I'm not unsettled that my copy of Night Shift somehow warped into this shape, with the back skewing higher than the front. Nope, not at all.

I did all the line edits for stories in Plott Hound's upcoming spring 2026 issue AND I beta read 5 chapters of a Clarion West classmate's novel. Been reading all day. My butt hurts.

Becoming an editor drove home for me that it really is nothing personal when I have to decline a submission. Starting 2026 I fund Plott Hound from my own pocket; I only have so many slots. I actually root for y'all to keep sending us pieces that will one day win us over!

A little notebook my sister had engraved for me. I use it to keep track of Plott Hound-related things like author and artist payments!

I hope y'all know that just because I'm Vietnamese does not mean that Vietnamese stories sent to Plott Hound get some advantage. In fact, especially if they're written by a non-Viet person, there's high potential for me to bounce off it. It's very obvious to me when they're written by an outsider.

I'm barely processing that it's 2026 and we're already about to start March. That means Year 2 of Plott Hound begins and our first submission period opens tomorrow! Our first time opening for reprint subs as well. We look forward to your animal stories and poetry!

I caught this shiny Yveltal in a remote raid and I'm so mad there's not enough allowed characters in a nickname so I can call it "CroatianBacon" (So I went with the actual Slavic word for their version of bacon)

Wishing an auspicious Vietnamese New Year and a blessed start of Ramadan to those who celebrate 🎉

Got my stuff signed at Animeverse today. I didn't ask for quotes, but the voice actors threw them in on the house anyway. I dream of someday vending at artist allies, so their encouragement had me (metaphorically) lying in a puddle of tears.

Autograph haul from Animeverse Houston where they had most of the Avatar cast

Thrilled to find that after many years of searching and hoping, my favorite Mongolian singer is finally on Spotify

First local zoo visit and animal drawing session of 2026. This year I resolve to go and practice more often, like once or twice a month.

Reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy while listening to Nier Automata soundtrack for the ultimate post-apocalyptic experience

Cover reveal for Plott Hound Issue 4/winter 2025! 🦉❄️

The question that starts wars and turns friends into enemies: who makes the best jollof rice and how do you make it?

My family in Texas is freaking out over the snowstorm, meanwhile my coworkers in Colorado are just excited to get more snow for skiing this weekend.

I must announce my joy to the world: after a lifetime of thinking I couldn't do it, today I did it. I figured out how to roll my R's. 🎉 It only took about 1000 times saying "perro" (dog) and "arreglar." (to fix) The dog (that's me) is fixed! (no not that kind of fixed)

My short story published in Apex Magazine last year, "A Ten Thousand Year Survey Into Seven Stomachs of an Ishta," will be translated in Spanish! There will also be an interview. Grateful to Voces de lo insólito for this opportunity!

My 2025 milestones + achievements: -started up Plott Hound Magazine as its EiC! 🐾 -became volunteer team lead for local cat rescue -became clinical student coordinator on top of my base duties as anesthetist -short fic published at Apex Magazine -1st time travel to Ireland & Wales (1/2)

Psst did you know that Vietnamese udon (bánh canh) exists? And you could get it for 1/3 of the price of Japanese udon and it tastes just as good?

Why don't you just pay a real artist for commissioned art? "But I don't have moneyyyy" Well I'd rather you not have enough money but a heart of gold than sell your soul for AI slop.

And that's a wrap on first year of submissions to Plott Hound Magazine! Big announcement for submitters to come at the end of the year! 🎁

Haul + autographs from Anime Frontier 🤠

Worth repeating: do NOT reply to submission rejections. Definitely do NOT reply to rejections with verbal abuse and threats. That will lead to a permanent ban from ever submitting to the magazine. I have editor acquaintances and I can spread the word as well.

Self defense tutorials for women are great and all, but what if men watch them too and then they learn how to skillfully beat the f&$k out of us? 🤔

Please do not reply to submission rejections, even to say thank you (we know you mean well, but still). Unless we explicitly ask for revise and resubmit, or send an acceptance, communication is not a two way street. Definitely do not argue back on rejections. That's not a good look.

Only the first day in and Plott Hound is already getting pelted with AI generated submissions. But we have sharp noses. We can sniff them out. NO AI SUBMISSIONS, please. We want animal stories and poetry to come from real people.

