*banging pots and pans* DEAR QUEER WRITERS AND POETS: IT'S OTHERSIDE'S LAST DAAAAY OF OPEN SUBMISSIONS FOR ISSUE 2!! GET YOUR STORIES AND POEMS IN!! 👀

Seminar: Protopian Prize Fiction Contest Launch (with Locus Magazine!) · Zoom · Luma This will be the official launch of the The Protopian Prize Fiction Contest! Featuring project planning committee, contest judges, and special guests from…

Join us tomorrow for the official launch of the Protopian Prize! @locusmag.bsky.social will be joining us to talk about the role of hopeful stories in working for a better future. luma.com/sygvk1ms

Black-and-white title card. Top: stylized word “BAFFLING,” with feathered wing shapes integrated into the letters. Beneath it in small caps: “SPECULATIVE FLASH FICTION WITH A QUEER BENT.” Centered main title: “Marianne in an Unlit Bar on the Outer Curve of Human Space.” Bottom: “Apr 15.”

My flash piece, "Marianne in an Unlit Bar on the Outer Curve of Human Space," is out in @neonhemlock.bsky.social's Baffling Magazine!

It's one of my favorite recent stories and they did an amazing job with it!

www.bafflingmag.com/issue-twenty...

An illustration of a yellow and pink moth kitten being held by a pair of hands.

✨🌸Uppies! 🌸✨
[ #art #illustration #mothkittens ]

🌸The rosy maple moth kitten plushie launches today at 10am pst 🌸
Help reach the goal and get your very own moth kitten plushie!
www.makeship.com/products/ros...

Close-up of a graphite drawing in progress. An artist’s hand uses a mechanical pencil to refine a tall, detailed tower surrounded by dense, layered architecture. The structure rises from a fragmented landscape with floating rock formations, suggesting a surreal, unstable world. Fine textures of graphite and paper are visible, highlighting the precision and depth of the work.

Mapping the edges.

Some towers don’t belong to the center…
but they still hold something.

I’m a fan of tune roads, followed by sound bubbles ropes

besties, if the picture on your petition is an AI image, I am not signing that fucking petition.

Here’s your morning mood, courtesy of Giulia Frascari.

RABBIT TEST AND OTHER STORIES by Samantha Mills Cover by Elizabeth Story

It's a #BOOKBIRTHDAY

RABBIT TEST AND OTHER STORIES by @samtasticbooks.com is now available wherever books are sold

buff.ly/abcydQr

2 WAYS TO WIN
#thestorygraph buff.ly/kTlaxv5
#goodreads buff.ly/fDVFFqW ENDS TONIGHT

@megelison.bsky.social @lisarodgers.bsky.social @awfulagent.bsky.social

Bronze tiara with blue and purple stones and a blue star in the center

Happy tiara Tuesday! I was goh at Jordancon this weekend and yesterday was a recovery day :) so I show off the tiara I made at the convention. They have swag and seek at Jordancon so when I found this star I knew it was going to work well for a centerpiece 👑

ANCIENT GREEK PRO WRESTLING PROMOTER: ok so you're going to be what's known as a "heel"
ACHILLES: fuck you

Do *not* miss the alt-text for a great story.

‘If all of the people who hate Ishtar had seen it I’d be a rich woman today.’
Elaine May is 94.

None of the movies/shows in the MCU is 'critical' to understand new entries. They're all easy to understand. The main problem isn't homework, it's that they're ads for each other in a cynical, anti-art corporate transmedia model that devours smaller art, weakens workers, & strengthens monopolies.

A photo of a very early sunrise that is just beginning to show some light in the far distance. The photo is taken over a calm lake with dark silhouetted trees in the distance. Many celestial bodies are still blinking their photons of light down from the heavens. A peaceful, serene scene while camping in the wilderness.

The breaking of dawn,
Early morning light reveals,
The day yet to come.

#Photography #BWCA #Haiku

Editors should not upload manuscripts to AI without permission, says Authors Guild The Authors Guild (AG) in the US has warned editors not to upload submitted manuscripts to consumer-facing AI systems.

Ooooh, this is gonna be a mess

www.thebookseller.com/news/editors...

Wife of Former Microsoft CEO Gifts NPR One of Its Biggest Donations in History Connie Ballmer, philanthropist and wife of former Microsoft CEO, donated $80 million to National Public Radio

NPR received $113 million in donations after losing federal funding, including $80 million from Connie Ballmer, wife of former Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer

"I support NPR because an informed public is the bedrock of our society, & democracy requires strong, independent journalism”

#SheShed

Macro photo in portrait arrangement — a jaunty little click beetle faces the camera while perched, dare I say in an optimistic posture on some stucco. His antennae look like a series of triangles. He looks curious. Happy. Hopeful. One supposes this is because he does not have a cell phone and does not read the news. All he knows is being a cool bug and also clicking his entire body like a weird awesome dude any time someone tries to Kafka his ass upside-down. I wish I could do that. Getting out of bed in the morning would fucking rule. Photo by me, Chuck Wendig

Good morning instead of enjoying clickbait let’s enjoy this click beetle

The hidden power keeping wages low For decades, economists gave short shrift to the idea of monopsony — a power employers can have to suppress wages. Now a wave of research suggests it's everywhere, and a new book argues it's key to understanding today's inequality.

For decades, economists gave short shrift to the idea of monopsony — a power employers can have to suppress wages. Now a wave of research suggests it's everywhere, and a new book argues it's key to understanding today's inequality. n.pr/4e0RHRi

REAL LIFE COMIX: Only in New York A hardcover anthology with 51 tales of true NY stories

Reminder to support the REAL LIFE COMIX: ONLY IN NEW YORK Kickstarter! It's got 51 true NYC comics from 66 creators (incl. me!), so let's get this over the finish line! www.kickstarter.com/projects/gho...

A screenshot of a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Magyar Péter (Ne féljetek), with the handle @magyarpeterMP. The post reads: "Until 31 May, the Orbán puppets may voluntarily step down from their positions. This applies to the President of Hungary, the President of the Curia, the President of the National Office for the Judiciary, the President of the Constitutional Court, and the Prosecutor General. On 12 April, the Hungarian people voted for a complete political transformation. If these officials do not step down voluntarily by 31 May, then — on the basis of the mandate received from millions of Hungarians — we will remove them from office." At the bottom, the timestamp reads "3:04 AM • Apr 21, 2026" alongside "19.9K Views".

Peter Magyar is not playing around at all. He's going to purge every single remnant of corrupt Orbanism. This is exactly how Dems need to be when they retake power.

The press is intent on whitewashing Republican agency out of everything.

The Columbine massacre was on this date in 1999. Instead of energizing our country to get gun violence under control, it kicked off a new normal. One of the best explanations ever of journalism's destructive impact on mass shootings came from Roger Ebert in his review of Gus Van Sant’s “Elephant.”

femme walking in field at night drawing

moonlit

Again: young people might not realize that this kind of repugnant racism was unacceptable to express publicly, *not that long ago*.

Frieren — The World Turned Upside Down

Gareth Hanrahan on the DIE RPG: Metadungeon - Old Men Running The World The DIE RPG: The Metadungeon is presently crowdfunding as part of the Mega Dungeon Month. It's a frankly ludicrous endeavour, born of Gareth Hanrahan going

Declarations of conflict of interest are for lesser bloggers. Here's my interview with @mytholder.bsky.social about the the process behind the currently crowdfunding DIE RPG: The Metadungeon. oldmenrunningtheworld.com/gareth-hanra...

Release it as a SuperNintendo cartridge, you cowards