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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 27d

Be well, dear friends, and enjoy whatever it means to remain in these online spaces in 2025, trudging through this daily sludge. Frankly, I need a break from it all! Besides, the good fights we’re fighting mostly continue on the ground, not here.

Maybe I’ll see you all again in 2026. Until then!

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 27d

In the spirit of shared 21st-century online vernaculars, a great way to exit the digital hellspace would be to say simply, and by way of conclusion:

“I’ve seen enough.”

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 27d

And then given that our lives are now lived so completely online, it will for some folks out there be as if I had never even existed for them at all: a distant, murky glimmer of a former world, quickly fading from memory forever; deactivated, forgotten. It’s actually an appealing thought these days!

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 27d

It does make me think, though: the day I decide to be done with this noise, I won’t have a blog, newsletter, feed, fan club, or anything else to offer to anyone to fill the void; it’ll just be a morally necessary retreat into the hinterlands, a return to non-social media forms of life. Bracing!

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 27d

it’s hard to argue at this stage with many of the good points Adam makes here about what to do with one’s revulsion and generalized sense of incompatibility

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Helena Fitzgerald @hellafitzgerald.bsky.social · 27d

me getting kicked out of a post-screening Q&A bc I keep trying to throw a copy of Sot-Weed Factor onto the stage just to make sure PTA knows about it

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 27d

am actually excited to read his new one after some years of not being as excited as I could’ve been

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 27d

PTA’s Sot-Weed Factor would be sick as hell

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 27d

I’m sometimes tempted to do this with new novels that stink but then I think about it for a second and realize this is highly inadvisable in this particular social context

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Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 27d

NEW: There are videos of Trey Reed, who was found hanging in a tree on campus at Delta State University, the DSU police chief says.

“There are videos and they’re in the hands of the investigative team,” he said.

It's not clear whether they show his death or not. @nickjudin.bsky.social reports:

Trey Reed’s Family Calls for an Independent Autopsy After Tree Hanging Death; Police Say Video Exists

Demartravion “Trey” Reed’s family is seeking an independent autopsy after the Delta State University student was found hanging in a tree.

www.mississippifreepress.org

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Laura Bassett @lebassett.bsky.social · 28d

The police told Trey Reed's family that he'd been found dead in his dorm room. They found out from the media that he'd actually been found hanging from a tree in the middle of campus. www.mississippifreepress.org/trey-reeds-f...

Trey Reed’s Family Calls for an Independent Autopsy After Tree Hanging Death

Demartravion “Trey” Reed’s family is seeking an independent autopsy after the Delta State University student was found hanging in a tree.

www.mississippifreepress.org

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 27d

lots of candidates to choose from but @kellylink.bsky.social ‘s current handle has to be my new favorite

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Joseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 27d

Academia dot edu licensing agreement says it can use your likeness and voice and publications in any manner they want, world wide.

Ordinary Notes @hystericalblkns.bsky.social · 27d

If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.

The new TOC from academia dot edu.

By creating an Account with Academia.edu, you grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license, permission, and consent for Academia.edu to use your Member Content and your personal information (including, but not limited to, your name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness, city, institutional affiliations, citations, mentions, publications, and areas of interest) in any manner, including for the purpose of advertising, selling, or soliciting the use or purchase of Academia.edu's Services.

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 27d

*waves from across the bog*

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 27d

social media these days involves spending all day having to read the words of someone you don’t want to hear from, and then the next day having to see pictures of someone you don’t want to see, until the cycle of unwanted words and images begins anew

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 27d

Austen (deservedly so) ended up dominating this thread, with many other fantastic inclusions! Will be great to see who and what emerges in subsequent “alphabet editions” of #BQT

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Nancy Cooper FrankenSTEEN @ncooperfrank.bsky.social · 27d

Late to the party but here goes: Akhmatova, Austen, Apuleius

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 28d

MIMESIS is a wonderful cornucopia of riches

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MonsterChillerHorror🎃 @jpinnv.bsky.social · 28d

Aira's THE LINDEN TREE, Auerbach's MIMESIS, and of course, Austen.

A stack of books by authors whose last name begins with the letter "A", with César Aira's THE LINDEN TREE on top, with Auerbach's MIMESIS below that, and next is THE COMPLETE NOVELS OF JANE AUSTEN.

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 28d

looking forward to it

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LizzaAiken @lizzaaiken.bsky.social · 28d

Nooooooooo.....!!!
But where to begin?
The Wonderful World of Joan Aiken awaits...
www.joanaiken.com/books/

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Joan Aiken -

www.joanaiken.com

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Lazy Susan @tempusflexus.bsky.social · 28d

Asimov alone would supply enough reading material to last the better part of a lifetime.

But I’ll go with the Amis fellows and Atwood.

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Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 28d

cut Aristophanes and be well, I say

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M. Lizbeth C. S. @lizbethcalvario.bsky.social · 28d

No Shakespeare 😪. I guess... An anthology of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, Peter Ackroyd's London: The Biography, and Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare.

Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 28d

It’s #BQT #BookQuestionTime again (alphabet edition):

From here on out, you can only read the works of authors whose last name (surname, family name) begins with the letter “A.” What are three essential books in your newly delimited library?

As always, please feel free to include cover images!

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Dr. Syntax @drsyntax.bsky.social · 28d

All of Jane Austen, obviously.

Brian Thill @brianthill.bsky.social · 28d

It’s #BQT #BookQuestionTime again (alphabet edition):

From here on out, you can only read the works of authors whose last name (surname, family name) begins with the letter “A.” What are three essential books in your newly delimited library?

As always, please feel free to include cover images!

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