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William Campbell Powell

@willcampowell.bsky.social
2K followers 2K following 864 posts

Author of TEARDOWN🌈📚 (NineStar), EXPIRATION DAY (YA/SF, Tor), also writes short SFF, long SFF/HF/Crime/contemporary. Software engineer (retired). Politics Green #FBPE bit.ly/TeardownBook williamcampbellpowell.com He/him

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Reposted by William Campbell Powell
Brian Anderson @bandersonmysteries.bsky.social · 17h
Today is Book Quote Wednesday, and today’s word is “treat.” For more information or to order, visit www.brianandersonmysteries.com www.amazon.com/stores/autho... mybook.to/e2jmq #BookQW #mystery #mysterybookseries #BookSky
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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
#booksky #bookqw word: TREAT Janet, the fairy-smith's wife, is trying to talk her friend Franklin into forbidding his daughter's relationship with an unsuitable boy. She probably shouldn't be doing it in a fey-haunted forest. Buy Here: tinyurl.com/nvvetupj
Tellher how Ephraim Brady treats his wife, and tell her Anthony
will never stand up to him. Tell her she can get a better lover,
Mister Franklin. Take my advice.’
The wind sighed in the leaves overhead, and the forest rocked.
It was a gentle motion, not swaying the world, and the birds
cooed and chirruped to each other above them. Franklin still
hadn’t found an answer when they heard the sound of hooves.
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Ruth Frances Long / Jessica Thorne @rflong.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
#Bookqw word is Treat and at The Teacup Dragon Sanctuary on Starling Island, Portia, Jade and Noah are starting to settle in. The Teacup Dragon Sanctuary is out now and only 99p. #Bookstagram #BookstagramIreland #writersofinstagram #StarlingIsland
Bookqw from The Teacup Dragon Sanctuary, out now, in which Noah offers the dragons dates as a treat and Portia is suddenly distracted by thoughts of a different kind of date with Noah.
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Juliet E McKenna @julietemckenna.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'treat' #BookQW #BookSky They say, if you want to really know someone, watch how they behave towards people who they think don't matter. The Riven Kingdom will be published on 27th October 2026. www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GK5RVZWT/
The Riven Kingdom cover art by Alice Claire Coleman is in the style of a stained glass window. Blue-green leaves and vines dotted with golden flowers coil around silver swords in panels on either side. These are topped with a golden sun on the left and a yellow crescent moon on the right. In the centre, rival hands stretch upwards trying to get hold of a crown that's just out of reach... 

Book extract reads: The woman brandished a letter in the light of the oil lamp hanging over the door. ‘The boy wasn’t injured. The lightning strike didn’t touch him. Now the shock has faded, he may recall further details of that day. I insist on asking him myself.’ 
‘You may consult his account of that day held by the high shrine’s infirmarians. They wrote down the recollections of everyone they treated who witnessed the tragedy.’ Brother Haber tucked his hands inside the sleeves of his thick black robe. ‘I can vouch for the boy’s honesty.’ 
No one could argue with that. The Moon God granted his priests the power to hear falsehoods. Everyone saw such magic at work when the nobility held assizes to punish criminals within their fiefdoms, where the justiciars delivered their verdicts in the crown’s name. A priest was always on hand to unmask anyone telling lies. Just as a pale-robed priestess used the power the Goddess granted her to endorse truth. 
‘Your obstruction is unacceptable.’ The woman took a half-step sideways. 
Startled, Reske thought she was going to force her way past the priest.
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Vanessa Knipe @vjknipe.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Today is book quote wednesday #bookqw and today's word is 'treat'. As we just over a week away from publication, here's a hint as to why the book is called Her Borrowed Grave. Pre-order for 99p/¢ here: UK www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HL4PFK8... US www.amazon.com/Her-Borrowed...
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Stephanie Burgis @stephanieburgis.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It's Book Quote Wednesday! This week's word is "treat," so here's a snippet from A Waltz of Sinister Import - coming to my Patreon in 2 days (!) & everywhere else in 2 weeks. 💕 Preorder here: books2read.com/waltzSinister Or join the Patreon as a Dragon ruler: patreon.com/stephanieburgis #bookqw
The cover of A Waltz of Sinister Import, by Stephanie Burgis, shows a pair of late nineteenth-century dancing slippers hanging over the title and a bat with outstretched wings underneath the author's name. Framing the cover's text are branches with golden leaves. Above, beside, and below that cover image is this snippet of text: For the sake of her husband’s nerves, she had requested a maid to accompany her for the first part of this journey. For the sake of her own guilt, though, as the girl followed her obediently through the narrow streets, Margaret promised herself to make a stop later at one of the frilly-curtained konditoreis whose café windows—full of luscious-looking cakes on tempting display—the maid’s wistful gaze landed upon again and again. The poor child really would certainly deserve a treat for her patience.
Baffling though it was, Margaret had come to understand that a disheartening percentage of people in the world did not share her love for spending hours in a stationery shop packed with treasures.
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Susan Murray @pulpthorn.bsky.social · 23h
Today's Book Quote Wednesday and the #BookQW word is 'treat'. In Waterborne Exile the freemerchant Marten's plans - years in the making - are unravelling.
Extract from Waterborne Exile by Susan Murray:

