Goodreads asked me to curate some October-Inspired Book Recommendation lists for them, so here they are! www.goodreads.com/blog/show/30... . @caitlinstarling.com @spookypurcell.bsky.social @stejhoward.bsky.social @sgj.bsky.social @tananarivedue.bsky.social @anovelescape.bsky.social and more

STARRED review in Library Journal for WE WILL RISE AGAIN, the speculative activism anthology edited by @drkarenlord.bsky.social, @older.bsky.social and me! Pre-order here: www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Wil...

EVERYONE STOP EVERYTHING Mychal the Librarian is hosting the Reading Rainbow revival!!! reactormag.com/reading-rain...

Shut it down. Shut it all fucking down. Trump has the losing hand here & he knows it, so he's trying to blame his shitty shutdown on the dolls, hoping spineless dems will sacrifice them on the altar of civility. Fuck anyone who crosses to help him. Fuck them and primary them and hassle them to Hell

🎶 Take a look, it's in a book 🎶 🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈 #FollowTheRainbow

This is my regular reminder to everyone that jstor is open to the general public now; a free account there will give you access to 100 papers a year.

“Leave their church potluck casserole untouched” If you didn’t grow up in evangelical circles, you have no idea how cold this is. I’m just picturing a woman hissing at her husband who works for ICE because“They won’t even touch my tater tot casserole anymore Bob.”

Why are people saying "this is not normal" over and over again, instead of "this is illegal" or "this is unconstitutional" or "this is treason?" Not normal sounds subjective, wishy-washy and neurotic. It communicates nothing of substance.

There is no measured way to say what I am about to say. If the Supreme Court agrees with the Trump administration to end birthright citizenship, we must end this current Supreme Court. I do not say this lightly.

The superintendent they just kidnapped is a former Olympic athlete who runs footraces with the kids from his schools while wearing a maroon suit and a bowtie. This is quite simply about the people in power feeling threatened by Black excellence.

This is EXCELLENT. 1) this is spot-on analysis of the problem & a great immediate 1st thing a city can do to improve outcome. 2) as a 2 min clip? He's giving history, hope & change. Speaking to women, to Jewish & Black NYers, saying "abortion." & also naming eugenics in feminism. 100/10 no notes.

Sometimes a column is about something specific, and sometimes it's just about everything I've been reading and thinking about, and this one is definitely the latter!

WIRED spoke with more than 200 federal workers in dozens of federal agencies to learn what happened as the Department of Government Efficiency tore through their offices. This is the oral history of DOGE, as told by federal workers:

He launched a more powerful defense of journalism than the vast majority of mainstream journalists have and that's an indictment of them.

One of the most interesting things about Jimmy Kimmel, and what I loved most about his conversation with Bill Burr a few months back, was that they’re both middle-aged white comedians who heard how culture has evolved, took notes, grew up, didn’t get defensive, and became *even more* successful.

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If you're a cis person who wants to be kind to your trans and nonbinary friends right now, please do not forward us links to stories about trans people being abused, having their rights taken away, or living in fear. We already know. A friendly "hey I hope you're OK" is much more helpful. 💖

Thursday!

She's here!

we’ve just capitulated to the nakedly fascist government for purely pecuniary reasons, please enjoy this trailer for an upcoming film about resisting a space tyrant

The leaves are going orange and the air is just chilly enough that being under a blanket is a treat. Autumn, my beloved, it is divine to see you again.

Excellent advice. It's easy to get overwhelmed when the world is on fire. Do what you can to help and try to make a difference day by day. Doing a bit each day can quickly grow into big change.

Tim Walz: "I'll tell you what doesn't make people feel safe -- a tank next to Chipotle. It's stupid and it's for the cameras ... where are the 'don't tread on me' people?"

SO MUCH THIS.

