Author | Lightnews

Reposted by 🎃 The Year 2025 🎃

Duncan Money @mininghistory.bsky.social · 8h

Not so much "if something is free, you're the product" as "if something is free, you're the test subject"

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Stonekettle @stonekettle.bsky.social · 2d

Anthony Scaramucci lasted longer than Trump's Middle East peace plan.

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 4d

It looks like my block lists are taking care of some of the recent Bluesky accounts...but I can't help feeling an extra twinge of embarrassment on their behalf. I mean, I'm a little nobody with a website and *I* verified myself, whereas they still have little bsky-dot-social handles.

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 4d

So on Morrison's one hand: AI is a baby being mistreated by mean people.

On the other: I will enter into a transactional relationship with this baby (but I'm not forcing it to do anything like all those other people).

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🌈 Romie glows in the dark 📽 @romiesays.bsky.social · 8d

Props to Benjamin for sharing the details of his contract. Unfortunately no props to MRM because there's a lot of extremely outre stuff in here that I'd refuse to sign. Let's run it down. (Context: If you're negotiating a contract with Strange Horizons, I'm the person you're negotiating with.)

Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 8d

New neuroscience short story forthcoming in @analogsf.bsky.social! Which also means a story of - ultimately successful - negotiations with their new publisher.

Includes full final text of my contract for all to use while they finish rewriting their boilerplate.

benjaminckinney.com/analog-negot...

Analog Negotiations & Short Story Sale: Recognition, Memory » Benjamin C. Kinney - still pruning...

Successful negotiations with Must Read Magazines & Analog SF, who will publish my science fiction short story "Recognition, Memory."

benjaminckinney.com

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Thomas Ha @thomasha.bsky.social · 6d

(1) kudos to ben for transparency, v important; (2) i'm old enough to remember in April when MRM told SFWA the merchandising clause was an "error." yet they keep soft toying w/it and seeing if there are takers. i get ben made a personal call, but short fic writers should know, this is not standard.

🌈 Romie glows in the dark 📽 @romiesays.bsky.social · 8d

4. This is the one that makes my head spin. Clause 2e. "The first right to develop or license the development of special projects, including, but not limited to, games, toys, T
shirts, calendars, and other items based upon characters, ideas, or plots from the Work"

What. The fuck.

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 6d

Swinging by to say that I wandered away midway through A Quiet Place and I think it's awesome that brains are different and things that are "meh" for some people absolutely rock for others.

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Gary R Simonds @garys79.bsky.social · 7d

Amen

#booksky
#readingcommunity
#readercommunity

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 7d

🫂

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 7d

I remember the "IT is obsolete because the kids are all digital natives now" takes from 15 years ago.

Hot takes never really go away, they just get tossed in the microwave periodically.

ML Brennan @brennanml.bsky.social · 7d

Most of all, I am beyond sick of hearing the term "digital natives" thrown around for a cohort that is great at using apps but utterly fucking lost when it comes to actually using their fucking laptops for anything other than watching TikTok videos.

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 7d

Today, it sounds like the plumber is doing battle with a hive of large, angry bees.

(I am on the third floor; he is in the basement. I hope he is wearing ear protection while drilling holes in things.)

🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 8d

I don't know exactly what the plumber's doing in the basement, but from the third floor it sounds like maybe he found a banshee.

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 9d

Not only does the boiler need work, but the hot water heater is looking suspect. That's fine, it's all fine.

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 9d

At that size, you will have an easier time killing it than a novel, but you won't look like a bad guy for beating up an innocent little short story.

🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 10d

Congratulations on probably hitting the most unmarketable length!

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 10d

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 11d

That is a crime! The Insomnia Cookies truck was a highlight of my grad school experience.

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Conjured.Ink @conjured.ink · 12d

Conjured Ink is now accepting both one time and recurring donations!

Head to this link to learn more about our finances, or pledge your support:

opencollective.com/c...

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 15d

This is largely for my own amusement. I tend to use Bookshop for print books, but not all the time, and I do use Amazon for a bunch of things (and in my case, it's convenience, not necessity). Still. Who doesn't hate Jeff Bezos?

🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 15d

Not only did I use Bookshop's Anti-Prime Sale free shipping, I used it to order a KDP-published paperback.

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Morgan K. Bell @morgankbell.bsky.social · 15d

What do you call an amphibian who's kind of a dickbag? An assholotl

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 15d

11. But many folks maintain a presence in both places, either separately curated or with the same content pushed to multiple socials.

12. The important thing is curating your own experience. I found it easier to recreate communities (at least partially) instead of starting from scratch.

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 15d

9. If you create an account on an instance with people you know--or migrate as a group--you can also hit the ground running.

10. Look into bridging between Fedi accounts and Bluesky accounts. You may find it useful if you want to pick one protocol but still follow folks on the other.

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 15d

7. Some people on Mastodon are delightful. They may even be helpful and welcoming toward newbies! (It's the internet.)

8. Most people use social media to interact with other people. Often specific people. Make a list of folks you'd like to follow. It's okay if they're on different instances.

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🎃 The Year 2025 🎃 @aphowell.com · 15d

5. Some people on Mastodon are tremendous douchecanoes. (Often a particular type of techy dude doucheecanoe.) It's the internet; you probably know what you're in for.

6. Some people on Mastodon are worse than your standard internet douchecanoe, and anyone who says otherwise is underinformed.

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