antifa literally means anti-fascist. that's all it means. it's a descriptor, not a group. declaring yourself against "antifa" means you are the other thing

I talked to podcaster/writer/human extraordinaire Scott Edelman about all kinds of stuff. Give it a listen!

Coming next month on my Eating the Fantastic podcast — you're invited to join @karenheuler.bsky.social and @richardbutner.com at their Readercon lunches as we discuss how they do what they do and manage to do it so well. I hope you'll subscribe to be among the first to eavesdrop. pod.link/1083737796

Sometimes I still really love the internet: "Investigating the Provenance of a Widely Shared Anthony Bourdain Quotation" docs.google.com/document/d/1...

A daily question: Do I have outrage fatigue or outrage fatigue fatigue?

A list of good books you can buy and read. For pleasure, even.

"captive on a carousel of time"

Help keep this historic tradition going: the Fantastic Fiction reading series at KGB Bar.

Christopher Priest, Inverted World

Lunch with Scott Edelman was one of several high points for me at this year's Readercon. Really glad that I returned (my 25th anniversary of first attending) and hope to get back there more frequently. Great to see all y'all who I saw, sad that I missed plenty of others.

My story "Bad Boys" is in the new issue of Bourbon Penn alongside a bunch of other fine folks. Check it out.

People don't use the word "fickle" near as much as they used to.

A subgenre of post I almost always hate: the "can you imagine anyone actually wearing THAT?!?" post, with accompanying runway pix from fashion houses that have been around 50-100 years. Don't worry, darling, you can't afford those clothes anyway.

Not Paul Krugman using AI slop in his otherwise informative newsletter! Ah well. Instant unsubscribe.

AI propaganda that matches your left-wing values is still AI propaganda. You are not a part of the fight for the importance of reality if you are helping to destroy it.

Anil Dash on "The Internet of Creeps." A quick and worthwhile read. www.anildash.com/2025/05/27/2...

It's all about the words and the words in the first 49 issues of LCRW came from the writers whose name are on the cover of the 50th issue: smallbeerpress.com/lcrw/2025/05...

Show us your creative process in a gif

There is never enough time but there's always enough time to read the weekly Field Notes from one of my favorite humans.

Glad to see the W3C being bold about privacy. My browser already blocks third-party cookies and ditches most other cookies when I close it. Which of course makes lots of sites and social media act weird and creaky, but so it goes.

Something I said to one of my oldest friends the other day: The right's power is built on a tripod of grievance, bad faith, and lulz.

Hi all. Every now and then, someone will publish a piece trying to rehabilitate Junot Díaz with a wide-eyed “look what you did to him” shake of the head, and various literary figures will take up the call. (1/n)

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, the vertebrate wildlife population of the planet has plummeted by an alarming 73%, per @worldwildlife.org’s 2024 Living Planet Report. We each have the ability to mitigate that biodiversity loss, even in the interstices of city life: livingplanet.panda.org/en-US/

Feeling very much the same, and very much appreciating folks like Molly T.

North Carolinians read the following sentence and laugh and laugh... "For decades, Memphis, Austin and Kansas City have jockeyed for the title of BBQ capital." www.axios.com/2025/04/17/b...

With that "starter pack" slop oozing everywhere, I'd love to see a list of companies that commit to not using genAI, including in "what's the big deal, it's so cute!!!" marketing tactics.

From the "Kill yr idols" file: "Smith, unfortunately, was incredibly rude to the servers. It’s impossible for me to listen to a Patti Smith song today without remembering her reducing a waitress to tears because she forgot to put bread on the table." www.grubstreet.com/article/keit...

Secret Mall Apartment was just the documentary I needed on this Sunday afternoon. If it's playing near you, check it out.

Your last saved celebrity pic is your therapist. (I was surprised to find a celebrity pic on my phone, but here it is. Saint is still with us at age 100!)

I've spent the past few months reporting a feature on the rise and fall of casual dining chains. These 20th century juggernauts are struggling as the middle class's fortunes falter and Americans are turning away from dining rooms. How did this happen? 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/d...

Maybe this exists already. But I hope some good soul out there puts up a website with tutorials on how to turn off AI functions on every program, operating system, and website (especially social media) that they can find.

Oliver Cromwell has a lot to answer for (yes, I will sing along with you to the chorus of "Young Ned of the Hill") but this quotable quote is not one of those things: "I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken."

Hey all. If you google “Neil Gaiman Uncovered,” apparently you’ll get puff pieces written by his PR firm, Edendale strategies. If you want the subReddit called “neilgaimanuncovered” where folks are posting updates on the allegations and their consequences, that’s here. www.reddit.com/r/neilgaiman...

Yes, this administration is dangerous and cruel, but they are also shockingly dim and incompetent. Opportunities are everywhere. Make everything as hard as possible. Resist every demand. Refuse entry without a warrant. Don’t take the buyout. Their problem solving skills are 📉

In addition to a don't-show-me-any-genAI switch, I really wish all social media had some kind of toggle for shutting out all the aggregators, "curators" [sic], regrammers and the like.

This is obvious but maybe some folks can't work a thesaurus too well: the opposite of diversity, equity, and inclusion is homogeneity, prejudice, and elimination.

It's 2025 and folks are still making good faith responses to bad faith propositions. (I mean, if it makes you feel better, go for it, and yet.)

I was today years old when I learned that the BBC runs BBC News Pidgin, a site written in West African Pidgin English.

I often think of these lines from a Jim Sallis poem: What is left for us, here among our families, books and friends, but to go on as we must. There will be no more Tolstoys. There's only the chance to do what remains: Find beauty, try to understand, survive. —from "To a Russian Friend"

Goodbye to my fellow Eagle Scout, David Lynch. A part of me is still sitting in a theater in Winston-Salem--maybe the Thruway?--on a date with baby ballerina Dana, marveling at the sound design of The Elephant Man. Wherever you are, I hope there's coffee and pie.

Oh well if the King of Gaslighting says everyone but him is crazy I guess we better all believe it!

The Vulture piece about Gaiman & Palmer is out now. Not linking because I don't want that poisonous asshole's face on my timeline. If you still have an ounce of regard for either after reading it, I dunno what to say. (Spoiler: I would think of something to say, and it wouldn't be pleasant.)

My op-ed on the idea of habitat for all—working to cultivate biodiversity at the same time as we work to house a growing human population on a shrinking world—is up @latimes.com and in today's print edition: www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

RAND on H5N1, sure would be cool if these recommendations got acted on by the appropriate parties. www.rand.org/pubs/comment...

This is the way

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It is so wild to me how women can be very public, vocal survivors of sexual violence, and yet when a male friend is accused of the same, rush to defend him and discredit his accusers.

A sentence from an email I sent to a close friend recently: "I am cutting ol' Dan Fogelberg a lot more slack lately." Yes, it was about "Same Old Lang Syne," and yes, certain Paul Simon and Harry Chapin songs got mentioned too.

"Keep your eyes on the rope and your hands upon the whale" 🎶🎵