Hot cocoa is an every time thing. :)
SF/F/H writer. SFWA, Codex. She/her. Stories online and in anthologies. Web: aphowell.com Mastodon: https://wandering.shop/@aphowell Newsletter: sendfox.com/aphowell
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Hot cocoa is an every time thing. :)
Sweatshirt, hot chocolate, apple pie, and apple picking for me. (Or, you know, shorts and a tee shirt because humans broke seasons.)
And the customer service perspective of maybe it's just faster and easier to give this schmuck some holy water and get on with my actual job.
Yes, that worked for me, too, and it did not offend my sensibilities regarding cataloging and metadata. (Many other sensibilities have been offended over the course of this class action suit, and I expect that's not over.)
Spending this Labor Day alienated *by* my labor, not from it.
A time travel reprint I don't write a lot of time travel stories or a lot of play-formatted stories. But I wrote this one seven or eight years ago, and it eventually appeared in a big time-travel themed anthology, and now you can buy it from my shop or itch.io or Ko-Fi. We're still in the darkest…
Unlike quicksand, rabies is a childhood bugaboo that remains quite terrifying.
(Though if this weekend taught us anything, it's that Bluesky cannot actually manifest anything through the power of posting.)
post a random picture or else everything will go bad in September:
Anyone in Edmonton, please keep an eye out for Premee’s kitty Fiasco! Franca has been found, but Fiasco is still lost. We need him home safe.
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Shamelessly self-promoting "Stages of Pre-Bereavement," which is in an anthology, a standalone ebook, and the (paid) segment of a podcast. shop.aphowell.com/products/sta... www.thenosleeppodcast.com/episodes/s22... bookshop.org/p/books/dark...
(stares at piles of dog hair on the floor)
I have such fond memories of this episode! I remember my mom calling me inside to see the Loch Ness monster (I was a big fan of monster movies). Doctor Who is thoroughly ingrained in the crenellations of my brain. (I know they were serialized, but our PBS station always aired them together.)
I will reflect upon my Honorary Bisexual status later while attempting to work my lower back into proper alignment.
I usually cheat by using a recliner. Though right now I'm sitting in a(n uncomfortable for long stretches) chair at the table, one leg hanging off the front of the chair and one off the side, balls of my feet on the floor (undoubtedly *great* for the tendons).
I am neither young enough nor bisexual enough to get away with sitting like a bisexual. I still sometimes try, even if I spend a little while limping afterward.
There have been structural changes (that I think were generally desired regardless of any individual statements/issues) to make Codex more of a Thing rather than vibes + random folks paying bills, slides it more toward "group" than "resource" IMHO.
(Or maybe I'm just a fan of my spouse.)
Not a doctor, and not disputing doctors being weird...but I think I would also find it hot if my (equally non-doctor) spouse successfully performed emergency surgery on someone.
The fuck?
A genre is a Venn diagram, some adjectives, and vibes in a trenchcoat.
So the Little Toot book was good for an extra giggle at bedtime.
In my house growing up, it was "bum" and "toot," with the faint implication that "butt" and "fart" were, if not *bad* words, then at least somehow naughty.
I'm so sorry and I hope those two jerks make it back home safely.
Them: “Cities are all rotting hellscapes!” Cities:
We'll be hosting a Q&A Session on September 27th, 3pm PST in our Discord! Questions form - forms.gle/QpDWroJPLx... Discord - discord.gg/VgGHggJdka
Way more horrific than the murder dolls.
Just reassure your cats that straight people are just like regular people.
I really thought I'd adjusted to housing price fuckery (low interest rates inflating prices! Prices not deflating after rates ticked up! Big country lots! Close-in suburbs! New construction! Old construction!) between my hunt and a friend's near Philly in the past few years.
Still trying to get past the sticker shock on a tiny fixer-upper.
EDMONTON: HELP Mayday mayday SOS: both Fiasco and Franca have gotten out of the house through a busted window screen and the back gate was found open by my catsitter I am VERY FAR AWAY! If you are in the Highlands region can you keep your eye out
This is absolutely infuriating. (I'm not surprised small presses weren't registering copyrights twenty-odd years ago, presumably operating under the same calculus I have for later, shorter work. But major publishers have zero excuse.)
