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

Fellow authors, I love you, and I know it feels like we don’t have a choice, but B&N and Am*zon both scheduled sales this week to preempt Independent Bookstore Day, a hugely vital source of income for indie bookstores. Please don’t promote their sales; please promote your local indie this week.

submitted 3 days ago • 64 comments

I actually just snort-laughed reading this.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Need an excuse to buy more books? Now you have one! Saturday is Indie Bookstore Day! Show your favorite indie some love.

submitted 2 days ago • 26 comments

I have slept for approximately 2 hours in the last 36, but it's certainly been a very pretty day in Boston.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

I will be hanging out @quailridgebooks.bsky.social for Independent Bookstore Day! Come see me and lots of other local authors! We’ll sign our own books, and tell you all about other books we love! I’ll be there with my favorite works of horror, science, classics, YA, and more.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Tomorrow, a certain online mega-retailer launches a book sale, just days before Indie Bookstore Day on 4/26. This is no coincidence; Bookstore Day is one of the largest revenue drivers for indies. Indies need our support to thrive & build community spaces for all...mega-retailers do not.

submitted 5 days ago • 22 comments

One of the telling characteristics of the AI-gen’d student essays I’ve seen is their insipid both-sidesism, fully assimilating the noncommittal banalities that tech corps demand from employees, and hovering sufficiently in a colorless nowhere of opinion where one is neither right nor wrong.

submitted 126 days ago • 14 comments

Yeah, that's exactly what it's doing.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Just another week to go before our next in-person event!

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

'What medieval women read' Fascinating article by @medievalists.bsky.social "...numerous women—especially in the aristocracy—were not only readers but also curators of substantial private libraries" www.medievalists.net/2025/04/what... #medievalsky #history #library

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

The AHA is compiling resources developed by historians in response to recent actions by the federal governments. We welcome submissions from our members about op-eds, media appearances, or other resources they've contributed offering historical context and insight to the public. 🗃️

submitted 10 days ago • 3 comments

The Middle English Texts Series is an extraordinarily successful and impactful scholarly project, touching all of us in medieval studies. Its NEH funding has been cut, and donations are being sought to keep the lights on: metseditions.org/donate

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

I have a new article out! "An Aspirational Cultus? Tolkien Fandom at the Borders of Belief" explores Enyalië, a yearly memorial ritual at J.R.R. Tolkien's grave, through sociology of religion and fan studies. It's directly tied to my PhD research and I'm really proud of it. #FanStudies #Tolkien

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

Took a day off yesterday and spent much of it at Duke Gardens. The weather was perfect, everything is so colorful, and the flowers smell amazing right now.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Hey, did you know there's an alternative to ChatGPT that makes sense economically and doesn't destroy the environment? It's called English majors and they will happily fix all of your documents for the low price of health insurance and a living wage.

submitted 13 days ago • 64 comments

How is the crisis in higher education impacting history and historians in the UK? Lucy Noakes on the scale of cuts and closures, and how the Royal Historical Society (@royalhistsoc.org) can advocate for our discipline. www.historyworkshop....

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

An astronomy professor colleague of mine once relayed trying to explain to his students why it was important that they actually write their class reports themselves. “The point is not to teach ME about neutron stars,” he said.

submitted 12 days ago • 44 comments

On the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, we thought we'd answer a question that's often asked, "If they raised the Mary Rose, why not raise the Titanic?" Allow our scaled diagram to explain...

submitted 12 days ago • 219 comments

Terrified of how The Last of Us season 2 is about to rip my heart out and stomp it to pieces.

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

"I DO NOT ABSOLVE YOU. WRITE YOUR OWN EMAILS." has been playing on loop in my head all day

submitted 16 days ago • 36 comments

Quote with a film gif from the year you turned 18.

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Pope Leo X and Charles V discover environmentalism

submitted 16 days ago • 24 comments

This @insidehighered.com website is tracking visa revocations of students across the US, >600 at >100 colleges as of today, April 10. www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...

submitted 17 days ago • 17 comments

"Stop procrastinating" in cuneiform: "Why don't you write your tablet and do your homework? If you don't, they will say: "Is this the sister of Sheru'a-eṭirat, eldest daughter of the Succession Palace of Ashur-etel-ilani-mukinni, the great king, mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria?"

submitted 17 days ago • 22 comments

We've put together a list of resources on legislative threats to higher ed. Visit the site for tips for NEH grantees, webinar recordings, tool kits, MLA statements, and more. www.mla.org/Resources/Ad...

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

This #NationalLibraryWeek, when you donate $15 or more to the ALA Show Up for Our Libraries fund or your public library, you’ll receive an audiobook credit from Libro.fm! Details at: blog.libro.fm/libraryweek/ Thank you, @libro.fm!

submitted 19 days ago • 5 comments

Hi! Are you a US researcher who spent time thinking about humans? Then your work is in danger of censorship and loss. I'm here to walk you through basic self-archiving. Maybe you think I am being hyperbolic. You only worked on bacteria! Not your problem. Do me a favor and join me anyway.

submitted 18 days ago • 48 comments

If you're a Tolkien fan in North Carolina, I hope you'll come and say hello! We're in the midst of our Silmarillion book club on Discord (through July), and we're getting together for a festival later this month.

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

The Triangle Tolkienists will be continuing our Silmarillion book club a week from today! Join us on Discord as we discuss 'Of the Coming of the Elves' through 'Of the Darkening of Valinor'. triangletolkienists.org/2025/02/17/s...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

Finished Shadowheart's companion quest tonight. The hug was so healing. If only they'd let Astarion have a hug at the end of his as well...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

@yaelrice.bsky.social and I co-authored this piece precisely to combat misguided work like this so people don't have to constantly rehearse the arguments about why it's specious. We laid it all out here for you! hyperallergic.com/604897/how-s...

submitted 22 days ago • 27 comments

Scrolling the #HandsOff hashtag today might give you the hope & joy you need.

submitted 22 days ago • 1 comment

If you're protesting this weekend, know your rights when interacting with law enforcement, including immigration agents.

submitted 22 days ago • 40 comments

In this moment, with so many of our institutions - economic, social, educational - being actively undermined, when I think of what my role as a historian is, my mind goes to my favorite passage from The Lord of the Rings. For I also am a steward. Did you not know?

submitted 22 days ago • 2 comments

Keep in mind: the NEH’s budget is 0.01% of the entire federal budget. This is not about savings - it is about the destruction of the Humanities and the critical thinking abilities that they teach. 🗃️

submitted 23 days ago • 11 comments

NORTH CAROLINA FRIENDS! More than 60,000 voters' votes in the 2024 election are at risk of being tossed, due to a recent (bad) court decision. A key court race is closer than this! You have 15 days to 'cure' your ballot if you're on the list. CHECK THE LIST! Make sure your vote counts!

submitted 23 days ago • 2 comments

Hello BSKY, a new blog post for you! I've finally put up a conference paper from Oxonmoot 2024: "Philia, Eros, Pragma: Reading Sam and Frodo Through the Greek Loves". Hope you enjoy! anditsfolkarequeerer.substack.com/p/reading-sa...

submitted 23 days ago • 1 comment

This is a really bad time to depend on a regular paycheck, isn't it?

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Good Lord, what madness rules in brain-sick men

submitted 25 days ago • 6 comments

YES. @drchristinah.bsky.social rips into Ridley Scott about his lazy, bigoted movie. This is a great read.

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

In June, I'll be teaching my class on Tolkien's Invented Languages in The Lord of the Rings: blackberry.signumuniversity.org/r/z6AZQQ

submitted 25 days ago • 2 comments