Two weeks left to submit! This year's judges are @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social , @sarahviren.bsky.social , and George Bilgere!

"The parents of dead children are a problem. They stand opposed to our most basic and necessary illusions." An absolutely haunting story by @kerryhowley.bsky.social that resist all such illusions. A story of Camp Mystic, and the 27 girls who died there unnecessarily, that I never knew.

In case you're wondering how some sectors of the Christian right are seeing Trump's war in Iran, I've just read several articles seeing a prophetic meaning in a coincidence of Trump's strikes, the assassination of Khameni, and a blood moon occurring on Purim (tomorrow).

Even when there’s no accountability, the record matters. Credit to the Wikipedia editors maintaining this page.

My midwestern stoicism broken by this though

The Star-Tribune is taking donations to help fund the purchase vital newsroom supplies and equipment, including protective and tactical gear for street reporters and photogs. If you live in MSP, pls subscribe. If you don't and want to help, here's a way -- www.startribunecompany.com/donate-payme....

Has anyone in the press asked how many people were killed?

Once again @kerryhowley.bsky.social manages to make me laugh and then devastate me one beat after the other next.

(Non)Fiction Friday: "I tried listening to whale songs and podcasts filled with monotone, meandering stories that would put anyone (except me) to sleep." From ASU English professor @sarahviren.bsky.social's essay about a soothing British radio show @nytimes.com: ow.ly/IQhJ50XptaW #ASUHumanities

This spring I'm working with @offassignment.bsky.social on an online class about writing rage. Dan, Maggie, Ashley, and Carmen are going to help me. Their work has kept me from launching myself into the sun. Come join us.

Talked to @jenpercy.bsky.social over at @literaryhub.bsky.social about her unforgettable new book, Girls Play Dead, out today.

New York Times gift article - In praise of Melvyn Bragg's "In Our Time" podcasts of his radio show, of which there are about 1000. Initially it was the solution to the NY Times journalist, Sarah Viren's, insomnia but eventually she became an avid and constant fan. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/m...

Lovely ode to BBC Radio 4's In Our Time www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/m...

Delighted to see that like me, Sarah Viren is an admirer of Melvyn Bragg and his @BBC radio program In our Time. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/m...

Thank you to Vic Flanagan for finding some meaning behind the feeling I also have in airports that every fifth person I see is someone from my past. Also just a beautiful essay about losing the "drumbeat" of your own thinking. open.substack.com/pub/vflanaga...

What a gift it is to have this essay published on this hopeful day! Thank you so much, @jacqdoyle.bsky.social , for helping to bring this piece into the world.

Two weeks from today, the ASU Worldbuilding Initiative will host "Resistance in Speculative Fiction and Beyond," our final workshop of 2025, with speakers @jennahanchey.bsky.social and Tanvir Akhtar Ahmed! Free and open to the public. Join us in-person in Tempe or on ASU Live!

My little brother has been complaining that I never mention him in my writing, so I wrote an essay about the British podcast that puts me to sleep just so I could prove him wrong. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/m...

New on CALLING ALL SYLLABLES, a series of reported stories by @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social writers on how the Trumpocene trickles down into the everyday of our small towns: "What Time Is It?" by Claire Kovac, in which she asks the trees. callingallsyllables.substack.com/p/what-time-...

Ho ho ho it's book prize time send me your badass work

It’s time, beyond time, really, I’m leaving Substack. I didn’t do it before because I had no other income to rely on. I don’t think abandoning spaces is always the right answer but sometimes it’s necessary www.patreon.com/posts/why-i-...

Such a fun and fascinating interview with Alex Niemi about her translation of a totally bonkers (and great!) new novel.

Was looking for context on a remembered Benjamin quote and found this deliciously detailed substack about structure and inspiration instead. Kinda like finding your keys while looking for your misplaced socks. Deep Dive: On (novel) problems & finding solutions open.substack.com/pub/katemild...

Good in-flight choice before a writing residency….

At least Slow Horses is back.

Returning to DBQ. www.alinastefanescuwriter.com/blog/2022/8/...

Nerds of Los Angeles: This weekend, I'm headed your way -- along with a killer lineup of artists and writers -- for LA Comic Con. Come hang out. www.comicconla.com/artists-and-... #lacomiccon2025 #lacomiccon

Three more months until People without History are Dust: Queer Desire in the Holocaust comes out @uoftpress.bsky.social and translated @williamrossjones.bsky.social you can preorder below. utppublishing.com/doi/book/10....

TO NAME THE BIGGER LIE is the Common Read at Stockton University! Looking forward to giving the convocation lecture later this month. stockton.edu/general-stud...

Well, at least they are redirecting literary grant money to "foster AI competency" (clearly lacking in this AI generated 2nd paragraph), support for the military (as all true literature should do), and disaster recovery (books as sandbags?)

Texas lawmakers failed to pass a bill to improve local flood warning systems this year www.texastribune.org/2025/07/06/t... via @texastribune.org

And essay by my 83 year old uncle in which he writes about driving a car into Arthur Miller’ house, among other feats. olliconnects.org/dear-nabokov/

The most chilling part of T.S. Eliot's rejection of Orwell's Animal Farm come near the end, after he's said the allegory "is not the right point of view from which to criticize the political situation," but that if some other publisher "believes in what it stands for," good for them...

Toni Morrison: "I do know that I don’t like it here if I don’t have something to write." Interviewer: "Here, meaning where?" Morrison: "Meaning out in the world."

"At the center of the chaos and fear swirling around the administration’s dismantling of the academy is the same question that animates Finkelstein’s case: Will the freedoms guaranteed to professors for generations survive?"

Cover reveal for People without History are Dust: Queer Desire in the Holocaust, forthcoming in four months with @uoftpress.bsky.social Beautiful design by Filip Kraus; the faces correspond with six of the chapters told in the book.

My friend and colleague @sarahviren.bsky.social is one of my favorite journalists, and every story she's done for the NYT Magazine is a masterclass in investigation, research, and insight. Her latest is no different. Give it a read!

I have a new story up in the NYTimes Magazine. Thanks to @mauraf.bsky.social for talking to me so many times for this one, and to everyone else who talked to me on the record, especially students and faculty, despite the risk. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/m...

Loved talking with @melissafebos.bsky.social about her sexy thoughtful celibacy book for @literaryhub.bsky.social lithub.com/melissa-febo...

Such a moving book!

I am happy to be among the writers who got to honor Maxine Hong Kingston for KQED: www.kqed.org/forum/201010...

A real list written by real journalists! Also: 👋 @melissafebos.bsky.social THE DRY SEASON 06.03.25 www.vulture.com/article/new-...

I made you a REAL summer reading list of fifteen REAL books by REAL authors— books that might not be on your radar. Some old, some newer. Here it is. rebeccamakkai.substack.com/p/fifteen-re...

I only took one class with Cris Hassold at New College, but it made an impression. Apparently I did not make much of an impression on her. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/11/u...

Academic job posting in Religious Studies @ ASU www.h-net.org/jobs/job_dis...

"The story of my evolving relationship with technology—a narrow slice of my experience in life—actually is worthy of telling by the definition that I set for myself." @vauhinivara.bsky.social @sarahviren.bsky.social @literaryhub.bsky.social longreads.com/2025/04/09/p...

An interview in which I (+ briefly ChatGPT) ask the brilliant @vauhinivara.bsky.social about art and technology and selfhood and grief and her fabulous new book Searches.

Have been rejected from/for two things today, and so far neither of them has written back to say April Fools.

The best reason not to go to AWP is so you can be home when your galleys land on your doorstep.