Reposted by Dale SmithTenebrous Press @tenebrouspress.bsky.social · 5hIt's October🎃 which means, SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN FOR BRAVE NEW WEIRD Vol. 5! **This is our yearly Best-Of Weird Fiction anthology, only eligible REPRINTS will be considered** Get the full submissions details here, and check out the full cover reveal! tinyurl.com/4474xej6 13833
Reposted by Dale SmithNeil Perryman @neilperryman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026New podcast episode out now. 2214
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 7hAny time somebody mentions two things that may have contrasting pros and cons, I have to stop myself from doing the whole Harry Hill bit. 020
Reposted by Dale SmithDream Theory Media [Subs Closed] @dreamtheorymedia.bsky.social · 30/09/2026We are excited to announce "Hex Ronin: The Tear in the Night-Black Sky", a novella written by @dalesmithonline.com and cover art by @admancomics.bsky.social, coming in March 2027! It will release in eBook and physical formats. Cover and blurb in the link! www.dreamtheory.media/hex-ronin-vo...dreamtheory.media"Hex Ronin Vol. 1: The Tear in the Night-Black Sky" by Dale Smith, coming March 2027Today we announce our first foray into physical and eBook publishing with the novella Hex Ronin Volume 1: The Tear in the Night-Black Sky, coming March 23, 2027! Written by Dale Smith (Doctor Who, Ir... 012
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 13hJudge politicians by what they do, not what they say. Or indeed what they don't do, like "condemn far-right hate groups attacking migrants". 030
Reposted by Dale SmithSarah Jackson @sarahijackson.bsky.social · 14hYes to all of this! I was also surprised at how effective the scene where Brian discovers that Charles has come to life was - the dark farmhouse briefly felt quite gothic and creepy! A fitting homage to Frankenstein 121
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 14hI loved how matter-of-fact it was about it the film was. Yeah, he came to life, why not? Zero effort to try and convince you it might happen, because it wouldn't have helped what it was doing. That's confidence. 120
Reposted by Dale SmithMike Sterling, A Comical Fellow @mikester.bsky.social · 16hoh an AI Doctor Who fan-film where Tennant's 14th Doctor *doesn't* regenerate into a Black queer Doctor, huh, go figure 05913
Reposted by Dale SmithNed Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 29/09/2026I think about this interview with the distinguished philosopher Conan O'Brien a lot. I actually think this is a healthy way to live your life! www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/a... 162705592
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 15hBut ultimately it's just a very, very sweet 80 mins where you fall in love with a plastic head on a massive cardboard box and a man who learns that being different doesn't mean you have to protect yourself in isolation. It's currently on Channel 4 www.channel4.com/programmes/b... so give it a go.channel4.comBrian and Charles(2022) Heartwarming comedy. A lonely inventor creates an AI robot friend. 2105
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 15hThere's a theme of parenthood running through it: the journey from holy shit I'm the only thing keeping this whole person alive to the eventual need to let go. Of acceptance and friendship, of the value in the odd, and accepting who you are and who those around you are. 120
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 15hOh but it's heartwarming and affecting and sweet and yes bloody whimsical. It's right in my personal sweet spot, so much so that I can not shout oh my God you've got Louise Brealey USE HER MORE and instead just melt. Charles just has so much personality, which is a testament to the power of cinema. 140
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 15hThere's a bully, and Louise Brealey being almost criminally wasted in the role of the reward girlfriend who's only job is to help the hero become a better person. One of the main characters has a shop mannequin's head and has only one facial expression to bring to proceedings. 110
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 15hWatched #BrianAndCharles - a film described by no less than Ebert as whimsical. OK, so he was saying he didn't like it, but he was still bang on the money. It's sweet and odd, and plays out pretty much as you'd expect when the village oddball builds himself a friend out of a washing machine. 130
Reposted by Dale SmithJeff Goddard @jeffgoddard.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I found some glossy photographic printer paper at work and decided to try it out and, well, damn. I don't like to really toot my own horn, but I'm so chuffed, I've never had full size (A4) prints of my stuff before and I'm so happy with how they look 😍 2316
Reposted by Dale SmithRebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Magical creatures don’t exist, eh? Roughly 400 million years ago, before the birth of trees, there were giant mystery cones called “Prototaxites,” which grew nearly 30 feet tall. We literally have no idea what they were. Plant: no Mushroom: no Animal: no Tell me this isn’t a little bit magic 47823211
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026Oh well will you look at that? Can't wait for you all to be able to read this one, and something I really hope brings a lot of good thing to the lovely people at Dream Theory Media. 030
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026You're telling me there's going to be like 9 people on the crew one day, aren't you? 100
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026Absolutely this. I have two careers, both decimated by AI and both filled with people saying "I know, but look: this can actually be helpful to those of us who know what we're doing". The people you're selling to don't want a middle man to "craft" a prompt for them. 052
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026Obviously it's all in the delivery, but "pretty good" has the ring of being dragged unwillingly from the bit of the brain marked "technically still praise but not really endorsement". 110
