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Adam Roberts

@adamroberts.bsky.social
7.5K followers 936 following 8.3K posts

Writer, FRSL. Prof, RHUL. Literature and science fiction. profadamroberts.substack.com "Frankenstein Rex" coming in October: www.amazon.co.uk/Frankenstein-Rex-A…

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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 8h
l to r: toy Dark Rider, a Xmas present from my daughter; a warrior whose head comes off (it's balanced in place atm) in honour of "acephalous" my late friend Scott Eric Kaufmann, a lego figure from my son (shouldn't be on his back like that: I'll be having a word later), a 3D printed Oxygène head
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 8h
"When is a 1970s synthesiser not a 1970s synthesiser? When it's a Jarre." "But that joke doesn't make any sense!" *shrugs Gallically* "bof"
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 8h
Flashback to when Walnut Whips were a thing.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 12h
Slightly obsessed by this photo of Juliette Gréco, in Paris, 1948.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 12h
Let us never forget that, inspired by Buddy Holly's Crickets, John Lennon's originally wanted to call his group "The Beatals".
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 13h
"We've travelled to this Irish city to rerecord the vocals of Michael Redgrave's famous actress-daughter." "To dub Lynne?" "That's where we're fixing Vanessa's soundtrack performance, yes."
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Reposted by Adam Roberts
Brendan C. Byrne @brendancbyrne.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
adam on late henry james: good stuff
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
And did those feet ...? Breaking news here: profadamroberts.substack.com/p/william-bl...
profadamroberts.substack.com
William Blake, ‘Joseph of Arimathea Among the Rocks of Albion’ (c.1810)
And did those feet, in ancient times, walk upon England's ...? No. No, they didn't.
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Reposted by Adam Roberts
Wizard's Tower Press @wtpress.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Press Release: Wizard's Tower to Publish Beowulf in Hel by Adam Roberts wizardstowerpress.co...
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is a dog who's been fooled before and now agrees with The Who on the subject of foolery.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Rude
"There's an enormous black hole pointing its jet at earth"
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Reupping this 4-part thread from this morning, in case there are any Historians of the Pen, who can help me out.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Our Norman betters Taught English letters To bathe in the fresh Warm springs of the south. So turn your backs on Anglo-Saxon; The þ in the flesh, The æ in the mouth ANTHONY BURGESS
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A screenshot from the trailer of the upcoming Godzilla movie: Tokyo, blue-lit, in chaos, with the subtitle: "Another moral boundary mankind shouldn't cross."
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
"It seems the famous writer of political dystopian fiction is poorly." "Orwell?" "No, Yevgeney Zamiatin is definitely poorly."
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Call him that to his face, you cowards.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
In "Contemplations" (1856) Hugo says: Ô printemps ! quand on songe à toutes les missives Qui des amants rêveurs vont aux belles pensives, À ces cœurs confiés au papier, à ce tas De lettres que le feutre écrit au taffetas 1/
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Speaking as an author, I am in awe of this as an author name.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Not 100% on this, so don't quote me, but I believe the original Schwarzenegger "Predator" was based on this novella: profadamroberts.substack.com/p/henry-jame...
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"What shall we call this woodland?" "Well it's a fairly substantial stretch of ancient woodland, filled with bluebells in the summer, home to foxes and deer ..." "Substantial, you say?"
sign: "Big Wood"
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
" ... and if you get it wrong, you get a flight next time ..."
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I, Michael Buerk, a human body with a head that is a gigantic cob of corn, will judge you all in, THE MORAL MAIZE.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The snails They destroyed their cage Yes YES The snails are out
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Those moustaches don't look very aerodynamic.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"What's the mood on Beck's new album?" "Dark. He had a bad break-up." "So, not any good?" "No, I love it. Heck, I back Beck's black break-up-wreck tracks."
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This is amazing.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
PRINCE: I'm in love with the mysterious girl who came to last night's ball, wearing a fine dress and giant creamy pastries on her feet! I must find her again -- but how? ME: well, if the Choux fits ...
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Reading
Michelle Anya Anjirbag 's CINDERELLA A CULTURAL HISTORY
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Spider pot Spider pot Does whatever a spider pot does Can it store Stuff you bought? Course it can It's a pot LOOK OUT! Here comes the spider pot
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"She had, I'm not joking, a hundredweight of keys! So many keys—but she gave them to silent cinema's biggest star and he *broke them all*!" "Buster Keaton?" "That's what Chaplin did, yes."
