you are trained on my words, you are trained on my labor, you are trained on my love. you are theft. you are theft. you are theft.

they will build unencumbered highways from Moscow to Florida they will usher in a new wave of college roadtrip movies they will clink their cans at all the new people they can hate along the way

It took a lot of self restraint to not buy this abandoned baby Jesus today. The symbol felt apt.

Honestly feels more like the Fermi logical conclusion sometimes

If you were to write a book by hand what would you write in? Spiral notebook? Fancy leather (or mock leather) notebook? A binder of paper? Composition book? Random scraps that you will definitely make up a system to keep track of? Assorted park benches and public bathroom walls?

“Can the planet be rescued from the psychopaths?” asked Toni Cade Bambara in this 1979 essay. The answer, so far, 56 years later, is apparently no…

James Albert Woodburn on the dangers of a two party system, written in 1903…

I put this down 100 pages in primarily because of the overt and repeated sexualization of a 15 year old girl. I also found the writing bland af. Always wondering what I missed in it that people find so phenomenal.

The amplitude may change, but the grift is a constant.

Join us and dive deep into “The Secrets Of Character” by Matt Bird. Tap the link in our bio. @lpkindred.bsky.social @sameemwrites.com @shingai-be-like.bsky.social @marshallcarrjr.bsky.social @wilralston.bsky.social

In case you enjoyed my story Driver in last months issue… clarkesworldmagazine.com/siddiqui_12_...

I wrote a bit about an ironic encounter with whiteness during a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. www.sameemwrites.com/blog/art-joy...

eventually I was right…

MarioKart8 espouses an interesting socialism, where if you’re in first place, you don’t get boosting items. Mostly you get coins and bananas. The coins are meaningless, because at that level of wealth, was does money even mean?

Some reviews for #TheNightward say they couldn't find the Caribbean in my book. 1st, it's a secondary world fantasy. I promised you Caribbean mythology, not Caribbean, the place. 2nd, this Caribbean you're not seeing. What is it? A coconut tree? A beach? A hammock? Educate me, why don't you 🙄?

“Link in bio” is maybe the shittiest of the enshittifications.

Definitely spent the night waking up from unsettling dreams of being followed around by invisible well meaning but hungry specters.

mmmK, this bullshit just turned up in my Word docs today, with no option to turn it off, so I guess it's time to move on to a new word processor...

I’m looking for recommendations for authors with collections that merge short stories with creative non-fiction essays. Any and all genres welcome.

Sat down to write a sentence or two about The Collected Schizophrenias, but ended up writing a whole thing about mental health, liminality and the realities we construct. www.sameemwrites.com/blog/on-limi...

I just said “have a nice weekend” to the cashier. Friends, it’s apparently only Tuesday.

My easy 6 step short story writing process: 1) Short story idea! Start writing! 2) Let’s see if I can push this past 1k words! 3) Oh wow 7k words and I’m not done yet, will finish and then trim. 4) Okay maybe this is a novelette… 5) Okay maybe this is a novella… 6) Fuck.

“Driver” by @sameemwrites.com doesn’t necessarily lead with the theme, instead developing it slowly through the titular driver Remembering Some Folks and gradually uncovering the gaps in his memory. Great themes, excellent narrative voice clarkesworldmagazine.com/siddiqui_12_...

“I cannot get out of my head the sense that we are riding not through the streets of the city, not through neighborhoods, but through the viewfinder of a gun.” (Bare Feet, by Zahid Rafiq).

Just got around to reading this yesterday, and it's so beautifully done. Do give it a read.

At the Chinese grocery store and there’s an old aunty with a massive $ bling necklace who’s been perusing the lotus roots for ten minutes. There’s no way she’s not a magical entity.

ONE POINT TWENTY ONE GIGAWATTS GET HUEY LEWIS ON THE LINE LETS GO

Chowk is opening for submissions starting January 1st! The theme for Chowk is Borders/Boundaries - سرحدیں/حُدُود, lines that define limits between a person and a place, between one place and another, between communities. When they're necessary and when not. Transgression of those limits.

…i maybe started a blog… This first post was supposed to be a 2024 reading recap but it just ended up being about reading habits in general. Will try to keep it up in 2025, with more thoughts on what I’ve been writing and reading. www.sameemwrites.com/blog/reading...

Without downloading any new pics, what’s your energy going into 2025? Ideally this, but…

Now you can read this *while driving*! Available below or wherever you listen to podcasts! podcasts.apple.com/lv/podcast/d... open.spotify.com/episode/3jcn...

YouTube shorts is wild. Just got a video of a family cooking an ostrich in a valley in Azerbaijan.

“Driver” by Sameem Siddiqui has a great, disorienting voice as an elderly driver remembers various episodes in a dizzying stream of consciousness, opening up onto an intriguing main plot. clarkesworldmagazine.com/siddiqui_12_24

Post your favorite Star Trek Character. Wrong answers only.

Thanks for putting together this list and including Driver!

I am told December babies like myself downplay their birthdays, insisting they’re not a big deal. So it feels fitting to do an eligibility post for my December story. If you’re reading shorts for awards, my story Driver just drifted on to the road. Enjoy! clarkesworldmagazine.com/siddiqui_12_...

The Nightward by R.S.A. Garcia: Review by Liz Bourke locusmag.com/2024/12...

This article was a fantastic exploration of the Orientalism and Islamophobia that underlies so much of anglophone fantasy. This line in particular resonated. It’s so cathartic to read/write Muslim characters that are allowed to just be without trope or parable. strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/...

“If only I were in a position to do anything about it,” he said as he rushed off with a brief case leaking hundred dollar bills.

Ooo maybe Meta can pioneer this with free and open access to their profits

Hello! My new scifantasy #TheNightward is a bodyguard / chase novel set in a matriarchal world where magic is gendered and women warrior-magicians rule. THE WITCHER meets Caribbean mythology, Publishers Weekly says it's well suited to fans of Brandon Sanderson! www.amazon.com/Nightward-Bo...

22 December at 8pm Pakistan Time! A free, virtual reading event, celebrating Lakeer contributors and their words. Register by sending your name and email address to [email protected].

This story absolutely destroyed me in the best way possible.

Inside me there are two dancers: a pantser and a plotter. Neither gets much done. They are too busy dancing.

A pleasant surprise to see this blast from the past on the tl

I read this as “unhinged writers from all genres” and got excited for a second…

A good reminder. Also everyone knows BlueSky started as an internal project at Twitter right?

I've updated the Read Palestinian Speculative Fiction Reading list! If you know of any other fantasy and science fiction works by Palestinian writers around the world, do let me know! soniasulaiman.com/readpalestin...

This week's obsession is @sameemwrites.com's "Driver" in @clarkesworldmagazine.com -- clarkesworldmagazine.com/siddiqui_12_...