There's a free story on Patreon this week; "The Way I Lived, Out Here With You," to go with the last part of "Thou Shalt Not." So we've got two stories about people with broken lives trying to move on. ...Cheerful! Maybe a comedy next week, I dunno... www.patreon.com/cw/Ben_Goodr...

The pizza in the oven right now got me thinking that the real problem with food prices, at least in this community, isn't that inflation is high, it's that prices are *weird.* I saw some very strange pricing at the supermarket last time. It was hard to budget for it. /1

bringing this energy to artist alley at my next con

You know, it never crossed my mind that life-sized Nick Wilde would only be like three feet tall...

(looks at body hair) That is a very patchy fursona, I have to say

"well this can't possibly go on," I say once an hour, every day, until my mind is ground to dust

Well, in addition to being an acclaimed novelist, I'm also a pretty good singer.

Working on a new playlist. The genre this time is "Desperate horny guy trying to reach a girl on the phone by explaining his life story to someone on the other end of the line who couldn't give a shit." Probably the best example is "Operator" by Jim Croce. youtu.be/khYxP7TiFSA

Regarding this chucklefuck, I'm seeing a lot of shit takes from the usual suspects that ignore two facts: 1. The primaries are still a thing 2. The party is under no obligation to support him Miss me with six months of panicky progressives insisting this guy is inevitable.

watching you dildo brain cock suckers play w/ AI shit is like watching a dog paw at one of those puzzle boxes that you put treats inside of

"Papers in the roadside tell of suffering and grief Fear today, forgot tomorrow Here inside the news of holy war and holy need Ours is just a little sorrowed talk." Knew there was a reason I liked these guys.

If you see this post an Archer.

Simon continues to struggle with an increasingly erratic father as the tribe of Anthros across the street reaches out to help. Part 2 of three-parter "Thou Shalt Not" on Patreon. www.patreon.com/posts/thou-s...

Someone posted a take that said the Lincoln Project was supposed to be the Republican Party's post-Trump redemption arc. Unfortunately, they never got a post-Trump society, so they had to keep shaking their tiny fists while peddling tepid white neoliberalism.

MASH, and there is no second place.

Elon Musk is producing CSAM the right way. by Ezra Klein

amazing how the entire machine can pivot within 24 hours. no need to slowly upsell the argument; just issue new marching orders

And let us not forget to post an actual story: www.patreon.com/posts/thou-s...

Me, writing "Found: One Apocalypse."

I have one computer that isn't logged in to Patreon so I can see what the page looks like to non-subscribers, and I'm noticing that all my weekend's hard work has been blurred out. Disappointing. Still, it makes it easier to spot the free stories. Those you can see. www.patreon.com/posts/136126...

My search results are so much better on my laptop than on my desktop, because my laptop uses Bing. With Bing, I get the official website and then the Wikipedia article, and then some media articles about the thing. With Google I get the AI overview and an entire page of sponsored links.

Like so many artistic endeavors, I'm not sure how effective this one is, but I was sick of the dull green graphics Patreon was generating, so I put in something like cover art with taglines, coded for genre. Literary-style works get a bookshelf:

I was politely asked by my teachers not to use cursive when I was in junior high school because my handwriting was illegible.

Still sprucing up the Patreon because then I don't have to focus on the horrors, day 2.

I can think of a lot of things to call it. "Slop" is the compromise. If I can't call it that, I'm only going to trend in a direction you won't like.

Felt like a red flag earlier today when I read some "Hamlet" and felt myself empathizing. I was imagining Prince Whiny putting his fist through the drywall just before the "rogue and peasant slave" bit and thought, "Lean in, bro."

Hello, I'm a twelve-foot fall through a hole on a construction site.

o/ ...workin' on the Patreon, scrolling down, down, down, working on the Patreon, whoops, about to hit send... o/ First of the month. Time for a new chapter of "A Pocketful of Stars." This one's putting up a fight, but I'm good for it.

I don't think my favorite music video has ever been shown on MTV. youtu.be/8kX8wle6bYk

There are a lot of choices, but one springs to mind most quickly. I'll make this a thread "in no particular order." Here's a bit of bubblegum whose video blew my mind in 1985. Don't tell me what happens in "The Sun Always Shines On TV." youtu.be/djV11Xbc914

A few things have happened going into 2026 that reminded me that my comfort zone appears to be the size of a quail egg and I feel like I should probably do something about that. Guess I have my first resolution of the new year.

I wonder what would happen to the current AI industry if we codified the Three Laws of Robotics. Imagine if an LLM was liable for the suicides it caused.

Resolutions? To be honest, I'm a little spoiled for choice. How about I decide to try to earn more freelance dollars, if such a thing is still possible in an era of LLMs?

I was at a science fiction convention in Bangor where I saw but did not get to meet with Nichelle Nichols.

I think the work I'm most proud of this year is the rewrite of "An American Werewolf on the Titanic." I'm looking forward to the editing stage, and I'm tempted to commission cover art.

I was once told by a classmate that I looked like a werewolf. Pretty sure she had no idea why I took that as a compliment...

It's interesting that I decide to start querying again for the first time since 20-Covid-19, and finding the same names I discovered last time I queried around. I thought there was a lot of churn in the industry, but some of these agents haven't even changed their telephone numbers.

I just got myself all excited about trying to query agents again. Like this agent, right here. It says she's... ... Okay, I'm totally going to query this agent. It's been like ten years. Can I still query an agent? Is that still a thing or do I need 6000 followers on Twitsky first?

another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls

Oh, man, this is how I got through college. Want an easy B but can't figure out how to make that paper interesting enough to complete? Play Mad Libs: (Stolen title): How (assigned material) relates to (pop culture phenomenon) through (critical discourse). Skated through my final year doing that:

‘Asterisk’ comes from a Geek word meaning “little star.” *Greek

This was our 2024 Christmas card.

So Santa stopped by. He seemed nice. Gave him a cocoa. We chatted for a bit while he was setting up. He told me I HAD to get my chimney fixed next year. I know, I know, I said. It's on my list. He did compliment the siding. Then, laying a finger aside of his nose, he left.

And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, because he has no life, and how do you kill that which has no life--

What do you suppose the carbon footprint is on the Polar Express?

Man. "A Christmas Carol" hits different when you're Scrooge's age.

Gods rest ye merry werewolves now on this our solstice night Observe the way the snow reflects the moon so clear and bright Revealing now the tracks of prey that once escaped our sight Oh, tidings of hunger and joy...

I heard a bird sing In the dark of December. A magical thing And sweet to remember. "We are nearer to Spring Than we were in September,” I heard a bird sing In the dark of December. Oliver Herford

The guy who played Death in "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" is having a good year.