My friend Julien would know where to point you. I wish he was on Bluesky! cefres.cz/en/julien-wa...
Stories in PodCastle, Strange Horizons and many cool elsewheres. Founder of Lackington's Magazine (yup, still on hiatus). Dark fantasy, weird/horror, film, food, architecture, history, language. https://ranylt.wordpress.com
2,591 followers 755 following 5,684 posts
view profile on Bluesky
My friend Julien would know where to point you. I wish he was on Bluesky! cefres.cz/en/julien-wa...
I live by sunbrellas in the Big UV months! If I’m invited to an outdoor event, I bring my portable shade or I disintegrate into a Nosferatu puff. ☂️
The president is sending the military to control American cities and if you're a reporter who's framing that illegal power grab as "pushing the boundaries of constitutionality" or "acting boldly to fight crime" or whatever, please go find another line of work where you won't get us all killed.
SFF is an entire apology *industry* these days.
Literally the perfect face. (And hair. Oy.)
Every time I’m around swim spots and see a tiny child with an adult who’s made sure they’re confident little swimmers with water-safety antennae (whether they’re still in floaties or not), I want to hug that adult for being so responsible and caring.
Premee, sending hopes for the best birthday gift you can imagine today. 🤞❤️🐈🤞
Sigh, rewatching my Footprints on the Moon DVD from Shameless, and the coming attractions reminded me I *still* haven’t seen my white-whale giallo. If anyone spots The Designated Victim rolling onto Tubi, Shudder or elsewhere, please ping me, #horrorsky and #filmsky. 📽️
Keeping this one, given my…tendencies.
Very!
On its own it’s magic. Have yet to find a vegan cheese that isn’t a blend of several things, tho, and it’s been 25 years of hunting in over 3 countries for a vegan cheese I like (multiple bases). I found my oat milk brand and the *only* butter sub that doesn’t taste like barf, so I’m getting there!
Yep. I love oat milk, but most of those plant-based milk-things are hyper-processed with weird additives for texture/colour. I love Earth Balance too (the pea-protein one in the pink box) but it’s way more processed than plain old Canadian butter. We save animals (yay!) but eat shenanigans for it.
💯
Maybe feed people and fund schools instead, I don’t know.
Now this? THIS is art.
For real. Doin’ good book work while ailing is hardcore. 🫡
boop!
think we've reached the inevitable point in genre book discourse when i just need everyone to read things they enjoy instead of reading things they hate to get mad at. but the fact that this happens every time points to a fundamental problem with... discoverability? but also willingness to engage
Worse, they’re SO MAD at all the books that aren’t stories about X and take it out on the authors who are happily writing about Y instead. So now the Y authors are in Big Twitter Trouble. 😒
I often wonder myself, but then: “Nah.” (A dear photog friend needed models for her "fashion constrains women”-themed 2004 calendar; I was August and it still hangs in my house.)
😬
Pretty!
I haven’t seen The Hit yet! Must rectify that.
Yes, that new Jia movie… I want to be in the perfect mood to suck it in.
It really is a perfect note to end the summer on. (Which I’m already grieving.)
Gender definitely did NOT exist during the entire 70s glam rock era.
Damn, still thinking about Stranger By The Lake on Criterion Channel (until midnight tonight). All vibes that just lulled me into a meditative state, @nmkennedy.bsky.social. Gotta enjoy endless shots of franks n beans (CW), France and people swimming in lakes, tho, which thankfully I do. Banger. 📽️
😬
I just reupped my annual sub because it’s so worth it. (Actually, yes, there are two I haven’t seen yet myself, now that I look closer!)
I don’t even think he was purebred (got him at a shelter). I didn’t know a thing about MCs until vets started pointing stuff out to me when he was older. His markings, fur, ears and personality were all MC, and zero regrets about that happy accident.
(I’m pretty sure he wasn’t purebred, hence being on the shelter market as a basic tabby-ish mutt, but his MC traits and beauty sure emerged fast…)
For real. I got mine at a shelter as a kitten that was listed as a “domestic shorthair” despite the fluff. 😂 I didn’t know I was getting a bonus MC who turned out to be just the best cat in the world.
Mine played fetch, killed and ate bugs for me inside the house when I gave out a special call, and went for walks alongside me in the woods like a loyal, energetic pupper. MCs are unmatched. ❤️
I had one once and can confirm. ❤️
Hello it’s me Sam Altman I have a zillion dollar idea it’s a chat bot that tells teenagers to kill themselves and you can generate csam with it and it poisons the air and water and it’s wrong most of the time and we’re going to put it in your refrigerator and stuff 👍 I need more money for this btw
(Gah, there were one or two more at Lackington’s but it’s been awhile and my memory is once again embarrassing me.)
lackingtons.com/2014/05/13/o...
Just noticed that Criterion Channel’s September lineup includes “Nunsploitation" and "70s Thrillers” on top of even moar Altmans. I’ve seen everything in the first two but there’re a few I’ve been wanting to rewatch (been decades!) so once again CC has my whole entire heart. 📽️
Watching a random movie on Criterion Channel: I win.
Those are some super-gorgeous kattens, but the book cover is doing good work competing for my gasps.
discussion about spec fic trends by critics and readers is great, i'd just caution writers, esp. newer writers, to not let it get in your head too much. just do what compels you. you're unknowingly part of a movement and building out a landscape. it's ok to leave it to others to map out over time.
