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Seán Padraic Birnie

@seanbirnie.bsky.social
331 followers 581 following 633 posts

seanbirnie.com undertowpublications.com/shop/i-wou… Short stories in ergot, Weird Horror, Interzone, Remains & elsewhere me/cfs

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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 16h
I’m not sure I’ve ever been to the cinema on my own before, but today I took myself to see Resident Evil, which was great fun. Better than Weapons, I think; or perhaps it simply didn’t seem as if there was a better film lurking somewhere within it. V entertaining.
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Working my way through the latest issue of Weird Horror from @undertow.bsky.social and this piece from @kayv.bsky.social is an absolute banger. Timely, poignant, and filled with vivid, weird prose. www.weirdhorrormagazine.com/kettleman
weirdhorrormagazine.com
Kettleman — Weird Horror Magazine
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
palegreyidol.ca Check it out, or suffer excruciating FOMO
palegreyidol.ca
Pale Grey Idol
Weird tales from the best contemporary writers
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
www.thedarkmagazine.com/tarantula/ "Boredom can make you do terrible things." 'Tarantula' has found itself in excellent company, rubbing shoulders with Eric Schaller, Malena Salazar Maciá, and Steve Rasnic Tem.
thedarkmagazine.com
Tarantula - The Dark Magazine
That was a long summer—you know the sort: a heatwave we thought would never end, days we thought would never end. After the brouhaha died down, I swore myself to silence. I was eleven years old. It wa...
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Steve Toase @stevetoase.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Started Pale Grey Idol from @undertow.bsky.social and just read Flume by @seanbirnie.bsky.social. One of those places that perfectly captures the menace of the familiar turned unfamiliar. Reminded me (in a very good way) of The Wasp Factory.
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Rob the Bastard, Lord of Misrule @robtruestories.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Message from a reader of In the Shadow of the Phosphorous Dawn: This book is fucking epic! I’ve been locked in from the first word. Gutted as I have to go out for the evening and I just want to stay and finish it, but also don’t want it to finish. The way it’s written is Art and then some. Later:
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Zachary Gillan @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Just reminded of this excellent story by @clairedean.bsky.social from almost a decade ago. Weird fiction is good, you guys.
thedarkmagazine.com
The Unwish - The Dark Magazine
One step inside and Amy knew there was something she’d forgotten. She heaved her rucksack over the threshold and counted the carrier bags she’d lugged up from the Co-op in the town. Four, which was ri...
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Weightless Books @weightlessbooks.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A new folk horror series from @undertow.bsky.social! PALE GREY IDOL ZERO includes work from @seanbirnie.bsky.social, @brianevenson.bsky.social, @stevetoase.bsky.social and more: weightlessbooks.com/pale-grey-id...
Cover for PALE GREY IDOL issue zero, featuring a stylized mask
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
www.thedarkmagazine.com/tarantula/ "Boredom can make you do terrible things." 'Tarantula' has found itself in excellent company, rubbing shoulders with Eric Schaller, Malena Salazar Maciá, and Steve Rasnic Tem.
thedarkmagazine.com
Tarantula - The Dark Magazine
That was a long summer—you know the sort: a heatwave we thought would never end, days we thought would never end. After the brouhaha died down, I swore myself to silence. I was eleven years old. It wa...
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Somehow managed to completely forget that I had a new story out in this month’s issue of The Dark.
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ThereForME @thereforme.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The Guardian has published our letter responding to George Monbiot's article about how people with ME are abandoned, dismissed and gaslighted. We point out the inadequate political attention, and call for action from the Health & Social Care Select Committee. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
George Monbiot is right to draw attention to the “shocking social crisis playing out behind closed doors” for people living with ME. Not only is ME a devastating condition, but too often those affected are failed by the very systems meant to care for them.

The level of political attention the issue has received is nowhere close to the scale of the problem. The government’s strategy on ME, published over a year ago, lacked both substantive funding and outcome targets. Its key action for those affected by the most severe form of ME – “exploring” whether a specialised service could be commissioned – is now delayed until April 2027. We hope that, as a first step, the health and social care select committee will take up this critical issue as a matter of urgency.
