Was taking out the trash the other night and noticed how amazing the stars looked. Now I know why ... Note to self to look for this special "planet parade" Saturday just after sunset!

Adore the mix of macabre circus with romance. "Peeling your epidermis off hurts a lot. It doesn’t have to, but the pain is part of the experience. It makes it feel real, like they paid to touch death for a midnight." translunartravelerslounge.com/2026/02/15/coat-check-girl-by-adan-jerreat-poole/

If you need a laugh today — a weird, wonderful laugh with a side of giving the middle finger to toxic masculinity — check out @davidanaxagoras.com’s wacky story “'We Require an Engine’ Said the Testicle Collective.” It’s amazeballs! translunartravelerslounge.com/2026/02/15/w...

I don’t write much romance but in honor of Valentine's Day here’s a bittersweet love story of mine that asks, What if you could hop off your spaceship and reconnect with the gorgeous alien lover you left behind? Would you have regrets? Would she? www.heartlines-spec.com/the-architec...

South Africa has yielded the oldest direct evidence of poisoned hunting weapons. The find pushes poison-based hunting deep into the Pleistocene and reveals sophisticated chemical knowledge, planning and tool use far earlier than previously documented. Ars Technica buff.ly/3ySienA #ShareGoodNewsToo

Great list I've been working my way through this week. reactormag.com/tenish-of-th...

I don't know what to tell you. You can't sit at a piano for the first time ever and play a sonata. You can't pick up a tennis racket for the first time and serve a 110MPH Ace. You have to fuck up. You have to be able to handle failing. You have to love it enough to not get it right and keep on.

Loved the voice of this piece. www.apexbookcompany.com/a/blog/apex-...

Here's good story if you need something uplifting today. Nine out of ten newly sentient robots agree: Grandmas are the best!

I adored this dark-yet-somehow-kinda-heartwarming tale and its twist on the movie Jennifer’s Body, by @smessenger.bsky.social. As for its depiction of rural Florida? This native attests 100% accurate. Especially that end scene. 💀🐊 www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/jenn...

The boys got a little carried away with the fire pit. We rarely get temperatures down in the 40s here, so there was much excitement this week. I’m happy to report the evening ended safely.

Damn, hadn't read this letter by MLK in a while. "The ... great stumbling block [is not the ...] Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice."

THIS. "We are fighting and struggling and self-caring our way through the apocalypse, and every day there is something terrible but also something lovely, and we are caught in constant whiplash between the two."

Moment of zen before the holiday craziness begins!

They say the best perfumes are a mix of something alluring with something disgusting. Guess this story proves the same rule for writing. So strange, so problematic, so good! smallwondersmag.com/piece/tuesday/

New Puppy's first trip to the beach!

Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :) The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used > neal.fun/size-of-life/

Great anthology with a strong selection of stories that run the wide spectrum of weird. Horror, fantasy and sci-fi are all here, along with just plain odd and eerie tales. The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, Volume 1, curated by Michael Kelly, @undertow.bsky.social.

Another old illustrated blog post: on the dangers of taking too much advice.  https://www.marievibbert.com/mud/

The new issue is out! Need a break from the holidays? We've got aging druids, adorable bee-cats, vengeful weather witches & more. www.lunastationquart... #ShortStories #WomenWriters #SpeculativeFiction #Fantasy #SciFi #Books #Reading #Writing #Magazines

This short story by @breewernicke.bsky.social is so bizarrely wonderful, especially if you think *stepping* on Legos is painful ... 👀 www.bourbonpenn.com/issue/37/doc...

Look at this dream library within the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The museum is so huge I didn’t know it was there when we visited. I was so jealous my husband found it and snapped this photo while we were each exploring on our own. If I ever go back, it'll be near the top of my sight-seeing list.

Cast of Wonders 664: Blood and Talent by @jamieboyd.bsky.social narrated by Boocho McFly produced by @jeremycarter42.bsky.social hosted by @chesneycat.bsky.social www.castofwonders.org/2025/11/cast... content notes: injury, violence, historical racism, domestic violence, death

The most unusual painting I saw during my visit to the Mauritshuis museum in Amsterdam this summer was "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp." What's stuck with me months later is a story the museum staff told abt the painting — a story I think any artist or writer would appreciate. 🧵 1/4

South Beach never fails to excite and inspire. Back from a quick weekend getaway and feeling refreshed.

