Ann Leckie
@annleckie.com
Author of the award-winning Ancillary Justice. Lives in St Louis.
Saw the thing about the guy who claims he's got such a healthy diet that his shit literally doesn't smell. First thought--that old joke about the guy who goes to the dr cause he's constantly ripping huge farts but they are odorless and completely silent.
My father's mother died of colon cancer. My father got it 2x, 2nd time survived the Whipple operation (look it up, it's extreme) for longer than his oncologist had ever seen. My colonoscopies keep finding polyps, removed before they can become cancerous. Colonoscopies are a nuisance. Dying worse.
Ann Leckie@annleckie.com · 6h agoMy mom died of colon cancer. For pete's sake, (as she would have said) get your fucking regular colonoscopy. If you're lucky and your mom didn't die of colon cancer it's only once every ten years. It could save your life.
hey @joshuajfriedman.com if there's one thing I might beg you to communicate internally - the (a?) core of bluesky users want opt-in instead of opt-out, because we don't trust social media corporations to ever do good thngs. It's a learned distrust, and it might not be fair, but it's there.
Forty years ago, in 1986, NYC suffered over 1,600 homicides. Homicides would peak at over 2,200 a few years later. There were 305 in 2025.
Constantine@ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 17h agoFood, man. Food is so much better than it was in 1986. All of it. Poor-people food, restaurant food, fresh food, frozen food. Food is just a hell of a lot better.
dudes pouring out the woodwork asking if I can manage without AI as though I haven't been cocking up things for myself my whole life without help
On the medical technology front -- one example that comes to mind is continuous glucose monitors for diabetics. It is literally a game-changer. In the 80s, was someone's blood sugar going high? Low? Within range? Who knows! World's least fun guessing game with potentially fatal consequences.
Sweet bleeding Mithras, almost everything is SO MUCH BETTER than it was 40 years ago. Air travel I grant you (with the exception of SMOKING ON PLANES). But medical technology? The availability of so many foods? Air pollution? It's just so much better now.
Constantine@ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 17h agoFood, man. Food is so much better than it was in 1986. All of it. Poor-people food, restaurant food, fresh food, frozen food. Food is just a hell of a lot better.
Some authores trye to wryte lengthye frame-tale narratyves thei get called assholes That nevir happenid to Giovanni Boccaccio
Conservatives scaremonger to their base about the sexual threat posed by outsiders (migrants, liberals, queer folk) solely because the hypothetical victims here "belong to" conservative men. But they reserve the right for those same men to treat their own property however they wish.
Hahahahahaha I wanted to type something here but I'm laughing too hard "could you still get through an entire workday" what the fuck, man, you just sharpied "I am incompetent" on your forehead.
Charlie Stross@cstross.bsky.social · 10h agoMy answer is LOL ROFL (dickbrain) The terminally AI-pilled can't even *imagine* some people have *never* asked stochastic parrots to cheat at their job for them.
My mom died of colon cancer. For pete's sake, (as she would have said) get your fucking regular colonoscopy. If you're lucky and your mom didn't die of colon cancer it's only once every ten years. It could save your life.
Jessica Luther@jessicawluther.com · 19h agoWell, I am of colonoscopy age now and I got my first-ever one yesterday. The prep wasn't fun but not as awful as I'd imagined. My appt was at 6am on Monday, I was home just after 7am. There's no recovery except catching up on the sleep you missed. So, if you need a nudge to get yours, this is it!
Medical advances. All of them. I was told in 2006 when I went into a t1 diabetic coma that if I'd showed up to ER in state I was in 20 years before, I'd be dead. We got a COVID vaccine in a YEAR. Spouse has a friend w/a major brain aneurysm who SURVIVED. And no one smokes inside anymore!!!!!!!!!
Constantine@ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 17h agoFood, man. Food is so much better than it was in 1986. All of it. Poor-people food, restaurant food, fresh food, frozen food. Food is just a hell of a lot better.
sometimes there is absolutely nothing more fun than understanding works of art through people's varied professional perspectives
Deidre Lynch@drbibliomane.bsky.social · 22h agoYou can/should read Emily Wilson's latest take on the Odyssey, but I'm logging on to convey my hairdresser's reaction. She was AGHAST that Nolan, with his million $ budget, gave Matt Damon ONLY 6 hair extensions. As a result, his hair did not blow around properly, & that ruined the film for her.
For any Missourian friends here, please do what you can to vote, and vote NO on Amendments 4 and 5. If 5 goes through, expect a possible 20+% sales tax on things from gas to groceries to healthcare, and probably even commissions from MO artists like me. All for another tax break for the wealthy.
