running headfirst into every wall until i find another portal

last week a work client relayed that i was too comma-happy because i use the oxford comma, and while all language rules are fake and made up, i am completely unable to get over it. COMMA HAPPY? for separating LIST ITEMS CLEARLY? early introduction to chicago manual of style shapes a person

picking up a lot of history and environmental nonfiction these days, but it's challenging as an outsider to the field to pinpoint which books will provide the sort of information i'm looking for. this is an invaluable comparison for readers like me, thank you

Here's an essay-length review of 4 new books on the history of #ClimateChange, with my thoughts on how the scale of our analyses and the depth of our engagement with global warming alters the kinds of stories we can tell about history (and their accuracy). #EnvHst online.ucpress.edu/hsns/article...

A square linen background with a hand embroidered portrait of a white female face with brown outline of hair which has a big thread tangle on the upper left hand side. The head is turned to the right, only the section from the eyebrows across to the cheekbones and down to the mouth is hand embroidered in detail. In the lower right, next to the mouth is a huge thread tangle.

Here is the other winning portrait.
"The Clarity Of Untangling The Threads (portrait of a stitch artist) 5"
Hand embroidery artwork.
#PortraitArt #embroidery #ThreadPainting

Beyond Afrofuturism: Sinners, the Great Migration, and Rust Belt Gothik - Reactor "Sinners" is a particular kind of story about migration, spirituality, and Black speculative survival skills

To fully understand "Sinners" and the world of the Smokestack twins, we need to explore the Rust Belt Gothik, the tradition of Black speculative survival strategies forged in response to the pressures of the Great Migration

An announcement card for Augur's first novella acquisition, CREST. A mountain peak is featured in the background, with a pink gradient below. Text reads: ANNOUNCING AUGUR SOCIETY'S FIRST NOVELLA CREST by A.D. Sui After more than a decade no-contact, two former friends keep their promise from undergrad and meet up to hike the Pacific Crest Trail together. But urban legends haunt the trails; secrets hang between them; and an eerie otherside pulls at them both, threatening to keep them from ever going home. CREST weaves a story about complex friendships, love, and regret, told as an atmospheric contemporary fantasy travelogue by the Nebula-winning author of The Dragonfly Gambit (Neon Hemlock). Coming Fall 2027 Tags: Contemporary Fantasy, Queer MC For lovers of [When Marnie Was There, Love Death and Robots, Wild] as images

✨ Announcing...our FIRST NOVELLA ✨

Publisher @kercoby.bsky.social has acquired CREST by @thesuiway.bsky.social for our 2027 debut book line up.

This haunting, ethereal contemporary fantasy captured us from first glimpse, and we're so excited to share it next year.

Read on in the 🧵 for more deets!

The falconer: Things fall apart!

The falcon: WHAT?

The falconer: Things fall apart! The centre cannot hold!

The falcon: WHAAAT?

The falconer: fucksake MERE ANARCHY IS LOOSED UPON THE WORLD!

I'm really proud of this little story of a big robot and all the lives around it in and above the soil, and I hope you enjoy it!

A olive green fabric background with a clear plastic netting overlayed. On top is a hand embroidered Chaffinch perched on a diagonal brown fabric branch. The chaffinch is viewed from the back with its head in profile facing to the right

"Chaffinch"
Hand embroidery thread painting artwork
www.emilytull.co.uk/store/p115/c...
#birds #embroidery #FiberFriday #WildlifeArt

this hand-embroidered finch has moved me to tears this morning. there is great beauty in the world (birds, art)

I barely think about The Obelisk anymore. Couldn't care less about its strangely oily surface or the gentle hum of its presence

Mechanic rolled out from under my car and across the room and out of the garage and down the road, never to be seen again

me: i heard you do a terrible owl impression

him: where

me: holy shit that is bad

(but then like immeeeeediately I start to go hmm... maybe I only read big books in 2026? *baps self on nose* no!!! no!!! no goals! qualitative only!!)

