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jtsmithling.bsky.social
Hasbeen scientist, wannabe writer, occasional metalhead. What the critics say about me: "Nihilistic, sharp-edged" "Unnecessarily vulgar"
88 posts 355 followers 232 following
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Been reading old emails from a friend who’s gone now. We used to debate: ‘Do you have to be Tolstoy to put your work out there?’ They thought so. I disagreed. So I wrote them a letter. Ghosts can be stubborn, but so can I: gioclairval.blogspot.com/2025/02/to-d...

submitted 7 days ago • 3 comments

Today I learned about Portugese Progressive #Metal and it's massive and melancholic and beautiful. Makes total sense as soon as you hear it; Fado singing and metal *of course* go together like they'd always been one. Pleased to meet #Allamedah and Valéria Carvalho www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWEM...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Lacuna Coil album drops in... #metal #LacunaCoil

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

Word of the day is ‘arsle’ (19th century): to have a distinct sense of going backwards.

submitted 13 days ago • 135 comments

I just wrote what I feel might be my best flash story to date. A Time-Travel Romance, of all things! Competition entry so can't share the story yet, but have to share a chuckle at the irony of my "metalhead" claim in the bio. Because here is my writing soundtrack: open.spotify.com/track/6mleVu...

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Unabashedly proud of this. The Under Review is the only lit mag I know with a sports focus & I’m their fiction lead with a story about gay Cambodian kick-boxers. Not many people would have written this & not many would have published it. Thank you Under Review! www.underreviewlit.com/issue-11-win...

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

Just noticed BlueSky search lists a recommended feed named "Quiet Posters" - it's people you follow but who tend to get buried under the flood of louder people. Brilliant. Often those talking less are saying more. ♥️

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

Just read "My Savage Year". Unsettling, somehow, and so bleak. And very good.

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

This is still the greatest email ever.

submitted 31 days ago • 16 comments

submitted 34 days ago • 1839 comments

One one hand this thread is giving hope, as it's clear some civil servants in USA are willing to openly resist the fascist government. But on the other hand... the fact that school officials now have to send emails like that to parents is fucking dystopian.

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

Thank you @havehashad.com!! my first published story in uhhhhh a while 💀

submitted 35 days ago • 3 comments

I've got a little script I run occasionally, automatically unfollowing non-mutuals. Just to keep my social media, you know, social. There's a small exception list built in, people to keep, always. Mishell Baker went straight to that list with this thread (well, that, and seeing they write fiction).

submitted 35 days ago • 1 comment

Word of the day is ‘catch-fart’ (17th century: an obsequious individual who will always follow the political wind.

submitted 36 days ago • 252 comments

Fuss about book or film spoilers is performative nonsense. Change my mind. Re-reading GRR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Nothing is lessened because I know the story. Every page is *better*, heavier, more meaningful than on the first read, because I now know the sorrows and heartbreaks ahead.

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

Insightful essay on parasocial relationships and celebrity culture. I really like the suggestion in the end: ignore that meet-n-greet opportunity to meet your creative hero. Don't queue for signatures. Instead, seek relationships with equals. therenaissancewoman.substack.com/p/how-to-bur...

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

Looking into the claim that Gaiman's career-defining Sandman art is derivative, ripped off from Tanith Lee's books without acknowledgment, I found more.

submitted 41 days ago • 1 comment

I'm hearing people talk about making "safe author" lists/starter packs and hahahahaha holy shit that's a terrible idea. Just start drafting your "We had no idea" post now, because you're going to need it.

submitted 42 days ago • 22 comments

Fortunate to read this in workshop months ago, I've been thinking of it often. Sort of "slice-of-life", but it's not: one the most whole, complete stories I've ever read. @sarlynh.bsky.social has special talent and voice to do that. I hear this song when reading. open.spotify.com/track/1J2Emh...

submitted 43 days ago • 2 comments

Tantalizing story concept! (tantalize (v.) "to tease or torment by presenting something desirable to the view and frustrating expectation by keeping it out of reach," from Greek Tantalos, punished in the afterlife by being made to stand in a river up to his chin) 😄

submitted 43 days ago • 1 comment

How do you bake Nordic Gothic metal? Easy! Mix a singer from Dark Tranquility, guitarist from Insomnium, keyboard player from Amorphis, bassist from Dimmu Borgir, and a Sentenced drummer. It's an endothermic reaction so no oven needed. Cemetery Skyline! 🤘 www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s4L...

submitted 46 days ago • 0 comments