without downloading any new pics, describe your gender:

Eastercon is the UK's annual science fiction convention for book lovers & writers Iridescence, 2026's Eastercon will be at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, 3-6 April 2026. Tickets on sale now Guests of Honour include @rjbarker.bsky.social @emmanewman.bsky.social & @drkarenlord.bsky.social

Tolkien is not perfect but he did, in fact, hate the fucking Nazis.

Good governance and financial controls are an ethical issue and protect your employees, not some sort of overreach of authority or mistrust of them

quick question which category do the AI psychosis and suicide cases fall under

I am very excited that ALL OF US MURDERERS has been picked as one of Kobo's Best of the Month! It's out everywhere today, in e at all platforms, in print at all good bookshops (it's the BA Indie Book of the Month!) and in audio read by Sonny Archer. Have at it! books2read.com/u/mloE7q

Even back in the 70s and 80s when I could be hassled by the police for walking while trans, no one ever tried to stop me pissing in the Ladies or tried to make me change into my swimsuit among men. There is no dignity or respect involved in taking away rights I have exercised freely for forty years

Thousands of Londoners have indefinite leave to remain. They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city. Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.

Disney learned nothing from Andor.

I wrote about what I think is a genuinely revealing document of elite depravity and impunity. It is shocking and sickening. But it's also a crucial moment. We're about to see what happens when conspiracy theorists actually get what they asked for but it turns out not to be what they want.

I want to popularize a term of art for this particular litfic genre trope: the Sad Boner Professor. It's a novel about a Professor (usually of American Literature). He is Sad. Also, he has a Boner. His boner is inordinately interested in the sexy, sexy student: also, he's sad because: wife. /1

On the same day in the Telegraph:

Genre rules are only guidelines anyway! Want some Dragons in your Western? A locked boat murder mystery in your sci-fantasy? GBBO in outer space? A Necromantic bildungsroman? Searing examinations of war with bonus military Pteranodons? A literal plot device? We've got all that and more! 1/3

Women from all walks of life are joining together to say: Not in Our Name. We are a diverse group — women of faith and none, women of colour, disabled women, queer women, working-class and professional women standing up in support of the trans+ community. ✍️ Sign our letter at change.org/nion_women

Happy 'greatest correction ever' day to all who celebrate

ICYMI here's my essay on navigating the queered spaces of fandom, pro writing, and complicity with power

I've just finished reading this, having gone straight on to it after reading the first one Lovely lead character, gentle and gentlemanly with huge respect for the people (and cats) around him, and quietly determined to find the truth

Amplifying that last repost. I don’t get people who don’t understand that anti-trans hatred is only secondarily about controlling trans people. Its main purpose is to control you. Anti-trans weirdos want a world in which they get to police everybody’s gender conformity, every minute of every day.

Happy International Cat Day from Zephyr and Thistledown #cat #cats #catsky

Anyone who belongs to any minority group needs to be aware that what is being done to trans people can and will be done to them. In a decade we have been stripped of our rights to exist in public spaces by a press campaign and a well funded lobby.

The FT View: The longer it has continued, the more it has borne the hallmarks of a vengeful assault by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government to destroy the very fabric of Palestinian society. https://on.ft.com/3UBv3Us

My last living musical hero is still my hero but unfortunately no longer living. RIP to the great, great Mr. Tom Lehrer.

“banning pornography” is bad on its own but it is imperative that everyone understand that these people consider the very existence of queer people to be pornographic they consider the most chaste depiction of a queer relationship, or an openly trans person, to be porn and they want it banned

Lord of the Rings by Tolkien: foundational to my love of the genre Dragon series by Anne McCaffrey: teenage awakening to character driven plot Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson: you can DO that? Essalieyan series by Michelle West: depth and breadth and spectacle with compassion 1/

More people are considering AI lovers and we definitely should judge #murderbot #leebeebee

When I was little, the U.S. military came to our home at gunpoint and took me and my family away. We were imprisoned for years in barbed wire camps simply because we were Japanese American. I have spent my life telling that story, hoping it would never be repeated.

