People! PEOPLE! @marthawells.com new book Queen Demon comes out tomorrow and I've got the audiobook on preorder and I am SO FREAKIN' EXCITED!!1! If you haven't read Witch King and love smart fantasy adventure with incredible worldbuilding (and a great narrator if you like audiobooks), try it!

Are you a #webdeveloper? Interested in the #boardgame space? GAMA (the Game Manufacturers Association) has issued an RFP for a web developer to revamp our site. Download the PDF for details. Proposals due Sept. 22. Hope to hear from you! bit.ly/41iLKYI

Great news from my hometown of #NorthLittleRock, #Arkansas! www.arkansasonline.com/news/2025/au...

Stealing text from books written by PhDs and using probability-based algorithms to scramble that text up to make answers that *sound* *like* a person with a PhD answered them is not in fact PhD-level intelligence or expertise. It does tell us something about the people selling and using this slop

Reading list: locusmag.com/2025/06/2024... #scifi #books #Nebula

Congrats @wiswell.bsky.social on your Nebula Award for Best Novel! :) #scifi #reading #books #authors

I love @byjenamiller.bsky.social's newsletter, and this weeks is especially good. Not only for the great take on the AI book review scandal, but her love for two awesome shows: Call the Midwife and Miss Austen. :) jenamiller.com/notes-from-a...

Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/u...

I am privileged to have known @jordanphickey.bsky.social as a journalism colleague and a friend. He's a great writer and a great human being, and this @longreads.com story is a shining example of both.

Rand Paul doesn't come close to being someone I admire, but he is 100% right here: Congress must stop the never-ending "emergency" and the Trump Administration's rule by fiat, and Republicans that refuse to do so are cowards. youtu.be/aOK2NW7Va6E?...

Good journalism will always be relevant. Here's a reading list. www.pulitzer.org/prize-winner...

This middle-aged English major word nerd cannot overstate his love for the good works of @ellecordova.bsky.social. youtu.be/ib7jyxfUNMo?...

"The woodpecker could not be reached for comment." #NatureIsMetal www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/u...

An excellent op-ed about #Andor and #resistance www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/o...

For $0.00 you can read what Bret Devereaux (of ACOUP fame) called an "absolute banger of a Tolkien essay" and what my mom (of giving birth to me fame) called "very timely and relevant": "What Lies and Threats: Nationalist Myth-Making in The Lord of the Rings" on @speculativeinsight.bsky.social!

Dr. Josephine Baker fought for milk testing in lower Manhattan over a century ago, where babies were 7 times more likely to die than WWI US soldiers in the trenches. Milk was often adulterated with chalk and germ-y water. Today the FDA stopped testing milk due to lack of staff. Shame on you, Trump.

Markets seem to be slowly discovering what close Trump watchers have known for years. Better late than never. Today's Morning Shots, from @eggerdc.bsky.social and @cathyyoung63.bsky.social:

Bravo to Stonemaier Games and all the other #boardgame publishers pushing back with legal action against the #tariffs. stonemaiergames.com/we-are-suing...

I cannot overstate how excited I am about this. #Murderbot @marthawells.com #FFSRatthi youtu.be/vEioDeOiqEs?...

*sigh* www.cnbc.com/2025/04/08/f...

They are singing my song.... *sigh* www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Meet Queen Valerie of Karta Pintingga. For anyone who's lived with a dachshund before, this is hardly a surprise. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/w...

The Board of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has written a letter explaining its core functions cannot be cut. www.wordsandmoney.com/in-letter-im...

It me. Between one shoulder still sore from rotator cuff surgery, the other from yesterday's pneumonia injection, and *waves hands at general societal collapse*, sleep is being surprisingly evasive. Also, possums are my spirit animals. Hat tip to @bemusedbehemoth.bsky.social for the great art!

"Here's Where the Story Ends" by the Sundays is one of my favorite pop songs, and it has one of my favorite lines: "It's that little souvenir of a terrible year...." That souvenir for me is the scar from my cancer surgery during the pandemic. What's yours? youtu.be/FHsip5xOenQ?...

Oi, @wiswell.bsky.social -- congrats on being a Nebula finalist! :)

The NYT asked me to write an op-ed on Musk and the Treasury and then took a pass. I hope it will still get read.

Ignore the media headlines reporting that freezing federal spending or shuttering federal agencies “raise questions” or “push boundaries.” It’s an anticonstitutional lawbreaking spree.

Elon Musk and his team are: - Unelected. - Unconfirmed. - Unacceptable.

Amid the RFK Jr. and Oz hearings, we'll hear a lot of defense about Medicare Advantage. Last week, I published in @statnews.com this piece on the administrative burdens of appealing coverage denials. 99% of MA enrollees have prior auth --> more denials/burden. www.statnews.com/2025/01/23/h...

Brilliant.

In other news, we just felt an #earthquake here in my neck of New England. My first! *checks box on bucket list

80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. LIVE streaming plan (time zone - CET): Morning commemoration with Survivors & President of Poland (9 am): https://youtu.be/rl7yO-yfGsw TV Studio (12 pm): https://youtu.be/peLnOlodxv0 Main event (4 pm): https://youtu.be/180tHqgUW00

I've long been a fan of @politifact.bsky.social and think we will all regret the outcomes of this decision by Meta. www.politifact.com/article/2025...

Guidance from The AP, long the adults in the room when it comes to language use in the United States. apnews.com/article/ap-s...

"You might not care about slow streets, shaded benches, or walkable shops now, but you are one pregnancy, knee operation, or visit from an older relative away from becoming suddenly, even painfully, aware of the location of every bench, elevator, ramp and bathroom on your daily commute."

Thanks! Plenty on here I haven't read yet (and one I'll always advocate for: Witch King!).

I'm a fan of a well-written obit and the NYT obit desk is one of the world's best. I'm also a fan of their series "Overlooked No More." Today's is Karen Wynn Fonstad, cartographer of fantasy realms including Middle Earth and Pern. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/o...

The excellent @byjenamiller.bsky.social sagely advises her readers "Do not write for free" in her latest newsletter (you subscribe, right?) and it's one of the most important truisms of our profession. It's why I started saying, years ago, "Exposure is what you die of when you can't pay the rent."

'40 Cats in 4 Directions' Rob Reger

I really need to read more of @nnedi.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/01/12/b...

Rest in peace, Peter Yarrow, and thanks for the gorgeous music. youtu.be/F2m--R3J6f4?...

Time to be blunt. With the disintegration of trad social media, AI BS, & the constant stream of distracting bad news, it is harder than ever to get readers for SFF magazines. If what we do is important to you, please boost our posts wherever you see them. ❤️🦄

GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE! New editions of #Murderbot (in lovely trade paperback compilations). If you haven't given @marthawells.com a try, you really should!

This is publication day for the new trade paperback compilation editions of The Murderbot Diaries! Cover art by Jaime Jones, published by @tordotcom.bsky.social, edited by @leeharris.xyz, cover design by Shreya Gupta. Note the "Coming to Apple+" sticker for All Systems Red. 👀

As far as I can tell, everybody in America is getting snow except us here in New England where snow was invented and I would like to Speak To Someone About This Travesty.

Today is January 6, the anniversary of the felon/GOP’s violent insurrection trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power in the 2020 election! We remember 140 officers who were injured & those who lost their lives due to the attack on the Capitol! Hold all involved in the insurrection accountable!

Happy New Year, all.

I am ridiculously pleased to report that I have pre-ordered the audiobook of "Queen Demon" by @marthawells.com and will spend the next 10 months barely holding in my excitement for its arrival.