Matthew Kresal
@kresalwrites.bsky.social
Author, bookseller, and podcaster with many and varying interests. Doctor Who fan, writer of alternate history for Sea Lion Press & geeky analysis for Obverse Books including a book on the 1990s TV series Dark Skies.
Happy Doctor Who Day!
For this anniversary, I spent some time this evening revisiting City of Death. a utter delight to watch, full of wit and humor but not enough to overwhelm a tale that's actually got some serious stakes to it.
Here's to you, Doctor!
(Artist Unknown)
For this anniversary, I spent some time this evening revisiting City of Death. a utter delight to watch, full of wit and humor but not enough to overwhelm a tale that's actually got some serious stakes to it.
Here's to you, Doctor!
(Artist Unknown)
November 24, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Happy Doctor Who Day!
For this anniversary, I spent some time this evening revisiting City of Death. a utter delight to watch, full of wit and humor but not enough to overwhelm a tale that's actually got some serious stakes to it.
Here's to you, Doctor!
(Artist Unknown)
For this anniversary, I spent some time this evening revisiting City of Death. a utter delight to watch, full of wit and humor but not enough to overwhelm a tale that's actually got some serious stakes to it.
Here's to you, Doctor!
(Artist Unknown)
No Seeds of War was their first story. It’s confusing because the Doctor encounters them “first” in the 4DA Destroy the Infinite, IIRC, which was released a year AFTER Seeds of War. It was a case of Big Finish playing the timey-wimey game with listeners.
November 17, 2025 at 1:22 PM
No Seeds of War was their first story. It’s confusing because the Doctor encounters them “first” in the 4DA Destroy the Infinite, IIRC, which was released a year AFTER Seeds of War. It was a case of Big Finish playing the timey-wimey game with listeners.
Reposted by Matthew Kresal
From the archives: #SidewiseAward winning #author Matthew Kresal ( @kresalwrites.bsky.social ) reviews the #anthology "Alternate #Presidents" edited by Mike Resnick. #AlternateHistory #Counterfactual #WhatIf #BookReview #USPolitics www.sealionpress.co.uk/post/review-...
Review: Alternate Presidents
By Matthew KresalEvery four years, American voters get the chance to elect a new President. The choices voters, and sometimes the House of Representatives, made on those occasions have been a rich vei...
www.sealionpress.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 8:30 AM
From the archives: #SidewiseAward winning #author Matthew Kresal ( @kresalwrites.bsky.social ) reviews the #anthology "Alternate #Presidents" edited by Mike Resnick. #AlternateHistory #Counterfactual #WhatIf #BookReview #USPolitics www.sealionpress.co.uk/post/review-...
Reposted by Matthew Kresal
#SidewiseAward winning #author Matthew Kresal ( @kresalwrites.bsky.social ) reviews the #DCComics work #Flashpoint - no, not #TheFlash comic storyline nor its TV adaptation, but the original #Elseworlds from 1999. #AlternateHistory #Comics www.sealionpress.co.uk/post/review-...
Review: Flashpoint
By Matthew Kresal.Mention the title Flashpoint to a fan of DC Comics and you’ll get a flicker of recognition. It was the title, after all, of a 2011 crossover event that reshaped the DC universe prior...
www.sealionpress.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 10:18 AM
#SidewiseAward winning #author Matthew Kresal ( @kresalwrites.bsky.social ) reviews the #DCComics work #Flashpoint - no, not #TheFlash comic storyline nor its TV adaptation, but the original #Elseworlds from 1999. #AlternateHistory #Comics www.sealionpress.co.uk/post/review-...
This November 10th marks also the centenary of the birth of my favorite actor: Richard Burton. To paraphrase Michael Sheen on a BBC radio documentary over a decade ago, he could make the good great, and the great magnificent.
A lasting legacy, to be sure.
A lasting legacy, to be sure.
November 11, 2025 at 5:18 AM
This November 10th marks also the centenary of the birth of my favorite actor: Richard Burton. To paraphrase Michael Sheen on a BBC radio documentary over a decade ago, he could make the good great, and the great magnificent.
A lasting legacy, to be sure.
A lasting legacy, to be sure.
Reposted by Matthew Kresal
Twenty-nine sailors drowned when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in the Great Lakes' icy waters on Nov. 10, 1975. The ship was immortalized in a surprise hit 1976 folk ballad by Gordon Lightfoot.
