Top recent posts by Speculative Fiction Writers and Editors on Bluesky

In light of...everything...here's the best explainer that has ever been or will ever be on what America is going through. Please replace "socialism" with "communism" at will.

I get so much unsolicited advice from men. Asked one to call his off-lead dog away because Rory isn't always friendly (and there was bacon in the picnic). He didn't, and said, 'You should get him a friend so he learns to be friendly.' a) not how dogs work b) he wouldn't have said it to my husband

Still a little puzzled by “I didn’t like that the characters thought in italics.” My friend, that ship sailed so long ago that it was owned by the East India Company.

Book nerd me and space nerd me were both happy to find this at a free book pile today. Very good condition/unread 1988 first edition.

Still grumbling feel that if your ttrpg advertises a ‘medieval world’ then it should be less ‘riding a dragon over a flying island to fight demon hordes’ and more ‘knowing when the feast day of your guild’s patron saint is.’

Dear software devs: a video tutorial is not technical documentation. A pile of screenshots and the caption "you have many different options" is not technical documentation. You do not have the training to write tech docs. HIRE TECH WRITERS YOU FUCK UPS

*cackles in public art*

No one wants to admit this, but it's TRUE. If you want to actually have savings and go on vacation once a year (NOT on a credit card), and have no debt, and an emergency fund ready for a job layoff, yes: this is what it takes.

deeply honored by this exclusive feature and interview with @people.com about proving love. what a wonderful headline too. LETS TROT BUCKAROOS people.com/chuck-tingle...

I usually don't repost images without alt-text but I went to alt-text this one and I'm like well it's... well, it's a crab-fishing boat, and there's a door, and the door is Full Of Crab????????

A US county welcomed 37 data centres. Now its schools are being told to dim lights as power bills jump 25% timesofindia-indiatimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/timesofi...

Meanwhile, spotted on Tumblr… 😄

The only advantage humans have over other living things is their brain power. Outsourcing that now to AI seems like an open door to extinction...

Whitley Strieber: welcome to the dreamland podcast Strieber: the only podcast that casts the pod that the man doesn't want you to know Strieber: the truth is out there Strieber: or is that just what THEY want you to think? Strieber: trust no one Strieber: or is that just who THEY want you to trust?

If you want to donate to campaigns outside your area, donate in the general election or to groups that do organizing, turnout, etc. I don't know which Dem candidate in Maine (or Kentucky or Ohio) has the best shot. You know who might? The Democrats from those states!

Your monthly reminder: Keep writing. When no one cares, persist. When things appear to be crumbling, keep at it. When it's difficult, push through. When you feel alone, listen to the stories in your blood. Just write. The world needs your stories.

I wrote an 80k romance with BDSM, complicated shifting power issues in a context of overt class war, unjust law, and two people negotiating their way through it all. It's generally regarded as my best book. The editor's sole comment on the whole thing was "So this is an abusive relationship."

The Republicans running in Minnesota have all been running on fraud and how they will prevent it so I've been emailing people to ask if they'll support laws to ban insider trading by Congress and the President. No replies so far!

it's exhausting that we live in a country where we're all pretty sure they're just Weekend at Bernies-ing him until whatever deadline is past that would let them thwart any democratic replacements. it's exhausting that that is not even a crazy conspiracy theory but feels like the solid bet.

Fiction and fantasy aren't "fake" any more than light seen through a prism is fake. It's just seen from a different perspective. Light through a prism is still light. Truth through a story is still the truth.

I’d like FIFA to take another look at the Brexit vote.

What, the same FIFA who gave Donald Trump a Peace Prize?

would anyone in Maine like to defend Platner, I need to know who I haven't blocked for being a Nazi loving piece of shit yet

My VIANNE rose, in situ now, and looking absolutely at home…

Good morning

I am absolutely delighted to share that VELVETEEN VS. THE CONSEQUENCES OF HER ACTIONS is shipping now! subterraneanpress.com/mcguire-vvtc...

Behold @totallydonna.kitrocha.com's masterpiece!!! Tomorrow I will irrigate it and the fall tomatoes will have a nice place to live!!!!!!!!

We're one week away from The Dragon Has Some Complaints flying into the world! And just a week away from my first real book tour. NYC, Pennsylvania, Delaware, D.C., and Baltimore! I shall see you soon!

“Try to appeal to a more general audience” As far as I’m concerned my audience consists of: 1) Beautiful weirdos who already know 2) Beautiful weirdos I haven’t met yet

Look! I just found an accurate map of Europe!

