There's more to say about this open letter, unfortunately, but bear with me, because I think it's important. For example, this response in the File 770 comments by SFWA board member Jonathan Brazee. In essence, Underwood gives cover to SFWA and vice versa. But both their positions are crap. 1/?

first time i hitch-hiked me and my friend were picked up by a frantic dad who showed us pictures of his kids, gave us his lunch, and begged us to please never ever do this again

said "good morning baby" to my 7yo and they said "don't you mean good morning...WOLF" and bit me

would like to brag that i read 90ish books this year, except about half of them were re-reads lol. a few of them i read and then immediately restarted! I can't even blame the stress of rising fascism im just like this i guess

Many people—particularly in creative and fan spaces!—could use to read Colton Underwood’s short essay about the lived complexities of queer masculinity, the closet, and the negotiations people make to survive… even and especially for those who are already hyper-visible. substack.com/home/post/p-...

kills me when white men aren't very popular and they're like "wow?? discrimination??" buddy i'm so sorry but you just have a bad personality :( we all thought you knew :(

there is a genre of person who hates AI in *their* field but sees how it could be useful in *other,* less prestigious, fields; ignore them. they are not trying to save the ship. they are just racing you to the lifeboats

re-reading the Locked Tomb books as one sometimes must and man: John's narration in Nona the Ninth really is the best villain monologue ever written. by the end you understand why they exist as a trope in the first place! because only a villain has the ego required to monologue!

I will never use LLM for anything to do with my writing. Even my research is driven by good research practice, not AI. Why would I? I like the work. If you don't like doing the work, ask yourself why you're not actually doing something you do like to do, instead.

you can cheer when the rats flee the ship, but you do not need to invite the rats over to your ship. the rats are icky. let those fuckers swim

And just like that, SFWA capitulates. Keep fighting. It works.

Good news from @cvillecityhall.bsky.social: Flock Safety is off the streets! Now let's get more localities to have this conversation. cvillerightnow.com/news/208802-...

shoutout to Count Benyowsky, the 18th century con artist who convinced the french government to fund his conquest of madagascar and then paid the locals to pretend he was king if anybody stopped by. we used to have proper criminals

can't really express how ecstatic i am about to this. I'M GOING TO SPAIN!! TO HANG OUT WITH GENRE READERS!!!

Just gave up the ghost on any attempt to whittle down my TBR folder by the end of the year. 😂 The Raven Scholar is on sale for $2.99 in ebook at kobo.com right now btw!

last newsletter of the year is just a bunch of books i liked, thinly disguised as a gift guide! buttondown.com/alixeharrow/...

my favorite thing about the benoit blanc movies is that they aren't really about benoit blanc. he is not grappling with demons from his past. we are not getting flashbacks to the husband whose murder he never solved. he just shows up and does his job like mary poppins for homicides

one time on the old site i said that my husband, who was an entire 35 years old, had only recently discovered that ponies are not baby horses. the post was mid but i still fondly recall the thousands of replies of other full grown people making the same discovery

imagine trying to convince me that I should "get used" to AI bc it's "here to stay." honey mitch mcconnell has been my senator since before i was born, do you think i don't know how to lock in and hate for the long haul

Holiday Mutual Aid: PLEASE SHARE WIDELY! It’s time for YEAR 6! With recent federal-level changes creating new challenges in our community, we’re prioritizing core necessities. We are still welcoming traditional gifts. More info below. We take care of us. To Give C: $zyahnab Venmo: Zbryant01

One of the many reasons AI can't produce good writing is it can't hate its own writing. It can't think to itself "Maybe I'm illiterate" during the writing process. And that's essential

I think it would be fun if writers who love language started intentionally writing more strangely as AI flattens written "content" into a mono-voice. it would cool I think if writers responded by focusing their individual efforts on cultivating a really unique voice that's hard to copy

end of year lists are slightly silly and necessarily imperfect but: this is so cool thank you npr 🥹 www.npr.org/2025/12/03/n...

