DID YOU KNOW that Austin had a vibrant and unique independent theater scene in the 90s? WOULD YOU WANT TO KICKSTART A BOOK ABOUT IT? Now's your chance! (Plus if you are eagle-eyed in the kickstarter video you can spot a very young Maresca in one of the archive photos.)

omg you were all so incredibly right about the new Muppet Show

Half of these nations are Very Serious about their entry & flag-waving and the other half are Absolutely Bonkers.

#PretendPanel Feb 6: I could not possibly love it more. I'm a wonk. I am perpetually interested in how we, as humans, decide to govern ourselves. I'm fascinated by levers of power and how they get manipulated for good and ill. My books will always, always, always explore these thorny issues.

If you're posting about your genAI use being soooo unavoidable as an indie "creative" you are: a) insufferably entitled b) too lazy to develop your own skills c) a class traitor d) blocked Hope this clarifies!

The thing you discover as an artist is that there are some things you do and do not have talent for, even within your broad field. And you know what? You start making art that works for you.

I will not repost today's bad AI take, but I am just gonna say: jfc what an entitled little brat

Absolutely wild that Shakespeare discourse has taken over my feed today, and absolutely frustrating that it's been on a day when I can't devote much time to it. BUT: 1: Yes, I do think those lines are probably attributable to Shakespeare. 2: We don't actually know that the play was censored.

Dear self: No, nope, no, you cannot stress yourself into another panic attack and/or migraine today, you have wayyyyy too much to do.

if there is ever a time when we need unhinged musical numbers with superstars and chickens, it's now

I understand folks are scared but I want you to think about the mechanics of this. There are more polling places (>100k) than ICE and CBP agents combined, so they can only pick a few districts to try to intimidate. Now what happens when cell phone footage of that goes online in the early morning?

At this point, I think the entire publishing industry needs to have a serious conversation about the degree to which the last 15 years have increasingly seen book promo become an online venture, and what that means now that entire social media and digital platforms are getting torched overnight. 🧵

Feeling cute, might infiltrate a Star Destroyer later

Heard a bunch of screaming outside, including what sounded like "Help" and "Get off me". Rush to window in a panic, immediately thinking through SALUTE and getting ready to assess situation-- Kids horsing around in pool. jfc. Unnecessary cortisol spike.

This is the exact place where I watched the Boomer man in front of me walk up to these restrooms (which had no line), see the sign, and say "No, I'm not doing that" and walk away to one of those other restrooms where there was a line. Not doing what?? Peeing in privacy??

I harass Wittman at every opportunity, and I was particularly unsparing yesterday. I encourage you to shame and challenge your GOP reps, too! It's cathartic. Even if it's not gonna change his mind, he's not going to get to tell himself soothing lies in peace. He *will* hear from me.

This is a big deal. No matter how many awful things come out of this White House, you can organize your community to fight back against tyranny. We must also continue to boycott ICE's corporate collaborators like Amazon, AT&T, and any other company trying to profit off this misery.

More ebook sales (USA only)

reposting with alt text bc i love this

OMG FINALLY!!!

FYI Johnson is absolutely wrong about borders in the premodern world. Wrote a bit about it in Trump 1 www.forbes.com/sites/matthe...

Also just going to throw out here that if you were to send a polymaker gift card to [email protected] so we can combine a few of them, we have an evil plan for wholesale purchases AND IT WOULD BE EPIC!!! us.polymaker.com/products/pol...

#Febchantment D3: The Aventan system of magic is elemental, though I expand past the usual four or five up to nine. Theirs is not the only way of doing magic in the world, though. Others rely more on stars or blood or natural elements seen in different ways.

In which it is wildly apparent that I am constitutionally incapable of sitting still for more than about eight seconds at a time. 😂 Had such a great time with this crossover episode!

I seriously do not have time today for the kind of headache my body seems determined to get.

That I know of: 1 - Discarded extraneous daughter of lower tier aristocracy 2 - Kicked out of England for political dissidence by Oliver Cromwell 3 - Various sentences of transportation 4 - 🎵 Glory, God, and gold and the Virginia company 🎵

Y’know. I am really, really tired of “resilient” being one of the words I use to describe myself.