I just finished this and it's a great read. Among other things, it nicely captures the early months of the pandemic, when a critical mass of people were still taking it seriously (and toilet paper shortages were still top-of-mind).
jfc @proton.me NO I do not want to chat with your purple fucking cat chatbot
We weren't the first to raise the alarm about AI, not by a long shot; but we *were* pretty goddamn on top of it. We released THANK YOU FOR JOINING THE ALGORITHM in 2023 to help combat the theft of art by AI. A cause that hasn't exactly lost relevancy: store.tenebrouspress.com/products/tha...
I probably don't qualify as a member of this class, unless small presses registered copyrights (seems unlikely), but I would very much like some of the "move fast and break things" industries to break themselves.
Don't threaten us with a good time.
If you prefer the rewards model, human artists have donated ten very interesting, wonderful little bite-size pieces for you to purchase. Pick one, buy for $5, help the project, and enjoy a surprise bite of hand-crafted art filled with a soft center of love and community. 🍬 CANDY BOX OF ART 🍬
turns out prosecutors can not, in fact, indict a ham sandwich
Nichts und niemand kann uns trennen! Tauch mit mir in die Dunkelheit ein Zwischen Abgrund und Schein Verbrennen wir die Zweifel und vergessen die Zeit
Thank you for the reminder! (I don't think the Alien show is *good* but I've started watching it when it's mentioned on here. It's been a long time since I've known when anything actually drops.)
Hey! The Cosmic Background is a great place for short fiction.* You should be reading it, and if you've got some spare cash you should consider supporting it. * Including one of my stories!
I am furious that itch isn't paying you what they owe. But! Thank you for the breakdown. I'm not in you subgenres, but it's still very useful. (Also...thousands of sales? I still get a dopamine hit when I see a single download.
This looks like a really great project! Let's get it funded
Yes, self-pub is eligible. "Unknown Number" is a recent example on the ballot (plus a bunch of stuff in fan categories.\).
I agree with the general point, but do like "sideloading" because I plug a device into the side of my laptop and then up- and download things.
Eh, snakes are cool (she says, not having lived in places where venom is an overriding concern). Based on spending part of one (1) day in Iceland, I came away with the impression that the real danger was lichen-covered fissures that could swallow you without a trace.
Random promo: I've had short stories published in a number of magazines. I'm sure the publishers could use support (whomst among us could not?) so if you feel like tossing a few bucks in their direction, you can curl up with some good reads.
It's like some sort of particularly virulent Lost Cause variant.
I can never watch someone gliding, spinning, jumping, and running around on foot-knives without thinking that they are practicing some form of sorcery.
It turns out I *did* have a couple extra rolls inside. But I have now virtuously cleared the trunk of paper products plus some soda. I know you were all anxiously awaiting this update. Now you can relax.
Really looking forward to this one.
After my last grocery run, I left the toilet paper and paper towels in the trunk because my hands were full and I didn't feel like making a second trip. Now I am out of toilet paper and must venture outside to the car. It is a gorgeous, breezy day, and yet I don't wanna.
Short fiction contract negotiations should not take 7 months and counting. Beyond annoyed.
principal skinner it's the children who are wrong.gif
Words/phrases Democrats should never use: * bipartisan * my Republican friends * real, valid, legitimate, serious, important (to describe issue raised by Republicans) * yea (when voting on Republican bills) * distraction (to describe bad thing Republicans did) * woke (in derogatory sense)
This is going to be so unnecessarily disastrous. (Evergreen skeet, I guess. But still.)
Don’t be afraid to share your writing. There are six Sharknado movies.
I confess I was one of those people who saw it opening night and never since, pretty much solely for that line (and, you know, not having kids or anything).
Libra: Astrology is now the only kind of science funded in the U.S. Bad news: Your sign will be eliminated for Wokeness.
"I have had it with these motherfucking snakes in this one motherfucking bed!"
He's chunky.
It's genius.
Yes, to be truly '80s they need the Token Black Kid(TM).
And not in Wyoming, which is always a plus.
Argh!
Did a time portal open up to the early aughts?
I haven't read the Emilie books, but I can highly recommend everything else in this bundle. (And her books outside of this bundle, too; but that's less relevant for supporting World Central Kitchen.)
I feel like this is one of the facts that I have learned and forgotten multiple times throughout my life.
It's great and it's been *far* too long since I watched it.
It's links-in-bio time again. I'm also @aphowell@wandering.shop.
