This composition had eluded me for nearly a decade, but yesterday I was finally able to capture it. A train rolled through just as the Duquesne Incline was crossing over the tracks in #Pittsburgh, creating a picture perfect winter scene. It was worth the hours and hours I've waited over the years.

By love and mercy, that is a weight off. Thanks to all of you! Wrap up post and a note from Zukiswa, here:

And yes, I must link to the original video, and you must share it: I don't make the rules. youtu.be/jPCJIB1f7jk?...

In my #ENVSCOMM25-2 class today, a review of social media & its uses in environmental-science communication. Example to show the class? A 2025 blogpost @neorsd.org by on stormwater-management principles related to Tom Holland's lip-synch battle performance. neorsd.medium.com/what-tom-hol... 🧪💧🚽

The book community is working together to fund an African small press to translate two novels. #BookSky We need to close this. Very grateful for your help. Still needed: $250 (USD) Last donation/purchase: 11:00a EST / 18:00 SAST ($5) ko-fi.com/africantrans...

$760 would get this funded TONIGHT. We can do that. I know that everyone's asking for $ right now and times are hard. But these authors deserve a wider audience and this is how we can help them achieve that. If you can't donate even a couple of bucks, please share? ko-fi.com/africantrans...

I buy this head canon honestly.

If for #GivingTuesday you'd love to support Black, African art and also get a little candy box of artistic treats to nom your way through, we've got you!

Wildlife tracking! I'm reposting things I made this past year. If you look closely at the deer tracks you'll see I added the hint that they're double registering (hind foot is stepping into the same spot as front foot).

It's Cyber Monday, I actually have stuff for sale this year, check out shop.aphowell.com, check out all the other great small creators with awesome work, I'd flog more but I have basically zero energy for anything and let's be honest, it's all still going to be available tomorrow.

Black Friday sales Ah, Black Friday, that most American of customs: wasting a vacation day being horrible to retail workers in pursuit of a perceived deal on shitty merchandise. If you'd rather peruse lower-key deals that don't require you to move from the couch, check out the Black Friday BIG…

Absolutely terrifying, but very much worth the read if you can!

this is mesmerizing

Well, now I know where I can find copies of books from a defunct publisher and disused pen name, despite the fact that I was perfectly content letting them just disappear. :/

🔥 COVER +TITLE REVEAL + SUBMISSIONS OPEN🔥 YOUR BODY IS A FEVER DREAM: A Cosmic Body Horror Anthology from Trans & Gender Nonconforming Voices A Charity collection coming in October 2026🖤☠️🏳️‍⚧️ Art by @mxmorgan.com All the info here: tenebrouspress.com/blog/2025/11...

Found families and friendship Pick up the Not All Family is Blood bundle, running November 17–20, for stories of found families and friendships. $20 for 18 books ("The Relative Positions of Dead Things in the Dark" is my contribution).

Do you want a short film set in a solarpunk future? Of course you do! Consider chipping in a few bucks.

Anti-authoritarianism bundle The Burn It Down! book bundle is on sale November 13–17. $16 for a bunch of books on themes of defiance and rebellion. ("Now and Then and Back Again" is in there.)

Award eligibility post (2025) The days are growing shorter, so it's time for the annual flurry of award eligibility posts. This year was a little different for me. I self-published a lot of reprints and had an audio reprint come out, but only had two original publications. "The Mermaid Who…

A reprint with a spaceship (and mud) My novelette "Adamere in Swan" is now for sale as a standalone ebook; you can buy it from my shop, itch.io, Ko-fi or Campfire. It came out in last year's Autumn issue of ParSec. (I have not Americanized the text, so you can expect at least one bonus letter u…

some years, Circulatory System Walking Through the Kitchen Day just completely sneaks up on you

ParSec wins the British Fantasy Award ParSec won the 2025 British Fantasy Award for Best Magazine/Periodical. I've been lucky enough to have two stories in ParSec over the years and benefitted from Ian Whates's editing. (And not just the insertion of an extra u here or there.) The magazine isn't…

The victory of progressive candidates is a byproduct of our work caring for one another and building a better world, not the goal of our work.

BREAKING: After months of stonewalling by Starbucks, unionized baristas just voted 92% to authorize a ULP strike unless Starbucks finalizes fair contracts & stops union busting. If forced, our baristas will strike in dozens of cities on November 13 – the company's busiest sales day of the year.

Zines I've started making zines. It's Monica Louzon's fault; she ran a minizine workshop during Flights of Foundry. I am in a baseline state of despair about all the ways the internet is falling apart, with (private) basic infrastructure enshittifying at an astounding rate. (Remember when Google…

Do you like creepy dolls? Do you like creepy dancing? If so, you're gonna love this short film.

