Another year of Eating the Fantastic is in the rearview mirror, so I've assembled a collage of the 28 guests with whom I chatted and chewed during 2025. I'm honored they trusted me with their voices, and hope you'll revisit some of last year's meals as I plan for the year ahead. pod.link/1083737796

Grateful to see THE INVISIBLE PARADE on ‘Best of 2025’ lists, but especially grateful to earn a spot on Betsy Bird’s. 🙏🏽

Stellar company to be in. Thank you, sir! Happy New Year! 🙏🏽🥂

🧵 Goodbye, 2025 — grateful for all of you who supported THE INVISIBLE PARADE & are still championing this story into the New Year. Thank you to Alvina Ling, David Caplan & @lbschool.bsky.social for teaming w/ Leigh Bardugo & me to make this book what it is. 1/ #booksky #bestgraphicstory #picturebook

cards for the cute classmate in YOUR life. (that is not a joke. if you're into psychic stuff and someone goes out and gets you Lotería cards, that's a keeper.)

🧵End-of-year shoutout to my friends @crobertcargill.bsky.social and @joe-hill.bsky.social for featuring my #Lotería Cards in BLACK PHONE 2, which just released on Bluray last week. Here are some glimpses. 1/

I understand it’s a nuanced and complex issue. So to be clear… FUCK A.I.

📚👍 So many good books. #kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks The Invisible Parade Leigh Bardugo & John Picacio @johnpicacio.bsky.social It's huge, so much story. It's heafty, 60 pgs. It's deep, in color & richness of the illos. I often found my not-yet-reading 6 yr old with it spread across her lap.

Review for 2025 #74 The Invisible Parade by Leigh Bardugo, John Picacio (Author And Illustrator) missingvolume.livejournal.com/553874.html #bookreview

Hello, New Followers! Almost all of you are art lovers & readers. Some of you probably know that I’m a professional cover artist for a lot of major SFF + horror books over the last 30 years. Many of you who just followed me are Trekkies & Trekkers. Yup, I’ve drawn some Trek covers over the years. 1/

Barnes & Noble is running a storewide sale today. SAN ANTONIO: You've got freshly signed copies of THE INVISIBLE PARADE waiting for you at the San Pedro / Loop 410 location. And if you're not in SA, and want signed copies, @nowherebookshop.bsky.social & @thetwigbookshop.bsky.social have you covered!

Wrapping the last gifts before everyone wakes up. Maybe I’ll even get to draw for a few before they do. Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays to you and your family, across this fragile planet.🎄🙏🏽❤️🌎

Agree 💯 With Rachel......

Had to buy a copy of this as the artwork is absolutely gorgeous. The Invisible Paradeby Leigh Bardugo, illustrated by John Picacio, is about The Day of the Dead. Main character meets the Four Horsemen on the way to the cemetery. It is very Mexican. @mexopolis.bsky.social would dig it. #books

The post office is a Constitutionally required service, not a business. Profitability should no more be expected than from any govt department. Less so, since govt depts aren't Consitutionally required.

John Picacio's talk about The Invisible Parade at ArmadilloCon 2025 was one of this year's highlights. This is a gorgeous amazing book, with so much heart. #FanFavorite #giftidea #awards

THANK YOU to this year's @soi128.bsky.social judges for accepting this double-page spread into SOI's 68th Annual Exhibition and Book. It's one of my favorites I drew for #TheInvisibleParade, the debut picture book by Leigh Bardugo & me. cc: @lbschool.bsky.social @newleafliterary.bsky.social #Booksky

Spotlight on THE INVISIBLE PARADE, #LeighBardugo, and me in this month’s @locusmag.bsky.social. (Cover art by me as well!) Thank you to the great @mizfrancesca.bsky.social for creating beautiful magazine layouts every month. And to @ltrombi.bsky.social for making LOCUS better than it’s ever been.

The dismantling of NCAR should be the trending story on Bluesky, not the fucking Oscars leaving ABC for YouTube.

Trump is pals with #technofascist billionaires like P. Thiel who see democracy as a threat & are not fans of humanity. They see impending floods as "raw material for new geo-markets.," not catastrophies. So, yes, they will try to END climate science. Voting & protests aren't enough. #GeneralStrike

I signed this. ProPublica marketed HARD on being the last journalists with integrity standing. I believed them and donated the equivalent of my subscription to the Post two years in a row. They won't see a dime from me if they don't fly right.

Spotlight on The Invisible Parade by Leigh Bardugo & John Picacio locusmag.com/2025/12...

Thank you to The Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature for selecting THE INVISIBLE PARADE as one of their Best Books of 2025! #Booksky #BestBooks2025 #BestGraphicStory #TheInvisibleParade

IT’S OFFICIAL!!! I just filed to run for U.S. Congress again to serve Texas’ 21st District! This is what a scientist running for office looks like!!! It’s time to finish what we started - for working families, scientists, civil servants, and everyone harmed by Trump. ¡Ya basta!

A brief return of the Murderbot Humble Bundle! The charity is still World Central Kitchen.

If you're going to be near College Station, TX on Jan 30-Feb 1 2026, I'll be at www.aggiecon.net as author GOH with John Picacio @johnpicacio.bsky.social as artist GOH. #booksky #conventions #murderbot #scifisky #ScienceFiction

Wild that even all these years later the episode still resonates. (Do wish they had gotten my name right though). apple.news/Agea33fXtRhK...

