Two hooded figures with lamps approach a moonlit, isolated cottage. A woman answers the door. We have come for the child, says the hooded figure So soon? she asks It is time, says the hooded figure. The woman is distraught. We should never have got him a library card! What is done cannot be undone, says the hooded figure We couldn’t see the harm! We just wanted him to enjoy reading! For most, it ends there, says the hooded figure, turning away and walking into the wilderness Oh lord, What have I done! says the woman, the child walks past her and out into the darkness with them. Do not cry mother. I am a writer now.

my latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com

PANEL 1: A demented robot holds laser gun at a guy (me): TURN OVER ALL YOUR CREATIVE OUTPUT FROM THE LAST 15 YEARS OR I VAPORIZE YOU!! DJO: Whoa! Ok! PANEL 2: The robot to a doufy guy: FOR $7.99 A MONTH YOU CAN USE THIS NYT BESTSELLING AUTHOR’S WORK TO CREATE YOUR OWN WATERED DOWN VERSIONS! Doufy Guy: got yourself a deal, buddy! PANEL 3: DJO: That robot guy just stole my shit and you’re paying him for it! Doufy Guy: Sorry, pal! $7.99 is a great deal, and like it or not, that robot guy… PANEL 4: doufy guy continued: …is the future! The Robot holding a laser gun at a little girl: TURN OVER ALL YOUR CREATIVE OUTPUT FROM THE LAST 15 YEARS OR I VAPORIZE YOU!! Girl: Dude, I’m seven

GenAI is plunder, pass it on (a comic)

My short fiction recs from Jan-March are now up! With stories from @clairejiawen.bsky.social @dracopoullos.bsky.social @angelaliu.bsky.social @russellnichols.bsky.social @rajivmote.bsky.social @amfisher.bsky.social @joelhans.com @jenniferhudak.bsky.social

itsajumble.blogspot.com/2026/04/shor...

We're less than $400 from adding the year's best SFF poetry to the anthology! And I'm thrilled to introduce 3 more authors joining the project--@rjjago.bsky.social, @rati.bsky.social, and @rhwesley.bsky.social (who wins the prize for most Canadian author photo 😂)
www.kickstarter.com/projects/kot...

Year's Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume 4 Award winners. Award nominees. Hidden gems. All Canadian. All in one anthology.

It's live! IT'S LIVE! The Kickstarter for Year’s Best Canadian F&SF: Volume Four is now LIVE! Award-winning series, best of 2025, and (with your help) the biggest volume yet. Can you back early enough to land The Canucklehead tier and get to choose the dedication for the book??

Pls SHARE WIDELY!

Thyme Travellers 2 An anthology of Palestinian Speculative Fiction

Thank you for believing in lifting up Palestinian writers! We’re over the 40% milestone and starting the climb to 50%. I know that we can do this, and build something Palestinians writing fantasy and sci-fi can be inspired by and aim for. www.kickstarter.com/projects/158...

This whiplash where the president terrifies the world for a few days with unhinged threats and then says “never mind” and then there’s this implication that anyone scared of his unhinged threats was overreacting is very domestic abuse but make it a country.

If you’re using AI to write books, understand that’s not going to somehow get you respect or money like real writers who aren’t using AI to write books because we don’t get respect or money either.

I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake By A Horse Hello. I am a horse. I work very hard at my job of being a horse. When humans say move the heavy thing, I move the heavy thing. When humans sit on top of me and pull on my head, I carry them where they want to go. The main food the humans give me is hay and oats. But I am thinking it would be nice to have a different food. I am thinking I would like to try cake. Yes, yes. Cake. I know all about it. When humans eat cake, it is in glad times. It is the food for a celebration, such as when a woman becomes 47. I have seen cake on the Fourth of July. When humans have a cake, they stand around it and clap hands and smile and say happy birthday at each other. Sometimes there are beautiful markings on a cake, such as balloons or a pink shape. Sometimes the top of a cake is on fire and a boy must blow on the fire with mouth wind. This is the scariest cake. I do not want this kind. But I will eat any other cake. Any cake that is not the fire cake that tries to kill the boy. Please understand: I do not get money for doing work. I do not get to go inside the house. All I am either doing my horse job or standing in my pen or eating food off the floor. I always do these things. But I have never once gotten cake and I would like it very much. I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children. I am more helpful to the farm. Children do not move the heavy things like me or let anyone ride on them. And yet they get cake. Maybe the humans will realize this. Maybe they will say, "You know who deserves cake? That horse. That horse whose back we are always on." Every day I dream about what it will be like if I get to eat cake. Here is what will happen. First, I will walk to the cake and putt my nose at it like hrrfff to make and stomping my hooves to make sure it is not a snake. Then I will trot in a circle to show that I am a horse and I am large. After that, I will nuzzle the cake to …

The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me.

It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."

It's a very bingeable drama. I hope you continue enjoying it!

I just finished this drama. Such a ride!

Such a beautiful story by one of my favorite writers! Give it a read or a listen, if you haven't already!

Coming soon: Year's Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume 4 Award winners. Award nominees. Hidden gems. All Canadian. All in one anthology.

The @kickstarter.com for Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 4 goes live NEXT WEEK, Tuesday, April 7. Early bird giveaways! Stretch goals! Add-ons! And the very best Canadian SFF all in one place! Click below for an alert when we launch. And please SHARE WIDELY--thx! #Kickstarter

Sweetside Motel Discover and share books you love on Goodreads.

Current creepy read: horror novella Sweetside Motel by the amazing @elainechen.com 💀
Support your local bookstore! Pick up a signed copy @littleghostsbooks.bsky.social
www.goodreads.com/book/show/24...

