Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · 9d

My favourite book-related podcast, with some spooky tales for the Witching Season, including a morsel from yours truly! 👻 🎃 😈

The Tiny Bookcase Podcast @tinybookcase.bsky.social · 9d

October is here, so get your goth on and join us for a collection of tales of terror from previous episodes! Featuring the work of @najpullen.bsky.social, @markbrandon.bsky.social, @rjbarker.bsky.social, and the terrible twosome Ben and Nico. Listen here:

pod.link/1524142040/e...

#Spooky #Horror

1 1

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · Aug 19

For those in the know, the final round of a truly insane mono white attrition… major respect to my valiant opponent (many GGs…)

#magicthegathering #mtgarena

1

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · May 11

No such sky wonders this time but a fabulous weekend nonetheless!

1 2

Reposted by Mark Brandon

Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · Apr 15

Unsolicited writing advice no. 13:
No artist needs artificial intelligence if they have the real thing.

25 200 1.1K

Reposted by Mark Brandon

Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · Mar 29

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 940000:
The senses are a way of connecting with your readership. Use them all. Don't forget scent, touch and taste as well as just sight and sound. Describing something ordinary via an unexpected sense can suddenly make it fresher and more interesting.

11 30 280

Reposted by Mark Brandon

Adrian Tchaikovsky @aptshadow.bsky.social · Mar 28

I know this was the cover format back in the day but I’m imagining a modern reader seeing this and thinking ‘Do not remember the scene with the penguins in 1984.’

38 19 300

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · Mar 29

Clearly I’m in a simulation.

I recently wrote (and have out on submission) an SF story where Miles Davis plays a pivotal role! lol

2

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · Mar 29

A balcony, wrapped around one corner of a red brick former warehouse built when dreadnoughts ruled the waves. Metal railings, walled with decaying raffia. Pretty pots of dead plants. Worn decking, black with lichen, slick to the touch. A door, the pane above the handle broken.

1

Reposted by Mark Brandon

Rod Duncan @rodduncan.bsky.social · Mar 27

I am delighted to have an article in this issue of Pulse.

Writing East Midlands @writingeastmidlands.com · Mar 27

Pulse Magazine's Issue 3 has LAUNCHED 🚀✨ Read it here ➡️ bit.ly/WEMPULSE

Featuring @rodduncan.bsky.social, @helenmort.bsky.social, @amirdarwish.bsky.social, @holocaustmuseumuk.bsky.social and more!

Can words have the power to change the world? 🌍 Find out in Issue 3: Writing as Activism!

1 1 6

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · Mar 28

An old factory on the shoreline, slowly rusting into the lake. Two chimneys reach defiantly into a lead white sky. Chill air laced with a chemical tang. A patched road leads to a loading dock. A badge on a faded blue lanyard. Name blurred. Face still recognisable.

1 5

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · Mar 27

The palace stood at the very centre of the frozen lake. Walls of ice so old, so compressed they were blue. Ramparts like broken teeth. A single entrance, just a crack, pulled apart by time and weight. A dark blue nub the size of a child’s hand: a bell. But to summon whom? Or what?

1 2

Reposted by Mark Brandon

Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · Mar 26

I finished five novels before BLACKBIRDS was ever published — none good and all necessary to write. That doesn’t include the many more novels I began and never finished. I still think of myself as a failed novelist — my failures outweigh my successes and I am glad for that. Failure teaches.

John Wiswell @wiswell.bsky.social · Mar 26

I wrote seven novels before Someone You Can Build A Nest In. I didn't just throw away drafts. There are some eras of my life and spirit that will go unpublished.

And that's okay, because they helped me become the writer I am. They weren't failure. They were education.

Melissa Caruso @melissacaruso.bsky.social · Mar 26

I have heard so many newer writers—including extremely good ones!—bemoan that they think they're a failure because they might have to throw out a half-finished draft and start over.

Throwing out a draft is
a) very very normal and
b) progress, not failure.

11 26 310

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · Mar 26

Currently in exactly this mode.

Stop worrying about word length, Mark, just write everything down!

