Some people do Dry January; I’m doing No SocMed Til Feb 1. Need a cleanse. Ring it in well, folks. 🥂

Just realized Björk is 60, what is time. And now my still-all-time-fave of hers is ringing in my undeserving head. She is a gift. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUxd...

Can confirm. My aptitude slid me into corporate writing and communications for years, and I HATED it. I did it well but was miserable, even at cool places like UNESCO, think tanks and graphic design houses. Hated the drafting itself and hated that my creative brain was drained by day’s/week’s end.

So on I went.

I could not mash this fast enough.

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

Major SFF book awards are allowing GenAI stuff on the ballot now, apparently. Writers, we have no allies but ourselves.

The coldest December here in years is kicking our butts, reminding me of my very local weird tale set in deepcoldwhite times—with bootleggin’, icy rivers and coffins, and the ominous USA. Still so thrilled @strangehorizons.bsky.social pubbed this one. ☺️ shorturl.at/T3QUW

I shall now talk about modern talkies the way people talk about silent films: I have seen three movies made in the 2020s, this qualifies me to name the best picture of the decade!

Also, congratulations everyone who made something this year. A comic, a song, a film, a novel, a painting, a poem, a short story, a sculpture, crochet, embroidery, whatever it is. In this era of slop and theft, if you *make* something you are a shining jewel and I am so grateful for you.

There's a kind of person who is ideologically opposed to metaphor, ambiguity, or really fiction as a concept. Like, they will only accept fiction as a vehicle for propaganda, not as an end unto itself.

reposting to read in a bit, and also to mention that perusing the archives at lackingtons.com is a grand old good time if you’re hard up for some lovely prose and weird ideas.

Thank you so much, @ranylt.bsky.social - and to remember Dr Ormeau on my birthday (& at an archaeology ceremony in Belfast!) Feels v serendipitous! I loved working on this story & love Lackington’s.

Verily, I’m in the mood to revisit a classic Lackington’s-style tale of epistolary fabric, this one by @morganvl.bsky.social, with artwork by Marlo Musa. Some days I really miss the less-traditional stories we loved to publish. And our host of anthropologist contributors. shorturl.at/lLDcx

Supporting human rights does not pose a moral, political or spiritual dilemma for anyone who understands their own humanity.🌏🕊️

I always knew it existed, but it’s distressing to see people begging for the equivalent of foot bindings for their minds and hearts, and using LLMs as the excuse. Imagine not realizing how much great writing has been birthed from the irreconcilable need to tell someone or something to eat shit.

A REMINDER! My short story eBook is here! If you like Caribbean-centered dark fantasy, this is for you! @nisishawl.bsky.social, @mauricebroaddus.bsky.social, @gemmafiles.bsky.social, @ranylt.bsky.social, & @kurellian.bsky.social say wonderful things about it! www.books2read.com/TheAceOfKnives

The Johns Hopkins long covid questionnaire they send out to us “novid controls" every 3 months now includes “Politics” among potential stress-causing factors. If we want any more indication of how things are going in North America (and elsewhere).

Feeling guilty that one of the (derisive) nicknames of the bad guys in my anti-authoritarian trilogy is “clangers”. Fish’s “iInterpretive communities” notion may save me, but barely.

Lots of "got them at this age, someone else got them for me" which i think misses the point a little bit. Even if u got those books yesterday, it's still concerning people think what you read has something to do with your personality. Slippery slope to assigning morality to fiction. And fascism.

Bad enough living somewhere the air hurts our face, but now it’s also a somewhere one’s winter boots come with built-in ice cleats. 😒 What are we even doing?

I’d be extremely salty, too, but also: Happy Mincemeat Pie Season, everyone! 🥧

Just watched 3 Women for the first time and was R I V E T E D. So many questions, not least of which are (a) how did I not see this glorious movie before and (b) dammit, I’m being dragged kicking and screaming into Altman fandom, aren’t I?

Nein! 🫣 apnews.com/article/germ...

Why did I not know that Altman made an early moonshot flick with Caan and Duvall that the producers railed him over because of his overlapping dialogue back in 1967? Tight little mod SF. brb off to watch his Quintet now.

