To conclude my self-indulgent first week of January best-of-palooza, here are a dozen of my favourite things I read in 2025. 11 from 2025 (and the last 6 weeks of 2024), and one re-read project that had a huge impact on me. Ranging from big-pub bestsellers to the most low fi of self-pub efforts.

Come say hi if you're at Worldcon! And/or ConCurrent!

Come say hi if you're at Worldcon! And/or ConCurrent!

We are delighted to reveal the cover for @victormanibo.com's The Villa, Once Beloved, a haunting gothic about folklore, family, and postcolonial vengeance in the Philippines... reactormag.com/cover-reveal...

Simplicity is so goddamn beautiful, and smart, and funny, and hot! You need to read it

“One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” ~ Omar El Akkad cc: the democratic party in USA

AI shaming | patreon.com/lubchansky

Not a music review think piece (ew), but I wrote about how Tyler, The Creator's Don't Tap The Glass is the type of fun dance album that dares to tell folks to put the keyboard down and shake some ass. aftermath.site/tyler-the-cr...

According to Cuomo, Mamdani won the Jewish vote in NYC. If so, this would upend every narrative on Jewish politics, Zionism and left the bourgeoisie would have us believe

A tweet from Ori Goldberg who has been consistently critical of the Palestinian Genocide.

GET THESE THINGS OUT OF YOUR FUCKING HOMES

Nice to see Cuomo finally being a team player and campaigning for Zohran

Who could have foreseen

A hugely underdiscussed effect of the creeping fascism of ICE is that debt collectors and landlords are filing more cases against immigrants, even when they're inflated or outright falsified, because they know immigrants are too fearful of deportation to show up to court to fight them.

Panelists page is now live, as well as the other events page, where you'll find a link to Writers with Drinks Seattle. ConCurrent is now 415 USD away from fully funding! We are so very close. If you can, please send us some coins and/or register to attend. concurrentseattle.weebly.com/funding.html

New from me at my newsletter: Jews are the justification for almost every repressive policy the Right is pushing right now. But then why are actual living Jews overwhelmingly opposed to every one of these attacks on democracy? Jews are everywhere in politics. Unless you actually want to talk to us.

Future's DS2 turns 10 today. I revisited it over at @stereogum.bsky.social. it remains some of the strangest, bleakest, most potent trap ever made www.stereogum.com/2315476/futu...

literally fox news yesterday

headline: "democrats lost voters on transgender rights." the article:

finally one stop shopping to discredit labor, insult intellectuals, rob artists, AND rake praise from a girlfriend who won't talk back

comedy is legal again

We need to make admitting this embarrassing

So the secret police have secret lawyers now, cool cool cool.

Oh my God, Lakeside had the best covers The Robin Hood one? Are you kidding me???

There is currently an NWS flash flood warning in effect for all five boroughs of NYC. But no City agency has posted it on this platform. Please help spread the word. “If you live in a basement apartment or low-lying area, be ready to move to higher ground.”

Occasionally need to repost this Astro Boy panel where Dr. Ochanomizu’s butt looks like the Bernie Sanders logo.

Just finished @elianeboey.bsky.social's excellent, and vividly described, Club Contango! (I didn't mean to coordinate my drink order and my hand fan with the cover, but I'll take it)

Lmao

barnes and noble is having their big pre-sale sale and you can get SIMPLICITY for 25% off with the code PREORDER25 wow! www.barnesandnoble.com/w/simplicity...

Sneak peek at the epigraph for THE VILLA, ONCE BELOVED—yeah, it’s on the long side, but this eerie tidbit from the historical record was so on point for a postcolonial gothic set in Leyte that takes place during a governor’s funeral. The vibe is pitch perfect

798 people have been murdered at 'aid' sites in Gaza in just six weeks. www.reuters.com/world/middle...

"Because reactionary centrists do not really have values, they struggle to understand the motivations of those who do." www.thebulwark.com/p/when-moder...

Ted Cruz: ‘Vacationing Is How I Grieve’

I encourage you to read this great reporting by Ken Klippenstein on the buffoonery which took place in Los Angeles today. Even the "military" participants (if that's what they actually are) appear embarrassed to be participating in such a massive failure.

The em dash is HIGH LITERATURE. I am aghast at them coming for the em dash as an AI giveaway. Pry it from poets & fiction writers who write sentence-long paragraphs' dead hands!

And one last thing: We're less than 1300 USD away from fully funding, so please, please, PLEASE spread the word, tell your friends 'n 'em, and help us reach our goal of (only) 5000 USD to run this whole thing. www.paypal.com/donate/?camp... /end

Project Shema—which uses progressive language in its trainings while emphasizing the importance of Zionism to Jews—has caught the eye of university administrators balancing demands from protestors, pro-Israel groups, and Trump. Emily Wilder reports: jewishcurrents.org/inside-the-n...

Zohran Mamdani received more first-round votes (432,305) than Andrew Cuomo received total votes after ranked choice voting (428,530). That means more people ranked Zohran first than ranked Cuomo anywhere on their ballot (without ranking Zohran above him).

If you approach a brown, Arab, Palestinian, and/or Muslim person and demand they confirm they aren't antisemitic and won't harm Jews - you are a racist.

I think Zohran Mamdani demonstrated pretty handily that he’ll protect Jewish New Yorkers when the seniormost Jewish elected official in the city was detained by jackbooted thugs and he was on the scene demanding his release in minutes

Shabbat Shalom to everyone who recognizes that the safety, freedom & thriving of Jews and Muslims are bound up together — in Israel & Palestine, across the five boroughs, and in many other beloved places.

as a jew, i feel relieved and vindicated that cynical fearmongering about israel did not win this election for a sex creep and grandma killer, a win which would have been declared ‘on my behalf’ and which i and most of my fellow jews did not want

Ladies and gentleman, the F train

I can't emphasize enough how ugly and pervasive and persistent the "Mamdani hates Jews" campaign was. I'm happy that so many Jews stood strong against that vileness. Maybe people will start to understand that we've had it with being treated as a paranoid, easily manipulated single-issue bloc.

Today would be such a great day for AOC to finally text Jessica Ramos back

I'm in touch with a source in Cuomo's camp. They're all screaming and turning back into rats. Not looking good so far

Thank you to the 48 people who've helped fund @concurrentseattle.bsky.social so far! We're halfway there, but donations have stalled. If you feel like throwing up a middle finger to genAI in the arts, we'd appreciate a donation! www.paypal.com/donate/?camp...