This is quite remarkable. (And very funny in parts.) BBC Archive always turning up startling gems.

Very sad news about the most masterful of short story writers, Alice Munro. I could read her stories endlessly, and still not be able to get close to fathoming how she performs such on-the-page magic. theguardian.com/books/article/…

I think Jackdaws are my spirit birds. They seemed to follow me around when I was writing ‘Ghostland’. And there’s one tonight in the garden of the pub I’m in. He or she’s happy because they just found a chip…

Looking forward to being interviewed next Weds (19 June, 18.30) by Alex Davis for the 5-day online folk horror festival 'Darkness in the Fields: Midsummer 2': Tickets & info here: eventbrite.co.uk/e/darkness-in-…

A naughty twitch south of the border today for a bird I’ve not seen in Britain for 32 years; I feel quite old! (Greater Sand Plover, Newbiggin, Northumberland)

Cover reveal! Very excited about this one. The August #TalesoftheWeird is Eerie East Anglia edited by Edward Parnell (Ghostland). Vintage horror & newer tales from Matthew Holness & Daisy Johnson, take a look at that contents page! Pre-order now from @BL_shop & all good bookshops

Nice views of this adult Baird’s Sandpiper - a vagrant from the Americas - on the beach at Thorntonloch this morning. Birding Lothian

Woohoo early stock of Eerie East Anglia has arrived at BLP towers. Includes terrifying horse frontispiece!@edward_parnell (Out 22/08).

From Zuid Holland to South Holland! I knew there must be a shortcut to @krankenhausfestival!😂 In lovely sunshine we cycled from Norfolk into Lincolnshire and sleep tonight under the stars of Fenland. Appropriately will read a bit in Edward Parnell's excellent book 'Ghostland'.

An exciting day for me as 'Eerie East Anglia', the new book I've edited for British Library Publishing 's 'Tales of the Weird Series', is published today. And it's already out there in the wild, with this lovely display in Waterstones Norwich. For more info see: shop.bl.uk/collections/br…

And you can hear all about Eerie East Anglia at Edward's event with us in November! Info and tickets: waterstones.com/events/an-eeri…

Greenish Warblers like buses in East Lothian this afternoon! V lucky at Whitesands, when the 2nd bird I saw out of my car was the Greenish found earlier by Norman Milligan. Later I saw Ian Andrews more-elusive, though frequently calling bird and managed this pic. Birding Lothian

Well, here it is and what a thing of beauty the finished book is! Honoured to have played a small role in the production of ‘Unquiet Slumbers’, the new folk horror anthology from Nēpenthé Press.

A nice surprise at Barns Ness this afternoon (5pm), where I had 2 white phase Snow Geese head westwards in off the sea & over me in a flock of c. 100 Pink-footed Geese. I did manage one poor record shot that shows their black primaries - the 2 left-hand birds. Birding Lothian

I enjoyed British Library Publishing 's 'Roads of Destiny', from the Tales of the Weird series. An interesting selection and intro from Alasdair Richmond – and the collection also features John Metcalfe's 'The Bad Lands', which I definitely would've otherwise featured in 'Eerie East Anglia'!

Two lovely new Halloween hardbacks have arrived at mine from British Library Publishing: the wonderfully titled ‘Halloweird’ and a collection of Wilkie Collins’ ghost stories edited by Xavier Aldana Reyes; I’ve just started ‘Halloweird’, which is full of obscure diamonds unearthed by J🎃hnny M☠️🪦ns!

On sale now! The UK Ghost Story Festival returns to Museum of Making at Derby Silk Mill in Derby next February, with a huge line-up of talks, panels, interviews, workshops and more! ticketsource.co.uk/ukghoststoryfe… #Derby #Derbyshire #ghosts #ghoststory #ghoststories

Happy Halloween everyone. Here's a suitably festive book shelf for you. #Halloween