Liz Bourke

Hello, new followers! I write reviews of science fiction and fantasy novels for @locusmag.bsky.social and for @reactorsff.bsky.social. On my blog lizbourke.wordpress.com/news-and-upd..., I write about the nonfiction I've been reading lately, and the occasional deeper dive on some aspect of SFF.

180. E.K. Johnston’s The Third Period Comeback A book for the discerning adults and also the 10-14yos of your acquaintance... The vast majority of my writing here is free to read and will remain so, but if you enjoy these sorts of posts, your support on Patreon or as a paying subscriber through…

180. E.K. Johnston’s The Third Period Comeback A book for the discerning adults and also the 10-14yos of your acquaintance... The vast majority of my writing here is free to read and will remain so, but if you enjoy these sorts of posts, your support on Patreon or as a paying subscriber through…

Listening to a report about Google chopping down a quarter of a million trees in Finland to build a data centre while washing out yoghurt pots for the recycling

👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

The video here may seem shocking, but the polling -- from three diffrent group, including the first from the aChord Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem -- shows it's not a fringe view in Israel:

I am a bit perturbed by the mention of gloves! Why gloves? unless there were arsenic-green bindings involved, were these at all necessary? Hope they were not the white cotton items beloved of the media Clean hands are usually best practice, nitrile gloves if absolutely necessary.

Disgusting and close to corrupt: “38 ministers, senior civil servants and SPADs [took up] positions in AI companies between Jul 2024 and Sept 2026 [while] government departments [did not] engage meaningfully with stakeholders outside the technology industry.” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Nineteenth century background also gets you to why Tolkien has an "oh shit, I need to crowbar in the marriageable woman for Aragorn" moment, and Maas has an "oh shit, I need to explain why there are slums in the perfect fairy city because someone needs a grotty flat to reflect their emotions" moment

You'd think Maasian Romantasy returns to medieval romance, but really it changed *nineteenth-century* genre emphasis, refocusing on "marriage plot" over "condition of England". Gothic novel redux (so vestigial romance) but medieval chronicle characteristics (vestigial Tolkien). In this essay...

First medieval parent genre of fantasy is romance (Ossian, Gothic romance, MacDonald, Dunsany). Tolkien changed the model by making it (weirdly) medieval chronicle + nineteenth century social realist novel

Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere rose to new record highs in 2025, locking in climate impacts that will persist for centuries to come, the United Nations has said

The real unfair competition women are being forced into with men is having women's sports constantly separated off as a distinct event which is made to compete commercially with much better funded and socially and institutionally enfranchised men's sporting events & found inadequate by that standard

Yet another "expert" review that fails to recognise that research infrastructure exists outside STEM and Medicine. Yet no rocket science is required to find studies of the infrastructure that powers SHAPE research: www.sas.ac.uk/national-rol...

This removes from view the subjects most UK undergraduates and taught postgraduates study, subjects that by the government's own data outperform STEM subjects internationally (www.gov.uk/government/p... ) and that top many QS rankings. Our infrastructure is under attack, if only we could see it.

You’re gonna want to see what the BlueSky guys have decided is too intolerant for you to read.

Israel committing genocide in Gaza despite ceasefire, UN commission of inquiry finds

Throughout the entire Fare Hike saga, Government maintained this was a decision by the NTA We now know it was the Dept of Public Expenditure & it was decided 12 months ago Government lied to to the public, the did it repeatedly, & they did it intentionally

Ireland has some responsibility on this. One of the greatest contributions we could be making to collective EU & global democracy & security (far more useful then disastrous attempts to remove the triple lock) would be having the courage to step up to our role as digital regulator in a serious way.

Incredible perfection. May represent a platonic form of the concept of Adaptation.

New call for applications: RHS Workshop Grants, 2027, supporting day meetings of historians to plan and pursue a project bit.ly/48hkJrD The Society now invites applications for 6 Workshop Grants of £1000 each to support group activities and networking. Closing date: 15 January 2027 #Skystorians

well, the Irish government has been pushing ai so hard everywhere so 🤷🏾‍♀️

Look, I know all the reasons we got here, but we really need to start seriously thinking about what we do in a world where The Markets punish whole countries for voting for decency, compassion, and fairness. We must stop pretending the capitalist machine is an objective, value neutral force.

This report is genuinely overwhelming, in terms of the evidence both against Trump and of a ham-fisted cover-up. Including one instance in which Ghislaine Maxwell was actually about to mention one of Trump's young accusers and Todd Blanche told her to stop talking. The media response is "yawn."

It's very, very telling, I think, that the markets are so concerned about the pro-democracy incumbent winning

Retroactively placing “see your book become chocolate” on my career milestone bingo card

179. Kim Bowes’ Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent Fascinating treatment of money, debt, and survival strategies for ordinary people in the Roman empire... The vast majority of my writing here is free to read and will remain so, but if you enjoy these sorts of posts, your…

179. Kim Bowes’ Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent Fascinating treatment of money, debt, and survival strategies for ordinary people in the Roman empire... The vast majority of my writing here is free to read and will remain so, but if you enjoy these sorts of posts, your…

Can I also draw our attention to "in the eighteenth century the UK was an early exporter of new knowledge", which is fascinating given that the UK did not exist in that century

Views from Brazil: