We went to a Reptile & Exotics Expo today and there were many snakes, several varieties of lizard, some chameleons, the tiniest frog I've ever seen, and not enough large isopods. I did not see any interesting crabs, but that doesn't mean there weren't any there. It was a big expo with many humans.

The latest argument I'm seeing in Gen AI discourse in Facebook writing spaces is that AI covers aren't a problem, actually, because "If you hired a human artist you wouldn't be saying you drew the cover yourself anyway, so what does it matter if it's AI?" and I just can't with these assholes anymore

Situation Update: the story mentioned below just received its sixth rejection letter. On to the next inbox!

How to use Generative AI Ethically as a Writer: 1. Don't. 2. Repeat Step 1 (above).

It’s fucking bizarre how people are acting like something from 2022 is something they can’t live without. Like dudes, the emotional dependence on a sycophantic machine regurgitating nonsense to encourage you to stop engaging in critical thought and trust the slop is truly depressing to witness.

Patrick Ewing actually makes a jump shot, and the Knicks win an important game.

For the record, oatmeal is both a cereal and a soup.

I can't explain the math behind it, but the big spoons are for cereal and soups and the small spoons are for pudding and yogurt.

I mean, if there's a small silver lining to be found in all this, at least the world is gaining an understanding of the long-term effects of untreated syphilis.

Status: Working on a new Pirates & Cosmic Horror kinda story for an upcoming submission call.

Screw this, back to the BBS!

It’s #FridayReads time! Let’s share books and boost all signals. Repost this and let us know what to repost for you. Here’s a story about storms, friendship, magic, ghosts, revenge, love, and monsters. And the hardcover is only $14! Go ahead, share what you love. www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316...

Oh, too bad Paramount is owned by devoted Trump ally Dave Ellison now. I'm sure the titles published under this imprint won't be at all influenced by that.

Local Crew: The time has come to book your spot for Days 1-3 of the CBC Calgary Reads Big Book Sale!

Oh, I will definitely be sending G&G a story this time!

Repost with the dance you'll dance the day we hear the news:

Regulate has been in my head all morning, and it's mostly @gailsimone.bsky.social's fault.

Oh, this is good. Idaho passed a bill banning local cities from flying the Pride flag. So the cities decided to wrap the poles themselves in pride colors. This is amazing.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Edlritch Horror

To thine own self be blue da ba dee, da ba di

Woot! I wasn't the first, but I was one of the First 50. Join me? @ourmankoto.bsky.social is now LIVE! I just backed Year's Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume 4 on @kickstarter.com

It's hard to motivate oneself to finish writing another book when one wonders if there'll be anyone around to read it in a year's time.

Seriously, one tainted Big Mac and this all ends...

Seriously, one tainted Big Mac and this all ends...

I dunno... maybe giving "BookTok" so much influence over the market isn't the best idea? I mean, I know it's a self-perpetuation circle where the same nine books the algorithm loves get fed back into the algorithm, but it also seems like it spurs the worst reader opinions about, well... everything?

With tomorrow being a holiday and all, allow me an early #FridayReads to point you toward the last issue of @onspecmag.bsky.social where you'll find my pirate horror story, 'Seven for a Secret.' I was beyond honoured to make it into On Spec's final issue! Get it at @weightlessbooks.bsky.social

Maybe it's just me, I can't in good conscience support a Kickstarter anthology project when I know the person running it has a long history of "playing" with Gen AI with his own work. It really sucks in this case, too, because the project in question is a pretty important one for Canadian SFF.

mods are asleep, post bean hole

May the Artemis II astronauts return to a kinder, more peaceful world.

Watching the clip raised more questions than it answered, but at least I got to start my day by seeing several early-70s Plymouth Valiants.

Situation Update: We've cancelled our Paramount+ subscription (until the new season of Strange New Worlds).

"Join us on Discord" Nah, I'm good. I'm too old and tired to start this all over again.

“For instance, as a lifelong Star Trek fan, it’s always bothered me that there is a presumed ‘responsibility’ within Star Trek shows to talk about social issues ... I just want to watch Romulans and the Federation shoot at each other.” Andy. Andy! What you want is Star Wars, but dumber.

Unpopular opinion: Sure, more Firefly, okay... but what we really needed was a second season of live-action Cowboy Bebop.

I saw the Master of the Universe movie trailer the other day, and it looks great! I am just hoping Mattel has plans to release a line of toys the kids can actually, y'know, buy and play with, instead of just a bunch of $30+ premium action figures.

It's Monday afternoon, pals, but don't let that stop you from getting your eyeballs on this and hitting that "Notify me on launch" button with everything you've got.

✨MY FIRST ART-RAFFLE IN BSKY!✨ To enter: ✦ Follow me ✦ Like & RP this post ✦ Comment with your OC SFW ref ✦ Ends on March 30 Good luck and thanks for your attention and support!💖

I don't know if this is the best time of day on a Friday to hit the algorithm or whatever, but I do need to buy new shoes this weekend so here's a plug for my book. From @parliamentbooks.bsky.social LINK: books2read.com/u/490zOw

"Feel" is not a factor here. My book was part of the "dataset" Meta used to train their AI. They didn't ask if they could use it. They didn't pay me for it. And there's nothing I can do about it. My work -has- been stolen. That's not a "feeling," Seth. Fuck Generative AI, and all those who laud it.

Hire Paul to colour your thing!

He knew, and he still took the job and cashed the paycheques while helping to build something JKR will profit from personally and direct some or all of the proceeds towards her ongoing campaign doing more harm. He doesn't get to walk it back now. He deserves to hear about it for the rest of his life

Working on a second-world Fantasy -slash- Sword & Sorcery story where my traveling sellsword hero finds himself caught up in events in an analogue of post-Roman Gaul, and really just wondering if I ought to use actual Gaulish and Celtic names for all of the characters, places, and gods.

I don't intend to be topical. but

I just set myself a calendar reminder for a short story market opening up in May so I don't forget to submit during their open call, and... guys, is this what being a functioning non-disaster human adult feels like?

Great video from @darlingaxe.com, and everything said here goes for editors as well as agents. If you're trying to sell your book (or novella, or short story, or... well, anything else) get your eyes on this.

Look, I know everyone is coming from a different starting point and all, but why oh why does it feel like every second post on r/writing is from someone who has never actually *read* a book in their life?

A week here could fix me.

Growing up in Calgary, we had the Energeum, which was basically a "Hey, Kids! Oil & Gas is great!" exhibit in the lobby of some office building downtown. We also got to go to Drumheller for a behind the scenes tour of the Tyrrell Museum, though, so that made up for it.