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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him)

@stewarthotston.com
3.2K followers 859 following 3.9K posts

Author, LARP, physics, economics. Subjective Chaos, BSFA, BFA finalist. Board @SoA, Treasurer @BFS, Chair @BSFA. Rep:John Baker @PFD. Writer @ (hugo winner) Nerds of a feather stewarthotston.com Last: The next enemy Next: Mage against the machine (05/27)

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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 3h
a good edit reminds you that you can write well. It also reminds you that you have bad habits, blind spots and an infinite scope for improvement. I love getting edits because each one improves my craft even when it's in the service of recognising 'this change doesn't work'.
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Failbetter Games | Wishlist Mandrake on Steam! @failbettergames.com · 10h
The role will close to applications on the 21st of October. To apply, please read the full job posting and follow the link to the application form from there; there's significantly more detail, especially on what we can offer as an employer.
failbettergames.com
Writer and Narrative Designer (Senior/Mid-Level)
We’re looking for a Writer and Narrative Designer to join our small in-house team at either a senior or mid level, working specifically on Fallen London.
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British Fantasy Society @britfantasysoc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
We're officially in the countdown to Fantasycon 2026: just 10 days until we meet in Glasgow! Tickets are still available for both individual days & the whole weekend. Full programme (including the British Fantasy Awards!) & ticket details are on our website: britishfantasysociety.org/events-2/fan...
A graphic advertises 10 days until Fantasycon 2026, to be held from 9-11 October in Glasgow. It's illustrated with tentacles and parchment paper
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 29/09/2026
A review of the darkly funny, and delightfully gory, Resident Evil. A good film, not just a good video game film
stewarthotston.com
Review: Resident Evil
Zach Cregger's new Resident Evil film is a blast. It's a gory, silly blast of a film with some neat jump scares, beautiful composition and stylishly constructed cinematography. It's also perfectly paced - never outstaying its welcome and delivering to the viewer a sense of the worst night in the world for an ordinary schlub who is trying their best.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 29/09/2026
I've had a deeply, awfully scabrous idea for a novel from a piece of horrible news media this week. I'm not sure I could write it but I think it deserves to be written.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 29/09/2026
Please, please, please give this some love
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 29/09/2026
Come see me flail using a flail.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 28/09/2026
as for Control Resonant, there's a big portion of game that's a little like a spiderman game but then...then it goes hard and gets both weird and very, very beautiful.
A dancer holding two batons in the air. Plus the title Control Resonant. The dancer's legs are covered in blood but her torso is stark, crisp white.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 28/09/2026
I have just watched the Korean film, Hope. I have questions.
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Nerds of a Feather @nerdsofafeather.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Game Review: Denshattack! Alex Wallace goes off the rails on this review. You won't want to miss it at the NOAF blog www.nerds-feather.com/2026/09/revi...
nerds-feather.com
Game Review: Denshattack!
Is there somewhere we can play? Again and again and again... Look. I’m autistic. As you can imagine, I like trains. Sure, I’m not the bigg...
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 26/09/2026
Control as an allegory for trans self-discovery is super interesting - through both games the sense of Jesse and Dylan as mirrors of one another and absent when the other is present. The alienation of world, the strange transforming qualities of it. Hmmmm. Am reminded of I Saw The TV Glow
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 26/09/2026
The other song of the morning? This from Control Resonant:
music.apple.com
Say What by CONTROL Resonant on Apple Music
Song · 2026 · Duration 3:23
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 26/09/2026
have been watching Kaiju No 8 and this is the title music to the second series and it's a wonderful little track:
music.apple.com
Beautiful Colors - Single by OneRepublic on Apple Music
Album · 2025 · 4 Songs
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 25/09/2026
Control Resonant has such attention to detail it’s incredible
An image in an art gallery jn Control Resonant. Incredible attention to detail.
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Ada Lovelace Day @adalovelaceday.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
help me cover travel costs for these events via a small donation. Industry no longer feels the need to support organisations like ALD, but the work still needs doing, so I'm hoping the community will step in! www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-fi...
gofundme.com
Donate to Help Me Finish My Workplace Gender Equity Report, organized by Suw Charman-Anderson
What are the barriers preventing gender equity in the workplac… Suw Charman-Anderson needs your support for Help Me Finish My Workplace Gender Equity Report
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 24/09/2026
morning everyone, what's occurring?
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Nerds of a Feather @nerdsofafeather.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Anime Review: Sparks of Tomorrow Intriguing quirky animation and cozy, alternate history vibes @annmichelleharris.bsky.social has our review www.nerds-feather.com/2026/09/anim...
nerds-feather.com
Anime Review: Sparks of Tomorrow
Intriguing quirky animation and cozy, alternate history vibes Sparks of Tomorrow is the latest contribution to the cozy/comfort anime genre...
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 23/09/2026
A review of the absolutely fantastic Pressure. #reviews #film #pressure
stewarthotston.com
Pressure – a film about competent people being brilliant
Pressure sees Brendan Fraser and Andrew Scott in Antony Maras' World War II film set in the days leading up to D-Day. Written by David Haig, the film follows Scott's meteorologist as he leaves his very pregnant wife at home and heads to the command control centre where the final preparations are being made for invasion. Starting with the disaster that was Exercise Tiger which saw small differences in equipment lead to large scale loss of life when different parts of the operation couldn't talk to one another, we watch as good people who are excellent at what they do undertake extremely hard jobs without clarity and certainty.
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Roseanna Pendlebury @chloroformtea.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The goodreads reviews of The End of Everything are just phenomenal.
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Todd S. Jordan @toddsjordan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
My debut horror novel THE FLESH I WANT is now available to request on NetGalley and I think that’s rad!
A copy of the book THE FLESH I WANT by Todd S. Jordan. Man, it looks so cool. The text beside it says, “Available now on NetGalley. Titan Books.”
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 22/09/2026
Control Resonant is beautiful.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 21/09/2026
I’m reading proofs of the next novel and have reached the stage where i’m really not in love with my writing anymore. Absolutely normal but still makes it difficicult.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 21/09/2026
These short stories about London’s future were performed by @liarsleague.bsky.social in Fitzrovia recently. They’re all inspired by what might come to the city in the next few years. The performances aRe brilliant, so go see for yourself :-)