“Marten, the sight raises more questions than it ever answers. I’ve seen you as a great man. You had everything in place before Tresilian betrayed us all. And you can again. You will. But you must stay true to your people.” 

“What, the people who made me a laughing-stock today?” 

“They are still your people. You risked everything for them once.” 

“Never again.” Marten stood up slowly, his eyes on Alwenna. “I’ll see you set back on your throne as queen of all the Peninsular Kingdoms before I’ll treat with them.” He pushed away from the table and the wine in the bottle was stirred by his movement, ripples spreading across the dark surface. Alwenna’s attention was drawn into the darkness beneath the perturbed surface and she could no more resist her sight than she could convince Marten of what he must do. 

She dived down and down, deeper into darkness, moving through the liquid as if it were nothing more than a breeze. Her hair trailed loose behind her, free and unfettered and her heart pumped blood through her veins with a wicked glee. It was so good to be alive, so good. And revenge would be even better. Ahead of her lay a small cairn. As she drew closer she could see it was composed not of rocks as she had assumed, but of bones. Reposing on the very top of the cairn lay the jewelled dagger.

#BookQW – treat

Cover of Waterborne Exile by Susan Murray. A woman in a blood-spattered white gown moves past the viewer, holding a bowl of blood in both hands. A bloodstained dagger is tucked in her belt. Cover art by Paul Young.
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Linda Griffin @lindagriffinauthor.bsky.social · 21h
Gentle, wholesome romance of independence and enduring love." ~ BookLife Reviews www.lindagriffinauthor.com/cherry_creek... #BookQW #HistoricalRomance
Black and white photo of young woman in old-fashioned dress. "The independence I visualized in marriage was in fact a different kind of dependence and, of that at least, Eileen was free. She had no home of her own and boarded with the parents of her pupils, but she was a skilled and popular teacher and well #treated by everyone."
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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 17h
#BookQW It's Book Quote Wednesday and today's word is #treat Kai's band has arrived in Munich - but where are Jake and Lotte? The show must go on, and hope for the best. Last day for ebook deal @ $0.99 teardownbook.co.uk/#where
But tonight, Neale was in his element. Yeah, this was the guy who helped teach Jake to play guitar. This was blistering, paint-stripping power in slow blues. Dom picked up the vocal and prowled the stage. She drove down to the bottom of her vocal range, then flew high in a Daltrey-esque scream, into which Neale’s guitar blended. Her voice dropped away, and Neale’s solo teetered around the madness and the anguish of woman-treated-you-so-bad. Serves you right to suffer, yeah.
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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Millions of graduates are being ripped off by sky-high student loan interest rates. It's time for Andy Burnham to fix this unfair system in the upcoming Budget so balances stop growing faster than they're paid off. Add your name if you agree: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/an...
you.38degrees.org.uk
Tell Andy Burnham: Fix the broken student loans system in this Budget
Millions of graduates are being ripped off by sky-high interest rates, with balances growing faster than they can be paid off! Add your name to demand fairer student loan terms in the upcoming Budget.
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Ben Jeapes @benjeapes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is KNOW. England, 1645; since John's last visit here a civil war has broken out, together with one or two other developments. #bookqw #englishcivilwar #alternatehistory www.benjeapes.com/index.php/no... Hear me read a longer extract at benjeapes.substack.com.
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Juliet E McKenna @julietemckenna.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'knew' #BookQW #BookSky Dan Mackmain knows the value of doing his homework. But how much reading will be enough to avoid the trap of thinking he knows more than he does? For a wide range of UK and international purchase options - wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/book...
Cover art by Ben Baldwin for The Green Man's Debt by Juliet E McKenna. A grey wolf with pale eyes stands in the shadows of a derelict building with a black and white tiled floor. The wolf is looking straight at you. Its snarl reveals blood on its teeth and jaw.
Book extract reads: Blithehurst House has a fine collection of books on folklore. They range from seventeenth-century antiquarians’ speculations to thick volumes written by earnest Victorians and Edwardians who had enough money and time to search for supposedly lost ancient wisdom hidden in fairy tales. I concentrated on those, rather than reading anything later which started with the assumption that none of the stories could be true. We knew better.
I ignored the frankly bonkers chapters where those books tried to trace every tale and mythical figure back to some grand unified theory of forgotten gods from Mesopotamia whose rites had spread through prehistoric Europe. I was interested in local myths and superstitions which might help me deal with whatever we met in Ireland. Thankfully, the folklorists had written down pretty much everything they were told by ordinary people at their firesides or over a pint of beer in a tavern. Even when I was certain the locals in the countryside had been taking the piss out of the posh and patronising townies.
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Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd @mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
It's Book Quote Wednesday, is it? I didn't know this was a thing but want to share as well! This week, 'knew.' #BookQW books.bookfunnel.com/TippingWorld...
Cover of a book in shades of muted teal depicting a person with a sword in a heavy robe walking through a garden dead for the season. You can't see their face because of a cowl, but they're looking over their shoulder as if uneasy.
Block of text reads:
She leaned forward, gaze challenging. “Very well. Why am I Lahar, Haimar Miran?”
Another question whose answer she knew. But there was more to it than she would have considered. How could she, not understanding Quensei the way he did, not knowing her opponents would reappear on her doorstep as soon as it suited them?
“I gather you already wonder whether you may be made a scapegoat.” 
Her eyes flickered. 
“Has it never struck you that you’re also a marvelous precedent?” 
This got a blank look that appeared to be genuine. 
“Who proposed you for the position? Who, in the first event, unexpectedly shifted to your camp when so much power seemed poised to tip in your favor?”
“You?” she pointed out coldly. “You may not have suggested this, but you agreed to it readily.”
“This is an era of scapegoats. I have no desire to be the first to be imprisoned and tortured for lack of loyalty. It has already been proposed a number of times. I may occasionally get away with voicing a thought at your councils, but to vote against the majority? I might as well slit my own throat, which would be quicker and less painful than the methods the Kanleacht or your dear friend Liona would employ to show me the error of my ways.
