Stuart Arthur
@stuartarthurwrites.bsky.social
Writer of speculative fiction. Fascinated by the history of Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. Has quite possibly explored more abandoned and derelict buildings than you have.
February 15, 2026 at 3:54 PM
February 13, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by Stuart Arthur
Well, I'm just blown away by this review of Best Weird Fiction of the Year by the inimitable @arleysorg.bsky.social over @lightspeedmagazine.com
www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/b...
www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/b...
Book Review: The Best Weird Fiction of the Year Volume One by Michael Kelly, ed. - Lightspeed Magazine
If you're looking for a gorgeously curated selection of stories, Arley Sorg suggests you check out The Best Weird Fiction of the Year Volume One edited by Michael Kelly.
www.lightspeedmagazine.com
February 12, 2026 at 6:37 PM
Well, I'm just blown away by this review of Best Weird Fiction of the Year by the inimitable @arleysorg.bsky.social over @lightspeedmagazine.com
www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/b...
www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/b...
New Jersey woods, 2025 (looking forward to eventually seeing chlorophyll again!)
#photography #landscape
#photography #landscape
February 12, 2026 at 2:34 AM
New Jersey woods, 2025 (looking forward to eventually seeing chlorophyll again!)
#photography #landscape
#photography #landscape
Reposted by Stuart Arthur
If you're looking for something weird and dark to read I have a story up at The Dark about growing up poor in Toronto, (write what you know); loneliness; effigies; and the dark dreams of languid summers.
www.thedarkmagazine.com/hunger-2/
www.thedarkmagazine.com/hunger-2/
February 10, 2026 at 10:11 PM
If you're looking for something weird and dark to read I have a story up at The Dark about growing up poor in Toronto, (write what you know); loneliness; effigies; and the dark dreams of languid summers.
www.thedarkmagazine.com/hunger-2/
www.thedarkmagazine.com/hunger-2/
February 3, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Gormenghast article by @aranws.bsky.social!
‘Yes, yes,’ said the other...‘We ought to have what she has.’
‘And what is that, my very dear ladyships?’ queried Doctor
Prunesquallor, tilting his head at them.
‘Power’, they replied blankly and both together, as though they had rehearsed the scene.
‘Yes, yes,’ said the other...‘We ought to have what she has.’
‘And what is that, my very dear ladyships?’ queried Doctor
Prunesquallor, tilting his head at them.
‘Power’, they replied blankly and both together, as though they had rehearsed the scene.
"It's in 'Titus Alone,' the 'failed' book, that Peake’s oeuvre locates its own eerie failure, and perhaps its lasting appeal." @aranws.bsky.social on the Gormenghast trilogy. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/titus-alone-peake-gormenghast-trilogy-review-essay/
February 2, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Gormenghast article by @aranws.bsky.social!
‘Yes, yes,’ said the other...‘We ought to have what she has.’
‘And what is that, my very dear ladyships?’ queried Doctor
Prunesquallor, tilting his head at them.
‘Power’, they replied blankly and both together, as though they had rehearsed the scene.
‘Yes, yes,’ said the other...‘We ought to have what she has.’
‘And what is that, my very dear ladyships?’ queried Doctor
Prunesquallor, tilting his head at them.
‘Power’, they replied blankly and both together, as though they had rehearsed the scene.
February 1, 2026 at 12:01 PM
How many overlords were there? Just the one sitting at the center of the long, long table, surrounded by its heavily armed servitors? George realized that he had no idea. Knowledge didn’t stretch that far anymore. Knowledge had become like broken glass underfoot, sharp and dangerous and useless.
January 31, 2026 at 1:14 PM
How many overlords were there? Just the one sitting at the center of the long, long table, surrounded by its heavily armed servitors? George realized that he had no idea. Knowledge didn’t stretch that far anymore. Knowledge had become like broken glass underfoot, sharp and dangerous and useless.
Lorenzo the Magnificent!
Lorenzo de' Medici, possibly 1513/1520
Florentine terracotta, probably after a model by Andrea del Verrocchio and Orsino Benintendi
(National Gallery of Art, Washington)
Florentine terracotta, probably after a model by Andrea del Verrocchio and Orsino Benintendi
(National Gallery of Art, Washington)
January 31, 2026 at 12:40 AM
Lorenzo the Magnificent!
Falls Bridge, excavation of west abutment, 1894. Steam shovels and dynamite time! And, a nice glimpse of the Schuylkill at the upper left. Much more here: phillyhistory.org
#Philadelphia #history #photography #bridges
#Philadelphia #history #photography #bridges
January 30, 2026 at 12:31 PM
Falls Bridge, excavation of west abutment, 1894. Steam shovels and dynamite time! And, a nice glimpse of the Schuylkill at the upper left. Much more here: phillyhistory.org
#Philadelphia #history #photography #bridges
#Philadelphia #history #photography #bridges
January 30, 2026 at 12:01 AM
"Weirding, in this sense, is an active unsettling, expressed both in the reading and the affective poetics that trouble, unsettle, and actively weird its material."
Welcome to the 2026 Criticism Special Issue!