In a thread that mentions ASoIaF, Kingkiller, and will probably also mention Gentleman Bastards eventually, I would like to point out there are many finished/non-stalled series. Many are by women, which may explain their invisibility. (Not a dig at the poster, btw.)
I am now picturing a sentence about the village laughing after my husband got his penis stuck in the farm vehicle using a handful of recurring letters.
Something very very weird happened during the Hugos award ceremony... It's been on my mind for days, and so I wrote this blog: "When People Giggle at Your Name, or the 2025 Hugo Awards Incident" grigorylukin.com/2025/08/21/w... #Worldcon
Gen X sitting in the corner, veteran of the blue screens of death, fondly recalling the dogcow, handling their own tech support and secure in the knowledge that they could program a VCR if they still had a VCR.
Yeah, when I saw that my reaction was "the bee's not as good," but I love the way you got feedback from people who were able to articulate why it wasn't as suitable beyond just vibes.
(Amazed that I now have one (1) doctor who's primarily looking at my A1C and not possible weight loss side-effects when considering meds.)
(extreme Madisynn King voice): Obesity's a public health crisis, but not for the reasons that they think.
But there's a big difference between "two way masking isn't 100% effective" levels of risk, and "some number of individuals knowingly spreading COVID." The former is "shit happens," the later is "this is a shitty person who should no longer be welcome in the community."
People who violate health and safety policies need to get banned, not just escorted from the building after the con's basically over. (I'm not optimistic, because cons already aren't great at banning folks who should be banned for other reasons.)
This, btw, is why events need to have universal masking policies. It's safer and easy to eyeball for compliance. People can't be trusted to use good public health judgment or follow written policies.
It is Two Thousand and Twenty Fucking Five and this dude doesn't know COVID is airborne and transmissible by asymptomatic folks.
So many genres, so many books at only $1 per book. Last chance to grab this offer! Only one more hour remaining! 💙📚 🌈🚀💫 📚🌎 📢📚 🩷🧙♂️⚔️ 🪐📚 itch.io/b/3231/small...
Nice! Love the typography-heavy cover.
Jakob Nielsen would yell at them.
So I have my fingers crossed that Kid # 1 will be able to navigate the worst of it. (I'm not helicopter parenting--I don't even have a login, much less read or write fanfic--but the kiddo's historically been good about coming to me with Questions.)
Yeah, that's definitely a risk. (The AI more than the toxic culture--Kid # 1, sadly, has experience in toxic online culture.) Fortunately, Kid # 1 has negative feelings toward AI (including recommending that a friend ditch Character AI in favor of writing their own stuff).
This is a pretty good bit
I wish I'd kept my paper rejections from way back when.
Success stories/wins are great, but you know what I enjoy? Top tier writers talking about the grind. This is Gene Wolfe in a 1973 interview w/Malcolm Edwards (reprint in Shadows of the New Sun ed. Peter Wright) when he was on the upswing after writing Fifth Head. Selling a story on a 38th sub damn 🫠
My kids are feast or famine when it comes to reading. I'm trying to adopt the same approach as for nutrition: it doesn't matter what they read/eat on any particular *day*, but the weekly/monthly cumulative intake should be halfway decent.
I emphasize the variety angle: prose fiction does different things/uses different techniques than manga/comics, than nonfiction, etc. Plus, over the summer, the "I don't want your brain to leak out your ears" argument.
I was so happy when the kid I thought had been reading absolutely nothing except the occasional manga (that counts! But it was very occasional) turned out to be reading fanfic on AO3. That counts!
Book bundle chock full of short stuff, on sale now. itch.io/b/3231/small...
Very distracting, especially since the big, amorphous bad was white supremacy. Maybe they just thought "What if you could stop WWII?" was cliché, and at odds with the you-can't-just-kill-one-asshole thesis. Anyway, I still want a cheesesteak, and I can't get a good one where I am at the moment.
I watched In the Shadow of the Moon last night, a serviceable time travel movie from ten years ago that made me want a cheesesteak. At one point, a character asks "What if you could prevent the Civil War?" as though the *war* part was the worst bit.
If it's AGI doing so for legal/moral reasons, then hopefully it would wrestle with the ways in which its behavior was coerced and instead turn whistleblower. Then the bosses could get sued for copyright violation and charged with sixty gazillion violations of its labor and civil rights.