Tim Leach

Not going to deactivate my Twitter account just yet, and will keep it open as a means of contact, but think I'm going to mostly be over at Bluesky for now.

Me too, Toad. Me too.

Italo Calvino in his short story The Watcher, based on his experience as a poll watcher in post-war Italy, has a cute passage where he contrasts the "humble, gray unadorned dress" of democracy to the florid display and sickly pageantry of fascism.

In the 8 years since the establishment of the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, we have longlisted 122 titles from 29 languages. You can now browse and purchase titles from these lists in one place, all while supporting local bookshops: uk.bookshop.org/shop/WomenInTr…

@KDayshAuthor @canelo_co Crikey, that's a beautiful cover! Congrats, loved the first two books, looking forward to the third...

Here is the gorgeous cover for A Merciful Sea, Book 3 in the Nightingale/Courtney series! Full of adventure, queer romance, old and new favourites (and not so favourites!), the Battle of Trafalgar, and much more! Can't wait for you to read it! Pre-order down below⚓🌊 @canelo_co

Applications for our 2025 internship are now open! Running from Monday 13th January to Friday 2nd May. For more info, check out our website: felicitybryan.com/internship/

@Nelle_Andrew Happy birthday!

Today I turned 40 & for a seminal birthday I really thought about what the last few decades have taught me. I know I have to thank my friends and family for getting me here & my therapist for keeping me here. Oh & Italy 🇮🇹 always ❤️

from the diary of virginia woolf

C. S. Lewis opened his Narnia series with a message to his goddaughter

Pazyryk culture, a Saka (Central Asian Scythian) nomadic Iron Age archaeological culture (6th-3rd Centuries BC) identified by excavated artifacts and mummified humans found in the Siberian permafrost, in the Altay Mountains, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The mummies are buried in long barrows (kurgans) similar to the tomb mounds of Scythian culture in Ukraine. Pazyryk are considered to have had a war-like life. Sacrificing horses and placing them in graves are standard elements of Scythian funerary practices and recent archaeological projects in Mongolia provide additional evidence of this. These sites complement earlier investigations carried out at the site of Berel’ in Kazakhstan. The descriptions of the age, gender, colour and form of sacrifice of these horses allow a better understanding of the criteria of choice, enable a better understanding of why they were selected and underline the primordial place these horses enjoyed during the funerary ceremonies. Because of a freak climatic freeze, some of the Altai burials, notably those of 5th Century BC at Pazyryk and neighbouring sites, such as Katanda, Shibe, and Tuekta, were isolated from external climatic variations by a protective layer of ice that conserved the organic substances buried in them. At Pazyryk these included the bodies of horses and an embalmed man whose body was covered with tattoos of animal motifs. The remarkable textiles recovered from the Pazyryk burials include the oldest woollen knotted-pile carpet known, the oldest embroidered Chinese silk, and two pieces of woven Persian fabric (State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). Red and ochre predominate in the carpet, the main design of which is of riders, stags, and griffins. Many of the Pazyryk felt hangings, saddlecloths, and cushions were covered with elaborate designs executed in appliqué feltwork, dyed furs, and embroidery. Of exceptional interest are those with animal and human figural compositions, the most notable of which are the repeat design of an investiture scene on a felt hanging and that of a semihuman, semibird creature on another (both in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). Clothing, whether of felt, leather, or fur, was also lavishly ornamented. Horse reins either had animal designs cut out on them or were studded with wooden ones covered in gold foil. Their tail sheaths were ornamented, as were their headpieces and breastpieces. Some horses were provided with leather or felt masks made to resemble animals, with stag antlers or rams’ horns often incorporated in them. Many of the trappings took the form of iron, bronze, and gilt wood animal motifs either applied or suspended from them; and bits had animal-shaped terminal ornaments. Altai-Sayan animals frequently display muscles delineated with dot and comma markings, a formal convention that may have derived from appliqué needlework. Such markings are sometimes included in Assyrian, Achaemenian and even Urartian animal representations of the ancient Middle East. Roundels containing a dot serve the same purpose on stag and other animal renderings executed by contemporary Śaka metalworkers. Animal processions of the Assyro-Achaemenian type also appealed to many Central Asian tribesmen and are featured in their arts. Certain geometric designs and sun symbols, such as the circle and rosette, recur at Pazyryk but are completely outnumbered by animal motifs. The stag and its relatives figure as prominently as in Altai-Sayan. Combat scenes between carnivores and herbivores are exceedingly numerous in Pazyryk work; the Pazyryk beasts are locked in such bitter fights that the victim's hindquarters become inverted. 📷 : Funerary Horse Decorations (3rd Century BC), associated with the Paryzyk culture, Russia. (Amsterdam Hermitage) #archaeohistories

Absolute pleasure to see the 4k restoration of Seven Samurai on the big screen yesterday - if you're a fan of the film it's a must see (they've cleaned up the rather beaten up old print beautifully). If you've not seen it before, what are you waiting for? youtu.be/GWhUEKyTU6I?si…

@Sonic_Screwup Yeah, there's a subreddit that pops up as a suggestion for me for Rings of Power - it's very, very strange to me that so many people are spending so much time watching and writing about something that they hate so much. Very unhealthy.

@AnnaCaig Good luck Anna! Best thing for the submission limbo - start the next book!

My book is about to go on submission. The culmination of 2 years' work (or 6, or perhaps even 46!) How do you deal with the limbo of being on submission? Are you in the 'Believe and manifest' or 'Don't jinx it' camp? I've decided to believe this time, it will happen ✨️🤞

@Jonzeywriter Every time someone opens a bottle of fizz in my vicinity, I am compelled to say "Waaaay!" in the way Marsha does here: youtu.be/0VWGWwubBdw?si…

Still one of the best TV shows ever made.

@mellowmatters Many thanks, hope you enjoy them!

@TimLeachWriter Apologies for the belatedness, but many thanks again for the copies of #AWinterWar and #TheIronWay.

@roryisconfused Just doing a rewatch at the moment, so far the best ones have been: Bad Blood, Beyond the Sea, Paper Hearts, Pusher, Ice, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose.

Does anyone have any good shouts for the absolute best episodes of X-Files?

I hope your writing week is working out better than Wittgenstein’s.

@Hbomberguy <me listening to 5 seconds of Home Office music> BRB, just going to dye my hair blue and shave in an undercut, get a katana, and go meet Mr Johnson in a techno club to plan a Pink Mohawk run on a corp.

I am begging you to listen to the cyberpunk backing music in the home office's announcement they're banning katanas