Charlotte would be proud. "If I can fool a bug, I can surely fool a man. People are not as smart as bugs." -- E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

This is such a fun story and the perfect example of a character I love to hate!

It's been several days and the New Puppy still doesn't understand the clocks "falling back." So here we are. Up since 6 a.m. on a rare morning I could've been sleeping in. She's lucky she's cute.

If you or anyone you love has trouble sitting still, read this bite-sized story by @bdcutkomp.bsky.social. "My teachers exchange concerns abt the pacing the rocking the bouncing..Theyve got it all wrong." xraylitmag.com/in-another-life-i-am-a-direct-descendant-of-sharks-by-bethany-cutkomp/fiction

I’m excited to announce the sale of my short story “Blood and Talent” to @castofwonders.org . It’s a murder mystery set in the old Wild West … with magic! Many thanks to Katherine Inskip, Alicia Caporaso and team for giving it a home.

Well hello there, gorgeous. Fancy meeting you here.

What a hilarious article!!!!!!!! Also, my heart hurts a little now. "Oh no! Please love me! Or no worries if not!" www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Who’d think mold could be so pretty? We don’t carve our pumpkins until the day before Halloween b/c mold grows so fast here — it’s usually black, nasty & makes a slimy mess if I let it go more than a week. If it grew like this, I might revisit that decision.

Come on, guys! There's not much time left to support this great magazine ...

I have some September short science fiction, fantasy, and horror picks for you on this fine October day. reactormag.com/must-read-sh...

"We are not all built to be beautiful, we are not all built to rampage." Wow. Although I have to disagree, @shanaross.bsky.social. This poem *is* built beautiful.

This 3D map, which you can "fly" through like you're in your own starship, is so humbling. It reminds me of a Barbara Kingsolver quote about our need for nature and timeless landscape: "It reminds us that our plans are small and somewhat absurd.”

Translunar Travelers Lounge closes to submissions end of day tomorrow, 15th October at midnight Eastern Time (US) (UTC-4:00). If you want to submit speculative fiction to us, make sure it's before then! Please read the guidelines. translunartravelerslounge.com/submissions/

Important Pupdate! The New Puppy is growing fast and getting into all sorts of wonderful trouble. The Old Man has gone from being sullen, grumpy and jealous to playing like he's a youngin' again. They are so sweet together! 🥰🐾

This gorgeous story contains the most bittersweet recipe. "The forest needs a witch like the sky needs lightning and the night needs wolves. ... But to become a witch you first have to do this thing. This last, difficult, and horrible thing."

Lush strange & beautiful flash by @mizukiyamagen.bsky.social "A snail no larger than my pinky glides from the wound leaving a delicate silver calligraphy across the pillowcase. .. I hold my breath astonished less by its existence than bythe elegant hydraulics of emergence. hexliterary.com/?p=2878

I’ve always had a good feeling about life on Enceladus. The very first short story I ever had published imagined an ancient forest of giant, coral-like sea life hibernating there. With studies like this, maybe we'll have some exciting news in my lifetime.

RIP, Jane Goodall.

This is the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater), native to North America. And it runs a PROTECTION SCHEME. It's 'connected', see, A Wise Guy, an Avian Cosa Nostra, a Made Bird. "Nice nest here, be a shame if something happened to it." Let's talk about the MAFIA HYPOTHESIS & brood parasitism.

I just finished The Starving Saints by @caitlinstarling.com. Wow! 🤯 What a strange, beautiful novel that somehow manages to be both stomach churning and intoxicating.

Starts today! I'm always amazed at the quality of programming given this accessible, all-online conference for writers and creators of speculative fiction is FREE. Just a few sessions I'm 👀 today: Publishing Contracts Sinners film discussion Spec Biology New Gender Gothic LET'S GOOOOOOO ...

Love this. Congrats @pedroiniguez.bsky.social

I'm the mother of two teenage daughters, so this story hits home. And that ending? 💀 I see you @jenniferhudak.bsky.social ! smallwondersmag.com/piece/echo-s...

Life is wild. 🐝 🐜 🕷️🧬 www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...

I have a room full of framed, favorite literary quotes. This one seemed particularly relevant this week.