Jonathan Laidlow

Jonathan Laidlow

@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Cumbrian in Brum, writes a bit. Stories in Strange Horizons, Liminal Stories, StarshipSofa, Interzone and IZ Digital, and more. Codexian. Short fiction reviews at supernova.reviews, short fiction at jonlaidlow.com, webmaster & editor at ultan.org.uk

770 followers669 following117 posts

Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Can't wait to start this collection. *side-eyes the TBR pile, which stares back from the room it now occupies...*

The Supernova Short Fiction Review@supernovareviews.bsky.social

This weekend at Supernova Alan took a look at RB Kelly's new collection of short fiction, Different Wavelengths, published by Newton Press. He didn't have a bad word to say...

supernova.reviewsDifferent Wavelengths / RB Kelly (Newcon Press 2026)Robots falling in love with each other, suicide-addicted thrill seekers who are uploaded into new bodies each time they die, societies where citizens are given a certain number of hours to live and a built-in clock they can monitor as it ticks down, sentient beings born inside computer networks... Alan loved this new collection from RB Kelly
Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Latest post over on my short fiction review site - Alan is doing the heavy lifting at the moment but I promise to do some reviews when I get back from Seaforth!

The Supernova Short Fiction Review@supernovareviews.bsky.social

Don't dismiss Fission, it's not just available to BSFA members, but also easy to find on Amazon. Alan found the latest issue to be superb, and he looks at all of the stories in his latest review.

supernova.reviewsFission #6Alan looks at the latest edition of Fission, the BSFA's annual collection of SFF.
Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Latest short fiction reviews from my side project!

The Supernova Short Fiction Review@supernovareviews.bsky.social

Shoreline of Infinity #40 (2026) Eternal warriors, virtual reality, space scavengers and sparrows! Alan looks at the latest Shoreline of Infinity and reviews the fiction

supernova.reviewsShoreline of Infinity #40 (2026)Eternal warriors, virtual reality, space scavengers and sparrows! Alan looks at the latest Shoreline of Infinity and reviews the fiction
Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

When I'm not writing about terrible things going on in the seaside town of Seaforth, I run a site reviewing short fiction. Here's my latest piece about the current issue of Interzone. I mean, yes, it came out a few months ago, but I'm also a known procrastinator....

The Supernova Short Fiction Review@supernovareviews.bsky.social

I decided that Alan was putting me to shame with all of his reviews for Supernova, so I got back on the horse and wrote about the brilliant latest issue of Interzone. Spoiler: it's smashing, couldn't pick a favourite, they're all my favourites.

supernova.reviewsInterzone #304Oh gosh, it's been months since this issue of Interzone came out, but luckily the next one isn't quite out the door, so I've still got time to tell you how much I enjoyed one of the best spec-fit (or fantastika, as IZ puts it) magazines out there.
Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Latest post from my site reviewing short fiction. A review of the latest issue of Parsec, featuring so many good stories I couldn’t choose my favourite. Maybe @wishusdonna.bsky.social or maybe RB Kelly

The Supernova Short Fiction Review@supernovareviews.bsky.social

Alan took a gander at the latest edition of Parsec. Parsec is edited by veteran author, editor and publisher Ian Whates and it won the British Fantasy Award for best periodical in 2025. All of which is to say, if you're not subscribing, why not? Tell them Supernova sent you…

supernova.reviewsParsec #15 (Winter 2026)Alan took a gander at the latest edition of Parsec. Parsec is edited by veteran author, editor and publisher Ian Whates and it won the British Fantasy Award for best periodical in 2025. All of which is to say, if you're not subscribing, why not? Tell them Supernova sent you!
Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

While I've been busy writing a novella set in my fictional seaside town of Seaforth, Alan kept the Supernova burning and here reviews a horror edition of Mythaxis - do check it out, a free to read zine full of quality fiction @mythaxis.bsky.social

The Supernova Short Fiction Review@supernovareviews.bsky.social

Supernova returns with a review of last year's Mythaxis #43 @mythaxis.bsky.social

supernova.reviewsMythaxis #43A horror edition of Mythaxis this time round, with six varied and stirring stories alongside articles and reviews.
Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Fellow writers! I can’t make it to Halifax this May but maybe you can?

