Blog

GC crybullies and the shrieking of the silenced.

bullies, censorship, feminism, silencing, trans rights 13th March 2022 Other Things, Rantings

Ever noticed how people allegedly ‘silenced’ never seem to shut the fuck up? There seem to be few better career moves than saying something horrible in public, getting disagreed with or reprimanded… and then launching yourself on the interview circuit, … Continued

It’s #WorldBookDay and we still love books

#WorldBookDay, books, bookselling, bookshops, readers 3rd March 2022 Musings, Other Things

#WorldBookDay can certainly be on the tiresome side if you have kids at primary school, especially if you actually like books rather more than you enjoy contriving fancy-dress costumes. You can mostly ignore the invasion of the day by sellers … Continued

Chaos, comforts and Covid

comfort, Covid, joy, Ukraine, war 26th February 2022 Rantings

Having finally had my own dose of covid last week, I can safely say that between the wonder of vaccines and the mildness of Omicron, well, I’ve had worse hangovers. Yes, I was lucky not to have been sicker, but … Continued

Shenanigans signing – win tickets for yourself and a friend

author event, authors, bookselling, signed books, writing 16th February 2022 Events

During the early, volatile stages of the spring of 2020, some of us were hoping Shenanigans would go ahead even as all the other dominoes were falling: unfortunately it became unfeasible to hold it, and the same was true of … Continued

Superstition, shame and luck

Covid, puritanism, risk, safety 8th February 2022 Rantings

A recent depressing and exasperating covid-related trend is people announcing that they have copped a dose and then following it up with a bout of non-erotic self-flagellation – ‘it’s all my fault, I deserve it because I wanted to *go … Continued

Tiptoeing into 2022

anthologies, erotica, fetish fairs, New Year, update 30th January 2022 Fairs and Markets, Musings, New Books

A whole month into a new year… so how does 2022 look so far? In the short term, at least, further mass house arrest and further harm to the event and hospitality industries – and all your favourite fetish markets … Continued

Passwords, Safewords and Safety

grift, passwords, safety, safewords 27th December 2021 Musings

Well, here I am in password hell again. Shouldn’t really complain, as it is lovely to have a Shiny New Laptop, but it is a touch tiresome to have to reset pretty much every password for every platform because, yes, … Continued

Parties, politics and puritanism

moral panic, pandemic, parties, puritanism 14th December 2021 Rantings

About what you’d expect, really: everyone losing their minds about the government’s Christmas parties last year and not bothering overmuch about their latest attack on democracy and human rights. Yes, fair enough, Partygate is probably the most blatant demonstration of … Continued

The joys of outdoor trading

bookselling, fetish markets, outdoors 24th November 2021 Fairs and Markets, Musings

Home from a merry afternoon’s bookselling in the New Forest, I started remembering how some of my earliest stallholding antics involved outdoor trading. At 21 or so, long before fetish markets (or, indeed, before working out that I might … Continued