All of the donut posts on here today forced - FORCED, I SAY - me to go out and get a free donut at Dunkin' Donuts and I gotta say I really don't have regrets about this.

If you missed it yesterday, I have a new flash fiction piece out at Lightspeed, "The Best of Intentions," which no less than @stephanieburgis.bsky.social has called "scathingly funny." You can read it for free here: www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-...

“At the Center” by Mari Ness “He, too, was our mother’s child, hidden away in a labyrinth of locks and walls and shadowed things…”

If you missed it earlier, Lightspeed just published my latest flash fiction story, "The Best of Intentions." I promise that it won't take too long to read: www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-...

👀

....WordPress, did you actually make the editing experience EVEN WORSE? (checks) YES. YES YOU DID. HOW? HOW? HOW?

....I did mention at some point on this site that I wasn't QUITE done with a certain fairy tale.... So here you go: the latest flash fiction from me, up at LIGHTSPEED today, free to read!

....what's this? A new story, from ME? Could be! COULD VERY WELL BE!!!!

You know, I wouldn't object to keeping this ring around afterwards.... ...as long as it's moved to one of Trump's golf courses. Say Doral. I'd probably be ok with having this standing on the 16th hole at Doral. At his expense, of course.

...so the AC repair people came by today, and in very related news, did you know I have a little book from Aqueduct Press, Resistance & Transformation: On Fairy Tales, that you can BUY TODAY from bookstores everywhere? And "In the Greenwood," available from online retailers? And also a Patreon?

Places lyke Blue Sky are a great remynder of how everye different kynde of expertise ys needed to thynke thrugh trulye difficult problems. From historians to coderes to wryteres to game designeres to ecologistes, all kyndes of people are needed to emphasize how much Gen A.I. doth fuckinge suck.

....ok, this presents a MAJOR CASTING DILEMMA for me. Like, Gonzo is absolutely not - repeat NOT - de Villefort, but I kinda really want to see Camilla the Chicken as Madame de Villefort.

....I just checked, and it also just happens to be just $3.99 at Barnes and Noble and other online retailers.

I cannot endure this alone. It must be shared.

Truly cannot overstate what a bad idea this is. I suspect it's getting dismantled because of those ooooh so scary to this administration words "global climate," but....this information was also used by shipping companies and commercial fisheries and (probably) insurance companies.

The teacher who told me that the Matterhorn was the tallest mountain in the Alps.

Nine generative AI scam offers today alone to promote two of my books. It's exhausting.

....this seems to be of interest to several people in the Berkeley/Bay Area!

Nothing - absolutely nothing - appears more innocent than the face of a small black cat who has just knocked a cell phone right off the table onto the floor.

The only newsworthy aspect of Trump's emotions is how they show he is unfit and dangerous. If NYTimes wanted to center his emotions as the story, the headline is, "President Trump Continues To Unravel As Another Vanity Project Is Found To Be Illegal."

If you read LIGHTHOUSE and loved Gurty, the real-life Gurty needs help right now. Something is causing him to be very sick, and we need to figure out what it is so we can heal him. I know things are very tight rn, and anything you can spare is deeply deeply appreciated. gofund.me/7ebc8c84d

🏳️‍🌈SOME QUEER SHORT SFF - APRIL 2026🏳️‍🌈 I round up over 20 works by @mercwolfmoor.bsky.social @spacevalkyries.bsky.social @cindyphanauthor.com @ayidashonibar.bsky.social @mariness.bsky.social @mruthrobinson.bsky.social @dovelynnwriter.bsky.social & MANY MORE!!!! www.patreon.com/posts/159559...

I was tabling at a convention in 2025 and did pretty well (~$700, and my table was free btw) and one of the other guests came up to me toward the end of the con and admitted that he'd only sold four books. Worth noting: on every panel we had together, he described how he used AI for his settings.

when i wrote The Death of Mountains, i just wanted to write a book with a talking mountain and a talking death (many). and ask this: "what is the point of living when death is standing on your shoulder?" a finalist for: the Nebula Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the L.A. Times Book Prize

It’s my birthday! And also @stephanieburgis.bsky.social and @cornellwriter.bsky.social! So I did the obvious thing, and narrated two of their a worlds of Possibility stories for you! www.juliarios.com/happy-birthd...

This is the smallest and pettiest of complaints, but I do wish that retailers would learn that "awaiting carrier pickup" or even "shipping label created" does not mean the exact same thing as "your order has been shipped!"

Call me Izzy. Some years ago- I dunno how long ago exactly- my Venmo was empty, and I was bored as shit. I thought I would take out my Sea-Doo and check out The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Hope no asshole whales comes for me!

Rain is a language the storm is shouting the drizzle a sulk Lighting sparks upwards, not down, in sharp reply

I read the modernized versions of Lois Duncan's older books, and the problem was, many of her plots simply do not work in a world with cell phones. And to a lesser extent, internet access. The modernizations tried to dance around this, but weren't overly successful.

NWS Melbourne keeps posting these record-breaking heat/rain events. And our current administration is all like HEY BALLROOM HEY BALLROOM HEY BALLROOM side pause for corruption and not, say, HEY MAYBE WE SHOULD CONSIDER AT LEAST TRYING TO MITIGATE SOME OF THIS HEAT STUFF

Goddess of the moon Chang'e and her jade rabbit(s) 🌙🐇 -- #art

"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." -- Galatians 3:28

Yeah, this.

Kinda delighted by the number of people, including me, who thought that the White House was actually trying to send people to another galaxy with this thing.

Can confirm!

Finished reading The Caretaker, by Marcus Kliewer, and genre, we may need to have a serious talk about our obsession with rabbits. Especially evil rabbits. Or scary rabbits. Or rabbits sucked into an evil scheme without their permission....you can probably see where I'm going here.

Florida could be spending this money on upgrading/expanding Metrorail in Miami-Dade and Sunrail in central Florida, or on bus services in Tampa and Jacksonville, making it slightly less necessary for ANYONE to need to drive.

I've used the same heating pad for my shoulder pain and my abdominal pain for years now and STILL forget that my abdomen needs it HOT and my shoulders are fine with just warm. In related news, my shoulders are currently waiting for this pad to cool off on my abdomen.

If I’m not evolved enough to understand it, then why did they have to steal my writing to train it?

OK EVERYONE YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO. NOW IS THE TIME FOR IMMEDIATE HEROICS (aka preorders)

Caturday could not possibly be any cuter:

YOU’RE LISTENING TO SISYPHUS FM, THE HOME OF NON-STOP ROCK

....I might - I just might - be reaching here, but surely the painters wanted us to see the paintings?

All three cats of this household now insist - insist - that you do everything in your power to get those cats their much deserved can of tuna!!!!

I was keeping an eye on one queerphobic republican book-banning house bill but the GOP snuck past me with an end-around and passed A DIFFERENT ONE while I was distracted!

Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume? Odysseus: *rubbing his face and moaning something about Calypso*

So, after three seconds of Very Shallow Thinking on this, it occurs to me that everyone who failed to get student loan forgiveness under the Biden administration should ALSO be eligible for these unbelievably corrupt omg I was directly harmed by the Biden administration revenge funds, right?

.....and if I may, subscribing to Bourbon Penn's Patreon might - just might - get you access to some of my upcoming thoughts on, uh. Socks. (note to self: please, please, please come up with a better pitch for this story prior to fall. please)

I love cliches like “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” so here’s my lemonade stand: Houstonians: MD Anderson accepts blood donations on my behalf before my surgery. I get a little $ to offset costs, & you get to help cancer pts. I can help arrange an appointment. Locations around town.

....this is kinda amazing.