The invariably solitary rock pipit, a regular on the shoreline of Bute. 💚🪶🙂

Ah thanks so much. Hope you enjoy the read. 🤞 (Bridge 108 released at the very start of Covid! Who wanted to read a dystopia then?)

The perfection of this.

Over the moon (and peatbog!) with this review: “assured atmospheric writing” “exquisite realism” “characters are compelling”. Thank you, Ben, for your personal response to Alston Moor 📖 💚 🙏

In 2025 alone, wildfires burned ~ 47,000 hectares of land. Britain needs to Rewild to Recover from worsening future wildfire threat, says our new report published today: Rewilding and climate resilience: reducing wildfire risk in a heating climate. 🔥 Read the full report:

For Monday: one turnstone with one periwinkle on the shore at Ardbeg Point, Isle of Bute. 💚

“Shrubsole said the government must agree a plan to re-wet the UK’s peat bogs, restore lost ponds in farmers’ fields, and stop grouse moor owners setting fire to moorland.”

Morning mist, Dumfries and Galloway.

Well, this is lovely! City of All Seasons by Aliya Whiteley and myself has been shortlisted for the Aldiss Award for World Building in speculative fiction!

Thank you! I’ll read Woman, Wolf. Also I’m a big fan of When There Are Wolves Agan.

And intriguing comparisons re the positioning of eco fiction and speculative fiction.

"For the first time, the need to regulate industry in order to protect the environment became widely accepted, and environmentalism was born."

A fabulous idea!

“It just goes to show that nature is always there waiting to push through.” Good news to counteract the doomscrolling 💚🙂💚

“What makes Exit Party a superlative example of the form is its structural cohesiveness, its expert play of signs and symbols, its psychological realism” - Nina Allan.