Happy Life Day, Wookiees! Time to whip up some Bantha Surprise: adoctorofmanythings.wordpress.com/2024/12/04/i...

In light of the astronomical increases for my health insurance next year, I thought it would be a good time to encourage people to subscribe. (A few hundred should cover it. Sigh.) clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/

I love receiving external validation— today in the form of a reminder that I was longlisted for a Hugo Award.

Why is it important to include references to slavery on blue plaques, National Trust properties, etc? Because otherwise people are convinced that somehow those lovely houses were gifted to certain British families by the fairies, and don't think about where the money came from.

METAPHOR

Then again, I suppose it's no surprise that Britain doesn't want Olympic winners. Brexit clearly demonstrated it doesn't want economic prosperity and security, after all.

Just saw an ad for The War Between The Land And The Sea. Zilda would like her hat back please.

Tis the season to be jolly. Or something.

[hums theme tune]

Bursaries for writers of colour to attend the Milford Writers Workshop next year are now open. I seriously cannot recommend the experience enough. Apply here: www.milfordsf.co.uk/bursaries.htm @milfordsff.bsky.social

In the interests of fairness @drfionamoore.bsky.social has not only cooked and eaten Sylvia Noble’s Tuna Madras, but also published her conclusions. I recommend this post and the related series to anyone interested.

Give a man a fish and someone with a thousand fishes is going to bitch about people getting free handouts. Teach a man to fish? Yeah, that person with a thousand fishes is going to bitch about that too.

I see the 'who's really English?' arguments are back, lifted straight from 1970s NF/1980s BNP leaflets scrutinising birthplace, grandparents etc. No surprise. Tolerating debate about LGBTQ+ people's rights to exist and live equal lives as 'reasonable concerns' was always going to lead to this. 1/3

The only Fallout game I have is #4, and when I bought it the clerk at the shop did a little double-take at my customer info and said, "Sorry, we just don't normally get too many professors buying Fallout." I expect a lot of them watch it though...

Happy 17th birthday to my cat Ayesha. She believes the only legitimate political regime is absolute rule by torties. She is a tortalitarian.

Sort of like the “reboot” of Van der Valk (or, as I call it, 21st Century Valk) then.

For those who haven't seen the 1980s miniseries V (source of the photoshop below), this is also the series where the titular fascist "Visitors" waged a propaganda campaign against science, with scientists being deported to concentration camps. Another case of the Torment Nexus.

Celebrating the release of his latest SF opus, the space opera Project Hanuman - out now through @angryrobotbooks.bsky.social - author (and BFS treasurer!) @stewarthotston.com walks us through the genesis of the book. britishfantasysociety.org/from-pen-to-...

New on my blog: it’s still the spooky season, and LEXX begins a vampire-spoof storyline! Kai is undead and brooding, Stan wraps himself in garlic, and Xev wears a dirndl. adoctorofmanythings.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/l...

Management Lessons from 1980s SF-Horror.

I have discovered the CEEFAUX Bsky feed and I may be some time.

It's true.

Three German universities offering post-docs for researchers "who cannot conduct or continue their work in the USA appropriately because of actual political pressure. " www.uni-konstanz.de/zukunftskoll...

To everyone who thinks the franchise would be RUINED if James Bond came back as a different person, I have bad news: galacticjourney.org/august-4-196...

By coincidence, I've been working on the Equality and Diversity in "The Lord of the Rings" chapter today, and this fits with it perfectly.

This one made me cry. A clever twist on the child-stolen-by-the-fairies trope, but also a story about what it's like to love and lose a pet... except the pet's a human.

Maximum Alpha at 1.25x Speed = Worst episode of Space: 1999 ever.

Another reason to use the phrase "pregnant people," is because it's far too easy to reduce cis women to their biological essentials during pregnancy and we need to recognise that they are, also, people.

There's a programme in European countries that provides refugees with free university/vocational education so they can quickly upskill and work in their particular fields, contributing to the economy and taxes. Could you imagine that here? The right-wing press would kill it before it started.

Either "James Bond" is a codename shared by a number of different agents, or James Bond is an individual with a particular history, but who, like any such character, can be portrayed by different actors and in different ways. Problem solved.

There's an Evangelion McDonalds' commercial? Oh dear. There really is. (would Rei really endorse a double-beef patty? I doubt it). www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Qq...

On the day when people post about their family members who served in the forces during the World Wars, I'd like to remember my grandfather, who spent the war working on the tetanus vaccine, and my other grandfather, who was a farmer and who took in Jewish refugees. They also serve.

Project Hanuman is here. I hope you'll take a look as I think it's a pretty good space opera - no hero's journey here - this is about community, how we build back better and, of course, mind bending space battles in sentient ships. #spaceopera #scifi #projecthanuman #writing #SFF #sciencefiction

Yeah, but what if this *isn't* late-stage capitalism? What if this is just the middle part of capitalism, before it goes into laying-its-eggs-inside-another-ideology-stage capitalism and makes giant capitalist wasps? Pretty sure it has to end in wasps.

There's a new movie out: a proven master of the Gothic genre gives us a controversial and psychoanalytic take on Frankenstein. It's 1970 and Hammer has just released The Horror of Frankenstein-- what did you think I meant? @galacticjourney.bsky.social galacticjourney.org/november-10-...

I was there in spirit.

I had something to do with all of this, back when.

It's the Most! Wonderful! Time! Of the year!

You don't even need to limit your screen time. I took my social apps off my phone but left the ebook apps, and lo and behold I've read twice as many books this year as last year (and that's not counting magazines and short fiction).

I've made @thomasha.bsky.social's original novelette "Uncertain Sons" - from his debut collection - available to read for those catching up on year-end reading, for awards eligibility and recommendations. Enjoy! We appreciate your kind consideration. undertowpublications.com/uncertain-sons

This is the future we narrowly avoided. Also why the Hangar Lane Gyratory is such a mess.

I have my tickets and my hotel booking already and will be there with books, jewellery, miniatures and of course Drogon (who can't wait to see all his fans again).

On Remembrance Day I think of Charles M. Schultz, who was a veteran and, because of this, a pacifist. As a symbol of this, he was absolutely fine with servicepeople making and wearing Peanuts fanart, but the only (semi)military institution he would allow to officially use his characters was NASA.

Never undervalue the importance of faffing during any artistic pursuit.

Writing a book's like having a kid, and I do mean there are a lot of times when you're thinking "why did I commit to this?" and "Never again!" But what parent would want to simply have a grown human being suddenly appear in their lives, without any of the experiences of growing up along the way?

Yes, this really is how silly certain people sound.

It's #Blakes7 Season B day, so here's something I made for fun: the studio shoot for Redemption! #CGSets #Blake's7

I have three takeaways from this article: 1) Scientific discovery is always a team effort rather than an individual one; 2) Academia had, and still has, a sexism problem; and 3) I'm redacting because one should not speak ill of the recently deceased.

I was reminded today of the existence of this joyous and delightful video, so sharing it for whoever needs a serotonin boost today: youtu.be/oxzwUiVwXxk?...

But arts and humanities are useless degrees! How can they possibly be relevant to SCIENCE?!