Now, at last, you can look forward to next January (cover by @downpourdw.bsky.social, from @beltpublishing.bsky.social)

Is there anything more depressing than fighting for funding for a library? Because that’s what I’m doing this week. And it’s depressing. Libraries MATTER!!!

I understand why people watch a superhero movie and dismiss all superheroes as "lone cowboy with bazooka saves the day" but my early understanding of showing up for a community came from superhero comics. There's fights, but Batman brings Solomon Grundy food and leaves him alone when possible, etc.

New newsletter post on the Rust Belt Arcana book and tarot deck. pencilbooth.com/posts/4bc04e...

HEY YOU GUYS. By @jakesteinberg.com from @beltpublishing.bsky.social. Cover by @downpourdw.bsky.social

Pulled this frame from a video I took in 2000 from an 8mm Sony handicam. I dig it.

Ok. We all had our day to talk shit and be angry. But it's Wednesday now and I'd love to encourage the kidlit community to focus on our real fight. There are now 2 book banning bills introduced on the federal level. 7661, which we largely know about but now 2616, too. It's call your reps o'clock!

Adulthood is just cycling between "If I don't say yes to every opportunity, no new opportunities will ever be offered to me" and "Oh no, I have said yes to too many things" over and over until you die.

honestly I want the met gala where a bunch of broke professional artists get funding to come up with their own costumes and the money to get them made. I feel like everybody would sit up fast

There would be a lot of newly funded independent films happening 😄

Some old paintings I made for a gallery show that never happened in 2020. Paint, ink, and white out on wood.

Switched mine to Pencil Booth after I saw other artists, @faitherinhicks.bsky.social , using it and figured it was go time! pencilbooth.com/archive/down...

A reminder during #NationalLibraryWeek, libraries are our best and last defense against the fascist monopoly on knowledge and information

Some old work! I've always enjoyed these illustrations I did for the Cleveland Playhouse years ago. The fun problem solving for this project was hinting at characters but not adding features because some actors weren't yet attached so we really leaned into the silhouette motif.

Kind words about my debut YA graphic novel Soulmates from an early reader review via Goodreads. 😊

I'm telling you, the solution to many problems in education is to hire school librarians (at a liveable wage, with administrative support, and adequate resources). Your students don't need an LLM, they need a librarian.

Very very excited to share this blurb for Soulmates (my upcoming YA Graphic Novel) from the amazing Vanessa Montalban, who masterfully crafts elements of premonitions, family, magic, and creepiness in her books. So, let's just say that any praise from her is really special!

Can't tell you how many members of Congress who *at best* had nothing to say when I asked about the Minab girls school attack. There is a profanely cold detachment inside Capitol Hill, a mode completely unrecognizable to common human decency I wish I could properly convey to you.

April's newsletter is here and it's all about how I use reference from my life in my work, specifically my upcoming graphic novel, SOULMATES. There's also a special little story about a special little fox. pencilbooth.com/posts/7e5180...

Here's a snippet from an early reader review for my young adult graphic novel SOULMATES coming out August 4 on MacMillan. 😊

yeah so I don’t think the choice we’re being offered is “pay the police to play Candy Crush or pay them to lock up your neighbors” it’s that this even *being a job* is a choice and we can unmake it at any time

So... What's your favorite way of getting books promoted to you? Asking for a friend... And me...

I remember seeing an ad for AI where a guy sent an email using AI then went surfing (since he got his work done so efficiently )and thought...what "corporate" job would let you leave because you got a task done? They would obviously just give you more work to do or eliminate your job...

They fired forest rangers making $50k

If the Rightwing and some liberals successfully dismantle public libraries, they will not be replicated again in the U.S.

ANOTHER cover reveal!!! (we all need cheering up!) We're so excited for this one, by @awestfell.bsky.social, coming next fall. From @beltpublishing.bsky.social with cover design by @downpourdw.bsky.social.

Cover reveal! Coming in August from @beltpublishing.bsky.social , with an introduction by Whet Moser. (Thanks to many of you here who encouraged we choose this title!)

