Kestral Gaian

One week today I'll be chairing this brilliant panel at #YALC about worldbuilding in YA fiction. If you're at the convention, come along and say hi! We'll all be signing books right after.

Move to the west coast of Scotland, I said. What could go wrong, I said. Thanks #StormBoelo.

The #iPod turns 25 today! I've been musing about the impact it has had, and what we might learn from that as we navigate the generatively-beige world we now find ourselves in. news.kestr.al/ipod25/ Interestingly, I bought my first iPod to impress a guy I fancied. It didn't end well.

Oh for the love of an almost-handsome man in wellies who'll grumble with me about the decline of the eel trade.

Hey I think I'll log on to the internet and see what is happening on the world wide web! Oh.

Just a lazy Sunday of writing.

We live in a time. Unfortunately, that time is perpetually 4:30am.

I'm SO excited that the title and cover for the new book have finally been revealed! The sequel to The Boy From Elsewhere is coming... and I can't wait for you to read it. It's even more queer, I promise.

What a disgusting concept. Do not feed your book to the AI machine. I don't understand how some authors do not get the harms that AI do to every single one of us.

I’m known for my love of sandwiches. Why not share that love more widely? Join me for #SandwichSaturday. Let’s hope my waistline can take it. This cheeky little poppyseed number from Narture keeps me warm on a cold October day. A definite 8/10 sandwich. #sandwiches #weekendeats #saturdayeats

Ever wondered what the world would be like if Hank Hill loved gender as much as he loved propane? hankgender.net

Earlier this year we introduced you to The Boy From Elsewhere, a gripping sci-fi fantasy novel by @kestr.al. Early next year brings the next instalment of the Reality Quake saga. We're so excited, we think we might be seeing... double?

Thanks Wigtown Book Festival for having me! So amazing to chat to @rachaelking70.bsky.social alongside Denise Brown in what I’m certain is the world’s most beautiful book town! Blown away by all the incredible questions from the audience. Thanks to all who came.

Just lit a bunch of joss sticks and now have an irrational worry that they'll burn the house down, so I'm running between rooms to check on them. This is the opposite of the calming effect they're meant to have.

My school librarian let me hack around on early computers, and created a safe space for my obnoxious queer teenage overconfidence - even at a time where you couldn't actively acknowledge LGBTQ+ identities in schools. Here's a little blog post about librarians. news.kestr.al/ask-a-librar...

Every time I make a to-do list, my cat sits on it. Every single time. Can't tell whether I'm annoyed, proud, or both. // cc @supernote.com

Just ate some really fucking good potatoes. Grew them myself and everything.

Having a robot that cleans the floors is great because I no longer have to clean my floors! Of course I do now have to clean my robot, which is infinitely more complicated than cleaning my floors, but LOOK AT MY FLOORS!

In just over a week I will be a part of the amazing Wigtown Book Festival! I’ll be on panel with Denise Brown, talking with Traitors star Rachael King about Outsiders, Obsession and Betrayal. Hope to see you there! tickets.wigtownbookfestival.com/sales/events...

Today is a day for unhitching your cart and allowing the animals that pull them to rest a little. Happy Equine Ox day, everyone!

"Why won't you have a civilised debate with me?" Sorry but if your starting point is that I don't deserve to exist, it's neither civil nor a debate.

Do you remember?

"I think there’s a time for politics and a music concert is not one of those places" says man who has never been to a music concert or listened to a song before, presumably. www.the-independent.com/arts-enterta...

Thrilled to announce I’ll be at the Wigtown Book Festival this year! I’ll be joining the wonderful Denise Brown on the 4th of October at 3pm for our panel “Outsiders, Obsession and Betrayal”. Hope to see you there! Tickets are available now! 👇👇 tickets.wigtownbookfestival.com/sales/events...

The fact that They Might Be Giants didn’t change their name after becoming giants is possibly the greatest case study of imposter syndrome of our generation.

Donate to me instead of Nigel Farage. I won’t do anything useful with your money - which is instantly better than anything Farage will do with it.

Just been hit with an unexpected £1500 car repair bill for a wiring fault. Anyway, if you feel like softening that sting a little, please consider throwing some coin at my ample yet pleasant frame: ko-fi.com/kestr_al No pressure, the world is hell and I know we're all struggling <3

@kamenspider.bsky.social I tried to text you happy birthday earlier but it kept failing. So: happy birthday!

London friends. If I wanted to sit and work for a few hours in Soho, I used to sit in Balans No. 34, who'd keep me in tea and snacks while I worked. Alas, Balans No. 34 is no more, and No. 60 is more restaurant-y. So, if I want to sit and work for a few hours in Soho, where do I do that now?

The second that an open source project accepts or encourages the use of generative AI, it stops being open. I continue to be perplexed that this is a controversial statement.

Nightmare fuel. I didn't realise how terrified I was of you all chasing me around a landscape filled with giant inflatable ducks until now.

They promised us a machine that could do anything, and instead they built Talkie Toaster™, your chirpy breakfast companion.

Sisyphus would have loved LLMs, and you know it.

Okay, but how?

“What if a famously nasty, evil rich guy actually had a point?” Can’t tell if they’re talking about Depp or Scrooge, but either way I hope Dickens rises from the grave a slaps him round the face with the whole point of the original story.

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