50 years ago, the Edmund Fitzgerald, a 'rock star' ship, sank in Lake Superior
Twenty-nine sailors drowned when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in the Great Lakes' icy waters on Nov. 10, 1975. The ship was immortalized in a surprise hit 1976 folk ballad by Gordon Lightfoot.
n.pr
November 10, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Twenty-nine sailors drowned when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in the Great Lakes' icy waters on Nov. 10, 1975. The ship was immortalized in a surprise hit 1976 folk ballad by Gordon Lightfoot.
The Mouse is out! Looks like we’ll be waiting until next Christmas but, hey, one of my panel suggestions for Chicago TARDIS this year might be a moot point now!
www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-fea...
www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-fea...
October 28, 2025 at 4:12 PM
The Mouse is out! Looks like we’ll be waiting until next Christmas but, hey, one of my panel suggestions for Chicago TARDIS this year might be a moot point now!
www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-fea...
www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-fea...
Reposted by Matthew Kresal
#SidewiseAward winning #author Matthew Kresal ( @kresalwrites.bsky.social ) reviews #DoctorWho: #Leviathan, a 'lost story' from the #ColinBaker era by #BrianFinch, now a #BigFinish #AudioDrama. #BBC #ScienceFiction #LostStories www.sealionpress.co.uk/post/review-...
Review: Doctor Who: Leviathan
By Matthew Kresal.The Colin Baker era of Doctor Who, filled as it was with various trials and tribulations, left behind a plethora of unmade serials. Some were scripted for the originally planned seas...
www.sealionpress.co.uk
October 28, 2025 at 10:43 AM
#SidewiseAward winning #author Matthew Kresal ( @kresalwrites.bsky.social ) reviews #DoctorWho: #Leviathan, a 'lost story' from the #ColinBaker era by #BrianFinch, now a #BigFinish #AudioDrama. #BBC #ScienceFiction #LostStories www.sealionpress.co.uk/post/review-...
Some news I’ve been eagerly awaiting for a long time now. And with Rob Valentine writing to boot!
Doctor Who season 13 just got BIGGER on the inside! 🤯 Click https://bgfn.sh/425news to read about The Ministry of Death, 2026's forthcoming first full-cast Fourth Doctor audio drama box set.
October 16, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Some news I’ve been eagerly awaiting for a long time now. And with Rob Valentine writing to boot!
Some news I’ve been eagerly awaiting for a long time now. And with Rob Valentine writing to boot!
October 16, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Some news I’ve been eagerly awaiting for a long time now. And with Rob Valentine writing to boot!
My heart aches this afternoon. Zelda passed away unexpectedly this afternoon. I hope that in those final moments she knew how much she was loved and how much I’m going to miss hearing that purr box or having her lay on me as I type on the laptop.
Rest in peace, Baby Z.
Rest in peace, Baby Z.
October 12, 2025 at 8:27 PM
My heart aches this afternoon. Zelda passed away unexpectedly this afternoon. I hope that in those final moments she knew how much she was loved and how much I’m going to miss hearing that purr box or having her lay on me as I type on the laptop.
Rest in peace, Baby Z.
Rest in peace, Baby Z.
Reposted by Matthew Kresal
A Mainer received an Amazon package containing 250 missing ballots for a GOP-backed referendum that would restrict ballot access. Amazon claims the box contained only the expected items, leading some to ask whether the mishap was a political stunt. https://bit.ly/42DKdwZ
Mail Ballots Were Found in an Amazon Box in Maine. Some Suspect a Political Dirty Trick.
Read more here...
bit.ly
October 11, 2025 at 3:05 PM
A Mainer received an Amazon package containing 250 missing ballots for a GOP-backed referendum that would restrict ballot access. Amazon claims the box contained only the expected items, leading some to ask whether the mishap was a political stunt. https://bit.ly/42DKdwZ
Having spent entirely too much in Walmart's in the early 2000s owing to my grandmother (the only person I know to this day who can spend multiple hours in there) and my parents grocery shopping, I have very little nostalgia for the place. The one thing I do miss? When it was open 24 hours.
This is doing numbers on social media right now and it's so depressing how people truly yearn for this shit and want to preserve that feeling indefinitely like a mausoleum of false memories.
September 30, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Having spent entirely too much in Walmart's in the early 2000s owing to my grandmother (the only person I know to this day who can spend multiple hours in there) and my parents grocery shopping, I have very little nostalgia for the place. The one thing I do miss? When it was open 24 hours.
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve lived through the apocalypse at this point. We can blame this one on TikTok, apparently. Think I’ll just keep watching Live and Let Die over here and see if the apocalypse hits mid-movie.
What is the Rapture and why is a doomsday prediction spreading on TikTok?
