Rhythm is soooooo important for prose. for anyone wanting to level up their prose by really looking at the nitty-gritty like this, LeGuin’s Steering the Craft mostly focuses on these kinds of choices!!

This is. Not. Good.

Awards eligibility 2025! I pubbed things! THE GLADE, middle grade horror, from Aladdin (S&S) An anxious, autistic, aspec Iranian American tween discovers a clearing in her woodsy summer camp where dreams—and nightmares—come to life. Eligible for Andre Norton (Nebulas), IGNYTE, Stoker, Mythopoeic!

OOOooOOOooOO yes! Thanks to @colleenaf.bsky.social we have merch for @authorsabb.bsky.social that financially benefits Authors Against Book Bans, now! a lovely gift for yourself or the book creator in your life! www.customink.com/fundraising/...

If you were a student studying writing kidlit, what book would you want to analyze? I’m trying to decide what to assign to my MFA students and would ideally want something that’s squarely or lower YA (so not NA masquerading as YA) or upper MG. Ideally pubbed recently by a marginalized author!

If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features." There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.

If anyone has some $$ to spare, my friend, coworker, and soon-to-be business partner at Sword & Kettle Press Jude (Monica) Robinson is raising money to support her partner, whose brother was recently moidered (sorry, not trying to be crass, just trying to avoid any algo BS) gofund.me/49b36c292

I'm telling you, fungal science is THEE place to be. Fungi didn't get their own kingdom until the 70s. Mycologists are identifying on average 3,000 new species a year. And neuroscientists are SLEEPING on the fungi-brain connection. Maybe if I'd known about it, I would have finished my PhD!

Love (/s) how BOTH senators from Nevada (where I live) AND the long-standing senator from Illinois (where I'm from) continue to be cowards. Not only do they support genocide abroad, but they apparently do so here, too. (I say "apparently," but is anyone really surprised at this point?)

Please do not forget about the people of Gaza; Mohamed might not be able to return to his farm near the Egyptian border anytime soon, because the area is being reserved for the military buffer zone.

Guess what? I'll be teaching my "Revise like a Scientist" revision workshop THIS WEEK!!! at @clarionwest.bsky.social. Thursday, 11/13, and Thursday, 11/20, from 4-6:30. First session is about how to read for craft; second session is how to apply those lessons to your own work to plan revisions 🧪🔬🥼✍️📝

I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day. certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.

Teen Vogue took young people seriously. It's impossible to overstate how important, how rare, and how profoundly needed that is.

I’m sharing a Palestinian account every day and today is Alaa. Alaa is 22 and a medical student. Her family of 13 are displaced into tents, including her two year old sister Maka. Alaa is trying to ensure they have a warm tent for the winter, healthy food for Maka and to continue her studies.

just read Naseem Jamnia's @jamsternazzy.bsky.social short story, Break Through Our Skin, in The White Guy Dies First (ed. Terry J Benton-Walker) and its such a gorgeously monstrous, sweet and affirming Trans body horror! I so recommend this great book of horror short stories!

I was very happy to sponsor this post!! Check out these amazing titles—I can't wait to pick up some from my library!

The Flytrap is the spiritual (and otherwise) successor to Bitch Media, an outlet that taught me so much about journalism and critique. Subscribe today if you can! I just did!

You can do so for 15% off all subscriptions for a limited time (sale ends today!!!) at this link: the-flytrap.ghost.io/chomp

If you were ever wondering what we're up against, this is a website book banners created to train people to get books banned in their own communities. I found my kids' school in here, and the books this website suggests I get banned from their library. www.takebacktheclassroom.com/school-detai...

a helpful starter pack to find stuff you may be interested in and/or is local to you go.bsky.app/2Fq4P6e

I AM BACK after an incredible two weeks out of this dumpster fire wherein I didn't have my phone* or laptop**. *because in this day and age, being a library activist is dangerous?? *this was annoying for travel **we did bring our tablets, which is lucky because we needed BANK STATEMENTS??

Such an absolutely incredible week teaching at @tinhouse.bsky.social Autumn Online Workshop!!!! The future of speculative fiction is SHINING!!!!!

It's Black Speculative Fiction month! All October, health allowing, I'll update this thread with fun recs for classic & current black spec fic & a bonus work of my own. 1. MY BONES & MY FLUTE www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-bones-a... 2. A RUIN OF SHADOWS www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-ruin-of-... 1/2

Sama'a has a chance to move her children back into a real home after long, difficult weeks of living in a tent. Please give what you can to help. gofund.me/db56c7ce3

I have never in my life wanted to be a New Yorker, but dammit, Zohran Mamdani is the closest I've ever come. This actually brought tears to my eyes. I hope so desperately that the system doesn't corrupt him like it has other progressives.