“And unexpected?” he added. “Surely you jest, Lahar. You asked this of me. Will you insult me now by pretending you had no idea how it would go?”
From The King of Ill-Omens, book three of the COMPLETE epic The Tipping World.
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Joanne Guidoccio @joanneguidoccio.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
It's Book Quote Wednesday! Today's word: KNOW/KNEW. #Excerpt is from my #cozymystery, A SEASON FOR KILLING BLONDES #bookqw
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Alice Sabo @alicesabo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
My first book quote Wednesday. This comes from the first chapter of the first book in the series. #BookQW books2read.com/u/31RKNM
A promotional post with the book cover of Arcane Detective and text from the first chapter: After the mispronounced, half-hearted chant, they would burn some unknown herbs they bought online and kill a chicken to raise a demon that would grant all their wishes. Miller knew that stopping this kind of ignorance was part of his job, too. He needed to halt the spread of Darkness regardless of the size. A drip here, a spill there, all spread out and linked until it birthed a predator or murderer and that scattered more fear and pain and Darkness. It was an unending but necessary battle, like mopping the floor of a public restroom. 
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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
It's Book Quote Wednesday and today's word is #know Jake has a reputation for tech-naïveté, so how's he going to find a fresh gig for the band? - but Kai just didn't know the right question to ask… #bookqw #lgbtqreads
My preconceptions shattered. Little fragments of assumptions rolled around the floor and disappeared under the kitchen cupboards.
    I began a sentence, hoping the ending would come to me. “Yes, but what if you, you know…”
    “Get hooked again? I don’t think so. I’m not a child anymore. That kid is gone, and the urge to surf is gone with him. But I remember everything he used to do.”
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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Britain's future relationship with Europe is being debated in Parliament on 12th October. I've just asked my MP to attend. Will you ask yours? www.europeanmovement.co.uk/contact-mp-a...
europeanmovement.co.uk
Ask your MP to stand up for our future in Europe
On 12 October, Parliament will debate the UK's future relationship with Europe, after a government petition got over 100,000 signatures. Will you write to your MP to ask them to attend the debate?
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Silver Dagger Book Tours @silverdaggertours.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Check out this #LGBTQIA #LGBTQbooks #rockstarromance #FoundFamily #Musicfiction #roadtrip #forcedproximity #bandbook #British #contemporaryfiction #BookTour & Enter to win #Giveaway #Teardown @willcampowell.bsky.social #OnSale #99cents link.amazon/B0ec8jR5t www.silverdaggerbooktours.com/teardown
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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I've just signed "Prime Minister, What’s Your Plan for Fair Votes?" - Will you support the campaign too? actionstorm.org/petitions/pr... @OpenBritainHQ
actionstorm.org
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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This cause is close to my heart - please sign: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/fu...
you.38degrees.org.uk
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Joanne Guidoccio @joanneguidoccio.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It's Book Quote Wednesday! Today's word: TREE. #Excerpt is from my #cozymystery, A SEASON FOR KILLING BLONDES. #bookqw
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Linda Griffin @lindagriffinauthor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"Historically sound and warmly told, Cherry Creek is a gently romantic story about what it means to be truly free." ~ Indies Today www.lindagriffinauthor.com/cherry_creek... #BookQW #HistoricalRomance #GoldRush
Hanging branch of black cherries. "The name Cherry Creek had conjured images of a cool, shaded river and brightly blossoming #trees, but the reality was far otherwise. Only low black chokecherry shrubs grew on its banks, their honey-sweet scent laced with bitterness."
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Ben Jeapes @benjeapes.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is TREE. Conman Cegario and his reluctant sidekick Shan are working their way from village to village, until fate catches up with them. #bookqw #swordandsorcery #fantasy www.benjeapes.com/index.php/wr... Hear me read a longer extract at benjeapes.substack.com.
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Thomas Wrightson (he/him) @thomaswrightson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'tree'. #BookQW In an exotic domed garden, Sedna walks among potential allies and enemies as the scene is set for murder. The Murderer's Lament is out on September 29! #scifi #spaceopera #mystery #sample #writingcommunity #BookSky💙📚
Sedna scanned the area before her. It looked stunning. On either side of the open grassy meadow was a rockery, packed with healthy exotic specimens. An artificial waterfall trickled at its far end, where a number of wetland plants were arranged. Under the line of trees were plants that needed more shade, though still firmly within the realms of the tropics. Many plants were in flower, some were on the cusp, some were past their best, and many simply showed off their leaves of a dozen shades in natural glory.
Sedna described the scene, then added, “Is there anywhere for cooler plants to grow, or is it all tropical?”
“Ah.” Sienyd smiled. “I see my environment is a little stifling for your taste.”
“A little.”
Jaques spoke from near the edge of one of the rockeries. “Don’t Ekri like the heat? You come from an arid world, don’t you?”
Sedna chose her words carefully, more than this Human seemed to. “To a degree. But there are limits. Too much heat, or heat with too much moisture, is a great risk for our kind. Some piece of our ancestors may have been cold blooded, but we are not. Nor do we like saturation”
“I see.” Jaques cocked his head contemplatively. “Don’t take offense, but on Ancient Earth, there was a type of creature very like you in appearance. We called them reptiles. In fact, each of the different peoples seem to parallel something from our records of Ancient Earth’s fauna. Quite uncanny.”
Pashai entered into the spirit of the talk. “What do our people parallel?”
The conversation turned on comparative physiognomy. The Feles, compared to “big cats,” with their Human name taken from felidae. The unflattering Kavki parallel to “fish,” “amphibians,” and other marine or aquatic creatures. Pashai’s face appeared taut, but Sienyd didn’t seem offended.
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Juliet E McKenna @julietemckenna.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'tree' #BookQW #BookSky The Hunter's antlers may remind Dan Mackmain of branches, but nothing else about this dream is remotely familiar. Visit Wizard's Tower Press for a wide range of national and international purchase options. wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/book...
Cover art by Ben Baldwin for The Green Man's Debt by Juliet E McKenna. A grey wolf with pale eyes stands in the shadows of a derelict building with a black and white tiled floor. The wolf is looking straight at you. Its snarl reveals blood on its teeth and jaw.