A South African man's prophecy about the Rapture has gone viral. He claims it will happen on Sept. 23 or 24, sparking both belief and mockery.
apnews.com
September 23, 2025 at 11:40 PM
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve lived through the apocalypse at this point. We can blame this one on TikTok, apparently. Think I’ll just keep watching Live and Let Die over here and see if the apocalypse hits mid-movie.
So if you're struggling, if the clouds around you (and all of us) seems dark at the moment, know that it won't last forever. Find yourself a lifeboat wherever and whenever you can. Live a day at a time if you have to because it's better than not being here at all. 14/14
September 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
So if you're struggling, if the clouds around you (and all of us) seems dark at the moment, know that it won't last forever. Find yourself a lifeboat wherever and whenever you can. Live a day at a time if you have to because it's better than not being here at all. 14/14
And more besides that I wouldn't have wanted to miss for all the world, thanks to a book based off a TV show made an ocean away from me. 13/14
September 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
And more besides that I wouldn't have wanted to miss for all the world, thanks to a book based off a TV show made an ocean away from me. 13/14
It's been a little over 18 years since that night. I'm now roughly twice as old as I was then and it's hard not to think about the things I almost missed out on. Both that Mr. Parkin and I ended up in an anthology together a few years ago but also smaller things... 12/14
September 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
It's been a little over 18 years since that night. I'm now roughly twice as old as I was then and it's hard not to think about the things I almost missed out on. Both that Mr. Parkin and I ended up in an anthology together a few years ago but also smaller things... 12/14
Thankfully, Mr. Parkin didn't and in the years since has said that he's proud to had played a small role in the evening's events. 11/14
September 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Thankfully, Mr. Parkin didn't and in the years since has said that he's proud to had played a small role in the evening's events. 11/14
Maybe not. But it was enough and, sometimes, that's all you need. Even if it takes you years to come to terms with a brief moment in time or to message the author of the book and hope they don't think you're crazy. 10/14
September 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Maybe not. But it was enough and, sometimes, that's all you need. Even if it takes you years to come to terms with a brief moment in time or to message the author of the book and hope they don't think you're crazy. 10/14
Years later, as she was getting ready to leave once and for all, I told her what had happened that night. Her response?
"If that's all that stopped you, you must not have had much to live for." 9/14
"If that's all that stopped you, you must not have had much to live for." 9/14
September 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Years later, as she was getting ready to leave once and for all, I told her what had happened that night. Her response?
"If that's all that stopped you, you must not have had much to live for." 9/14
"If that's all that stopped you, you must not have had much to live for." 9/14
So I closed the door, turned the key in the ignition, and drove home. Doctor Who became the piece of driftwood in a restless sea that kept me sane, with the Big Finish audios becoming the thing that let me tune out the manager who'd nearly made end my life. 8/14
September 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
So I closed the door, turned the key in the ignition, and drove home. Doctor Who became the piece of driftwood in a restless sea that kept me sane, with the Big Finish audios becoming the thing that let me tune out the manager who'd nearly made end my life. 8/14
What stopped me, you may ask? The fact that I had just a couple of days earlier on Amazon I had bought the out-of-print 1998 Doctor Who novel The Infinity Doctors by Lance Parkin. Having spent nearly $30 to acquire it, it seemed a terrible waste of money to buy it and not read it. 7/14
September 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
What stopped me, you may ask? The fact that I had just a couple of days earlier on Amazon I had bought the out-of-print 1998 Doctor Who novel The Infinity Doctors by Lance Parkin. Having spent nearly $30 to acquire it, it seemed a terrible waste of money to buy it and not read it. 7/14
With those words in my mind, I drove a short distance to the nearby Guntersville bridge and pulled over once I reached the top. I turned the engine off, leaving the keys in the ignition, and got as far as opening the door before a thought occurred to me. 6/14
September 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
With those words in my mind, I drove a short distance to the nearby Guntersville bridge and pulled over once I reached the top. I turned the engine off, leaving the keys in the ignition, and got as far as opening the door before a thought occurred to me. 6/14
Terrible and insulting things were said, so much so that a coworker many years our senior had to step into the conversation. In another time and place, I'd probably have stood up for myself. Instead, I left quietly, saying to myself five simple but horrible words: “I can't do this anymore." 5/14
September 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Terrible and insulting things were said, so much so that a coworker many years our senior had to step into the conversation. In another time and place, I'd probably have stood up for myself. Instead, I left quietly, saying to myself five simple but horrible words: “I can't do this anymore." 5/14