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Mark A. Latham

@markalatham.bsky.social
2.5K followers 395 following 4.2K posts

Writer (THE LAST VIGILANT). Award-winning TTG designer (Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms). Scriptwriter (Darktide; Total War: Warhammer). Former White Dwarf magazine editor. Rep'd by @JennieGoloboy.bsky.social. Website: mark-latham.com

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Reposted by Mark A. Latham
Bouba's Delivery Service @fernmonkey.bsky.social · 6h
Very important news: there's a new litter of cheetah cubs livestreaming. Right now they're at the "furry sausage" stage.
nationalzoo.si.edu
Cheetah Cub Cam
The Cheetah Cub Cam streams live from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 3h
It was total slop. Gaudi would be spinning in his grave. The other dumb thing about the house was 2-tier ticketing. If you didn't buy a premium ticket, you couldn't even access the gift shop. I don't think the owners understand how business works tbh.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 3h
Apparently it used AI to "capture the spirit" of Gaudi's vision. Utter bollocks. A few people asked to avoid it due to epilepsy warnings and motion sickness, and they had to negotiate with staff because it meant leaving via a part of the house not covered by their ticket.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 3h
Weird/annoying thing in Barcelona. We did the evening tour of Casa Batlló (the Gaudi house). It's brilliantly weird, super interesting. Until the end, when they funnel visitors into an "audio-visual experience" designed by an artist using "cutting edge machine learning".
Casa Batlló, tall curvy house in Barcelona.
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I am furious, but I am sailing @stcaffeinated.bsky.social · 23h
if I speak, twitter will suspend me
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 6h
The Sagrada Familia is nice and all, but it can't beat the green, green grass of home.
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 7h
“Well, I never did”, as my dad used to say.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 7h
Back home from Barcelona. Honestly, the best view of the week was this sunset over the West Midlands as the plane came in to land. Good ol' Blighty.
Sunset through clouds taken from a plane.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
The AI summary option should *technically* be no different from a human first pass when confronted by a mountain of 500 applicants. *If* you can trust it not to make mistakes (big "if"). The agentic AI option is terrifying given what we know about AI's race and gender bias.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I think it varies a lot. Mrs L (senior HR) is hands-off, and always makes managers sift their own applicants. Some probably use AI summary to exclude anyone without key experience. Her company forbids agentic AI (allowing AI to rank applicants or make judgment calls).
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Apparently they seem completely confident in applying, even quoting their previous "experience".
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Alex Harvey @alexharvv.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Oh this can just fuck off An AI-'written' complete copy of my own book is now on Amazon; same title, more-or-less the same blurb, and exactly the same impetus. Reviewers of Amazon, I urge you to absolutely dive-bomb this plagiaristic piece of shit: www.amazon.co.uk/FORGOTTEN-VI...
A hollow copy of my book with a shit AI-generated cover
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
And yet, at the place where Mrs L works, they're already getting applicants for dev roles in cyber security who don't know how to code, and who list genAI prompts among their hard skills 😬
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Alex Davis @alexdavis1981.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Christmas will be a busy time of year for events, and here's just some of what we have on tap for this December! www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/alex-davis... #xmas #christmas #festive #December #events #onlineevents #writing #writers #authors #lecture #lectures
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toilet bones @toiletbones.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Found the email I sent when I got accidentally added to the faculty listserv of an orthopedic surgery clinic and nobody would remove me so I sent this email to all faculty/staff/med students and they removed me almost immediately
Hello Bone Colleagues, 
I have invented a new type of ankle and I'm very excited to show it to you. Early raccoon trials suggest a 60% increase in scurrying speed and dramatic increases in fine motor banditry. I know we are not supposed to create super raccoons, but I think you'll change your mind and professional ethics when you see how cute they are. I believe we are on the cusp of a new era in advanced human scurrying because if medical science has taught me anything, it's that improvements in raccoons correspond 1:1 to improvements in humans. 

