Notices by Sandra Bond (klepsydra@wandering.shop)

#ScribesAndMakers 13 Sep: Shameless self-promotion day. Let's boost away.

This seems like an appropriate occasion to share here for the first time the cover of my new book of poetry, which will launch early November:

The Goblin Muse. Poems by Sandra Bond (The Canal Press, 2025).

Art by Sue Mason.

You will be hearing much more about this over the next couple of months.

@cstross "Okay, Jimmy. You can whack the rubber stamp across this yin. Full conversion to Scottishness achieved."

@cstross For sale: baby shoes, zombie baby.

@cstross The four words of the headline alone were quite sufficient to make me shudder and for my right hand, unbidden, to click away.

@cstross it *is* safe to click on this and find out why you're so vexed... right?

@cstross Grody to the max, dude!

@cstross There is, mind, a certain element of "SF predicts the future despite itself" in the charts.

"Apart from accidents Earth would still have been habitable."

@cstross There are, gordelpus, exceptions to every rule. (But I must admit that I'm a philistine and found Last and First Men a terrible slog. If I were to reread Stapledon nowadays, it'd probably be Sirius.)

#WritersCoffeeClub 12/7. What do you think is the most critical element in storytelling?

Characterisation. If you don't have characters who feel plausible and about whom the reader can care -- positively or negatively -- the best plot in history will go to waste.

@cstross Badenoch. For every voter who thinks Margaret Thatcher was too kind, too gentle, too wishy-washy.

@ZachWeinersmith most writers who write a very large amount of essentially similar books develop a deck of cards which they become adept at shuffling and dealing in a slightly different way every time -- similar enough to previous ones to keep their fans happy but different enough to keep them from complaining. Agatha Christie is another example of this technique.