Karen Hargrave and Emma Gore-Lloyd
Co-founders, ThereForME charity
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Imagine being at LinkedIn for 18 years. I log in every four months out of morbid curiosity and every time it is full of new scarcely credible horrors
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
palegreyidol.ca Check it out, or suffer excruciating FOMO
palegreyidol.ca
Pale Grey Idol
Weird tales from the best contemporary writers
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Sick new journal just dropped
Front cover of Pale Grey IdolToC of of Pale Grey IdolFirst page of my story Flume from Pale Grey Idol
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Steve Toase @stevetoase.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Publication Day! Very happy to have 'Floodlands', a new weird horror story in this new journal from @undertow.bsky.social, alongside some wonderful writers like @brianevenson.bsky.social, @seanbirnie.bsky.social , and Kathleen Wallace King. palegreyidol.ca
The cover of the new journal from Undertow called Pale Grey Idol, showing a ta Moko tattoo design on a black backgroun.
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
A lovely day but absolutely bereft of motivation. I am going through a Process at work and perhaps that’s in play. To make matters worse, someone called ‘chasingflowers’ just executed me online.
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Extremely pleased to have a story in the first issue of Pale Grey Idol, in such fine company.
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Dim Shores @dimshores.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Weird Horror magazine from @undertow.bsky.social never misses. Michael Kelly has a knack for recognizing and spotlighting amazing writers, many of who are new to me. Read this story (free), and if you like it as much as I do, consider a WH subscription. So good.
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
AC email edition featuring new work by Harrison F. Dietzman, an excerpt from @alextretbar.bsky.social's new DOGSMIND, updates on @sarpsozdinler.bsky.social and @seanbirnie.bsky.social, & an honestly wild number of coincidences
alwayscrashingmagazine.substack.com
“A Necessary Illusion of Predictability”
featuring ouroboroses, ouroboroi, riverrun, the media household income in the state of Oregon, future iterations of Oregon, and a frankly unplanned-upon number of coincidences throughout
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
no I do not want to generate some genmoji, fuck off!!
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Jordan @jordanpfot.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I accidentally spent £17,700 on 400 subscriptions to the LRB for Home Office staff and now the Life in the UK test is asking applicants to rank Derek Jarman films from most to least emotionally resonant?
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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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Stuart Hall Foundation @stuarthallfdn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Our next conversation in this year's Reading the Crisis series features Richard Seymour (@leninology.bsky.social) discussing his book Disaster Nationalism and democracy with @bizk.bsky.social. 📆 Weds 30 September 🕠 5.30pm - 7pm BST 📍 Online Register: www.stuarthallfoundation.org/events/readi...
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Cornell University treating Gaza protestors more harshly than gang rapists is a real statement of values. It’s almost like violent domination by the powerful is the core belief of leadership.
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Undertow Publications 🇨🇦 @undertow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
New story day at Weird Horror. Enjoy Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece's fever dream "The Invisible Method." www.weirdhorrormagazine.com/invisible
weirdhorrormagazine.com
Invisible — Weird Horror Magazine
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
We fear the dreaded norovirus has returned. Paint a cross on our door. In quite extraordinary pain.
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Rex Burrows @improbablerex.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
It’s the first day of autumn here in DC and thus a perfect time for my contributor copies of Supernatural Tales issue 62 to arrive.
Two copies of Supernatural Tales issue 62, Autumn 2026First page of the story “Down” by Rex Burrows.
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Old British Telly @oldbritishtelly.co.uk · 27/09/2026
[1963] Snow – Hypnotic British Transport Film showing the efforts of railway workmen to keep trains running in hazardous snowy conditions.
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Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Good morning. Today, I'm going to give a little push to my second collection of stories, 'Intervals of Darkness', from 2024, partly because I think of it as particularly autumnal. www.amazon.co.uk/Intervals-Da...
The cover of Intervals of Darkness in black and red with an image of a figure being stalked through a dark space by an unseen figure, with a quote from author John Grindrod: "Existing somewhere between Robert Aickman and J.G. Ballard, these blackly funny tales are sure to chill you, no matter how high you turn the central heating."
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Wyrd Science Magazine @wyrdscience.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
new favourite Smaug dropped
the 1968 "pleasure in reading" edition of the hobbit featuring an adorable bright pink Smaug torching the inhabitants of lake town
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It’s always quite incredible when you talk to a doctor who absolutely gets it.
