amtuomala.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Something that can be really helpful for getting your writing brain unstuck: make lists of tropes that you adore. I like spreadsheets, but you could also do different-colored flashcards or mini-journals or whatever works for you. Write down character types, settings, plot beats, descriptors, themes.

submitted 14 hours ago • 1 comment

600 days in the genocide

submitted 23 hours ago • 3 comments

Finished The Space Between Worlds. This book is full of jawdropping twists, but Johnson manages the flow of information so capably that every single one of them has been set up and foreshadowed well in advance. Incredible harmony between theme, plot, and worldbuilding. Can't believe it was a debut.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

If you haven't read his Decolonizing the Mind, I highly recommend it.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

The summer is heating up on SFF Addicts 🔥 Our schedule for June includes a masterclass panel w/ @pdjeliclark.bsky.social @maryrobinettekowal.com @sophieburnham.bsky.social, plus interviews/masterclasses with @kateelliottsff.bsky.social and @older.bsky.social. All episodes available in audio/video.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Calling my quilt gang the Seam Rippers

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

We talk a lot about the closing down of reviewing space, of cultural news -- Locus is doing it and deserves to keep doing it. Not only does Locus review a wide range of writers but it develops longterm conversations about those writers, reviewers who know their work. A small thing that struck me +

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Our campaign is LIVE! Please donate and be a part of making this beautiful new film!

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

submitted 6 days ago • 53 comments

Happy Book Day, Bouba. <3 us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

... and those are all of my weekend reading updates!

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

This story really resonated with me--burnout as losing one's access to magic is a searingly powerful metaphor, and Firion's shame and dread and self-protectiveness ring true. Premee Mohamed has a clear and distinctive prose voice, uncannily sharp, like a dream or a fairy tale.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Read this over the weekend--gripping, tightly-written SF horror. Effective and economical in its worldbuilding and characterization; not a detail out of place. When the story hits its beats, they feel not formulaic but inevitable.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

My usefulness as a reviewer of books is limited, because my two review modalities are "This is what I think the author was trying to achieve and how I think their choices aligned with with that goal" and "I would've written this story with a completely different goal, and here's how."

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Then my hold on The Space Between Worlds came in, and I dropped everything to read it; I'm still partway through, so I'm reserving judgment, but the core concept of the book is absolutely spellbinding.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Didn't get as much writing done this weekend as I meant to, but I did devour Empire of the Feast. It's a sensually horrific bloodbath; think Machineries of Empire if the core technology of the empire were not a calendar but an endless orgy.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

THE POTENCY OF UNGOVERNABLE IMPULSES comes out in TWO (2)! WEEKS! 🚄🪐🫖 🔍💞 🎓trains, tea, mysteries, romance, and academia on Jupiter, tons of lovely reviews, two previous books in the series please read them first, PRE-ORDERS = 💖 us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

Going to try to take the long weekend off from social media. I've finally got my TBR pile in order, and I'm about 2k deep in a promising draft.

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

In speculative fiction, the hills are alive...sometimes literally. Here are five engaging short stories that unfold on the slopes of hills and mountains by @amalelmohtar.com, @jhameia.bsky.social, and more! reactormag.com/five-sff-sto...

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Bringing this to Bsky bc @steverattner.bsky.social hasn't posted it yet and it's so critical. The entirety of the cuts to Medicaid and food benefits are to pay for tax cuts for people earning more than half a million a year. Call Congress: 202-224-3121

submitted 7 days ago • 58 comments

The overall lesson of this year's gardening adventures has been that I was assuming a FAR lower germination rate than the evidence supports. Of the plants that have sprouted at all, I'd estimate that all of the seeds we've planted have had at least a 66% success rate.

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

Project: Infinite Bean Hack is going really well so far! Of the Rancho Gordo beans I've started, I've managed to get flageolet beans, Mayan red beans, scarlet runner beans, black-eyed peas, and one lone Rio Zape bean to sprout. 🌱

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

Hi all; I'm going to undergo a significant procedure later this year (sorry, would rather not disclose) and my husband's health insurance doesn't cover it. We're going to need funds for the care during and after. Any help would be much appreciated: gogetfunding.com/medical-and-...

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

If you're the kind of hard worker who sometimes works extra hours without getting paid, just to be sure that the project gets done--I would strongly advise that you not. Doing so makes your workplace less resilient because it creates the illusion of greater capacity than is truly available. +

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

I am, once again, asking you to share this call for stories widely: The Apocryphal will be an anthology of Palestinian horror and dark fantasy/sci fi published by Roseway. Details below! soniasulaiman.com/the-apocryph...

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Today's fun little worldbuilding exercise, enabled by a dear friend: imagining a gay mafia romance as written by a medieval knight who has access to modern research materials but has minimal interest in historical context

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

I want to quickly shout out @isaac-fellman.bsky.social in the hopes it makes a difference -- not just that NOTES FROM A REGICIDE is simply one of the finest books I've ever read and I want to hear more people yelling about it, but also he just NEVER MISSES

submitted 6 days ago • 2 comments

The Incandescent is light and fun and is good for a hundred reasons. But my favorite was this magic school teacher's profound care for her students, and how many social tools she built to get through to them and guide them. Magic or not, you wish you had a teacher like that.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

DIY HRT: Everything I Can Legally Tell You My guide to do-it-yourself hormone therapy, months in the making, is out now on YouTube. Tell your friends! xoxo youtu.be/o2Ggwe2j0Gc

submitted 127 days ago • 91 comments

Let’s get some trans joy going, here is an updated version of my Trans Writers & Authors starter pack! The folks in here are either moots and/or i’ve read & enjoyed their work. Whether you need some escapism or a dose of revolutionary optimism, there’s something in here for everyone. 🏳️‍⚧️💖🏳️‍⚧️

submitted 7 days ago • 38 comments

We are seriously blessed with some amazing sff books lately. I just reviewed four brand new titles that take place in worlds that are utterly irresistible. wapo.st/4mrm0lQ Authors are: @novarensuma.bsky.social Neon Yang @emilytesh.net Sayaka Murata

submitted 8 days ago • 8 comments