Book extract reads: The Hunter stopped walking. The birds fell silent. A long-eared owl soared up from a cluster of silver birch saplings and headed for the horizon. A massive animal reared up from a hollow that had been hidden by the little trees and the swathes of bright green, arrowhead-shaped leaves hanging from their twisted branches.
It was some sort of deer, and it was sodding enormous. As far as I could tell at this distance, that hump rising above its shoulder blades was roughly the same height as my head. The beast must need those muscles and its thick neck to counterbalance its antlers. They had to be more than three metres across. Where the Hunter’s branched tree-like and narrowed to points, the huge deer’s were broad and flat, fringed with lethal-looking spikes. Like a fallow deer’s, if you could scale a fallow buck up to more than twice its natural height and eight times the bulk.
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Stephanie Burgis @stephanieburgis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It's Book Quote Wednesday! This week's prompt is "tree," so - with just 4 weeks until publication day! - here's a snippet from my upcoming novella A Waltz of Sinister Import, which you can preorder now: books2read.com/waltzSinister #romance #fantasy #bookqw #
The cover of A Waltz of Sinister Import, by Stephanie Burgis, shows a pair of late nineteenth-century dancing slippers hanging over the title and a bat with outstretched wings underneath the author's name. Framing the cover's text are branches with golden leaves. Above, beside, and below that cover image is this snippet of text: The orchestra struck up a new waltz—and Margaret’s whole body thrummed with the power of its first chord. The greater din of the room faded away; only vaguely, somewhere in the back of her brain, did she note that every other guest had fallen silent around her.
That music...!
It was a powerful river current, sweeping her up without conscious thought. Even as it locked her in place with sheer wonder, dark forests and rippling streams took shape all around her. At first, she thought they were mere fantasies hinted at by the music, but then—there! Just before her: giant, twisting, black oak trees rose within the ballroom of the Hofburg where other guests had congregated only an instant ago. More and more trees appeared until they filled the room with their unnaturally dark, spreading branches, ebony draped with glinting gold and silver leaves.
The rich, distinctive scent of a forest floor rose through her senses.
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Patrick Samphire 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @patricksamphire.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It's book quote Wednesday, which means it's time for a quote, this week from The Dinosaur Hunters, my murder mystery set on Regency Mars. The word this week is "tree". #bookQW books2read.com/dinosaurhunt...
The Martian wilderness was thick and dense. Tall, twisted trees spiked up through the undergrowth, trailing slowly writhing creepers from their branches. Beneath the canopy, pressed in by the heavy undergrowth, the air was sweltering. Within ten minutes, Harriet was soaked through. Sweat dripped from her forehead into her eyes. She dashed it away with a wet sleeve.