i do, however, have a related writing goal: to review more books. it fell off once i started translating full-time in part because, again, i am reading less challenging books that require less analysis. my reading goals are qualitative, not quantitative. it'll be interesting to see the outcome!

so while i'm still going to track my reading in 2026, i am not going to set a books-read goal. i may track pages read, but even that is beside the point. i want to enjoy reading, relieve stress, and deepen my understanding of and appreciation for literature. those are my only goals

human beings like to quantify things. reading a book a week is a nice, round, easy goal. but i also have other reading-related goals, like to read the book of jacob by olga tocarczuk lmao. that'll take a month at least

but i have also read books that are generally less challenging this year, likely for the same reason: the texts i read in my second language at my day job challenge me, and tackling another dense text after work is less than relaxing. all this has me reflecting on what my reading goals *should* be

i naturally read about a book or two per week on average, though that number has been declining year over year since i started translating. 2025 was my first full year as a full-time translator, and I'm on track to have "only" read 44-45 books by EOY. this is still a good achievement!

Watched "In the Mouth of Madness" last night, which is a movie all about how Southern Ontario is the most terrifying place on earth.

I had the great honour to edit Chlorophilia in this issue - a flippy little take on Ovid for the modern era. If you, like me, love an epistolary story (or any story about natural desire), take a little look at Augur 8.3 out now 👀 🌱

An illustration with a purple overlay of decaying purple and yellow tree branches that lead down to an opening. There are white birds flying around and on one of the yellow-purple branches are three people walking. In the top and bottom corners are purple branches and yellow leaves. At the top of the image reads: "contents." There is a black rectangle and inside lists the table of contents: "Observer Effect by Morgan Cross. Leave Your Skins by the Shore by Natasha King. Flame Weeding by Colleen Coco Collins. Rocky Mountain Gothic by Ev Datsyk. Bonds of the Forest by Ally R Colthoff . Blueberry by Jade Riordan. On Fields of Purple Grass by Ian Li. Tapetum Lucidum by U.M. Agoawike. The Great Divide by Meryem Yildiz. Chlorophilia by Mike Thorn and Miriam Richer.” At the bottom of the image is the augur logo and a link to the website: www.augursociety.org

🪶Augurians! Augur Issue 8.3 is NOW LIVE! 🎉 & you can find 2 FREE pieces on our site!

Inside you'll find...
🌲 glowing red eyes deep within a forest
🧜‍♀️ the price of revenge from sirens
🫐 a berry world of grief and awe
& so much more!

🔗 Link in bio!

More details below 👀⬇️

at the end of the day you have to love the dishes. that's what separates the greats--they see the next stack of dishes as an opportunity to run the track one more time. And they take it personally. Dishes? in MY sink? you should've called ahead. you'd know better

ELPHABA
and
GLINDA
will return
SUMMER 2027
in SINNERS 2

what's next for Psychopomp - PSYCHOPOMP.COM what to expect from Psychopomp (and The Deadlands and Fantasy Magazine) in 2026.

a post about Psychopomp in 2026

please read and share

thank you very much

It's an artistic representation of a circulatory system walking through a kitchen, as drawn by Dave Gibbons and written about by Alan Moore. It happens a lot 'round here.

Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.

this is great advice at a time where i am daily looking at my little notebook of short story ideas followed immediately by hyperventilating into a paper bag

Certified Canadian Publisher: Publishing with purpose.

Arsenal Pulp Press is proud to be a #CertifiedCanadianPublisher. 🇨🇦

The majority of books sold in Canada are published by foreign-owned companies, yet Canadian-owned publishers produce the majority of books by Canadian authors.

It's my first time leading editing. The process was so eye-opening and amazing. I won't restate the editor's note but yall. Yall...I am so proud of each and every one of these stories and the authors who wrote them.

Come meet some new reads.