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Reposted by Martin Shaw

James Tansley @tansleyjames.bsky.social · 1d

Happy Birthday to my number one #DavidBowie album “Heroes”. It still sounds incredible today and side two still remains my most played side of music on any album ever. I know every nuance like the back of my hand but it still holds my attention every time I hear it. The true Berlin album. #Heroes

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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

E.E. Cummings once had a collection of poems rejected by 14 publishers. When he eventually got it published as "No Thanks" in 1935, he dedicated it to those 14 publishers in a visual poem shaped like a funeral urn

Centre-aligned poem whose lines forms the shape of a funeral urn:

TO
Farrar & Rinehart
Simon & Schuster
Coward-McCann
Limited Editions
Harcourt, Brace
Random House
Equinox Press
Smith & Haas
Viking Press
Knopf
Dutton
Harper's
Scribner's
Covici, Friede

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Lance Richardson @lancerichardson.bsky.social · 1d

Eight years ago, I drove to Sag Harbor and sat down for tea with Maria Matthiessen, telling her I wanted to write a book about her late husband, Peter. She warned me against it: a Sisyphean task! I pushed on anyway. (Maria was right.) And today, miraculously, is publication day for TRUE NATURE.

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Siobhán Dowling @siobhandowling.bsky.social · 1d

What's a translator, editor and journalist with two degrees in history to do? ...

All in the top 10.

news.sky.com/story/the-40...

The 40 jobs 'most at risk' from AI - and 40 it can't touch

Several big companies - Klarna, Microsoft and Amazon to name a few - have replaced human roles with AI, but what could this technology mean for the future of your job?

news.sky.com

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Scott Pack @meandmybigmouth.bsky.social · 1d

If you're an unpublished author and your WIP is speculative or dystopian fiction in which AI becomes sentient, takes over the world, controls our lives or something like that – then you need to know that, as a freelance editor, I am approached with four or five similar novels every month.

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Reposted by Martin Shaw

Moose Allain @mooseallain.bsky.social · 1d

www.worldofmoose.com/collections/...

Cartoon of a plesiosaur. Seen from the side, the top line of its shape is echoed in ripples up the page, reminiscent of the artwork for the Joy Division album Unknown Pleasure. Caption: Unknown Plesiosaurs

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Martin Shaw @thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 1d

Yay, Rodney Hall – inexplicably passed over for the Miles – up for the Voss! vossliteraryprize.com/long-list-20...

Long List 2025

The judges for the 2025 Voss Literary Prize for the best novel published in 2024 long-listed the following titles from the 52 eligible titles which were submitted by publishers: Jumaana Abdu, Trans…

vossliteraryprize.com

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Ben Walter @benwaltez.bsky.social · 1d

I wrote to Tony Burke about the closure of Meanjin, and finally received a reply from the office of Jason Clare, who had been forwarded the message because it was an issue for higher education, rather than the arts (!).

This is a wholly embarrassing and inadequate buck pass and response.

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Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · 2d

No one will remember anything Linda Reynolds did in politics, but we will remember this forever. What a piece of sh#t.

Vaxatious Litigant 💉 @exposingnv.bsky.social · 2d

Linda Reynolds launches bankruptcy proceedings against Brittany Higgins

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Martin Shaw @thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 2d

"I’ll be honest: I was sceptical at first that a book about the legislation of government policy could be an engaging read. I need not have [email protected] has created something engrossing, if a little heartbreaking." theconversation.com/what-will-au...

What will Australia be like in 2058? A new novel imagines division, unemployment – and activism

Andrew Roff’s debut novel, Here Are My Demands, looks forward to an imagined future – but seems more concerned with now.

theconversation.com

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Martin Shaw @thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 2d

these are also damn good! #MorningTea

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Reposted by Martin Shaw

minor literature[s] @minorliteratures.bsky.social · 3d

a year ago today ... next year in Berlin?

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Martin Shaw @thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 3d

indeed!

Martin Shaw @thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 3d

Note that Walter Benjamin wrote "Unpacking My Library", but no "Alphabetising My Library" ever followed...

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Martin Shaw @thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 3d

“Every girl on the apps has this thing about ‘love languages’ – it’s just gibberish, but if you don’t talk about it, people are like, ‘Oh you’re a red flag.’”

So so funny...

C. Buckthorn @cbuckthorn.bsky.social · 3d

This is amazing. I laughed out loud www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

As 32-year-old Rich points out, though, "it's not like using ChatGPT guarantees success".
When he met someone in a bar one Friday night and swapped social media handles, he asked AI what his next move should be.
ChatGPT discerned that sending an initial message on Monday midmorning would set the right pace. "Then it gave me some options for what the message could be," says Rich.
"Keep it light, warm, and low-stakes so it reads as genuine interest without urgency," the bot advised. "Something like: Hey Sarah, still laughing about [tiny shared moment/reference if you've got one] - good to meet you!" Rich went back and forth with ChatGPT until he felt they'd hit upon exactly the right message ("Hey Sarah, it was lovely to meet you") but sadly she never replied, he says. "It's been two weeks now."

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Martin Shaw @thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 3d

"I noticed a slight figure with a froth of curly hair standing a few yards away from me: the real Charlie Kaufman. I stammered & said hello, adding, “This is kind of embarrassing for me.” “It’s more embarrassing for me,” he said, & rushed out the door...". Nice this www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

The Making of “Adaptation”

When your quirky book becomes a quirkier movie.

www.newyorker.com

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Reposted by Martin Shaw

Anandi Mishra @anandimish.bsky.social · 3d

laszlo krazsnahorkai with george szirtes in the white review

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Reposted by Martin Shaw

Michael Stipe @michaelstipe.bsky.social · 3d

and I feel fine

jamma10.bsky.social @jamma10.bsky.social · 4d

Toilet, Bristol UK circa 2015

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Martin Shaw @thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 3d

Always love reading a good Ryan Ruby essay, no matter if I'm actually that interested in the subject: he's a bright dude! And actually he might just have won me over with all things Pynchon too... newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...

Ryan Ruby, Post-American Blues — Sidecar

On Thomas Pynchon.

newleftreview.org

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Martin Shaw @thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 3d

Blooming hell, started to tally them all up, and @shawliterary.bsky.social is tracking to have 16 books out next year! But still klein & fein, I very much hope... #agentlife

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Martin Shaw @thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 4d

Hours away potentially from a Gaza ceasefire, and the usual suspect is still bleating on about "the plight of the Australian Jewish community" I see...

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Martin Shaw @thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 4d

I so love popping in whenever I'm in town!

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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 5d

Printing presses kept their letters in cases.

Capital letters went in the upper case.
Smaller letters went in the lower case.

This is why we say ‘UPPER CASE’ and ‘lower case.’

Ok, but what did we call them before the invention of the printing press?

MAJUSCULE and minuscule.

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Richard Blandford @rblandford.bsky.social · 5d

Got Kraftwerk tickets! Disappointingly, did not have to tick a box confirming I was a robot.

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So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · 5d

I'm a committed small press author & editor. Small presses are the seed-heads of the books world & they are scorched. Pls read and share this excellent letter on the situation & what's needed in @thebookseller.com, signatories inc Peninsula Press, @cipherpress.bsky.social @silver-press.bsky.social

Open letter on the future of small press publishing in the UK

The industry must work together to ensure the longevity of the UK’s independent presses.

www.thebookseller.com

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