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Jo Walton

@bluejo.eurosky.social
5.4K followers 134 following 1.3K posts

Writer of SF and fantasy. Superintelligent shade of the colour blue. "Even better than cold carrots." Vocateur reader. Philhellenist. Loves tea, trains, travel.

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Reposted by Jo Walton
Dean Hamilton @tyburntree.bsky.social · 6h
Listening to the brilliant podcast beforecast.fm! It's fantastic fun. Very recommended!
beforecast.fm
Beforecast — Now Live
Historian Ada Palmer on the real Machiavelli. Episode 3 is out now. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube and more.
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Garrett Wollman @gwollman.bsky.social · 18h
Since I finally shelved some books, an updated bookcase shot. Among the new titles shelved properly for the first time in non-fiction Lu–Z are @adapalmer.bsky.social's INVENTING THE RENAISSANCE and @ingridrobeyns.bsky.social's LIMITARIANISM. Oh and Palmer and @bluejo.eurosky.social's TRACE ELEMENTS.
A photo of a six-shelf bookcase stuffed full of books
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Kari Maaren @angrykem.bsky.social · 11h
Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #BestOfTheMonth. I love #CedarWaxwings, and I find the awkward teenage ones especially charming. This one sat in this spot and stuffed its face with every available berry. #birds #photography #BirdPhotography #wildlife #WildlifePhotography #nature #NaturePhotography
A young Cedar Waxwing, a brown bird with a streaky breast, a yellow tail tip, and a white eye mask, perches on a branch and tosses a bright red berry down its own throat.
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Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦 @patrickjohanneson.com · 21h
There's a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they're absolutely free. Don't miss so many of them. —Jo Walton @bluejo.eurosky.social
Dramatic orange-pink clouds at sunsetOrangey sky at sunset
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Elsa Sjunneson, Order of the Bat @snarkbat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A week from today DEAR BLIND LADY will be out! This is your last week to preorder and get a shiny pin from Sasquatch press! Just send your receipt to Bailey at bluestarpress dot com. Also if you’re in Seattle you can join me next Tuesday night for a launch party with ASL interpretation & bingo!
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Jon Evans @rezendi.com · 29/09/2026
for those interested, looks like my super weird and worryingly relevant AI novel EXADELIC is currently available for only $2.99 on your Kindle www.amazon.com/Exadelic-Jon...
amazon.com
Exadelic
Exadelic - Kindle edition by Evans, Jon. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Exadelic.
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Rachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Hello Tuesday. Ormesby Psalter, England, c.1310
Owl perched on back of a hare, marginalia.
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Jo Walton @bluejo.eurosky.social · 29/09/2026
New poem on my Patreon, Rowan, connected to the novel I am working on Mad Or A Poet www.patreon.com/bluejo/posts...
patreon.com
Rowan | Jo Walton
Rough the root-grass And in the mountain meadow A mystery. Barbed the seed-pods, And beside the stream A mountain ash. Bent the grass stems,
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Cameron Reed (she|they) @lateonsetgirl.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Kindle edition of The Fortunate Fall is on sale now for $2.99. The deal is Amazon-only and seems to be US and Canada-only. It ends at midnight Pacific so don't dither! www.amazon.com/Fortunate-Fa...
amazon.com
The Fortunate Fall
The Fortunate Fall - Kindle edition by Reed, Cameron, Walton, Jo. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Fortunate Fall.
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cmrn knzlmn @ckunzelman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If you are a graduate student in the humanities (construed as broadly as possible), what is the MOST EXCITING book published in the last five years to you? Please repost if you’re not a graduate student!
