Want some personalized feedback from someone who reads A LOT of short story submissions? Want to help support an incredible indie lit mag? Check out this new offering from @foofarawpress.bsky.social

foofaraw press@foofarawpress.bsky.social · 19h ago

I'll talk about this more tomorrow, but we are offering something new! Super cheap editing for your short stories with all proceeds going to paying for more stories on Foofaraw. foofaraw.press/editing-serv...

My contribution to the Vimes Boots discourse: The issue isn't its correctness (it's obviously right in some cases), but that many people leap from "This was the first time I personally learned about this idea" to "This person must have therefore invented the concept."

Here's a hot take about Guillermo's book. He could've simply published Tale of Three Voyages as a standalone novel and critics would've praised him for picking up where he left off with Lake of Urine. But where's the fun in that?

Is it school's job to instill in students a lifelong love of reading? Or is it to teach reading skills, critical thinking skills, and an understanding of a foundational set of texts? Is it a school's job to instill a lifelong love of math? Of geography? Of history? Of grammar? Of gym?

#👅

I really loved this story as a youngster. Reading it again today, I realize this story does a better job grappling with the concept of artificial intelligence as it has actually emerged in the current world than 99% of science fiction, including recently written science fiction.

Nicholas Whyte 白怀珂@nwhyte.bsky.social · 2d ago

The breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and ejected from its warm interior eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunny side up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two cool glasses of milk. "Today is August 4, 2026," said a voice… www.libraryofshortstories.com/onlinereader...

In this edition is my review of @slashnburnett.bsky.social's excellent new book Ex Partum. While writing this review I went into a fugue state and churned out an ~800 word rant about the term "speculative fiction" but please don't hold that against the incredible book!

foofaraw press@foofarawpress.bsky.social · 2d ago

📮 August Zine #PARCEL #Zines #Newsletters https://foofaraw.press/august-zine/ 〄

📮 August Zine #PARCEL #Zines #Newsletters https://foofaraw.press/august-zine/ 〄

📮 August Zine

Periodic Aggregation: Routed Carefully & Electronically Logged

foofaraw.press

We are in a sustained period of capitalism where every product/service is set to the absolute maximum cost and absolute lowest quality it can get away with. It's why even when economic signifiers are good, everyone feels the economy is terrible. Why? It's always the same answer: Private equity

Alyssa Harad@alyssaharad.bsky.social · 3d ago

“People used to save and buy high quality goods! Now they just want cheap, shoddy stuff!” Sure, buddy, and a family of four used to be comfortably middle class and own their own home on a single salary.

We are in a sustained period of capitalism where every product/service is set to the absolute maximum cost and absolute lowest quality it can get away with. It's why even when economic signifiers are good, everyone feels the economy is terrible. Why? It's always the same answer: Private equity

Alyssa Harad@alyssaharad.bsky.social · 3d ago

“People used to save and buy high quality goods! Now they just want cheap, shoddy stuff!” Sure, buddy, and a family of four used to be comfortably middle class and own their own home on a single salary.

Fortunately, not being able to act like a normal human being in a cover letter is a dead giveaway that you are a normal human being.

The best reviews are those where the reviewer centers herself and her expertise. I don't want to read book reports, I want personal interpretation and philosophy and analysis and context. The actual book or movie is there if I want the objective artifact. A review is for the subjective.

Wasn't the Odyssey originally told by many different traveling bards, and therefore varying each time and by each teller? The act of writing it down finalized it, but that doesn't reflect its true origin. An unfaithful adaptation is more honest to the source than a perfect translation of the text.

The reviews for your book are in, and critics are saying they'd prefer to take home a cat.

What makes a poem speculative? Is it just the existence of science fiction words? Or is it thematic/structural? i.e., is this a speculative poem? I have eaten the plums that were in cryo-stasis and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold

There are 3 ways of thinking: 1) Anti-AI attitudes are quaint. It'll eventually blow over. You might as well ride it out, trying to keep your AI use quiet until it's safe. 2) It's going to get worse. Plus, you will be found out. The only safe way is not to use it. 3) All art will be destroyed.

