Continuing with my obsessive effort to read all of Thomas Burnett Swann's novels, in this essay I take a look at his fourth novel, THE FOREST OF FOREVER (1971), which is a prequel to his first novel, DAY OF THE MINOTAUR (1966). It's... messy. But interesting! Interestingly messy!

Other acquisitions editors: I have multiple authors, some under contract, one who has even had their book approved by the editorial board, who just don't respond to emails. For years. Is this normal? It's so frustrating that they won't just send a brief response, anything!

Another of my recent acquisitions for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, this time a great review of Star Trek: Strange New World, season 3, in all its unholy messiness. Hat tip to @gerrycanavan.bsky.social for letting us borrow his joke for the piece's title.

Sure, yes, but a European saying "civilized societies"? 🤔

Getting word that the Pope just said, “Habibis…” before addressing the Cardinals

lol

So, those terrified rich people leaving New York City now?

I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win

Happy Zohran Day to all who celebrate!!

Back on my Ballantine Adult Fantasy bullshit, with the ninth installment in my reading series, a look at Peter Beagle's first novel: A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE (1960). (Written when he was just 19!) It's got ghosts falling in love, a rude talking raven, and tons of trite reflections on life and death.

Back on my Ballantine Adult Fantasy bullshit, with the ninth installment in my reading series, a look at Peter Beagle's first novel: A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE (1960). (Written when he was just 19!) It's got ghosts falling in love, a rude talking raven, and tons of trite reflections on life and death.

dumbest shit ever -- though, it might helps solve some of the city's affordability issues!

Really enjoying my new Dan Brown book, the world’s greatest code breaker took three chapters to figure out a word was written backwards. My first draft looks like fucking Shakespeare next to that

JESUS CHRIST there's these Republic ladies chatting loudly in the coffee shop about the oppressiveness of having to get vaccines, trading stories about how they've avoided other vaccines in the past. The vaccine? Meningitis. The vaccinee? A child.

Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn is probably the best novel I've read this year. It's amazing. Up next in my Ballantine Adult Fantasy reading series is his first novel, A Fine and Private Place. It's not a very good novel. It's mostly shallow reflections on death. Trite as hell. Essay out v. soon!

I highly recommend watching TV the documentary Hit & Stay (2013) about priests & nuns of the liberation theology Catholic left who protested the Vietnam War by repeatedly breaking into draft offices & burning the files with homemade napalm. Hugely effective at changing public perception.

Usha Vance is no victim. She is a person with agency who knows exactly what she is doing.

BREAKING: A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration must fund SNAP during the government shutdown. 6abc.com/post/judges-...

I was really happy to acquire this smart, insightful, and somewhat depressing piece for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social by @racheledini.bsky.social on OpenAI, metafiction, and the state of the humanities.

On the left, the refurbished Lincoln bathroom. On the right, picture I took in Saddam Hussein's palace in Basra in 2005.

I'm excited to share my piece in Los Angeles Review of Books @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, which examines OpenAI's claims about ChatGPT's creative writing skills, Big Tech's weaponisation of grief and nostalgia, and the collapse of the academic humanities. lareviewofbooks.org/article/lite...

👻 Happy Halloween! What better time to discover the inaugural volume in Lever Press's film|minutes book series?: 'Bride of Frankenstein' by @shanedenson.bsky.social dissects the 1935 classic through sound, technology, and time itself minute-by-minute.🎃 🍿 bit.ly/3JzEdPr @leverpress.bsky.social

My essay on Thomas Burnett Swann's MOONDUST (1968), a partial retelling of the Battle of Jericho -- but with a society of evil, telepathic fennecs who have enslaved a society of mothpeople for their aesthetic pleasure. Yes. It's fucking bizarre and kind of great, but also messy.

Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House. Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity. They are not the same.

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works and let me know if you have any questions! 🤗

This note on an Albanian verb is hilarious:

In hindsight it’s too bad that Y2K didn’t shut down all of the computers.

