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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 4h

Yes I remember that. I think there was maybe a TV series as well but not certain.

Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 9h

I read a few of his when I worked at James Thins - Player of Games, and Consider Phlebas for sure but the others I can't remember definitely, and only Player has left much impression 3 decades later. Banks himself seems to have been a lovely guy - we swapped emails once and he was charming.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 9h

2/ anotehr of the Reid girls and she is described as having peach coloured hair down below, that that was a tell about a connection to Joleta, but then that was later contradicted from what I recall. Probably a peach-red herring!

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 9h

Simon was "intermittently fertile" I think was the phrase Dorothy used. All to do with him wearing armour too often for his jousting practice allegedly! 😉 Sometime I'll need to dig through the discussions we had on Dunnetworks 20-odd years ago. Many had assumed that when Nick finds Henry with /2

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 9h

2/ That's all from memory and it's a while since I studied it properly so I may be misremembering the details, but that was the gist of it. Corrections welcome from anybody that studied it more recently.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 9h

That was certainly an early theory but seems to have been discarded later. Dorothy apparently said "Close the book on Bonne" at a gathering. The theory was that Simon got one of his conquests (Muriella?) pregnant and Conn Malloch married her and they left Scotland. Malloch later became Mallett. /2

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 10h

It's ages since I delved into that in detail so I may be a bit hazy. IIRC it was decided that it wasn't via Henry (which had been suspected ), but may have been through Simon. So very distant and not direct from Nicholas, but a slight link. Unlike most Scottish houses being closely related! 😉

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 11h

What an intriguing question. Sadly I have no idea, and short of there being something in Alastair's archived papers (which might be unlikely if there was an MI6 connection) I can't imagine how else we could find out. Would be lovely if there is a way of finding out.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 12h

Sounds like you're getting the idea! 😉 There are a couple of family trees created by readers but they aren't 100% reliable. One of them includes stuff that was in Dorothy's archives as early possible plans and experiments and were later discarded.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 12h

4/ society matters. Naturally there is some crossover of background information about Dorothy but the sites serve different purposes and co-exist happily.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 12h

3/ I was on the original DDS council for many years and was chairman for a time, and fully support them. Contrary to one article that appeared on the web there is no rivalry whatsoever - I built and maintain the first ever Dunnett website with Dorothy's help, while the society website focuses on /4

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 12h

2/ users addresses on any particular topic. There are plans for Bluesky to have a communities feature but how exactly it'll work isn't yet clear. The DDS is well worth joining for the excellent quarterly magazine and if you want to attend events in person or via some new online events. /3

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 12h

To clarify, the DDS is the main community *out in the real world*. Their account represents them here and notifies of their activities. However no organisation is a community *on Bluesky* - the nearest there are to communities currently is Customs Feeds like #Dunnettcontent or Starter Packs of /2

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 12h

2/ you've finished the series you can follow the feed and individuals for further discussion. We do tend to discuss Lymond more than Niccolo - have you read Lymond? - but probably best to make sure nothing spoils your read.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 12h

If this is your first read of Niccolo then you probably want to avoid spoilers. If you follow the feed you might run into them, but if you don't follow it but use the #Niccolo hashtag on your posts then we'll all see them and can respond without revealing anything prematurely. Later when /2

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Most readers that know of us follow me and/or the DDS, but the feed gives folk a better chance of finding us. In the same way things like Booksky or Historical Fiction+ are basically just a feed.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Yes, and the all-round cooking experience to give it a damn good try. I bet you've never burnt toffee!

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

@snek.bsky.social Are you aware there's a Dunnett community here? Not sure how many have also read Banks (I have but it was 25 years ago) but we'll talk your ears off about Dorothy given half a chance! 😉 See the #Dunnettcontent feed.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Yes, that's what I was always told - needs to be just right. I don't recall ever trying to make it unless I was very young, but I doubt mum could have taught me because she would usually burn toffee if she tried to make it at Halloween!

