#arthurransome — Public Fediverse posts

@IanAMartin @cstross

And married Trotsky's personal secretary

#ArthurRansome

The Dubai "expats" of today are reminiscent of the "Shanghailanders" of a century ago, as described by Arthur Ransome, journalist & author of the Swallows and Amazons books
https://chinarhyming.com/2026/03/08/dubai-2026-shanghai-1927-remembering-arthur-ransomes-shanghai-mindset/

#Dubai #Shanghai #ArthurRansome #TaxDodgers #China #UAE

@ratatosk A lovely review. I was a huge #ArthurRansome fan in my childhood and recently re-read the 12 S&A series 35 years later and ashamed to say I haven't read this. That review has convinced me to hunt it out! #iamreading #goodreads

@simon_brooke Winnie the pooh and Box of Delights loved here too. Also a big #ArthurRansome fan and having recently re-read them all after 30 years of first doing so, astonished I remember enjoying Peter Duck as Black Jake was such a frightening enemy. I generally went for pretty tame stuff as a child. Always thought Peter Duck would make a great film.

Welcome home, Timothy! I've just finished re-reading #ArthurRansome 's Pigeon Post (again!). Still can't decide if it's my favourite Swallows and Amazons book or not. Reading as a child, I was always expecting Squashy Hat to be some super villain! #kidlit #iamreading #bookstodon

@osbert.realise.earth and thanks to Ransome's brilliance when I read it as a child I viewed all the children equally, as any child would. He also had pretty feisty female leads across the S&A series too, and beautifully emotionally literate adults who were kept out of the main action as "natives", so 10 year old me was just focussed on the sheer adventure of the children. Re-reading them all nearly 40 years later has been such a joy! #ArthurRansome #kidlit

Important issue to resolve: Are "squashed fly biscuits" fruit shortcake biscuits or Garibaldi biscuits? I think I'm on a disagreement with most of internetland, but that's nothing new. Is the earliest documented reference by #ArthurRansome in the Swallows&Amazons books or elsewhere? #importantdilemma #squashedflybiscuits

#WordWeavers 26/5: What childhood similarities do your MC and antagonist share?
Nothing whatsoever that I can think of, but then I haven’t given thought to Perriad’s childhood. She’s one of those people who you can’t imagine ever being a child, like Margaret Thatcher or the dreaded Great-Aunt in a couple of the Arthur Ransome novels that were formative reading in my childhood.)
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books #ArthurRansome

#WritersCoffeeClub 16/4: Starting a chapter with a quote?
When other writers do it, my eye often slides over those bits anyway. The only time I’ve done anything of the kind is in non-fiction, in my study of #ArthurRansome, where appropriate quotes were a great way to open each chapter. And yes, I did have permission from the Trustees of the Ransome estate. The sheer labour involved in getting permission from dozens of sources is another good reason not to do this.
#writingCommunity

A lovely view this morning by the river opposite church, watching a coot family. A great view of an unusually high nest (sensible move due to the recent floods pushing the water level higher), daddy coot very busy getting food and nest reinforcements and mummy coot with her hungry brood. Coot nests are usually more concealed than this. The nest is close to a mooring. I do hope no Hullabaloos turns up! #CootClub #ArthurRansome #NestingBirds

My #WorldBookDay choice is Arthur Ransome's Coot Club. Loved it as a child, re-read 35 years later. A tale from a different era, with children full of adventure and given great freedom (and with a better sense of right and wrong than some of the adults). #ArthurRansome #WBD #kidlit #iamreading

Ahoy there! Welcome to the Swallows and Amazons Quote Bot. Enjoy a quote selected at random from a list every six hours.

First published in the 1930s, this children's book by Arthur Ransome tells of the adventures of John, Susan, Titty and Roger, camping on an island and sailing the Swallow. They meet Nancy and Peggy, two local girls with their own boat, the Amazon.

#SwallowsAndAmazons #ArthurRansome #ChildrensLiterature #KidsLit #LakeDistrict #UK #England #Sailing #Camping

A marathon reading of one of the Swallows and Amazons stories by Arthur Ransome will take place at the Windermere Jetty Museum later this month.
#ArthurRansome
https://northwestbylines.co.uk/lifestyle/books/storytime-in-the-lake-district-swallows-and-amazons-ahoy/

#WritingWonders 12/6. MC POV (not): How do you feel about marriage?
A personal story. When I was about 9 I was taken along to a wedding. To stop me dying of boredom during the speeches and dancing my Mum handed me a copy of #SwallowsandAmazons. I don’t remember a single other thing about that wedding but it’s still one of the best I’ve ever attended. #reading #books
And #arthurransome would later give me quite a lot of material in my own nonfiction writing.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth

#WritingWonders 2/6
The intersection of real and fictional landscapes is a subject I’ve written about several times, with reference to authors including #Tolkien and #ArthurRansome. Ransome’s ‘lake country’ is closely based on the real Lake District but with much rearranging and renaming. The lake, for instance, is a hybrid of Windermere and Coniston Water. Lots more at https://ransomeslakedistrict.com if you’re interested.
#Writingcommunity

@sawauthor @bookstodon @SteveClough True, although there were always authors who went beyond the conventions. #ArthurRansome, who actually exchanged letters with Tolkien, had a majority female cast in all his Lake District novels. And they weren’t all there to make the tea either.

I’m pretty sure my fondness for 3rd person limited with multiple POVs shows the early influence of #ArthurRansome, who still strikes me as pretty darn good at it. Especially in his finest books, ‘Winter Holiday’ & ‘Pigeon Post’, which were also my masterclasses in handling a large cast (8 main characters, all given significant roles to play, esp. in PP).
#writingwonders #writingcommuity

What did the second hand bookshop expect if they offer me 20% off already next-to-nothing prices? Some of these front covers bring back so many school memories! I'm still up Kanchenjunga hoping the great aunt clears off soon, but will soon be ready to get in to this lot. Really enjoying re-reading them over 30 years later! #ArthurRansome #SwallowsAndAmazons #iamreading #kidlit

Watching #Wonderland on Sky Arts. Good series on classic children’s literature , and the dark background of many of the stories and their authors.
I don’t think it did full justice to my guy #ArthurRansome but bloody hell, the segment on #Tolkien was powerful.

Really getting in to #ArthurRansome again and couldn't wait for the library to get number 2 in so ordered this bargain from Awesome Books - pretty sure that's the same cover I remember reading from the 1980s. #kidlit #iamreading #SwallowsAndAmazons

I'm rediscovering #arthurransome from my youth - loved the first one and a bit devastated to have finished already. Any other Wild Cat Island fans out there? #notduffers #kidlit

Thread.
If asked to name the two books that have been most influential on me, as a person and as a #writer, I'd say The Left Hand of Darkness and Swallows and Amazons. LHOD is probably not a surprising choice for an aspiring #SFF writer: S&A might be. So here's a short thread to try and explain.
#ArthurRansome is best known for his twelve novels for young people, often referred to by the title of the first, #Swallows&Amazons (published 1930).