The Dinosaur Hunters. The Casebook of Harriet George: Volume 1.
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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
#bookqw It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is #tree Kai and the band are getting ready to rehearse for their upcoming German tour, when singer Clay drops a resignation bombshell: #lgbtqreads
“Put it on hold. We can put the band on hold, can’t we?”
    “How long for?” I asked him.
    “I don’t f***ing know! I’ll be flying over to the US quite a bit. And there’s a bunch of guys in Japan I’ll need to work with. Six months, maybe?”
    And then it hit me. I knew why Clay couldn’t meet my eye.
    “The Cherry Tree. You must have known about this last night, and you didn’t say a f***ing word. We’re already in the Last Chance Saloon. This is Boot-f***ing-Hill.”
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Juliet E McKenna @julietemckenna.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'drip' #BookQW #BookSky Dealing with the dangers the Green Man sends him to face has punctured any notion Dan Mackmain ever had that he was invulnerable. Tomorrow you can discover the challenges the Hunter has for him in Ireland. www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Mans-D...
Cover art by Ben Baldwin for The Green Man's Debt by Juliet E McKenna. A grey wolf with pale eyes stands in the shadows of a derelict building with a black and white tiled floor. The wolf is looking straight at you. Its snarl reveals blood on its teeth and jaw.

Book Extract reads: I don’t much like hospitals these days. They didn’t bother me before I started tackling problems for the Green Man. I only went to A&E departments when a workmate had to be patched up or stitched back together and needed a lift. Health and Safety can’t stop every accident on a building site. I only picked up scrapes and bruises that didn’t need medical attention, and I kept my tetanus boosters up to date.
That changed after I’d seen my mate Aled taken away in an ambulance, after I’d dragged him out of his blazing car. I’d had to drive to the hospital where they took him, to find out if he’d survived his horrible burns. A couple of years later, I’d had to spend tedious hours sitting on a trolley in a glaringly white room, getting antibiotics and painkillers through an IV drip. A hag had got her claws into me, literally. I’m still not sure how much of what I remember about being so sick then is real and what’s hallucination. I do know that Eleanor tells me I could have died without the Blithehurst dryads’ help backed up by modern medicine. Don’t get me wrong. I’m very grateful to the doctors and nurses, but I’d rather not do any of that again.
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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is 'drip'. Here's an excerpt from The Many Shades of Midnight, a fantasy book I wrote in a fit of rage at the state of the world in which I take corrupt corporations and spineless governments and subject them to my justice... #bookqw #writingcommunity 💙🪐📚
Front cover and excerpt from The Many Shades of Midnight for Book Quote Wednesday 9 September - 'drip'