Very excited for this upcoming title publishing later next year from @leverpress.bsky.social. It's a digital ethnography of the Otherkin community! (And the cover is glorious.) Proctor has some amazing things to say about the digital mediation of identity, belonging, queerness, and (non-)humanness.

Do yourself a favor and check out this review: very cool discussion of a book I need to pick up, and also an extremely concise and persuasive manifesto on translated SFF's place in anglophone fandom (and why we need more of it).

I'm sure you've been anticipating this essay on Swann's novel about evil fennecs. And here it is.

My essay on Thomas Burnett Swann's MOONDUST (1968), a partial retelling of the Battle of Jericho -- but with a society of evil, telepathic fennecs who have enslaved a society of mothpeople for their aesthetic pleasure. Yes. It's fucking bizarre and kind of great, but also messy.

Just finished Thomas Burnett Swann's third novel, MOONDUST (1968), which is about the Biblical Battle of Jericho and also about a society of evil fennecs who enslaved a fairy-like race of mothpeople. It's probably Swann's second weirdest story. Review essay to come shortly!

Nobody in authority ever suggested that "Essay mills are just an inevitable part of modern life, you should change your teaching-methods to circumvent them". They fucking MADE THEM ILLEGAL.

It is so fucking depressing to sit in cafes in a college town and see almost every student doing their homework with ChatGPT pulled up. Almost every one. Every day. It's really, really fucking sad.

The wolf princess, a companion piece to my other Princess Mononoke print. This one’s not part of the monthly print sub, but you can grab one from the site along with the Ashitaka print

I want to be a trad wife (one of Dracula’s three vampire brides who live in a pit and wear fabulous gowns)

Lovely essay on one of my fav novels of all time, The Last Unicorn! 🩷✨️🦄

Easily, Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn:

"ELEVATED HORROR" DIRECTOR SEEING ANY WOMAN OVER THE AGE OF 45: ahh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AIEEEE!!!! AAAuuUGHHHH!H! OUGHGHGHGGHHGHGHGGHHG

Oh, man, this old lady just came into the coffee shop and started complaining "Why would you have donuts that look like Dunkin' Donuts? Who would eat those?" to the owner. I just don't understand what kind of person thinks you can and should say those things out loud to a small business owner?

Thanks for @mwosam.bsky.social for shouting out my Ballantine Adult Fantasy reading series and my essays on Peake's Gormenghast novels this weekend!

My taste in bad, low budget horror films seems pretty unpredictable. I thought Lair of the White Worm by Ken Russell was fantastic, for example, but Stage Fright by Michael Soavi was deeply unpleasant.

As promised/threatened, my essay on David Lindsay's A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS (1920), the eighth essay in my Ballantine Adult Fantasy reading series. This is a philosophical science fantasy novel that asks major existential questions, like "Who the fuck is Crystalman?!"

I'll occasionally see ppl do a post like "tried to get ChatGPT to do X and it was totally wrong, what a joke tech." But, like, you don't even have to try it out to begin with? You can just not? And make it a critical and ethical stance to simply not try it out on anything at all, ever. Be a human!

Mayor Johnson is cooking

As promised/threatened, my essay on David Lindsay's A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS (1920), the eighth essay in my Ballantine Adult Fantasy reading series. This is a philosophical science fantasy novel that asks major existential questions, like "Who the fuck is Crystalman?!"

One week left of our biggest sale of the season! 📚 Save 70% on thousands of select titles & editions across subjects until October 31. Explore the books on sale and refresh your shelves this autumn: press.princeton.edu/sale/70-off #ReadUP

when trans people take HRT to feel normal: “look at these depraved sex freaks performing their sick fetish in public, we should bully them out of existence” when cis ppl take HRT so they can fuck real good:

I have now also watched the very, very low budget film adaptation from 1970. Which I recommend even less than Lindsay's novel. The hold that this book has over some people... I will never understand it.