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 21/09/2026
I'm gonna be there buying more books. You should come along too! We can buy books together!
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 21/09/2026
morning folks, what have you got happening this week? I'm mainly writing and then preparing for a weekend of tabletop games with a crew of intrepid but... determinedly inept adventurers.
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British Fantasy Society @britfantasysoc.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
24 hours left! Book yours now!
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 19/09/2026
A review of the brilliantly stupid and pretty damn funny, Heads of State #reviews #movies #film
stewarthotston.com
Heads of State – stupid, oh so brilliantly stupid
Heads of State is showing on Amazon Prime and directed by Nobody (2021) director, Ilya Niashuller. I was having one of those days where I needed something which didn't need me to think and, hopefully, would make me laugh. Heads of State on Prime had been popping up on their recommendations as I'd been making my way through other shows and, well, the trailer is actually solidly funny.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 19/09/2026
What was good this week? Played the first test of an RPG I've written to be published alongside two novels coming next year from Harper Collins. It was SO much fun. I'm well into the new space opera and it is a story about catching a serial killer that is also a meditation on the nature of art
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Speculative Insight journal @speculativeinsight.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
A new essay! In which Dove Cooper explores aspec traces and resonances in John Wiswell's novels. Subscribe now to read it: AUD30 (~GBP16, USD22) - and get the back catalogue and the next 11 subscriber essays too! www.speculativeinsight.com Ping @dovelynnwriter.bsky.social.
Purple background, white text, which says the fact is that many readers do not know what asexual and aromatic resonances and traces may look like when they are employed deliberately and without relying on stereotypes. "His Family of Monsters" -- SL Dove Cooper
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 18/09/2026
@mattrodda.bsky.social @andyburnham.bsky.social why isn't the government protecting these people? Why are you actually protecting far right terrorists who cover their faces and doxx innocent people to make them fear doing what's right?
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 18/09/2026
apropo of nothing but for the first time in a couple of years I'm able to concentrate on non-fiction. Not for very long (c.10-15mins at most before I zone out) but that feels really good. #CFS #Longcovid
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 17/09/2026
today is markov boundaries, consciousness and the measurement problem. This novel's going to get a list of papers referenced I think.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 16/09/2026
@jayrayner1.bsky.social hey. Do you know what’s happened to the kitchen cabinet? It’s not updating on itunes and BBC Sounds has just one episode…i’m kinda looking for cosy listening and 53 series appear To have gone awol.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 16/09/2026
@louiestowell.bsky.social a friend has an 8 year old boy who she wants to introduce to some fiction that gives space to women to be whoever they want to be. Could you recommend anything with that specifically in mind?
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 16/09/2026
It's not a surprise that a rural village full of Whites state that they hate brown people. What's more surprising is that anyone takes them seriously. Oh, wait, checks notes. Nope, sorry, it is equally unsurprising that British media lauds these smug self-satisfied gutter racists.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 15/09/2026
@gregorylouden.bsky.social this was a perfect game, honestly. So well told and Sam Slater on the soundtrack was chef's kiss.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 15/09/2026
A review of a film that doesn't exist - Raiders of the Lost Park. Have fun.
stewarthotston.com
Fake review: Raiders of the Lost Park
Merlin Fiesta's break out 1981 action horror film, or at least the one that earned him 'fuck you' money and had his name on the lips of a thousand parents wondering what to name their babes. Often mistaken by Gen Z for the 1992 cult film, Traders of the Lost Arch, a magical realist film starring Windy Clothesline about the lost MacDonalds of Soho in London and the tribe of graduates who call it home and finishes with the Battle of Grosvenor Square between the heroes and the army of CBRE's surveyors and their hedge fund overlords.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 15/09/2026
I really loved this game!
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 14/09/2026
If you're coming to FantasyCon, the British Fantasy Awards are presented at the banquet - tickets for that are only on sale until 21st September.
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sunyi @sunyidean.com · 14/09/2026
A question posed by @franceswrites.bsky.social during a long industry discussion. Can you think of a SFF book in the past 5 years which was a breakout success, WITHOUT being a) in a crate; b) from an established author; c) an indie success ported to trad? Cause we were struggling.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 14/09/2026
today is more on the space opera about the nature of art featuring serial killers who kill entire civilisations as artworks and the artist hunting them down.
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Indie Book Spotlight @bookspotlight.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Please read my book reviews 🥺👉👈 I’m trying so hard to get eyes on indie books and I swear these are my most overlooked posts every time. On my book page.
Crying cat in a towel
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 13/09/2026
@worrad.bsky.social i did not expect to read the line ‘the king is lactating’. Nice work.
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Ali Baker @alisonbaker01.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Wake up* babes**, there’s a new Fantasy Book Swap episode! alibaker68.podbean.com/e/ep-58-a-re...
alibaker68.podbean.com
Ep 58: A Real Boy with Gary Couzens | Fantasy Book Swap
Gary's book choice: The Devil's Children by Peter Dickinson  Ali's book choice: Tin by Padraig Kenny  The book covers while I try to be a book influencer The Changes TV show trailer Anna Home, childre...
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 12/09/2026
Just finished the starving saints by @caitlinstarling.com. What a book! Lustrous, grimy, fleshy and poetic and a book about lock down and loss and what that did to us who aren’t blessed to forget. Highly recommend folks. Full review to come at the usual place.
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Dr Stew Hotston (he/him) @stewarthotston.com · 12/09/2026
I was surprised by just how funny this was but there's also some weird choices in here. #booksky #fantasy #reviews
stewarthotston.com
The Devils – a great ride with some glaring omissions
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie is the first of a new series set in a medieval version of our world. It is different in some important respects but basically sets itself in a renaissance Europe where pre-Protestant Christianity remains ascendent but monsters and ghouls, necromancers and vampires are a real thing that the church must face, control and protect its citizens from.
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Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 11/09/2026
The Iron Crown by @llmacrae.bsky.social is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky
The cover of The Iron Crown by LL MacRae alongside the BookMatch logo and the text: Check out this Indie Fantasy book available for review on BookMatch.co.uk.
Text reads: Fenn’s first and only memory is finding himself in the middle of a forest, face to face with a dragon spirit mocking him, all knowledge gone apart from his own name.

