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

In the shadow of the recent court decision, hopefully it comes out in my writing but: trans rights are human rights and 'biological sex' is a complex non-binary phenomenon.

submitted 1 day ago • 27 comments

The bit about two thirds of the way through ‘Dracula’ where everyone reads the first two thirds of ‘Dracula’.

submitted 4 days ago • 2 comments

I wish I could ask an otter expert about this. Oh I did! (It’s not true, folks.) The whole episode will f you up forever. It’s great. Thanks Dr. @chrislaw.bsky.social ! www.alieward.com/ologies/lutr...

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

"Unsecured Penguin Caused Helicopter Crash" Come on! You know penguins can't fly.

submitted 7 days ago • 18 comments

This is brilliant. A declassified World War II guide for citizen saboteurs on how to fight fascism is going viral www.404media.co/declassified...

submitted 78 days ago • 79 comments

Behold the giant #isopod Bathynomus! This is a deep sea relative of the more familiar woodlouse. They are primarily scavengers. #bugsky #entomology #ocean #nature

submitted 24 days ago • 8 comments

Improve a first line by substituting Mrs. Dalloway. It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they executed Mrs. Dalloway, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.

submitted 18 days ago • 83 comments

How to start a conversation with a cat in seven different countries... 7. Pss-pss-pss (England) 6. Kiss-kiss-kiss (Finland) 5. Pish-pish-pish (Iran) 4. Mee-mee-mee (Myanmar) 3. Minou-minou-minou (France) 2. Ming-ming-ming (Philippines) 1. What’s new pussycat, whoa, oh whoa (Wales)

submitted 23 days ago • 50 comments

Who wants some good news? The overwintering monarch population, which had plummeted last winter, has doubled this winter! www.worldwildlife.org/stories/east...

submitted 30 days ago • 318 comments

The great @juliansimpson.bsky.social , creator of The Lovecraft Investigations, has a new chapter in that sage forthcoming. Check out Crowley, a documentary series hosted by... Lovecraft regulars Kennedy Fisher and Matthew Heawood? www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...

submitted 41 days ago • 5 comments

submitted 77 days ago • 8 comments

this is the difference between me on social media at 30 and me on social media at 45. I'm not trying to do activism for an audience. and awareness without action is just anxiety.

submitted 92 days ago • 7 comments

hey psychopomp blog is back we want your death or fantasy focused articles got budget to acquire a few articles a month currently (buy our books!) read the guidelines + pitch at the link below (would really appreciate if you could share this paid writing opportunity).

submitted 79 days ago • 2 comments

submitted 80 days ago • 1 comment

Some of this is exactly how large corporates end up operating and you can learn lots about efficiency from it

submitted 83 days ago • 0 comments

If anyone happens to need it this week for...reasons...this is the best graphic on the complexity of human sex determination I've ever seen. I use it in an undergrad course on gene regulatory mechanisms. Shoutout to @unamandita.bsky.social! www.scientificamerican.com/article/beyo...

submitted 86 days ago • 36 comments

A while back I learned something mindblowing about the geological history of the Mediterranean Sea, and I just can't get it out of my head. Now I'm going to make it your problem too. Sorry. Hang onto your hat. This is wild. 1/

submitted 160 days ago • 24 comments

Being a person with deadly, incurable cancer who is nonetheless still alive for an indefinite timeframe gives me an interesting metaphor that helps me deal with things like large-scale corruption in government or commerce. Bear with me for a second while I try to explain.

submitted 86 days ago • 507 comments

I’m glad so many people have found my “capybara method” for how to write alt text and image descriptions helpful! However, I know conflicting access needs exist and not everyone can write their own #AltText, so here’s an ongoing thread of tools that can help. Inclusion in thread ≠ endorsement

submitted 139 days ago • 39 comments

Back in 2020-2021, I wrote a book about how to survive scary hard times by writing your own stories and getting lost in the imaginary worlds you create. So this feels like good timing: Never Say You Can't Survive is just $2.99 in ebook formats for just one day. us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

submitted 88 days ago • 33 comments

Unsolicited writing advice, no. #14151: You don't need to write for publication, or for money, or for an audience, or for anyone but yourself. Joy is a worthwhile objective. Joy doesn't need a reason.

submitted 89 days ago • 11 comments

Writers, musicians, actors & other creators strongly oppose upending copyright law to favour AI companies, as suggested in the UK's AI Opportunities Action Plan. As Kate Mosse says, seeking economic growth "cannot be on the basis of theft of our work". www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

submitted 93 days ago • 12 comments

#TheGetaway, my mystery-thriller set on a private island in the Caribbean, is on Kindle offer at just £1.99! Snap up your copy while it's cheap. amzn.to/4ahyBCD #kindledeals #thrillerbooks #booksky

submitted 94 days ago • 1 comment

I've been talking in more interviews about my antipathy towards the concept of 'conflict' as the base unit of plot, and how I think Aristotle's very old idea has actually damaged us because that quickly becomes story = plot = conflict = violence. I say that as a fan of fictional violence.

submitted 95 days ago • 41 comments

IT'S HERE! Lit Hub's big most anticipated list, featuring some of my personal faves like @nnedi.bsky.social, Angela Flournoy, Alice Bolin, & Lynn Steger Strong: lithub.com/lit-hubs-mos...

submitted 100 days ago • 0 comments

Sunday Spaceships 🚀 Noriyoshi Ohrai, unknown (1978), Philippe ‘Manchu’ Bouchet (2008), Robert McCall (1991)

submitted 96 days ago • 5 comments

More than 100 years after its initial review that blamed Black men, the Dept. of Justice just released its report on the 1921 Tulsa race massacre The report says the attack “was so systematic and coordinated that it transcended mere mob violence”

submitted 97 days ago • 478 comments

Learned a lot from this essay! If you think there are big female gametes and little male gametes... science (and nature) says you're wrong.

submitted 97 days ago • 0 comments

A reminder that you don't have to rely on social media (here or anywhere else) for news. Legit news organizations/journalists have their own sites/feeds and you can make time to visit them and catch up if you like. Then curate your social media to be what you need it to be for your own well-being.

submitted 101 days ago • 40 comments

Jews & Tattoos!! - The prohibition's original context - A closer look at sources: HUH. Is this prohibition as limiting in Jewish law as advertised?? - Might biblical Jews have...? - A Jewish culture w/a tattoo practice - The Holocaust - The cemetery thing - SO MANY Jewish tats! 👀👀👀👀

submitted 101 days ago • 42 comments

Today I was asked in an interview about folks who use the weirdness of ✨quantum✨ to hawk pseudoscience junk. I think that kind of grift proliferates because of a big misunderstanding a lot of folks have about quantum mechanics, which is not really their fault! 🧵

submitted 101 days ago • 52 comments

Haven’t seen people talking about it here, but the reading tracker app Fable has been using GenAI with some mixed results.

submitted 105 days ago • 38 comments

I was wondering how it was that I apparently had all the men who currently read in my audience. Turns out there may be a few more men who read than that.

submitted 104 days ago • 40 comments

www.reddit.com/r/books/comm... Great metaphor (especially given the original vampire novels and their positioning of the vampire as metaphor for the Other).

submitted 105 days ago • 0 comments