Farah Mendlesohn

thank you.

When there are no sources: an English Historical Review symposium The EHR is hosting a one-day symposium in St John's College, Oxford, to celebrate the recent publication of the journal's 600th issue.

News! EHR is hosting a free one-day symposium at St John's College, Oxford, on Friday 17 April, 10-6, on the theme 'When there are no sources'.
Further details and how to sign up here:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/when-there...

And I have just remembered a really unpleasant incident: a person I was sharing a room with, said I should hide a thing because 'you don't want to tempt the cleaners'. IMuch later they excused a friend of theirs from a witnessed petty theft. One rule for the servants, another for the masters.

Here's a draft manuscript of the Magic: The Gathering roleplaying game from 1996, and I've giving it away as a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood, with permission from the authors. Not sure how much to ask for. Vanishingly rare. $1,872 raised so far. #mtg #ttrpg

Cover of She Isn't Herself Tonight by Hailey Piper, art by Caroline Johnson, depicting a woman caught between neon lights, her face fracturing into reflections of itself. Beneath the title is a quote from Rachel Harrison calling the novel "Blissfully twisted and genuinely heartfelt."

Cover reveal day!

I'm thrilled to announce my new novel coming from @sagapressbooks.bsky.social, SHE ISN'T HERSELF TONIGHT

Alien abductions, a break-up from hell, and what we become when our worst enemies are ourselves.

Light your skies, October 27th 🛸

www.simonandschuster.com/books/She-Is...

I knew people like this at uni: always upper middle class thinking they were being cool/proletariat.

Stop Procrastinating and Write Historical Fiction with Emma Darwin. online workshop with prompts — The Writing Well 2-hour workshop packed with essential information, guidance and pointers - and lots of writing tasks - all you need to sit down and write. Whether you are battling to finish your first draft, proudly…

Writing, trying to writing, wanting to write, failing to write or terrified of writing, Historical Fiction?
This online workshop tomorrow, Tuesday 10th March, is all about getting you actually writing! Do join me at The Writing Well!
buff.ly/3e0ycha

FBI Uncovers Al-Qaeda Plot To Just Sit Back And Enjoy Collapse Of United States

FBI Uncovers Al-Qaeda Plot To Just Sit Back And Enjoy Collapse Of United States https://theonion.com/fbi-uncovers-al-qaeda-plot-to-just-sit-back-and-enjoy-c-1819576375/

Guess What Moderate Democratic Voters Aren’t Anymore? Moderate. Two new polls suggest that moderate Democrats, too, want higher taxes on the rich and some measure of economic populism. Moderate isn’t what it was in 1992.

Moderate Democrats with columns in newspapers are constantly saying the Democratic Party is way too liberal on "social" issues. Moderate Democratic voters in real life do not feel this way. With some polling data from @gelliottmorris.com and @dataforprogress.org. newrepublic.com/article/2074...

Oh not disagreeing with that. It's just that people forget it can take a long time to cover a much shorter distance in the UK. And it's *expensive*. In one job I had the cost of my yearly travel card went up so much that I ended up taking home less than I had in the previous lower paid job.

This marks the return of the 19th-century "spoils system." It sets a precedent for extremely high turnovers of the federal bureaucracy every election cycle. Assuming a Dem wins in '28, it would be stupid of them not to clean house, which means our century of non-partisan bureaucracy is over.

🧵

Why do you all think Europeans don't commute? I did 120 miles a day *for years*. It's not at all uncommon with m/c split location work; or w/c jobs where the pay doesn't match housing prices. I've lived in places where the bus drivers were commuting.

a black and white clock with the letters t c and k in a circle ALT: a black and white clock with the letters t c and k in a circle

DEADLINE REMINDER - Future convention bids:

If you are planning a bid for a future Eastercon and have not contacted the Chair (chair@eastercon2026.org), you must do so by 10 March.

DEADLINE TOMORROW
Programme Participants complete your responses on PlanZ by 9pm UTC 10th March.

PlanZ may display the error message:
"You are not currently registered for Iridescence. If you believe this to be in error, please contact Programming."
This is a bug. Ignore it. We are working on it.

Shocked. Stunned. Absolutely gobsmacked etc etc

My book on the history of British South Asian political activism is out this September!

Available to pre-order now from all good bookshops and online.

frankly romantasy is currently footing the bill for the rest of us by keeping a crumbling publishing industry afloat a while longer and you don't have to read the stuff to appreciate that it's bringing in readers who will eventually want to read more things, perhaps even in different points of view

Wait until they realise that they've affected cancer therapies. In the UK you can join the military at the age of 16.

This is a thing of beauty.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show: Joint Reaction and Review: Trish Matson and Paul Weimer discuss SINNERS SINNERS (2025)Directed by Ryan CooglerWritten by Ryan CooglerCinematography by Autumn Durald Arkapaw Starring:Michael B JordanMiles CatonHailee StenfeldJack O ConnellWunmi MosakuJamie LawsonOmar Mi…

If you are thinking nominations for Hugo Awards I think this joint piece by @pematson.bsky.social and myself on SINNERS is worth your attention.

skiffyandfanty.com/blog/joint-r...

I will once again note how we were told we could not accept boxes of donuts from textbook company representatives

there are DEFINITELY two Americas, likely more, but there's the "ordinary folk who have to follow the rules" and "Important Folk to Whom The Rules do Not Apply" FOR SURE

For those who have forgotten the past 40 years:

Tax cuts for the rich
...don’t trickle down

Boosting military spending
...doesn’t bring peace

Slashing regulations
...doesn’t create jobs

Folks, we’ve seen this all before.

The March Newsletter will go out this week. If you want to receive updates on PictCon (17th October, Perth),and sf events around Scotland, sign up to the newsletter at PictCon.com

Trump pardoned every single insurrectionist. Every single one.

Just fascinating to see Blair, a man whose reputation was ruined by the Iraq war, advocate joining a war that is exponentially stupider and more chaotic. How is it possible to learn nothing from the worst mistake of your life?

Though it is day, the sun cannot be seen in Tehran today because of all the smoke following the US and Israel bombing Tehran's oil refineries. People on the ground describe it as armageddon. History will not forgive Reza Pahlavi, Masih Alinejad, Nazanin Boniadi, and all other "leaders" who tricked Iranians into thinking this war would set them free.

Oh my god: this is *daytime* in Tehran.

Every time a woman runs for president I hear that she’s too emotional and unstable to make wartime decisions, unlike the men in charge who make really reasonable decisions like bombing kids to death, starting water wars, and poisoning the entire planet

It makes no sense from any public health or restorative justice angle! Let alone prison abolitionist. And it’s always been easy for leftists to forget that prisoners and their families outside led a lot of advocacy for COVID protections.

And thank you 🩷 I very much am.

Fucking burn it down