"the aesthetics of AI slop take the logic of quantification to its extreme form by embedding it in a technological system of increasingly automated production, circulation and consumption to which human signification appears ever more marginal." journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Doing the numbers: The operational aesthetics of AI slop - Jernej Markelj, Jakko Kemper, 2026

What to make of the bizarre imagery of AI slop? If AI slop feels meaningless to interpret, this is because it has little to do with meaning and representations....

journals.sagepub.com

artists of chicago and the midwest! 5 days left to submit proposals for ART IN THESE TIMES, in conjunction w #falloffreedom artists unite against authoritarianism! artists reconsider political art! (politics here start with: selected artists will be PAID!) interccect.com/art-in-these...

Art In These Times – Fall of Freedom

Art in These Times October 2–4, 2026 Authoritarian assaults on free thinking, fellow feeling, and creative making call for artists to unite in defiance. The 2nd annual Fall of Freedom festival conv…

interccect.com

hey everybody, Nietzsche here, I am going to have to take a step back from content creation because lately I've been noticing that our writing tools are also working on our thoughts. Getting a lot of dopamine hits from this Hansen Writing Ball, so I need to pause and reevaluate.

Organizing an ACLA panel on "Speculative Infrastructure" with Philip Bonnano (Penn State) for the 2027 meeting. Please submit! (Or, you know, send a proposal!) www.acla.org/seminar/6efc...

It’s the End of the World as We Know It, and We’re Not Fine: @rimrunner.bsky.social reviews Temi Oh's NOT WITH A BANG (@sagapressbooks.bsky.social)

It’s the End of the World as We Know It, and We’re Not Fine: Review of Temi Oh’s Not with a Bang

Genevieve Williams Under Review:Not with a Bang. Temi Oh. Saga Press, July 2026. For a story about the end of the world, Temi Oh’s Not with a Bang stays closely focused on a single family: the Mint…

ancillaryreviewofbooks.org

Awesome work here by @cphiliphaines.bsky.social, @annakornbluh.bsky.social, and many others. And don’t sleep on @mitchrmurray.bsky.social’s essay about Percival Everett & the campus novel!

Maggie Hennefeld@hennefem.bsky.social · 3d ago

The summer issue of @culturalcritique.bsky.social -- on Marxism, Form & Futurity -- is live on @projectmuse.bsky.social!! muse.jhu.edu/issue/57283 @uminnpress.bsky.social @annakornbluh.bsky.social 📚‼️

An Ontology in Crisis: @filipmagnus.bsky.social reviews Erik Larson’s GROUNDLESS NOIR: ONTOLOGY AND LATIN AMERICAN CRIME FICTION (@bucknellupress.bsky.social)

An Ontology in Crisis: Review of  Erik Larson’s Groundless Noir

Filip R. Zahariev Under Review:Groundless Noir: Ontology and Latin American Crime Fiction. Erik Larson. Bucknell University Press, May 2026. RNoir is defined by cynicism, insecurity, vulnerability,…

ancillaryreviewofbooks.org

Today's the anniversary of one of my favorite essays I wrote last year, a response to my first reading of Robert Jordan's THE EYE OF THE WORLD (1990). Spoiler: I thought was pretty great! And I put the book in the context of fantasy scholarship that has largely ignored/bashed it.

Reading “The Eye of the World” by Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time 1)

Robert Jordan’s The Eye of the World (1990) is the titanic first novel in his Wheel of Time series (1990-2013), yet for all its prominence in the fantasy field, it has rarely been given serio…

seanguynes.com

Upcoming publication! TEACHING SCIENCE FICTION from MLA Press. www.mla.org/Publications...

"$10.6B is being spent this year to rush AI into our classrooms. You’d have to assume there’s a mountain of evidence motivating this Manhattan Project-style spending. Well, not so much. More like a mountain of AI hallucinations." medium.com/@jasonsattle...

Here’s what we know about AI and education. It’s not good.

Yet we know the proven interventions that do work will remain sorely underfunded.

medium.com

www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/m...

How a Novelist of the American Past Recovered His Faith in Its Future

Colson Whitehead’s Harlem trilogy turns away from the pessimism of his recent novels to offer a more hopeful vision for Black history.

nytimes.com

It's Matt with McKenzie Wark doing the good work, like he does.

Matt Seybold@mattseybold.bsky.social · last wk.

I had so much fun doing this event with McKenzie. @eflux.bsky.social were spectacular hosts. The audience was lively and smart as hell. And I'm pleased to say it all comes across on the recording, which'll be in your feed tomorrow morning.

OMGGGG -- I'm not applying for this (because my body is a sad sugarcube dissolving in a cup of tea, among other reasons) but if you can apply you should apply and if you get in you SHOULD GO www.banffcentre.ca/programs/lit...

Futurisms Intensive Writing Residency 2027

This residency supports writers exploring potential futures, perspectives, and narratives.

banffcentre.ca

Full conversation w/ @annakornbluh.bsky.social, professor of english at the University of Illinois Chicago about her recent book "Immediacy, Or, The Style of Too Late Capitalism", the legacy of Frederic Jameson, & the fate of the humanities in the American university. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOOG...

