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Middle West Press

@middlewestpress.bsky.social

Middle West Press is an Iowa-based editor and publisher of non-fiction, fiction, journalism, and poetry books. Our projects are often inspired by the people, places, and history of the American Midwest. Also #veterans. Visit: http://www.middlewestpress.com

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Stephanie King@stephstephking.bsky.social · 11h ago

It's always so funny to me when pro-AI people are like "Oh yeah? AI uses a stupid amount of energy? Well so does driving a car! Or eating a hamburger! Or golf courses!" Buddy, guess how I feel about those things

Tiffany Morris@tiffmorris.bsky.social · 19h ago

So apparently that HWA pro-AI newsletter also uses Indigenous water rights issues as a prop, trivializing the activism by Indigenous peoples to protect our water including specific anti-data centre actions. I guess they figured why not alienate Indigenous horror writers while they’re at it?

“Sure. Sure. Yes, we know AI is using up resources. So does driving a car or a planes so does building a new home. So do a lot of things. Humans have always used up Earth’s resources and usually not nicely. There are reservations and other Indigenous communities in Canada that have never had clean water and have been ravaged by pipeline construction. But somehow that’s been okay for the past fifty or a hundred years, and very few people scream about that. But suddenly, AI is the enemy, not everything else we’ve been doing all along. Suddenly YOUR water might not be clean, so it’s a Big Deal”.
Jason Heppler@jasonheppler.org · 2d ago

The Forest Service wants to move ahead with a plan for a radioactive rare earth mine fourteen miles from Devil’s Tower, with no environmental impact statement or public hearings. You should tell them how you feel about that:

BREAKING: USDA Pushes Forward on a Radioactive Open Pit Mine Miles From Devils Tower

The Forest Service won’t publish a draft study and won’t let anybody object. Michael Boren signs the decision himself. You have until August 28.

morethanjustparks.substack.com

@NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze)@newsjennifer.bsky.social · 2d ago

"...in his nightmares, he sees the agents of the American government lunging towards him, over and over. This time, they kill him." Incredible, stomach churning piece from @minnesotareformer.com of the @statesnewsroom.com about an absolutely vile assault by ICE during the Minnesota occupation.

Minnesota Reformer@minnesotareformer.com · 2d ago

On Jan. 11, Gregory Bovino watched as his Border Patrol agents dragged a man out of his car at a St. Paul Speedway, knelt on his back until he lost consciousness, and dragged his limp body into the back of a van. The man's name is Orbin Mauricio Henriquez Serrano and this is his story.

Paul Deane@rhunedhel.bsky.social · last wk.

Do you love J.R.R. Tolkien? Did you enjoy the poetry of the Rohirrim? There's lots more alliterative verse where it came from! Check out the current issue of Forgotten Ground Regained: Alliterative Verse in Arda (Beowulf-style Tolkien fan poems). #tolkien #fanfic alliteration.net/back-issues/...

Forgotten Ground Regained: A Quarterly Journal of Alliterative Verse, Issue 11, Summer, 2026

This issue contains alliterative fan poems set in Tolkien's Middle Earth.

alliteration.net

Eric Chandler@shmof16.bsky.social · 5d ago

5 years ago, 20 years after I started publishing things, I came the closest I had ever come to saying what I meant to say in this piece. This only existed in print until now, so I thought I'd try to help it find new readers online. ericchandler.wordpress.com/2026/07/31/t...

This Is Not A Map

“I’ve always been fascinated by maps and cartography. A map tells you where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re going – in a sense it’s three tenses in one. It’s also an amazing ideogram o…

ericchandler.wordpress.com

John Scalzi@scalzi.com · 5d ago

1. Newer writers, just don't fucking use "AI" for anything, ever 2. How odd that being an established writer with a firm "no 'AI'" stance and ample pre-"AI" IP will become a definite competitive advantage over "new, hot, and possibly copyright compromised" deadline.com/2026/07/ai-q...

