Should this rant I have about an ideological elephant in the room of fantasy studies be a footnote, or should I just make it a full-blown tangent in the main body of this chapter? #amwriting

Both my husband and I have worked jobs where we've *had* to use VPNs to comply with data security regulations. The name of the game for this Labour government seems to be gross violations of privacy that also completely obstruct the basic functioning of society. It's their only move.

My dear friend Sama'a has worked herself to the point of exhaustion to bring her family back to Gaza City, and now she needs our help to feed and clothe them as winter approaches. Please give what you can. gofund.me/db56c7ce3

It’s particularly important to note that legislation to limit what kids can do and see online also limits what *everyone* can do and see online, censors broad swaths of the internet, further disempowers marginalized tech users, and allows the fascist government to control what is on the internet

It’s disturbing and discomforting to examine but there are several anti-phone and anti-social media initiatives weaponizing murders and suicides of teens, leveraging grieving parents, and exaggerating or inventing causation to try and limit speech online and restrict tech freedoms

A reminder that we're hosting the first European Conference on the Fantastic, Fantasy's Present Pasts, in Glasgow next summer (23rd-25th June 2026). The Call for Papers and Sessions can be found here: fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/20.... Closes 12th December. Please do consider submitting!

Very excited for this. Sofia Samatar is one of my favourite living writers so I will be attending!

Good literary translation requires understanding (language, culture, genre--on both sides of the translation) and an ability to write well. "AI" can't do that. There are no shortcuts. Treat your work and foreign language readers with the respect they deserve. You won't fool anyone with this.

someone got indicted on the basis of “transporting antifa materials” for allegedly transporting a box of ZINES THEY’RE PROSECUTING PEOPLE FOR DOMESTIC TERRORISM OVER ZINES

The racism was bad enough, the subsequent lies, gaslighting and bullying campaign against the people who pointed it out was beyond disgusting

but i wouldn’t!!! 😅😅😅😅😅 (unless he became a zombie)

Taking a wee break from final year panic to catch @clclark.bsky.social at Waterstones Argle ST (Taylor Driggers-McDowall and D hosting). @waterstonesargyle.bsky.social

This conversation was an absolute joy! Here's a pic of me being very absorbed in @clclark.bsky.social's wisdom.

This was such a great event! Stop 2 on The Great North Tour did not disappoint!

18. FATE'S BANE (C. L. Clark, 2025) If you're based in Glasgow, you can hear me discuss this book with the author tomorrow (Wednesday 5th November) at Waterstones Argyle Street at 7 p.m. Get your tickets here: www.waterstones.com/events/an-ev...

After a whirlwind time in Brighton at World Fantasy Con, here’s a quick reminder of the last few UK tour stops! Edinburgh, Nov 4 w/ Hannah Kaner Glasgow, Nov 5 w/ @taylorwdriggers.bsky.social Leeds, Nov 6 w/ @tashasuri.bsky.social @toribovalino.bsky.social Tickets below!

“Fantasy is nearer to poetry, to mysticism, and to insanity than naturalistic fiction is. It is a wilderness, and those who go there should not feel too safe. And their guides, the writers of fantasy, should take their responsibilities seriously." From Elfland to Poughkeepsie, Ursula K Le Guin

17. THE SOVEREIGN (C. L. Clark, 2025) If you live in or near Glasgow, you can hear me discuss this book with C. L. Clark next Wednesday 5th November at Waterstones Argyle Street! Find more info & get tickets here: www.waterstones.com/events/an-ev...

'The "uncle" who Frodo said got rich by adventuring with Dwarves is actually a distant cousin, he clarified on Monday.' - Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, The Shire Post

Zohran caught in LIES: Mamdani claims to have "loved Final Fantasy III" when he was growing up. yet research indicates that the game he played was in fact the SIXTH Final Fantasy game

Excited to be participating in this Glasgow Ursula Le Guin love fest on 4/11 with @suchmayer.bsky.social, @taylorwdriggers.bsky.social, @mjrsangster.bsky.social We're celebrating @silver-press.bsky.social gorgeous new book The Word for World which centres on Le Guin's imaginative maps. Come!

I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast yes YES the plums are gone

I can't articulate it well but I don't care what punctuation/ set of words is the current tell for Chatgpt. I'm not changing my voice or the way I write for this program, my writing will evolve the way it evolves. I am not panicking that it uses em dashes. They should panic and pay me.