How Immediacy Changed Culture (with Anna Kornbluh)

YouTube video by Side Burns

youtube.com

The Weekly Read is "Reparative Democracy" by Wendy Brown. The article is featured in Climate Crisis Politics, a special double-issue of the open access journal Critical Times. Read it for free: buff.ly/E4tofly

Looking for a compelling case for the relevance of Marxist criticism? Well, I've got a bunch of them! Liam Kruger, Oded Nir, and I put together a special issue of @culturalcritique.bsky.social on "Marxism, Form, and Futurity"! #humanities #marxism muse.jhu.edu/issue/57283

In "How Dungeons & Dragons Changed the Way We Play," @aarontram.bsky.social reveals how popular culture influenced the design of the iconic tabletop game and how the game’s legacy, in turn, influences game design today. Read the intro for free: buff.ly/jLA2ctp

Cultural Critique's special issue on "Marxism, Form, and Futurity" now up online, essays by @annakornbluh.bsky.social @kqandrews.bsky.social @cphiliphaines.bsky.social and then some muse.jhu.edu/issue/57283

Anna Kornbluh@annakornbluh.bsky.social · 3w ago

today in journal special issues received! CULTURAL CRITIQUE features "Marxism, Form, and Futurity" special editors Liam Kruger, Oded Nir, and Christian Haines @cphiliphaines.bsky.social @culturalcritique.bsky.social

Gallup-Lumina poll on college confirms that Americans are upset about the personal politics of professors--that is, 11% are concerned. Three-quarters are upset about lack of affordability. Colleges should ignore the Twitter / Atlantic debates and lower costs while heading to debt-free for all

One thing AI can't do: experience the world through my sensorium sinykin.substack.com/p/to-make-th...

To Make the Stone Stony

I want to see again

sinykin.substack.com

Over the next few days on the CI blog, we are presenting "Libidinal Investments in Fascist Politics," featuring essays by Lisa Wedeen, Jason Frank, and William Mazzarella.

Libidinal Investments in Fascist Politics

Libidinal Investments in Fascist Politics originated as a panel put together for a conference by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT) on authoritarian imaginaries. Part of a broader project entitled A Counter-Imaginary in Authoritarian Times, the themes of the November 2025 conference derived from the understanding that building an effective counter-imaginary requires addressing the formidable challenges to it.

critinq.wordpress.com

Book post. Very much looking forward to these - Andor Analysed 1 had some great essays, & Red Futures' work sits right in the sweet spot of my interests.

new Toscano @alfatau.bsky.social on poltical myth! With Hegel, Cassirer, Adorno, Jesi, Benjamin, all our friends are there. communispress.com/myth-fascism...

Myth, Fascism, and the Dialectic

On myth’s modern return under the cruel mask of fascism, and the reversion to the ritual of human sacrifice.

communispress.com

Four recent books of new Marx/ist scholarship on nature, politics, power and energy from the 2020s. All very good! Seems like a new wave, we can finally stop saying “Since 2008 global financial crisis” and start saying “Since 2020s total planetary chaos…”

utterly patient response to professional misconduct Appiah DOGEd disciplines and fields about which he knows nothing, incinerating his reputation in the process "He just hasn’t done the reading."

Gabriel Hankins@gabrielh.bsky.social · 3w ago

My response to Appiah's "field report" is up: please repost www.chronicle.com/article/kwam...

today in books received thrilled to have this incredible compendium of Jamesonians! read the fierce intro free and order for your library here: www.dukeupress.edu/the-future-o...

today in journal special issues received! CULTURAL CRITIQUE features "Marxism, Form, and Futurity" special editors Liam Kruger, Oded Nir, and Christian Haines @cphiliphaines.bsky.social @culturalcritique.bsky.social

“try then you say oh just praise what you can you smiling bag of death” www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Anne Carson · Poem: ‘Smile’

lrb.co.uk

authoritarian assaults on free thinking, fellow feeling, and creative making call for artists to unite in defiance. how can we collect and sustain artforms and aesthetic experiences that refuse profit laundering and prestige mining? interccect.com/art-in-these...

Art In These Times – Fall of Freedom

Art in These Times October 2–4, 2026 Authoritarian assaults on free thinking, fellow feeling, and creative making call for artists to unite in defiance. The 2nd annual Fall of Freedom festival conv…

interccect.com

New podcast episode! Literary agent and publishing podcaster @lzats.bsky.social joins to discuss Robin McKinley's award-winning SUNSHINE: an urban fantasy vampire novel that's fascinating in its own right, and also offers a lens on whole eras of publishing:

A Meal of Thorns 54- SUNSHINE with Laura Zats

Literary agent and Print Run podcaster extraordinaire Laura Zats is on to talk about a novel that is the most urban fantasy you can imagine, and yet seems to run towards different traditions and id…

ancillaryreviewofbooks.org