#NewRelease! The world would make her a survivor... Destiny would make her a Queen. In Darkness Born Book One of The Breaking Wheel The Story of Katherine Parr $4.99 or #Free #KindleUnlimited! #Tudor #Histfic #booksky #indieauthor #historicalfiction 📚💙📚💙📚 bit.ly/4u08lFe

“There is too much war in this book.” Book is titled “The Blackwing War.”

SCHISM SCHISM SCHISM EVERYWHERE SCHISM ALL THE TIME

Live photo of Platner's current Senate chances.⬇️ But no, I'm not bitter or anything. Not even surprised.

WHY IS EVERYTHING DIFFICULT AND ALL THE SOFTWARE DOCUMENTATION IS SHIT

One pretty cool thing about the 21st century is that a sheep farmer in extremely rural California has access to global supply chains stretching to China and India.

Somebody (an editor who works on books in publishing lol) said, "what is this? a manifesto?"

The whole “orange cats are the craziest” myth gets on my nerves. No, they are not.

I mostly don't donate to politicians at all these days, but I definitely don't donate to ones outside of my community. Part of accepting that every state in this nation is its own quirky mini-world is knowing that sometimes I don't have the range to make decisions about what's going on there.

And this morning the Shed is a bale of hay; sun-dried; keeping its secrets…

Really appreciate this piece and also @sesmith.lol recognizing & reinforcing that while Courtney and I have been very visible, this was always a team effort. And the Whistle Crew just donated hundreds of items to @romancingthevote.com and raised $1000s for voting rights. Community escalates. 💖

tbf corpse gridlock is what McConnell would've wanted

A reminder that THIS IS STILL OPEN. If you're a bookstore, sign up! If you're a bookstore patron, make sure your local bookstore is signed up!

"I like stories with made up languages. You say you're writing science fiction, but you haven't made up a language. Anyway, prose is for losers. You should try poetry."

Please don't make me support Belgium

When a production company who wanted to option a duology I wrote about Iceland invaded by cannibalistic aliens who eat almost the entire population asked: “Does it have to be aliens in the adaptation?”

They really got ol Mitch locked down when this account is asking

the school, knowing the answer: why is your 17yo not in this morning? the nation: do you just want me to lie to you or...?

Icmyi, my xuya story is now online! (It's a reprint but it's never been available widely before) Prison planet, memories, fire--and a game of chess that doesn't quite go as it should...

Flipping through an old print copy of my first novel draft, I found a post-it note in unknown handwriting that said “Try using the word ‘ilk’ more often in your novel, as in ‘someone of his ilk’.” Still no idea where it came from.

Idle Verse #Substack A Butterfly Become Subscribe for free to my page. All articles, poems and interviews are free to read for one week! If you want to support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber and gain access to all past articles! 📚💙📚📚💙📚 open.substack.com/pub/lawrence...

My questions are real simple. 1. How does their covering their hair hurt YOU? 2. If it doesn't hurt you, why don't you fuck off into the sun?

I SLEPT THROUGH THE GAME IM SO SORRY

We get a ton of these AI written PR pitches to Night Vale, but this one is especially confusing.

Live photo of all the Democrats who couldn't see Platner had more trouble coming.

This store is scratching a very particular itch for journal bling. Not the journals themselves, but journal flair, such as these little brass fittings which keep the pages from getting dinged by a wrap or a cord. #journal #journaling #stationery www.etsy.com/listing/4450...

My YA novel Hrím (Rime) made the 2026 IBBY Honour List! 🎉

They've done this shit before, of course. Here are the first two verses of a MAD Magazine classic from the 1960s.

One of the hardest lessons for me to learn as a reader was that my "gut" was regularly wrong about culture and plausibility. I had to look things up a lot more. See also: "Why are Fantasy names just a couple letters different from regular names?" Bud, that's not a Fantasy name. That's Polish.

Okay here's my Disability Pride Month Story Recommendation Thread! I'll update it across the month with books and short stories that I love. (It won't be daily because I am quite disabled and life is about to avalanche on me.) So! Here are things that ruled and that you should read.

Yikes, that Platner video... Keep in mind I'm just an asshole on the internet, but imho that's the kind of statement you make when you're preparing to drop out and toss to Janet Mills.

Which reminds me: When almost the entire population of Iceland was vaccinated against Covid in just a few weeks, the staff noticed that it was overwhelmingly younger men who tended to pass out when faced with the needle.