--
[My name]
Chief Bone Inventor
Chair, Department of Foot and Leg Innovation
Lord Mayor, Musculoskeletal Medicine 
Hartford HealthCare,
The Bone & Joint Institute at Hartford Hospital.
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𓉸 Rogue Print Co. 𓉸 @rogueprintco.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Oh hey, we’re doing a fourth issue of the zine: A MIDDLE-EARTH Which features loads of artists showcasing their vision of Middle-earth in various mediums. This years theme is MAGIC You can pre-order the zine here; Rogueprintco.com Every order/share helps - love ya
Mock up of the “A MIDDLE-EARTH” Zine MAGIC EDITION.

Cover illustration features a smoking Gandalf
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
pls help me i just want 2 be friends
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Thanks! Worse, it's my wife's long-awaited birthday trip. We postponed her 40th trip to Barcelona during Covid, and only just got around to it.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Tbf, I knew there was trouble brewing when we landed at the airport and no-clipped into the Backrooms.
Eerie children's play area at Barcelona Airport.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Currently in the hotel with a jug of sangria 😅
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The loudest thunderstorm I've ever been in. Thor is pissed at somebody.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
So yeah, not great. But we're here a bit longer regardless so we'll make the best of it.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Then this morning, everything is covered in "Tourists Go Home" graffiti. (I mean, tourists always go home, otherwise we'd be immigrants). Snapped these pics from a tour bus full of tourists, natch.
Entrance to protest camp in Barcelona.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
We ducked down a sidestreet and took a circuitous route back, actually weaving between piles of burning trash to get back.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Yes, the protests about housing/rent prices turned into full on riots. We very nearly got caught up in it as rioters broke through police cordons and started pelting riot vans, running up the road towards us. (The police all turned tail and drove off, like Sir Robin off of Monty Python).
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
And then last night, this was our walk back to the hotel:
Fires lit on La Rambla during civil unrest
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Similar thing yesterday morning with civil alerts on our phones due to flash floods. We were, unfortunately, already out on the bus when the alert hit, which was fun...
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I haven't posted about it yet, but I'm currently in Barcelona. And friends, I have picked the worst time imaginable to be here. I'm currently looking at a storm of biblical proportions. The thunder is shaking the hotel.
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Jim Rossignol @rossignol.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This gets said constantly, but it worth reiterating: Games Workshop being bigger than fishing is important to shout about because you wouldn't know it from government talking points, which are rarely about anything creative or artistic. Growth won't involve fish or steel, it will involve goblins.
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wade of mutilation @waderockett.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A panel from the comic Strange Tales #98. An extreme close up of a sly frog thinking, “There is only ONE way out! I must sleep—sleep for a thousand years!”
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Radio Times @radiotimes.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Christmas is coming... and so is another spine-tingling Ghost Story from Mark Gatiss. ❄️ This year, Martin Freeman and Jim Broadbent lead the cast of The Bride's Chamber, based on one of Charles Dickens's darkest tales. www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/mark-…
Martin Freeman as Goodchild in A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Bride's Chamber, sitting in a chair in a dimly lit room with a big bushy beard wearing a smoking jacket.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Bringing the #horrorthon up to date: - Body Bags (1993) 🦇🦇(An anthology movie I’d never seen, and feat. Mark Hamill? Sign me up) - The Beyond (1981) 🦇 - Cry Wolf (2005) 🦇 - Snatchers (2019) 🦇🦇 - Midnight Movie (2008) 🦇🦇 (The idea is better than the execution. Borderline 1 or 2 bats)
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Khonri 🫜🎃 @khonri.com · 04/10/2026
I'm feeling attacked by @theonion.com but also 10/10.
"How a Book Becomes A Bestseller, The Onion demystifies the publishing process."