Some YA fantasy authors who to my knowledge have never funded an attempted trans genocide:

Terry Pratchett
Diana Wynne-Jones
Garth Nix
Suzanne Collins
Susan Cooper
Phillip Pullman
Rick Riordan
Pierce Brown
Sheri S. Tepper
V. E. Schwab
Rachel Hartman
Alex Pheby
Alan Garner
Ursula Le Guin

And more!

I see the "writer" whose novel just got tanked for being "AI" is blaming it all on an editor who allegedly rewrote substantial portions of the novel using an LLM. So, a) why would you use an "editor" like that, b) I reread reach my novels a dozen times during the pre-pub process, this excuse is bunk

tell us your favourite …

tree: banyan
flower: lotus
season: spring
tea: Darjeeling black tea
coffee: nope
time of day: late night
genre: science fantasy
dessert: pistachio barfi

Buy SoniaSulaiman a Coffee Sonia is writing speculative fiction inspired by Palestinian folklore. Leave her a tip to support her work!

I’m still waiting on payment from a freelance gig. It’s very late at this point. Any help with end of March expenses would be much appreciated. I’m trying to stay out of over draft if I can help it.

💸🍉🙏🏼
ko-fi.com/soniasulaiman/

The Library of the Apocalypse by Rati Mehrotra Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast.

Just listened to another Locus recommended short story from @clarkesworldmagazine.com "The Library of the Apocalypse" by @rati.bsky.social from the May 2025 issue. Quite intriguing and powerful.
clarkesworldmagazine.com/mehrotra_05_...

Tan backdrop with teal border. Text says “I have had Long Covid since my infection in January, 2021. Millions need urgent, meaningful, and sustained action.” Above the text is a photo of SB Divya, a brown nonbinary person with short black hair and dark eyes, wearing a black KN95 mask with gold jewelry.

Most people live like the pandemic never happened, but some of us never fully got our lives back.

For 5 years, I’ve lived with Long Covid in the form of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). There are millions around the world like me.

Today is #LongCovidAwareness Day. Help spread the word!

The cover for Uncanny Magazine Issue 67, "Mushroom Mother of Us All" by Paul Lewin. In the center, an elderly Black woman has her eyes closed, a brown-orange nose piercing on her right nostril and an orange lineon her chin. Her hair are the green leaves of trees, trunks growing out of the side of her face, and mushrooms growing through the leaves. She wears large earrings of orange, sienna, with aqua and white lines and dots. Her hands hold a bowl lined with Black faces and mushrooms growing out of the bowl. In the center of the bowl is an orange sun surrounded by a dark pink halo. The quote reads: "The first time Kittu teleported was into the lavatory of a plane bound for London, fifteen seconds before it crashed in a field south of Gatwick. One moment she was brushing her teeth in front of the bathroom mirror in her apartment in Toronto, wishing she had the money to go on vacation, and the next moment she was thrown upward, hitting the ceiling of a tiny, smelly, enclosed space."

ICYMI! Reading for the Hugo Awards?

Try the short story "The Teleporting Disaster Fairy" by Rati Mehrotra @rati.bsky.social!

It placed 4th in the Uncanny Poll!

You can read it here!

buff.ly/FXBFfX8

The cover for Uncanny Magazine Issue 67, "Mushroom Mother of Us All" by Paul Lewin. In the center, an elderly Black woman has her eyes closed, a brown-orange nose piercing on her right nostril and an orange lineon her chin. Her hair are the green leaves of trees, trunks growing out of the side of her face, and mushrooms growing through the leaves. She wears large earrings of orange, sienna, with aqua and white lines and dots. Her hands hold a bowl lined with Black faces and mushrooms growing out of the bowl. In the center of the bowl is an orange sun surrounded by a dark pink halo. The quote reads: "The first time Kittu teleported was into the lavatory of a plane bound for London, fifteen seconds before it crashed in a field south of Gatwick. One moment she was brushing her teeth in front of the bathroom mirror in her apartment in Toronto, wishing she had the money to go on vacation, and the next moment she was thrown upward, hitting the ceiling of a tiny, smelly, enclosed space."

Reading for the Hugo Awards? Try the short story "The Teleporting Disaster Fairy" by Rati Mehrotra @rati.bsky.social!

It placed 4th in the Uncanny Poll!

You can read it here!

buff.ly/FXBFfX8

The worst day of the year... 🥱

A painting of a bird beside the text "thankfully some mediocre fuckin' man is here to tell us all how to live"

The US never ever gets to describe itself as the hero that it imagines itself to be: you are exactly the evil empire your films imagine others to be

who made this

Danmei Novel Reads and Reviews Something happened to me at the beginning of this year. I went on a danmei novel reading binge. I still haven’t stopped. It has been wildly entertaining, so I thought, at the very least, I sh…

#Danmei Novel Reads and Reviews
ratiwrites.com/2026/03/01/d...

Silk and Foxglove anthology, a BIPOC erotic eco-horror anthology, with a collaged artwork of a red circle, a dragonfly, and a sensual rear end!

Due to the sudden closure of the small press publishing our anthology, we're looking for a new home!

"Silk and Foxglove" is a BIPOC anthology of 13 stories of erotic-eco-horror! It's weird, gorgeous, evocative, & unnerving as hell!

Please boost! If any small presses are interested, let me know!

Submissions Night Shades is a fiction magazine that publishes two speculative stories per month. Night Shades is OPEN I'll let you know when we're closing! Night Shades opens sporadically and for in...

🛸🛸 big news 🛸🛸

just updated the guidelines. for a lot of reasons i can get into later, NS is switching to 2 stories a month (instead of 4) but that means

🛸🛸 rates are going up 🛸🛸

NS now pays $75 flat for a max of 500 words. that’s min. $0.15/w

NS IS 🛸OPEN🛸

www.nightshadesmag.com/submissions/