Simon Davies

Finished this last week, it’d been on my shelf for a while. Absolute masterpiece. Science fiction is still often siloed as genre fiction and this is a prime example of why that’s nonsense.

It may not be the worst of his crimes, but Musk has absolutely ruined Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, so if you’ve never read it, too late. He took ‘grok’ from there & it’s quite important to the plot so comes up all the time. Every time you can’t help but think of Elon’ smug gammon head.

It exists! With MANY thanks to Graham @themhra.bsky.social, 'Doing Things With Literature: A Toolkit' is out in record time @mroussill.bsky.social @gemmatidman.bsky.social Emma Herdman & I will be launching it into the world @mfoxford.bsky.social on 30/10 at 5.30pm.

Not to mention the personal cost in loss of freedom of movement, Brexit has been such a drain on time and money. Yet nobody in govt seems to address these additional customs charges that are costing UK business a fortune. Feels like we should be able to get a refund from the Tories for all this.

Well at least UPS is making a mint out of Brexit I guess

Love 17th- & 18th-C typesetters just going wild with display types. I can imagine the compositor having great fun with stuff like this

Is anyone who follows me Swedish, by any chance?

Savage line in this description of a particular mid-19th-C Dutch book: 'It had nothing of its own, except its many shortcomings.'

The backstory of Michelangelus, a new typeface soon to be in Microsoft software, based on the handwriting of Michelangelo. Good fun, and it looks pretty nice, but why does the roman have upper-case figures and the italic have lower-case? microsoft.design/articles/des...

Don't forget, our event is next week! Please do come if you're in/near London and interested in literature and literary research 📆 Celebrating a Century of the Annual Bibliography and the MHRA’s Work in English Studies, Friday 16 October www.mhra.org.uk/news/2026/08...

Reading about the early arguments for studying Eng Lit in the 19th C, it's striking how nationalist they often were. Hence why it was *English* lit, our national cultural identity etc. Perhaps if we start talking like this again the right-wing idiots could be tricked into funding it properly?

Please use MHRA style

A really good episode, should be very useful for ECRs and PhDs thinking about a first book (And the book sounds good too) #academicsky open.spotify.com/episode/0umc...

The world lost an absolute titan of the music industry yesterday. Most people won't even know his name, but the influence of his band can scarcely be matched. My life would likely have been entirely different without what they did for music. Those who know will know. Lay down your soul...

I really enjoyed working on this volume. Fantastic sexy poetry and short stories from an unjustly forgotten writer!

This is the first MHRA-organized event since I've been working here; we used to run events quite a lot many years ago, but not for a while. This one was my idea: volume 100 of a periodical publication is a once-in-a-lifetime thing to happen, it had to be marked. I hope people will come!

Please come along to this if you're in/near London! There'll be three interesting talks plus a drinks reception after (well, two interesting talks and one talk by me)

Great piece. I hope libraries will listen and take a stand. (Via @acadpubnews.bsky.social) www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

Listening to a high-up guy from a semi-major US university press talk about the importance of learned societies, and recalling the extremely rude and un-collegiate email I received from a staff member there when I suggested a collaborative initiative with the society I work for. Hmmmmm

That really would be a limited edition

Our colleagues in the @englishassociation.bsky.social are hosting an event in London on 17 October, Why Subject Associations Matter -- celebrating their 120th birthday! Do come along if you're in the area. Details here: englishassociation.ac.uk/confronting-...

Spending today working on my talk on the history of the Annual Bibliography for our London event in October (join us!). It's going to be so hard compressing everything into the time available. Also I haven't given a public lecture for about 10 years... www.mhra.org.uk/news/2026/08...

The persecution of Brighton University staff by the management there has been probably the longest and most bitter battle of the current HE crisis. Immeasurable harm done to staff wellbeing. But their situation is a warning to all others: this will come for you in the end too.

We've just published a new volume in our 'Jewelled Tortoise' series! 'Vernon Lee’s Cosmopolitan Prose. A Translated Selection', translated and edited by Colton Valentine. All info 👉 www.mhra.org.uk/publications...

Final proof checks this week to the Annual Bibliography of English Language & Literature for 2025. Still published in print after 100+ years! Not many subscribers these days (most access the online version), but it's nice that there are still a dedicated few. The print volume has its own value.

‘44% of respondents said they were concerned that disclosing their use of AI would negatively affect how others viewed their work’ …of course it will. Maybe take the hint? These people are supposed to be academics… www.researchinformation.info/news/oxford-...

Well this is annoying (in Collini, Literature & Learning (OUP)). Never mind that a lit scholar writing an actual history of English Studies shouldn’t be getting these journals confused, the abbreviation error could have been spotted by anyone literate 🤦‍♂️

Just love that art nouveau cover design 👌

If you're submitting work to a journal published by a commercial publisher (why would you do that? but whatever), always make sure if you have a query/problem to contact journal staff rather than the publisher (unless it's a tech problem). Especially if the publisher uses 'AI' assistants to 'help'.

Got my first AI book club scam email today! For an edition I published with ACMRS in 2013. Feels like they’re scraping the barrel with me tbh. But you do feel a pang of excitement on first seeing the email. It’s a cruel scam. (And famously academic authors have so much money 🙄)

Seen several pieces about how genAI for "editing only" can completely change a text's meaning and erase the writer's voice and ideas. But it reads well! So if the results look good you might press submit without realizing it's messed up your manuscript nicholashagar.medium.com/i-could-not-...

I've said it before and I'll say it again: scholarly editing is an advanced skill; it's not for everyone. Knowing the literature of a field does not itself equip you to be an editor. If you don't have highly developed textual accuracy skills then it's not for you.