I have news for all you fans out there of Elena Ferrante. You’re going to *really* like the writing of Domenico Starnone. www.strangeclarity.com/p/elena-ferr...

Elena Ferrante and the people who vouched for her

Why her publishers’ word had me convinced that Ferrante is a woman — and why it no longer does

strangeclarity.com

If you're in a reading rut, try: The Aviator by Eugene Vodolazkin, trans. by Lisa C. Hayden. A novel about memory that plays with form (think: Trust by Hernan Diaz). My review has spoilers, but one person already bought the book after reading it! www.strangeclarity.com/p/a-novel-by...

A novel by a masterful Russian writer that dares us to love a killer

On Eugene Vodolazkin’s The Aviator

strangeclarity.com

Today's Reading 2 — Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own (1929)

Today’s Reading 1 — Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own (1929)

Aristotle believed only men could form friendships. Women lacked the necessary rationality. Montaigne agreed—women were incapable of "this sacred bond." By the 1800s? Complete reversal. Now we assume women are better at friendship. What changed? Not human nature. 🧵

Authority has become less like a marble statue and more like a quilt—provisional, hand-stitched, showing its seams. The Obsessive Investigation books don’t deliver meaning from on high; they show meaning getting made. (@strangeclarity.bsky.social)

Nonfiction Isn’t False, but Who Says It’s True? - Electric Literature

A new micro-genre turns "truth" into an investigation about how meaning gets made

buff.ly

A Substack post about meaningless corporate jobs is going viral. Marx predicted this 200 years ago. Here's why his critique still matters: www.strangeclarity.com/p/work-is-br...

Work is broken: Marx, alienation, and the Great Pretending

How a viral post on the death of the corporate job echoes Marx’s 19th-century critique

strangeclarity.com

“If the aim is to be liked by more and more people, whatever is unusual about a person gets flattened out.” Zadie Smith

With a temp of 91 and dew point at 77, outside is a sauna with slightly better air circulation. At least some of us are thriving (the hydrangeas).

People liked my autism epidemic myth-busting, so I turned it into a Substack post complete with linked research and data. Share with your friends, family, enemies—anyone telling you autism is an epidemic or a social trend. open.substack.com/pub/strangec...

Why is autism so common now?

Seven big, bold reasons for why it feels like autism is everywhere these days

open.substack.com

Laura Cecile Moore@strangeclarity.bsky.social · 2y ago

Tired of explaining that there’s no autism epidemic? I got you. Here’s a list of reasons to share with friends, family, people you’re arguing with online, etc. As this admin continues to cut research funding, it’s more important than ever that we don’t chase bogus theories. 1/9

💥 New post: What Your Writing Reveals About You AI can now detect autism from essays with ~90% accuracy — outperforming human experts. A breakthrough for screening, but also a privacy wake-up call. What else are our words revealing? 👉 www.strangeclarity.com/p/autism-wri... #AI #Autism #Privacy

What your writing reveals about you (even when you don’t know it)

Sounding the alarm over a July 2025 study on LLMs and autism detection

strangeclarity.com

“My day passes between logic, whistling, going for walks, and being depressed.” Ludwig Wittgenstein

Now THAT is a sick burn. Thankful for the small mercies… Wittgenstein will never read what I write.

Necessity being the mother of invention: turns out potato chips dipped in plain Greek yogurt is freaking delicious.

What do Emily Dickinson, Leonardo da Vinci, and Carl Linnaeus have in common? I have a theory. Find out here: strangeclarity.substack.com/p/could-a-dr...

Hear me out: writing is a kind of fermentation. Like cheese, sourdough starter, preserved lemon, there’s a sweet spot of maturity you can’t force. Some essential transformation takes time.

Brilliant

ae@aelkus.bsky.social · last yr.

the funny thing about "autism is caused by vaccines" is that the causal relationship actually goes in the other direction ("autism causes vaccines") given how many ASD people probably work in medical sector

Executive dysfunction is a well-established aspect of autism. I had always thought of it as an ADHD thing, but it's not just. So then.. why isn’t executive dysfunction in the DSM for autism? People look there to see what autism is. But they’re getting only a narrow slice. #asd #autism

Not usually a podcast person, but I’ve been listening to Good Hang, Poehler’s new podcast during research breaks. It is the perfect palate cleanser. An ideal study break. Light but not vapid. Feel good but not saccharine. If that sounds like something you might need in your life, try it out.

I just read an absolutely ghastly takedown essay of Margaret Atwood on Substack. It would definitely warrant the Joan Didion “oh, wow” treatment but fortunately for Atwood I think she’ll remain unaware of this one. #booksky #damndaniel

“Like Elizabeth Inchbald, Mrs. Piozzi was a dutiful keeper of journals. But hers were of a different kind. A few months after her eightieth birthday, she added a new entry. In it, she listed every one of her ‘enemies outlived.’” Daaaaang. From Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney. #booksky

Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney is the best nonfiction reading experience I’ve had since Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein. Two verrrry different books but they both expertly tackle substance and critique through a highly personal lens. #booksky #nonfiction

Lit nerds and language lovers, I’ve got a question for you. What’s the best modern equivalent of common in the way older British lit uses it? I’m reading Frost in May by Antonia White (loving it – subtly humorous and charming), and I hit this line:

Important clarification 👇

Nicole Filippone, Autistic Advocate & Author@nicolefilippone.bsky.social · last yr.

Autistic people do not have a strong sense of objective justice. We have a strong sense of PERCEIVED justice. We are not morally better or more likely to be correct. We are just more morally consistent.

Started my first Octavia Butler novel, KINDRED, and I’m loving it so far. A black woman living in 1976 San Fran keeps getting pulled back to 1815 slave country Maryland. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

I finished reading Rachel Kushner's CREATION LAKE and I'm... underwhelmed. I had high hopes. I really enjoyed Mars Room. But Sadie was a disappointingly flat character and her arc wasn't all that believable. My overwhelming feeling from the book is vague grayness. Nothing really comes to life.

Is there any word more transporting than "veranda"? I'm reading a bio of Jean Rhys who grew up in Dominica and traveled back. It's all "sea-facing veranda" and "reading on the veranda" and "lolling on the veranda" and I realize I've never used the word veranda in my life. Veranda veranda veranda!

If you’re interested in autistic representation in the media… RUN don’t walk to The Rehearsal on MAX. The show is basically an autistic amusement park.

There's this trend where governments and organizations are hiring sci-fi writers to tell them what the future might hold in store, and that got me thinking about a fundamental rule of storytelling: it must be rooted in real patterns of human behavior. strangeclarity.substack.com/p/the-root-o...

The root of storytelling is pattern

How stories reveal and rehearse what it means to be human

strangeclarity.substack.com

Louis Armstrong, commentator on NT culture: ‘I see friends shaking hands, saying “how do you do?” They’re really saying, “I love you.”’ Autistic people: But if that's what they mean Louis, why don’t they just say that?