Nadia W. Aldsen

@aldsen.bsky.social

pronouns: she/her reads, writes, talks, teaches, loves speculative fiction

Congrats to all the Shirley Jackson Award winners and nominees!! It was so nice to meet so many people in person at my (first!) Readercon + I’m very pleased with my finalist rock

Stone with “2025 Shirley Jackson Awards” inscribedWoman smiling and holding rock with one hand.

I was just offered to be on a pilot TV show where people debate various "controversial" topics; they wanted me as an expert defending the reality of the moon landings. I turned them down flat. I will not elevate conspiracy bullshit into something debatable. Been down that road. It goes nowhere.

Opens slush pile. Reads generated story... Bans. Reads generated story... Bans. Reads generated story... Bans... Screams. Closes computer. Screams again. Runs off into the woods. Sees squirrel. Hmmm... Squirrels have never submitted a generated story. Squirrel gets treat.

External focalisation: The #POV works like a surveillance camera. It observes all characters but can only guess what’s going on inside their heads and hearts (3rd person, sometimes used in mystery novels).

Unsolicited writing advice: no. 1026: POV is a camera. You get to decide what to point it at; how close to zoom in; when to cut; how many cameras to use. Make sure what you show makes sense; feels satisfying to the reader.

Just stumbled across this: "Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words." (Ursula K. Le Guin 2014)

An academic publishing company asked me if I was interested in writing a textbook on AI and writing. NO, I said, I am too busy with other projects. What I should have said: I'm actually working on a story about an AI running Mars. Are you interested in opening your program to speculative fiction?

A sculpture of planet Mars, about double as high as a person, displayed on a street. It looks like a huge basketball.