Marina Cooper's poem "expense" is a lovely, painful exploration of what we give up for what we dream, and also a sea witch's sadness.

Frustrated with or angry about artificial intelligence? You need the Sterling Analog Shut Down Kit! Read Bret Nelson's quick start guide and you, too, can be shutting down AI left and right.

we have an exceedingly normal number of books thank you

Help mom I’m being bullied by 87 year old novella writer Joyce Carol Oates again can you pick me up

If you're a good little child, maybe Grandpa Argle will rise from the swamp on Arglemas and bring you what you truly need. If so, you'd best read "Grandpa and the Ghosts", by @ray-is-writing.bsky.social, in this month's issue.

Our Corgi likes to be completely hidden when she sleeps. #corgisky

please don't @ me like "actually cerium is unique among the lanthanides for its +4 oxidation state" ⚗️🧪 #chemsky

Peter Coviello writes about this with wryness and anger, but also please appreciate his masterful shifts among rhetorical registers, from professorial (“a bathetically unscholarly corporate-sponsored piece of risible chaff”) to informal (“I did this because…I’m a fucking idiot.”)

Meet the 800 year old thirty-year old man in Timothy Quinn's "The Warfighter":

We’re re-watching Orphan Black and it’s remarkable how after its wild plot-twist-driven character-be-damned season 3 it course corrected in season 4 and became coherent and propulsive again.

After hundreds of hours of reading and research, my 2025 Starter Guide to transfeminine literature is finally live! No matter your experience level, there's a book for you! 🏳️‍⚧️📚 #transbooks The list covers a vast range of genres. There are 78 handcrafted recs on this list, and I've read all but two.

Over a weekend I wrote “Dislocated,” a meet-cute that’s also about disability and being left behind by society, and I still love it for its hopefulness. www.flashfictiononline.com/article/disl...

Yes, some people's legacies are complicated. For example, Watson. After all, though he was racist, don't forget his other traits. For example, he was also sexist. And also anti-semitic. And a data / idea thief. So let's not forget all the different facets.

n o p e

Brace yourself for all the feelings with today's reprint, "With Nothing Left" by @slashnburnett.bsky.social :

I’m now accepting applications for Fiction Editor and Poetry Editor positions for 2026 at Orion’s Belt. If you desire to join our team (especially if you have experience at a spec-fic magazine), please send a cover letter/CV to [email protected]. Details: www.orions-belt.net/volunteer

Love pundits who didn’t see the election results coming because they’re cooking their brains on X now saying the results mean that the economy trumps “purity tests” i.e. “stop fighting for trans people’s rights”.

The cards flip and then slip out the door in "Between Shuffles" by M.C. Childs. Read on to discover what happens in the in-between:

Don't cross the picket line--no reading Science News today! These journalists deserve a fair contract that recognizes the value they bring to the company.

Eugene Debs *and* wishing Cuomo the most obscure private life forever? I think this Mamdani guy might have the juice.

Not @misty.granades.com and I sharing posts back and forth from this, a momentarily brighter timeline.

We are TWO BACKERS away from 400 backers!! With LESS THAN 24 HOURS LEFT for late pledges, help us get to 400 backers before our campaign fully comes to a close? 👀 www.kickstarter.com/projects/hyb...

What scents speak to you of home? Especially when home is in flux? Take a journey today with "The Scent of a Thousand Homeless Footsteps" by Carol Scheina:

Thinking about making and giving today on the blog. #ArtBlog #ArtBlogger #ThinkingAboutMaking #MakingThings #ArtYear #OnlyBeautifulThings misty.granades.com/2025/11/04/t...

Thinking of this old post of mine for no real reason.

Aquariums are the horses of the household pet world.

Let's spin a little pink magic today, with "Pink Witches" by @melissajorndwrites.bsky.social :

KINOPHOBIA is a large game by the standards of modern parser IF - my playtesters took around six hours to finish it. I made it in a month, which for a game of similar length and complexity would be inconceivable if I didn't have the two advantages parser IF gives me.

Happy Fresh Contacts Day to all who celebrate.

I was lucky enough to beta this game and, listen: it’s so good, y’all. I’m still thinking about the history of this fictional film studio. Chilling, funny, sad, and deeply felt. This game is so worth your time.

funny you should ask, Commander thenib.com/the-trouble-... (comic by me and @makinaro.com )

One of the great joys of publishing @smallwondersmag.com is getting to read, edit, and publish the work of individual minds seeking to connect with other individual minds. Slop fiction is a fundamental betrayal of our compact. I want no part of it.

Oh hey, did someone say SPOOKY? We've got spooky! Not gonna lie, the entire issue for October was pretty dang spooky. It features monsters and ghosts, revenge, eyeballs, curses, and so much more. Read all these fabulous stories right here: smallwondersmag.com/... 1/6

tired of heteropessimism? have you tried being a

I cannot decide which is best but right now I’m going with “Not the Box Factory Again, Seymour”

Less than 24 hours left in the Apex Magazine Kickstarter. If they get a few thousand dollars more the world gets to read a special issue of Apex focused on unpublished authors!

🏳️‍🌈SOME QUEER SHORT SFF - SEPTEMBER 2025🏳️‍🌈 I round up over a dozen stories by @remedy.bsky.social @ashvalewrites.bsky.social @ecastroianni.bsky.social @aimeeogdenwrites.com @bogiperson.bsky.social @abetterjulie.bsky.social @kcolemanwrites.bsky.social & MORE!!!! www.patreon.com/posts/some-q...

harihareswara.net/posts/2025/n... Proposal 1 (Adirondacks park land): strong yes 2 (affordable housing "fast track"): yes 3 (expediting "modest" projects): yes 4 (affordable housing appeals board): weak yes 5 (city map): weak no 6 (changing election year): weak no #NYC #NewYorkCity #NYCElections

tired of heteropessimism? have you tried being a

It still weirds me out to see the line and over/under on the lower third for every ESPN upcoming game.

List will be going up in the next day or two so get on it people!

For my friends who might need this as a react.

My favourite of the Cow Tools edits

I do love a website whose loading progress bar moves at a constant rate to 100% and then starts over, never varying speed. It’s like a Progress Quest bar for leveling up annoyance.

43 years ago today, readers the world over opened their newspapers and gazed upon cow tools for the first time. happy birthday cow tools. you look great.

Chotiner: I wanted to ask about the plums I left in the ice box. Me: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I didn't know you were saving-- Chotiner: You wrote "you were probably saving for breakfast." What did you mean? Me: Wait, wait. Look, the plums are out of the picture Chotiner: They sure are.

I worked on the Torment Nexus for five years. Here’s why the project has lost its way. | New York Times (Gift Link)

Because I couldn’t resist, I made Baba Yaga’s Hut from a pattern by Megan Lapp.

I’ve had a busy week so there’s no blog post going up tomorrow. If you are a regular reader & have a burning art/creativity question you’d like for me to answer in blog form, let me know!! I’d love to hear your question and potentially write about it! #ArtBlog #ArtBlogger #ThinkingAboutMaking

Spending my Sunday evening gently smothering the AI in Windows and Firefox as God themself intended.