New generative AI statement for @hinterland.bsky.social's games, being added first to the Episode Five build launching at the end of March. (Needs some formatting tweaks for widescreens apparently...😅)

We had $18k in rent requests come in just today (so far). We’re anticipating needs at our neighborhood school to be over $100k again this month, but this time donations are WAY down. We don’t have enough money to cover everyone. Please help us keep our neighbors w/ young kids from being evicted!

I can't get over this number: in 2007, there were 360,000 newspaper jobs. Now, there are 80,000. "My local paper sucked!" Sure. What sucks even more? The void. "I get all my news from the Guardian!" No, the Guardian doesn't report on your town council, your school board, local cops.

We tend to think of successes as these big moments. They aren’t. Success is fighting through the inertia and putting in the work every day. Success is showing up. Celebrate that and you will be happier.

The next installment in our Revivals series received a starred review from Kirkus! Available for preorder! It’s a classic feminist novel originally published in 1915, set in Iowa. Featuring an intro by Sarah Blackwood, and a cover by @downpourdw.bsky.social! www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

Seriously thankful for journalists who are risking their physical and mental health covering this timeline. Also thankful for non-journalist people who are trying to connect dots as well. Not a lot of good right now but seeing people searching for answers for justice is heartening.

I got my first trade review for You’re Déäd To Me, Reed Walker & it's a glowing one from Kirkus! It's such a pinch me moment to see reviews roll in & this book find its readers! Intrigued: My bïø has the review, pre-ørder + Goodreads 🔗s #booksky #writingcommunity #amreading #tbr #debut #romcom

Hey what's going on with people getting arrested for trying to block AI data centers all over the country It's almost like the AI industry and fascism have the same goals in mind IDK IDK I'm not a doctor

New blurb for my upcoming graphic novel Soulmates from the wonderful Sam Prentice-Jones, author of the Arcana Duology.

Reading American history will break your heart a thousand times but it will also fill you with such admiration and awe for all the people who were excluded from the protection of America’s founding principles and fought to promote, protect and expand them anyways

CBP didn’t give her or anyone any water; she asked 3 times accg to other reports. CBP killed a 7yr old. “8 hours after the girl & her father were taken into custody, she began having seizures & her body temperature was measured at 105.7 degrees by emergency medical technicians. shorturl.at/d2OTJ

One of my favorite spreads from my upcoming graphic novel SOULMATES. pre-ordering is up. I recommend your local bookstore OR @bookshop.org

If you've ever wanted to get into treasure hunting at estate sales but felt intimidated by the unwritten rules and codes or wondered how people find such gems, Bring Cash is for you! Cover design by @downpourdw.bsky.social Releasing March 31st! Preorder here: beltpublishing.com/products/bri...

What's your comfort horror movie? 🎬 'The Thing' (1982)

This is the aftermath of an ICE kidnapping a few blocks from my home in St. Paul—an hour ago. A quiet street full of broken glass and at least three wrecked cars. The target of the kidnapping was taken away by ambulance. He was on a stretcher and covered by a sheet, though a cop said he was alive.

Disregarding the lame AI in all these commercials, they are conceptually trash. No thoughtful concepts, nothing interesting. Just the lowest reach of celebrity dialogue trash. Visual slop as well as conceptual slop.

They are the literary edition of NFTs. Worthless financial instruments, masquerading as art, preying on the naive/gassed up.

I have yet to see any evidence that there is a market for AI-generated books outside of people being tricked into thinking they are not AI-generated books. AKA, it is a project of scamming and deceiving people, and really should be treated as fraud

Fucking surreal that people dressed like this and carrying assault rifles are permitted to kidnap people off our streets

Can comfirm from MN, as can anyone who lives here, that not a THING has changed except little Bovino isnt peacocking around the streets anymore. And there hasn’t been a third high-profile murder of a white person yet. But the gestapo attacks haven’t stopped. At all! bsky.app/profile/jyse...

Cover reveals! Coming next fall from @beltpublishing.bsky.social; design by @downpourdw.bsky.social, who does the designs for this series. Thanks to Bluesky for encouraging us to choose The Pit!