Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Seán Padraic Birnie

@seanbirnie.bsky.social

2.5K followers 1.7K following 2.8K posts

Writer: I Would Haunt You if I Could. Stories in Fictionable, Cōnfingō, Best British Short Stories, Interzone, Black Static, The Dark, ergot. seanbirnie.com undertowpublications.com/shop/i-would-haunt-you-if-i-could linktr.ee/seanbirnie

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · Jun 11

First post on the new blue app: the wonderful @undertow.bsky.social’s published I Would Haunt You if I Could, my debut collection of short stories, in 2021, and it’s available here, among an absolute treasure trove of other titles: https://undertowpublications.com/shop/i-would-haunt-you-if-i-could

I Would Haunt You if I Could — Undertow Publications

COVER ART: Jana Heidersdorf I would haunt you … The debut short story collection from Seán Padraic Birnie does indeed haunt. Sown with seeds of sorrow and grief, and imbued with disquieting bod...

undertowpublications.com

10 12 62

Reposted by Seán Padraic Birnie

Karlo Yeager Rodríguez @kjy1066.bsky.social · 11h

Given the shutdown (and not having a paycheck coming in), I've been considering slapping together a small collection and self-publishing it on itch

Unsure if it's wise, but would there be interest in this?

3 2 18

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 10h

Yes!

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 10h

It would appear that the purpose of a second test print is to introduce errors that were not present in the first.

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

Making v slow progress but I’m getting there with this head-to-tail double short story zine. Currently waiting for the second test to arrive with the patience I am famed for.

A test print of my short story zine ‘Digging & Flume’ on a cutting mat, next to a sealable plastic card bag with a piece of A4 purplish-blue card folded inside it, to protect the zine. The fit is too tight and when I was in the shop I also forgot that the zine is actually longer than A6.

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 11h

Brilliant.

Reposted by Seán Padraic Birnie

Draught @draughtjournal.bsky.social · 12h

'The coupling of boredom and intensity is constitutive of crip time, which is warped time'
The first Adjacencies, in which two works are considered in relation to one another: Daisy Lafarge on illness, Netflix show Outlast & Alphonse Daudet's In the Land of Pain
www.draughtjournal.com/article/flare

Flare!

<p>‘Quitting is a disease,’ says Jordan, a 25-year-old ex-marine construction worker when his teammate Dawn has been vomiting for several hours after

www.draughtjournal.com

1 5 6

Reposted by Seán Padraic Birnie

Rob Palk @robpalk.bsky.social · 12h

There's loads of capital L literature written by people who aren't "straight white (often older) men" and it's weird that people feel the need to pretend otherwise

20 16 95

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 12h

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, but LinkedIn, mid 2010s, escalating relationship between a recruiter and someone desperate for a job.

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 12h

Has anyone written a horror story set on LinkedIn? Someone should. They could call it LinkedIn Park.

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 2d

'They recently started talking on LinkedIn.' LOL

"For the past three months, 28-year-old social worker Holly from Kent has been navigating a “situationship” with a co-worker. Though they knew each other from the office, they initially started speaking via LinkedIn. Now, they see each other sporadically – “I wouldn’t call them dates,” Holly deadpans – but speak often via WhatsApp. “I mainly use AI because I tend to write really long messages,” she says, “so I’ll put them into ChatGPT and say, ‘Please make this softer and more clear’, or, ‘I need to sound harsher here so he understands I’m upset.’” She doesn’t feel that it’s misleading – “I’m not trying to manipulate anyone,” she says."

1 5

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 12h

Mad to think I lived 38 years and 11 months of my life without such a thing.

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 13h

The pure joy of coming downstairs in the morning to be greeted by the most enormous smile a 6-month-old baby can produce — mouth as wide open as humanly possible, eyes bright with happiness. You’d not think he was up all night.

1 18

Reposted by Seán Padraic Birnie

Rob @thedreadfulpoint.bsky.social · 1d

People should buy more pamphlets and broadsides

thedreadfulpoint.com/catalog/

2 5

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

Oh yes I think I read something a while back. Hmm

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

Sold. Need to wait til payday but £10 is definitely what the hell territory

1 1

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

why the fuck do I know about Bari Weiss. I'm not American, what did I do to deserve that?

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

Alternative nightmare just occurred as I added another American media name to list of muted names (Bari Weiss): you have to host a dinner party for all the people you've blocked/muted. I'm not sure which would be worse.

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · Feb 10

Nightmare: you must host a dinner party for all the people who have muted you.

2 3

Reposted by Seán Padraic Birnie

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · Feb 10

Nightmare: you must host a dinner party for all the people who have muted you.

2 1 7

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

Just seen it's £9.99 on mac. I have a ps5 but suspect I might find it easier to get into on a laptop. Tempting! The laptop's an M3 Air which has been very capable for everything else I've thrown at it but I wonder if it's still a bad idea.

1 1

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

And have always struggled with RPGs. A few years back a spooky walking simulator made my head explode in a rage. I didn't know about ADHD at that point. But anyway, v conservative/boring taste in games has been the result. But DE *has* been working its way into my consciousness for a while now...

2 1

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

I really like the look of it but I'm childishly impatient... I have to love computer games (which has basically been limited to Resident Evil, MGS1, Silent Hill, and the Last of Us) or be hopelessly addicted (Fifa 96 on the Megadrive onwards...)

1 1

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

I'm going to need to play this game aren't I

1 1

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

Find myself trying to imagine what Marx would think of Disco Elysium.

1 1

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

Very clever whoever designed a scalpel so it could very easily roll off the table. Alternatively, very clever me to buy scalpel that could very easily roll off the table.

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

instagram on the laptop, that is.

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

tried to open instagram, somehow opened The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852)

2 3

Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 1d

Making v slow progress but I’m getting there with this head-to-tail double short story zine. Currently waiting for the second test to arrive with the patience I am famed for.

1 1 11