Just enjoyed listening to this little story that follows the rebirth of a mechanical qilin by @carolinehung.bsky.social in @khoreo.bsky.social
Give it a read!
www.khoreomag.com/fiction/rain...
#shortstories #flashfiction
In this, we spoke on AI-written books' dropped chapters/blandly over-descriptive paras, but I'm a third into Liza Minnelli's audiobook and the subtle repetitions from the too-small sample size used to emulate her voice (endlessly dropped -ing's, same sniffs/inhalations, etc.) are as fascinating
White background. There’s a blue puzzle piece with an orange circle crossing it out. Text reads: Before you donate to Autism Speaks, Consider the facts.
White background. Text reads: Very little money donated to Autism Speaks goes toward helping autistic people and families. Only 1/10 of 1% of Autism Speaks’ budget goes towards the “Family Service” grants that are the organization’s means of funding services. Autism Speaks spent more than 188x as much on fundraising. They spent 16x as much on Facebook/ Instagram ads alone. Although Autism Speaks has not prioritized services with a practical impact for families and individuals in its budget, its rates of executive pay are the highest in the autism world: some salaries exceed $415,000 a year. Autism Speaks talks about us without us. Autism Speaks has only 2 autistic people out of a total of 27 individuals on its Board of Directors. By contrast, 16 out of 27 board members represent major corporations, including current and former CEOs and senior executives of AutoZone, Goldman Sachs, SoundCloud, White Castle, MasterCard, and S.C. Johnson & Johnson.
White background. Text at the top reads: Autism Speaks’ Budget. Source: Autism Speaks 990 Non-Profit Tax Exemption Form, 2024* There’s a pie chart with the following sections: 49.4% “Awareness” & Lobbying, 22% Fundraising, 19.4% Research, 9.1% Misc., and 0.1% Family Services. Text at the bottom reads: *“Awareness & Lobbying” figure derived from reported program service expenses on Part III, 4a & 4c less the total amount awarded in family service grants (“Family Services”) and misclassified research grants as reported in Part III, Line 4A; “Research” figure derived from reported program service expenses in Part III, 4b plus the misclassified research grant amount; “Fundraising” figure derived from reported expenses, line 25(D) in Part IX.
Blue background with white text that reads: Instead, donate to organizations that help autistic people: Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) provides support, community, and public policy advocacy, by and for people on the autism spectrum. autisticadvocacy.org Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network (AWN) seeks to share information which works to build acceptance and understanding of disability, while dispelling stereotypes and misinformation which perpetuate unnecessary fears surrounding an autism diagnosis. awnnetwork.org Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) works to ensure that people with disabilities are treated as equals and are given the same decisions, choices, rights, responsibilities, and chance to speak up to empower themselves as everyone else. sabeusa.org
Very little money donated to Autism Speaks goes toward helping autistic people and families. This #AutismAcceptanceMonth, considering supporting groups by and for autistic people!
autisticadvocacy.org/considerthef...
Great list! Middle grade sci-fi can spark imagination! Have you checked out “The Wild Robot”? It explores nature and technology beautifully. 🪐📚 What’s your favorite read? #SciFiKids
Lol should mail these to you so you can be one of the only people on the entire planet with both UK and US paperbacks of "The Blob" remake
Had no idea Paul Monette did a novelization of "Nosferatu." Any good?
I really loved having this conversation, both in terms of content and in the feeling of having it in a specifically and intentionally neurodivergent mode.
I hope you enjoy it, whenever you get a chance to dig into it.
This week, join us for a rollicking and wide-ranging conversation with Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Data Science at UNC-Charlotte, Dr. Damien P. Williams on the past, present, and future of AI, separating fiction and tech-bro hype from the reality in all its fascinating and flawed glory!
AHHHHH!!!
Afro-centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction by
@bloomsburyacad.bsky.social has been nominated for an Ignyte Award !!!
You can vote for this anthology and your other favs by going to this link:
ignyteawards.fiyahlitmag.com/vote/
#WritingCommunity #booksky
And because lol, here's a photo she took of me in Seattle at the Thomas & Mercer offices, mere minutes from meeting her most excellent dog, Moose.
Naturally, I signed up? Sarah, who you can also find at bookedonsocial.com, oversaw three of my crime thrillers at Thomas & Mercer and as, well, the first one sold over 200,000 copies, I can say I have very much benefitted from her expertise in the past?
Author publicist/recent NDAF guest, Sarah Shaw, wrote today to say she's actually created a course for neurodivergent authors on strategies for handling social media called SOCIAL MEDIA YOUR WAY - A SUSTAINABLE STRATEGY FOR NEURODIVERGENT AUTHORS: sarah-shaw.systeme.io/neurodiverge...
Infraction now available exclusively on #Wattpad!
open.substack.com/pub/themaskf...
Friends and followers! I entreat you to listen to a podcast interview I did with my good friend Mark Wheaton. I talk about my art and all the things I love. I encourage you to follow NDAF on Spotify and YouTube as well!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxz_...
This week, we’re speaking with underground comic artist/cartoonist, Hermit, author/illustrator of RENDEZVOUS WITH THE DEVIL and the forthcoming ADVENTURES OF PRINCESS KAYA, in collaboration with his musical creative partner, Kitten.
The front cover of a book called Cult Britannia. The title is in large white letters against a Union Jack flag background, where the central red stripes are made from strips of film. The subtitle reads Great British Genre Movies from the 1950s to the 1990s.
I've got a new book out! Cult Britannia is a 400-page beast covering hundreds of weird and wonderful world of British horror and science fiction movies from the quaint post-war 1950s through to the end of the post-modern digital 1990s.
Available in paperback and on Kindle here: amzn.eu/d/ghGmoNA
That sucks. I'm really sorry you're going through that.
