Happy National Poetry Month! Not A Lot of Reasons To Sing, But Enough is so good. A sci-fi colony story told in verse sold it for me. I picked this up and read it in just a couple days. Nothing has ever inspired me to write my own poetry before, but this one may have me convinced to try.
Gonna tag in on the “stop using substack” train as I am oft to do
Stuff Keeps Happening is available as a free newsletter (paid support options available) and is not on substack. I own and operate it and don’t have a cut taken from the support plans. Also supports RSS and activitypub
www.skh.news
A little bot with a propeller on its bag. Enamel pin
Adorable enamel Bot 9 pins designed by author Suzanne Palmer from her Hugo Award-winning story “The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palmer”. She is the best! + April e-issue of Locus and digital art. Donate at http://locusmag.com/ or through our bio!
Just sitting here admiring the before and after of Nat Cassidy’s Rest Stop. Big thank you to @shortwavebooks.bsky.social for hooking me up with this amazing collection of horror diversions a little ahead of schedule. I Know A Place is so good.
Book cover for A Wall Is Also a Road by Annalee Newitz, with “Coming October 6, 2026” at the top. The cover features a stylized cosmic scene with a woman’s face in profile, surrounded by circular, mosaic-like patterns, planets, and tentacle-like shapes in deep reds, purples, and golds.
From bestselling author Annalee Newitz, A Wall Is Also a Road is a thought-provoking science fiction adventure about the meaning of life and love, seen through the many eyes of an alien grad student studying a familiar backwater planet. Perfect for fans of Becky Chambers, Ryka Aoki, and Martha Wells. Gardenpath is a graduate student in biology who desperately wants to pass their exams with the highest honor possible: a prize given to scholars who discover something truly novel in the universe. Gardenpath also happens to be an amoeba–a slime mold, to be exact–from an ancient civilization that dwells in a vast network of towers between the stars. Seeking their prize, Gardenpath heads to a remote, dangerous planet that other researchers have dismissed as dead and uninteresting. There, they are surprised to discover a complicated ecosystem unlike anything they've ever encountered–including some peculiar, multicellular animals who seem to have language and culture. To learn more about these animals, Gardenpath changes their shape to resemble one of them. And that's how they meet a creature named Murtis, who lives in a city she calls Pompeii and works in a brothel known to locals as "the lupanar." Unfazed by a visitor who says she's from the stars, Murtis takes Gardenpath into her care, introducing her to the seaside tourist town full of immigrants and shopkeepers who are just trying to get by. A Wall Is Also a Road is a story about what happens when the alien becomes familiar–and beloved. Gardenpath expected to finish their research, present their discovery, and take their place among the decorated scholars of the floating cities. But when they look at their wild new friend Murtis’s sensor bulb, attached to a bizarre electro-chemical control system, they begin to realize there’s more to life than academic achievement. They're not sure what it is, but they're going to use science to find out.
✨ COVER REVEAL ✨
From bestselling author @annaleen.bsky.social, A Wall Is Also a Road is a thought-provoking science fiction adventure about the meaning of life and love, seen through the many eyes of an alien grad student studying a familiar backwater planet.
Coming October 6, 2026!
So it’s been a few days of being 39 and so far I’m still staying up too late playing games or reading. I should probably try going to bed at a normal hour soon.
Who are your favorite solarpunk illustrators and visual artists? Links and images please! My brain needs some nice things.
It’s been on the top of my TBR since the arc went up, but I just haven’t started it. I’m going to start it today.
This is so fucking cool. Go support trans lives and get some amazing books too.
Please please please stop calling what I do afrofuturism. It is NOT. It is africanfuturism and the distinction MATTERS GODDAMMIT. I can't remain civil about this much longer and I shouldn't be expected to. 🤬
Even saddling The Space Cat with the afrofuturism label is diabolical.
A smiling person is wearing a toque with rainbow stripes and black skulls on it.
I love this beautiful toque based on the rainbow pirate flag of San Francisco in Automatic Noodle!! Thanks to knitter Jim, John from Atelier Yarn, and model Sarah!!!