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Johnnie Jae @johnniejae.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Yesterday was a big day for Indigenous literature as Kinsale Drake, Darcie Little Badger, and Stacie Shannon Denetsosie received the 2026 American Book Award for Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms and Futurisms. redpopnews.com/beyond-the-g...
redpopnews.com
Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms and Futurisms Receives 2026 American Book Award
Yesterday was a big day for Indigenous literature as Kinsale Drake, Darcie Little Badger, and Stacie Shannon Denetsosie received the 2026 American Book Award for Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthol...
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Walt Shitman @waltshitman.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I absolutely loved Everybody’s Perfect by @bluejo.eurosky.social. A gentle, inventive, and protean fantasy told relay-race style across a fantastical, otherworldly Venice-like city. Full of perfectly formed characters and some miraculous world(s)building.
The cover of Everybody’s Perfect by Jo Walton. A cloaked and masked figure is surrounded by several Venetian carnivale masks. In the background, dark mists swirl across a bridge arching over a canal.
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Rachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Hello Saturday. 🐇 A little marginalia. #InternationalRabbitDay
Rabbit sat reading, marginalia.
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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Yet, despite all of the [waveth handes 360 degrees], still so much beautye yn the worlde. So much art made by so manye, as strategyes for survival, consolacioun, courage, joy. And you, out ther, makinge somethinge beautiful. You are the best.
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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank" poets.org/poem/having-...
poets.org
Having a Coke with You
is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne
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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"May memory restore again and again The smallest color of the smallest day: Time is the school in which we learn, Time is the fire in which we burn." www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42633/...
poetryfoundation.org
Calmly We Walk through This April’s Day
(... that time is the fire in which we burn.) (This is the school in which we learn ...) What is the self amid this blaze? What am I now that I was then…
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Murphy's Lawyer @menageri.org.uk · 25/09/2026
“There's a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they're absolutely free. Don't miss so many of them.” - Jo Walton
Sunset over Leeds, Yorkshire. 25 September 2026.
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ribbonknight @ribbonknight.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Listen to this podcast immediately, all three episodes that are out so far. Ada Palmer with Adam Davidson, dude who started the original planet money. IT’S SO FUCKING GOOD.
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Jo Walton @bluejo.eurosky.social · 25/09/2026
Letter to Mike Ford: Still. It's the twenty year anniversary of the death of John M. Ford. New poem on my Patreon www.patreon.com/bluejo/posts...
patreon.com
Letter to Mike Ford: Still | Jo Walton
I think of you at every station. I still talk to you in my head. I have to talk about you in past tense. I still choke on "was". In Minneapo
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Merchant Adventurers’ Hall @merchantshallyork.org · 25/09/2026
Apologies for a repost but it's the Merchant Adventurers Michaelmas Feast this evening so we are very busy trying to stop the devil urinating on our blackberries. The post will explain more...
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Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 25/09/2026
to be fair, certain authors should be fired from the literary cannon
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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I knew the phrase 'queen of air and darkness', but didn't know Housman came up with it. Pretty metal poem.
Her Strong Enchantments Failing
AE Housman

