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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 23h

Great interview. I loved Birding when I read it last year. Interesting discussion about the Manics. (For years my dad's alarm when he was on the early shift was 'Motorcycle Emptiness', so the Manics to me mean the dread of getting up for school. Fab song though.)

Robin Allender @robinallender.bsky.social · 1d

This month on The Allender Calendar I’m delighted to be joined by the fabulous author @regretteruane.bsky.social to discuss her brilliant novels Birding and This is Yesterday. Lots of Manics chat too!

The Allender Calendar: Episode 14: Rose Ruane

This month on The Allender Calendar I talk to the fabulous writer Rose Ruane. Rose has published two novels, Birding (2024), which was longlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction, and This is...

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 1d

Forget my wobbly teeth, I’m more scared of that skeleton, mate!

The front window of a high street dentist - a skeleton made out of balloons and writing which says, ‘Don’t be afraid of wobbly teeth… we can help.’

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 1d

I think my favourite moment is when he can’t quite bring himself to say he loves his son. That was the heart of it for me, that interaction. (I hope this is all prep for the ghost story you teased at the end of ‘The Noise School’.)

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 2d

I’ve got Municipal Gothic on the way. Really looking forward to it.

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 2d

I like that image, because I think it’s an example of something that really works on the page and would probably feel too much on screen. But you will have seen different chains and a different guest to me!

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 3d

Read The Hospice last night - what a brilliant story. I was genuinely spooked. (Not being able to start the car - very Unconsoled.)

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 3d

Working my way through the stories in Cold Hand in Mine. I was sort of putting it off because the stories are fairly lengthy. But ‘Pages From a Young Girl’s Journal’ is the story which has absolutely sold me on Aickman’s voice. Quite difficult reads, but a really rewarding experience.

Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 4d

Ah-ha Mr. Wilson — Ah-ha Mr. Heath

Ceramic Harold Wilson and ceramic Ted Heath.

Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 5d

I really like the showing modern things to a Victorian child meme. Imagine showing TikTok to David Foster Wallace with a Victorian child in the same room. Would be bananas!

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 5d

He has been retired.

Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 6d

Started ‘The Swords’ and reached what felt like the end of the beginning. Too long to read before I have to start work. (As a former employee or both Coral Island and Pleasure Beach, I can say this sort of thing happened all the time…)

Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 6d

I’m enjoying so far!

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 6d

Time to creep into this. Big fan of canals, so high hopes!

Paperback copy of Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman - a collection of his weird stories.

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 6d

Finished. Absolutely some of the best stories I’ve read this year. ‘A Visit’ in particular stands out - I was completely lost in that story by the end.

Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 7d

The chairs are plotting.

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 8d

It’s in the collection Dark Tales - there’s a big emphasis on a suitcase too, so Gustav would approve. Cool - The Hospice is in Cold Hand In Mine, which is actually the one I’ve picked up!

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 8d

Only a handful of stories left. I have this feeling that I’m in extremely competent hands. Certain stories - ‘Louisa, Please Come Home’, ‘Jack the Ripper’, ‘The Bus’ - are particularly memorable and deft. Quality

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 8d

I was reading Shirley Jackson’s story ‘The Bus’ today and I thought it’d be up your alley, as it had a real Unconsoled vibe. I’ve been meaning to read some Aickman for a while!

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 9d

Love that BBC Sounds advert for Wayne Rooney’s podcast which ends ‘it’s what everyone’s talking about’. You can’t move for people talking about the Wayne Rooney podcast.

Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 10d

A sky of two halves.

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 11d

Alan Partridge means time with my dad. Went over today and we put on the first episode of the new series. This was my favourite joke. Long live Pear Tree Productions. 🌳

Screenshot from How Are You? With Alan (Partridge).

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 12d

This for me is the one I could listen to all day (and do!). youtu.be/sd3CqVVWJws?...

The Beths - "Expert In A Dying Field" (Official Visualizer)

YouTube video by The Beths

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 12d

Saturday morning reading. Loving this by @theprofrog.bsky.social. Onto the Greek Necropolis now. Such a beautifully written and presented book. ‘To be human… is to be defined by rituals in remembrance of the dead.’

Graveyards: A History of Living with the Dead by Roger Luckhurst.

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Reposted by Kieran Wyatt

Postcard From The Past @pastpostcard.bsky.social · 13d

Saw E.T. on Sunday.

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Reposted by Kieran Wyatt

Prof Frank McDonough @fxmc1957.bsky.social · 13d

FACT OF THE DAY. 2 October 1925. John Logie Baird, a Scottish engineer and inventor, performed the 1st test of a working TV system in his London lab where he successfully transmitted the 1st TV picture which was a greyscale image of the head of a ventriloquist’s dummy.

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