Have other college-level Creative Writing profs run into the following issue getting more prevalent in the past 5-6 years-ish: when faced with the assignment to write a short story (a work of fiction), at least 3-4 people in the class will take it as an invitation to write a personal essay instead?

We have the first media review of @ajodasso.bsky.social’s reign - and whaddyaknow it’s *also* a vintage SF review. Here’s Luke Renner on the 1950s radio play of A Logic Named Joe and the X Minus One series: “an opportunity to compare against what our collective dreams and aspirations once were.”

A Logic Named Joe

In the age of generative AI slop, I thought that traveling back to a so-called simpler time might be entertaining.

strangehorizons.com

But we cant give more money to poor people because theyll waste it on stuff like food and refrigerators for food

More Perfect Union@moreperfectunion.bsky.social · last wk.

BREAKING: Anthropic reports an $80 billion net loss in the first half of 2026.

“I will be the arbitrator of all these decisions." The president, today, on who gets paid for turning people in. Write that down. It'll matter later.

Jack Hopkins-The Original@therealjackhopkins.bsky.social · last wk.

The Gestapo had about 30 officers for a million Germans. They didn’t need more. The neighbors did the rest. Today, the White House opened fraud. gov. www.jackhopkinsnow.com

I'm pretty much over Les Mis after hearing it since I was 5 but if you love it and are also anti-woke you haven't listened to it at all.

Sooz Kempner@soozuk.bsky.social · 2w ago

People paying £100 to go and see Les Miserables and bobbing their heads to "the blood of the martyrs will water the meadows of France" then going home to their nice houses to tut at the news of the French riots.

It’s a toss-up between Fairport Convention’s “Tam Lin” (1970s cover of a ballad whose earliest text dates to 1549, so maybe that doesn’t count), Cat Stevens’s “Lady d’Arbanville,” and far too many Leonard Cohen songs. Some of you know what happened when I put these songs in a narrative blender.

Sophia_Nyx 🐰@sophianyx.bsky.social · 2w ago

Name your fav 70s song.

gonna go ahead and call “lifting the ban on moonshine” a whole new LEVEL of recession indicator

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 2w ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court agrees to review Reconstruction-era ban on distilling spirits in private homes.

Not that I’ve had much respect for @chronicle.com in recent years (I recall them platforming some truly cruel, ableist takes), but the fact that they also chose to run this opinion piece made me lose what little I had left.

Chronicle of Higher Education@chronicle.com · 2w ago

Opinion: If AI is now part of academic writing, what should institutions actually evaluate? This essay argues that analytical writing should be judged by evidence, structure, argument, and accountability not by guesses about how each sentence was produced. https://chroni.cl/4eDRdjg

Above all else, if you appropriate LLM output as your own writing, I just think you are lazy and careless. It tells me you don't give a shit, and you think writing is kind of a scam anyway.

📣 CALL FOR @strangehorizons.bsky.social 2027 CRITICISM SPECIAL It is already the time when thoughts turn to the end of January and the annual SH criticism special. Do you have an essay? A long review? A roundtable? A *critical thing*? Please email us about it! 📧 reviews at strangehorizons dot com

26 January 2026

Welcome to the annual Strange Horizons criticism special!

strangehorizons.com

If you start a post with “According to AI…” and proceed to spout astronomy facts (or any other facts, for that matter)? Blocked. How about “According to the hard-won decades/centuries of research by astronomers and astrophysicists, stolen by AI…” FFS, give credit where it’s due. And stop using AI.

NEW: Staff at HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette told @adamm0rgan.bsky.social AI is infiltrating their workplaces, from generating cover art and back cover copy, to publicity materials, to rejection emails, as execs tell junior staff to "champion" the tech. www.wired.com/story/book-p...

Book Publishers Are Quietly Using More AI. Staff Are Revolting

Workers at three major publishing houses tell WIRED that LLMs are being used for publicity, cover art, back cover copy, and emails, as some execs push junior staff to champion the tech.

wired.com

Really great thread here and this essay is wonderful. It makes me feel more sane for being long repulsed by this ghoul of a show.

Saeed Jones@theferocity.bsky.social · last mo.

“The Banal Horror of Jimmy Fallon” by Jon Greenway :

hello i come with very exciting news that @faith2fleurs.bsky.social and i are opening submissions for works inspired by Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (dir. Jane Schoenbrun) on september 11th to october 31st. untitledcampmiasmareboot.weebly.com flyer design by @faith2fleurs.bsky.social

Encountering an Nth straight person saying how Camp Miasma wasn't hot or romantic and like. Do straight ppl not understand the concept of "you are not the target audience" Congrats, this is what it's like watching straight romance for us. Dull, predictable, and mildly annoying. Welcome lol

I need to clarify something here: this is a physical, print collection that I’m looking to get back in actual physical print. If all an imprint is going to do with my book to give it second life is make it entirely digital and distribute it for free, that…sadly isn’t what I’m looking for, I’m sorry.

AJ Odasso@ajodasso.bsky.social · last mo.

Are any #presses / #publishers open to submissions of out-of-print #poetry collections? Ever since Tolsun Books went under, I’ve been worried about my 2019 collection, “The Sting of It,” going out of print. Amazon & others have finally marked it as such. Any leads or offers would be helpful!

Are any #presses / #publishers open to submissions of out-of-print #poetry collections? Ever since Tolsun Books went under, I’ve been worried about my 2019 collection, “The Sting of It,” going out of print. Amazon & others have finally marked it as such. Any leads or offers would be helpful!

www.thetimes.com/article/b2bc...

From the shadows of Notre-Dame, hidden birthplace of Paris emerges

Archaeologists have discovered a 20-metre rampart in the middle of the city, believed to be the fort conquered by Julius Caesar’s forces in 52BC

thetimes.com

Apparently people are sharing this far and wide on social media, which I think is horrible. This could cripple ICE operations. PLEASE do not share this.

The Humanities disciplynes are beautiful & useful by cause thei amplifye our humanitye. Undir the care offerid by focused & specialized researche & studye, workes of the present are given more momentum, and thryve. Artefacts of the past blossom ynto newe ydeas. The Humanityes care for the worlde.

this tweet is NINE years old and is still the best trans rights policy advice out there

Slings and Arrows, Parks and Recreation, The Good Place, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Gravity Falls, Batman: The Animated Series, Avatar: The Last Airbender…I’m missing some, but these are the ones that immediately come to mind.

Sophia_Nyx 🐰@sophianyx.bsky.social · last mo.

Name a tv show that's the right amount of seasons.

the tech bros telling you LLMs are conscious don’t think women are people.

Mel Blanc screams are like Greek fire, we lost the technology to make sounds like this

The Disney renaissance movies used to look different. They were planned to be printed on 35 mm film -- that's how they were first released. Modern editions skip that last step in the process. It was a highly developed, overlooked craft, as we explore: animationobsessive.substack.com/p/disneys-fi...

Bribery, guys? Really? Y’all sound desperate AF.

Critical Friends Episode 27: Pop Fiction with AJ Odasso @ajodasso.bsky.social Electra Pritchett and Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social SFF has a long and complex relationship with questions of popular culture. Where does this stand today? Link ⬇️ strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...

Critical Friends Episode 27: Pop Fiction

In this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, AJ Odasso and Electra Pritchett join Dan Hartland to talk about popular fiction.

strangehorizons.com