AI Questions Spoil Book & Movie Heat On 'Call Me, I'll Hide The Body' Novel

That screeching sound you heard from international publishers and film rights buyers was an abrupt application of the brakes after a fevered pursuit of the unpublished debut novel.

deadline.com

Anne Lutz Fernandez@lutzfernandez.bsky.social · 5d ago

This new data compiled by @mattbarnum.bsky.social is invaluable. It makes clear that worries about the teacher shortage, downplayed by contrarians, were and are warranted. Importantly, it raises a largely ignored factor affecting student mental health, behavior, and academic success.

A ‘lost generation’ of teachers left the classroom. Schools are still dealing with the consequences.

Veteran teachers left, principals cycled through too, and high-poverty schools likely faced the greatest strain. Here’s what years of churn did to classrooms.

chalkbeat.org

Middle West Press@middlewestpress.bsky.social · 5d ago

As a veteran-owned business, Middle West Press is proud to administer and underwrite The Aiming Circle—an on-line community of practice that serves writers of themes and topics related to war and military service. Members include poets and playwrights, scholars and soldiers, essayists and analysts!

The Aiming Circle

​The Aiming Circle is an on-line resource for writer-practitioners of military-themed literary and genre fiction; creative non-fiction; history; poetry; opinion/analysis; and other storytelling. We il...

aimingcircle.com

Charlie Sherpa@fobhaiku.bsky.social · 6d ago

Proud to have new works appearing in the ISSUED: stories of service No. 4 (2026), including my “5 haiku about ‘Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen’”—about the 1983 series finale of “M*A*S*H”! ISSUED is produced annually by students at Arizona State University. Available for purchase here: issuedjournal.com

ISSUED: Stories of Service No. 4. Cover art "Last Breath," a 2010 painting by Vietnam veteran Bernie Duff, depicts a female U.S. Army nurse standing over and talking with a prone male patient.
Brandon O’Brien@therisingtithes.bsky.social · 6d ago

I'm especially jazzed about the Poetry track for this year's Worldcon—panels on poetry writing and editing, workshops on sonnets and haiku, readings and discussions with the Best Poem finalists, and more!

Los Angeles Worldcon@laworldcon.bsky.social · 6d ago

We are thrilled to share an incredible schedule jammed with engaging panels, special guests, events, workshops, performances, readings, table talks and so much more. Everything is available via our program guide guide.lacon.org

Alexandra Gallant-Lee@alexandragallant.com · last wk.

My next comic SCAM will debut in September at the Small Press Expo, it’s an examination of how white women, in particular, use aesthetic, style, image and identity to game marks and further their scams and of course, because I can’t not think about AI, how AI is doing the same thing.

Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them)@bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · last wk.

*whispers* you know we can do this cultural debate about art thing all the time, right? Websites and news organizations used to have culture critics on staff whose entire job was writing about books, movies, and TV. People read them and then discussed them. We have the technology to do this again.

Charlie Sherpa@fobhaiku.bsky.social · last wk.

"[...] if romance novelists can merge military science fiction's concepts with the idea of flying dragons ala Anne McCaffery and add compelling characters and new situations not imagined before, military science fiction may have to reinvent its own axis to keep up."

Joshua Pantalleresco@jpantalleresco.bsky.social · last wk.

My third freelance article, second published this year. Can pulp save sci fi? Read and find out. #freelancewriting www.typebarmagazine.com/revisiting-t...

David Dayen@ddayen.bsky.social · last wk.

I really, really hope you read the series. We worked on it for months. When we fail to tell our version of history, tyrants fill the void. The story of America is a story of challenging the unjust power of the age. We present in this series the people and movements we must learn from.

David Dayen@ddayen.bsky.social · last wk.

I'm excited to kick off our new summer series for America's 250th anniversary, Prospect Patriots, where we honor those across history who challenged power, took risks, and made our country greater. We had one rule: No elected officials. prospect.org/2026/07/27/a...