Robert Redford playing a gentle incarnation of death, coming for a frightened old woman in The Twilight Zone episode "Nothing in the Dark" (1962). An extraordinary performance then, terribly bittersweet today

YES please check out my sci-fi duology Exo and Crossfire, I really like them and they are so criminally unread compared to all my other books

“AMPLITUDES: STORIES OF QUEER AND TRANS FUTURITY is an exceptional speculative anthology.” @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social (@QueenOfRats) reviews a new anthology edited by @leemandelo (@leemandelo.bsky.social)

The point of college is not to enter with a set of beliefs and stick to them, defending them in debates. Students learn to question received wisdom, understand multiple perspectives, and value evidence, guided by expertise. In fact, that's what many attacking higher ed actually object to. Thread.

I shouldn't be shocked, but I'm still always brought up short to realize how many people think "civility" means "white people speaking in relatively calm voices" no matter what vile shit they say.

100% this. One of THE most important things you will learn or ought to learn as a bookseller (OR writer OR reviewer OR avid reader) is that all genres are valid, there is groundbreaking work happening right now in Every Single Genre, and to STFU on reductive, condescending takes.

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LLM companies are beta testing experimental products our children, and educators are facilitating it.

Arson has been a problem in Seattle this summer. Two trash cans outside the Central Library were burned yesterday morning, and the book drop was burned this morning. A sad and distressing trend.

I've said it before and I will say it again: Choosing people to hate together is not unity.

And finally! I saw the print version of @locusmag.bsky.social's wonderful review of Lessons (by the always fantastic @garykwolfe.bsky.social) a while ago, but now it's online and worth reading. It's so thoughtful and erudite: locusmag.com/2025/08/less...

Hey everyone, you’ve been asking me to run for office for a while, so guess what? I’m running for California State Assembly! Now, I don’t like asking for money, but we gotta pay for this somehow, and if everyone throws in $7 we’ll have the resources to run one hell of a race, so, uh, do the thing.

Just wondering why I would want a technology whose "grandest promises" include destroying the need for human creativity and creating a new class of enslaved people trapped inside data centers controlled by oligarchs

It is my firm belief that making art and pursuing creative endeavors is never more important than it is in times like these.

I kinda feel like my superpower has been unlocked. I have been mentally in a state of impending doom for my whole adult life. Now I'm being proven right (it was as bad as I feared, actually! I am not imagining it!) and everyone around me is startled and coping for the first time while I'm like

Such a good reminder for all us white folks - are we in this for the long haul, even when it isn’t sexy and fun?

The only thing I can say about this paragraph is read it. Sit with it. Read it again. @michaelharriot.bsky.social

The fact that this information sheet has to exist is abhorrent. The fact that gay couples in the US are terrified right now is abhorrent and should be a wake up call for us all.

Literally a scene in Michael Ende's Momo. #TormentNexus

Imagine having a store people felt so comfortable going into that they gave it a cute nickname, and then throwing that away for the sake of a political group that doesn't even shop there, fucking up so badly that a lot of the former shoppers realized they didn't need to buy so much stuff anyway.

Hello. I wrote a nice long essay about AI and this very strange moment where we're constantly told we're living in the dawn of a strange new future but the only thing that's actually clear is that everyone feels pretty unmoored and uncertain. I hope you'll read it

A must-read from Cory Doctorow: Billionaires don't think you're real. pluralistic.net/2025/08/18/s...

The Ink to Film Podcast did a live episode with me yesterday at Seattle Worldcon and you can see it when they post it later m.youtube.com/@InktoFilm/s...

Friendly reminder that AI data centers are working overtime to help cook the planet. If the fires are scaring you— start using ‘-AI’ at the end of all Google searches to cut out any AI response to your query. Refusal is possible & responsible. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Libraries: Magical & Radical @nicolegloverauthor.bsky.social @adapalmer.bsky.social

Writing as an Act of Resistance @andreahairston.bsky.social @littlebadger.bsky.social @charliejane.bsky.social @nicolegloverauthor.bsky.social @daphnesingingtree.bsky.social