As a science fiction and fantasy writer living in San Francisco, I must now write some SF SSF SFF stories

Dr Susannah Lydon@susieoftraken.bsky.social · 9h ago

SSFs stands for small shelly fossils*. This is genuinely the terminology, just in case you thought palaeontology was too sophisticated or complex. *Sometimes it's small shelly fauna, to pre-empt the "actually"

This was a tough one to write, but I'm so proud of it. My short story "The Cinema of Babel" has just been published in Uncanny!!

Neil Ottenstein@nottenst.bsky.social · yesterday

Listened to/read "The Cinema of Babel" by @sentencebender.bsky.social from @uncannymagazine.bsky.social #71. Just a story with wild ideas and dealing with grief, which was poignant on a day I learned a friend of mine passed last week. www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-...

A new issue of @apexmag.bsky.social has been unleashed upon the world! Apex Magazine issue 154 includes original fiction by Anj Baker, Rob Cameron, AM Maris, Alia Ai-Ming Shahzad, Stefan Alcalá Slater, CM Sullivan, David R. Hoffman, RJ Aurand, and SC Pires. www.apexbookcompany.com/pages/apex-m...

Here to hear all your opinions 🙏🏾

Certainly not fighting the 'cute' allegations with this froggy green.

Natee (they/them)@himmapaan.bsky.social · 2mo ago

There is something about Utahceratops -- probably the neotonic brow horn proportions -- that makes me call it 'Cutahceratops.'

A thread of abolsutely fantastic woman and enby pterosaur palaeoartists (you should follow, platform and shower with compliments) 🧵 Like, look at avi🌧️ over here, baller:

avi 🌧️@barghest-land.bsky.social · 2y ago

i think it's time to introduce Gentle Wind - my personal project about pterosaurs. there will be quite a few animations done to appreciate those beautiful creatures. here's one of them :) more to come! i'll be talking about it under #gentle_wind tag☁️ #paleoart #sciart

😍

Joschua Knüppe@joschuaknuppe.bsky.social · 4d ago

🚨Our Kickstarter to fund the Pterosaur field guide is now live! 🚨 This book is a destilation of your Pteros web page but also gioes beyond that! As such you can expect more than 60 illustrations in this book from me! www.kickstarter.com/projects/pte...

Further reading. Seems like there’s no real reason bugs can’t be huge www.science.org/content/arti...

How did ancient bugs get so big? The prevailing theory may be wrong

Flying insect respiratory systems suggest abundant oxygen can’t explain ancient gigantism

science.org

“common knowledge” has let us down once again

Brandon Bishop@brandontbishop.bsky.social · yesterday

Not remotely clear oxygen levels at any point in the Paleozoic were above modern levels. Direct samples preserved in halite do not show this at all outside of the mid-Silurian.

today on COYOTE: on ChatTJB, the "startup" "AI" "company" where one guy answers all of your prompts himself so that you stop giving your brain function over to LLMs. www.coyotemedia.org/chattjb-want...

ChatTJB Wants You to Stop Trusting LLMs

A San Francisco poet is answering your prompts badly, slowly, and earnestly.

coyotemedia.org

We have made our initial goal! Onward to stretch goals! (Also if you are a sick freak that likes video content, please click through to our first update where @pegasusunder.bsky.social has a rad video answering some questions about THESE HOLLOW BODIES)

Neon Hemlock@neonhemlock.bsky.social · 3d ago

Looks like we are one Club Serpentine paperback backer away from meeting our initial goal! www.kickstarter.com/projects/dav...

Don’t forget to cast your vote for the 2026 Hugo Awards! Did you know that voting on the entire Hugo Awards ballot is NOT required? Do you know films and video games, but not novels? Do you love art and graphic stories, but haven't read the novellas?

Hugo Award Finalists – LAcon V

Important Links:

lacon.org

It’s impossible to know the impact our stories have, but I honestly believe this story is some small part of the reason we have not yet had a nuclear apocalypse. Hope is a hell of a thing to fuel a lifestyle with, but it’s why I will always be a science fiction writer.

Sam J Miller@sentencebender.bsky.social · yesterday

Today is the day on which Ray Bradbury's “There Will Come Soft Rains” (pub'd 1950) takes place. It’s a short elegaic story about a smart home slowly dying after its owners are wiped out in a nuclear extinction event. Re-reading it now, I’m feeling softly sucker-punched by what it has to offer us.

Folks, Lightspeed & Nightmare magazines need your support. www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/a...

Announcement: We're Launching a New Kickstarter Soon. Sign up to be notified when it launches! - Lightspeed Magazine

On September 15, 2026, we’ll be launching our first Kickstarter campaign in more than a decade, to fund Year 17 of Lightspeed and Year 15 of Nightmare. Join us for a year of new short fiction from som...

lightspeedmagazine.com

Srsly you can see the exact look on my landlord's face when he realizes he has a trans tenant

Charlie Jane "Lessons in Magic and Disaster" Anders 🏳️‍⚧@charliejane.bsky.social · 2d ago

Back in April 2000, I had barely started my transition. I was just starting to go out in public. I got drawn into an on-the-street interview for a local talk show, made by trans people for trans people. That's when my landlord (who didn't know I was trans) showed up! buttondown.com/charliejane/...

