Simon Spanton
@simonguy.bsky.social
"I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself."
Wandering. Wondering. Freelancing. Often acquiring and editing SFFH for Angry Robot Books. Live in Edinburgh. Views my own and independent of my employers. Photos my own unless otherwise etc.
Wandering. Wondering. Freelancing. Often acquiring and editing SFFH for Angry Robot Books. Live in Edinburgh. Views my own and independent of my employers. Photos my own unless otherwise etc.
Pinned
Simon Spanton
@simonguy.bsky.social
· Nov 26
"Out on the pale criss-crossed sand, high-stepping, fringed, gauntleted, stalked some fantastic leviathan..."
To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
Last weekend's frosty whin.
December 7, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Last weekend's frosty whin.
"I can tell you with no ego, this is my finest sword.
If on your journey, you should encounter God...
God will be cut."
Kill Bill, Volume 1
If on your journey, you should encounter God...
God will be cut."
Kill Bill, Volume 1
December 6, 2025 at 8:02 PM
"I can tell you with no ego, this is my finest sword.
If on your journey, you should encounter God...
God will be cut."
Kill Bill, Volume 1
If on your journey, you should encounter God...
God will be cut."
Kill Bill, Volume 1
Possibly niche but also very funny.
Hey dawg I heard you like super-compressed summaries of Field Marshall Lord Alanbrooke’s War Diaries so I’ve been super-compressing Field Marshall Lord Alanbrooke’s War Diaries for you
To save you the not-insignificant task of reading Field Marshall Lord Alanbrooke’s War Diaries, I shall be Cliffs noting them as I go along.
Sept - Nov 1939 are as follows:
Sept - Nov 1939 are as follows:
December 6, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Possibly niche but also very funny.
This is honest and important stuff, especially in the context of the recent "nature cure" furore.
December 6, 2025 at 3:18 PM
This is honest and important stuff, especially in the context of the recent "nature cure" furore.
"A closer darkness upon her slumber, a deeper voice in the murmuring leaves overhead—that would be all she would know of his undesiring and unjudging gaze, his satisfied but profoundly indifferent ownership."
A happy birthday to the delightful power that was Olivia Townsend Warner.
A happy birthday to the delightful power that was Olivia Townsend Warner.
December 6, 2025 at 2:24 PM
"A closer darkness upon her slumber, a deeper voice in the murmuring leaves overhead—that would be all she would know of his undesiring and unjudging gaze, his satisfied but profoundly indifferent ownership."
A happy birthday to the delightful power that was Olivia Townsend Warner.
A happy birthday to the delightful power that was Olivia Townsend Warner.
Where to begin?
Hans Hauser, ca. 495
Woodcut with hand-colouring
Woodcut with hand-colouring
December 6, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Where to begin?
This is great. As anthemic as you might expect but personal and so, so furious as well.
December 6, 2025 at 1:04 PM
This is great. As anthemic as you might expect but personal and so, so furious as well.
Washing down a multi-vitamin and a cod liver oil tablet with black coffee like a detective in a failed attempt by Richard Osman to write a noir novel.
December 6, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Washing down a multi-vitamin and a cod liver oil tablet with black coffee like a detective in a failed attempt by Richard Osman to write a noir novel.
Quote with your model of masculinity.
December 5, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Quote with your model of masculinity.
Took a photo of Edinburgh castle last night and ended up with William Hope Hodgson's House on the Borderland.
December 5, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Took a photo of Edinburgh castle last night and ended up with William Hope Hodgson's House on the Borderland.
I've had this address book for more than 30 years. It's begun to look like the cursed tome the foolish academic takes home from the cathedral library in a M.R. James story.
December 5, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I've had this address book for more than 30 years. It's begun to look like the cursed tome the foolish academic takes home from the cathedral library in a M.R. James story.
Proud to have worked on @stewarthotston.com's book.
Thrilled with its reception.
He and it deserve every iota of the praise it's garnering.
Thrilled with its reception.
He and it deserve every iota of the praise it's garnering.
"Wildly inventive"
@rjbarker.bsky.social
"Dazzlingly fresh"
@gautambhatia88.bsky.social
"At the cutting edge of the genre"
@julietemckenna.bsky.social
"Superb"
@adamroberts.bsky.social
"A true SF gem"
@aptshadow.bsky.social
"Visionary, mind-bending"
@rainewilson.bsky.social
@rjbarker.bsky.social
"Dazzlingly fresh"
@gautambhatia88.bsky.social
"At the cutting edge of the genre"
@julietemckenna.bsky.social
"Superb"
@adamroberts.bsky.social
"A true SF gem"
@aptshadow.bsky.social
"Visionary, mind-bending"
@rainewilson.bsky.social
December 5, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Proud to have worked on @stewarthotston.com's book.
