“What a tragic capitulation.” There are a lot of great things in this episode, many that I’m still noodling on, but the discussion on watering down one’s prose and ceding certain types of writing to AI is worth a listen.

Happy equinox. My part of the world is tipping away from summer into a colder, darker season, but there is friendship, there are books, there is tea.

I have so many poems I get to share with you this fall, across several journals, and I am excited about all of them.

There are few things quite like an afternoon poetry reading featuring very good poets. Community in art is so important, and it’s nice to be reminded of how wonderful poetry is to create and consume.

I am genuinely repulsed like this. Especially having seen firsthand how he was treated the last several years of his life. Exploited dead and alive.

Nobody is running up that hill anymore, and that’s sad

The kettle is boiling when Ezri arrives, and a tray of scones steams on the table. I ply her with both as she sits. My friend’s eyes are red-rimmed, the skin under them shadowed. I sink into the chair across from her and cover her hand with my own. “Not every quest succeeds.” I hope mine does.

It's the FINAL voting weekend for both the Rhysling and Elgin awards, SFPA members! Voting closes at the end of the day on Sept. 15th. Voting links have been re-sent as an official missive, but do reach out to an exec if you need the links again. We hope you've enjoyed reading ✨ and please vote 💜

If you're using AI to write essays, eulogies, a text to your wife, I do think less of you as a person. Ceding your mental and creative abilities to a machine is an embarrassing thing and people should be ashamed to admit doing it in public.

You send your poem in you get a rejection back you send your poem again and you shake it all about

i want a girl with a short dirk and a looooooooong dagger *sick beat guitar riff*

In honor of @scalzi.com's visit to our warehouse today, our fabulous production editor did a little photo shoot with two of her pet mice, Ivy and Nettle. We feel it's only right to give away a signed copy of WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE. Follow and reshares to enter! Int'l, ends 9-14 at noon ET!

"if he wanted to, he would" but for me actually working on the script I have open in the tab behind this one

Every time I hear the Silksong Sherma music, my brain thinks it’s about to hear Good King Wenceslas.

Friday night snuggles

and if some god shall wreck me yet again on the wine-dark berry compote

We’re approaching the final quarter of the year (how has this year been simultaneously so fast and so slow?). There has been so much good art this year, so much creation. What have you loved? Please tell me your favorite [x] of the year: • poem • poetry collection/chapbook • short story • novella

Behold: a lil guy

I do not have time to start a poetry journal. I do not have energy to start a poetry journal. I do not have funds to start a poetry journal. But some days, I fantasize about the poetry journal that I run in another timeline.

SFPA Members, don't forget that VOTING closes for both the Rhysling Award and the Elgin Award on Sept. 15! Just five more days to those votes in!! Thanks so much in advance for celebrating speculative poetry with us. We can't do this without you 💜

Yesterday was the last day of the reading sprint! Over the past seven days, I finished six books,* read 746 pages, and listened to 9 hours of audiobooks. Breakdown below! *I’d started When the Moon Hits Your Eye before the beginning of the challenge.

leaning into my fae roots today

My cat knows when my alarm goes off and loves to jump on the bed and get comfortable five minutes before I have to get up.

Love waking up to find the discourse is a thing on which I have opinions.

Litfic is not the enemy of SFF, any more than romance is the enemy of mystery. There’s room enough in the world for both (and for books where the line is blurry).

‘Litfic is just sad academics.’ Is ‘all science fiction is ray guns and Doctor Who’ in a hat. It’s the weapon of the enemy. And the enemy isn’t litfic, it’s a cultural space that’s conditioned creatives to hate each other for centuries.

I cradle a latte from my usual place, the mug hot against my hand. I’d asked the barista, a drowsy satyr, for an extra shot of courage, two pumps of calm, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. I inhale deeply, take one sip, then pull out the blank composition notebook and name it in black marker: Grimoire.

Thoughts and prayers for my DM. We leveled up last session, and I fully plan to use my new abilities to be a menace tonight.

Do Saturday snuggles really need to be this agressive?

2 Gorn 2 Furious

Finished Hemlock & Silver this morning, and I think it’s my new favorite T. Kingfisher book.

Local Small Bastard Man has returned!

🫡

If you are in the Edmonton area Fiasco is still missing - please check garages and sheds and engines! Let's get him home, please share x

“They came with machetes asked if we knew the way to Wonderland.” beautiful, beautiful, beautiful poem

Oh god, someone on a thread invoked “Light of the World” aka the Piss Christ and I am really tired and just got off a plane but my impassioned screed on it was on Twitter and as some of you know, I have FEELINGS ON THIS TOPIC.

Yesterday was a good start to the reading sprint, mostly because I had the holiday off. Day 1 reads included: • (finished) When the Moon Hits Your Eye, John Scalzi •The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-ran • James Moriarty, Consulting Criminal, Andy Weir • (started) Hemlock & Silver, T. Kingfisher

EDMONTON: this is Fiasco, @premeemohamed.com's beautiful boy. after slipping outside a few days ago, he needs help finding his way home. can you share this with your local circles?

Some friends and I are doing a reading sprint! Starting tomorrow (9/1) and going through 9/7. Our stated goal is to read five books during the week, but the real goals are to have fun and read a lot. If you want to challenge yourself to read more as summer stumbles into fall, sprint with us!

“If you are overthinking, write. If you are underthinking, read.” [alt-text of quoted image: sketch of two people, one reading one writing, with the above-quoted text]

Sunday morning brunch, Sunday afternoon Barnes & Noble party (celebrating thirty years!), Sunday evening video chat discussing this month’s reads. A fun and bookish weekend 🍾❤️📚

INVERTEBRATES. Shit, I knew I forgot something.

I understand there is value in classification. We like to put things in the right boxes, especially if the right box means it’s more likely to find its intended readers. But my first “grown-up” SFF book was Dragonflight, and I’ve always been drawn to stories that fall in between the categorizes.

former kids who read too many books and didnt know how to pronounce the words you learned gang say hey

Okay, hear me out. A Lord of the Rings re-make, but with these two taking the One Ring to Mordor:

“[T]he reputation of a thing is always, by necessity, less complex and interesting than the thing itself. We kind of pick up the narrative gloss of the whatever-it-is, and don’t really feel and experience and know the Truth of what it’s doing.”

If you see this, post a monster.

For the morning crowd: three haiku from yours truly.

Thrilled to have three haiku appear in Under the Bashō. I hope you enjoy reading these poems as much as I enjoyed writing them ❤️