Sandstone@quartzen.bsky.social · 2d agoMissouri friends: tomorrow is Election Day and I'm sure you already know to vote NO on amendments 4 and 5 to preserve our citizen-led ballot measure process and prevent a huge statewide sales tax hike, but please also vote YES on 1 to preserve an existing tax for parks and conservation too!
Reminding my American friends to check to make sure they're registered to vote way before November. Even if you think you are - doublecheck just to make sure you don't fall pray to shennanigans.
I would like to propose the Taco Bell Principle When a person/institution Did A Problem, & IMMEDIATELY fesses up & takes proactive steps to solve it That's exactly what we want them to do? So how bout we let them live ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Sarah Taber@sarahtaber.bsky.social · 3w agoA quick word on Taco Bell: That's where we found the suspected lettuce, and it's not bc Taco Bell is gross. It's bc Taco Bell is REALLY GOOD at tracing product! Keeping track of exactly where they got their ingredients, & exactly what restaurants each shipment of ingredients went to!
"Much of science as we conceptualize it now was built on top of the framings of Verne’s era. Revisiting the exuberance, obliviousness, chauvinism, and optimism of Verne’s science-related worldview offers a useful reminder of where some of our own narratives come from." @mitpress.bsky.social
Jules Verne’s Empty Dream of Spaceflight
In “From the Earth to the Moon,” scientific advancement is treated as destiny — but no one quite asks why.
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
There is no version of yourself you could become that would satisfy the people who hate you. So you might as well be who you are.
Done and done, voted early. If you're a MO voter and you haven't voted yet, VOTE TODAY
Sandstone@quartzen.bsky.social · 2d agoMissouri friends: tomorrow is Election Day and I'm sure you already know to vote NO on amendments 4 and 5 to preserve our citizen-led ballot measure process and prevent a huge statewide sales tax hike, but please also vote YES on 1 to preserve an existing tax for parks and conservation too!
AHAHAHAHAHA who has ever met an author who would SHUT UP about writing That said I am guessing the complainers are not seeking "How do I write" -- of which there are REAMS of advice -- but "How do I get published" And are not satisfied with the answers received
Antony Johnston@antonyjohnston.bsky.social · 2d agoSeeing complaints online that authors 'gatekeep' information…! Absolute nonsense. There is no industry or craft in the world which is so comprehensively written about, studied, and discussed as fiction writing, and every author I know welcomes new writers who are serious about giving it a go.
Oh, hey! Got an email from Terry Gross, who apparently does NPR business from a gmail account. She wants to interview me about Radiant Star! At this point if you want me to visit your book club or do an interview, you need to contact my agent or publisher cause I'm deleting requests in my inbox.
"Why can't you just appreciate how revolutionary the job-taking, environment-degrading, information-shredding, technology-hoarding, economy-swamping machine is?" My brother in Christ, there may indeed be a revolution in part because of "AI," but it might not be the one you wanted.
Every now and then someone takes a run at me along the lines of "I don't understand why you, a scifi writer, don't appreciate 'AI'," and I'm all, motherfucker, it's *because* I'm a science fiction writer I have the positions I have, how many times do we have to fucking yell "torment nexus," my dude
If this was true I wouldn't have a career. Every step of the way other authors offered guidance and advice, with generosity and kindness. But I would add a caveat. If you spend a lot of time being a dick to other people, the amount of guidance and advice you get will be....less.
Antony Johnston@antonyjohnston.bsky.social · 2d agoSeeing complaints online that authors 'gatekeep' information…! Absolute nonsense. There is no industry or craft in the world which is so comprehensively written about, studied, and discussed as fiction writing, and every author I know welcomes new writers who are serious about giving it a go.
yes, the Tiresome Literature Boy could be exhausting at parties when he tried book mogging you while looking down his nose at you over his bottle of Vermont craft beer but you could feel reasonably confident he wasn’t going to unhinge his jaw and attempt to devour you in the name of proteinmaxxing
The only *guaranteed* piece of craft advice I can give -- I mean the advice that is universally applicable -- is that if you kill many other writers and eat their scribere gland (roughly the size of a black-eyed pea, so be careful not to damage it) then your prose will improve immensely
I consider the folks in the industry I meet and interact with as colleagues, and think of these relationships as being exactly like relationships with my day job coworkers. I will like some folks more than others. Some may annoy the shit out of me. Very few are "file a complaint with HR" worthy.
Micaiah Johnson@micaiahjohnson.bsky.social · 2d agoI was beaten to it by the amazingly generous @mollytempleton.com but yes! The blog I was nervous about yesterday is a reality today. She’s free. She’s long. She contains multiple cat photos. www.patreon.com/MicaiahJohns...
