"All of these writers deviate from the structure of the traditional nasib – placing the ruins in the middle of a poem, or at the end, or as a recurrent image. The ruins cannot be a point of “departure” in that older sense: the poet cannot, or will not, move on."

Fellow humans you NEED this audiobook in your life, I promise you. You have never heard a narrator say "Fuck you, Greg" with such perfect delivery and conviction.

"For all of the “concern” over women who did get thinner, skinniness was still the prized norm. So, when Duff began losing weight during a time she has now admitted was plagued by body dysmorphia and disordered eating, the press cheered her on."

Let’s be really clear about this lettuce situation: it’s not just the destruction of public health tracking, it’s also years and years of ending regulations that would have prevented conditions causing outbreaks in the first place, combined with climate change that makes them more likely to happen.

Anyway, I'm gonna go back to writing some first person stories now, maybe as a special treat I'll send a reader into emergency therapy with them for being too upsetting.

The American Diabetes Association appears not to have learned their lesson the first time around (below). Now they've blocked publication of an editorial about this event that was slated for publication in the same journal, Diabetes Care, this week. But here it is. You know what to do.

I can't believe I even have to say this, but: Insisting on the reader developing basic literacy and vocabulary improvement skills is not, nor has ever been, ableism. Encountering a word you do not understand is not gatekeeping. It's an invitation for you to learn a new word. FFS.

Also: The Most Ignorant Person. It is 10,000% OK to not worry about if someone who is not ready for your work can follow it or not.

That sound you’re hearing is the mouse clicking of 10,000 post-post-apoc solarpunk RPG indie gamedevs saving this PNG to their mood boards

Agonies.

I am once again begging Hollywood to stop using the Greek alphabet for an Ancient World movie, if they can't afford to even throw a couple of quid at anyone with an inkling of the language. Unless they really think audiences are dying to see THS THDPSSSSPS

...that thump was *not* the thunderstorm moving through, but the weekly fiction drop hitting subscribers' digital doorsteps.

It's a Cocteau Twins afternoon; the "Heaven or Las Vegas" album is still goddamn perfect. Pity we aren't having more thunderstorms but Boxnoggin at least is glad about that. And the new office chair *does* help with productivity, go figure.

"The current ‘existential threat’ framing is effective because it fits on a rolling news ticker, diverts attention from the harms being created right now by data-driven and automated technologies, and confers huge and unknowable potential power on those involved in creating those technologies."

Get your heavily infected superspies, right here! Agent Zero (Viral Agents #1) is $2.99USD (and CAD) in ebook until 7/21. books2read.com/agentzero

#AICouldNever blend gagaku and Joe Hisaishi www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIfz...

For the lunchtime crew: Morning Lightshow

"Ray believes the grey market was allowed to thrive so it could wipe out whatever black market operations were holding on, and this culling would clear the way for corporate entities to swoop in and commercialize New York cannabis..."

Robin Hood--IN SPACE! Hood: Season One is $2.99USD (and CAD) in ebook until 7/31. books2read.com/hoodseason1

"In such cases, prison staff have given people the choice of paying for return postage or simply having the “contraband books” destroyed. Everyone I spoke to for this story requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation."

Outside reeks of petrichor and flash-fried ions. Methinks the day’s storming isn’t finished, merely taking a break.

Pupdate: Boxnoggin appreciates the many passed-along soft pats and reassurances, and thanks his fans for their kindness. He has gained enough bravery to curl up on the living room footstool, Doin a Big Watch & Protec.

It’s wild that publishers are asking authors to opt in to AI licensing, not because they’ve reached an agreement with AI companies but *in the hope* that a regulatory framework *might* one day exist that remunerates authors for the use of their work by LLMs

my main concern is the harm rather than the output, so i don't really need to hear a product testimonial from someone who found it useful. because i don't care

Morning Lightshow

Am out of bed and counting lightning strikes. 🎵 Summer storms, make me feel fine… 🎶

"So what is citizenship then? And why has it suddenly become such a hot topic for discussion in India?"

"The hacked material includes source code that appears to be from 2023 and 2024 that includes scraping instructions and details about the scope of at least some of the scraping."

"Consisting of “a contracting double helix that spirals upward, supported by a huge diagonal girder,” Tatlin’s Tower would contain four sub-structures, each rotating at a different speed."

I wrote this piece about Hunt for Red October a couple years ago and fuck it, it's free now in Sam Neill's honor

An afternoon of talking to writing friends is healing for the soul (even if all we're discussing is how grim everything is right now). Stay shiny, my fellow wordslingers. You're amazing.

...that's two mentions of Sator squares this week, one from my dreaming brain. Not sure where this is going, but okay.

This. Solidarity with our fellow artists of all types is the only way we get through this! Also, Kickstarter is a great way to fund projects like this. (I've successfully Kickstarted two audiobooks so far and plan to do another next year!)

I've seen one of these (not sent to me, but shared w/ me); wasn't sure if it was a rogue example or something more widespread; looks like the latter. So watch out. My guess was phishing or malware, but I wasn't about to click the "open" link to find out.

We would have killed each other over who got to parade the severed head down the hallway.

"Though he acknowledged the risks of using the plagiarism machine when A Rabbit’s Foot questioned him further, he doubled down by highlighting other benefits he believes AI will provide in the future."

Get your heavily infected superspies, right here! Agent Zero (Viral Agents #1) is $2.99USD (and CAD) in ebook until 7/21. books2read.com/agentzero

"You see, OpenAI is awesome at selling mythology and hype, but crumbles the second that its numbers have to face the cold, harsh light of day."

"The aesthetics got materialised. The warnings did not."

13.2-ounce cans of Pedigree Can High Protein Chopped Chicken & Duck Flavor with lot codes 613C3KKCFC and 613C1KKCFC

we're 18 months into the second trump presidency and the entire country is shitting itself. not metaphorically. everything is tracking right on schedule.

Robin Hood--IN SPACE! Hood: Season One is $2.99USD (and CAD) in ebook until 7/31. books2read.com/hoodseason1

"Three times I stopped, and the ghost stopped, too. It continued in front of me right across Fishermen's Green, and then suddenly sank into the ground and disappeared."

Woke up with Madonna's "Like a Prayer" playing inside my head. Good golly, remember when that video dropped? (I am old, old, old.)

"...U.S. journalism has failed utterly to convey to the public that historic-levels of corruption have ensured that our labor, consumer rights, environmental, and public safety regulators simply no longer function. You're going to see decades of concussive, deadly impacts from this."

Finally getting back to editing our interview with @lilithsaintcrow.com. What a great interview! Hoping to have it out to you all in a week or two.

"If the case had really been the dramatic turning point it's remembered as, it seems odd that the one person who processed both men in real time never thought it was worth writing about."

REMIDNER that if you love small and alternative press comics, I have a starter pack for you! go.bsky.app/C2tf7oZ

Monday was cranky-horrid, but the first half of Tuesday seems to have shaken something free and the back half looks fit to radically improve. It's about goddamn time. Sheesh.

I need to stress that this is EPISODE TWO god this show is so good