And the Josephine is on the blocking mat. I'll come back with a yardstick and fine-tune it a bit later (once it's stretched some), but I'm really happy with this version.

Only 2 more days until my cozy-spooky romantasy novella A Waltz of Sinister Import arrives to complete The Supernatural Adventures of Lady & Lord Riven! Preorder now: books2read.com/waltzSinister #romancelandia

"Your Honour, I wasn't the one who robbed that bank — it was my evil sockpuppet, Pierre! Just look at the footage, how he holds the gun while I turn away in disgust. Look at those googly eyes, Your Honour, and you will see pure evil, as dark as the void of space. I am the true victim in all this."

kate conger@kateconger.com · 7d ago

Anthropic is the latest lab to report 'rogue' agent activity, which sources said included applying for visas with the State Department www.nytimes.com/2026/10/09/t...

In light of some magazines pulling scummy things on creators lately, I’m doing a little thread on short story rights. I don't want anybody getting taken advantage of. Also, if you're new, this stuff can be confusing!

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

This is one reason why you shouldn’t upload work into LLMs during the peer review and grading processes. That work is confidential, and you have no right to share it without permission. You are taking someone’s intellectual property and giving it to the entire world without their consent.

Dare Obasanjo@carnage4life.bsky.social · 6d ago

“This recent dump of papers on Tuesday destroyed the careers of early-career mathematicians. We've had whole research programs wiped out on Tuesday by their dump … they have all the mathematicians research programs in their training data” - Tristan Buckmaster on OpenAI solving unsolved math problems

I also finished the Josephine shawl last night (which is where the 'scrap' for the mandala came from.) Played yarn chicken for the last couple of rows, but ended up with 5' left over! #crochet

Got Mandala 1 on the hoop, and will let it stretch for a day or two, then futz with the attachment and tie it off. On the whole, I'm pretty happy with the 'scrap yarn' project. #crochet

Living with chronic disabling health is like permanently working with the most ornery , dislikable person in your office. The person who thinks musk is a genius , and Trump is 'quite funny, really'. You have to work together but it's impossible to relax or take pleasure in their company.

Looking for witchy shit? Check out my Harmswood Academy trilogy - YA paranormal romantic comedies set in a town that pretends it's Halloween 24/7. Also fabulously available on audio! 🖤🍁🎃 aletheakontis.com/bibliography... #fantasy #halloween #nocturnefallsuniverse #witch #booksky

Finally got around (prompted by a forum post and an email) to cancelling all my stuff on Patreon. Sorry if I had subscribed to your stuff. This was not a decision about the worth of your content, but being exhausted with the platform. (I closed my own page months ago.)

Now mandala 2 is on the mat. (Amethyst Mandala pattern). So much easier to make the second time around. It's tighter and cleaner. Now waiting for hoop.

Mandala 1 is done blocking, and now just waiting for a hoop. I started # 2 yesterday, and have only 3 rows to go. Will likely finish it tonight. It's a lot easier to do a complicated pattern the second time around. #crochet

This glorious, furious poem! @jenniferhudak.bsky.social hits it out of the park!

Jennifer Hudak@jenniferhudak.bsky.social · 2w ago

My poem "Swimming the Witch," about how systems of power often create the very things they are attempting to quell, is now free to read at @trollbreathmag.bsky.social -- just in time for spooky season! I hope you enjoy! magazine.trollbreath.com/swimming-the...

First attempt at a #crochet mandala. Unblocked measure is 14", but hoop should be 16", so I need to stretch it a bit. Pattern is the Amethyst Mandala by Jordan Wantuch, in scraps of yarnart flowers leftover from the Josephine shawl. Will post a pic again once blocked and mounted. (May be a while)

I'm almost done with my trial mandala (crocheted) but am looking at the prices of buying a hoop for it. (No point in purchasing that until I'm actually 100% done because I don't know if I'm on gauge or not.) Weirdly, it seems like I can get 20 or 2, about the same price.

Sorghum can handle dry conditions better than many crops. Now growers and chefs are trying to answer another question: Can they persuade more Americans to eat it? buff.ly/QsR8i2G

This grain could be an answer to drought-prone fields — if more Americans eat it

More farmers are showing interest in sorghum, a drought-tolerant grain. The crop is poised to expand in the U.S. — especially if Americans start consuming it.

buff.ly

Few fake their death. Many fake their life.

I give up. I’m moving into a cave.

Tired this morning because I got up at 2:30 AM with the ThunderDog. Rain is done but the forecast is for it to hit again at Midnight, so no sleep tonight.

I just finished copyedits for A Waltz of Sinister Import! Join my Patreon as a Dragon Ruler to read it on Friday (& scoop up all the other ebooks already available there): patreon.com/stephanieburgis Or preorder the ebook to get it in just over 2 weeks: books2read.com/waltzSinister #romancelandia

Wow. Really amazing writeup on my collection The Astronaut Among the Flowers in The Horror Review. Check it out: www.horrorreview.com/book-review-... @starsandsabers.bsky.social

Book Review: THE ASTRONAUT AMONG THE FLOWERS

The Astronaut Among the Flowers and Other Stories P.A. Cornell Stars and Sabers Publishing (August 18, 2026) Reviewed by Andrew Byers I ran across P.A. Cornell recently in Of Dread, Decay, and Doom…

horrorreview.com

Transferred a couple of K words off the Alphasmart Neo this morning, some old file and some work from last night. I'm glad that my handy little device still works!!!

This has been a dismal month for book sales, making me 1/20th of what I got in August. ::sighs:: Not sure why, but this just seems to happen sometimes.

Every thriller and scifi writer in America: "Um, am I in trouble for having this in my Notes for like ten years?"

ryan cooper@ryanlcooper.com · 3w ago

“We came up with some very astounding numbers,” Wellinghoff said. “If you knock out nine total substations among those three grids, you can black out the entire United States.” www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/m...

NEVER DRIVE OR WALK THROUGH FLOODWATER. Not only is drowning a real, heightened risk, but that floodwater is now a soup of shrapnel, everything soaked into the ground, and worse. Stay clear.

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 3w ago

New Yorkers, a storm is arriving today. Don't travel if you don't have to. Never drive or walk through floodwater. Call 911 if you are in danger, and report nonemergency issues to 311. Look out for one another and stay safe.

I'm getting a couple a day now (have a recent book). It means, among other things, that if I get an email from a legit source, I'll probably spam it by reflex...

Victoria Strauss@victoriastrauss.com · 3w ago

New #WriterBeware blog post: If you're a writer, you've probably gotten one (or more) of those AI-generated scam marketing emails or book club invites that make it seem like the sender really read your book. Here's a little peek at how it's done. writerbeware.blog/2026/09/25/h...

I love HEB's delivery. And their delivery commercials (appeals to my weird sense of humor) www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjWe...

H-E-B Carpool Delivery

YouTube video by H-E-B

youtube.com