The howlidays are coming up soon and Plott Hound is open for winter 2025 submissions! No extra gift in your stocking for winter-themed stories, but no coal either. 🐺❄️

This year I'm so thankful for the poetry co-editor, slush readers, graphic designers, Kickstarter backers, subscribers, and of course the authors and cover artists who've made the first year of Plott Hound Magazine a reality! Thank you for being part of the pack! 🦃🐕

Stuff I'd love to see more of in the Plott Hound slush: -science fiction -less popular and more obscure species -subversive, refreshing takes on familiar mythical creatures and cryptids -xenospecies/critters entirely made up by you! -non-Western cultures and settings

Plott Hound Issue 3 is now unleashed into the wild! 🍂🦊 Included in this autumn menagerie: -a feared & worshipped python -a species that wear emotion on color of their fur -a cemetery cat -void whales -& more Buy it and other back issues here: plotthoundmag.com/issues/

Cover reveal for Plott Hound Issue 3 (by @madbrake.bsky.social) ✨🍂

I hate the uncanny valley "AI halo" that plagues AI slop. It's the modern-day will-o'-the-wisp that leads unaware people astray.

"At the Edge of the Tale" by @authortrsteele.bsky.social free to read online! ​“You are either very wise,” said Twirl, “or very cruel.” ​The unicorn’s long lashes swept over their cheek. “Why can I not be both?” plotthoundmag.com/at-the-edge-...

"Hound of Annwn" by @remedy.bsky.social free to read online! "You want to press your snout into the wound, but have just enough man-sense left in your dog-mind to hold back and stay still, your ears tucked down low..." plotthoundmag.com/hound-of-ann...

After two months of letting the tanks cycle and mature, today is the day to add shrimp! Of course Morag is very curious of these little swimming critters.

"Mild Fish and Linen" by Veronica Mullin now free to read online! "The name they had for him, or what passed for one, was a low tut and a breath through the nose, followed by a little rasp. It meant, as near as he could translate, 'Mild Fish and Linen.'" plotthoundmag.com/mild-fish-an...

"Flames Sprout Wings" by @cdgoodman.bsky.social free to read online! "I saw. I know. Night grows hot. Egg cracks embers. Flames sprout wings and a phoenix hatches awake." plotthoundmag.com/flames-sprou...

"After a Wolf Swallowed the Sun" by @linardos.bsky.social free to read online! "Man wanted the sun, and he’d have sucked it dry, turned it to tall towers of glass and more machines. So I swallowed it, to protect it from the Man.” plotthoundmag.com/after-a-wolf...

"In the Sea of Binary Stars" by @herlizardness.bsky.social free to read online! "We are both shadows of each other, but we are also ebb and flow, binary stars forever circling, both shining just as bright." plotthoundmag.com/in-the-sea-o...

"Your Birdsong Pleading" by @loragray.bsky.social now free to read online! "So, why, sister, are you here, with your milky feathers, your downy breast, your songbird pleading for more time, more love, more sameness?" plotthoundmag.com/your-birdson...

"Who is Wrong When They Are Hungry" by @emmiechristie33.bsky.social now free to read online! "You step out of the skin around your legs and kick it off like you are a tree and it was bark you had to scrape off." plotthoundmag.com/who-is-wrong...

"Animapod" by Kite Marsh now free to read online! "Always together; always side by side. I thought sometimes it would be more pleasant to be Eight, or One, and have some privacy to one side at least." plotthoundmag.com/animapod-by-...

"To Dream of Birdsong" by @parkeriswriting.bsky.social now free to read online! "Ren dreams in her pyrobed for three years as the ship diverts its course, travels to the next destination. She has died six hundred and seventeen times." plotthoundmag.com/to-dream-of-...

Japanese food saturates the merch scene so it's really refreshing to see Viet food. More cute merch of other Asian cuisines please!

I aim to have final decisions for Plott Hound's fall 2025 issue by the end of this week. Really great stuff in the hold pile, it's going to be down to making some hard decisions again!

2 day livestream workshop on designing prehistoric creatures with legendary creature designer Terryl Whitlatch, who designed Sebulba and Jar Jar in Star Wars. I joined to mine good stuff for novel worldbuilding that'll involve fantastical creatures.

Today I attended a venom conference run by the Asclepius Snakebite Foundation. As a lifelong lover of venomous critters, I find it very satisfying to learn info on the biochemistry, research, and treatment of envenomations at the physician and Ph.D level, the nitty gritty science.

"Death Walks on Silent Paws" by Katie Mansion now free to read online! "Long had she lived, and long would she yet, she served London’s people and ferried their dead. The form of a cat served her well, for death should tread delicately, quiet and prudent." plotthoundmag.com/death-walks-...

Issue 1 essay "Foxes Are Totally Trustworthy (Until They Aren't)" by Yoon Ha Lee now free to read online! "In the end, every story—mine, yours—is a fox story, both untrustworthy and essential." plotthoundmag.com/foxes-are-to...