Vanessa Knipe

@vjknipe.bsky.social

2057 Followers 901 Following

Malaysian-born, Scottish writer. Recovering Luddite, DIY house renovation, likes canoeing, decorates a mean cake, a highly biased mother. Mastodon: @VanessaK@mastodon.scot Website: https://vanessajknipe.wixsite.com/vanessa-knipe

Freshly painted bathroom walls in summer sky blue. A dark blue highligh is added as seaweed to give the fish wall ornaments something interesting to swim through. The mirror shows the other end of the bath with similar seaweed, but doesn't allow you to clearly see the wall ornament sea horses playing in the strands.
A blurry image stolen from t'internet of a small black, white and grey bird.
On the left is a box with the red and blue moomin house on it. Little doors will lead to Moomin surprises for me. On the right is my son's hand-painted wooden Christmas tree advent calendar. Each little drawer has a surprise that I have chosen for him.
Car Colours. A split picture. The top half shows a car park of cars in all hues of the rainbow and is labelled 1980. The bottom half shows a carpark of cars with only white, black and silver and is labelled 2025.
A cut back rose is planted in bare earth. A white trellis wais to be moved over to support the plant as it grows.
the shadows of two people on a wall. The female one is fading. Text reads: Nostalgia is a dirty liar that insists things were better than they seemed.
A screenshot of a post from satirical account The Miliverse. Picture shows Ed Miliband striding past an EU flag. Text reads: Meanwhile in a parallel universe, Prime Minister ED Miliband has just returned from a visit to Brussels after helping push through new EU regulations to lower the price of biscuits. Jan 30, 2020.
Screan shot of a satirical twitter account called The Miliverse. Text reads: Meanwhile in the other universe, Prime Minister Miliband heads to Buckingham Palace to apologise for accidentally tripping over one of the Queen's Corgis. Aug 28, 2019
A screen shot of the original David Cameron tweet. Text reads: Britain faces a simple and inescapable choice - stability and strong government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband. 04/05/2015
A colouring page with a half-coloured red dragon and a tub of marker pens to finish the job.
a highly magnified tardigrade play an equally microscopic violin.
The view over the garden has cleared as the sun burnt through the mist. Despite being mid-autumn the greens are still vibrant (probably all that rain) but the acer in the middle of the scene is bright red. Beyond it, the houses of the estate are visible and even the trees on the far side of the railway tracks can be seen.
A garden shrouded in mist. The houses just beyond the trees are barely visible
The mess on this desk has been shoved under the monitor shelf and under the fox pencil case on the shelves to the left of the picture. The centre of the desk is clear, except for a single sheet of paper containing an ink line drawing. The angle of the photograph means it's difficult to see the drawing ensure people have to guess what C is for in the A-Z of British Mythology.
The formula for escape velocity. V sub esc equals the square root of 2GM divided by R
A line drawing of a robin sitting on broken spear.
A plain painted wall enlivened by his and hers rapiers (for settling differences a la the Addams family), an enlistment poster for the HMS Pallas (launched in 1804) 2 truncheons, a sword with replica flintlock pistol inset, a replica flintlock pistol, a french calvary sabre from Waterloo, and the new acquistion a replica viking axe.
A line drawing of a seagull that hads just snatched a bag of chips (french fries for the US) using pictish symbols found carved on stones all over Scotland.
A line drawing of a fox highlighting designs from Scottish rock carvings.
A line drawing of a dolphin using Pictish symbols.
A line drawing of an owl using a style taken from Pictish carvings in Scotland.
A flier for the novel Last Days Forever. An angel hovers over a Texan oil field. Text reads: She was a woman, and that meant Momma's rules on no hitting girls—or I'd have slapped her so hard her clothes'd be outta style before she stopped rolling.
Houses and trees fade into a very short distance. A bird perches in profile on a TV aerial. The post for the electric trainline are insubstantial, and beyond the railway there is nothing but white.
A modernist sculpture hanging on a wood-panelled wall that looks a bit like a sheep only it has antlers formed from light coming out the top.
A white sheet with black painted eyes and a mouth looking like a ghost is drapped over a Christmas tree. The white lights of the tree make a spooky glow. Text reads: Go ahead and put your Christmas tree up and just throw a sheet over it for now.
A flyer for time travel novel Last Days Forever. An angel flies over a Texan oil field. Text reads: The Texas sun sizzled my scalp from where they'd chopped my hair. Music pounded through my headphones: a Latina singer, forgotten her name now, a Mexican cutie, volume way too loud. The music got into my prancing feet and I hummed along, just as if I had no idea I was about to die.
A book flier for Last Days Forever. An Angel flies over a texan oilfield with nodding donkeys. Text reads: The overcoat was useless. Torrential rain sluiced down the back of my neck. The jeans and shirt under the coat were drenched immediately. I swear I was soaked through to the bone. Water came down as a solid sheet, pounding on my skull. I struggled through the thick curtain, running into a tree trunk before I noticed I was undercover. The downpour battered through even the thick foliage of the sycamore. I staggered on through the power-shower extreme to the edge of the park closest to the diner.
Bagpuss, old catpuss, sleeps on his cushion in an occult summoning circle. Three red candles light the scene. Emily is dressed in cult robes and has a basket at her feet with unusual items. She calls out her poem as if it were an arcane summoning for a demon. Text reads: Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss, old fat furry catpuss, wake up and look at this thing that I bring! Wake up be bright, be golden and light, Bagpuss oh hear what I sing.
The cover of an imaginary, but much longed-for, Scottish passport. A unicorn dances on its chain and a scroll containing the words Alba gu Bràth covers any naughty bits that might show.