Septimus Brown @septimusbrown.com · Mar 26

2

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · Mar 26

Thanks! It was my response to the exercise set by @rodduncan.bsky.social at his Worldbuilding talk at States of Independence on Saturday.

I’m seeing if I can do a few a week for my own amusement 🙂

1 2

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · Mar 26

Heartily agree with this advice! Reading aloud is one of the essentials in my writing process.

Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · Mar 26

Unsolicited writing advice, no: 291:
Read your work aloud. Not only does it help refine your dialogue, avoid difficult to pronounce words and eliminate repetitiveness, but it also means that your future audiobook readers will have an easier job making your work sound as good as it can possibly be...

1

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · Mar 25

The cottage had once been part of a castle. Stonework dusty with pale green lichen. Three deep-silled windows, dark as eyes. The smell of earth and rotting wood. A glint by the doorstep, a half-buried brooch, revealed by rain.

1 4

Reposted by Mark Brandon

Runalong Womble @runalongwomble.bsky.social · Mar 24

New Review - a really interesting quest tale with a band of very different characters awaits in the great Clockwork Boys by T Kingfisher - many thanks to @titanbooks.bsky.social www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2025/3/...

Clockwork Boys by T Kingfisher — Runalong The Shelves

I would like to thank Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review Publisher – Titan Published – Out Now Price – £17.99 hardback £9.99 eBook In the fir...

www.runalongtheshelves.net

8 28

Reposted by Mark Brandon

Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · Mar 24

current news vibes:

- White House introduces new "if you don't buy a Tesla you go to a Tesla Reeducation Camp in El Salvador" initiative
- Trump threatens to scour the Shire
- SEVERANCE season 3 canceled by DOGE
- Democrats institute new plan of "wait for it all to be over"
- the gyre widens

19 73 590

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · Mar 24

My partner described lo-fi jazz (which I listen to sometimes) as “like being on an elevator to Hell”.

I retaliated, calling BBC Radio6 Music (his fave) as “like being on a rollercoaster made out of custard and razor blades”.

He called me a “typical Aquarian”.

Music War continues!

2 3

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · Mar 24

Thought-provoking. I like the way you write. Kudos.

1

Reposted by Mark Brandon

Paul Simpson (SFB) @scifibulletin.bsky.social · Mar 24

10/10 from @stewarthotston.com for the #Severance finale - read his review and season overview here
scifibulletin.com/us-tv/severa...

Severance: Review: Season 2 Episode 10: Cold Harbor

Mark has a choice… There’s a scene in the Severance finale where a slave and the one who enslaved them are talking. The slave maker is asking the slave for help, to save someone’s life. On the surf…

scifibulletin.com

4 4

Reposted by Mark Brandon

RossyDoesDrawings (commissions open) @rossydoesdrawings.bsky.social · Mar 23

A goblin adventuring party

A drawing of a group of goblins, some have pointed hats and one is wearing metal armour

12 110 630

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · Mar 23

We were both working until the idea of crumpets and a movie occurred, and now it seems work is done…

1 2

Reposted by Mark Brandon

James Hodden @jameshodden.bsky.social · Mar 22

4 31 320

Mark Brandon @markbrandon.bsky.social · Mar 23

Who are some of the writers who made you?

Iain M Banks
Robert Silverberg
H P Lovecraft
Philip K Dick
Richard Morgan
William Gibson
Tolkien
Julian May
Bruce Sterling
Jane Austen
Anthony Doerr

RJ Barker @rjbarker.bsky.social · Mar 22

Who are some of the writers that made you?

C.J. Cherryh
Clive Barker
Richard Adams
James Lee Burke
C.S. Forester
Robert Crais
Iain M Banks
Agatha Christie
John Wyndham

Stephen Aryan @stephenaryan.bsky.social · Mar 22

Who are some of the writers that made you?

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Tolkien
David Gemmell
Terry Brooks
David Eddings
Ursula le Guin
Tad Williams
James Barclay
Stephen King
Dean Koontz
HP Lovecraft
Robin Hobb

1 1