There never seems to be a good time for anything online lately so I'm just going to throw this out here now:
I am looking for more work! I don't mean writing (though that too, sure!), but in the vein of the work I do for the Le Guin Foundation: organizational, practical, assistant-y, bookish work.
Several books lined up near a hand holding a heart and a silver snake, and there's a candle shaped like a skull. The books are: A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper, art by Caroline Johnson. Teenage Girls Can Be Demons by Hailey Piper, art by Julia Lloyd. The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand, edited by Christopher Golden and Brian Keene. Why I Love Horror, edited by Becky Spratford. You, Human, Volume 2, edited by Michael Bailey. Four Past Meat Night, edited by Brian Keene. Roots of My Fears, edited by Gemma Amor. Love Letters, Reasons to be Alive, volume 1, edited by Sarah Gailey. Beneath all that it says 2025 in golden letters with sparkles and stars.
my 2025 in publishing 💜
One novel, A GAME IN YELLOW from Saga 💛
One collection, TEENAGE GIRLS CAN BE DEMONS, comprised of 9 reprints and 4 new stories from Titan 😈
3 more new stories
2 more reprints
2 non-fiction essays
and 1 sick triceratops.
the plethora of depressing articles about reading lately made me think about how a person winds up a reader—and stays that way. it's not a science, that's for sure! the weird alchemy of childhood and curiosity and countless variables that all could have easily been different
The new editions of the FULL TRILOGY by @aliettedbodard.bsky.social are available for preorder now in ebook and paperback, wherever books are sold. Check out book 1 here:
awfulagent.com/ebooks/the-h...
Incisive, atmospheric, enchanting. These new editions of the award-winning trilogy feature bonus stories in the world of the Fallen and introductions by SFF luminaries Kate Elliott and Adrian Tchaikovsky. Perfect for longtime fans of the series and new readers alike
With a deliciously gothic atmosphere, queer characters from across the world, and high intrigue as the various Houses strive for control of the shattered city, the DOMINION OF THE FALLEN trilogy asks 'what is the price of power and what is the price of peace?'
Coming March 10, 2026! I am thrilled to share the covers for the rerelease of Aliette de Bodard's DOMINION OF THE FALLEN trilogy. Enter a Paris wrecked by magical cataclysm and the mysterious Houses ruling the city in this beloved series of fallen angels, devious alchemists, & Vietnamese dragons...
I am loving books that have horror stories couched in the most mundane settings like retail stores that connect to hellish dimensions like Finna from Nino Cipri. I’m currently reading Crafting for Sinners and it’s off to a great start.
I work for an indie bookstore in the US and a dan. I would love to signal boost if I can help.
This has been such a busy week, and definitely not the week to be nursing a sinus infection. House repairs are happening and had a busy weekend for Halloween and Birthdays. I have a million more things to do, but hopefully there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.
Are fan conventions doomed? NOOOOO!!! On @ouropinions.bsky.social, we talked to a ton of people who have run scifi cons and asked one burning question: how do we fix fan-run cons? Can we make them welcoming and economically sustainable, so they serve tomorrow's communities as well as today's?
POV opening the bookshop in Fall and there’s a brief pause in customers. It was a busy day, but a good time.
Staff Picks. Actually but ok.
Automatic Noodle is back in stock and back on my staff licks shelf where it belongs. So excited to have this back in stock. You can check out our stock at main-street-books.com
#automaticnoodle #booksellerlife #booksky
I really enjoy opening the bookshop Saturday mornings with all the smells and crowd of the Farmer’s Market. One of the few times I feel like I’m not just clocking in but contributing to the community.
The truth is rate and method of compounding can be a more important than initial investment, but they also aren’t considering the minimum required starting investment. Many of these high yields require large initial investments or much riskier investments that could lose more than you gain.
The goal is to lower barriers for our community so I’m rarely a fan of big paywalls.
Applepay submitted my order using an old address (Still sorting out why exactly) and I couldn’t find a way to change it or contact fulfillment. USPS didn’t help either and now my stickers and shirt are making a round trip journey back.
