So, since Hugo Award noms are now open, and BSFA shortlist nominations will close next week, a reminder:

The more snow falls, the less snow there is.

Sooooo not long left to vote for the BSFA, and that means not long left to read this excellent essay for free! You should also check out Val Nolan’s and Abby Roberts’ essays at www.speculativeinsight.com/essays And, like, all the other essays, while you’re at it.

So, since Hugo Award noms are now open, and BSFA shortlist nominations will close next week, a reminder:

The Hugo nomination period is officially open, which seems like a good time to remind folks about my links post gathering eligibility and recommendations from others. I'll continue to update through the nomination period so keep sending links my way! acwise.net/what-have-yo...

Nominations are now open for the 2026 Hugo Awards! Emails are going out to eligible nominators (those who became a member of LAcon V by January 31, 2026, or were a member of the Seattle Worldcon 2025) about how to set up their LAcon V virtual convention account.

It's time for your periodic reminder that we count on subscriptions to keep the lights on. clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/ Thank you.

Responses to all submissions for our final issue have gone out now. Thank you to everyone who has shared their work with me over the last few years, it has been a real honour to read your words and see your artworks ❤️

On the beach.

Took a trip to the seaside yesterday. It started off pretty dreary on the walk from Redcar, but Saltburn was visible from the end of pier. Which was an improvement on a previous visit!

Took a trip to the seaside yesterday. It started off pretty dreary on the walk from Redcar, but Saltburn was visible from the end of pier. Which was an improvement on a previous visit!

I'm working my way through issue 10 submissions, thank you everyone who sent something in!

Replaced the battery in my laptop. Wow. Is this how long it actually used to last?? This is amazing!

Our ✨January 2026 Issue✨ is now free to read online! Find it here: havenspec.com/issues/issue... Or get the PDF and EPUB: ko-fi.com/s/c906166bff The January Issyou features seven stories and four poems all written in second-person POV!

My story made the 2025 Locus Recomended Reading List!

🔵Today is #WorldWetlandsDay Peatlands are wetland ecosystems and we have them across the uplands of the North Pennines National Landscape. #northpenninespeatlands #celebratingwetlands #peatlands #wetlands #peatlandsmatter

Just popping in for a quick reminder that our submission portal is open to new, unpublished flash 500-1,000 words. Please visit our Submittable page for more info! Happy Writing!! #writingcommunity #amwriting #literary #fantasy #horror #sciencefiction ffo.submittable.com/submit

GUESS WHAT we are OPEN for 2025 AFTERLIVES: The Year's Best Death Stories subs!! BUT (and this is SUPER IMPORTANT) we are asking EDITORS to send us work this time so WRITERS, be in touch with your editors and READ ON for more info: psychopomp.com/afterlives-2...

Incidentally, if you're voting in the Locus Awards poll, you can select either of these stories, or write in up to 5 others from Kaleidotrope 2025. You can also rank Kaleidotrope under your Best Magazine nominees or—even more shockingly—me, Fred Coppersmith, under Best Editor.

2025 Recommended Reading List locusmag.com/2026/02...

Congratulations to both @plangdineple.bsky.social and @trailofleaves.bsky.social for being on Locus Magazine’s 2025 Recommended Reading List for their fantastic short stories last year in Kaleidotrope!

✨ I’m excited to share that Orion’s Belt will reopen for submissions from March 1 to May 15! We’ll be seeking spec flash, micro, & poetry, as well as translations & reviews! Most importantly, our payment for poetry & art will increase. Follow us on this new adventure and for more exciting news! ✨

Friends!! Now that the fabulous @gessicasakamoto.bsky.social has taken the helm, @orionsbeltmagazine.bsky.social is on Bluesky! We've got amazing plans for the year, including adding *reviews* and *a podcast*, both of which I'll be heading up! We're so excited -- follow us and stay tuned!

No, Adobe, you absolute fools, I do not want you to "summarise" a knitting pattern. I don't want you to summarise anything. F, all the way, off.

In an effort to keep up with submissions and be open on a consistent schedule, we've decided that @apexmag.bsky.social will be open to short fiction subs on an every other month schedule. We will be open in Jan, March, May, July, Sept, and Nov. We're closed the other months.

I think I might take one of these "under 20 minutes" AI skills courses the UK Govt. seems very keen on everyone doing and live-post it here... Maybe we can all learn something together! The press release sends me to aiskillshub.org.uk/aiskillsboost/ - let's go and see!

Well, that book would've worked better if I'd known the last 50 pages was an excerpt! Where's this plot going to go now...oh, oops, it ended.

