Can anyone recommend an artist who can draw original characters? I'd like to commission someone to do portraits of my characters.

This. 200% this.

Doesn't speak for me, either. I don't touch the stuff. Storytelling is a human endeavor. Publishing is a human endeavor. Writing and reading and being-read is all about humans reaching out to humans. No AI. Fuck AI.

Max Booth is a good person and wonderful member of the horror fiction community who is in a terrible situation and needs our help. Help if you can and do please spread the word.

“The fuck you lookin’ at?” “Nothing.” “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

This impressionistic oil painting is titled "Echoes on a Painted Pond" and was created by artist Jeff Stanford.

MIT (endowment: $27B) shuttering three of its four main libraries is one of those news items that just knocks you off balance, auguring, as it does, profound and permanent changes to the entire institutional apparatus of higher education in this country.

This is a very significant escalation and expansion by Putin.

Morphology, the study of prefixes/suffixes, better described as the study of "minimal meaning pieces," is a FANTASTIC tool for writing #SFF. When you're writing a story in English and can't obstruct meaning by overusing new words, you can still do a lot by using affixes in your place names etc.

I'm a part of it. Not separate from it. I walk on the ground and the ground's walked on by me, I breathe the air and change it, I am entirely interconnected with the world.

"lacked a masculine charisma" Is there not enough overt sexism or misogyny for their taste or . . . ?

OMG, my story "The Diner at the Intersection of Duty and Despair" published in July 2025 at @uncannymagazine.bsky.social is on the long list for Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. (Literally the 2nd time in my life.) www.johnjosephadams.com/projects/bes...

Member of @authorsabb.bsky.social @jerroldconnors.bsky.social came through in the best way and assembled this for us all! Know thine shitty bills!

I was dying of thirst when you gave me water, yet it was not the water alone that saved me. It was the strength of the hands that gave it.

Congratulations to Sarah Pinsker! “The Millay Illusion” is a finalist for the Best Novelette Shirley Jackson Award! You can read it here! buff.ly/8xbWFxN

Howdy partner! 🚜🌽🤠 Sick of AI ruining your 'puter time? Try subscribing to Apex Magazine! Trot over to Patreon or our site for 100% organic, free range, grass-fed short SFF fiction made by humans, for humans 👽🌾🐄 🛸 www.apexbookcompany.com/products/ape... 🛸 www.patreon.com/apexbookcomp...

Elon Musk murdered children.

Sanctuary cities being deemed as treasonous is how far down the very real rabbit hole of bigotry this country has gone.

Congrats to FFers @jordankurella.com (Novella) and @audreyzhou.bsky.social (Short Story) on their Shirley Jackson nominations! locusmag.com/2026/05/2025...

Bluesky isn't a bubble or an echo chamber, it's a garden. You plant some seeds and pull some weeds, you tend to it with care, and you make it into a space that pleases you when you come to sit in it a while. Other people can plant and tend to their own gardens, if they like. This garden is yours.

a world without trans people has never existed and never will

Tolkien: well well well Tolkien: now look who's laughing! Tolkien: hmm hey clive CS Lewis: what Tolkien: remind me, has the archbishop of whatever ever quoted aslan? Lewis: Tolkien: i'm sorry i can't hear you Tolkien: what was that again? Lewis: no Tolkien: ha ha that's what i thought!

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️THE TIME HAS COME!🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 #LGBTQWriteAThon begins June 1st! Join @amaralynn.bsky.social & @rebeccafrostwrites.com for a month of writing and fun prompts! Follow @queerwriters.bsky.social & enable post notifications for reminders (only reposts the daily prompts). #queerwriters #writesky

Here’s a closer look at the 3,400 year-old Minoan ‘Bull’s Head’ clay rhyton. A pouring hole at the mouth was used for making offerings, or filling cups, probably with red wine!🍷 From Knossos Little Palace, Crete, 1450-1375 BC. Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me #Archaeology

me, screaming at a chatbot: LET ME TALK TO A HUMAN

We're preparing the 2026 Shortlist for announcement and the open voting period on June 8! There are currently 2 ways to support: General Donations (for which you receive our thanks): ignyteawards.fiyahlitmag.com/support/ Sponsorship (for which we might send you stuff): donorbox.org/sponsor-the-...

Erin Brockovich Asks Americans for Help as She Launches Data Center Map - Newsweek www.newsweek.com/erin-brockov...

I can't word this perfectly in bite size, but it's pretty clear many people in publishing saw diversity as a burden they've now been permitted to discard, a social media fad they no longer need. 2020 saw so many promises made to writers of color, and the past 5 years saw all of those promises broken

I'll play too ☺️: 1 like = 1 line from a current project. I'll be quoting from either the novel I'm querying (THE WEIGHT OF THE IMPOSSIBLE) or my current WIP (DANCING UNDERNEATH YOU).

Cameron Park Zoo in Waco TX has a new black-footed cat kitten (Felis nigripes). It's exploring grass for the 1st time here. This species is the smallest wild cat in Africa, but with the highest hunting success (~60%). They eat 1/6th their body weight in rodents & birds every night.

I'm ❌ going to bed ✅ returning to the deep

I believe all authors are owed financial compensation for every time someone called one of our villains cartoonish or unbelievable.

2026 British Fantasy Awards Shortlists locusmag.com/2026/05...

This is. And thou art. There is no safety. There is no end. The word must be heard in silence. There must be darkness to see the stars. The dance is always danced above the hollow place, above the terrible abyss.

Worry less about whether your works will be loved. Your own love is enough. It is the only love you can control--you cannot control whether money comes, whether fandom comes, whether you will touch others' lives. Touch your own life. Write something that makes you glad to have written.

Call your reps! These book bans are nationwide and specifically anti-trans--and that's bad enough, but it will also be used to justify many more book bans in the future. We know this because history.

People don't long for "inconvenience." They long for permanence. And though streaming services may be convenient, people are waking up to the fact that we are paying rent-seeking middle men month after month for things we will never actually own.

THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS to becoming a good writer. If you want to get better at your craft, then you need to write a lot and read a lot. BUT! Because there are no shortcuts, you get to revel in the journey, the process, and see where it takes you.

Lesbians in Space: Where No Man Has Gone Before is one of four nominees for anthology in the British Fantasy Award! Now's a great time to pick up your copy! #fantasy #sciencefiction #sapphic www.spacewizardsciencefantasy.com/book/lesbian...

Figured Bluesky would want to know, too 😂

Marvellous Minoan pottery created by artisans from Bronze Age Crete some 3,500 years ago! Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me #Archaeology

TELL ME YOUR 🏳️‍🌈QUEER SHORT SFF🏳️‍🌈 OUT IN APRIL 2026!!! Originals only pls, up to novella in length, indie okay. Just reply with the author, title, and a link to read and/or buy and I'll get them on the list. Here's March's list for context & more info: www.patreon.com/posts/some-q...

NO NEW PROGRESS PLEASE HELP

Again, please share. In every aspect of American history you will run smack dab into the critical contributions of Black people. It’s not Black history. It’s American history. Trying to erase it is a fool’s errand. We live it every day. time.com/5836444/blac...

**blows the dust off**

If you give a damn about trans lives, STOP PRAISING THE POPE AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HIERARCHY. They're literally a key part of trans genocide. Right now. Today. Actively and aggressively. You do not, under any circumstances, have to hand it to them.

Free toe pics. 💸

Digging yourself out of a hole caused by a family member's illness is a long exhausting process. 😭 Hailey is such a hard working brilliant trans writer, advocate and educator. She just needs a little help right now getting back on track 💝