In days of yore when the Earth was young, we used to just block somebody who was posting some garbage opinion. Didn’t matter if they seemed like they were on our side and other things. We just blocked them. It was a simple and a better time here

what if instead of every writer having an individual premium substack we had lots of writers working together for one publication. you might have editors, too, and designers. and only one regular fee, instead of seventy billion! wonder who will invent that. sounds like it’d be good

Goin down to the ocean! Gonna get myself a MAN!

Absolutely not trying to make the terrible news of the closure of Washington Post's Books coverage about me or anything, but I cannot stress how bad this is for books. The biggest divide between Big 5 and independent/nonprofit press books is not quality--it's the marketing spend.

Wondering about what a rebuilt direct-to-consumer outlet could look like. Not just books, but an actual arts section — hell, call it The Arts Section since nobody's local is gonna have one in about twenty minutes. You could even syndicate it to papers who will, in ~2 yrs, realize they want it again.

Real question: what's left, when it comes to widely-read dedicated books sections? The British papers have decent ones, although they too have seen some shrink. The NYT, for what it's worth. Chicago Trib?

In all seriousness this is a primary reason why I hate when cyberpunk is reduced to an aesthetic. Its roots are INTENSELY political!

One of the last actual books sections in the country, gone.

it makes sense because if you think about it, they are fundamentally the same person- a hollow vessel of empty personal ambition with no other tether or ties to anything of any sort, no wonder he hates Boris because that is his spiritual twin, it's like looking in a mirror every time for him

one thing that would be cool, when prominent creators turn out to be terrible people, would be if we didn't have to go through this performative dance of insisting that their work was never good in the first place.

The Nation’s homepage today is dedicated entirely to Gaza and its people. Despite a so-called ceasefire, bombings continue, hunger persists, aid trickles, and hundreds of thousands live in threadbare tents.

Neil Gaiman: "everyone has smeared me but here's a link to a Substack by some person which was previously apt 'how to reclaim your attention through mindfulness meditation techniques' but now exonerates me, also I'll have a new book for sale soon, also I'm a Dad feel bad for me, disable comments"

ICYMI, Gai*man is slinking out of the shadows and posting again, trying to scuttle his way back into the public's good graces. Please take care of yourselves, believe women, believe survivors, and fuck that guy.

Defend the Kennedy center, use laws to do it, don’t let him turn it into the Kim Jong il theater from team America world police only dumber

ten years ago today no one clapped

I need you guys also to realize that out here in the woods, the only real newspaper people accept as reality-based comes out once a week and contains basically zero of this

this particular line is maybe the best statement of purpose i have seen for those of us who want a more militant opposition to this administration

"Nonviolent but confrontational resistance" is exactly it. For too long, 'we go high' has meant 'we stay above it' but actually 'we go high' should mean 'we stick to our principles and full-throatedly defend what we believe in, even if it means telling fascists to, in no uncertain terms, get fucked'

Hey friends! I have a brand new story up at The Dark. Somewhat autobiographical, and one of the favorite things I've written for that. I hope you'll give it a read. It is a bit strange and dark. www.thedarkmagazine.com/hunger-2/

From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Date: 1554 Second Age Subject: Re: Master Ring (Forged in secret)??? lmfao u totally shoulkd

wait wait wait this isn't fiction this is real?! ohhhh no, no no no, gang, we are FUCKED-fucked.

Some further reading on this subject for folks who'd like to learn more about general strikes as a tactic (and about the one that's already being planned for 2028): www.teenvogue.com/story/uaw-ge...

insisting on calling every mass day of protest or one-day boycott a "general strike" is not the move. it's good to see people rallying around the cause, it matters, but if you want to be part of a large-scale labor action that shuts down the gears of capital, start by unionizing your workplace!!!

