DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN 🏳️‍⚧️ #art #tdov #transart

One of the saddest things about GenAI is that it robs would-be artists of one of the most pleasurable elements of the artistic process — the miraculous "whoops!" I cannot count the number of times I've been working on a piece and something went "wrong", then I said "Alright! I'm working with it!"

Mary Shelley: sup fuckers Poe: joanne was explaining death of the author Poe: what do you think, mary Shelley: death of the author eh? Shelley: [brandishing swicthblade] i think it's a good idea Rowling: i Rowling: i have to go

Hey horror fans, do you need some extra reading material for this year's #TransRightsReadathon? We got you covered! Here are some free eBooks written & edited by trans authors & published by Ghoulish Books. Please share! buttondown.com/ghoulish/arc...

Do you write weird shit? Do you want to write even WEIRDER? You should consider attending BIZARROCON! Workshops for novelists & screenwriters in horror & more. But if they don't sell 15 more tickets by the end of the week, the con might have to be canceled, so JUMP ON THIS! bizarrocon.com

I have a new poem out! In @smallwondersmag.com today.

Another classic post-Homan day where around school dismissal time we get a flurry of ICE vehicles all across our neighborhoods. Today one vehicle led an observer to their own home and pointed at it. This is a sick game to them, but we won’t be intimidated and we won’t stop until DHS is abolished.

"I needed someone to tell me they saw the monster too, and it was bad, and it was scary, and we should all be screaming." Just....very much yes. Thank you @cjtavares.bsky.social and @interstellarflight.bsky.social for the excellent essay about horror as comfort.

"'We lost all trust,' a current ICE official added. 'I’m not sure I can see how we exist three years from now.'” If an ICE official can see there being a world without ICE, there's no reason any of us shouldn't be able to do the same thing. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

"CBP stays at the border" might sound like a win, but keep in mind that this is what "the border" means to them www.aclumaine.org/know-your-ri...

Reckoning X is here! And I have a story in it. So grateful to have this particular story, about an oddball psychogeographic investigator who listens to birds as much as people, in this particular magazine.

Minneapolis.

New year, new rejection collection. This year I'm going to aim for 50 rejections out of the gate, and just got my first from Apex! 🎇

This post it just the prompt; there's a story in the replies from @howsweetthewords.bsky.social that I loved

If you're a cis person who wants to be kind to your trans and nonbinary friends right now, please do not forward us links to stories about trans people being abused, having their rights taken away, or living in fear. We already know. A friendly "hey I hope you're OK" is much more helpful. 💖

As someone who is neurodiverse and on the spectrum, I have thoughts on that presidential big announcement about autism. Here we go! We've always been around. We'll always be here. Living, seeing, loving, dying. 1/ www.patreon.com/posts/139553...

Trans rights are not the rights of a tiny minority, trans rights are everyone’s rights to self-determination, control of our bodies, and a society where opportunity and aesthetics are not restricted by sex assigned at birth You should support and defend trans people because trans people are people

A little ditty I wrote

From me, a list of Trump supporters who killed, or tried to kill, Democrats and opponents of Trump in recent years (since the right are now claiming all the political violence is from the left!) Receipts: zeteo.com/p/charlie-ki...

32 years ago today

Lots of discussion lately about increased interest in short fiction, and we love that. We have 25 years of horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction stories for you to read. And we would love to do 25 more, if you can help. kck.st/4mIkEm1

New Mexico has issued a public health order that removes federal restrictions to COVID-19 vaccine access so that pharmacies in New Mexico can vaccinate people of all ages and risk profiles. Every state need to do this!

It's officially fundraising time over at @thecosmicbgr.bsky.social, and we're doing things a little differently this year. Help a pro-paying, deeply-progressive, 100% human magazine continue to thrive. We'll love you for it. gofund.me/ca0c2b7d

Welp, I'm home from WorldCon and I'm completely feral

I'm not crying about cats being depressed and lonely; you are. #worldcon

New writing goal: write a sufficiently beloved book that I get to be on the pet stories panel.

The amount of cat people energy in this panel about animals/aliens/AI is giving me life. #worldcon

"Look at the markers of power and the markers of place to see how the writer orients the reader to this world." Leigh Bardugo on details and how to use them in fiction. #worldcon

"Culture is not a buffet for a writer. History is not a buffet for a writer." -Natania Barron at #worldcon

Love hearing Nisi Shawl talking about strategies for enlivening overused time periods by connecting with the details of the period. Use your eyes, ears, nose to find the diversity that have been erased. #worldcon

"We're seeing a real flattening of culture. Just echoes of echoes of echoes. That's why it is important to go to the source material....You don't need to have an MFA; you just need to read a lot." -Leigh Bardugo #worldcon

"History is always told by an unreliable narrator. Including me." -Leigh Bardugo at #worldcon

13 minutes from now: solo RPGs as writing tools. I'll be there! Talking about some beloved tools that help me structure my writing and get the thing done. #worldcon rm 420.

17,294 steps. Approximately 9k of those on the #worldcon dance floor. Thanks @scalzi.com!

Queer as Fuck panel

“I can’t get enough of gay ghosts.” @rathmercury.com

At 7:30 pm (45 minutes from now) I'll be on The Importance of Queer Horror at #WorldCon. Rm 435-436. 💀🌈💀

Oooo a ghost story panel at #WorldCon

In my first #worldcon panel and there was already a Porpentine shout-out. This is the best.

Kicked off #WorldCon by staying up too late and filling my vampiric heart at Nine Inch Nails.

It is extremely frustrating to talk about something like a wealth cap tied to 100x the minimum wage over a lifetime career, and people’s kneejerk reaction is “but what if that affects me?” and I can promise you that you aren’t making $180million (to use California as an example)

it’s still free whenever you see a bird on the ground to say “hey buddy.” the price hasn’t changed

Why I will never have a substack and will never give them money, exhibit A:

visa and mastercard deciding what games are allowed to be sold is an apocalyptic level threat to the games industry. phone calls are the highest impact way to help. this is an all hands on deck situation. the enemy got results with 1000 phone calls. we can beat them phone numbers and a script:

Germany gave people €1,200/month no strings attached. They kept working, slept better, switched to better jobs, and even gave more to others. Turns out, when people aren’t drowning, they swim further. #UBI doesn’t kill ambition, it frees it.

finishing my lichen embroidery on my hat while my leg is quite literally moulting for a truly immersive Southern Reach experience (Canada’s hard up for alligators) thank you @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social

watching videos about america for the 4th

I see people saying stuff like "why criticize Substack but give other problematic platforms (like, say, YouTube) a pass? Which is a fair point. Thing is, YouTube is a quasi-monopoly for sharable video. Substack wants to have a newsletter monopoly but *isn't there yet*. And it should never happen.

Maybe drop a line to @nbcla.com and let them know you appreciate David Noriega's reporting. We are going to need journalists like this who aren't afraid to tell the truth and a lot of them are getting fired. 📞 818-684-4444 💻 Email: www.nbclosangeles.com/send-feedback