Breakthrough Books
@breakthroughbook.bsky.social
An award-winning indie publisher putting creatives and readers first, with lovingly made, quality books… and a fair deal! E-shop now open on our website!
https://www.breakthroughbookcollective.com
https://linktr.ee/breakthroughbooks
https://www.breakthroughbookcollective.com
https://linktr.ee/breakthroughbooks
Pinned
🎉🎉🎉 Huge congratulations to @brethertonwords.bsky.social for being recognised by the Chanticleer Global Thriller Awards and for winning the Medical Thriller category in the NYC Big Book Awards! Needless to say we are… thrilled! 🥳🍾
#NYCBigBookAward #GabbyBookAwards #AwardWinningPublisher #SmallPress
#NYCBigBookAward #GabbyBookAwards #AwardWinningPublisher #SmallPress
Tom Cox. Always worth a follow, always worth a read (from posts to published books) and always worth the alt text. If seeking the ideal gift for the slightly weird readers in your life, feel clueless no more.  If they don’t already know Tom, this collection is the perfect introduction…
#booksky
#booksky
Last year I had the thought, "Maybe it would be nice to write a collection of stories all set in the kind of places I'd expect to find if I stepped through these portals I photograph on my walks?"
It was. And it's now published, and available here: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
It was. And it's now published, and available here: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
September 17, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Tom Cox. Always worth a follow, always worth a read (from posts to published books) and always worth the alt text. If seeking the ideal gift for the slightly weird readers in your life, feel clueless no more.  If they don’t already know Tom, this collection is the perfect introduction…
#booksky
#booksky
Wonderful! Thanks, Valeria!
Congratulations, Tom, on the publication of your short-story collection with @breakthroughbook.bsky.social! It was a joy to read! The stories playfully spark recognition of the many absurdities of modern life. Here is my review: valeriavescina.com/2026/09/15/a...
@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social
@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social
A review of Curious Events Lately Occurring In This Neighbourhood
The beautifully written stories in Tom Cox’s collection range from flash fiction to longer form. For me, they made for a refreshing experience, in that they sit outside my usual reading range…
valeriavescina.com
September 15, 2026 at 1:04 PM
Wonderful! Thanks, Valeria!
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
Curious Events Lately Occurring in this Neighbourhood by @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social is officially published today! It’s a smashing read, so why not treat yourself to a new book.
Just finished this. So, so, SO GOOD. The stories are funny, strange, odd, relatable, weird, outlandish, and exactly what I’d hoped for from Tom Cox. I swear I got funny looks in the cafe when I laughed so loud at the end of “Hedgecock’s Trip Down Memory Lane”
Back from holiday to find my copy of the new @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social book of short stories (signed and with a handmade bookmark with artwork by Tom’s mum) waiting for me! No way I’m not starting to this one immediately.
September 15, 2026 at 8:57 AM
Curious Events Lately Occurring in this Neighbourhood by @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social is officially published today! It’s a smashing read, so why not treat yourself to a new book.
And one of the first things we said to Tom, was “We LOVE short stories!”
We also know and value the importance of loyal readers, so a huge thanks also to everybody who got behind this book and helped to make it happen…
We also know and value the importance of loyal readers, so a huge thanks also to everybody who got behind this book and helped to make it happen…
Publishers: “Short stories don’t sell and are impossible to market so we are not going to take the risk of publishing them.”
Also publishers: “What can we publish to fit this era of reduced attention spans when people are reading fewer novels?”
Also publishers: “What can we publish to fit this era of reduced attention spans when people are reading fewer novels?”
September 15, 2026 at 8:41 AM
And one of the first things we said to Tom, was “We LOVE short stories!”
We also know and value the importance of loyal readers, so a huge thanks also to everybody who got behind this book and helped to make it happen…
We also know and value the importance of loyal readers, so a huge thanks also to everybody who got behind this book and helped to make it happen…
You beat us to it! And we had a card ready and everything….
(And, no, thank YOU for the thrill ride of bringing this extraordinary book into a world that needs just this kind of surreal and hilarious distraction, and trusting us with it!)
(And, no, thank YOU for the thrill ride of bringing this extraordinary book into a world that needs just this kind of surreal and hilarious distraction, and trusting us with it!)
September 15, 2026 at 7:46 AM
You beat us to it! And we had a card ready and everything….
(And, no, thank YOU for the thrill ride of bringing this extraordinary book into a world that needs just this kind of surreal and hilarious distraction, and trusting us with it!)
(And, no, thank YOU for the thrill ride of bringing this extraordinary book into a world that needs just this kind of surreal and hilarious distraction, and trusting us with it!)
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
Me reading a very tiny story from this. (Yes I know I have great taste in socks.)
September 14, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Me reading a very tiny story from this. (Yes I know I have great taste in socks.)