Last night, Automatic Noodle won the Octavia Butler Award!! I'm so honored and happy!!! 🤖❤️🎉 www.instagram.com/p/DUI5pCokno...

legislators should be staging sit-ins, they should not leave the fucking chambers until there are votes on impeachment. make your colleagues defend this piece of shit on the record. show history what you fucking did in this moment you god damned cowards

proud to work for places like @literaryhub.bsky.social and Rough Draft, whose decisions about today were never in doubt. proud, too, of the places I hold dear who are either striking OR choosing to stay open for small-biz reasons while finding other avenues to step up.

Today, we’re striking.

Honestly embarrassing, not least of all for the Hamilton-ass branding. There was a lot of "what would Joe Papp say/do" when I was working there and I tell you what! Joe wouldn't be doing this! ESPECIALLY not after *not participating* in tomorrow's strike!

Curious about tomorrow’s anti-ICE shutdown? We’ve got you covered.

I just don't understand the folks (several in my immediate life!) who are like "Totally agree about the anti-ICE sentiments, but must we use the f-word? I don't like that!"

And on top of everything else, a pipe burst in the vacant apartment above Rough Draft and burst through the floor into the shop this afternoon! (Books are fine, people are fine, landlord's still a massive dickhead—will likely only be closed for a few days, but still, jeezy creezy)

If you're a politician, the moment you start to think you know better than your constituents is the moment you need to be forced out of your job. We hired you, bud, and you answer to us. That's the way this is supposed to work—here's hoping we can make it work that way again going forward, at least.

“What if liberals are decadent idiots and the far right makes some good points? This is my critique as a leftist” -someone who is about to have a big realization about themselves

horror friends, I simply insist that you get on this. the pre-order campaign they did has one of the most effective meta-horror experiences I've maybe ever run into and that's just the ephemera! just wait til you get into the book itself!!!

@britt-kathryn.bsky.social catches up with the babysitters of The Baby-Sitters Club.

some great booing & heckling opportunities coming up, Albany

I'm starting to see some serious bubbling around various water coolers about a full-bore General Strike for Friday and would love to know what (or even if) you all are hearing, because now feels like the moment and I want to see it happen.

my fucking MAGA-ass plow guy bailed on me after two days of promising to show up, and he bailed on several other people I know... but it turns out he did plow out my two Trump-y neighbors AND I CAN'T HELP THINKING!

The absurdity is reaching Monty Python levels at this point. "Please, unregulated jackbooted militia, would you follow our new rules? Thank you ever so much."

The Problem with Early Warnings, by Charles Rafferty

The Public should revive/do a version of FIORELLO! in the park this summer.

IPO in my new tech company called Bombadil. Pitch: it just facilitates UBI for anyone who (1) plants tree (2) sings stronger song (3) is married to, or is, a Hot Wife

Many authors have done stuff so morally repulsive that rereading them after learning about it is challenging. With Rowling the question is "why reread at all?" She's not Roald Dahl. She was a useful doorway to other authors, but not much more. Any reader of any acuity passed that threshold long ago.

I have a half-baked hot take about the ways in which popular literacy has been in trouble for far longer than anybody cares to admit, and it's based on the fact that a lot of people out there seem to've found "it's desire spelled backwards!" to be a genuinely earth-shaking discovery.

thinking about this one again: "So what would it look like to use the effectiveness of invitation as a moment of self-reflection instead of carte blanche empowerment? What happens when the call to imagine yourself as the dystopian hero main character is a trap?" reactormag.com/all-insurrec...

oh good it's snowing again

Over the next few weeks @literaryhub.bsky.social will be publishing letters from Minnesotans about ICE’s authoritarian occupation of their home. First up today is poet Dobby Gibson. lithub.com/letter-from-...

Storm absolutely overperformed, I'm sitting on close to three feet of snow, wowowow

Seems like a good day to re-up my choose-your-path, lightly-weird adventure, aptly titled SNOW DAY: voidspacezine.itch.io/snow-day A limited zine version went to a few friends for their birthdays in early 2024, then the great @voidspacezine.bsky.social picked it up last January. I love it still.