Read this. Read this? Read it.

The Internet Archive's copy of F. C. Burnand's Happy Thoughts Birthday Book was once owned by Fanny Rose of Chicago, who wrote on October 25, "Never no never eat onions. This is a large world but remember you are not the only one in it." archive.org/details/...

"[T]he book is an opportunity for encounter. When we hold a book in our hands, we ideally encounter its author. But at the same time, we meet those who have read it before us, or who are reading it now or will read it in the future." www.vatican.va/content/leo-...

Chicago map lovers (you know who you are and there are too many of you to tag), look what's just been released! node.uchicago.edu/collection/m...

Excited for this!

Hop in the Eurovan, everyone!

Thanks to Katie Carr on Threads, I just learned: in 1996, the cast of the newly-launched “Star Trek: Voyager” got together to do a feature for Parade magazine about the power of late-’90s technology. Behold its fabulously unhinged glory. 1/

Small Wonders does such great work and I’m always happy when a new story or poem lands in my inbox.

English language #Hobbit illustrated by Tove Jansson, introduction by Brian Sibley, coming out in September 2026 from @harpercollins.bsky.social #Tolkien www.tolkienguide.com/modules/newb...

I realize that, as I was offline when it came out, I never quite promoted my story “Jefferson Dines Alone” in @diabolicalplots.com. LLM Thomas Jefferson confronts the collapse of meaning in a flood of slop. Hope you‘ll have a look. www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-1...

Highly recommended 👇👇👇

Slightly increase a band. S.F.N.

“Sure, I’m a creature—and I can accept that … but lately it seems I’ve been turning into a miserable creature.”

Why yes I would love to apply to be GARDENER OF HOBBITON. (H/t @thetolkienist.com, whose newsletter is a delight.)

Naming my surveillance and analytics corporation Palantir, after a device famous for its ability to convey accurate information and lead to sound analysis and policymaking.

Really enjoyed this piece.

In all the 30 greatest living American songwriters discourse, I humbly submit that Greg Brown, though retired, is still alive. www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8bf...

For 100 years, Filbert’s has made root beer the "old time" way: "Do it well and right." blockclubchi.co/4mrNtnJ

Name your top 15 TV shows ever, gut instincts only. Star Trek: TOS Deep Space 9 MST3K The Simpsons King of the Hill The Muppet Show Twin Peaks On Cinema at the Cinema Better Call Saul The Wonder Years What We Do In the Shadows Firefly 30 Rock Looney Tunes The Woodwright’s Shop

The Minstrel of Gondor

Tom Bombadil, preferably played by Matt Berry

Some tech people assume “what is easily available on the Internet” and “all of human knowledge and activity” are coterminous, but the Internet holds neither our countless swift and fleeting acts and gestures nor the Star Room Boys’ classic 2002 album, “This World Just Won’t Leave You Alone”

Some tech people assume “what is easily available on the Internet” and “all of human knowledge and activity” are coterminous, but the Internet holds neither our countless swift and fleeting acts and gestures nor the Star Room Boys’ classic 2002 album, “This World Just Won’t Leave You Alone”

Something of what I was trying to brush up against in this story:

Something of what I was trying to brush up against in this story:

My kid has been wanting to listen to audiobooks as he gets ready for bed, and I suddenly remembered this book, which I had on audio cassette and fell asleep to for months when I was little.

"Though we laugh at old songs and old yarns, nevertheless, they are the yarn with which we weave our picture of the world." - Hope Mirrlees, Lud-in-the-Mist

"The past was the story you told." Devastating is the right word for this great piece by @rajivmote.bsky.social.

Taskrabbit but for a band to come right in there as you finish the piano intro to “Backstreets”

Tea black as midnight on a moonless night.

Honestly I'd probably end up turned into a mackerel of the sea or something. #BalladHunters

announcing ILÚVATAR, my multi-billion dollar company which will specialize in the dismantling of all other idiotically tolkien-named entities, that they shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite

Klingon LinkedIn: TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO APPLY

Darned if these "shift" finishes on the Epiphone Futura line don't look pretty. www.gibson.com/products/epi...

I'm thrilled to have this in audio form! Thank you @michaeljdeluca.bsky.social for reading this so beautifully.

I honestly wouldn’t even have considered that there were more options than “I like dinosaurs” and “I love dinosaurs.”

Drop your crime fighting Catholics

I know I'm right in the middle of the Venn diagram of "TTRPG players" and "broadside ballad enthusiasts," but if you're anywhere on that diagram at all, you should pick up this game!

Start your Wednesday off with this new historical flash from FFO: “For Solomon Fishkowski Who Carved Chess Sets in Siberia” by KD Casey #flashfiction #historicalfiction #writingcommunity #amreading @kdcaseywrites.bsky.social flashfictiononline.com/issues/april...

I'd be very bad at being rich, but I would have an excellent library.

Chicago: Always Down, Never Out shop.dansinker.com/products/alw...

Thinking about happy accidents of measurement that end up yielding perfection: The 25 1/2 inch scale length of the Fender guitar, the 90 foot distance between baseball bases. Seemingly no explicit reasoning behind the choices, but the results ideal.

Getting a bunch of people out to join us at a White Sox game is a beautiful pastoral lesson in sharing the suffering of others and visiting the afflicted.

Thinking about happy accidents of measurement that end up yielding perfection: The 25 1/2 inch scale length of the Fender guitar, the 90 foot distance between baseball bases. Seemingly no explicit reasoning behind the choices, but the results ideal.

"There is not a single homely thing that, looked at from a certain angle, does not become fairy." - Hope Mirrlees, Lud-in-the-Mist

We can't really blame Sara. We all want some more time, a few stolen moments. Check out this absolute banger of a story by S.L. Harris in our 10th issue:

“Well, Grant, we’ve had the devil’s own day.” “Yes. Lick ‘em tomorrow, though.” ~Exchange between Generals William T. Sherman & Ulysses S. Grant on evening of 4/6/1862 (164 years ago tonight) after battle of Shiloh’s first day. The Union won the battle the next day. Images: Library of Congress.

MAGAZINE MONDAY | Middle-earth. Lilliput. Treasure Island. The Land of Oz. There are some 230 literary maps held in the Library's Geography and Map Division. Read more in the current issue of the Library of Congress Magazine. lcm.loc.gov/issue/march-...