Sometimes, as writers and readers, we all need the refreshing palate cleanser of something light and silly and ‘pick’n’mix - but no less captivating, inspiring and delightful, and certainly no less consequential than a deeper tome. Tom need have no reservations about promoting this delightful book
I sometimes feel hesitant about promoting this book, being a follow-up to a novel that people tell me made them cry & became a lasting part of their interior world. It's short and silly, nothing like EWSY.
But I think there's room in the world for comedy sketch shows as well as epic two hour films.
But I think there's room in the world for comedy sketch shows as well as epic two hour films.
This is the news I've been waiting for: Blackwell's will be stocking my new short story collection, which means readers outside the UK can pre-order it for September 15th with FREE INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY...
Oh yes, and they have SIGNED copies too!
blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
Oh yes, and they have SIGNED copies too!
blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
September 14, 2026 at 12:29 PM
Sometimes, as writers and readers, we all need the refreshing palate cleanser of something light and silly and ‘pick’n’mix - but no less captivating, inspiring and delightful, and certainly no less consequential than a deeper tome. Tom need have no reservations about promoting this delightful book
Lovey interview with Tom, and a nice mention for Curious Events Lately Occurring in this Neighbourhood, the new short fiction collection out in the world (officially) from Tuesday the 15th!
"If you read the review of Everything Will Swallow You in The Guardian, and were put off by the description of 'comfy cardigan fiction', please ignore and forget it. That is as wrong as it would be to describe Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet as 'chicklit'." www.marshwoodvale.com/books/2026/0...
Tom Cox and the Power of Friendship » Books, Most Recent - Marshwood Vale Magazine
Tom Cox is the antithesis of the short-attention-span writer. He doesn’t use text speak, trendy abbreviations or any of the life’s-too-short-to-actually-read-something scraps of Tik-Tokery or Instagra...
www.marshwoodvale.com
September 13, 2026 at 2:16 PM
Lovey interview with Tom, and a nice mention for Curious Events Lately Occurring in this Neighbourhood, the new short fiction collection out in the world (officially) from Tuesday the 15th!
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
The limited edition bookmarks are gone now but Blackwell's still have signed copies (with free international delivery) available here: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
September 12, 2026 at 6:50 AM
The limited edition bookmarks are gone now but Blackwell's still have signed copies (with free international delivery) available here: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
So I got this the other day and wondered why it came from @breakthroughbook.bsky.social rather than Blackwells, where I’d recently ordered it from. Today, I got an email from Blackwells to let me know my order was despatched…
I got so excited about this book, apparently I ordered it twice 🤣
I got so excited about this book, apparently I ordered it twice 🤣
Look what just came in the post! 😀😀
Also, I’d like to lodge a complaint about ‘Everything will swallow you’, @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social. I was so engrossed, I almost missed my tube stop the other day. Luckily kiddo was with me to nudge me…
Also, I’d like to lodge a complaint about ‘Everything will swallow you’, @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social. I was so engrossed, I almost missed my tube stop the other day. Luckily kiddo was with me to nudge me…
September 11, 2026 at 10:23 AM
So I got this the other day and wondered why it came from @breakthroughbook.bsky.social rather than Blackwells, where I’d recently ordered it from. Today, I got an email from Blackwells to let me know my order was despatched…
I got so excited about this book, apparently I ordered it twice 🤣
I got so excited about this book, apparently I ordered it twice 🤣
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
So, I decided to take my new book Curious Events Occurring Lately In This Neighbourhood by @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social down to my local chilling place, Eastney Beach, Portsmouth. Thankfully it is no longer packed with far right paramilitary racists but is all lovely again. Thanks for this, Tom.
September 8, 2026 at 3:21 PM
So, I decided to take my new book Curious Events Occurring Lately In This Neighbourhood by @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social down to my local chilling place, Eastney Beach, Portsmouth. Thankfully it is no longer packed with far right paramilitary racists but is all lovely again. Thanks for this, Tom.
Our MD is quoted here… this challenging industry is certainly in flux, but there are many valid paths to publishing (due diligence, a thick skin and huge effort required for all) but even the big companies can fail and be a risk unless they never overextend and always ring fence author royalties.
Independent authors are being warned against using self-publishing “intermediary” businesses that take money upfront for book distribution services and manage royalties, but “create a single point of failure” should that business collapse. 👇
Self-publishing businesses create a 'single point of failure', authors warned
ebx.sh
September 9, 2026 at 1:57 PM
Our MD is quoted here… this challenging industry is certainly in flux, but there are many valid paths to publishing (due diligence, a thick skin and huge effort required for all) but even the big companies can fail and be a risk unless they never overextend and always ring fence author royalties.