Day 215! I read The Beast of the Shadow Gum Trees by @tkrex.bsky.social published in @newedgeswordmag.bsky.social. Sometimes death means the end of one thing and the start of something new. Read my review here: mickstaniforth.wordpress.com/2026/08/03/s...

S/D/Y Aug 03 – The Beast of the Shadow Gum Trees by T. K. Rex – New Edge Sword and Sorcery

I’ve done it again. Two stories one after the other with surprisingly similar themes. Yesterday, a lesbian witch and her lover moon, today, a gay forest god and his dead mortal love. This sto…

mickstaniforth.wordpress.com

omg it’s next week

Andrew Dana Hudson@solarshades.club · 2d ago

Next week I’ll be in San Francisco to talk books with @tkrex.bsky.social. Should be a super fun conversation www.eventbrite.com/e/when-world...

ok I havent read her bit or watched the movie yet but from a blindly marketing perspective, differentiating her product from the movie to capitalize on its new popularity is pure genius and as a bookseller I can also say it's extraordinarily effective, let the men cry while she walks to the bank

molly tanzer (I guess!!)@mollytanzer.bsky.social · last wk.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see men on the internet being so upset with a woman scholar for being insufficiently awed by a popular male entertainer’s work. And after all, the Odyssey is, in part, about how men behave emotionally and destructively in response to women’s words and deeds

Don't forget to read and vote for the Ignyte Awards! The deadline is August 16th, and "Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity" is nominated alongside so many excellent books and stories.

The Ignyte Awards@theignyteawards.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Congratulations finalists! Public voting is now open thru August 16: ignyteawards.fiyahlitmag.com/vote/ We encourage you to read or otherwise engage with the nominated works/folks between now and then. Thanks for tuning in!

I will be at the WorldCon in Los Angeles doing some in-person panels, a table talk, and yes - a Reading from CACIQUES - the sequel to SORDIDEZ and next installment in my Taínofuturism series. Hope to see you there! #worldcon 🤓📖📚🦾🐉👽🇵🇷🐚🪶

My story "Potential Energy," about a witch who lives at the top of the Tejon Pass and distributes mixed blessings to the hungry ambitious, is out in Covens, Cauldrons, and Curses Gone Right, alongside many other fine stories! eternalhauntedsummer.com/gorgons-gaze...

Gorgon’s Gaze Press

Welcome to Gorgon’s Gaze Press, the home of collaborative storytelling. Beginning in Autumn 2025, Gorgon’s Gaze Press will release one new themed anthology every year: vampires, witches…

eternalhauntedsummer.com

Rebecca Buchanan@lyradora.bsky.social · 4d ago

Witches Save the World is here! #witchsky #booksky #magic #fantasy #magic #witch

Yesss @neonhemlock.bsky.social met its initial funding goal for the novella series! Another 2k and you’ll get my novella. You want to feel really uncomfortable about roommate dynamics, right? You want to process your pre 2024 election feelings, right? Well: www.kickstarter.com/projects/dav...

The Neon Hemlock Novella Series | Volume Seven

Novellas and a short story collection from “the apex of queer speculative fiction publishing” —Publishers Weekly

kickstarter.com

I have long wanted to write for the excellent Bay Area publishing collective COYOTE...and they let me write something that honestly no other publication would. All hail independent media!!

Reo Eveleth@reveleth.com · 2d ago

Early on @coyotemedia.org made a list of dream bylines we'd LOVE to have on the site and @annaleen.bsky.social was one of the first on it for me. So stoked to see this piece about ~~speculative transit~~ and big dreams for the Bay Area. www.coyotemedia.org/funding-bay-...

OMG!!! IT IS MY STORY!!! IN THE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!

Neon Dystopia Network@realneondystopia.bsky.social · last wk.

What's in a vote? An election? When the punishment for revolution is unreality, is politics as we understand them even worth it? How do you fight back? Elim Geary brings us a story about the aftermath of revolution and politics in Election Day. www.neondystopia.com?p=100043648

Excited for this afternoon reading in a park!

The Writers Grotto@thewritersgrotto.bsky.social · 3d ago

Join us for a FREE lunchtime reading in the beautiful Wetlands Garden at TJPA’s Salesforce Park! 🌿📚 On Wednesday, August 5, T. K. Rex and Jane McDermott will be reading from their work. Come by! 🕐 1:00–1:30 PM #sanfranciscoevents #literaryevents #freeevents #sanfrancisco

Looks like we are one Club Serpentine paperback backer away from meeting our initial goal! www.kickstarter.com/projects/dav...

The Neon Hemlock Novella Series | Volume Seven

Novellas and a short story collection from “the apex of queer speculative fiction publishing” —Publishers Weekly

kickstarter.com

This Wednesday August 5 at 1pm I'm reading at Salesforce Park Wetland Gardens with Jane McDermott & @thewritersgrotto.bsky.social -- come hang in the park with us 🌿🌻 www.writersgrotto.org/classes-and-...

The portal opens tomorrow… are you ready? We want horror stories up to 6,000 words, including flash. Originals and reprints. We pay $0.08 per word. Simultaneous submissions are accepted so long as you keep us informed. More details on our website (below).

I dreamt I went to the convention and completely missed the first panel I was supposed to be on because I was trying to find the bathroom and got lost and then also they had rescheduled it to 6:30am