Oh! Oh! Also the one about how other Asian countries weren't allowed to appropriate Chinese culture. Me, staring from a 1000 years of Chinese colonisation: appropriate. Right. Yeah, right.

Anyone who's told it repeatedly NOT to use em dashes knows this 🙃 What so many don't realize is that it's LIKE THIS WITH EVERYTHING

King has always had not great politics in a shitty Dem way, but this is a real step into the abyss

Allow me to introduce you to the concept of a "nation-state," Donald

"This book is full of English mistakes and there should have been a full edit and copy edit" (There was. Also most of the mistakes being complained about were, actually, not mistakes. Just unusual or archaic English usage, which had been picked deliberately)

My hollyhocks all get fungal rust that slowly eats them from the bottom up, but NOT before they flower and seed. I'll take it. 🌱

There it is. The most pathetic thing I have ever seen in my life. The dead centre of the Venn diagram of grotesque corruption and spoiled whiny babies.

For reasons, listening to Simon and Garfunkel in Central Park right now, ‘America.’ ‘Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike They’ve all come to look for America All come to look for America…’ Would be so nice to look, and find it, and be pleased, not aghast.

Whoah: someone dumped three BINS of Longarms at this thrift store. Buying a few. These are that western Tolly’s reading in Teenage Slasher.

He's dead, Jim. You get his tricorder; I'll grab his wallet.

@doctorjamesd.bsky.social

as always, much disrespect to anyone who ever defended Platner in any way.

Farmer's Market Click...📸 Have a Good Week, My Bluesky Friends !! 🥰

Broken Binding, who produce some of the most beautiful editions, are publishing some new work from @paulcornell.bsky.social - always welcome! www.thebrokenbindingpublishing.com/news/paul-co...

An editor told me that Someone You Can Build A Nest In should be a short story. We did not wind up working together.

Another day, writing another board that I hope makes sense. - Michael

I'm starting to think letting Microsoft buy half of the gaming industry was a mistake.

The day after the 4th of July is the official start of the Spooky Season so people aren’t allowed to say it’s too early to be Halloweening it. Some of us live for this shit. Here’s a list to get you in the MOOD

Good morning, Bluesky. “I hide the fear and I dig.” —Danny, the Tunnel King, The Great Escape— I want this in needlepoint over my desk. It’s as good a description of the writing life as any I know. Danny’s dug 17 tunnels. I’m revising my 27th novel. I hide the fear and I dig.

I was just updating my website so I guess I should maybe share the news here too. I am so greedy that I now have THREE agents!

No we know Citation: Banff Centre warning signs

One of the standout characters of the movie, hands down. I'm psyched to see more of him.

Funny how he’s always trying to put his name on things while actively covering up his name in places where it shows up a lot.

Oh my god, these AI book club emails are just… endless. you mention a book online and BAM. It’s like sitting down at an outdoor café table and ordering a jar of honey: ten seconds later it’s wasps everywhere.

Only history geeks ‘remember’ Portugal as a truly major world power, right? They once divided the world, formally, with Spain. This afternoon there will be no such negotiated arrangement between them. I am just glad my red card for puns and history jokes has been suspended and I can watch.

He's looking for any excuse to stay in, believing he'll be elected regardless

Tille Amal (approx: 1800 -1869) was a popular dancer and entertainer, celebrated throughout Europe. #CelebratingWomen

One of those multi-purpose guitars. Why not.

State of Brand newsletter: "OpenAI pushing its IPO to 2027." Me:

tfw you and your ex-husband share the same anecdote on social media, but at least I did it first?

Definitely would not be too late to start on this today

Invincible stupidity and delusions of opportunism.

SIDEQUESTED is back from summer break! Chapter Four starts with a beach day! Scrub that dragon, kids! sidequested.com #comic #comics #webcomic #webcomics

Oh the FIFA Folarin Balogun ruling is in? Here we gooooooooo...

"Give me a fucking pre-med you fuckers, I'm a personal friend of Sir Lancelot Spratt." —last words of actor Vivian MacKerrell, upon whom the character of Withnail was based (played memorably by Richard E. Grant in the film "Withnail and I"). Melodramatic to the end!

This week on The Write Stuff we are chatting with Contemporary Romance Author Tracey-Ann Beckett! #authors #authorinterviews #booksky #bookcommunity #writingcommunity 📚💙📚💙📚 lawrenceg.substack.com/p/the-write-...

I kinda want Portugal to win but I also kinda want Ronaldo to lose so

Would be funny if only it were funny.