Support the Sameer Project chuffed.org/project/1132...

A Bard College student was kidnapped by ICE and Bard’s administration is advocating for his release and has created a website to assist the rest of the community in joining them. That’s what academic leaders should be doing for their students right now. www.instagram.com/p/DQKSTDJkeF...

The CFP for the 2026 meeting of the International Society for Religion, Literature and Culture (Stirling, UK, 10-13 September) is now live. Abstracts of no more than 350 words due 31 January. www.isrlc.org/isrlc-confer...

It’s still weird that you have multiple parties running on making the country so shite no one will want to live here

"Friends" is a beloved American sitcom that aired from 1994 to 2004, following six young adults—Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe—living in New York City. The show explores their friendships, romances, careers, and personal growth over ten seasons.

*screams*

Glasgow friends: I have a couple of book events coming up at Waterstones Argyle Street in a couple weeks' time! On Tuesday 4th November I'll be taking part in "A Celebration of Ursula K. Le Guin" with @suchmayer.bsky.social, @philcrockettthomas.bsky.social, & @mjrsangster.bsky.social.

2 weeks to go until A Celebration of Ursula K. Le Guin at @waterstonesargyle.bsky.social, just before the full supermoon! With me, @taylorwdriggers.bsky.social @philcrockettthomas.bsky.social & @mjrsangster.bsky.social, celebrating @silver-press.bsky.social's The Word for World. Book now!

Marie McGowan, 89, has died 3 years after a brutal assault during which she was put headfirst into a rubbish bin. Her attacker, Alex Bailey, believed she was "a man dressed as a woman." This is the world the transphobes are creating "to protect women." RIP Marie. share.google/PFaI5YTh9tBw...

ANNOUNCEMENT🎺🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Introducing our bona new quarterly literary magazine: FANTABULOSA! Pushing the boundaries of bold, authentic, QUEER storytelling. Bringing you stories of the uncanny, the dangerous and the fantastical. & thanks to our brilliant #WrathMonth backers, we're fully funded for 2026 🤘

Anyone need a good proofreader or queer sensitivity reader? A friend of mine is going through a rough time at the moment and could do with some paid work. She has loads of experience with editing & proofreading, and I've paid her to do sensitivity reads for me in the past. DM me if interested.

16. THE FAITHLESS (C. L. Clark, 2023) Read in preparation for "An Evening with C. L. Clark" at Waterstones Argyle Street in Glasgow, 5th November. Get your tickets here: www.waterstones.com/events/an-ev...

I was mired in evangelical culture back when Matt Walsh was still a popular conservative Calvinist blogger. Seeing him pivot to Catholicism only to be constantly furious that it isn't more Calvinist will always be funny to me.

Pay attention to the language that will be used by much of the media. The Global Sumud Flotilla never entered Israeli waters. They are in international waters attempting to reach Palestinian waters. Israel is once again breaking international law

So, I'm making a video game based on Palestinian folklore. It's called Thursday of the Dead, and you can talk to a Palestinian ghouleh. It will have branching narrative, and art all made by a human (me). I need exactly $100 to launch it on Steam when it's finished. ko-fi.com/soniasulaiman

Especially if you feel "stuck" in your life then it's especially galling to see people who are certainly struggling but in very different ways refuse to accept what they're given. What's even more unforgivable is that they're willing to take risks to grow...

You can tell a lot about a society by its folk devils so it's interesting that ours seem to be migrants, trans folks and students: very different groups but the common denominator seems to be... self-improvement? You can kinda see why they would elicit resentment in an aging, sclerotic society...

Responding to a call for creative nonfiction submissions by trying to write *the* thing I've actively avoided writing about so far, Lord help me 🙃

Fucking FINALLY.

I've given my professional website a much-needed overhaul to reflect my recent publications and current editorial work. Check it out! taylor-driggers.com

Bluesky is overall much better than Twitter but I do think we have the worst case of “so you hate waffles?” in the history of websites

I feel like not nearly enough people understand this: "Where real thinking involves organic associations, speculative leaps, and surprise inferences, AI can only recognize and repeat embedded word chains, based on elaborately automated statistical guesswork." www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...

YES! THIS on GenAI! Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins: "An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."

as an author of a book on reparations I am intimately familiar with the move people make from "the thing you want isn't politically viable right now" to "you shouldn't want it, talk about wanting it, or even think about it" but it never stops being weird to me

What you do is who you are!!!!!!