Rumour was a deadly thing, and Alyas had proved himself extremely adept at seeding it. So adept, in fact, that the tiny snippets of gossip had done what she had not thought possible and shaken, ever so slightly, the regard of the rich for the hand that fed them. He was the reason she was cooped up here instead of out there, enjoying all the rewards she had earned. Because every time she stepped outside her door, those bloody kids with their placards were there to shout their complaints and their devastating truths, turning the people against her drip by drip. 
   Gods, she hated him.
   So when he turned up on her doorstep one evening, she could not say she was overjoyed to see him.
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Jana Richards, Romance Author @janarichards.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
#BookQW "I put up with you for Clayton's sake while he was alive, but I no longer have to," she spat. Her voice DRIPped with contempt. A LONG WAY FROM EDEN books2read.com/A-Long-Way-From-Eden… #contemporaryromance #enemiestolovers Last day of #sale! #99cents
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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Today's #BookQW word is #DRIP. Kai and the band have reached Berlin. And as singer Dom says: “There’s still a dark side to Berlin, as with all the great, old cities. It changes people.” Especially when the people have been in each other's company for a bit too long... #lgbtqreads #booksky
 Inside, the water had pooled underneath the leak, soaking Neale’s sleeping bag. But some had trickled around the edge of the tent, and nobody’s kit had wholly escaped.
    “Get in, you stupid bugger, and close the f---ing door.”
    Stupid bugger was me, standing dumbly outside in my wet jeans with mud all over my arse. Four whiskies inside me, I had no idea how I was going to get to my own sleeping bag without dripping all over everyone else on the way. Neale bundled up his own useless sleeping bag and pushed past me, radiating anger fit to fry an egg.
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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Check out this from We Own It. weownit.org.uk/act-now/andy...
weownit.org.uk
Andy Burnham: bring Thames Water into permanent public ownership
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Kate Macdonald 📚 🧶 @kateem.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Intimidation by social media against the RNLI.
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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Two planned data centres will emit more carbon than the entire UK operations of ExxonMobil - and both plan to build their own gas power stations. Tell Andy Burnham to rule it out! www.foxglove.org.uk/campaigns/an...
foxglove.org.uk
Andy Burnham: no gas power stations for data centres
Two planned data centres will emit more carbon than the entire UK operations of ExxonMobil. Both plan to build their own gas power stations. Tell Andy Burnham to rule it out
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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Enough is enough. Devastating wildfires are threatening our communities, our wildlife, and our landscapes 🌳 We need the UK Gov to back our amazing fire fighters and invest in a real national wildfire prevention plan. Join me and sign the petition here: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/te...
you.38degrees.org.uk
Protect nature for the future: make wildfire prevention a national priority
Enough is enough. Devastating wildfires are threatening our communities, our wildlife, and our landscapes 🌳 We need the UK Gov to back our amazing fire fighters and invest in a real national wildfire ...
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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Data centres are springing up everywhere, using massive amounts of energy and water. I’ve signed @friends-earth.bsky.social’s petition calling for a pause on new data centres until the government gets a grip on the situation. Will you join me? foe.uk/bl2np
foe.uk
Stop data centres draining our precious resources
Add my name Data centres are springing up all over the UK – using massive amounts of electricity and, in many cases, huge amounts of water. The UK is already facing water shortages, high energy demand...
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Juliet E McKenna @julietemckenna.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'question' #BookQW #BookSky Dan Mackmain wants to know why he's been sent to Ireland. He's careful not to give anything away while he searches for answers. Visit Wizard's Tower Press for UK and international retailer buying links wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/book...
Cover art by Ben Baldwin for The Green Man's Debt by Juliet E McKenna. A grey wolf with pale eyes stands in the shadows of a derelict building with a black and white tiled floor. The wolf is looking straight at you. Its snarl reveals blood on its teeth and jaw.