I was seriously not expecting Trojan War Discourse today but hey 1 - Troy is in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). 2 - Helen of Troy was Helen of Sparta anyway. 2 - Her dad was a swan and her mom laid her in an egg. 4 - The ancient Mediterranean was diverse af 5 - Grow the fuck up you fucking racists

True, of course - the Med being the Med - but I want to say how much 'gutter racist' is a fitting term. It is appropriately low, vile, base. The gutter racist, however rich he may be, is lower and dirtier than the poorest upright working fellow who cares for his neighbors regardless of color.

So, a pretty normal Monday.

Hey funny story! Remember how for like 20 years we said if you tell people to only study STEM that job market would tank & also no one would be able to think critically about rhetoric or ethics, know what happened at any point in history or value much but money? Man, I love that one. Cracks me up.

#Febchantment D2: I always think of this as a spectrum, not a binary, and the Aven Cycle's magic is definitely more toward the soft side, though not totally without rules or limitations. It's a gift from the gods, but there *are* things magic can't do -- powers the gods reserve for themselves.

Hilarious that, right before talking about what to do with your hands while public speaking, I give a great example of what NOT to do as my right hand just does that constant loop thing. 😅 Look, I can control it at a podium, but I'm not used to being filmed during podcasting. 😂

#TBRuary D2: I read 'Legendborn' when it first came out and loved it, but I still need to get around to reading the sequels! YA Arthuriana with Southern Black Girl Magic.

Some truly masterful use of the passive voice and other evasive phrasing in this response from Representative Wittman (VA-01). ICE delenda est.

A thing I am learning, living in a hotel: Having a blackout curtain is NOT GOOD for my ability to drag my ass out of bed, no matter how well I've slept.

Also, happy Imbolc, everybody!

Spent my afternoon and evening saying goodbye to Dinoland USA, in the company of some wonderful people. 🦖🦕💚

jesus christ

While being told every step of the way that Texas should be abandoned and it was their own fault, by people who should damn well know better.

#Febchantment D1: Hello! I'm Cass, and I'm going to use this to talk about the Aven Cycle, partly in the hopes of getting myself back into it enough to work on the novellas and/or Book 4. Aven is an alternate version of Old Republic Rome where magic has shaped society as much as law and war.

#TBRuary D1: Hello! I'm Cass, and I read a lot of fantasy, and then a scattering of mysteries (usually historical), romance (historical or contemporary-geek), straight-up historical fiction, nonfiction (usually history, lol), and sci-fi. #BookSky

I will say that one of the reasons I'm deeply frustrated with the "like they're ever going to have elections again" doomerism is that it's big "oh so you REALLY only think there are elections every 4 years, or 2 at best?" man the number of elections we've been having this whole time.

FWIW on Chrome, the "Hide Gemini and Google AI" extension has been pretty reliable. Twitches occasionally, but they're quick to adapt to new ways that Google's trying to shove this shit down our throats.

Seriously, if you've ever considered running for office, now's the time. Go check out @runforsomething.net. This is looking like a 25+ point swing in TEXAS -- nearly doubling the average +13 swing we've been seeing. Don't leave any seat unchallenged. Make the GOP spend all their resources.

30. Point. Swing. In. TEXAS. With those kinds of numbers the GOP should just flee to Little Saint James and try to declare it a sovereign nation.

::sigh, once again::

I talk about politics and the economy and sociology because I write about politics and the economy and sociology. I am a fantasy novelist. Come on.

Two things I am discovering about driving in Florida: Everyone wants to drive either ten miles below or twenty miles above the speed limit. No in-betweens. Red lights are eight years long.

Hello #writingcommunity! It's the end of January, which means #Febchantment starts tomorrow! 🥳🪄 Come yap about your magic systems, both fully formed & under construction! Detailed posts will go up daily at 12am EST. Can't wait to read about y'all's cool & creative magic! ❤️ #writesky #writers