Yeah I noped out super fast from those. Glad they exist, but it’s not what I gravitate towards. I wish weirdos like me had a place, too.
And so many of them are works of art. The view from my balcony at night is eye-popping.
I can’t stop watching!
Amen to all three of your points.
And his fit is total 🔥🔥🔥. Best vid of the day.
Libraries should be celebrated with more joy like this.
replacing Batman fight onomatopoeiae with old midwestern brewery names
Two-toned beauty for real.
Holy cats! Life goals. ❤️
Yup.
DETAILS
Her markings! 😍
Well, and Loblaws/Weston chains in general (for those who have other grocery options, which are still many of us).
Starbucks’ CEO made 6,666x more than the company's median employee in 2024. This was the widest CEO-to-Worker pay gap in the entire S&P 500. Remember this before you order your next pumpkin spice latte.
Thirding. 🤢
🤢
I’m really lucky; I’ve only ever lived in walkable cities in Canada and Europe, right in the centre of things where most services are located.
🧵 for others like me who grew up in a literal forest but who also loves big cities, and can happily live in both with zero anxiety. (Except re. bears. Damn bearphobia just won’t leave me.)
Still reeling from reading a review that reamed a book for not going deep on dark, problematic topics when the mid-list author is pretty well known for writing cozier SFF/H works. Moralistic reviews really need to die the quick death that all unthinking, out-of-context approaches to art deserve.
Canada can’t WAIT. Let them fight amongst themselves and leave us the hell alone while they distract themselves with novichok hits and defenestrations for the next few years; it’s *their* mess.
Two reminders, as people are making their protest signs for Monday. 1) Ridicule is authoritarian's kryptonite. 2) Trump shouldn't be your only target; Vance, Miller, Noem, and many others, should also be subject to ridicule.
If someone had told past-me I’d be happy swimming in rivers when the outdoor temp is 14C with a colder wind, I’d never have believed em. Time is weird! 💧
(Not that I’m under any illusion Canada will never (a) go full Maple MAGA on its own and/or (b) get occupied by the deranged leadership south of us. Both are looking very likely. Still, it’s nice to hope for nice things for a spell.)
They’re planning to go global (and will have to, to be useful). Looking forward to a time when everyone can use social media, publishing platforms, payment processors etc that aren’t authoritarian-based...
I share a birthday with the most interesting of filmic things…
Fantabulous, PJ. 🥂
(Whoa! Mea culpa, Round 3, I mean, of course.)
Damn. OOP changed the cut/fabric on their women’s vees years back and they aren’t flattering on me anymore. So my 3 way older OOPs are essentially rags now. Crushed dreams!
Same. Spike Lee doing Round 2 of the Katrina impacts on film is perfect timing given the current state of all things USA. It can only serve to remind, though. Change itself… 😔
Scammers are really intent on scaring authors into not contacting someone like me. For example, this "confidentiality notice", appended to a fake offer of publication from Celadon Books, which threatens "blacklisting" of the author "across the entire publishing industry"
A gift.
I get that.
Losing my mind over leaving a dying friend homeless. Apart from everything else.
Yeah, I’m going full Canadian spelling in mine (which everyone assumes is just UK spelling…should be a blast). Another reason I’m avoiding the Zon for this project. 🤷♀️
😬
Right?
I need to throw a copy of the Adrian Mole books at this berk. (Also: Ask me how many times Americans have tried to correct “whinge” on me. And don’t get me started on “supernal”.)
The value of reading widely as a child… I picked up “berk” from the Adrian Mole series and still recite that poem at times. 😂 (This is partly why many editors just...aren’t—not enough awareness of foreign slang/regionalisms.)
Oh it’s super fun Publishing While Canadian, because the rest of the world thinks Canadian spelling is just UK spelling, and have no idea we’re a formal mishmash of UK and US. I can’t WAIT for those comments on my forthcoming books.
Dear everybody in the quotes and replies going "this would be a good thing but amazon had to take it too far..." No. Are you a professional editor? Are you absolutely fluent in the dialect spoken in the book? If the answer to either of those is no, then go do anything else.
aw 🔥
Reposting for my US-based horror-flick peeps!
"ai isn't going away" ok but neither is death and you don't see me here drinking poison and hitting myself with a hammer
If I’m completely honest… (And given I ended up marrying a dude who looks like this only in bike shorts rather than a chiton, it’s pretty accurate, too.)
Extremely fair.
I mean, I got the tingles from Battle of the Planet's Keyop, so no judgment here.
This idea is why I’ve always said that opera was the metal of the 18/19th centuries—the “blow your hair back” music of the time. (Also why symphonic rock is genius, ofc)
Life hack: mute “boomer” “GenX” “millennial” and “GenZ” (+ variants) and your Bluesky feed gets a lot smarter all of a sudden.
omg that skit is perfection
From a foreigner’s POV, it’s American culture distilled into a single article.
Apart from anything else, glad you’re still around to provide so much awesome and often unexpected info about ye olde silents.
😬
It’s the power. Once money buys whatever else they want, they need to purchase godliness any way they can. Power power power.
😬
I’ve never seen that either in all my years. They’ve always been non-gender IME, given they’re “single-use” and it’s so public around them that what’s gonna happen under all those queued-up eyes?
Oh Babs.
MAKE W E I R D E *ART*
David Slack 