Lost and confused, his only hope for answers is Calidra—a woman living on the edge of the world with her partner. Forced to return home when her father dies, Calidra has put off facing her estranged mother for seven years, and she begrudgingly helps Fenn, forging papers for him so he can avoid the Queen’s Inquisitors.

But her mother is the least of her worries when they discover an ancient enemy is rising again. It should be impossible with the Iron Crown in power—and Fenn is terrified he might unwittingly be playing a part in the war’s resurgence.

Surrounded by vengeful spirits and powerful magic, Fenn’s desperate attempt to find his way home might well alter the fate of Tassar, and every power in it.Text reads: Genre: 
Epic Fantasy
High Fantasy

Age: Adult

Length: 550 pagesText reads: If you’re a reviewer of fantasy, sci-fi or horror, and want the chance to review a curated selection of books like this one, or if you’re an indie SFFH author who wants to submit your book to over 200 active reviewers, get over to BookMatch.co.uk and sign up today!
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Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The Mail attacked the RNLI for having the temerity not to let "the wrong sort of people" drown a few years ago, so I set up a monthly payment to show solidarity and, y'know, help save people. You might want to consider doing the same. It doesn't cost much, and it's one in the eye for the ghouls.
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Dan McQuillan @danmcquillan.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
New preprint from me: 'Beyond AI: Infrastructuring the Common Good'. The paper treats AI as diagnostic of deeper contradictions, and argues that convivial practice can reclaim vital systems from the collapse of the technopolitical regime. doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
Screenshot of paper title and abstract. 'Beyond AI: Infrastructuring the Common Good': "Rather than taking AI as a central focus, this paper treats it as diagnostic of deeper contradictions. AI intensifies extractivism while being unable to deliver on its promises, and its rampant scaling of energy and resource demands heralds a form of ‘total mobilisation’. This paper proposes decomputing as a programme for pushing back against such technocratic nihilism. Decomputing adopts a degrowth framework and advocates for reclaiming agency through deautomatisation and people’s coun- cils, in order to develop convivial alternatives that centre an ethics of care. It is a philosophical and tactical response to the wider crisis of care induced by the collapse of existing systems..."
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Roseanna Pendlebury @chloroformtea.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Today I have a review up at @nerdsofafeather.bsky.social of M. John Harrison's The End of Everything. It is interesting and strange and a book I would emphatically label as "resistant" to a bunch of normal features of fiction, one which yearns to be dissected, interpreted and discussed.
nerds-feather.com
Book Review: The End of Everything by M. John Harrison
A book resistant to many things, among them clarity, simplicity and relatability, and mostly the better for it. "Nothing in memory ever made...
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