Book extract reads: ‘Caitlin, this is my friend Daniel. He’s visiting from the UK. Can you give him a room for tonight? Maybe for a couple of days?’
‘No problem. What brings you to our little town?’ Caitlin asked brightly as she moved her computer mouse and clicked things on her screen.
I was ready for this question. I unfolded one of the leaflets that showed places of interest on a map of the area and pointed at one of the numbers in County Laois. ‘I’m interested in visiting this bog restoration project. I work in woodland management, and we’re a couple of years into regenerating a wetland. Máirtín told me about your golf course. I’m interested in rewilding projects.’
Dryads cannot lie. I can, but my mother’s blood means I’m crap at it. Dealing with Frai and Asca though, I’ve learned that making separate statements which are individually true can give the impression of an honest answer without giving anything important away.
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Stephen Cox - "funny, raunchy, romantic, satisfyingly twisted" @stephencoxauthor.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Wednesday's word 'question' #BookQW #BookSky Lord Hanbury has realised dodgy people are watching his house. 'They seemed particularly interested in whether there were big dogs in the house...’ ‘Dogs? That’s a burglar’s question, my lord!' [Chief Inspector Bullfinch]
The Crooked Medium’s Guide to Terror
A striking book cover with the title and author name dominating.
The lettering and detail are pale against a dark and sinister red-brown. The Title is in large Victorian lettering emphasising the word Terror by size of font and red added to letters – not dripping blood! - and framed by gold. Three roundels show icons related to the book; left, a half folded cutthroat razor streaked with red, top right, pearl jewellery with three pearls and a pearl effect locket; bottom right a burning railwayman’s lamp.
The effect is striking and Victorian.
Placed next to the Crooked Medium’s Guide to Murder (dark blue) there is a strong series resemblance.
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Joanne Guidoccio @joanneguidoccio.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
It's Book Quote Wednesday! Today's word: QUESTION. #Excerpt is from NO MORE SECRETS. #bookqw #womensfiction #familysaga
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Willa Blair @willablair.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Today's #BookQW word: QUESTION THE HEALER'S GIFT bit.ly/44Z3lXd “I was shocked there was a book about Coira…the author made me care for her--that is good writing.” #HistoricalHighlandRomance #SwoonworthyRomance #ParanormalRomance #Redemption #BookSky
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Linda Griffin @lindagriffinauthor.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
"Historically sound and warmly told, Cherry Creek is a gently romantic story about what it means to be truly free." ~ Indies Today lindagriffinauthor.com/cherry_creek... #BookQW #HistoricalRomance #GoldRush
Young woman in a long dress, seated with a suitcase beside her. "Far better surely to sew my own seams at my own fireside, to raise my own children--wiht love, of course, and never criticism. The #question was not whether I should marry, but whom I would marry."
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Tanya Huff @tanyahuff.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Today's word is QUESTION. Today's #BookQW from OH GLORIOUS SIGHT, a short story in the e-collection Nights of the Round Table. This story originally started about 3,500 words earlier with a vast array of historical & political details that sank it before the Mathew ever left the dock. 1/3
A medieval structure, probably a cathedral, floats on a cloud with my name across the clear blue sky at the top and the title NIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE & OTHER STORIES across the cloud.

     The tenders rowed The Matthew down the channel and left her at King's Road, riding at anchor with half a dozen other ships waiting for an east wind to fill the sail.
     "Where's the boy?" 
    "Now that's a right good question, Mister Hennet." Rennie pulled the ratline tight and tested his knot. "Off somewhere dark and safe's my guess."
     The mate snorted. "We've ballast enough. Master Cabot wants him taught."
     "It'd be like teachin' one of the wee folk. He's here, but he's no a part of us. It's like of the the only other livin' thing he sees is Master
Cabot."
     "It's right like havin' a stray dog around, "offered another of the crew. "The kind what runs off with his tail 'tween his legs when ya
tries ta make friends."
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Vanessa Knipe @vjknipe.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
It's Book quote Wednesday, and the word today is Question. #BookQW George is an Arts&Antiquities reporter, but he knows what to do when his dog sniffs out a body. And then the police find more. Find out more about Her Borrowed Grave on my Website. www.vanessajknipe.com/my-new-book
Alt text. A flyer for Her Borrowed Grave. A supercell storm coils like a poisonous black snake, its forked tongue is sheet lightning. A grey book half covers the storm. A question mark is cut out of the cover revealing letters from a fancier cover beneath. Text reads: Her Borrowed Grave. 
“Flipping over to a blank page, he sketched a map of this part of the Stray and drew stick figures to locate the three bodies. He drew a rock next to his bush and a large knife against the other together with a question mark over the body with no obvious cause of death. He suspiciously examined the foliage. How many more dead bodies had someone hidden in the bushes around here?”
Arriving 8th October 2026.
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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
It's #BookQW, and our word this week is "question." When a man in shining armor but no memory falls into your garden, as in my cozy fantasy Tea and Empathy, it raises a lot of questions. shannaswendson.com/writing/tea-...
Tea and Empathy cozy fantasy book cover set against an image of a flower garden.
Quote: Little did her friend know that a man had, in fact, fallen into her garden. The question was, what kind of man was he?

