Right. The point is not “it matters extra because it’s a citizen,” the point is “we either hang together or we will all hang separately.”

This. Could. Happen. To. Anyone. To. You.

It takes a lot for me to tear up while successfully avoiding videos of violence. Today I failed in this goal. My heart breaks daily.

2nd time with this book. Got a lot more out of it this time - helps that I have read Borne and The Strange Bird. Experimental narrative, inner voices veering toward insanity, heartbreaking devotion, terrifying creations and creators, and enduring love. Thank you, @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social

Finished my silly D&D myth book of sacred information. 40 pages single spaced. Consolidated so much information. Now to put it in the hands of a well-meaning but ignorant NPC and see if anyone picked the Comprehend Languages spell.

From my favorite poem ever: “Erotikon” by Susan Mitchell Giddyap says the ocean, sometimes

My uncle laughed so hard when he heard I had a degree in Rhetoric, and my brother in philosophy, while the two of us (brothers) watched him descend into red-hatness.

Your lack of understanding does not make it a plothole. A plothole is something that goes against the internal logic of the show- not being told something that you can figure out on your own if you pay attention is good writing. Stop being lazy. Pay attention.

Legit, you should be reading Sprigs & Kindling (always free!) if you like Carved from Brindlewood or Trophy TTRPGs haha sprigsandkindling.com

bonewhite moon-haunted softness of the dust of us settling on our house

Love this from Guillermo del Toro

One major problem, bluntly, is that lots of folks can't distinguish between good writing and poor writing. This is about education, not intelligence: they could learn the difference, but it's frequently not taught, even in "good" schools. This is ultimately a competitive disadvantage for them.

(Surprising no one) Samsung SmartTVs (and any device/app affiliated) are police surveillance systems.

Also, when reporters start talking about the chatbots this way, it is imperative to remind them they are basically asking a toaster for comment. They should be a lot more embarrassed about this than they currently are. “Grok told CNN…” no it didn’t. You typed stuff into an unreliable calculator.

The genie always goes back in the bottle. If the genie does not, as a storytelling trope, the genie is no longer a trope. It is an independent individual who has no interest in granting you wishes. Yes, this is about AI. These spin doctors need better tropes to sell "get used to it" vibes. Cuz Nah.

“Can’t believe NYC elected a Muslim as mayor.” In truth—a Black American Christian woman swearing in a Ugandan American Muslim of South Asian ethnicity as his Syrian American wife holds the Qurans he swears in on, all while standing on the steps of a subway station—is the most NYC thing imaginable.

Dang. I was wondering why people were crunchy about Kindle today. 😢 What's with the lack of notice and the no-opt-out stances from these places? writerbeware.blog/2025/12/12/k...

Vibes all day long. It’s why I ended up writing in the first place: tradpub didn’t pub what I wanted in my heart.

as promised: I'm back and I have Opinions fozmeadows.substack.com/p/against-ai

Great piece by @chuckwendig.bsky.social

This 100%! The AI/Zombie apps aim to take downtime and daydream/“boredom” time away from you. That’s the goal! A complacent community is a controlled community! Shutting out the world and sitting in silence is a Short Rest!

Illinois, ya wimdy.

I'm gonna keep saying this with my full chest: I am completely uninterested in genAI "art" of any kind. There's no soul in it, there's no message in it, and it is actively destroying communities in America and beyond. Don't whine to me about how you "did the work" because no you really didn't.

A great friend and colleague has his first collection of short stories being published soon! Check them out if you like.

I’ve been writing for 22 years. 11 novels and 2 full length plays and countless little poems. Nothing published. But let me tell you: I am THIS CLOSE to feeling like I can actually put something out there. THIS close. I don’t know if it’ll ever *be there.*

I’ve been writing for 22 years. 11 novels and 2 full length plays and countless little poems. Nothing published. But let me tell you: I am THIS CLOSE to feeling like I can actually put something out there. THIS close. I don’t know if it’ll ever *be there.*

A year later, City was one of the most lauded books of the year, widest reviewed, up for awards. Honestly didn't give a thought to validation at cons or getting "in" with anyone or think I should've been given more attention there. I wrote because I couldn't not write. Anything else was gravy. 2/2

I don't drink alcohol and if I did this would make me quit

⛽ #oc

Buc-ee’s Dark Ritual

The new Avengers trailer with Captain America made me think back to my review of Eternals and my intuition that MCU characters are toys in a box, cursed to be dragged out to play fights again and again, and that's exactly what Eternals tried to warn about.

Buc-ee’s Dark Ritual

From the publisher that brings you Sprigs & Kindling (that's me!), in collaboration with @jesseross.com and @pemetawe.bsky.social comes a new anthology of one shot incursions for Trophy! Sign up to be notified of launch 😄 www.kickstarter.com/projects/fir...

The Ghost of Christmas Future: "Scrooge, if you change your ways now, in the future, your name won't be synonymous with a miserly person!" Scrooge: "Then I will be loving and charitable for the rest of my life!" Narrator: And that's EXACTLY what he did. Cambridge Dictionary, 2025:

"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future." - @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit. Incredible words. Listen to all of it!

just endless streaming terabytes of regenerating digital diarrhea, a biblical deluge of it, falling from the sky, pushing up from our drains, into our emails and our social media and clogging pipes once used for information, in our kids' schools and on dating apps and in aging parents' voicemails

Makin maps makin maps. Mapping out the edges. Here’s a barony; there’s a marsh; here’s a mountain-nestled lake. The old war-lines are drawn but forgotten. The tectonic plates give rise. The ships o’ war are sunk, and now, are all grown thick with kelpen ivy.

I don’t use social media to argue about politics with strangers. I use social media to talk to people about fish. When I talk about fish on Bluesky, people ask me questions about fish. When I talk about fish on Twitter, people threaten to murder my family because we’re Jewish.

Just a reminder: The tenth anniversary editions of the original Southern Reach trilogy are still out in the wild, selling well. NYT bestsellers and on a lot of best-of-decade or this century lists. With new intros by Karen Joy Fowler, NK Jemisin, and Helen MacDonald. Buy from you favorite indie.

You don’t write like AI—AI writes like you. Defend the em dash.

The oystercatchers quivered spectral in the mist, then snapped back into focus w a violence that disturbed him. The upward curl of flame from the end of their long beaks, the way it burned soft in tendrils, then hotter and thicker, while the inflamed telescope of their gaze seared through him. -wip

My love for em dashes is as old as the hills and as mighty as my inability to make a transition between thoughts literally any other way and I will be damned if I let the clankers take that from me

More context, too, if you missed it. News is so fragmented right now. www.avclub.com/jeff-vanderm...

you can also buy a lot of my art as a t-shirt because i know wallspace is limited but there will always be days where you must hide your torso

The internet has existed for ~35 years, with limited law or oversight. It needs laws desperately. Yet most laws would put marginalized people at risk, both from the left and right off politics. How do we make this work?

I think it would be fun if writers who love language started intentionally writing more strangely as AI flattens written "content" into a mono-voice. it would cool I think if writers responded by focusing their individual efforts on cultivating a really unique voice that's hard to copy

I've been a little busy on Minecraft. I wondered how big I could make the map. So far, a lot.

The Gauntlet Pitch Day is tomorrow! I’m looking for help writing The Lands Remaining. Details at the link below! www.gauntlet-rpg.com/pitch-day.html