TriCon@tricon-hfx.bsky.social

New pinned post! We're ramping up for a tonne of TriCon programming and sign-up announcements! First thing is first, dear readers: make sure you've got your tickets! tricon-halifax.com

Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

I knew that @rickandwrite.bsky.social and @tinybookcase.bsky.social would be a match made in heaven when in introduced them to each other at World Fantasy in Brighton! Give this a listen people!

The Tiny Bookcase Podcast@tinybookcase.bsky.social

# 242- Ben and Nico have an utterly delightful time chatting with Rick Danforth (@rickandwrite.bsky.social), BSFA Winner and champion martial artist. Listen here: pod.link/1524142040/e... Rick's Site: rickdanforth.wordpress.com #fantasy #SF #interview

Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

What do you mean you don't have an ebook of Last Dragoners, get it now from the Subterranean site!

Indrapramit Das@indrapramitdas.bsky.social

This affects the ebook of my mythic realist novella THE LAST DRAGONERS OF BOWBAZAR. If you want to get the ebook, you can order it directly from the @subpress.bsky.social here. It's about a family who may be refugees from another reality, living in Calcutta.

subterraneanpress.comThe Last Dragoners of Bowbazar eBookSubterranean Press creates readable art, publishing limited editions and groundbreaking original works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

It's true, I'm busy talking puffins with the corpse-dredger, the murderer, and PC Beak in Seaforth. But I did take the time to read this issue of Parsec and it's fabulous, as Alan says in his review. Why aren't you subscribing to Parsec? pspublishing.co.uk/parsec-79-c....

pspublishing.co.ukParSecFollowing the announcement in our Weekly Newsletter 8th Jan that PS would be taking over the reins of the much-loved Interzone magazine with me
The Supernova Short Fiction Review@supernovareviews.bsky.social

While Jonathan is busy visiting Seaforth and recording what he finds, Alan took the time to review Parsec #14 - another superb issue with great stories by Adam Roberts, Mike Cobley, Teika Smits, Dave Hutchinson AND MORE!

supernova.reviewsParsec #14Alan reviews a cracking new issue of Parsec - why haven't you subscribed yet?
Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Filling my current story with em-dashes (or en-dashes, I'm entirely unsure at this point) because that's the way the prose wants to be. If it was good enough for Sterne in Tristram Shandy (subject of my long abandoned attempt to become a Dr) then it's good enough for me!

Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Bystanding (2018) First published at Factor Four magazine 2018 Dave sits on the roof of the old Ford out by the farm gate with a beer. It hasn’t been a working farm for nearly a decade, but the yard and outbuildings were why he bought the place, and they’re filled with the broken-down vehicles he…

jonlaidlow.comBystanding (2018)First published at Factor Four magazine 2018 Dave sits on the roof of the old Ford out by the farm gate with a beer. It hasn’t been a working farm for nearly a decade, but the yard and outbuildings were why he bought the place, and they’re filled with the broken-down vehicles he collects and occasionally repairs. The Ford Cortina, though, is beyond restoration, and with the engine stripped out it’s just a place for the kids to play, or for him to go sit with his thoughts in the night.

Jonathan Laidlow reposted

The Supernova Short Fiction Review
@supernovareviews.bsky.social

Alan reviews the latest edition of the excellent @shoreinf.bsky.social‬ - Omniscient computers, ghosts in machines, and cellular communication all crop up in this edition of Shoreline, and there seems to be a loose theme of lives that take place within non-corporeal and hidden states.

supernova.reviewsShoreline of Infinity #39 (Summer 2025)Omniscient computers, ghosts in machines, and cellular communication all crop up in this edition of Shoreline, and there seems to be a loose theme of lives that take place within non-corporeal and hidden states.  Alan reviews the latest Shoreline of Infinity

Jonathan Laidlow reposted

Adrian Tchaikovsky
@aptshadow.bsky.social

Random literary ramble post about how an idea can travel. In Gene Wolfe's Book of the Short Sun (2000) we meet the inhumi of Green, shapeshifting aliens that take on the characteristics of their prey in order to impersonate them and get close enough to feed...

Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Andrew’s story is brilliant! @deadinkbooks.bsky.social

Andrew Variously@noumenon.bsky.social

Finally got myself back to Blighty and collected my copy(z) of MOTIVES UNKNOWN from @deadinkbooks.bsky.social - cue immediate reading binge, now completed It's this, buy a copy: deadinkbooks.com/product/moti... 🙂

deadinkbooks.comMotives Unknown: A Northern Crime Anthology - Dead Ink BooksWelcome to the North. Sprawling cities. Lawless rural landscapes. A long and unforgiving history. Here is where the winds blow cold and the nights are long. An actor takes his preparation a little too...
Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Republishing an old story as I rebuild my website - this is "Inundated" a fantasy which is my Mum's favourite. It was also a Far Fetched Fable podcast. It was sold to Ecotones - an original small press anthology - and it was my first sale.

jonlaidlow.comInundated (2015) Yuri woke up to the sound of waves breaking at the end of the street, and knew that the undines had breached the final defences. Even his house, one of the furthest from the harbour, would be theirs once again, like the rest of the city. He had slept in the upper bedroom and now looked out into the morning, surveying the city.
Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

While avoiding writing more of the puffin story, I thought I'd revisit an old draft of a near future short that I really liked. Oh. Nope! I don't think that's fixable! What about this story about aliens and sandwiches....

Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Am going to celebrate #Bloomsday by putting on the audiobook of Ulysses read by Jim Norton (Father Ted's Bishop Brennan) that I bought three Bloomsdays ago and and have still failed to complete... (not because he's not bloomin' marvellous, I might add). The failure is mine...

Jonathan Laidlow reposted

Allison Thai
@thaisibir.bsky.social

Today is the last day for Plott Hound's summer submission period! Slip those animal stories, poems and essay pitches through the dog door before midnight MST.

Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

@interzone.press issue 302 has dropped but I’m behind! Here’s my review of the previous issue over at my side project, Supernova…

The Supernova Short Fiction Review@supernovareviews.bsky.social

Interzone #301 An upsettingly late review of a brilliant issue of Interzone. Stand out stories by Corey Jae White and Ashley Stokes.

supernova.reviewsInterzone #301An upsettingly late review of a brilliant issue of Interzone. Stand out stories by Corey Jae White and Ashley Stokes.
Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Back to my reviewing side project. I looked at the backlog of short fiction to review and thought, I know – I'll review a novella!

The Supernova Short Fiction Review@supernovareviews.bsky.social

The Creator by Aliya Whiteley (Newcon Press 2025) The new novella by 2025 BSFA award-winner Aliya Whiteley is expertly written – it's a pastiche of those mid-century country house novels married to a couple of pulpy genre plots, and it all fits together really well. There’s not a moment wasted…

supernova.reviewsThe Creator by Aliya Whiteley(Newcon Press 2025) The new novella by 2025 BSFA award-winner Aliya Whiteley is expertly written – it's a pastiche of those mid-century country house novels married to a couple of pulpy genre plots, and it all fits together really well. There’s not a moment wasted here. While her Three-Eight-One still puzzles me, it’s the kind of puzzle I want to solve rather than abandon.
Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Because I’m at @easterconuk.bsky.social in Belfast I posted my Strung Along in Seaforth story and then forgot to promote it. Having a smashing time, moderated a panel on David Lynch, spoke on a Star Wars panel and watched @rickandwrite.bsky.social win an award! jonlaidlow.com/2025/04/seaf...

jonlaidlow.comRead “Strung Along in Seaforth” for freeTobias dressed the shop dummy in the skin of his late father and then carefully pinched and pulled until it was smooth and tight. Harold was to be his entry in Seaforth’s annual carnival and after …

Jonathan Laidlow reposted

Andrew Knighton
@aknighton.bsky.social

If you haven't already read Charlie Says, then take this nudge from the BSFA awards to go give it a look. It's the book from last year that I keep recommending, a brilliantly written & incredibly timely story of modern folk magic, toxic nostalgia, & the difficulty of redemption.

This post is unavailable.
Jonathan Laidlow
@jonlaidlow.bsky.social

Sometimes the things we do to procrastinate become a thing of their own. Very proud of the reviews @interzonemagfans.bsky.social and I have written at Supernova, supporting short fiction. And I even started writing again over the winter!

The Supernova Short Fiction Review@supernovareviews.bsky.social

It seems that Supernova has been longlisted in the Best Short Non Fiction category of the @bsfa.bsky.social awards. Thank you to whoever nominated us, we really appreciate it.