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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is 'question'. From bit.ly/TeardownBook - When their singer quits two weeks before their Germany tour, Kai and the band take a chance on an unknown singer, Dominque, whom they've never met. After the first gig: #BookQW #LGBTQreads
 With her talent, she could have snapped her fingers to get a backing band. So why us? It was the question I should have asked when we did the video call, but I didn’t. How had John Doe’s Blues from Marden Combe suddenly won the Dominique-the-singer lottery on muzomart.com? Where did she even come from? A singer that good should leave tracks. But I couldn’t find her, and believe me, I’d tried. Of course, there were singers called Dominique around, but none of them was our Dominique. So, it seemed Dominique wasn’t her usual singing name. Why was she using an alias? Was she some famous French chanteuse, slumming it on a whim, and she just picked us?
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Nora Shear @norashear.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Okay I got some help so I do have a #WIPSnips entry for today. Leo & Paige are fleeing the evil secret society that is hunting them, and he's flying her to their next location b/c it's fastest. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
An image that reads:

     As he approached City Hall, a little laugh escaped Paige, despite the rapid thump of her pulse. The acidic smell of fear receded, leaving a spicy scent, like she'd swapped being terrified with being elated. He allowed himself a small grin as he flew north, speeding up until the winter air made her shiver.
     "Ooh, look!" She'd turned her head towards the east, where the rising sun was a rich red on the horizon. "So gorgeous."
     "It's pretty," he agreed. "Sometime I'll take you high enough that you can see it over the ocean."
     Now Leo, why did you just say that? Why are you promising this human anything at all?
     "That'd be lovely," she breathed, and he tried to ignore a strange flush of pride.

- From NO SKY LIKE MIDNIGHT, by Nora Shear

There are star decorations in each corner, and a meteor decoration above the text.
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Feral Writer @feralwriter.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
#WIPSnips 8.14 is "horizon" - pleased to have a quote from the new stuff again. ...in which the author show off a little. I'm setting a scene, okay! (little extra in the ALT) #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
Ethan Vanek WIP snippet -- 



As we traveled west, the river began to gradually widen, more low sandbars and partially submerged islands appearing near the banks. We stuck to the fast-moving central current, but around us the flooded margins spread out. It was impossible to tell where the river ended and the floodplains began; trees seemed to grow right out of the water. All around us, small craft and large were mooring on rickety jetties and shallow islands. 
“Comin up on the Big Miss,” Corbin told me. “Not too long now.” 
As we came to the confluence, the banks swept away from us, leaving a wide vista of water before us stretching out to the distant horizon. The sun was beginning its show in the west, and it seemed we sailed directly into the last blazing kernel of the sun. It threw its rainbow of spangles over the darkening water: gold, peach, violet, and blue. The islands were merely black, irregular silhouettes in that colorful display, bristling with treetops and masts alike. Lanterns began to wink on as the daylight faded. We’d made the last of their meager stores of chicory coffee so Corbin could steer us into the middle of the Big Miss before he bunked down, and it was good we were on time.
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William Campbell Powell @willcampowell.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
The #WIPSnips word is 'horizon'. Driving through the night after a gig wasn't quite the plan, but events left little choice. Kai is just relieved to have stopped moving. #lgbtqreads 🌈📚💙📚🥁🎶📚 bit.ly/TeardownBook
   Fulda. Or at least, a café in a village a few miles outside, serving breakfast.
   No coffee, please. I want sleep, I really do. Food first though. Sausages, onions. Senf. Mustard. A weak tea, a Lipton tea bag left to drown in tepid, milky water. But it’s liquid and that’s enough.
    *
    We found a park, still wreathed in coiling tendrils of morning mist. Scant warmth in the day yet, the sun struggling up from the eastern horizon, fighting through patchy grey clouds that promised rain later.
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Blue Sonja @licoricemint.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #lesfic #sapphic #QueerWriters #LicoriceAndMint From One Bad Tuesday: Ch. 10 - We All Fall Down archiveofourown.org/series/3436765
All this vulnerability, the exposure - it hurt. Everything she had been working on with Dr. Poplarsong in therapy had been gently nudging her to this place. This place of admitting that the past didn’t have to be a template for the present. That things could be different. That there could be acceptance here. Even love. At the thought, Vola leaned against a bodega wall and put a shaky hand to her face. Her eyes were heavy with thick tears, and her sinuses ached. The past had been a backpack full of cinderblocks that she’d carried for a year. For a few precious moments, she buried her face and let the tears come. As if accepting her as part of this sacred little neighborhood, the rain began to fall.
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