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026It definitely has the feel of somebody getting an edict that the BBC needs to be supportive of AI, doesn't it? 130
Reposted by Dale SmithJoel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I’ve seen the pitch document for The Day Today and it’s about a paragraph long. I paraphrase but: “This show worked brilliantly on the radio and we know what we’re doing.” A world in which that is a viable pitch document is something that we surrendered without a fight, which is so sad. 311920
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026It is so far a lovely show, and this is a good continuation. An action adventure boy's own SF but with a sense of an ongoing story and actual progression. That kind of thing can evaporate quickly into monster of the week: let's see if it does, and if we ever get 7 (or 8) people on the Liberator. 021
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026(The scene finding the guns is great: spends its entire length establishing that each of the crew can touch one gun and one gun only, and ends with Blake handing his to Jenna to put back because she's a girl and he's got lines to say.) 101
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026He gets the drop on Blake - point blank range holding one of those lovely, odd laser batons at him - and just shrugs and lets Blake take charge of the ship. Is alone with Jenna and could easily kill her and convince Zen to ditch Blake but seemingly doesn't even consider it. 101
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026It may just be unintentional, but it's difficult not to see Avon as a quite complex character: nakedly self-interested, trying to build himself a pile of money to hide under and absolutely not wanting to get involved in Blake's ideology. But never killed anyone and seemingly unable to make himself. 111
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026And for the bleakness, Nation's sketching in of character leaves behind an undertone of essential optimism. The prisoners still pretty work together - including Phoebe's dad, David Ryall - and even Avon's self-interest doesn't extend to doing what he wants after Jenna says no. 111
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026The resolution is telegraphed a mile off - Chekhov's Beaming Someone Into Empty Space coming up entirely unnaturally in conversation. The crew manage to correctly guess the function of an alien spaceship by randomly pressing buttons without killing themselves. Still not a jot. 101
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026This has my favourite Nation joke I think in his entire oeuvre: Pam Salem orders the new arrival to "Worship your god. Kneel!" and leaves the audience to make the punchline in their own heads - "Sorry, god's name is Neil?" And they say Nation left comedy behind for SF. 101
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026This is proper Nation work here - rattles along with pace and excitement so that you barely notice while you're in it that it doesn't really hang together: the architecture, the perfectly formed tablets, the complete lack of atheists ... I mean, really? Doesn't matter a jot, of course. 121
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026We visit Cygnus Alpha in #Blakes7 and we're so very nearly at the end of the extended pilot - by my count we've got Blake's 6 if you include Blake himself, which I'm not sure you should but how will we ever reach 7 if we don't? Toos and Ycranos run a hokey religion that needs followers. 221
Reposted by Dale SmithRebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Time for this classic again. 151162375450
Reposted by Dale SmithChris Luxford @luxfordc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026I remember electoral reform being in the 1997 Labour manifesto, they then got a massive Parliamentary majority and promptly forgot about it. 1149
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 29/09/2026If they won't pay taxes, why would we want them to stay? 020
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 29/09/2026This is true, if subscriptions to use microwave ovens were currently being given away for free to force vendor lock in with companies run by some of the worst people in the world. And cost so much to run it's hard to see where the profit will come from, but if there isn't one the economy goes ping! 021
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 29/09/2026Imagine if we worked out how much it cost to stay alive and just gave that to everyone. All start from the same baseline and see where we go from there. 020
Reposted by Dale SmithMags L Halliday @magslhalliday.bsky.social · 29/09/2026There is one welfare payment that does not demand that level of evidence. Source: www.gov.uk/government/s... 031
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 29/09/2026Look, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say they know it's not a key-holder. Same as those other companies know they're not "back massagers". 000
Reposted by Dale Smithtinybaby @tiny.baby · 29/09/2026i must warn you: my penis could be too big. the pleasure it gives might tear society apart. our scientists just aren't sure yet 543558
Reposted by Dale SmithÁine ☽𖤐☾ @whoa-magic.lol · 29/09/2026This is what happens to hackers. This is what should happen to the C-Suites of AI corporations when their products hack. Prison. 082
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 29/09/2026It is just fantastic - I absolutely can't recommend it enough, and am convinced that if you haven't already listened to it you will love it. Why not find out for yourself at www.patreon.com/c/brokenveil... ?patreon.comGet more from Broken Veil on PatreonBrowse Broken Veil's collections on Patreon. Become a member for just £3/month. Broken Veil is a found-narrative podcast by Will Maclean and Joel… 010
Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 29/09/2026Finished S2 of #BrokenVeil yesterday and am still a little shaken. It's a beautifully crafted modern folk horror - the kind of thing that would appeal to people who loved Small Prophets but wished it was a bit creepier. It's about borders and ambiguity, from the narrators being real people down. 110