Happy Rosh Hashanah y'all.

The whole administration in one quote

I think it's still unclear whether they are actually Christian nationalists trying to destroy democracy. We should probably spend more time debating it.

This reminds me of that guy in the last season of Love Is Blind who did one of those dramatic reveal moments where he tells a sad story to a woman to build the relationship: in high school he was "addicted to ibuprofen."

Someone in the cafe is talking about Linear A. An old woman. Just telling her coffee klatch how cool Linear A is.

I do wonder if, for many non-academics, the continual revisioning of history every few years pushes some toward conspiracy. After all, we've prepped people to think that everything they've learned is wrong. Conspiracies offer a simple answer instead of complexity that has to be continually studied.

damn, what a disastrously failed opportunity for an actual political reading of either of the two things "discussed" here

I am BEGGING people to read about Pre-Raphaelitism & medievalism (and play, for that matter) before rehashing commonplaces about escapism and dressing up.

Q: How does Trump saying "I hate my opponent and I don't want the best for them" square with bringing down the temperature of political violence? LEAVITT: Look, the president is authentically himself. I think that's why millions of Americans across the country love him.

Releasing a Star Wars trailer like "break glass in case of PR nightmare.'

Finally caught up and I honestly think the finale of Strange New Worlds season three was the worst episode in a rocky-as-fuck season. Everything about it was ridiculous in a decidedly not fun way, undercooked emotions, and piss-poor pacing.

Am I broken, because I genuinely don't think of any movie as perfect? I can't really think of any text in any medium that I think of as perfect...

BTW, editors: I've got several more Cherryh essays cooking up that are even more ambitious than this one, so hmu if you're interested.

Every once in a while I remember just how haunting and beautiful the Russian indie game BLACK BOOK (2021) is, what a deep and complex world it offers up in such a simple game, and how moving the story is. I wish I could play it again for the first time.

Morning! Just starting The Bees made Honey in the Rich Man’s Skull by @weyodi.bsky.social It’s an Indigenous Futurist dystopian adventure with deaf rep! This one is an expansion on the world created in The Glicksberg Chronicles (The Root and The Seed) which was awesome

Genuinely don't understand this one. Wired headphones were just an annoyance.

The smartphone was a mistake.

Ryo Arai

Meanwhile @historians.org has suggested last month that one of the possible acceptable uses of gAI is to summarize "key points" of research articles, before reading.

Finishing (fingers crossed) my re-read of Kostova's The Historian for "reasons." Still working through the first volume of the British Library's Tales of the Weird series. Hopefully also wrapping up my Yaszek's Galactic Suburbia, an excellent and important work of women's sf recovery!

For fucks sake.

I’m done 👇

Folks, get off of Academia[.]edu. Delete your accounts. Put your work on a faculty webpage, on hcommons, on your own webpage. But not on Academia[.]edu. www.academia.edu/terms

Make sure to wish a librarian a happy Gerald Ford Trapped in The Penn Library Elevator Day.

A reader pointed out today's cryptic crossword from The Guardian has the following clue: "Third part of Gormenghast missing from book shelf." If you want the answer, look no further than my recent essay on Mervyn Peake's TITUS ALONE -- which suggests why you might find a place for it on your shelf:

Heads up @igagoths.bsky.social - delighted to announce the CFP for IGA 2026: 'Gothic Selves/Artificial Others' hosted at the University of Hull 28-31 July! hullgothic.wordpress.com

I conclude my reading of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast/Titus trilogy with TITUS AWAKES (1959), in which I think I offer a pretty generous reading of what I think is going on in this novel, why it's so different, and what's actually quite interesting about it: seanguynes.com/2025/09/18/b...

My book (pinned) comes out in just under 5 weeks. It's about the government applying pressure to the film industry financially, socially, and fear-mongeringly in the late 1940s, and then it analyzes the cultural fall out of that pressure. Spoiler: things got real socially conservative real quick.

roooough

A reader pointed out today's cryptic crossword from The Guardian has the following clue: "Third part of Gormenghast missing from book shelf." If you want the answer, look no further than my recent essay on Mervyn Peake's TITUS ALONE -- which suggests why you might find a place for it on your shelf:

I conclude my reading of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast/Titus trilogy with TITUS AWAKES (1959), in which I think I offer a pretty generous reading of what I think is going on in this novel, why it's so different, and what's actually quite interesting about it: seanguynes.com/2025/09/18/b...

People can say what they want about Tolkien going on about a bush for 30 pages, but he has nothing on Peake. Still one of my favorites.

Beauty does exist and it's a mass market paperback.

Got my inbox down to zero and my to do list completely crossed off. Damn. Now send me some book pitches/proposals! Especially for one of our newer series: Cinemas of Asia www.leverpress.org/cinemasofasia/ EcoSpeculations www.leverpress.org/sfeh/ film|minutes www.leverpress.org/filmminutes/

This is fascinating, 94% of college students had heard of Charlie Kirk - and 70% of those who heard of him disagreed with him puck.news/what-college...

If Pope Leo has not canonized Charlie Kirk by April 20th we will prosecute. by Pam Bondi

Queen

A really good look at a novel I covered recently. Everybody should read Swann!

Interesting that Verso is publishing a book about the literary criticism of Franco Moretti, reflecting on his influence. And will they address the decades of sexual misconduct and harassment allegations against him? Surely that is part of his legacy in literary criticism.

Very cool piece from Jed Kudrick and @sdileonardi.bsky.social on the history of translation in the US literary scene!

I don't often find myself excited by upcoming mainstream releases, but this February 2026 title from Tor looks pretty exciting, a take on the Beast of Gévaudan amidst the social and political history of pre-Revolutionary France.

Big essay out by @sdileonardi.bsky.social in @publicbooks.bsky.social today, drawing on 100 years of translations and bestseller data to show that the US has seen three waves of translation: European; Latin American Boom; Nordic Noir. And what this means for us. www.publicbooks.org/how-translat...

It's here. BAD LANGUAGE 13/11/25 "made with love and horror, & a guidebook for our time" — @adamzmith.bsky.social "Mayer's words & a gift and a gateway" — @elizabethlovatt.bsky.social "incantation & spell distil a complex argument" — Lola Olufemi Pre-order: peninsulapress.co.uk/products/bad...

Nah, bring back ska.

It certainly is a unique experience. I essentially drank tea constantly while on it to try to cover up the iron flavor.

It fucking rocks.

Too many publishers and movers in the academic publishing space are convinced that being a thought leader wrt AI means embracing it and finding ways to normalize it as an inevitability.