Seriously. Screw fireworks.

Conference lynch pin @charlotteashley.bsky.social with the most easterly and westerly long-distance attendees, 5k+km for me and @nilaewhite.com! @tricon-hfx.bsky.social was a great success – thanks and congratulations to all the attendees, volunteers, and organisers ❤️❤️❤️ @tridenthalifax.bsky.social

Oh. Right. Fireworks. That’ll help Max relax. (I loathe fireworks.)

Turns out a Sense8 rewatch was just the thing. Man, the scenes where they rely on Sun kicking ass still make me SO HAPPY. Also, I love Kala’s speeches—especially her "just because a thing is natural…" speech. And, of course, they’re all so darned beautiful.

Every now and then I get to speak in high-school classes as a writer of queer books for young adults, and one of the things I point out every time is that—*in my lifetime*—I have been (in various places I’ve lived): illegal, a disease, and a mental illness—and still be illegal in lots of places.

36 years ago, the World Health Organization stopped treating homosexuality as a disease. That helped many of us live freer lives. But even now 65 countries criminalise being gay. Many refuse care for trans folk and force surgery on intersex infants. We will keep pushing to end institutional bigotry.

What’s a book we haven’t covered on Bar Cart Bookshelf that you’d love to see a drink for?

No idea if this particular story will ever get finished, let alone see the light of day, but I just wrote: "There was no sense of guilt, no sense of shame, nothing but the knowledge he’d gotten away with it. So I reached inside his mind and shut it off." ANYway apparently I’m having an angry day.

Icon behaviour tbh

If you see this, post your getaway vehicle. I’d be happy with any Federation Starship from this era, frankly, but I do love me the wee Saber-class in back. (I’ve always liked the little ships, like Nova-class and Oberth-class…)

Unsurprisingly, filling my day with #TTRPG stuff has been mostly what I’ve been doing with the house to myself. Cue the music. duck://player/def3ob2h-1s

A-yup. Like, I know what my parents would have filled in, that’s for sure.

You're trapped in the last TV show you watched, where are you? I hope the rest of my cluster has some, y’know, useful skills.

Daaang I knew it was bad but the nerve of that guy to say all of that. The students are correct in their booing; let them boo. And louder.

I’m already done my Murderbot audiobook. I should have tried to make it last longer.

Wow, thanks, Levi! What a fun teaser for my upcoming book!

Max decided 5:00a was enough sleep for me. We must return to the vigil. It’s gonna be a long week.

Okay. Given how little we slept last night, we shall attempt an early night tonight. Hoping for yellow alert from Max, rather than red alert. Fingers crossed.

Not just him, but… Quantum Leap was… "formative."

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Rob Byrnes’s "The Night We Met" was both (a) an epiphany reading a *fun* queer story and (b) got me kicked out of a pizza place.

This has pride of place on my writing desk.

Taking a bath with husband away is a bad idea. Husky so alert over him not being home; needs to keep coming to huff at me because I’m not where he can see me while maintaining vigil at the front door. I’d give up and take showers this week, but my hands and arm do SO MUCH BETTER after a hot soak.

I was having this discussion with awesome author friends recently, but that Top 100 Classics or whatever list has me thinking about how the thing that almost singularly destroyed my love of reading was English Class and the books they forced us to read.

Deep Wizardry, I’ll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip, Ruby. (Decided to go with YA.)

I’m just going to mute the singing contest the way I do FIFA and all the other gross organizations. Just better for my mental health.

I’ve said before, but one of the first things I do when I get edits back is make a copy of the file, and then hit "accept all" and just… read it. It’s the easiest way I’ve found to take "but my words!" out of looking through edits. After? I click individual "accept"s with so much less resistance.

wherever you live, fight for speed cameras and automated enforcement of traffic laws.