Thrilled with its reception.
He and it deserve every iota of the praise it's garnering.
Thrilled with its reception.
He and it deserve every iota of the praise it's garnering.
A reliable purveyor of superb pony shnozz content.
15F and I had a very late night, so I mage sure MNG was dressed for the weather and gave him the day off. 🦄🥕👍
December 5, 2025 at 12:49 PM
A reliable purveyor of superb pony shnozz content.
"These beings were referred to politely as the Tylwyth Teg, the Fair People, but some townsfolk asserted that the name should really be Fur People, or Fur Niskies, and many believed that they were the black imps of Old Bogey-Boo himself."
The Whispering Mountain, Joan Aiken
The Whispering Mountain, Joan Aiken
December 5, 2025 at 12:42 PM
"These beings were referred to politely as the Tylwyth Teg, the Fair People, but some townsfolk asserted that the name should really be Fur People, or Fur Niskies, and many believed that they were the black imps of Old Bogey-Boo himself."
The Whispering Mountain, Joan Aiken
The Whispering Mountain, Joan Aiken
"Laura stretched her gleaming neck
Like a rush-imbedded swan,
Like a lily from the beck,
Like a moonlit poplar branch,
Like a vessel at the launch
When its last restraint is gone."
Happy birthday, Christina Rossetti
Like a rush-imbedded swan,
Like a lily from the beck,
Like a moonlit poplar branch,
Like a vessel at the launch
When its last restraint is gone."
Happy birthday, Christina Rossetti
December 5, 2025 at 9:04 AM
"Laura stretched her gleaming neck
Like a rush-imbedded swan,
Like a lily from the beck,
Like a moonlit poplar branch,
Like a vessel at the launch
When its last restraint is gone."
Happy birthday, Christina Rossetti
Like a rush-imbedded swan,
Like a lily from the beck,
Like a moonlit poplar branch,
Like a vessel at the launch
When its last restraint is gone."
Happy birthday, Christina Rossetti
Reposted by Simon Spanton
Clearing up after tea music.
December 4, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Clearing up after tea music.
"Womb-trapped, friendless foetus, she traipsed through Mother's ornamented veins, past trompe l'oeil capitals, false doors, false columns and false perspectives towards her hunting ground, turning and turning, up ramps, down stairs, through colonnades hung with stucco grapes..."
Hotwire, Simon Ings
Hotwire, Simon Ings
December 4, 2025 at 5:55 PM
"Womb-trapped, friendless foetus, she traipsed through Mother's ornamented veins, past trompe l'oeil capitals, false doors, false columns and false perspectives towards her hunting ground, turning and turning, up ramps, down stairs, through colonnades hung with stucco grapes..."
Hotwire, Simon Ings
Hotwire, Simon Ings
Book Token and @goldenharebooks.bsky.social combined to provide this excellent haul.
December 4, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Book Token and @goldenharebooks.bsky.social combined to provide this excellent haul.
THIS. THIS. THIS.
Hot take-
People who diss the nature writing in #LOTR are deeply wrong (and probably actually last read the book when they were wee, and should try again. No shame!).
Tolkien's nature writing is superb and utterly necessary to the novel
People who diss the nature writing in #LOTR are deeply wrong (and probably actually last read the book when they were wee, and should try again. No shame!).
Tolkien's nature writing is superb and utterly necessary to the novel
December 4, 2025 at 12:27 PM
THIS. THIS. THIS.
Heh.
December 4, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Heh.
I am very happy and proud to have helped both of these into the world.
These two have been out in the world for just a day.
One is a revenant of a past and hazy future, one a new arrival of old stories into an endless noon.
One is a revenant of a past and hazy future, one a new arrival of old stories into an endless noon.
December 3, 2025 at 3:48 PM
I am very happy and proud to have helped both of these into the world.
"When I look in that mirror, I see images in oil paint, spirals, feathers, creatures metamorphosizing from leaf to flesh and back again. Cooper, of course, sees language in the mirror of the stones, the sky, the trees."
@terriwindling.bsky.social
@terriwindling.bsky.social
December 3, 2025 at 12:15 PM
"When I look in that mirror, I see images in oil paint, spirals, feathers, creatures metamorphosizing from leaf to flesh and back again. Cooper, of course, sees language in the mirror of the stones, the sky, the trees."
@terriwindling.bsky.social
@terriwindling.bsky.social