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
" ... please make yourself aware of your nearest chance for redemption, which may be behind you ..."
A photograph of Pope Leo, standing inside a plane, addressing a number of seated passengers
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"Terry has grown an enormous mouse tail." "Has he? How do you know?" "There are Tel-tail signs."
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
No Horrible Histories? No Dark? NO REV???
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Critical Star Trek on the season-finale for "Strange New Worlds" s4: latestartrek.substack.com/p/snw-410-wh...
latestartrek.substack.com
SNW 4.10: What to expect when you’re expecting a Space Baby
Or: Was Star Trek ever actually good?
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
In today's post, all the way from Americay.
The 2026 mythopoeic award for non-fiction: a handsome Landseer-y lion on a pedestal.Another photo of same.... and another.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The newsreader mentioned "Pope Leo" and I heard it as "Popelio" and thought: that would be a good rap name, like "Coolio". And then I checked & discovered (TIL) that Coolio's real name is Leo (strictly: Leon) and that's is why he's called that: he's the Cool Leo. So there you are.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A follow-up: the important and pressing question in this old Substack has been answered: it originated in Germany. What wasn't determined is why Germans named it after the Iron Duke. profadamroberts.substack.com/p/the-myster...
profadamroberts.substack.com
The Mystery of the Beef Wellington
That sounds like a Father Brown short-story title, but is not.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
DEVIL: It is agreed! I take your soul, and in return you FAUST: merkin DEVIL: will enjoy all the power and glory in my power to ... wait: what? FAUST: merkin DEVIL: I can make you king of the world, the richest man alive! FAUST: I just want to be a merkin, alright? DEVIL: uh ..... OK?
A poster for FAUST: a woman's lower half, and in place of her pubes a triangle of darkness with Faust's face on it.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I mean, if "they" are the bears, then this is indeed a mystery.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I appreciate this is archaic German for "Lord", and that's why they've used it, but it's very hard not to read this as THE MISTER OF THE RING.
Cover art for the German edition of Tolkien Lord of the Rings, DER HERR DER RINGE. All volumes are black-and-white engracings of various birds, against a green background, for some reason, apart from vol 2 which is a snake.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
That 1827 lunar eclipse over England was some kind of crazy.
A contemporary illustration of the "Eclipse of the Moon November 3rd 1827" shows, on the left, Britannia weeping, an ox wrapped around with a gigantic snake, figures (including a redcoat) in mourning beside a tombstone, skeletons dancing, horses yoked to a chariot rearing, lightning strikes ,a bay behnd in which giant exposions threaten British shipping, and a gold cross louring in the darkened sky overhead.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
From yesterday: Frankenstein's monster's horoscope's illustration. profadamroberts.substack.com/p/the-monste...
profadamroberts.substack.com
The Monster’s Horoscope
Frankenstein and the Stars
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The monster's horoscope was cast as early as 1831: profadamroberts.substack.com/p/the-monste...
profadamroberts.substack.com
The Monster’s Horoscope
Frankenstein and the Stars
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The shortlived Qin dynasty produced a wealth of richly coloured art, something the successor Han dynasty was never quite able to match, thanks to poor Han-dye coordination.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Today's the day.
The cover of Jean Michel Jarre's EQUINOXE, in honour of today's, er, equinox.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
*crackles* *hiss* *turning the dial, sounds slowly coming clear* ... it's The Archers theme!
Headline from the Sky at Night magazine: "Radio signals detected from a planet beyond our Solar System"
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
um ...?
The archive.org copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (or one of them) but someone has crossed out "Frankenstein" and written "Great Gatsby"
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"Which?" magazine tested twelve popular Norman warriors, and picked the one right for your pocket.
Which? magazine cover from 1967 shows an ink drawing of a chain-mail wearng spear-carrying warrior on horseback.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Ah, the sweet Goddess of Love! www.discovermagazine.com/venus-may-ha...
discovermagazine.com
Venus May Have Pulled Its Own Moon Back Toward It, Torn It Apart, and Eaten the Remains
Learn how an astrophysicist’s simulations traced a possible lunar downfall that could have changed Venus’s climate and ability to hold onto water.
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Reposted by Adam Roberts
History Today @historytoday.com · 21/09/2026
Philip Hensher’s A History of the Novel in Britain is certainly novel but how does it fare as history? ✍️ Robert Eaglestone reviews the recent #history book buff.ly/PJvctPL
buff.ly
‘A History of the Novel in Britain’ by Philip Hensher review
Philip Hensher’s A History of the Novel in Britain is certainly novel but how does it fare as history?
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