When you're benefitting from others' cultures, the least you can do is to try and get it right in the #representation. #culture youtube.com/shorts/Ni7M1...

if you see this, quote with a time travel movie that's not BACK TO THE FUTURE (Ok this one is a TV show) #outlander

Hey Bluesky guess what THE KNIFE'S BOOK IS COMING OUT ON AUG 16 AND YOU CAN PRE-ORDER IT RIGHT NOW!!!! SURPRISE! HER SUBTLE INVESTIGATIONS is a polyamorous shorty4shorty4shorty romance with action! Adventure! Threesomes! Magic! A very reasonable amount of stabbings! books2read.com/HerSubtleInv...

Burnout is clinically understood as a combo of 6 factors—work overload, lack of control, insufficient rewards, breakdown in community, absence of fairness, & value conflicts—and only a fraction of it is under your control. Burnout is a systemic problem, so be kind to yourself and hard on the system.

it is as we foretold www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Can we talk for a second about how Solaris has a whole slate of phenomenal books and is also putting them on sale for 0.99???? And by talk about I mean go snap up some of the best books I've ever read, no hyperbole

It's my 76th birthday today. I transitioned in my late 20s - should have been earlier but fear and politics - and I will never back down. I've had a good and productive life of politics and writing and I hope to get more done yet. Remember GCs lie. A photo from 79 and one from 23...

Wow some truly excellent books in this sale again Ninefox Gambit, Saint Of Bright Doors, Goblin Emperor: utterly brilliant Lady Eve's, Water Outlaws, If Found Return: really good fun Rakesfall, Saint Death's Daughter, Pomegranate Gate, Redsight, Mountain Crown, The Vengeance: really want to read

[catching up on andor] mm, glad this happened a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, because it would be kinda a bummer in our galaxy in the present

Typos, gender-neutral pronouns and even emotional language in patient messages make large language models more likely to recommend people stay home instead of seek medical care. This AI bias could be especially problematic for certain patient populations. 🧪 www.newscientist.com/article/2486...

Techies are always chasing the mythical tool that will let them "focus on the work" and avoid tedious distractions like "talking to people." But talking to people IS the work. You can complain about it on the internet, or take responsibility and make your life a lot easier.

I just received a contract on Docusign for review and signing, and it offered to give me an AI-generated summary that I could read instead to save time. That's AN AI-GENERATED SUMMARY ***OF A CONTRACT***, in case you need to let that sink in.

everybody who's like "these people clearly had invisible preexisting conditions" yeah. probably. but pretty much everything that makes psychosis worse/present also makes *everything else,* even in "normal" people, worse, too. this is a PRETTY clear sign that this is an unhealthy stressor, in general

Even linkedin gets it

I would agree with that, but scratch a transphobe and you almost always make a misogynist bleed.

I keep getting people suggesting it’s mean to dress him up. Folks, if a cat does not want to wear a thing—you will not be able to make them. Darwin wore onesies as a tiny kitten because temp regulation issue; as a result he enjoys the sensation and even brings me outfits from his toy box. It’s OKAY.

Rewatched terminator 2 last night. Fun movie about AI leading to nuclear war and how the easiest way to kill someone is to dress up like a cop. Can't say its themes resonate today.

When this came to light, the hospital management who had decided to do this were asked what they planned to use them for? After all, how do you lawfully implement facial recognition in a children’s hospital? Well guess what? It turned out *they didn’t know what they wanted them for*

Worth a watch: Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.

well I'm sold

In my new novel, THE ART OF A LIE, Hannah Cole is struggling to run her confectionery shop in 18th C London after her husband's murder, and she believes an Italian delicacy called 'iced cream' might be the answer to her problems. So yesterday I made ice cream the Georgian way!🍦A thread...

MPs publicly call out and criticise JK Rowling in Parliament. I think this might be a first? That is now in the Hansard record for all time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwBm...