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| | Hello from out here on the Thames Delta. I’ve been away from everything this week, finishing off some jobs and getting outside as much as possible. If there’s been news, I’ve totally missed it. | Here are some things that have been around me this week. Let’s have a look. | | This ident for Good Chaos reminds me of the piece FSG made for my novel NORMAL. | | There is going to be some kind of fancy facsimile edition of FELL #1 this summer, with at least two covers - one regular, one foil. These are for the summer conventions, I believe, but they’re going to be sold in shops too. Here’s a screenshot of a form I can barely read, with the Lunar order codes on the end. | | | Found here, this thing makes me smile whenever I see it: | | Be advised the new Slow Horses book, CLOWN TOWN, is now available for pre-order. Also be advised the promo text for the pre-order has A HUGE BLOODY SPOILER IN IT. | After I took my Fitbit off, I came across this article that coins the terms “competitive wellness” and “wellness burnout.” Even Gwyneth Paltrow eats bread now. | | I wish I had the kind of office that suited this keyboard milled from a single block of aluminium. It’s called The Cleaver. I love minimalism. I just can’t do it. This house looks like a museum curated by a 19th Century mad scientist. | Any idea withheld is an idea taken away. It’s selfish to hold back when there’s a chance you have something to offer. | THE PRACTISE, Seth Godin | Letters about the creative life by Warren Ellis, a writer from England. Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe here for free. |
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| | | I put on an analogue mechanical watch as a signal to myself that I’m offline and out in the world. I picked up this one, the Maven MUS-01, the other day, as a summer watch. Different watches for different seasons and moods. What’s your favourite watch you own? Hit reply and send a photo to the office. I want to see them. | | There can be a resistance to so-called ‘difficult’ music – to that which is considered ‘weird’ or unconventional. There is perhaps comfort in the familiar, in verse-bridge-chorus, but too much comfort brings stagnation. Having a chorus is great, but have you ever heard Buddhist monks chanting for exorcisms? | THE FOGHORN’S LAMENT, Jennifer Lucy Allan |  | Exorcism|108 Thai monks chanting at the same time|Eliminate ghosts|Eliminate evil spirits |
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| | I’ve been thinking about podcasting again lately. I mean, I won’t, I hate the sound of my own voice and I don’t have a decent mic or a quiet enough space to do it it. But if it’s something you’ve been thinking about too? I went back to look at Libsyn’s pricing, and they’re one of the few places that doesn’t charge by audience size. They charge by how much you’re uploading, and the prices start at USD $7 a month for 162 MB / month, which they judge to be three hours of audio. Link. I’ve used them n the past. A world with more interesting independent podcasts would be a nice thing. | I’m in the process of reorganising my own podcasts subscriptions. If you do a podcast, hit reply and tell me about it. | | | A record to get lost in - claire rousay’s THE BLOODY LADY. Stream the whole thing at the link. It’s been the office soundtrack for the last few days. | | Why do some ideas spread like wildfire, while others resist being seen — despite their importance? | | This week I read a very good book called ANTIMEMETICS by Nadia Asparouhova. If you read one book about the internet this year, it should be this one. | It's easier than ever to share ideas, yet some of the most interesting ideas are burrowing deeper underground, circulating quietly among group chats, texts, and whisper networks. While memes – self-replicating bits of culture – thrive in an attention-driven economy, other ideas are becoming strangely harder to find. Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading explores this paradox, uncovering the hidden forces that determine what we remember, what we forget, and why some ideas – no matter how compelling – resist going viral. |
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| You can find out more here and buy it direct like I did or find it on Amazon. | | | Scroll down to the bottom of this page to obtain, for entirely free, Deshan Tennekoon’s demented graphic novel WAIT NON ANON, which answers that long-asked question: what if Samuel Beckett and James Joyce had just given the fuck up and collaborated on a clipart webcomic instead? It’s mad and fun. | And finally, The Tiny Awards 2025 are open for nominations. | This is the home of the Tiny Awards, which, since 2023, has celebrated the best of the small, poetic, creative, handmade web. The Tiny Awards exist because we thought it was important to shine a spotlight on the sorts of personal web projects that tend to get overlooked by more traditional, larger or more commercial awards. Each year we ask the online world to nominate their favourite creative, non-commercial website built in the past 12 months. A panel of selected expert judges drawn from across the wide world of web-based creativity then pick their favourites. Finally, the entire web then votes upon this list to pick its favourite. |
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| | Now: THE DEPARTMENT OF MIDNIGHT audio drama podcast, DESOLATION JONES: THE BIOHZARD EDITION, THE STORMWATCH COMPENDIUM. 2025: FELL: FERAL CITY new printing, THE AUTHORITY Compact Edition, the LIGHTS OUT Anthology. | | GOT MORE TIME? | LTD | I keep a digital writer’s notebook and you’re invited to read over my shoulder. | | | This letter has been zapped to you via Beehiiv and is sponsored by: | Decode the Zeitgeist with 1440 | | Every week, 1440 zooms in on a single society-and-culture phenomenon—be it the rise of Saturday Night Live, Dystopian Literature, or the history of the Olympics—and unpacks it with curiosity-driven rigor. You’ll get a concise read grounded in verified facts, peppered with thought-provoking context and links for deeper exploration. No partisan angles, no fear-mongering—just the stories, trends, and ideas shaping how we live, work, and create. | Sign Up For Free | | | And that’s me for this week. The days are still getting longer and there’s still too much to see. Look for the good things and let yourself be happy. See you next week. | W | |
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