tapping the sign

idk who needs to hear this but the TIDAL family plan is slightly cheaper than the spotify plan! tidal.com/plans/family

when that show comes out i better not hear a fucking word about it. no memes. no edits. "it was so important to my childhood--" okay well human rights are important to my adulthood??

talking myself through this short story as i would a toddler. listen buddy you can't go see that movie until you finish this. i know. yes, the WHOLE thing. well you better hurry, or mr. benoit blanc won't be in theaters any more!!

this is a thorough piece on the charlottesville city school board's dogged pursuit of a bad & regressive policy! www.cvilletomorrow.org/school-resou...

asked the 7yo how school was and they answered "fine, even though i am bound eternally by cloth," by which they meant: forced to wear clothes

BCS Patreon has fallen below the monthly amount we need to pay our authors a pro rate and our First Readers a worthy honorarium ($125/mo). Sometimes folks need to lower or pause their support; we understand. But less than 1% of BCS readership donates or supports. www.patreon.com/beneath_ceas... 1/3

look I'm not a money guy but surely it's a fumble not to have kpop demon hunters action figures by christmas. what are we doing here

idk how to share instagram reels on this app but i don't care bc an artist (palinlineart) animated a scene from the everlasting?? 😭 art....inspires art??? 😭😭 www.instagram.com/reel/DRhz59P...

my time-saving holiday shopping tip is to just get everybody books. white elephant? book. child? picture book. stocking? small book. i am a neutral & trustworthy source on this subject

i have never felt more kentuckian than i have reading all this anti-pie talk. i am pressing my palm to my chest and tsking. i am praying for yall. the devil is real and he has a bluesky account

I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.

Today's Love Letter is a stunning meditation on birdwatching and the loss of a friendship, from the one and only @amalelmohtar.com stone-soup.ghost.io/love-letter-...

bring back Monologues!! let actors swish around in capes and deliver speeches, as god intended!!! abandon grim hyper-realism in favor of Theater!!!!!!

every now and then i think of the girl who took me gently aside my freshman year of college and said "yo you gotta stop saying "whilst."" really did me a solid, socially. hope she's doing well

infinitely charmed that anyone could look at my online presence and assume that i have a social media team 🙏 like i clearly cannot figure out the right proportions for an insta post but thank you for believing in me 🙏

cannot express how much my weekend has been improved by watching, for the first time!, BOUND (1996)

every elementary school teacher in the state of virginia deserves a medal of valor and a beer. today was.....the 67th day of school 😔

i don't know how to phrase this delicately, but i just want to communicate to young white men in incel-adjacent spaces that this sort of behavior will solve your problems

very little brings me as much joy as explaining the plots of romance novels to my husband. no one is more earnestly appalled. "he made a BET to marry her? but that will hurt her feelings when she finds out!" yes beloved

the CCS Board wants to believe this kind of thing is anomalous, but a 2014 study found that "SROs are significantly more likely than other police officers to be arrested for sex-related crimes," mostly involving students. www.clccrul.org/blog/what-th...

👇🏼 too bad CCS school board ignored all this evidence.

The best DM of my life from @alixeharrow.bsky.social today. Put this on my Wikipedia. Put it in my obit. Tell the bees

you want a kid who shares your interests and then your 7yo is waking up at 5:45 to write their novel. like okay buddy it's not a race???

it is only now occurring to me, as i put away the globe and chalk board, having let my 9yo stay up an extra hour bc he said "mama, i just can't remember all the causes of wwi," that i have, perhaps,, been played 😔

my number one most serious writing tip is to make cool friends. in the last year I've needed to know about blacksmithing, neo-medievalism in the american empire, and mid-century lesbian pulp publishing and each time I've been able to just. call a guy.

YEAH THE BIGGER JOY IS WHEN UR SMART FRIEND & FELLOW WRITER LIKES YOUR BOOK 😭 this is the most generous thread