Her strong enchantments failing,
Her towers of fear in wreck,
Her limbecks dried of poisons
And the knife at her neck,

The Queen of air and darkness
Begins to shrill and cry,
'O young man, O my slayer,
To-morrow you shall die.'

O Queen of air and darkness,
I think 'tis truth you say,
And I shall die tomorrow;
But you will die to-day.
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Kevin Marks @kevinmarks.com · 25/09/2026
I wanted to read de Vermis again, so I googled "John Ford woodworm poem" and found my own blogpost on his death epeus.blogspot.com/2006/11/mike... which linked to ML's collation of his works there: www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/... Making Light as a place is gone, memory is everything to lose.
Blog comment #1
John M. Ford
October 13, 2003, 05:41 PM

The worm drives helically through the wood
And does not know the dust left in the bore
Once made the table integral and good;
And suddenly the crystal hits the floor.
Electrons find their paths in subtle ways,
A massless eddy in a trail of smoke;
The names of lovers, light of other days —
Perhaps you will not miss them. That’s the joke.
The universe winds down. That’s how it’s made.
But memory is everything to lose;
Although some of the colors have to fade,
Do not believe you’ll get the chance to choose.
Regret, by definition, comes too late;
Say what you mean. Bear witness. Iterate.
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Hephaestus @thinkingsideways.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Plus, Ada Palmer is absolutely the history professor that you want to go a bar with after the semester just to hear her tell all of the stories that didn't fit into the syllabus.
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Nina Gonzalez @ninagonzalez.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"... greeting even our dearest with abbreviations like 'Good morning' when the true thought in our breast is 'Every day you step into my life, you make it brighter, and if you left the world, something in me would starve for you forever..." 😭❤️ (From @adapalmer.bsky.social's Perhaps the Stars)
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John Cutting @fortunasaga.com · 24/09/2026
I had to look up the belligerents list for the War of the League of Cambrai. Yes, this is hilarious, but they also did a really good job.
War of the League of Cambrai belligerent list its 3 mobile screens tall
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🌬Breeze @cool-summer-breeze.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This is the Stolen Neighbors Quilt. Each of the 11,000 squares represents a person taken by ICE in Minnesota.
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Jo Walton @bluejo.eurosky.social · 25/09/2026
Letter to Mike Ford: Still. It's the twenty year anniversary of the death of John M. Ford. New poem on my Patreon www.patreon.com/bluejo/posts...
patreon.com
Letter to Mike Ford: Still | Jo Walton
I think of you at every station. I still talk to you in my head. I have to talk about you in past tense. I still choke on "was". In Minneapo
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Ivy @becauseivy.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It's Thinking Thursday, delete your robots
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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 23/09/2026
Look, I don't know if that's true, but air travel is one of the safest forms of travel, so THANK YOU FURRIES, FURRIES WIN AGAIN
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Borners @borners.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Really enjoying @adapalmer.bsky.social's new podcast series which is going to be hours and hours of her going into glorious TMI of Renaissance Florence/Italy. And Gelato advice. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruDc...
youtube.com
What was life really like in Renaissance Florence? | Beforecast Episode 3 with Ada Palmer
YouTube video by Beforecast
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026
I will be a guest at Le Festival America in Vincennes, France, which starts tomorrow the 24th through the 27th of September. www.festival-america.com/les-auteur… The festival's homepage is linked below.
festival-america.com
Festival America
Festival America : festival des littératures d'Amérique du Nord, Vincennes, Canada, Etats-Unis, Mexique, Cuba, Haïti, salon du livre, café littéraire, lectures, débats, rencontres, expositions, films, concerts
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Jo Walton @bluejo.eurosky.social · 23/09/2026
I am the only person who already owns Credo (original edition), and I've actually played it twice this month. Yet seeing it available for sale is very exciting. And look at those shufflable cards. And is that actual artwork? It's a niche game. But it's really fun! www.chaosium.com/credo-the-bo...
chaosium.com
Credo the Board Game
The home of Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Pendragon, 7th Sea, and Questworlds. Your gateway to mythic adventure.
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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 23/09/2026
"What a fantastic book. I don't know where to even start with the raving." -Smart Bitches, Trashy Books /jb Amazon: www.amazon.com/Trade... Apple: itunes.apple.com/us/... Nook: www.barnesand... Kobo: store.koboboo... #Romance #HEA #CycloneSeries
Cover of Trade Me, a white man holding an Asian Woman. Text: "Milan knocks it so far out of the park that it's 200 miles away." - Fresh Fiction
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Mark Carney @mark-carney.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Canada has the longest coastline on Earth, bordering three oceans. We have an obligation to protect them.
Screenshot of an article from the Globe and Mail. The headline reads: Canada ratifies landmark High Seas Treaty, commits $82-million to ocean protection.
