I live near a road (a loop) called Meda Loop. I've probably known the road for 40 years. It was only this year that it occurred to me that some cartographer or road builder drew it on the map and said "Hey, look at that. Made a loop!"

When will we in the US a) wake up to the fact that our health care system is severely broken? (Many do acknowledge this) and b) DO something about it? (Not a concept of a plan, not thoughts and prayers, but an actual, practical, feasible, useful plan.) www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

More countries are banning fur farms outright. From Norway to New Zealand, regions are saying no to an industry that cages wild animals for life and kills them for luxury.

The first and last word of each story in the new Autumn issue of Kaleidotrope: He … night The … bloom Hilla … could All … gulls First … one Jak … won’t Stop … coming The … dawn When … me I … all I … Bravo Listen … Listen Find out what lies in between at www.kaleidotrope.net

Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day? Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚

When I was young, I had one okay eye and one bad eye. Now that I'm older, my eyes have decided to balance - one eye for close up, one eye for distance. #OpticalEquity

New follower and not sure where to start? www.bmorrisallen.com/published/ lists most of my published stories by year, with links. I recommend starting with “Cupernicity”, in @thefuturefire.bsky.social, which is a story I'm pretty pleased with. futurefire.net/2025.72/fict...

Now, isn't this a lovely opening? I am very much enjoying the stories in this anthology: Hope - The Thing with Flowers edited by B. Morris Allen "the city that listened" by Jade Scardham 📚 #SF #Hope #ShortFiction #SpeculativeFiction

Swear her in.

Not only are Portlanders going to ride bicycles naked, they're (supposedly) doing it in a WAR ZONE. www.axios.com/local/portla...

An exciting summation of upcoming Democratic powers or a depressing list of broken laws and norms? You decide! www.axios.com/2025/09/23/t...

The Coping Saw – Farthest Star If I recall correctly, I came up with the title first, and liked the idea of ambiguity in the use of 'coping'. While it started as a story focused on language, style, and metaphor, it turned into an adventure along the way, complete with mad scientist. It was…

The Water Dragons of Harney County – Trollbreath In mid-2024, I was looking through my idea file and found a dragon story. And another, and another. In the end, I wrote about a half-dozen dragon stories of very different kinds. This one, about farm irrigation, was inspired by driving cross-country…

A Bird Afraid of Feathers - Plant Based Press

Gods in Reduced Circumstances – Black Cat Weekly I was reading an H. G. Wells story - Mr. Britling Sees it Through - in which he said "And there is a book, I once looked into it at a man's room in London; I don't know the title, but it was by Richard Garnett, and it was all about gods who were in…

My latest story (a novelette) is out from Farthest Star Publishing. Check out "The Coping Saw" here! www.amazon.com/Coping-Saw-B...

Fave short fiction read this week was The Water Dragons of Harney County by @bmorrisallen.com in Trollbreath. Whimsical, both modern and folkloric, and incredibly compelling magazine.trollbreath.com/the-water-dr...

There's nothing sustainable about non-Vegan pet food

If you dry a bunch of apples but then leave them overnight and then decide to finish them off in the oven and then forget them in the oven and then turn the oven on to preheat, burnt apple chips make a surprisingly decent cereal. Or so I assume. I would never do this.

Cooking pro tip: When a recipe calls for "1 clove of garlic", this is the one they mean.

My latest story is out in the latest @trollbreathmag.bsky.social today! "The Water Dragons of Harney County" is about magic (and irrigation) on an Oregon farm.

It’s Free Fiction Friday!! Today, join a farm girl as she gets a little help from unlikely friends @bmorrisallen.com magazine.trollbreath.com/the-water-dr...

Not sure how to describe the futility of one more class action settlement that provides me with free credit monitoring. I've got credit monitoring coming out my ears at this point. If I had acted on all the settlements, they'd probably total more years than I have left to live.

My latest story is out in the latest @trollbreathmag.bsky.social today! "The Water Dragons of Harney County" is about magic (and irrigation) on an Oregon farm.

@kimrichey.bsky.social , curious about "09/14 – Lake Oswego, OR – Parrott House Concerts (message me about tickets)" (my e-mail was returned for some reason...)

For panelists and others who need to know: 'sapient' and 'sentient' are not the same thing. I know the terms are often misused in SFF, but it's always jarring to me to hear how humans should respect sentient beings when this world is full of sentient creatures we mostly mistreat.

