James Turner

Those are some brilliant pixies! A future comic creator in the making!

Last stop: @booksellercrow.bsky.social in Crystal Palace. Here I am, laughing because I forgot the word 'bookmark'.

(unless I also pretend I'm driving the bus in Europe, but come on, how much pretending do you expect me to do?)

It's at the front on the top deck, so actually pretty glamorous as buses go. But also sadly on the left, so I can't realistically pretend I'm driving.

To give you a little insight into just how glamorous an author's life can be, here's a picture of me on the bus to the next bookshop.

Another stop on my mini book signing tour: Dulwich Books! Here's a picture of me staring directly into the sun.

Doing a tour of my local bookshops to sign my new Toby and the Pixies and book. Waterstones Streatham and The Paper Cat in Herne Hill done, two more to go!

Nice to see the Wapiti pictured in its natural habitat, a dungeon.

My new book, 'Toby and the Pixies: How to be Cool' is out NOW! Read all about Toby's quest to become the coolest kid in school which also facing meddling pixies, giant pimples, possessed video games, dandruff cowboys and much much more. Get your copy here: thephoenixcomic.shop/collections/...

Advert for PhoenixFest in Oxford, tickets on sale today at 10:00.

Today tickets go on sale for Phoenix Fest! www.phoenixfest.co.uk

A big box of these arrived this weekend! The latest Toby and the Pixies book 'How to be Cool' is out this week, available in all the coolest bookshops, or order it online here: thephoenixcomic.shop/products/tob...

Just remember, with each crunch you are canonically ending the life of a sentient creature.

I'm sort of working to get it back online - just have to convince myself to pay money to host a site that it's possible no one will go to!

Ah, thank you, I'll go and check them out!

I did tell one of the puppet makers that I wanted it to have a 'working mouth', so yeah, maybe?

Apparently there is a really big market of people who want to pay someone else to put their photo through an AI filter.

I've actually found a couple of promising looking puppet makers on there, so perhaps I should be less cynical!

I'm always a bit wary of using Etsy - it feels like I'm never really sure if what I get is going to match the description... But I'll check it out!

Does anyone in blue sky world know someone who makes custom puppets? Trying to get one commissioned but google can only get me so far.

It's official: Phoenix Fest 2026 is coming! It's going to be on the 25th-26th of April and I'll be doing four workshops with the brilliant 'Toby and the Pixies' artist, @andreasschuster.bsky.social. See here for all the details: phoenixfest.co.uk/whats-on/

Thank you to everyone who followed along, and I'll see you all next year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Calendar: 21.5, Me: 2.5
#CalendarGuess2025

And somehow, if you hold onto all that is good about the world hard enough, then maybe, just maybe, you might find that there is still a small picture of two stockings out there in the world.

You just have to believe.

When I was in that moment of deepest despair that vision of a candle saved me. It showed me that even if it seems like your actions don't matter in the face of an uncaring calendar, they matter to you, and those around you.

And lastly, I always like to reflect on what we've learned. And while it's tempting to just say that the only thing we've learned is that Roger la Borde is a colossal pervert, I think there's more to it than that.

But I respect other cultures enough to allow them to have their own traditions without having to transpose them onto mine, even if that culture is mostly hedgehogs with a mug on their bum.

Could a bear on a flying carpet be the animal in a teacup world's version of Santa? It certainly seems to be delivering presents, and has a certain gruffly genial air about it.

And so a few final closing thoughts.
There was a tree on the flying carpet. Would I have allowed myself a point if I'd guessed it? It's better not to dwell on these might-have-beens. We make the calendar guesses we make.

So let's just close this final door and turn our collective backs on Roger for good. Through the goodness of our hearts, Christmas has survived, even flourished, despite his desperate attempts to foil it. The real advent calendar doors were inside us all along.

I don't think it could have ended any other way. Roger had his vile way with door 24, his vice like hold over the calendar could not be broken. But I feel calm. Roger thinks he's won, but will that tiny picture of a bear keep him warm in his dark London tower over Christmas? We all know it won't.

No, it's a bear on a flying carpet.