Uh, catalog, not calendar

Check out the Ohio State University Press spring 2026 calendar! Memoir, essays, poetry, comics studies, sci fi studies, rhetoric, classics, narrative … email me at [email protected] for exam & review copies. #academicsky #comicsstudies #teamrhetoric bit.ly/3M0yBiJ_s

This is an incredible short piece.

Apropos of nothing, I just learned that my great-great-uncle dated Gene Stratton Porter back when she was just Gene Stratton

I have thought long and hard about starting up a new books publication, given how much criticism has been cut across the board. The business model is really difficult. The return on investment is low. We used to be okay with some parts of media not growing rapidly year over year forever.

i know that this is an unpopular take, but everyone starting their own newsletter as a revenue stream is not a sustainable model for writing and reporting or for people who love and want to pay for media.

the Post news is gutting for many reasons, but I can’t help focusing on the books section—how great it was, and how essential. So many worthy books barely get reviewed. I’ve had authors reach out to thank me because mine was the only post-pub coverage they got. Just awful for readers & for writers.

Hello, looks like independent publishers should beef up our books coverage. If you're into the idea of joining the @flaminghydra.com collective and writing a book review each month (800-2000 word range), please send us your ideas and some clips to [email protected]

Democracy dies in broad daylight under billionaire ownership

All the smartest, best people I know are broke and losing their jobs, while the stupidest, meanest, most vicious and violent people are thriving. It’s awful, and of course it’s just one part of the terrible times we’re in. If you feel as hopeless as I do, go read a story, poem, or essay today.

I'll say more before too long, but for now: Thanks to anyone who has ever read and supported the Post's books coverage.

Shit. "Honestly, the worst aspect of this impoverishing, family-wrecking, confidence-crushing ordeal is that it will inspire David Brooks to write an essay about the hubris of American media."

Another Lego shark has been found! It was discovered on Sunday by Emma Fraser Trecurno at East Portholland beach in Cornwall. It's one of 51,800 Lego sharks that fell into the ocean on 13th February 1997. Picture credit: Emma Fraser Trecurno

The judges, it seems, are fucking pissed. It’s a nice thing to see.

Someone outside the US: So, let me get this straight. The groundhog... Me: Is clairvoyant, yes

When I saw pictures of Liam Ramos with his Spidey backpack and bunny hat, I felt an overwhelming responsibility as someone who works in superhero comics. Please do check out the art in #Comics4Liam and visit comics4liam.com to support Liam and groups helping other immigrants like him. ❤️💪🐇

Hanging out in a favorite cosy neighborhood bar with @dangearino.bsky.social while a group of strangers struck up an excited discussion of euchre variations was just what I needed after a very hard week. #ohio #Studio35

I went to Macalester College (best choice ever) and have been frustrated by the assumption that private school is for economic elites ever since. Obviously everyone's case is different but, for example, Macalester now offers a full ride to anyone whose family income is less than 100K.

I survived myself; my death and burial were locked up in my chest.

"Michael Lowenthal finds himself over the course of ten inquisitive, incisive memoirs. … Lowenthal never definitively “finds himself” which, of course, is the point." PLACE ENVY out from #MadCreekBooks next month! @passportmag.bsky.social @jwi.bsky.social passportmagazine.com/passports-be...

”Along with many others, Coffee House, Graywolf, and Milkweed in particular are known for publishing fiction that would give an ICE agent a stroke”

The video circulating of Alex Pretti, the VA ICU Nurse murdered by ICE in Minneapolis yesterday, honoring a veteran who died in his unit is a good reminder of how we truly should be honoring our troops, compared to all the bullshit talk from the GOP while they gut the VA.

Walz: "To Americans who are watching this, I've got a question for you: What side do you want to be on? The side of an all powerful federal govt that can kill, injury, menace, & kidnap its citizens off the streets? Or on the side of a nurse at the VA hospital who died bearing witness to such govt?"

Profiled in @dangearino.bsky.social's book COMIC SHOP. Hosted Dan's Mpls book event. Please do support him.

For those unfamiliar with Edina this is the Minneapolis equivalent of a Westchester socialite walking down Fifth Avenue singing "John Brown's Body."

