“That’s all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don’t know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won’t matter if we don’t survive these times.” ― Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower

Submissions are open! Delighted to be a judge for Natasha Carthew & Octopus Books’ Common Ground Nature Writing Prize, for writers self-identifying as working class. 1,000 words or less, in any form & great prizes! Further details & link to submit, here: www.octopusbooks.co.uk/landing-page...

if you find yourself overwhelmed by constant terror at the state of the world, may I suggest becoming a bird person? it doesn't really fix anything, but it at least lets you go "oh hell yeah" whenever you see a raven flying past with sticks for a nest in its beak or whatever

instead of watching the new harry potter trailer, why not pick up some horror books by trans and nb writers for the trans rights readathon?? there are so many good options. For example, check out some of these writers:

BREAKING: @aoc.bsky.social and @sanders.senate.gov are introducing a ban on AI data centers and other hyperscale data centers. The ban would remain until Congress passes new AI legislation. That legislation must ensure AI is safe, benefits workers, and doesn't raise electricity prices.

He writes 8 solid hours a day five days a week and has a staff of 35. Someone cleans his house, makes his meals, handles his admin, and does his laundry. One cannot compare oneself to Sanderson levels of output 😆

New from me: by the end of the week, the war in Iran will likely have cost $25 billion, with Trump poised to ask for $200 billion more Below is a writeup, but the meat of it is this table, which shows what an equal amount of funding could cover domestically www.americanprogress.org/article/by-t...

I still can’t believe that the two of the best movies of the year were about how if the song is good enough, musicians can protect their communities from supernatural evil.

I use linkedin to source villain dialogue.

"I think of the Mississippi Delta as a living, breathing archive, a landscape where the river’s curve mimics the spine of a people who refused to be broken. In the quiet theater of our lives, we often look for mirrors, but what we truly need are portals." @shereereneethomas.bsky.social on SINNERS

The book this is based on is really cool and I'm excited to spend more time in the world it introduced!

The problem with techno-optimism (I say this as a former techno-optimist) is that it understands the exponential trajectory of computing without understanding the identical exponential trajectory of the climate crisis, and ignoring the causal relationship between the two

This whole line of reasoning has always been so absurd. "If you don't integrate AI into your processes now, you won't be in the same boat as everyone else when the prices get jacked up and it's suddenly way harder to operate without it." Uh. Okay? You can keep it lmao

I think about this a lot.

There's a broken cuneiform tablet from the Old Babylonian period, nearly 4,000 years ago, which preserves a tiny portion of a dialogue between two friends. It feels a bit like the conversations I've been having for the past week, so I wanted to share it.

It’s very strange that many headlines today are a about war making petroleum more expensive rather than war killing people, harming people, destroying the environment.

Scavenging ravens memorize vast tracts of wolf hunting grounds, a new study has found. The birds don’t just follow wolves, they clock kill patterns and create mental maps to support future food quests. u.afp.com/SLTd

Just a friendly reminder to support and appreciate your local library ghost.

Very same. I'm still going to write no matter what -- the writing is a given -- but PUBLISHING has so many costs (not monetary) that my mental health accounts have started to tip over from red into colours never perceived by human eyes.

I'm a novelist. I can very confidently say that readers absolutely do not want to read AI slop. Even in that genre people love to disparage. Yes all the genres people love to look down their nose at. What's more, every sign points to readers wanting *more* human engagement, not less.

this is a SEVERELY misunderstood element of people working against environmental racism: their technical and organizing expertise, and political analysis is transferable (and sometimes sought after when white communities realize they’re not safe either).

It takes a certain kind of…narcissistic nihilism to look across the country at people self-organizing against something that is generally a fairly good material symbol of the intangible class warfare that has alienated them and say, “what a silly distraction from what *really* matters.” And yet…

A little offended Grammarly didn't make a sloppelganger of me

Gonna start bringing these cards to cons and festivals just in case anyone needs one "So, I'm writing a fantasy -- am I allowed to -- " "Hang on one sec" *scribbles* *hands card* *card reads IT MADE UP, DO WATEVER U WANT, U R FREE MY CHILD*

Here you go, everyone can use this one (it's signed by an authority)

Basically, take the amount of money you think your favorite author gets, halve it, and then halve it again, and you have a number that's probably a lot closer to their actual earnings from writing. "But I don't think they make that much!" Halve that. Halve it again.

oh good i was worried it was white supremacy and capitalism

If I can’t unionize Claude then it’s not conscious, next question

This reminds me of something Toni Morrison wrote.

#awp26 day 2 started with the off-site Poetry in the Woods hike, followed by panels on experimental writing and after the debut. Lots of book fair fun and hanging out with pals @susanlleary.bsky.social @cromaguerawrite.bsky.social An off-site with @wcsu.mfa and MFA friends filled my cup 💕

#awp26 day 1 was jam packed full of volunteering! Also @rozenwrites and I attended a "cringe and being earnest" off-site with poets al-ism, Jardana Peacock, Chen Chen, Steffan Triplett, Lydi Conklin, Jenny Xie, Kailah Figueroa, Sarah Wang! So great to start the conference out with vulnerability 🙏

We are at #awp26 this weekend! If you see our managing editor Holly make sure you pitch her something weird. She likes that. 👽

It's not that AI is useless. It's that AI is useful like asbestos was useful.

Who are your favorite solarpunk illustrators and visual artists? Links and images please! My brain needs some nice things.

💞 Connect with me at AWP this year! I'm a featured reader for an Off-Site on 3/5/26, 4 PM EST at 1204 W. Mt. Royal Ave. ❤️ I'll have copies of my book; purchase one for $20 cash/Venmo. ❤️ Need a sub for a panel/off-site/open mic? Want to grab coffee or something? Let's meet up!

Here's what The Rumpus will be up to at AWP 2026! therumpus.net/2026/02/27/t... And we're having a soiree!

We're heading to AWP in Baltimore this week. If you'll be there, drop by booth #442 and say hi.

reminder that we are throwing an event on thursday (yes the same night as literally every other queer reading) at current space gallery. 530-9pm, two sets of readings, bar with NA options, free. come hang out.

Black creators reshaped genre storytelling, not as an add-on, but as architects. Appreciation to @blackgirlnerds.bsky.social for spotlighting legends like: 🖤 Octavia E. Butler and N.K. Jemisin If you’re building your reading list, start there. #BlackSpeculativeFiction #OctaviaButler #NKJemisin

Too perfect 👇

Every day I am reminded why fascists rush to defund the arts and humanities. And then I buckle down and figure out how I am going to write and make art despite it.

It’s a week until AWP, so just a few bits of advice fwiw. These are especially for newbies or folks who have ever been called strivers or try-hards. A thread: 1) Every single writer you will meet was once a writer with no name recognition. You belong in every space, just like they do.

from Eisenhower's April 1953 "Chance For Peace" speech

“The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.” James Baldwin