wren d

@awritingwren.bsky.social

they/them. SFF author who might be a bird or a cat or a secret third thing. wrendouglas.carrd.co

For writers worried that they won't be able to "prove" their work isn't Spicy Autocomplete--worry not. You thought about every choice and will be able to talk about those choices easily and clearly. Folks who used the slop machine didn't make choices and won't have anything to say about why

i made this last month as a thank-you card to the librarians who chose Hunger's Bite as a YA Fiction honoree, finally remembered to share it. go support your local library, they're on the front lines fighting against censorship and book banning, and we authors for children owe them so much!!

emery, neeta, and wick all enjoying a library with the text "Thank you, our librarians, for always fighting for our right to read, and for people like me to be read" attributed to taylor robin, author of hunger's bite (me)

You will die. You will not live forever. Nor will any man nor any thing. Nothing is immortal. But only to us is it given to know that we must die. And that is a great gift: the gift of selfhood. For we have only what we know we must lose, what we are willing to lose.

I swear to god if one more person goes "and this is why I read HP fanfiction :) I still get my Potter stories but without her!" NO! STOP IT! Even if they aren't financially supporting Rowling you are contributing to the continued existence of the franchise as a fixture of pop culture. Just STOP

Zoe Tunnell ➡️ FlameCon E-09@zoewithasword.bsky.social · 3w ago

The thing about JKR and telling folks not to buy Harry Potter shit is it isn't because we think it can take away her fortune and platform. She's so rich she would still be rich if she never sold another book It is because it is literally the smallest possible hurdle to clear to value trans lives

This is a good, tough thread. A couple of things I want to comment on, as an editor: Chacha/Ogechi/Collins/etc. has FOR SURE generated and submitted way more than they've gotten away with publishing. At least 8 to PodCastle alone. 80% of the scam is using multiple IDs to run a numbers game 1/5

Gwen C. Katz@gwenckatz.bsky.social · 4w ago

SFF, we need to talk. I'm not here to rag specifically on Bona, who did the right thing by going public. No, I'm looking at all of you. Or at least, 15 of you. Because this right here? This is buckwild.

This should be impossible. What delights one editor should repulse another. This is healthy and natural. But that's not what we see happening. Instead there's one type of story that, catnip-like, every editor can't resist, so predictable that it can literally be algorithmically generated.

some thoughts on writing from a doofus: - start with ibuprofen - no. start with 10-12 hours of sleep - your brain is escaping and sprinting toward the sea. YOU MUST GET IT OUT OF THE SEA - no it’s gone. - open your manuscript 1 time per day and stare into it. brain is still gone.

**Every politician in Ireland should be forced to read this.** Excellent reporting; a bit of digging reveals how makey-uppy AI/tech industry & govt figures are re: job creation, use of renewables, drain on the grid & community funding. NB Ireland!! www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Revealed: landmark Scottish AI project has no prospect of meeting renewables promise

Exclusive: Government and developers privately acknowledged Lanarkshire datacentre site had power provision ‘issue’

theguardian.com

Monthly reminder: Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out.

Most semiprozine work is volunteer or a low honorarium. And invisible. One of the only ways these teams access recognition is through awards. I understand limiting trophies—I would stand behind a limit of primary recipients to protect budget. But listing a name? Costs nothing. Means everything.

Ed Morland@edmorland.bsky.social · last mo.

There's a motion in this year's Business Meeting Agenda on the issue of the number of contributors listed for finalists on the Hugo Ballot. Amendment and explanatory text in the images so you can see the proposal.

F.7 Limitation on Listed Contributors for Hugo Award Finalists Moved, to amend the WSFS Constitution as follows: Section 3.2.13  Contributor Limitation: For any Hugo Award finalist, no more than eight (8) individual contributors shall be listed as finalists or recipients of the award. Where a work has more than eight (8) contributors, the finalist shall designate no more than eight (8) total individual or collective names to be recognized on the final ballot. A collective name is defined as a brief descriptor such as editorial team, production team, Team <Finalist Name>, etc.  The designation of contributors shall be made by the publisher, producer, editor, project lead, or other responsible representative. If no such designation is provided in a timely manner, the ballot text for that finalist will be determined by the Worldcon Committee. Proposed by: Olav Rokne, Tammy Coxen, Nicholas Whyte, Mara Michaud, Ruth Sachter, John Lorentz, Jo Van Ekeren, Lenore Jean Jones, Dave Hook Discussion: In recent years, some Hugo Award categories have seen finalists with very large numbers of contributors. While collaborative work is a valued part of science fiction and fantasy, recognizing dozens or even hundreds of individuals as finalists creates administrative challenges, complicates ballot presentation, presents hurdles for the ceremony and reception, and dilutes the significance of finalist recognition. This amendment establishes a uniform maximum of eight named contributors per finalist while preserving eligibility for collaborative works. The proposal does not limit the size of creative teams; it only limits the number of individuals formally recognized as Hugo Award finalists and recipients for a given work.

Hear ye, hear ye! It's time to OFFICIALLY announce our Table of Contents for Issue 11. Releasing on July 31 (iykyk), it's a summer special with stories and poetry from new and old friends!

A view of Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island. The landscape is tinted purple with "Issue 11" in white text with a watercolour heart behind the first letterA pink flat background with watercolour flowers around the corners. The list of the contributors in Issue 11 is in white text.

The list reads: Fiction, Moh Afdhaal, Hap Aziz, Ares J. Benoit, J. A. Espersmyth, Esther Lim, Avra Margariti, Jillian Schedneck, T.R. Steele. Poetry: Chris Clemens, Wren Douglas, R. F. Hovis, Diem Okoye, Julia Sinclair

friend at a big tech co just told me that her company's chatbot and their client's chatbot have been caught in a mutual support loop for several days that has generated nearly 20k emails