I'm going to be singing this song with these new lyrics all day. Not only did I get a mushroom coin but @sillysyntax.bsky.social's novella mwahahahahaha

This is VERY GOOD advice. I HUGELY REGRET that I didn't do this for all the stuff I published with Bitch Media. Those were some of my best pieces. Alas!!

It has been utterly baffling to me to watch the Pritzker worship, as if that name isn't on a gazillion academic buildings/programs. Say it with me: BILLIONAIRES AREN'T OUR FRIENDS

We’ve officially launched! Lots of ways to support this new initiative that supports street vendors from 🧊 we keep us safe! Interest form and flyer below! #BikeChi forms.gle/dY931Sxzs6V9...

I was flipping through my alma mater alumni mag and saw a face, paused, and went, WAIT A MINUTE THAT GUY WAS MY TA! And that's how I learned my old TA wrote a book about neuroscience and speculative fiction, and also how I confirmed that he still reads my newsletter, over a decade later 🥹

Boosting this - it's so good! Naseem rocks!

Comprehensive analysis of this complex story. I’m so grateful for the stellar reporting on this from local journalists at The TriiBE & elsewhere who will not let this be buried. Support local journalism!

did you know THE DEADLANDS is doing a fundraiser raising FUNDS to keep publishing GOOD STUFF (about death)?? please by a coin and help FUNGUS we mean FUND US psychopomp.com/the-deadland...

this is so good. throw em some bones if you can. (the goal is to buy street vendors out of their merch so they can still support themselves but not have to be out on the streets where they’re vulnerable.)

Miiriya is still around yall. They do good 🥹♥️

Frank's back at it! This week's Lit Activism post tomorrow is all about getting educated and prepared for fall school and library elections. Frank's guide is ESSENTIAL READING for Texans and anyone else looking at doing crucial pro-library work for their own community and/or state.

New story day! My 6th story with @lightspeedmagazine.com, "At the Bottom of the Bonfire," is about ambition with no limits, hunger with no satisfaction, and what you lose as you gain power. Thanks as always to @johnjosephadams.com & @wnwagner.bsky.social! www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/at-t...

I once again am here to say that HP was my literal lifeline as a child, that I wrote my third-grade diary to the trio, that I read book 4 16+ times at last count, AND THE MOMENT THIS BULLSHIT CAME UP, I NOPED OUT IMMEDIATELY. I don't give a FUCK about nostalgia when it threatens PEOPLE'S LIVES

You should support trans authors for many reasons, but one is that trans authors are doing things with their stories that aren't being done in cis mainstream books, including taking old tropes & examining them in new, unique ways. So if you're bored with what the big 5 are constantly pushing...

Not sure what to say? We have training for that. Want to connect with other creators who're sick of this shit? We have the meeting place for that. Feel like you could help others do a better job interfacing with legislators? Hop on in. From brand new to veteran we need everyone.

Do you find bigotry abhorrent? Then join us. Do you think public libraries should EXIST? Then join us. Do you hate censorship? Then join us. We need volunteers, we need members, we need people to help us spread the word, we need your expertise and your passion. We need you.

So far this fight has been on the backs of children's books creators, which makes sense. We were the canaries in the coal mine. But they're coming for romance. They've come for long form journalism. They're coming for lit fic and SFF and horror. Because it's not about the books; it's about funding.

If you have been a contributor or an editor of an anthology we want you. You're a NYT bestseller who's been long listed for the Pulitzer, we want you. Your debut comes out nexy year, we want you. You're an academic, we want you. This is an all for one one for all situation. Let's fight accordingly.

It's banned books week and so I'm legally obligated to bully you, a person who has ever had their name on a book, into joining @authorsabb.bsky.social. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... We fight the source of book bans with calls to action, partnership w everyone in the game, and offer training.

Now published in the International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing: our research on YA Book covers, showing that book covers may be as powerful a driver of sales as author fame www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Really want to encourage libraries - especially school libraries - to put no-AI content into your collection development policy. At the very least, if you have a clause in there about requiring accurate information, you can use that to weed out or prevent genAI purchases.

Thread!

Thread. (The dead white dude focus of the titles shared by reading rainbow was a real disappointment, even if they did get a few women of color in there....they were all classics, not new titles needing real support right now).

Help please