The Brackish Pool: Towards a Critical Practice of Reading Weird Fiction
by Zachary Gillan @megapolisomancy.bsky.social
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
The Brackish Pool: Towards a Critical Practice of Reading Weird Fiction
by Zachary Gillan @megapolisomancy.bsky.social
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
![NON-FICTION
Quote
the ideal reader of the weird has to embrace a kind of wilful suspension of foreknowledge or generic expectation. This affected tabula rasa perspective requires, in turn, a critical approach, a practice of weird reading [1] hyper-attuned to the weird poetics of a piece as it signals its own weirding and becomes weird fiction.
end Quote
The Brackish Pool: Towards a Critical Practice of Reading Weird Fiction
by Zachary Gillan
26 January 2026
Strange Horizons](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:sxw2th36klmpelvkrux2pa3y/bafkreiddzptg5esulvbs7mnjcyp4mdxt7m6jffkjqncqob4xcrp4sqcqx4@jpeg)
January 27, 2026 at 11:05 PM
"Weirding, in this sense, is an active unsettling, expressed both in the reading and the affective poetics that trouble, unsettle, and actively weird its material."
No parallels at all...
England in 1819
Percy Bysshe Shelley
England in 1819
Percy Bysshe Shelley
January 21, 2026 at 12:23 AM
No parallels at all...
England in 1819
Percy Bysshe Shelley
England in 1819
Percy Bysshe Shelley
March 19, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Here's a nice article on Victorian ghost photographs. These used the same double exposure techniques as the same age's spirit photographs, but for purposes of narrative/melodrama. A lot more fun, at least to my taste!
#photography #history #ghosts #Victorian
rarehistoricalphotos.com/stereoscopic...
#photography #history #ghosts #Victorian
rarehistoricalphotos.com/stereoscopic...
March 17, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Here's a nice article on Victorian ghost photographs. These used the same double exposure techniques as the same age's spirit photographs, but for purposes of narrative/melodrama. A lot more fun, at least to my taste!
#photography #history #ghosts #Victorian
rarehistoricalphotos.com/stereoscopic...
#photography #history #ghosts #Victorian
rarehistoricalphotos.com/stereoscopic...
March 16, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Here is a close relative of the Philadelphia porch lion (see yesterday's post) - the South Philly stoop cat. Green eyes and a 1,000-yard stare!
#Philadelphia #Urban #Cats
#Philadelphia #Urban #Cats
March 14, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Here is a close relative of the Philadelphia porch lion (see yesterday's post) - the South Philly stoop cat. Green eyes and a 1,000-yard stare!
#Philadelphia #Urban #Cats
#Philadelphia #Urban #Cats
March 13, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Looks like it was a peaceful morning on the Delaware back in 1918. Photo from the Philly archives, Pier 8 North, Cherry Street side. Much more here: phillyhistory.org
#Philadelphia #history #photography #blackandwhite #urban
#Philadelphia #history #photography #blackandwhite #urban
March 12, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Looks like it was a peaceful morning on the Delaware back in 1918. Photo from the Philly archives, Pier 8 North, Cherry Street side. Much more here: phillyhistory.org
#Philadelphia #history #photography #blackandwhite #urban
#Philadelphia #history #photography #blackandwhite #urban
St. Martin and the Beggar, French stained glass, 1245-1248. Recently saw this at the Baltimore Museum of Art. #art #stainedglass #Baltimore #museumsky
March 11, 2025 at 1:05 PM
St. Martin and the Beggar, French stained glass, 1245-1248. Recently saw this at the Baltimore Museum of Art. #art #stainedglass #Baltimore #museumsky
View from roof of Divine Lorraine Hotel (pre-renovation), Philadelphia.
#photography #cityscape #urbanphotography #Philadelphia
#photography #cityscape #urbanphotography #Philadelphia
February 4, 2025 at 2:51 PM
View from roof of Divine Lorraine Hotel (pre-renovation), Philadelphia.
#photography #cityscape #urbanphotography #Philadelphia
#photography #cityscape #urbanphotography #Philadelphia
Judith Schaechter makes amazing contemporary stained glass art that is deeply informed by medieval practices. Can't wait to see this immersive piece when it opens at the Michener in April. #art #stainedglass #Schaechter #Michener
michenerartmuseum.org/exhibition/j...
michenerartmuseum.org/exhibition/j...
Judith Schaechter: Super/Natural - Michener Art Museum
The first public exhibition of glass artist Judith Schaechter’s newest, monumental work: an immersive stainedglass dome, titled Super/Natural, that explores the idea of biophilia, the human tendency ...
michenerartmuseum.org
February 4, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Judith Schaechter makes amazing contemporary stained glass art that is deeply informed by medieval practices. Can't wait to see this immersive piece when it opens at the Michener in April. #art #stainedglass #Schaechter #Michener
michenerartmuseum.org/exhibition/j...
michenerartmuseum.org/exhibition/j...
1906 photo of the Carrol School Farm Garden. All the other photos of school gardens from this period show docile children tending to vegetables.
These Philly kids, on the other hand, seem to have taken over the garden, trashed it, and started a bonfire... At least they look happy! #Philadelphia
These Philly kids, on the other hand, seem to have taken over the garden, trashed it, and started a bonfire... At least they look happy! #Philadelphia
February 2, 2025 at 10:31 PM
1906 photo of the Carrol School Farm Garden. All the other photos of school gardens from this period show docile children tending to vegetables.
These Philly kids, on the other hand, seem to have taken over the garden, trashed it, and started a bonfire... At least they look happy! #Philadelphia
These Philly kids, on the other hand, seem to have taken over the garden, trashed it, and started a bonfire... At least they look happy! #Philadelphia