Bagpuss, old catpuss, sleeps on his cushion in an occult summoning circle. Three red candles light the scene. Emily is dressed in cult robes and has a basket at her feet with unusual items. She calls out her poem as if it were an arcane summoning for a demon. Text reads: Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss, old fat furry catpuss, wake up and look at this thing that I bring! Wake up be bright, be golden and light, Bagpuss oh hear what I sing.
Bagpuss, old catpuss, sleeps on his cushion in an occult summoning circle. Three red candles light the scene. Emily is dressed in cult robes and has a basket at her feet with unusual items. She calls out her poem as if it were an arcane summoning for a demon. Text reads: Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss, old fat furry catpuss, wake up and look at this thing that I bring! Wake up be bright, be golden and light, Bagpuss oh hear what I sing.
Text illustrated with a nice cup of tea. Text reads: I want my country back. The country that's tolerant, welcoming to strangers, supportive of one another. The country that recognises that things work best when we all pull together and everyone chips in their share. The country where were we look out for one another in the knowledge that caring for everyone benefits us all. The country that offers those in need a nice cup of tea not a slammed door. That's the country I want back.
A knight and a lady stand surrounded by red roses and an intricate border that forms a love spell.
A battle on a motorway is raging in the background while an antler-figure is a attacked by a youth in jeans and Roman lorica armour.
A notice board hung on scaffolding. An image of mediaeval labourers on wooden scaffolding. Text reads: Withoug scaffolding, our conservation teams could not carry out repairs or maintenance work. For centuries such temporary supports have played an essential role in the constrution of many great buildings. Before tubular steel was widely adopted in the 1900s, scaffolding was made from long, slender trunks of pine or aspen. Vertical and diagonal poles were roped together with horizontal poles carrying platforms from which builders and painters could work. Once the job was done, the scaffolding was pulled apart and used again elsewhere. In some buildings you can still see square holes in the walls that once held the poles in place.
A bird skull is set upon a stick and covered in a handkerchief, cloak-fashion, with ribbons around the hood. A bit like a miniature mari lwyd.
The white painted side of a house, with the drive leading down to the garage. A gate near the garage is invitingly open. The flower bed running between the house and the drive is freshly weeded and terraced allowing three rose obelisks to stand straight and proud.
A finger sign. One direction points to Bagshot Row. The other direction is to Overhill.
There are two panels to the this picture. The top panel has a floofy cat lying on its back begging for tummy rubs. The bottom panel shows a trap with sharp spike ready to close with a snap the minute a trigger is released.
A garden path leads past an overgrown honeysuckle, beyond, behind the fir trees we see a patch of sunlight green.
A red road work notice stand in the middle of the street. Text reads: Road closed due to daft buggers.
A hand drawn and painted illustration of the tapestry Caroline weaves in Her Borrowed Grave. A knight and a lady stand in the middle. Behind them a tudor-style rose sends out three red blooms. The borders form intricately woven patterns that are the love spell, with roses and lilies.
Among the weapons on this wall are two wooden truncheons. The one on the left is black. The one on the right has a light brown handle. The black body of the truncheon is painted with a red and gold medalion containing the date 1868 and the letters R.L.
A pencil sketch of an angry man with horns and deer ears holding a sword and crouched prepared to do battle.
An all white Tudor-style rose set on a blue flag rippling in the breeze.
An engraved brass king fingure is set into a red granite slab. An intricately carved wooden pulpit stands guard over the king's mausoleum.
A parched field with a standing stone silhouetted against white clouds on the horizon, but directly above is a scalding summer blue sky. Barbed wire forms a barricade in the foreground.
Taking the head size as proportionate to the body, even taking into account the high waisted dress, the legs are weirdly long with AI-like distortions.
A low wooden bench used for kneeling to work at floor level.
The grey water reflects the grey and stormy sky. OUt on the lake a bright, white swan is surrounded by storm-grey cygnets.
A large wasp, upright like a fairy and having human hands and feet, holds a toothpick in both left hands as if it were a spear. Text reads (in chiller font and all caps): Something Angry has escaped from the laboratory.
A flyer for the novel Last Days Forever. An angel flies over a Texan oil field. Text reads: "Don't let him get bruised," the first man mimicked the voice of the desk cleark. "The Time Board thinks the sun shines out of Holger's ass." The other man glanced up at a corner of the elevator. His partner glowered and lapsed into silence. I was beginning to think that if I had to be a prisoner, being Holger's was a good option.
And image of tiny deer standing in hay.
A view out of a window onto a sunny Scottish garden. Pine trees everywhere hiding the housing estate beyond. In the window hangs a stained-glass little Mari in a proper saintly pose.
Image of lined paper showing a scribbled recipe. Text reads: Recipe for Disaster. To the blender add equal part Rivers of London and Outlander (must be upside down). Mix until smooth. Drink only on Wodinsday. Her Borrowed Grave. P.S. a favourite of journalists.
A flyer for the novel Last Days Forever. An angel flies over a Texan oil field. Text Reads: Jane checked a cupboard. "Did you see where that kitten went?" "I don't care where that filty creature got to. You know their flieas carry plague. I should order us all into quarantine. Get going, now." Marcin slung his fancy brocade jacket over his shoulder and headed out the double doors.
A list of actions for the June time travel authors game. June 15: so your character ever use or encounter AI
A list of actions for the June Time travel authors game. Jun 13 Oldest character.
A list of actions for the june time travel authors game June 11 snippet (optional word: harmony)
A list of actions for the June Time travel authors game. June 9 costumes in your story.