat small press successes to revitalise their lists. Small presses are the motor!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/open...

Open letter on the future of small press publishing in the UK

The industry must work together to ensure the longevity of the UK’s independent presses.

www.thebookseller.com

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Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 5d

THIS ISSUE: EVERYBODY DIES!

(Though that was actually the next one I think.)

Colin Smith @colinsmith.bsky.social · 5d

Good morning! It’s Thursday October 9th 2025! Already? Crikey!

(Released this very month in 1981, a mere 44 years ago, the epochal Uncanny X-Men #141, with its much-homaged classic cover by John Byrne & Terry Austin.)

You be careful out there among them English with their Sentinels, Joanne Book.

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 5d

The joke’s on Death because I get fatter every year, so it won’t fit.

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 5d

Just re-watched Performance, which is a great if rather sinister film, but can’t say I feel impelled to watch anything else by Cammell.

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Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 6d

Free idea for a crime novel:

Anon Opin @anonopin.bsky.social · 6d

Mount Everest is so littered with bodies, that if you were to murder someone by chucking them off the mountain you'd get away with it. In fact, dozens of people probably have.

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 10d

For a scammer, it's quite well written (perhaps with AI), though far too bland and vague for a message from the actual Elizabeth Stroud.

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 10d

New scam email today. A message allegedly from Elizabeth Strout, wanting to 'connect' about her new book (one of the giveaways is that it doesn't actually refer to her latest, but the one before). I think the purpose is to get me to click on the link included in the message.

Reposted by Jonathan Walker

Simon Spanton @simonguy.bsky.social · 12d

As a rule I keep politics off here but sometimes an incident needs highlighting, an experience needs to be seen, a person needs their voice shared.

I'm sixty years old and this country is in a worse place than I've ever seen.

Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 13d

I had the worst lunch. Honestly.

Maybe @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social could cover the rise in the far right, in racist attacks and, you know, the effect on millions of British people instead of platforming them every night

I'd settle for @theguardian.com doing even basic coverage of racism in the UK

Today I sat next to racists planning openly planning to murder people in a cafe

How have we come to a place where racists can openly talk about murdering people in public with no consequence?

stewarthotston.com

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Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 13d

Is there no enterprising UK-based law firm willing to pursue this on behalf of UK authors?

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 13d

I have two novels and about ten academic articles on the Anthropic list, but I’m not going to get a penny because nothing is registered with the US copyright office (academic articles seem to be entirely excluded from the settlement). What a bummer.

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 13d

There’s a database of the pirated stuff you can search on the Atlantic article that made everyone aware of this, though apparently it is too inclusive (it includes things uploaded after Anthropic trawled the sites). And you can crossref on the US copyright office here: publicrecords.copyright.gov

U.S. Copyright Office Public Records System

publicrecords.copyright.gov

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Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 13d

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 14d

It’s also about punching wolves tho.

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 14d

Great review/discussion of a book about one of the crown jewels of British literature:

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 14d

‘There is no getting around the weirdness. We don’t really know what it is or what it was for.’

@tomlukejohnson.bsky.social on the Pearl Manuscript, which includes the only copy of ‘Gawain and the Green Knight’: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Tom Johnson · Supereffable: Mysteries of the Pearl Manuscript

Cotton Nero A.x is a small miracle: a quarto volume, about the size of a paperback, consisting of just 92 leaves. It...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 14d

I am so poisoned by tv conventions I assumed the phone call by Ruffalo’s boss was a fakeout, and kept waiting for Galasso (the obvious choice) to be revealed as the mole.

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 15d

I absolutely thought it was!

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 18d

One of the reasons I finally bought Goldman’s Adventures in the Screen Trade was to see what he had to say about this film. He said that it was a flop because audiences were expecting a caper, and then Susan Sarandon died, and they were outraged.

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 19d

Good news! I didn’t take part in Erasmus, but I did teach in universities that benefited from it, and since I did a PhD in Italian history, I feel like I did an equivalent commitment:

Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 19d

UK and EU reportedly negotiating British return to Erasmus programme
inews.co.uk/news/politic...

UK students get chance to study in Europe from January 2027 under new Erasmus deal

The EU is pushing for a rapid agreement for Britain to rejoin the student exchange scheme

inews.co.uk

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 19d

I mean Gibbons saying to himself, ‘Right, what’s actually important here?’ And it being four sentences among this verbiage.

Jonathan Walker @newishpuritan.bsky.social · 19d

This is very funny:

Kieron Gillen @kierongillen.bsky.social · 19d

Always worth looking at how an artist approaches his script. Here's Gibbons' annotation for Watchmen's panel 1.

A full page of text with a handful of sentences highlighted.

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