16 I tripped and fell into a hole. It was a long way down. Long way. I landed on a soft, muddy pile, and I couldn't see anything, not even my own hands. The light could no longer reach me. Then a man started shoveling soil down into the hole. Slowly, slowly, blotting out my pinprick view of the sky. There was once an old story like this. Some kind of animal would shake the dirt off its back, until the earth grew under its feet. I was not an animal of ingenious wit, though I could not be killed from a simple burying. The man tired of the shovel. Tucked deep underground, I touched the ancient roots of a forest. And when they brought me up, a full, silvery moon was shining bright upon me.
17 I'd never held a sword before. What was so special about a tool for cutting skin, stabbing into organs, slashing flesh and sinew, and not even all that well? But the evil king had given me a sword, large and heavy and double-bladed and straight edges, a really boring sword, to defend myself from attackers. Did that make him a generous king instead? No, all kings carried a cruelty in their hearts. It's baked into the crown... But anyway, a sword. Is it supposed to grow spikes on the handle, piercing my hands and draining all the blood from my body? Well, well--nice try, evil king. This won't kill me, but I'll be sure to put your blood-sucking blade to good use when I come to strike you down from your throne.
18 "Ah! Bunny! It's a bunny! Cute widdol bun-bun, c'mere!" The rabbit ran into the bushes, frightened by my enthusiasm. I sat back on the forest floor and did my very best to hold back tears. There was a rustling in the bushes behind me, and the click of a gun, pointed straight to the back of my head. I knew even without looking. They'd always come to hunt me down. I turned to face them slowly, and stare down the barrel of their gun. I wasn't a little rabbit, though. A little rabbit wouldn't have smiled, all jagged teeth, crushing bullets then a hunter's skull. Another day.
19 A butterfly paid me a visit last night. A shining, beautiful thing with powdery wings and a subtle gaze. It watched me sleep, and waited as my mind wandered off to the land of dreams. It did not care for my heart. The butterfly hovered over my head, and perched delicately upon an eyelid. I could feel it all in my sleep. The butterfly wished to let me rest, and never rise again, even as the dawn broke over and over. My dream, warm and soft, turned into a nightmare suffering a thousand deaths. I woke up and crushed the butterfly in my palm.
16-19 while I'm in the hospital caring for mother with lung cancer #1000DaysOfDrabble
20 "Am I strange?" The mermaid asked from their tank. Gurgled, more like, with their face half-submerged and spitting foam. Small bubbles bled over the water's surface. "No," I said, hands pressed against the glass. "No, of course not, why would you say that?" "But I am." The mermaid wailed, and dragged their sharp claws across pink, scaley arms. "Would it be, so wrong? That you would reject, even me?" "I'm sorry," I said. "I'm sorry, I don't know anything." And the mermaid closed their eyes, and hugged their tail fin close. And their body dissolved in the water, breaking down into fine sand, precious little stars unseen to the naked eye. I sank to the ground, crying, and begging for them not to leave, don't leave me here, all alone, please, I can't live without you, don't go. I cried to the empty tank. When the saltwater dried, years and years later, I stood to walk away, carrying a single star in my pocket.
Congratulations to all the Locus Award Finalists! So awesome to see some of my favourites nominated!
And, of course, I'm absolutely thrilled the non-fiction collection I'm a part of received a nomination too!!
😍😍😍 🎉 🎉 🎉
locusmag.com/2025/05/2025...
#WritingComunity #locusawards2025 #booksky
I've got a new book out this month! It's an easy reader biography of lovely local lad Harry Styles, via Bonnier's Studio Press imprint. Out on 22nd May, pocket money price!
This week, we’re speaking with writer, Vesper Doom, the author of the adult cozy fantasy/folk horror novel, THE BINDING OF BLOOM MOUNTAIN. She takes us from their earliest writing and discovery of Lovecraft to the conception of BLOOM MOUNTAIN and how it became an outlet after their autism diagnosis.
14 I took a nap then woke up to a boot pressed on my face. I was angry, and kicked upwards in retaliation. My assailant leapt back, he tried to kill me with a buckshot, and I knew for certain his was a terrible grudge, and I hated him too for trying to kill me in my sleep. I was literally, a harmless little kitty. "Why do I deserve this?" I asked, bleeding all over. He simply shot at me again, and I ran fast into the woods.
15 The wings on my back, once strong, beautiful, iridescent--now crumbled and scattered in the wind. It happened while I was in the air, high in the sky. A sun beam pierced my thigh. Then another, my arm. And I was falling to my imminent death. Just my luck. I tore my stomach out and used it like a parachute. Barely worked, and I drifted over waiting dogs on the ground, hungry dogs, hoping to rip into my corpse. Too bad. They will starve for longer.
14 and 15 #1000DaysOfDrabble
This week, we’re delighted to be talking with the wonderful poet and short fiction writer, Caroline Hung, who joins us from Manila to discuss her writing process and the many stories behind her many dark and unsettling tales. She also performs for us a pair of poems, including a new piece, LUNA!
This week, we’re talking to filmmaker, Andrew Kasch, as he takes us through his long and varied career, directing and editing everything from his hilarious shorts, docs on the great horror franchises, and work across the DC TV Universe, all while navigating the positive and negative sides of ADHD.
This week, we’re in conversation with author support specialist and longtime book publicist, Sarah Shaw, formerly of Thomas & Mercer, currently of BookedOnSocial, discussing strategies and tips for social media-averse creators! #NDAF
This week, we’re chatting with author, editor, and publisher, Aquino Loayza, writer of DEEP, THE MONOLOGIST, the forthcoming PAPER LION, as well as the editor and publisher of SPECTRUM: AN AUTISTIC HORROR ANTHOLOGY! #NDAF