I don’t believe we can outengineer paypro censorship But I DO believe in @conjured.ink. What they are building is akin to a decentralized itchio, retailers as individual self-hosted shops instead of all hosted via one big platform Support them, they need your aid youtu.be/X8LY8yclttE?...

Remember: In some parts of the world, tonight is about joy and candy. If someone shows up at your door and you have candy, give them some. Even if they're "too old" or "not wearing a costume" or "didn't say trick-or-treat."

This is posted as spooky, but my first thought was that the submerged collective is being helpful! (Image is of a woman wearing a scant outfit made of weeds, crossing the surface of a pond. She balances precariously on hands reaching up from from beneath the water, using them as stepping stones.)

Final push for translations The African Translation Project is reaching the end of its fundraising push. As of now, donations cover 71% of the cost of translating two books: Bengithi Lizokuna (I thought it was going to rain) by Nakanjani G. Sibiya, translated from isiZulu by Sifiso Mzobe and…

Exciting news, everyone! As Conjured Ink nears its first beta, we'd like to share with you our roadmap of updates for the next two quarters. These quality of life and system changes will help pave the way for what we hope to become: a home for your incredible works! Thank you!

Halloween sales A bundle of spooky books is on sale for $9.99 in the Halloween Flash Sale on itch.io, running from October 29–31. My short story "5:37" is included. (Many of these books were in last month's Spooky Bundle, but there are a few new titles.) From October 27 – November 4, spend a buck…

Speaking for the "white as a mayonnaise factory in a blizzard" contingent: my family never restricted the use of "aunt," "uncle," or "cousin" to blood relations or kinship charts.

Thank you everyone who's contributed! We're now over 50% to our monthly funding goal, which will allow us to be a pretty reliably sustainable volunteer-run organization that is still able to spend money on e.g. legal, hardware, hosting, etc, costs as we need in order to fulfill our mission!

Philly area: there's a map of food resources here if SNAP/WIC outages have you scared.

okay book fam, this isn't a flashy kickstarter (bc global south doesn't always have access to KS and also those are *work*) but these translations sound fantastic and they don't need much to make it happen. let's get it done! you can pick up fun art in their shop ✨ ko-fi.com/africantrans...

Itch and Steam got a bunch of us thinking; we need a catalogue where creative works are less vulnerable to censorship. A storefront we won't be delisted from. One giving us the autonomy to sell our stuff our way. So we're making Conjured Ink. You can join us. https://conjured.ink

On sale now: two short stories for a buck. (A ghost story set in and near a car trunk, and fey medical malpractice.) itch.io/s/162652/hal...

With funds running out for SNAP, I want to remind folks in the Philadelphia area that Philabundance's bulk buying power stretches the dollars it receives to supports food banks and other food sources throughout the Philly-South Jersey area. Good use of your $ www.philabundance.org/how-we-work/

Killed a wasp in Kid # 1's room. A nice mom moment; I'm still needed.

Not so much "if something is free, you're the product" as "if something is free, you're the test subject"

Anthony Scaramucci lasted longer than Trump's Middle East peace plan.

It looks like my block lists are taking care of some of the recent Bluesky accounts...but I can't help feeling an extra twinge of embarrassment on their behalf. I mean, I'm a little nobody with a website and *I* verified myself, whereas they still have little bsky-dot-social handles.

Props to Benjamin for sharing the details of his contract. Unfortunately no props to MRM because there's a lot of extremely outre stuff in here that I'd refuse to sign. Let's run it down. (Context: If you're negotiating a contract with Strange Horizons, I'm the person you're negotiating with.)

(1) kudos to ben for transparency, v important; (2) i'm old enough to remember in April when MRM told SFWA the merchandising clause was an "error." yet they keep soft toying w/it and seeing if there are takers. i get ben made a personal call, but short fic writers should know, this is not standard.

Amen #booksky #readingcommunity #readercommunity

I remember the "IT is obsolete because the kids are all digital natives now" takes from 15 years ago. Hot takes never really go away, they just get tossed in the microwave periodically.

Today, it sounds like the plumber is doing battle with a hive of large, angry bees. (I am on the third floor; he is in the basement. I hope he is wearing ear protection while drilling holes in things.)

I don't know exactly what the plumber's doing in the basement, but from the third floor it sounds like maybe he found a banshee.

Not only does the boiler need work, but the hot water heater is looking suspect. That's fine, it's all fine.