Alex Zalben@azalben.bsky.social · 5d ago

Just getting word of this but as it turns out you never have to be ashamed of using AI or apologize for using AI or have projects canceled for using AI if you *never use AI*

I'm pondering these rules for reviewing translated lit. I think 80% of this list is correct and important. However, 20% of it is not only infantilizing to reviewers, but would result in fewer books in translation getting reviewed plus any reviews that do get written would be less likely to be read.

Rachel Cordasco@rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 2w ago

"reviewing translated literature in a thoughtful, informed, and respectful way helps fight a culture of self-centered Anglophone monolingualism"- "DOs and DON’Ts of Reviewing Translated Literature. Tips for Reviewers" from ReadinginTranslation.com readingintranslation.com/2024/12/23/d...

I would give my right arm never to have had to write it, but there it is. @houmanbarekat.bsky.social @martindoyle.bsky.social @dwightgarner.bsky.social @tobylichtig.bsky.social @michaelcaines.bsky.social www.3ammagazine.com/3am/a-litera...

Paul Sweeney@paulsweeneypoet.bsky.social · 6d ago

This is some explication!

Do you like cats in sunbeams? Try a dog in a moonbeam!

I liked the 1st season of this show, but I don't see how a 2nd could have been anything but an entirely different show that happened to feature the same actors. The 1st season was good because it was NOT a superhero show. But it ended in such a way the 2nd season would have been a superhero show.

Bill Kuchman@billkuchman.bsky.social · 6d ago

What the heck, Disney? Wonder Man Season 2 cancelled? variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Ruin a book by adding a word: No Country Music for Old Men

Charlotte Sanguine@knaveryesque.bsky.social · 6d ago

Ruin a book by adding a word: 20000 Pickleball Leagues under the Sea

Hello and reminder that the free @barrelhouse.bsky.social newsletter has a new, original, newsletter-only essay on pop culture obsessions every month, like this most recent essay by SF Layzell about Peppermint Patty (so great). You can sign up here: www.barrelhousemag.com/contact-barr...

Turned this rant into a blog post. davekarpf.beehiiv.com/p/the-data-c...

The data center backlash Is working. That's why the New York Times is so concerned.

I have a

davekarpf.beehiiv.com

Dave Karpf@davekarpf.bsky.social · last wk.

I'm reading the "environmentalists are wrong about data centers" piece from the NYT and ohmygoditssofuckingbad. Apparently, so long as you're punching left, they'll just let you say any goddamn thing you please... www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/o...

Has anyone read Venor Vinge's Rainbows End? This was a major plot point of the novel all the characters were fighting against.

Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 2w ago

New from 404 Media: a company is selling tons of old books specifically to AI companies and says they have a strong NDA to never reveal which AI company bought all of the books. They don't want headlines of 'we scanned and destroyed millions of books for AI' www.404media.co/ai-companies...

But seriously, if you took away my laptop, I can still write. All I need is a pen and some paper. Take away a painter's paints and brushes, they'll grab a pencil. Take away a gAI "artist's" access to their preferred art barf robot and they're helpless. The artist makes the art, not their tools.

Indie Book Spotlight@bookspotlight.bsky.social · last wk.

LMFAO

I'm starting to doubt the accuracy of Apple TV's "genius browse" feature. (Shrinking is a great show, but it's one of the saddest and most depressing comedies you will ever watch. In other words: it is not good for a pick-me-up.)

STET by Sarah Gailey is *brilliant*. What a masterpiece of a structurally experimental short story. How have I never seen this before? I get that not every story can be like this, but this grapples with the actual philosophical problem of AI as it has manifested in society. firesidefiction.com/stet

Jeff (Mixed Metaphors)@mixedmetaphors.bsky.social · 2w ago

Nowhere has science fiction gotten it more backwards over and over again than its absolute favorite topic: AI. I'm still reading new stories about AI being misunderstood and mistreated by humans. Even when AI is shown as bad, it's because it's a hyperintelligent evil, not because it's stupid.

Nowhere has science fiction gotten it more backwards over and over again than its absolute favorite topic: AI. I'm still reading new stories about AI being misunderstood and mistreated by humans. Even when AI is shown as bad, it's because it's a hyperintelligent evil, not because it's stupid.

Aardvaark should be spelled like this

I'm feeling nappish