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than 3 weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone ... this is not sustainable."

Literally all of this is a lie. We are about to find out who is state media, because they will be the ones to parrot a justification for state-sanctioned murder.

Horrifying news out of MN this morning. Sadly, I think we can confidently predict what comes next... DHS, the Trump admin, & rw influencers working to frame another ICE murder as the fault of the victim. I don't see it here on Bluesky, but over on X the focal claim is that the victim was armed.

Can someone smuggle copies of this newspaper into the offices of The New York Times and Washington Post so their editors can learn how to write headlines again?

the invisible flow of metadata is what helps you find the books you need. Madison Mosely explains why keeping metadata fresh matters for #Feedingtheelephant #ReadUP networks.h-net.org/group/discus...

"Many Americans have maintained a suspended reality, too, in which they simultaneously believed that they lived in a functioning democracy while also on some level realizing tremendous harm was being visited on vulnerable communities."

"Slavery was real" Tiny sign at the base of a brick wall that, until yesterday, held panels about the people enslaved by George Washington. Presidents House, Philadelphia.

Liquid Glass is the most annoying thing tech has foisted on me yet. I HATE IT

Lynette D'Amico's MEN I HATE gave me that edgy, slightly breathless, electrified feeling I get when the cadence and language of work together perfectly. Anyway, enjoy this excerpt on @queerloveproject.bsky.social, and pick up a copy online or at AWP! queerloveproject.substack.com/p/f437a477-0...

Don't forget @uminnpress.bsky.social and Minnesota Historical Society Press

CHOTINER: You said you did nothing to provoke the cat. But here it says you — ME: Moved my foot. Yes. CHOTINER: While the cat was sleeping. ME: Yes. CHOTINER: I see

Do not forget that people are GOOD. People WANT to help. People have evolved to be in community and do teamwork. The jackasses in control of the government want us to forget that. Don't let them get what they want.

It's so nice to momentarily think about medieval plague victims instead of everything else.

Childhood: Brandywine. Now: Olentangy/Scioto

New on Book Work: an interview with Michael Lowenthal. His first essay collection “Place Envy” is out on Feb. 11 @derekkrissoff.bsky.social @rafertess.bsky.social @ohiostatepress.bsky.social

Remembering today that having your heart broken is a necessary step on the path to becoming fully human. Whichever heartbreak is your first, it’s probably critical that a state break your heart so that you can develop a political imagination. If this is your first, I’m sorry and also welcome.

On this shortest day and longest night, I'm so happy to be part of @necessaryfiction.com's wonderful solstice project, which will be featuring new short pieces of wintry writing from now until new year's:

It's great to see Michael Lowenthal's PLACE ENVY (February 2026 from Ohio State University Press) on this list! I have ARCs available for reviewers. @jewishbookcouncil.bsky.social @jwi.bsky.social @kristener.bsky.social @joy-castro.bsky.social www.jewishbookcouncil.org/pb-daily/jbc...

What is the quintessential Onion headline? The strong contender that just randomly popped in my mind is "Hank Williams Jr. Honored by Institute For Football Preparedness"

Awesome piece by the Berlin-based writer Jane Yager in the fabulous new issue of @gooseberrypielit.bsky.social: "I sit in the car while everyone else goes into the museum, because as we pulled into the parking lot, Dad let slip that the pits are still active." gooseberry-pie.com/la-brea-tar-...

La Brea tar pits are the best

"Empathy, tenderness, and specificity": So nice to see @tyler-m.bsky.social 's MY PRISONER AND OTHER STORIES (Ohio State UP) on this list! @electricliterature.com electricliterature.com/electric-lit...

The most helpful phrase of 2025 👇

Me: "Blah blah, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan" @dangearino.bsky.social: "I need to go listen to Bob Seger now"

The kids aren't alright. Marina Fedosik considers Damien (THE OMEN), Esther (ORPHAN), Dren (SPLICE), and that grown-ass test tube baby from EMBRYO in her new book about adopted and created children of cinema. "Kinflix" is new from @ohiostatepress.bsky.social. ohiostatepress.org/books/titles...