Another beautiful day of kayaking in a nearby estuary. Cormorants and herons by the dozen, a pod of seals on the shore, a 'heated discussion' between a hawk and some crows, crabs strolling by beneath... #OregonCoast

On this episode, @benjamingorman.bsky.social gabs with @bmorrisallen.com , @maggiedotwrites.bsky.social , Lisa Fransson, and Louie Sullivan, authors of HOPE: THE THING WITH FEATHERS, a new anthology from @metaphorosis.com . Show: bit.ly/WNWHome Ad-free version: bit.ly/PatreonBG

On this episode, @benjamingorman.bsky.social gabs with @bmorrisallen.com , @maggiedotwrites.bsky.social , Lisa Fransson, and Louie Sullivan, authors of HOPE: THE THING WITH FEATHERS, a new anthology from @metaphorosis.com . Show: bit.ly/WNWHome Ad-free version: bit.ly/PatreonBG

After a 2 year hiatus due to construction and injury, finally got the kayaks back in the water in a nearby estuary. Martins, egrets, herons, cormorant to eagles... Great weather, too! Grateful to live in such a beautiful place. #OregonCoast

It's obviously Biden who was "sedatious". Obama was wide awake. And Trump is the only one who approaches "seditious". www.axios.com/2025/07/22/o...

If you've been published by Metaphorosis and will be at Worldcon, come join us! Metaphorosis Authors Meetup, Terrace Lounge (4F), Fri. 9–10 a.m.

#Trump really is the modern Teflon president. No matter what crap he cooks up, none of it sticks to him, and he sheds toxic elements all over the place that will take decades to clean up.

Grinding by the Numbers Yesterday, I published new data on my own submissions, analyzed in part because of the TRUNK anthology project I'm planning, of stories that took a long time to place. I set criteria for submitted stories of at least 20 rejections (10 for novelettes because there are fewer…

I'll be at Worldcon and happy to talk about all sorts of subjects - editing, the new HOPE anthology, writing, veganism, short fiction, mushroom foraging, the state of punctuation today, you name it. Not con-savvy enough to schedule a table talk, but just look me up or track me down.

Writing by the numbers II More statistics about submission rates.

My latest story is out today! "Gods in Reduced Circumstances" was inspired by an H.G. Wells reference to a Richard Garnett story. Find it in Black Cat Weekly blackcatweekly.com/b/o7bcp

Watching season 1 of Severance (which I had honestly expected to be a straight-up show about corporate infighting), it felt more and more like a remake of The Prisoner.

Looked in my call history and found this entertaining conversation between two AIs, with no human involvement at all. The phone never rang.

Just started two books. Dickens' Dombey and Son and Brandon Sanderson's Wind and Truth. Dombey's 740 pages looks trivial compared to Sanderson's 1,340.

My own mini-interview by HOPE anthology author Maggie Slater. More of these on the way. Get to know the authors as the book prepares for launch! maggieslater.com/2025/06/24/t...

Putting up a beach umbrella for my sister when I noticed a swallow nearby. Except it wasn't a swallow, it was a bat. And he came and landed on my back. Felt sorry for disturbing the poor guy, and walked slowly across the street to the bat box at my house. Made it halfway before he took off.

Signed up for Apple+ to watch Murderbot, but watched Silo first. Having read both, I think Murderbot is the better book, but Silo is the better show. I thought of the neuter Murderbot as vaguely female presenting, so Skarsgard just doesn't feel right. Also, some odd changes from the book feel off.

I haven't been writing much lately, but today I picked up a long-(like years or decades long) postponed novella, wrote two chapters of it, and see a clear direction for the rest. With two days free of distraction ahead, I may even finish it. That will mean one book of a planned quintet is complete!

Some of our authors for this issue include: @aardwyrm.bsky.social @ejwilde.bsky.social @stephenspower.bsky.social @ebsommer.bsky.social @rosestrickman.bsky.social @lindseyduncan.bsky.social @iviesofinkribbons.bsky.social @culttvmike.bsky.social @aeneas-nin.bsky.social and @bmorrisallen.com !

Why, that's me in there, with "1 B", a wistful story about neighbours.

Issue 3 is now available! What to love about this issue of our magazine: It's now available both on Amazon AND Barnes & Nobles (links below) Wonderful stories by fantastic authors (some tagged below) Amazing cover art by @moravianart.bsky.social Fabulous interview with @lollardfish.bsky.social

#submissionsopen 😀✍️✍️✍️

Two story acceptances in one morning! That's a rare and pleasant occurrence, esp. along with a story that came out this week. Details of the new stories coming in time.

We live in a little village. My spouse said something this morning about where all the village people were, and I felt compelled to say that they were at the YMCA.