Ode to the Half-Broken Check out Ode to the Half-Broken - <b>In the abandoned New York Botanical Gardens, forty years after the world nearly ended, a worn-out robot is attacked, and realizes old evils are stirring<br> <br>W...

Hey, new book drops 5/26, which is very close to my birthday, so if you can't bring me cupcakes, a pony, a vintage VW bus, or chocolates, you can just pre-order my book instead (-:

I hope you do, too! Heh. Maybe we should double-team China and Japan together.

(I should add that my trips to China were no less profoundly life-changing and wondrous. Having studied Japanese in college, though I’d forgotten way too much of it, significantly reduced the anxiety around communicating and making my way around Tokyo.)

Mini yellow daffodils sticking up from thick ground cover of pachysandra, also flowering with tiny white clusters of flowers, tipped in purple at the end of a stock. Raindrops on everything.

April 19th, 2026

Taiyaki, fish-shaped pastries, cooking. Filled with great things like ice cream, chocolate, etc.

Also these, hot right off the griddle, were the BEST:

Old stone lantern nestled beside a maple in front of Gotokuji Temple in Tokyo, green-patina copper roof with dark wood.

One year ago I was in Japan for Hal-Con, and it was one of the happiest weeks of my life. Met many awesome people, ate great food, explored so many beautiful places and barely scratched the surface. Not a day goes by that I don’t wish I was back there.

a black and white drawing of a person holding a fork in front of a computer . Alt: a black and white drawing of a person bashing on their keyboard in frustration until their arms fall off

A DATABASE IS NOT A "SPREADSHEET"

Cluster of off-white, cup-shaped mushrooms, about a half-centimeter in diameter, among old fallen leaves and bark

April 16th, 2026
Tiny fungi

It is such a beautiful collection, too.

Same. I still have books of his I haven't read, because I don't want to run out and I know I will, but now and then I let myself have one.

hell, I'd road-trip down to Baltimore just to hear him play again.

(As per usual, my bestie @concreteblonde.bsky.social and her partner get all credit for dragging me out of my nerd cave into the light for the evening.)

Book cover for “Prevailing Winds” by Thomas Dolby, showing a campfire on shore, a sailing vessel in the background, and a steam train crossing a bridge overhead.

…it seems to be about two young fishermen at the turn of the 20th century in Maine, which I find amusing as my one story last year was set in the same time period in Newfoundland, about a young man in a fishing town trying his best to avoid the sea (-:

I got away with much less boat research.

3. Discovered, via the merch folks, that he’s written a novel, apparently being unsatisfied with being hella talented in one creative arena already. Picked up a signed copy, got a few pages in before house lights went down for the show.

2. There were some technical glitches, nothing too big or bothersome, all handled by an IT guy who looked and moved exactly like Neil from the Young Ones, which was apt given the 80s theme to some of the works.

Some random notes on the concert:

1. This was the very first stop of the tour, and he’s doing something kinda experimental, which was unexpectedly moving in a way I haven’t sat with long enough to articulate yet. But if you have a chance to catch this tour, I recommend it highly.

Thomas Dolby (@thomasdolby.bsky.social) This is Thomas' official account on BlueSky

Amazing concert by @thomasdolby.bsky.social in Plymouth, MA last night. I could have just sat there listening to him forever. Wish we could absorb music like warmth and carry it within us longer.

Me: [looking at abysmal state of bank account]: well, as long as absolutely nothing comes up, maybe, just maybe, I can squeak through.

Dog: That’s my cue! [tries to eat a porcupine.]

Issue 235 Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast.

The new Clarkesworld Magazine aka @clarkesworldmagazine.com includes my interviews with Suzanne Palmer & John Chu - @zanzjan.bsky.social @johnchu.bsky.social - clarkesworldmagazine.com

I *love* the multiculturalism of where I live. It's why I stay, and why I would never have raised my kids anywhere else. I love how languages I don't know feel like music, how every new person I meet makes my world bigger.

I grew up in a super-white town and yegads it's kind of an embarrassment.

My only issue with this game is sometimes when I touch the screen to move/zoom it takes it as my actual guess. )-:

www.maptap.gg April 12
100🎯 100🎯 98🎯 99🎯 58😑
Final score: 867

We interrupt your regularly scheduled doomscrolling for this nature is wild timeline cleanse.

#DoomscrollingBreak

If you like cranky old war robots, intelligent trains, and snarky cyborg dogs, I might have something for ya.

I swore loud enough to wake at least one of my kid up. About a half inch on the ground when I left my house, just a few traces down in the valley.

More purple & white crocuses covered in snow.

This was the other pic I took. It was still snowing so the lighting wasn’t ideal:

Sure!

And here’s the eclipse photo from Artemis II. I am in tears.

Purple and white crocus with a hint of yellow half-buried in fresh, wet snow. Spring, who had just arrived and was beginning to settle in, is not amused.

What. The. Fuck.
April (yes, April) 7th, 2026