Two fantastic stories from Kaleidotrope are on the short fiction longlist—“The Nine Crashes of Flight Lieutenant Hilla Quinn” by @trailofleaves.bsky.social and “The Hunting of the Phoenix” by @slharris.bsky.social. If you’re a BSFA member, I hope you’ll consider voting for them by February 19th

I'm feeling very blessed to have five items on the longlist for the @bsfa.bsky.social awards. If you're voting please consider my works. Congratulations to everyone on the long list, it's full of great works! (It does make a fantastic reading list.)

Read my BSFA longlisted story here for free. It'll only take a few minutes! (And then there's a new issue of great stories to read after that)

"The Nine Crashes of Flight Lieutenant Hilla Quinn" (Kaleidotrope, @kaleidotrope.bsky.social, Autumn 2025) made the @bsfa.bsky.social Longlist. Thank you to whoever nominated it! Fellow BSFA members, I'd be delighted if you read and considered it when voting!

I am exTREMEly flattered and touched that someone thought my piece on reskinned fanfic was worth a BSFA nom! I'll link it in a reply and would be thrilled if anyone wants to vote for it for the shortlist. <3

🚀 Congratulations to all those longlisted for BSFA Awards! Check out the complete list here 👇and enjoy this celebration of diverse and exciting works! bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-...

Huge congratulations to both @trailofleaves.bsky.social and @slharris.bsky.social for being on the British Science Fiction Association Award longlist for their respective short stories in the Autumn 2025 issue of Kaleidotrope! www.bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-...

"The Nine Crashes of Flight Lieutenant Hilla Quinn" (Kaleidotrope, @kaleidotrope.bsky.social, Autumn 2025) made the @bsfa.bsky.social Longlist. Thank you to whoever nominated it! Fellow BSFA members, I'd be delighted if you read and considered it when voting!

The BSFA long list is out. It's a great list with a huge number of works on it. Please go take a look and add to your lists of stuff you should be looking at/reading/listening to/watching. I'm delighted that Project Hanuman is nominated for Best Novel. If you agree, please vote for it

I recently finished reading a book, the ending of which so utterly disappointed me, that I keep forgetting I finished it at all. My brain still thinks I didn't. It hasn't moved it off the Currently Reading shelf.

#StarTrekStarfleetAcademy: it's good and we like it. Our new episode, covering the premiere, "Kids These Days", and "Beta Test", is up now in all good podcatchers! antimatterpod.com/219-liberal-...

Fiction submissions are open now! The window will be open until January 21st 2026 at 3 p.m. UTC. For additional information about submitting including our Moksha link ⬇️ strangehorizons.com/submit/ficti...

Our 10-year-old journal of creative writing on environmental justice will reopen to submissions, including poetry, creative nonfiction, art, short stories AND novella-length fiction, on February 1st.

Slushpile update - 154 stories left in stage 1, 56 through to stage 2, and around 300 declined.

Up the dale today. Didn't take my camera because it was solid fog, but then it cleared up a bit in the afternoon.

This box of chocolates is "resealable". A bold presumption.

We emerge blinking into the sunlight of 2026 and we have a full mail bag! We discuss the @montreal2027.bsky.social org chart and René Walling’s role at Montreal, as well as recent Hugo how-to guides from @renay.bsky.social and @mollytempleton.com. Listen here! octothorpe.podbean.com/e/151-only-d...

Hello folks! We’ve posted the details for our themed call coming up Mar 2026, guest edited by the stellar @jenniferbrozek.bsky.social. We want to explore the personal dieties, tiny acts of worship, & daily rituals that help make sense of life ✍️ #writingcommunity www.patreon.com/posts/coming...

Ooh, there's new Star Trek today, which is a bit exciting.

"What's Up"?!?! Bluesky, you really don't want to know.

First time in 2026! Hey folks -- Signal Boost time for this week's #TheFullLid. If you have a creative project to promote, leave the details in a reply. Include the title and a link please, so folks can find it. For pre-launch crowdfunders let us know about 2 weeks in advance.

There are now at least 365 UK MPs with accounts on Bluesky – more than half (56%) of all MPs 🔴 This includes nearly 70% of Labour MPs 🔶 Nearly 90% of Lib Dem MPs 🟢 All the 4 Green MPs 🔵 But only 5% of Conservative MPs ➡️ No Reform MPs

One of my personal heroes is in the hospital! If you know or just admired Sheila Williams, there's a linked form in this article where you can send her good words.