through gritted teeth, sweating blood: we stay silly

on all levels except the literal I am fossilised in a tar pit

Absolutely kickass story by C.Z. Tacks up in lightspeed today. a rad as hell cyberpunk story about sex work that is, in case I didn't make it clear enough, fucking rips. you want to read this story. you WILL read this story.

Your Daily Dose of #Empathy (buff.ly/HR7edpj) The Girlfriend Experience by @cztacks.bsky.social (buff.ly/0AITHay) In a bleak, near future dystopia devastated by climate change, a sex worker is forced by her economic circumstances to entertain a client whose proclivity involves choking her.

art by Madison Lee Martin and gold detail by Charis Anderson. Congratulations @fionnmacpherson.bsky.social @captainamerico.bsky.social @cztacks.bsky.social and the CSFG committee for making this anthology and book launch happen 🌼 💀 🖤 📚 🤩 NEVER SAY DIE purchase link: csfg.org.au/product/neve...

Happy book release day to We Who Hunt Alexanders, my quirky novella from @apexmag.bsky.social about a neurodivergent monster dealing with both her mom's wrong expectations for her life and the religious extremists hunting them down. Don't miss it! 1/ www.apexbookcompany.com/products/we-...

The Incredible Creatures Kickstarter blew the roof of its initial goal for a book of Daggerheart-compatible adversaries. Now, if the campaign reaches $15,000 (only about $1500 away), they'll bring me on to create some new adversaries and a special encounter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/icv...

I did a thing! I've started a Patreon/tiered Ko-fi! This is mostly to act as a tip jar for anyone who might want to show me some kindness, but there's more There are prompts! And stories! And behind-the-scenes on me! And even divination! ko-fi.com/howsweetthew... www.patreon.com/c/howsweetth...

For only one week, the ebook of Wooing the Witch Queen is on sale at every US online bookstore - and at least some Canadian ones, too! - for just $2.99. Snap it up now: us.macmillan.com/books/978125... #romancelandia

"now is not the time to be writing dark fiction / now is not the time to be writing cozy fiction / now is not the time to be writing depression fiction / now is not the time to be writing hopeful fiction" eff off. let writers write what they want to write when they want to write it.

My new Genre Grapevine features a deep dive into the contract concerns surrounding Must Read Magazines, the new owner of Asimov's, Analog, and F&SF. I include specific contract details and negotiating info. Plus as usual, a ton of other genre news and info. www.patreon.com/posts/133579...

Just so you know how this is f*cked up. Using the same tool that he used on issue #283 of his magazine, it says it was 54% likely made with AI. Issue #283 is from 2019, when AI-gen like it is today didn't even exist. So, no, you should not call out writers and you should not trust these tools.

Ok now I understand. Anna Wintour took one look at this and quit.

Me to my cowriters when sending them my very rough draft

the secret to writing is writing, follow for more tips

Don’t send me an unsolicited picture of your peewee cocktapus unless you want me to… A: find your mom’s Facebook B: find a picture she uploaded of you reminiscing about what a nice young man you were C: badly photoshop that into a locket D: convince you I’m your daughter. Happy Father’s Day Daddy.

OK let's do this. I wanted to do a newsletter that felt fresh and fun to me, and "Undercover in the Apocalypse" is that creature - an epistolary science fiction story addressed to an army of shadow operatives. I hope you'll join me on this covert mission. undercover-in-the-apocalypse.ghost.io

My newest story TELL ME I’M WONDERFUL is live @morningtransport.bsky.social www.sundaymorningtransport.com

I'm not making arguments anymore. if you use the Plagiarism Machine That Lies to think for you, I think you're a little worm person. A sad little worm person and am uninterested in your "thoughts" on anything else.

Antony Green #VoteGOAT

I blocked her for the smell of terf, but wanted to talk a little about this post, and the intersection of privileges it indicates and reflects. Some basic facts: The poster is a white American woman, Republican, wife of a renowned British bigot. Both have well-paid positions. Let's begin. 🧵

Honestly worldcon Hugo nominees someone needs this

Simon Jimenez's THE SPEAR CUTS THROUGH WATER -- honestly, one of the most beautiful books I've ever read; I can't stop rereading it SFF

This is exactly the kind of reporting I was hoping for when I subscribed to Aftermath aftermath.site/ai-video-gam...

Movie you’ve watched more than six times using gifs. (“Hard mode” no Star Wars, Star Trek, or LOTR)

If your newsletter is on Substack, please move it! Put it on Ghost! Or, like, a big CC list, or maybe an 8.5"x11" folded in half sent out through the mail! You are supporting bad people and subjecting your readers to this kind of BS from Substack, whether or not you perceive it.

Treat practice as a discrete part of your day, not as a potential that fills every moment that is unmarked by job or sleep or other hard duties. Make your practice a finite and discrete unit of time and energy.

There are great conferences and science in the US, but with the way things are right now, it’s too risky to attend.

30 minutes and it's within $1000 of funding.

Attacking openAI's (and other LLM grifters) infrastructure is at this point "community self-defense" for the whole internet. They're literally a DOS attack funded by some of the richest and most evil men on the planet. drewdevault.com/2025/03/17/2...

If you're critical of the US government and you are planning to cross the US border any time soon, today is a good day to review EFF's border search pocket guide: www.eff.org/document/eff...

New fiction day! One of my fave pieces featuring messy friendship, weird monsters & bittersweet feelings. Longer form, free to read at @daikaijuzine.bsky.social and no content warnings! Perfect intro to my work for anyone who hasn’t yet gotten around to it… www.daikaijuzine.org/kieralesley/...

You want to see an octopus riding a shark. 🎥: University of Auckland www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/s...

March is here and so is our March Focus On! This month, our Focus On work by Lawrence Bamblett, Owen Bullock, Kate Grenville, Alice Grundy, Kim Huynh, and the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild, edited by C.Z. Tacks. marion.ink/focus-on @alicektg.bsky.social @csfg.org.au @cztacks.bsky.social

Hey pals! My MacBook Air from 2016 died recently and I can’t afford to replace it 🙃 I’m putting together some $ for an iPad setup and could really use some extra work! So! I’m currently available to do sensitivity reads for non-binary/queer/lesbian/adhd characters!

Emma is great people and will give thorough, kind notes. Also decent rates!

The rules of English we know but we don't know we know. This is from the delightful 'The Elements of Eloquence' by Mark Forsyth, an excellent read. #English

I'm gonna be a pain again: it's the last day to nominate works for the SJV Awards and I put out a bunch of shortform works in 2024 that might've slipped under the radar: Nomination form: tinyurl.com/4wc5hy23 Works: tinyurl.com/49db2j5e, tinyurl.com/5n86vxss tinyurl.com/by7zc57r