Mark Brandon

Steampunk me (2016) Mostly scratch-built, back in my crafting days.

Ten days to go - come and face your FEARS OF THE DARK with six weeks of guest horror writing workshops, kicking off on 3rd November! www.eventbrite.com/e/fears-of-t... #horror #horrorwriting #horrorwriters #horrorcourse #horrorcourses #horrorworkshop #horrorworkshops

My short story MONKEY SEE MONKEY DON'T is now available to read at SpaceSquid.com #writing #creativewriting #shortstories #author #sci-fi www.spacesquid.com/funny-storie...

My story STONE MOTHER is now available in paperback along with 9 other chilling stories in TALES OF COSMIC HORROR produced by @redcapepublishing.bsky.social Shout out to @markbrandon.bsky.social Who's also in this anthology. www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Cosmic... #horrorwriter #cosmichorror #writing

Just started this and it’s absolutely brilliant. Mind-bending in all the right ways. Kudos, @qntm.org !!

My favourite book-related podcast, with some spooky tales for the Witching Season, including a morsel from yours truly! 👻 🎃 😈

For those in the know, the final round of a truly insane mono white attrition… major respect to my valiant opponent (many GGs…) #magicthegathering #mtgarena

Unsolicited writing advice no. 13: No artist needs artificial intelligence if they have the real thing.

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 940000: The senses are a way of connecting with your readership. Use them all. Don't forget scent, touch and taste as well as just sight and sound. Describing something ordinary via an unexpected sense can suddenly make it fresher and more interesting.

I know this was the cover format back in the day but I’m imagining a modern reader seeing this and thinking ‘Do not remember the scene with the penguins in 1984.’

A balcony, wrapped around one corner of a red brick former warehouse built when dreadnoughts ruled the waves. Metal railings, walled with decaying raffia. Pretty pots of dead plants. Worn decking, black with lichen, slick to the touch. A door, the pane above the handle broken.

I am delighted to have an article in this issue of Pulse.

An old factory on the shoreline, slowly rusting into the lake. Two chimneys reach defiantly into a lead white sky. Chill air laced with a chemical tang. A patched road leads to a loading dock. A badge on a faded blue lanyard. Name blurred. Face still recognisable.

The palace stood at the very centre of the frozen lake. Walls of ice so old, so compressed they were blue. Ramparts like broken teeth. A single entrance, just a crack, pulled apart by time and weight. A dark blue nub the size of a child’s hand: a bell. But to summon whom? Or what?

Currently in exactly this mode. Stop worrying about word length, Mark, just write everything down!

Heartily agree with this advice! Reading aloud is one of the essentials in my writing process.

The cottage had once been part of a castle. Stonework dusty with pale green lichen. Three deep-silled windows, dark as eyes. The smell of earth and rotting wood. A glint by the doorstep, a half-buried brooch, revealed by rain.

New Review - a really interesting quest tale with a band of very different characters awaits in the great Clockwork Boys by T Kingfisher - many thanks to @titanbooks.bsky.social www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2025/3/...

My partner described lo-fi jazz (which I listen to sometimes) as “like being on an elevator to Hell”. I retaliated, calling BBC Radio6 Music (his fave) as “like being on a rollercoaster made out of custard and razor blades”. He called me a “typical Aquarian”. Music War continues!

A goblin adventuring party

We were both working until the idea of crumpets and a movie occurred, and now it seems work is done…

Who are some of the writers who made you? Iain M Banks Robert Silverberg H P Lovecraft Philip K Dick Richard Morgan William Gibson Tolkien Julian May Bruce Sterling Jane Austen Anthony Doerr

Looking forward to seeing people at States of Independence tomorrow at DMU. It's a free festival. So if you are near Leicester, do come along and enjoy the many events, stalls and lovely people.

Awesome book haul this morning - three Haynes manuals courtesy of fantastic sale at the Tank Museum - love those guys!

Unsolicited writing advice, no. #16140: Don't assume that your desk is where all your writing happens. 90% of the process of creation happens elsewhere. Use whatever time you have. Thinking time; dreaming time; observing time; analyzing time. All this time can be part of your work. Don't waste it.

Spending the evening calculating travel times in my second world fantasy novel is most illuminating! (And will require some tweaking of the WIP!)

Writing a chapter I thought was two before the midpoint only to realise “wait - this is the midpoint!” How exciting… #WIP #epicfantasy

Started reading a sample of a bestselling novel today. Perfectly well written, but I find first person present tense impossible in long-form fiction. Tiring to read beyond 20 pages or so. So that’s another DNF…

In 18 years, the best day (by far) we've had for new subscriptions was triggered by a reader who posted two sentences and a link on Reddit. Never underestimate word-of-mouth. Thank you to everyone that has done that for us over the years. It all adds up and continues to make a difference.

CHM's new magazine Goblins & Galaxies will be opening for submissions on May 7! Check out the guidelines below. goblinsandgalaxies.com/submissions/

I’ve discovered my Kill Switch. The moment I’d give up writing forever: “Didn’t like that last story of yours, Mark. It reminded me of Reacher season three.” S3 is so aggressively bad it’s difficult to look away.

Stories are built from moments of change. If you understand what changes in a scene, you'll be able to sculpt that change from the start to the end. That's the key to keeping readers turning the pages. #WritingTips #WritersLife #Thriller

And this morning the Shed is a murmuration of birds, briefly held in the shape of a shed against the mellow morning sky.

When I write, I quickly get into Flow state, where time collapses. It’s wonderful, except that I’m doing a lot of writing right now and it feels like my life is speeding along… 🤪

If they made a film of this they could call it Humpback Mountin’

Another ink on paper experiment.

So I did the 16 Personalties (= Myers-Briggs) ahead of my coaching course and came out as ENTJ-A. Last time I did it, in 2019, I was INTP, and originally, in 2000, was ENTJ. My ‘E’ and ‘J’ are so close to the centre, I could easily have been INTP again. Guess I was just in a bolshy mood! 😆😆

Strange experience today. I belted out a new SF short story, not my usual style, no darkness, all light. And when I finished I got a bit emotional. Never happened to me before, but I thought I just might have created something beautiful.

I’m starting my statins tmrw, so my cholesterol is low for the Apocalypse…

I don’t know whose this is but I love it. If I had to have a spirit animal…

Oh, Friday night’s alright for writing Gotta get a little action in Oh oh oh yeah Na na na na na na na na na #novelwriting #momentum #epicfantasy #embracethedarkness

ST DS9 s2e17: “Playing God” The station is overrun with Cardassian voles and the team is debating whether to destroy an invasive proto-universe. Kira: “it’s like stepping on ants, Odo!” Me: don’t you mean *Bajoran* ants, Major? #startrekdeepspacenine #emotionalsupportshow

Watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (my fave) again from the start. And every replimat order is: - Aldebaran torte - Liseppian pancakes - Ferengi Viennetta

Unsolicited writing advice, no. #103876: Never worry about whether what you write "matters." It matters because you do. And one day, someone else may read it and understand that they matter, too. This is how we build a world, one connection at a time.