If you’re in the US, you can get THE INVISIBLE PARADE signed and personalized by me from @nowherebookshop.bsky.social. Place your order by Friday, December 12th to receive in time for holiday gift giving! nowherebookshop.com/book/9780316...

My top reads: Mouthful of Dust by Vo Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Jones The Everlasting by Harrow Shroud by Tchaikovsky The Invisible Parade by Bardugo and Picacio Will have a more comprehensive list at the end of the year.

🧵 Discovering treasures while exploring my Original Art files -- here are two final artworks for my STAR TREK: MYRIAD UNIVERSES covers, from way back around 2007 / 2008. #StarTrek #Trekkers #Trekkies #TPol #Andorian #Thelin 1/

🧵 @kortizart.bsky.social is one of my favorites. She’s fighting on the frontlines of the creatives’ war vs. AI theft and global abuse. Listen to Karla. Follow her here on BSky.

Traditionally-published authors (print/ebook/audio): Promote your books today in the 2025 Whatever Holiday Gift Guide! Thousands of readers to connect to your work! Follow the link below to tell folks about what you have available to them this holiday season! whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/01/t...

Final Day of #NationalPictureBookMonth. You can get signed copies of THE INVISIBLE PARADE right now at @nowherebookshop.bsky.social @thetwigbookshop.bsky.social and Book Nerd SA. @ghoulish.bsky.social will have signed copies on Wednesday, December 3rd. cc: @lbschool.bsky.social

My #Dune original drawings are up for grabs. I enjoyed creating them all, including "Paul's Dream / What's in the Box?" 16”x20”. 20"x24" w/ matte. Graphite on Strathmore. If you see one you want, LMK. It's the holidays, so I might wiggle on numbers for friends. ;) johnpicacio.com/product-cate...

#currentlyreading “The Invisible Parade” by Leigh Bardugo & John Picacio ( @johnpicacio.bsky.social ) 💀 Published by Little, Brown and Company ( @littlebrown.bsky.social ) 💀 Courtesy of Hennepin County Library

"Fear is the mind-killer….. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." Heads up, #DUNE Fans: Mailing list members are getting first dibs on my DUNE graphite originals right now. If you want in, hit me up. 👀

It's time to pre-order the second graphic novel in the series I'm doing with Drew Edwards and Monica Gallagher: THE MATRON: THE BITE OF HER AX. If you missed your chance to get a copy of volume 1 (A WIND THAT KILLS) months before the rest of the world, you can pick that up now as well! 1/

Congratulations to the following titles that have earned a spot on Kirkus' Best Picture Books of 2025 List! ✨ MOON SONG by Michaela Goade ✨ BLUE by @suzannekaufmanart.bsky.social ✨ RAVEN'S RIBBONS by Tasha Spillett ✨ THE INVISIBLE PARADE by Leigh Bardugo and @johnpicacio.bsky.social

Love my copy! A beautiful book.

This week, I withdrew from a speaking engagement at a public university because they sent me a list of prohibited “words & concepts.” I will not humor this censorship. It does a disservice to the stories I’m discussing & the audience, who deserve unfettered access to information & conversation.

THE INVISIBLE PARADE scores another ‘Best of 2025’ badge. Grateful! 🙏🏽 cc: @lbschool.bsky.social #Booksky #Artsky #picturebooks

Adam Rex is one of my favorite picture book authors. Always inventive, always evolving. 💪🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 #Booksky #picturebooks #kidlit

That's not from me, I don't know who is doing it, but right now the only licensed Murderbot shirts are from worldbuildersmarket.com and the proceeds go to charity.

Congratulations to the books included in Booklist Editors' Choice List 2025! Books for Youth: Young Fiction ✨ THE INVISIBLE PARADE by Leigh Bardugo and @johnpicacio.bsky.social ✨ RAVEN'S RIBBONS by Tasha Spillett Young Nonfiction ✨ HOW SWEET THE SOUND by Kwame Alexander and Charly Palmer

No. 25 in my #FavePicturebooks25 is “The Invisible Parade” by #LeighBardugo & @johnpicacio.bsky.social — a stunning tale of grief & memory set on Día de los Muertos. Poignant, funny, and visually breathtaking. The dead are never truly gone. A true wow of a book #PicturebookPage

Proud to see THE INVISIBLE PARADE amongst the American Library Association’s 2025 Booklist Editors’ Choice selections for Youth! #BestOf2025

How good was @comicarts-sa.bsky.social yesterday? So good that I only had time to take one photo. I was sad when it ended. There are not many cons that focus upon comic books and comic book creators and storytelling — and that’s what makes C.A.S.A. special. Best comic con in this region right now.

Signing Lotería Posters for tomorrow’s @comicarts-sa.bsky.social show. FREE comic book w/ purchase of 20 dollars or more @ the table while supplies last! These comics are the ones that spawned my book cover career. Ancient days. 😂 Get ‘em before they’re gone. Doors open 10am. www.comicarts-sa.com

I’m really terrible at these things- my brain doesn’t work ins way that allows me to narrow down things I love to favorites, and I have a terrible memory, but since it’s Picacio asking I’ll try my best to pick some (probably not nine) that mean a lot. 1) I didn’t read “comics” as a kid, but I

9 that shaped me