Zig Zag Claybourne
@zzclaybourne.bsky.social
Writer. Pie lover. Herald of Galactus but no worries. he/him zzclaybourne.com
congratulations to all the World Fantasy Award Finalists!!!!!!*
2026 World Fantasy Awards Finalists
The World Fantasy Awards ballot for works published in 2025 has been announced. The awards will be presented during the 2026 World Fantasy Convention, scheduled for October 22-25, 2026 in Oakland C…
locusmag.com
Once in a lifetime occurrences: alien first contact, spiritual ascension, & both nostrils being open while sleeping. Tonight...I can report having achieved one of these.
Now and then it's good to remember that humans can do things like this.
2021 Remaster "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" Prince, Tom Petty & More | Rock Hall 2004 Induction
YouTube video by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
youtube.com
Hooking up the olde Super Nintendo tonight. Cranking up ChronoTrigger. It's been a day.
All the metaphors about a book being like the writer's baby are accurate, but it doesn't stop there. The instant a writer holds a proof of the latest, it becomes a new lover, a religion, a tiny epiphany, a great, gushing catharsis, and a bit of a lament.
Tananarive. Outstanding writer. Outstanding person.
Brian Keene@briankeene.bsky.social · yesterdayGood morning. It is day 94 of Women In Horror Year, and we turn our attention to @tananarivedue.bsky.social's The Reformatory, and examine why this book is still going to hit readers right between the eyes thirty years from now. www.briankeene.com/algorithmzer...
2am and I'm awake so a hope, a truth, a fear, but I'm not going to tell because not everything needs to change hands. But they're on my mind. Maybe when I fall asleep I'll merge the 3 and dream.
Bird leaps off roof, flying left, cawing confidently. One second later, same bird, opposite direction with a caw. "Nope, I'm lost."
If you can't respect my time enough to actually invest y'self in making something, don't expect me to respond to a damn AI prompt.
Come to see Victory In a land Called fantasy... #BlackBookSky #TheBlackFantastic #KhumaloTales
Zig Zag Claybourne@zzclaybourne.bsky.social · last wk."A fitting end to a great series." Advance word from @miltonmvmedia.bsky.social confirms the Khumalo send-off will do you right. I tend to agree. www.kickstarter.com/projects/obs... #Kickstarter #ProjectWeLove #fantasy #TheBlackFantastic #joy
My last category is the non-category of other books I wanted to yell about. Some of these have review numbers so low it is an ACTUAL CRIME. A crime against me. Luckily for you I believe in restorative justice.
Always suspected the Eye of Sauron had smooth jazz playing while it searched. True evil.
FY-everlovin-I, this is $10 at Amazod, normally 25. Hardcover. No idea for how long. Get a book or a new salad spinner. Difficult choice. 2 links might aid your decision. thedragonsroost.net/sometime-you... www.amazon.com/Conversation...
Light rain, cool breezes. Drips and plips from the gutter hitting like a metronome. Wind's using drum brushes amongst the trees. A goose, feeling some Miles Davis, hits an atonal blat, just one, a mental palate cleanser that somehow extends the groove that much farther. Life is jazz. Good morning.
Promised a friend that this weekend is civilian weekend. I'm not thinking about anything writing related at all. So far I've made a breakfast sammich; folded laundry; hi-fived a flowering plant; daintily sipped some Vernors; frittered online, & tested nachos to see if they were stale. Word is bond.
In other news: It's clouding up. Here comes the rain. Again.
Woke up and found out I'm not the man they think I am at all. Oh no. I'm a rocket man.
🖤 thank you to A.C. Wise, who has influenced my writing the most after Angela Carter for mentioning me in this words for thoughts.
A.C. Wise@acwise.bsky.social · last wk.My latest Words for Thought column for @apexmag.bsky.social is now available to read online! Discussing stories of transformation by Suzan Palumbo, @angelaliu.bsky.social, @bogiperson.bsky.social and @bethgoder.bsky.social. Happy reading! www.apexbookcompany.com/blogs/apex-m...
On the next Strange New Worlds: A rabid mugato gets loose in engineering but only Kirk, who's never on his own damn ship, can see it. Spock and Chapel fingerfuk without ever once looking at each other. Pike is pantless the entire episode. End credits.
I went looking for a new printer. A bunch of them had shiny "AI Compatible!" labels on the boxes. In the same way that Kirk asked "Why does God need a starship" I have to wonder... why in 7 hells does a printer need AI??
"Understand this. When they come, they will think they can overrun me with your deaths. Deny them this advantage."
Honestly, a national outbreak of explosive diarrhea seems wholly redundant right now.
Imagine Chaka Khan holding the mic. Singing this. Her eyes lock with yours. That's the love we hope the universe whispers at us.
Rufus & Chaka Khan - Sweet Thing (1975)
YouTube video by R472 Funk Channel TV.
m.youtube.com
Creativity often goes as unpromoted as Ensign Harry Kim. Bring it, show it, share it. Books, paintings, music, sculpture, drawings, garden craft. Give us your heart's best.
A lot of folks might not know I did a tiny book of inspirations. It's called In the Quiet Spaces (written under CE Young), and features bits like this.
Reminder that there is, indeed, some good left in this world.
Zig Zag Claybourne@zzclaybourne.bsky.social · last yr.Now and then I think about 'The Sweet in the Empty' by Tade Thompson from the Mar/April 2023 issue of F&SF because it's 13 or so pages of absolute word bliss. I still have the issue. Deep contented sigh. I love when stories find a place to live in us.