I don’t suppose I have someone here who can help with an Affinity Publisher snafu? I have a text frame that’s locked and I can’t move it. In the layers menu it isn’t locked, but on the page it is. Need to get this frame on this page (and all pages) unlocked so I can moves them. Unlock All does nada

Man, the FOMO for not being able to attend @tricon-hfx.bsky.social is REAL. Looks like you're all having a great time. Can't wait to see all the posts and hear all the stories. I'll need to pick people's brains for my report on the con in the intro to Year's Best Cdn F&SF Vol 5, so take notes! 😜

It’s #StarTrekAdventures Saturday on the blog, where I try to offer up something for the awesome Trek #TTRPG from @modiphius.bsky.social. This Mission Brief is inspired directly from my Shackleton Expanse campaign group—as well as Kriosian empathic metamorphs and Iyaarans. #Gaming

Husband is away in Amsterdam for bus-i-ness(TM, Sam the Eagle) and I’m sort of drifting around the house with this utter sense of… "Now what?" Usually, on weekends we drive somewhere, walk the dog, stop at a coffee shop, and then start our day. I had to walk Max on the usual route like a chump.

On a walk, Max was introduced to FAFO in regards to approaching a fledgling robin. Sniffing a fledgling robin is the FA. The FO was the robin’s mother. Much chagrinned husky.

Also HAPPY FRIDAY we made it! (I made it! one week since getting SLICED IN HALF with a RUSTY BUTTERKNIFE!) I would love if folks pre-ordered my next novel, a weird city fantaspionage (??) story with a government nerd and his assigned group project: to save the world!

Love this for them #subnautica #videogames #gaming

Toys.

Outside of Canada? New Orleans, USA; Edinburgh, Scotland; Nottingham, England.

This whole thread is a JOY!!! #JoyScrolling

Wardens of the Blue Rose update! New Stretch Goals, and ThursdAGE Quickstart Review at 3:00p Pacific/6:00p Eastern tonight! Learn more here: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/g...

"Mercedes General," by Jerry L. Wheeler. Mosaic novel—which, as y’all know, is my jam—and does the whole "truth in fiction" thing re: queerness/queer history/a snapshot of a piece of our history in danger of being purposefully "lost." (Also, THAT COVER.) rebelsatori.com/product/merc...

Lee is one of my Top Homies, his books RIP. "Summer Sons" is great if you're gay and have ever been sad in college, and "Woods All Black" is great if you're gay and you want to fuck a werewolf

"Mercedes General," by Jerry L. Wheeler. Mosaic novel—which, as y’all know, is my jam—and does the whole "truth in fiction" thing re: queerness/queer history/a snapshot of a piece of our history in danger of being purposefully "lost." (Also, THAT COVER.) rebelsatori.com/product/merc...

Right off the bat "Wingspan" occurred to me, because that’s the game I most often forget to actually *play* because I’m distracted learning about pretty birbs. I don’t think I’ve ever remembered to play tactically. I always end up going, "Oh! Pretty birb!" instead.

Obviously this won't be over but this is a fantastic victory.

Seeing a made-up quote from Ursula K. Le Guin—a woman who she said so many things in her lifetime worth quoting and in better ways on the same topic as the false words you shoved in her mouth—makes me twitch in ways I cannot even name.

Well, the board voted to ban the song last night from the kids' concert. A SONG. These bigoted motherfuckers are banning a *song* because of its history with the LGBTQ+ community. www.tmj4.com/news/jeffers...

A great (and frustrating) overview of the 4 Pillar Games nonsense from @rascal.news and Lin Codega:

“They want extra rights when they already have the right to be heteronormative like everyone else” has been leveled against LGBTQ+ people essentially forever.

Last re-skeet: This is why we (a) vote for people we agree with and (b) still hold them accountable thereafter when they waver. The critique of someone you voted for, and holding them to what they said they should do when they screw up? That is *how it should work* and isn’t a failure.

Mayor Mamdani restores library funding after public outcry gothamist.com/news/mayor-m...