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Jonathan Strahan @jonathanstrahan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Revolution in the Heart is one day old! The people at Titan did a fabulous job on this book. The authors knocked it out of the park. The Guardian called it 'probably the best original anthology of the year'. You gotta try it!
penguinrandomhouse.com
Revolution in the Heart by Charlie Jane Anders, Ai Jiang, Karen Joy Fowler, Ann Leckie, Kelly Link, Chana Porter, Aliya Whiteley, Premee Mohamed, Darcie Little Badger: 9781835412749 | PenguinRandomHou...
15 brand-new short stories inspired by and in honour of legendary writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Featuring Ann Leckie, Karen Joy Fowler, Charlie Jane Anders, Kelly Link, Ai Jiang and many others. Ursula...
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CE (Catie) Murphy @cemurphy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
About halfway through reading this I found my hand over my face and my eyes wide with horrified dismay, so, yeah, if you can help Tobias, his family, and his cats at all, this is a pretty frustrating and wretched situation they've ended up in. :/
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Tansy Rayner Roberts @tansyrr.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
2 weeks until I launch my new Kickstarter for the beautiful new clothbound special edition of The Season of Dragons, my cozy fantasy retelling of Pride & Prejudice. Follow the pre-launch page to get notified when we go live! Can we get to 150 followers today? www.kickstarter.com/projects/tan...
kickstarter.com
Coming soon: The Season of Dragons - Deluxe Special Edition
A cozy, romantic fantasy retelling of Pride & Prejudice in a society of matchmaking dragons and ruthless fortune-hunters...
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BillyDee 🇨🇦 (CA) @billydee123.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
💙📚 #BritishMysteries For the next while, British mysteries, but only one's I've read. Not necessarily by British writers, maybe just set in the UK. We'll see. I hope it's ok. 3 authors, 1 series #BookSky 3 authors #RuthWare #JoWalton #MinetteWalters
Book cover. In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware (2015) Titles in red lettering, shows a person walking down a road surrounded by trees (4.0 stars)Book cover. Ha'Penny by Jo Walton (Small Change #2 / 2007) Cover shows a night scene in London with a man walking down the side of the road. (3.5 stars)Book cover. The Sculptress by Minette Walters (1993) Cover lettering in white shows candles flaming with melting wax (4.0 stars)Book cover. The Dark Room by Minette Walters (1995) Cover shows a woman in shadow walking toward a garage door (3.0 stars)
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Here is the link for YouTube: buff.ly/9XXiJnH
buff.ly
What was life really like in Renaissance Florence? | Beforecast Episode 3 with Ada Palmer
Historian Ada Palmer and Journalist & Podcaster Adam Davidson discuss the city of Florence at the time of Machiavelli's life, and how the almost-mythical city wasn't all it appears to be on the…
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Oh wow! Happy birthday to the TV series I’ve watched the most times, and the most incredible collection of actors ever in one filmed performance!
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Episode 3 is up! More Machiavelli! More Renaissance weirdness!
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Rachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Morning. 🖼️ Tunnicliffe
Seven swans in flight over landscape away from body of water, houses in distance, painting.
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The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Happy first day of autumn!!! (In the northern hemisphere at least... and those west of UTC-02:00). ⁠ Pictured here: Maple Trees at Mama (1857) by Utagawa Hiroshige. More works by Hiroshige → publicdomainreview.org/collection/u…
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Tansy Rayner Roberts @tansyrr.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Dimity and Rackham can be found in The Season of Dragons, launching soon on Kickstarter. Expect Regency vibes, Jane Austen in-jokes, a society commanded by dragons and aunts (mostly dragons) & a snarky heroine trying her best to be good. www.kickstarter.com/projects/tan...
kickstarter.com
Coming soon: The Season of Dragons - Deluxe Special Edition
A cozy, romantic fantasy retelling of Pride & Prejudice in a society of matchmaking dragons and ruthless fortune-hunters...
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Iain Clark @iainjclarkart.com · 21/09/2026
Our little rescue hedgehog is still living in our hedgehog box. Here she is sticking her nose out yesterday evening. #hedgehogs
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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
#SomethingBeautiful - and Stars of Avalon would make a fabulous book title.
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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com
Title: Gentlemen! Are you in want of a wife? Allow our algorithm to assist!

Image: a series of yes/no questions for that lead to different outcomes. 

Questions include “are you rich?”, “are you dashing?”, “are you a rake” and “are you a vicar?”

Outcomes include “You win the most beautiful daughter of the richest man in the county!”, “You remain a bachelor”, “You marry a dowdy cousin” and “You rescue a 23-year-old from Spinsterhood”.
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Mark Carney @mark-carney.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Our history makes us friends. Our values make us Allies. Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon makes us neighbours. 🇨🇦🇫🇷
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Mark Carney @mark-carney.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Canada and Norway are old friends and natural Allies. Welcome to Canada, Prime Minister Støre.
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