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The basic recipe is disarmingly simple, but unless you have Scots Granny on hand to teach you the skills it can require something akin to witchcraft. 😉 www.scotsmagazine.com/articles/sco... or scottishscran.com/traditional-...

scottishscran.com

Traditional Homemade Scottish Tablet Recipe

This traditional Scottish tablet recipe is made easy with a few helpful hints! It's easy to make Scottish tablet at home if you follow these steps.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Tourists may visit Scotland for the scenery, or the golf, or the whisky, but they go home talking of tablet. Now, imagine if you will mixing it with Orkney Ice Cream - that delight exists and one night in a Kirkwall restaurant I had heaven - Sticky Toffee pudding with Orkney Fudge Ice Cream!

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The sugariest sugar concoction known to man. Vaguely related to fudge but much better. Scottish of course. Guaranteed to have children bouncing off the ceiling! Last time we discussed it someone found this description

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Sacrilege! Anything that's less than 150% sugar isn't tablet! 😜🤪

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Just uploaded the latest in the Lymond reading notes. The Papingo shoot and fortune tellers tent. www.dorothydunnett.co.uk/blog/lymond-...

dorothydunnett.co.uk

The Play for Jonathan Crouch – VII: A Variety of Mating Replies | Bill's Dunnett Blog

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I suspect Venice is damp enough to survive a torching unscathed😉 Easyjet's website on the other hand....

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I've rebooked from Ljubljana for next Saturday, having found a bus that gets me there in time that wasn't there when I first researched that possibility. I'll make absolutely sure it exists before believing it! Trieste always seems to need 2 changes to get anywhere useful for me.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I've just about calmed down now. This afternoon, when i was fighting bus and train and plane websites trying to find an alternative, my mood was tending towards Lymond after finding Oonagh's body.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Degree modules: Twisting rich men around your finger. Self defence against assassins. Wriggling up from the bottom of the bed. Spinet tuning and playing. Becoming the power behind the throne.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

A logistical nightmare that started with, of all things, a food festival that closed a car park, has meant I couldn't make my flight and I've had to reschedule it for 8 days time. Brassed off (as well as considerably poorer - airline flight changes are a total rip-off).

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Makes you wonder if men who work in "AI" should banned from being parents.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Preparing to head to Edinburgh tomorrow from Venice airport - best part of 12 hours travelling. Going to see a dear friend who has a spinal tumour. Brilliant musician, we've known each other since we were 16 and shared countless gigs, and times good and bad. He always had my back. Hang in there man

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Yes, I know. Is it still on public display? (Readers visiting Edinburgh occasionally ask me questions like that.)

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

He's just adorable! 😍 And you look as if you won't stop smiling for a month.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Did you ever manage to find a drive that could read Dorothy Dunnett's 8" discs?

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Reposted by Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Paul Chamberlain @paulchamberlain.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

October Mood - Callanish

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This particular building it may depend on the load-bearing elements around the windows and how thick they are. From what I remember they were kept fairly minimal so the windows hardly appeared surrounded. Each module of the building was a hexagon shape. c20society.org.uk/buildings-at...

c20society.org.uk

Scottish Widows Headquarters, Edinburgh – The Twentieth Century Society

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Might need a lot of curtains, or swap the bronze heat-blocking glass for the stuff that can be made opaque switchably.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Sounds like an insurer's sob story. I had one here in Slovenia as part of a series of tests 4 years ago. 1 junior guy brought me the laxative, 1 doctor and 1 nurse/technician did the procedure. Simple, quick, professional, and only mild discomfort. Nothing to fear.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

My dad was in charge of the company who fitted the windows and aluminium surrounds. While they did a great job within the design specs, he never liked the design and was astonished when someone told him it was one of the most beautiful building he'd ever seen.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

@support.bsky.team I've noticed that my muted words, which are all set to Forever, keep expiring. Happened again today after I just reset them a few days ago. Any explanation why this is happening?

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

How about they section them for being obvious sociopaths?

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Thank heavens. Not as if a vaguely intelligent senior executive couldn't have predicted the problem and avoided it.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

And of course if management replaces all the junior developers with "AI" for the simple stuff, then eventually there'll be no experienced developers to check the complex stuff. Sure I read an SF novel predicting that in the 60's.

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Bill Marshall 🇸🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @spiderbill.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Ouch! That's a screwed up process. I merely had an email account that refused utterly to connect to the server. Only been doing this for 30 years and just could not fix it. Weird.

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