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
Well this, unsurprisingly, is tremendous. I'm only an hour in but already it's the best short story collection since @quantick.bsky.social's and that was the best in ages. Bloody @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social Tom Cox, sickeningly prolific and consistently weird and funny. Hard recommend.
August 31, 2026 at 9:38 AM
Well this, unsurprisingly, is tremendous. I'm only an hour in but already it's the best short story collection since @quantick.bsky.social's and that was the best in ages. Bloody @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social Tom Cox, sickeningly prolific and consistently weird and funny. Hard recommend.
Wonderful, perceptive and heartfelt review from Jan! It’s always such a joy seeing the very personal and individual responses to a new book…
#booksky
#booksky
Curious Events Lately Occurring In This Neighbourhood is playful, uncanny, joyously silly, and demands that we run full pelt at life and rub ourselves against its shins. @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social @breakthroughbook.bsky.social #ShortStorySeptember
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/09/08/c...
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/09/08/c...
Curious Events Lately Occurring In This Neighbourhood
The second collection of short stories from Tom Cox, Curious Events Lately Occurring In This Neighbourhood, is an eclectic mix of flash fiction and longer form pieces of writing that share no genre…
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com
September 8, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Wonderful, perceptive and heartfelt review from Jan! It’s always such a joy seeing the very personal and individual responses to a new book…
#booksky
#booksky
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
Ebooks now directly available from the @breakthroughbook.bsky.social website! www.breakthroughbookcollective.com/product/curi...
Ebook loaded onto the Kobo, ready for tomorrow's long flight...the latest from @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social.
I am very happy that @breakthroughbook.bsky.social released pre-orders ahead of the Sept 15 street date!
The physical copy is en route and will arrive while I am away...
I am very happy that @breakthroughbook.bsky.social released pre-orders ahead of the Sept 15 street date!
The physical copy is en route and will arrive while I am away...
September 8, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Ebooks now directly available from the @breakthroughbook.bsky.social website! www.breakthroughbookcollective.com/product/curi...
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
Best reader review I've had for this: "a psychedelic pick & mix". Because that was my exact intention
'
Not a vast story that broke my brain to write (like EWSY).
Not the surreal autobiography of a year (like 1983)
Not a tangled interconnected history (like Villager).
Just a short silly book.
'
Not a vast story that broke my brain to write (like EWSY).
Not the surreal autobiography of a year (like 1983)
Not a tangled interconnected history (like Villager).
Just a short silly book.
This is the news I've been waiting for: Blackwell's will be stocking my new short story collection, which means readers outside the UK can pre-order it for September 15th with FREE INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY...
Oh yes, and they have SIGNED copies too!
blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
Oh yes, and they have SIGNED copies too!
blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
September 8, 2026 at 1:11 PM
Best reader review I've had for this: "a psychedelic pick & mix". Because that was my exact intention
'
Not a vast story that broke my brain to write (like EWSY).
Not the surreal autobiography of a year (like 1983)
Not a tangled interconnected history (like Villager).
Just a short silly book.
'
Not a vast story that broke my brain to write (like EWSY).
Not the surreal autobiography of a year (like 1983)
Not a tangled interconnected history (like Villager).
Just a short silly book.
Our pleasure!
Ebook loaded onto the Kobo, ready for tomorrow's long flight...the latest from @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social.
I am very happy that @breakthroughbook.bsky.social released pre-orders ahead of the Sept 15 street date!
The physical copy is en route and will arrive while I am away...
I am very happy that @breakthroughbook.bsky.social released pre-orders ahead of the Sept 15 street date!
The physical copy is en route and will arrive while I am away...
September 8, 2026 at 12:29 PM
Our pleasure!
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
I've made this short story free to read, as a representative sample from my new book.
If you like books, bookshops, eccentric old people and mystery, you might enjoy it.
And if you like it you'll almost certainly enjoy the book.
www.tom-cox.com/old-litkinov...
If you like books, bookshops, eccentric old people and mystery, you might enjoy it.
And if you like it you'll almost certainly enjoy the book.
www.tom-cox.com/old-litkinov...
Old Litkinov
Old Litkinov owned the bookshop down the road and, back when I was a poor student, I would sometimes sell him books that I had stolen from delivery trucks, supermarkets and the bedrooms of people who’...
www.tom-cox.com
September 7, 2026 at 8:20 AM
I've made this short story free to read, as a representative sample from my new book.
If you like books, bookshops, eccentric old people and mystery, you might enjoy it.
And if you like it you'll almost certainly enjoy the book.
www.tom-cox.com/old-litkinov...
If you like books, bookshops, eccentric old people and mystery, you might enjoy it.
And if you like it you'll almost certainly enjoy the book.
www.tom-cox.com/old-litkinov...