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I wonder if I could write an Omelas bit in the style of that William Carlos Williams poem about plums: the ultimate final form of an annoying bluesky post.
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Undertow Publications 🇨🇦 @undertow.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Just arrived. Fab book day. @clarecavenagh.bsky.social 's TILLINGHAST. And the lovely chapbook "Some Thoughts on Horror,' by Brian J. Showers, who runs the fab press @swanriverpress.bsky.social . The chapbook is published by our friends @calquepress.bsky.social
Left, hardcover of TILLINGHAST (upside down figure on red background). Right, chapbook od "Some Thoughts on Horror" (purple background with vine.
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
What a book this is, and what a cover. Great review. 'Scold's Bridle: A Cruelty' lodged itself in my head -- I still think about it a lot. Need to get some of Gavin's other books.
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Scared.
The booklet from the Arrow 4K UHD release of Audition.
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Ahhhhh @nerdjpg.com · 02/04/2026
“It is a striking indication of the social and cultural decay inherent in the final stages of capitalism, when elaborate scientific methods begin to be used, no longer to promote, but to eliminate intelligence from among the workers, because intelligent workers become Communists.” R. P. Dutt (1934)
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Absolutely did not just pre-order The Origins of J-Horror (1989 - 2023) on Bluray. No I did not
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
666 words on my slaughter house story, which now stands at 6,477 word in total. And ending, or at least a final third, is slowly coming into view. Not bad given all the recent sickness etc
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
What a book this is, and what a cover. Great review. 'Scold's Bridle: A Cruelty' lodged itself in my head -- I still think about it a lot. Need to get some of Gavin's other books.
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Turns out Naproxen is pretty good.
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Thomas Ha @thomasha.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Recently read and really enjoyed this one. It's got the rhythm.
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
finally, hope for me and for those like me.
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Long Covid Advocacy @longcovidadvoc.com · 24/09/2026
Extraordinary to see ME covered like this in mainstream media. The truth is the neglect is so staggering people can't believe it. As George says " has seldom been a stronger case for a public inquiry." 🖇️article 👇
Across the decades, millions of people have been neglected, dismissed and mistreated, and still it goes on. We need to ask why so many patients have been abandoned, why discredited and dangerous treatments continue to be prescribed and why ignorance and neglect still dominate, in the health system and beyond. In other words, there has seldom been a stronger case for a public inquiry.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Here's today's column on the astonishing, ongoing mistreatment of people with #ME/CFS. Please spread it far and wide: the only thing which can break the media's wall of indifference is seeing an article about the issue go viral. Thank you. 1/2 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Abandoned, dismissed and gaslighted: there is no excuse for the way ME sufferers have been betrayed | George Monbiot
Changes in guidance and science seem to have little impact on millions of devastated lives. It’s a social crisis playing out behind closed doors, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
explaining to my partner that I really do need a new way to make coffee, I only have seven.
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Andy Kelly @ultrabrilliant.xyz · 22/09/2026
Very much enjoying all the mundanely familiar UK scenery details in Silent Hill: Townfall.
A phone box.One of those things on the street that says H on it. I see them every day and I still have no idea what they are.A good old-fashioned British bin.A dead end sign.
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Hari Kunzru @harikunzru.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Arrest and prosecute “Danny Tommo” or lose the country to the Fascists. That’s the choice here
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David Hayden @seventydys.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Autumn fiction: ‘The Unspoken’ @grantamag.bsky.social. granta.com/the-unspoken/
GRANTA
The Unspoken
David Hayden
Horror from David Hayden. 'A shuddering, wordless voice rose in the distance, and another, and another; a chorus, a lament, which ended in a low grunt. There was a coda of sobbing. There was silence?
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Solaris Books @solarisbooks.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
We're delighted to see that M. John Harrison's stunning literary speculative novel, THE END OF EVERYTHING, from our sister imprint @serpents-tail.bsky.social, has been shortlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize!!!!! 'A visionary and brilliant investigation of anxious times' CHINA MIÉVILLE
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Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Space stations.
If you put your camera on the pole of a street sign, pointing upwards, you get something that looks a bit like a spaceship stretching into the distance.A complex structure with towers and walls. (The view up a street sign pole to the various bits of stuff fixed at the top.)
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