If you ever thought of literary translation as some mathematical formula where there was somehow in there a literal solution, take a gander at a handful of professionals translating the first line of Beowulf and realize that it's art, and that these translators are as much authors themselves.

Okay, is it just me, or when the guy takes his glasses off, does the look a lot like @seanmcarroll.bsky.social www.smbc-comics.com/comic/consil...

Oh, yes! If you haven't read this, and you're in the UK, snatch this right up! It is SO WONDERFUL.

My Real Children, my novel about a woman with dementia who remembers two different versions of her own life, is on sale for only $2.99 as an ebook right now www.amazon.com/My-Real-Chil...

SAN ANTONIO: Do not miss @marthawells.com tomorrow (Thursday) at @nowherebookshop.bsky.social! Buy her new book WITCH KING and check out this great new interview w/ Sanford Nowlin of @sacurrent.bsky.social. cc: @mysapl.bsky.social @librarypalooza.bsky.social www.sacurrent.com/arts/things-...

If you're a writer/other creator in the United States, consider creating an LLC for your business and then signing up for a local area Chamber of Commerce. Many of them have health insurance plans that pool their members and members of other CoCs to create insurance efficiencies relative to ACA.

Hellspark reminded me of @sueburke.bsky.social's Semiosis and @lateonsetgirl.bsky.social's upcoming What We Are Seeking The "order of nerds" element also reminded me of @rosemarykirstein.bsky.social's Steerswoman books If you liked any of these, strong rec for the others!

Me: someone who reads mostly sff Steerswoman books by @rosemarykirstein.bsky.social Me: holy shit

One of the cartoons in my new book 'Physics for Cats' which is out now in the UK, USA, Canada, France and Germany. Order from your local bookshops or online: www.tomgauld.com/

This book is so brilliant! Plus, when I wanted to write a poem in the style of Beowulf, and exhausted myself by all the intense scrutinizing and analysis involved, I took refreshing breaks by reading this, laughing with delight, and applauding in admiration!

I invite to join me 54 minutes into video for one of the peak experiences of my life: Renowned folk music collector & performer Sam Lee & I do a performance of words & music from my novel THOMAS THE RHYMER. He insisted I sing the Thomas ballad, though, not him. I took a deep breath & did it.

I feel that @seanmcarroll.bsky.social might find this especially satisfying....

This was the absolute norm for any US politician until, well, Trump. Even Mike Pence said it when he was booed at a staging of Hamilton just after they won in 2016.

There is no world in which it is normal for the president to publicly call upon his attorney general to hurry up and prosecute his political foes. It’s like the Watergate tapes but posted on social media. Let’s get a grip on what’s happening here.

What. the. hell?

just wow. I recommend reading the exchange with the `customer reps' at the end. As Iris says, this is terrible for the integrity of research. We can all decide not to publish with these publishers, but the wrong info will still be spread. Gah!

"If you live in Alaska, I need you to buy a Ukrainian flag and turn any area that Putin is going to be into a sea of Ukrainian flags - so many that, when Putin lands, all he's going to see is just yellow and blue."

Posting this old bookbinding project to remind myself to get back into bookbinding! I wish there were more opportunities for weird/unique things like this in illustration; maybe for a super-special-very-limited edition book? ✨

Media: PEOPLE ARENT DOING THIS THING ANYMORE & IT’S GOING TO END THE WORLD!! Everyone: we like that thing. Stop making it cost so much, we really want it. First ones to make it less gets all our money Literally all companies & governments: no MEDIA: THERE IS NO SOLUTION YOUNG PEOPLE ARE SATANIC

They were out of white carnations so I had to make do with, okay, um, ROSES. At least they were a nice weird color.

SCREAMING. Thank you so much @maxgladstone.bsky.social and @torbooks.bsky.social!!

Small Change series by @bluejo.bsky.social "This is mandatory reading. This series should have been more widely read when first published…" Read the full series review from @andresstein.bsky.social here grimoireinkreviews.wordpress.com/2025/07/30/s...

uh

And while I'm listing modern books of alliterative verse people might not know, I must of course mention @zachweinersmith.bsky.social's "Bea Wolf! bookshop.org/a/110685/978...

WGA statement on Paramount’s decision to cancel the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Oh lawd, I got the serious writer blues My head’s all full of metaphors and symbols I can’t use My plot is autofiction and my themes are quite abstruse My agent he won’t talk to me Because I just don’t sell, he said “Maybe try romantasy I hear that does quite well” 

 Oh lawd...

I would LOVE to see Rosemary Kirstein's Steerswomen books made into a four season series. Epic. Except it would have to be six seasons. Fifth and sixth books are in progress

There's an interview with me in Scientific American: www.scientificamerican.com/article/were...

Take home message: AI uses the tools of the rhetorical trade tastelessly. Take home question: How does one develop taste? And who will know the difference? ... www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/rhetorical...

Your occasional reminder that if you find me entertaining here, I also write science fiction books. books2read.com/u/mBB0QZ?for...

It's dangerous to go alone.

Some very good advice.

Toniiiiggghhhtttt

When you’re loving a book so much you almost don’t want to keep reading because it’ll be over too soon, and even though there are more in the series, the thought of THOSE eventually ending makes you unbearably sad? I’m having BIG feelings about The Steerswoman books ❤️ @rosemarykirstein.bsky.social

Lynd’s Ward’s GOD’S MAN (1929) was an important forerunner of the American Graphic Novel revolution; cited often by Will Eisner as a source of inspiration for his own graphic novels, starting with A CONTRACT WITH GOD half a century later later. h/t @timtoon.com

Here's the link to the (incomplete) collection of Murderbot cast and crew interviews: marthawells.dreamwidth.org/665781.html

Censor-y Deprivation Some thoughts about LLMs from @maxgladstone.bsky.social maxgladstone.substack.com/p/censor-y-d...

I’m ‘a go home and watch Murderbot now.

I am deeply, DEEPLY annoyed to discover that Patreon's post editor eats up both mid-line tabs and extra inserted spaces, thus entirely eliminating my carefully constructed indications of mid-line caesuras! Fie! Fie, I say! (Worse yet: finding this out at 2AM, as I preview my post.)

Now Showing: Murderbot. @marthawells.com has to be so stoked.

Am i squeeing like a fangirl? Yes. Yes, I am.

Search to see if these people are falsely claiming to represent you. www.aaespeakers.com (Thanks to @kevinmkruse.bsky.social for reporting this! His own entry was removed, but the site is still up.)

Pasteur died for your sins

🖤

applying for jobs again

I'm re-reading the Steerswoman books by @rosemarykirstein.bsky.social yet again, up to book 3, and I find myself delighted, yet again, by the voice of the character Steffie. (I'll post screen shots later, no time to do AltText right now.) A+ fantasy & sf, great female characters and world building

To AI shills & capitalist institutions, writers are simultaneously not important enough to compensate while alive and so important once dead that their machine-ghosts must be resurrected to continue the work of profit-making. Vile.

I spent 40 min at dinner listing all the reasons why @marthawells.com Murderbot on AppleTV is the first show I've been excited about since Heroes Season 1 (I know, I know). The books got us through the worst of the pademic and middle school and it feels so nice to be excited about something...

If you're curious, here are some samples from my upcoming birding dictionary www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/rosem...