One month until Fallowfield by Nicole Swengley is out! This atmospheric and ‘artful’ mystery will appeal to fans of Nicole’s debut, The Portrait Girl, plus readers of Barbara Vine and Maeve Haran, and anyone into themes of art, design, dark academia, 70s culture and amateur female sleuths. #booksky
September 7, 2026 at 11:21 AM
One month until Fallowfield by Nicole Swengley is out! This atmospheric and ‘artful’ mystery will appeal to fans of Nicole’s debut, The Portrait Girl, plus readers of Barbara Vine and Maeve Haran, and anyone into themes of art, design, dark academia, 70s culture and amateur female sleuths. #booksky
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
This is just to say...
I have stolen
the work
that you spent
years creating
and which
you were probably
hoping
would pay your bills
But online sharing doesn't count
It's actually a compliment
So fuck you
BTW, I'm a fan
I have stolen
the work
that you spent
years creating
and which
you were probably
hoping
would pay your bills
But online sharing doesn't count
It's actually a compliment
So fuck you
BTW, I'm a fan
September 7, 2026 at 9:27 AM
This is just to say...
I have stolen
the work
that you spent
years creating
and which
you were probably
hoping
would pay your bills
But online sharing doesn't count
It's actually a compliment
So fuck you
BTW, I'm a fan
I have stolen
the work
that you spent
years creating
and which
you were probably
hoping
would pay your bills
But online sharing doesn't count
It's actually a compliment
So fuck you
BTW, I'm a fan
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
Saturday afternoon book post! Very excited to read @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social’s latest. And quite please to be supporting a publisher like @breakthroughbook.bsky.social. And the mermaid is amazing!
September 5, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Saturday afternoon book post! Very excited to read @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social’s latest. And quite please to be supporting a publisher like @breakthroughbook.bsky.social. And the mermaid is amazing!
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
Saturday #Bookpost is the best kind of book post!
Chuffed to have my signed copy, many thanks @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social and for the bookmark.
Congratulations to @breakthroughbook.bsky.social for their publication and distribution
#Booksky
Chuffed to have my signed copy, many thanks @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social and for the bookmark.
Congratulations to @breakthroughbook.bsky.social for their publication and distribution
#Booksky
September 5, 2026 at 2:23 PM
Saturday #Bookpost is the best kind of book post!
Chuffed to have my signed copy, many thanks @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social and for the bookmark.
Congratulations to @breakthroughbook.bsky.social for their publication and distribution
#Booksky
Chuffed to have my signed copy, many thanks @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social and for the bookmark.
Congratulations to @breakthroughbook.bsky.social for their publication and distribution
#Booksky
ICYMI: An extract from our upcoming non-fiction from former QI researcher and all-round intriguing guy, Stevyn Colgan, recounting his 5-year exploration of a cultural phenomenon, is on our Stack*
Awakenings: Why Neopaganism and the Folklore Renaissance Matter
is on pre-order on our *shop
**see⬇️
Awakenings: Why Neopaganism and the Folklore Renaissance Matter
is on pre-order on our *shop
**see⬇️
September 5, 2026 at 11:34 AM
ICYMI: An extract from our upcoming non-fiction from former QI researcher and all-round intriguing guy, Stevyn Colgan, recounting his 5-year exploration of a cultural phenomenon, is on our Stack*
Awakenings: Why Neopaganism and the Folklore Renaissance Matter
is on pre-order on our *shop
**see⬇️
Awakenings: Why Neopaganism and the Folklore Renaissance Matter
is on pre-order on our *shop
**see⬇️
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
Another pre-publication job ticked off today: two signed copies of this donated to my local library. @breakthroughbook.bsky.social
September 4, 2026 at 6:26 PM
Another pre-publication job ticked off today: two signed copies of this donated to my local library. @breakthroughbook.bsky.social
Reposted by Breakthrough Books
Also, please do follow Breakthrough's account on here. Help them grow. They're working hard to try to do good things for writers, having learned from the mistakes of other, less fair and transparent publishers.
Heroic effort from Tom! Writers really shouldn’t have to work this hard on anything that isn’t writing, but the book industry is the way it is. We are doing our best to disrupt that a little bit and also grow enough so that we can supply some extra support labour to writers as brilliant as Tom.
I've now delivered 1000 signed copies to the Blackwell's warehouse & the last of the copies ordered from the @breakthroughbook.bsky.social website were sent out today.
I'm knackered.
It's a quick, silly read. You can grab a signed one here, with free delivery: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
I'm knackered.
It's a quick, silly read. You can grab a signed one here, with free delivery: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
September 4, 2026 at 11:05 AM
Also, please do follow Breakthrough's account on here. Help them grow. They're working hard to try to do good things for writers, having learned from the mistakes of other, less fair and transparent publishers.