On the occasion of A Very Key Election, here’s a tale from Lackington’s Governments issue by @cypayseur.bsky.social, art by Stacy Nguyen. Wishing for more positive results in NYC at all municipal levels than we see in any of the tales in our Gov issue, ofc. We still love it tho! shorturl.at/xgosq

Reminder that it’s not just the big elections that matter! For example, our town is voting on whether or not to increase the local library budget (heck yes!). Make sure you get out there and vote today!

Happy Halloween weirdos near and far

i had an epiphany writing is puzzle-solving — it’s supposed to be hard and you do it any way because you enjoy it — when i’m stumped with a puzzle i don’t immediately think something must be wrong with me and i’ll never figure out the puzzle and i should quit doing puzzles forever because i suck

Learned about disc rot when I lost an old friend this weekend. (Also learned DVDs generally last decades longer than blu-rays, so glad I still buy those as often...)

BLACK SPECULATIVE FICTION MONTH! HALLOWEEN! If you like Caribbean-centered dark fantasy, this eBook's for you! @nisishawl.bsky.social, @mauricebroaddus.bsky.social, @gemmafiles.bsky.social, @ranylt.bsky.social, & @kurellian.bsky.social say wonderful things about it! www.books2read.com/TheAceOfKnives

Why do these adorable doggos HaTe WaFfLeS?

The only questionable thing I ever did was that one time in Vienna I had two bellinis on an empty tummy that made me bold and creepy enough to tell a hot cab driver "Vielen Dank, hübscher Mann” as I exited the car.

Those who do learn from history are doomed to have people tell them they’re overreacting

gonna feed your little fuckin ass to the house god, you don't straighten up

"Don't you want a melting mouth AI abomination to make a reference to a local chain?" "No I don't, I want something I didn't even know I was asking for, and won't know until I see something new and personal from an actual artist."

Know your Halloween props

Between the Louvre business and the East Wing, it’s been a rotten week for tangible cultural history.* This on the heels of the Globe report on Gaza’s razing.💔 tinyurl.com/3e5takjf *You can take the girl outta UNESCO but you can’t take UNESCO outta the girl, even ones who hate monarchies/fascists.

Ever seen a 750-pound muskox face off with a 210-pound pumpkin? 💥 Hudson did, and won! 🏆 Catch more pumpkin-smashing, leaf-crunching, fall fun during #ZooBoo, October 18 & 19. 🎃🐾

This was posted in context of folks criticizing protests, but this is my personal pet peeve about those who complain about art, esp abstract expressionism. "I could've done that." Great! Get yourself a 20' tall canvas and some paints and do it.

PSA: If you do NOT want your kid to “grow up weird”, don’t show them The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari at the impressionable and very horny age of 17, when extremely fringe crushes can develop...

Finished reading Hugo’s Les Miserables for the first time and, tho most musicals hurt my whole being (just the way I’m wired), I was curious to see how the hell that was rendered into such a popular Broadway smash. So I checked out a musical version. CANNOT with…everything. Lasted 15 mins. 😬

the easiest way to write a book is to be a little bit of a freak about it

agreed and I also think anti-spoiler backlash has far exceeded its banks in general! “if it’s good enough, spoilers won‘t ruin it for you anyway” NO I want to experience the story at the intended pace and construct my own relationship with the narrative!!!

Not yet another Bluesky blando advising creative writers to read more King in order to write more like King because apparently everyone needs to write like King even though it’s *checks notes* 2025 and we should be well beyond 20th-century Writing Rulezes and templates. 😒

Whomst among you are gonna be at @canconsffh.bsky.social this weekend and may be a bumper-inner in the con space? Prepare thyself for a warm ahoy!

It's cool that society, capitalism, & tech bros have turned me from: "Ooh- how cool! What an innovative & handy device/computer/app/tech- I WANT!" to viscerally reacting w fear, loathing, & revulsion at whatever the new device/computer/app/tech is

To become dependent on ChapGPT is to evacuate yourself from your own life. YIKES, no thanks. I’m gonna be alive inside every damn thing I do, even and especially the ish I don’t wanna do.

When I’ve had a crap day and feel like balls, I pull out a comfort movie. Prince of Darkness has been one of my big ones since I was a kid. Is there a more atmospheric blend of science + mythos/religion = chaos in horror cinema? From those first three opening Carpenterian notes…