1. Proletariat becomes literate. 
2. Author's creative inspiration flourishes upon marrying spouse with high-earning, unethical job.
3. Author chooses magical being to have sex with, then works backwards.
4. Author lands agent by running full speed into them while holding loose-leaf copy of manuscript.
5. Penguin Random House blackmailed into seven-figure book deal.
6. Editor removes typos and originality.
7. Famous author who hasn't read book reminded they got three glowing blurbs last year from authors who hadn't read theirs.
8. Publisher contacts Merriam-Webster to license all words it's using.
9. Marketing completely misrepresents plot, tone, and author.
10. Terrified independent bookstore owners gamble their razor-thin profit margin on this one.
11. PR firm hires thousands of people through Craigslist to performatively read book on subway.
12. Colman Domingo, contractually obligated to appear in all things, voices audiobook.
13. New York Times oracle nods.
14. Book written for sole purpose of becoming movie becomes movie.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Can confirm, after years and years of running an investigative Cthulhu by Gaslight campaign. But every time they got stuck or overlooked something, and I offered to give them an Idea Roll, my players be like:
static.klipy.com
Mrs Doyle: No Clues!
ALT: Mrs Doyle: No Clues!
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Not @fenrisgames.com sending me a complimentary test pack of bases (and sweets!) just because I've been pestering for ages 😅 Ian is a superstar. This is why independent businesses are the best.
Pack of resin bases for wargames miniatures from Fenris Games.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I could never get into Traitors, but ended up really enjoying last year's celebrity series. Already totally love Richard E Grant in this series.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
One thing I'll be doing in the interim is working up a bespoke version of the rules. We started with Black Sword Hack, but it's not quite working for us. I've bought a bunch of other Black Hack variants, but all we do is take rules from here and there to Frankenstein them. Time to write my own!
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Anyway, we went out on a high, with @andywordyhall.bsky.social's thief leading a Wight Lord all over the dungeon, Benny Hill style, so it could get mugged by a vengeful undead treeman. The Barbarian discovered he can now Turn Undead, and everyone else got ambushed by a gigantic black widow spider.
static.klipy.com
Naughty Little Fly, Why Does It Cry?
ALT: Naughty Little Fly, Why Does It Cry?
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Last night I ran a sort of mid-season finale for our long-running Fighting Fantasy ttrpg campaign. I have a few years' worth of material still to run, but I need a break from GM duties. Step forward @gavthorpe.co.uk to run a Mothership campaign while I recharge the batteries! 
static.klipy.com
What the DM Doin'? D&D Cartoon Meme
ALT: What the DM Doin'? D&D Cartoon Meme
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Bob Dylan supposedly called it the greatest song ever written. Definitely one of my favourites (always makes me smile when it pops up on the playlist somewhere between Metallica and Rage Against the Machine).
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
If you climb a different type of plant, you just get bombarded with songs by the Cureheads tribute band instead. Which is pretty close tbf.
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Acid Rain @bearysweet.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The colder autumn nights in Germany coaxes this magnificent eagle, Oropherion, to spend his nights in his heated indoor winter aviary. This is an African Martial Eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus), the largest eagle species native to Africa. (Cr @birdsofprey_nathalie_denolf) #birds #eagle
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alyson “october” greaves @badambulist.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Imagine looking at the media landscape—music, books, movies—and concluding that it would be better if it were all simply infinite reflections of yourself, if you never had to be exposed to another personality, another experience, another life. Just you, you, you. Sounds fucking horrifying.
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Thomas Ha @thomasha.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
i should clarify, when i write people doing bad things, it's because i am bad. they are me. more importantly, when you read about those bad things, they also become you. that's how story works. in fact, you are going to think about murder before this skeet ends. how's that feel, sicko.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Yes Gladiator Thumbs Up
ALT: Yes Gladiator Thumbs Up
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Oh, Night of the Demons (plural) is a different movie. Night of the Demon (aka Curse of the Demon) is one of all-time favourite films. 3 Bats all day long.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Ah, but I didn't see it as a continuation of the creepypastas, but rather as a "reboot" intended for wider audiences. So I think it needed that slow burn creepfest, the horror of getting lost in liminal space, and "monsters" that are completely inhuman.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I just elaborated on it slightly in the thread. I just thought the hints of Backroom exploration that top and tail the movie were way more interesting than the story they ended up telling. And it got very wild very quickly - the one time I *want* A24 to make a slow burn movie, they don't do it 😆
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Aside #2: I have real issues with A24 movies generally, which I know is a very controversial stance for a horror fan, because they are flying the flag for the genre. IMO (which counts for very little 😅), Backrooms just... told entirely the wrong story, in entirely the wrong style.
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Mark A. Latham @markalatham.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Aside #1: I’ve been to the USA a few times, but always stuck to the major cities. The only traditional small town I’ve visited is Ellicott City, which is the setting for Butterfly Kisses. (Apparently the “Peeping Tom” is a local urban legend). Quite unusual for me to know the locations in a US film.
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