Benjamin C. Kinney
@benjaminckinney.com
SFF writer, neuroscientist, Hugo finalist. Escape Pod 2017-2023. Codex, VP, SFWA. Short stories in Analog, Lightspeed, Sunday Morning Transport, etc.
Neuroscience (not under pen name): rehabilitation, neuroimaging, movement control, handedness
Neuroscience (not under pen name): rehabilitation, neuroimaging, movement control, handedness
Pinned
Benjamin C. Kinney
@benjaminckinney.com
· Apr 24
Introduction & Selected Fiction » Benjamin C. Kinney - still pruning...
An introduction post for new readers: six selected stories from my archive of 30+ publications.
benjaminckinney.com
Hello new followers! I'm not super social-media-active, but I sometimes talk neuroscience and/or speculative fiction. I've got 30+ short stories out in the world (most free to read), here's an intro sampler: benjaminckinney.com/introduction/
Slightly diminish a band:
Florence or the Machine
Florence or the Machine
Slightly diminish a band:
U what
U what
Slightly diminish a band:
9,998 Maniacs.
9,998 Maniacs.
January 10, 2026 at 5:50 PM
Slightly diminish a band:
Florence or the Machine
Florence or the Machine
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
Well overdue, but we have finally posted the Diabolical Plots 2025 Retrospective and Award Eligibility!
www.diabolicalplots.com/2025-retrosp...
www.diabolicalplots.com/2025-retrosp...
January 7, 2026 at 1:36 PM
Well overdue, but we have finally posted the Diabolical Plots 2025 Retrospective and Award Eligibility!
www.diabolicalplots.com/2025-retrosp...
www.diabolicalplots.com/2025-retrosp...
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
A few days late, but I'm happy to share that my story "Unsung" is live in the Jan/Feb issue of @analogsf.bsky.social. One reader described it as "cold, technical, and emotionally brutal," an A+ compliment if I've ever heard one.
analogsf.com/current-issu...
analogsf.com/current-issu...
January 5, 2026 at 1:56 PM
A few days late, but I'm happy to share that my story "Unsung" is live in the Jan/Feb issue of @analogsf.bsky.social. One reader described it as "cold, technical, and emotionally brutal," an A+ compliment if I've ever heard one.
analogsf.com/current-issu...
analogsf.com/current-issu...
Glad you appreciated it! I put some textual shenanigans in the opening to capture the altered memory state, I'm glad the confusingness paid off for you.
January 4, 2026 at 12:15 AM
Glad you appreciated it! I put some textual shenanigans in the opening to capture the altered memory state, I'm glad the confusingness paid off for you.
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
8) Recognition, Memory by @benjaminckinney.com : Founder of consciousness-control-and-recall company acts as guinea pig for his own service as he dies. Resurrected with imperfections, he attempts to navigate world and relationships. Innovative, confusing at start, but rewarding at end
January 3, 2026 at 9:19 PM
8) Recognition, Memory by @benjaminckinney.com : Founder of consciousness-control-and-recall company acts as guinea pig for his own service as he dies. Resurrected with imperfections, he attempts to navigate world and relationships. Innovative, confusing at start, but rewarding at end
Today's dilemma (every day's dilemma): hot bean water or hot leaf water?
December 31, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Today's dilemma (every day's dilemma): hot bean water or hot leaf water?
It's been a looooong year
December 31, 2025 at 10:47 PM
It's been a looooong year
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
Mel Brooks is asked to invent a mobster.
December 31, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Mel Brooks is asked to invent a mobster.
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
blergh, I HATE having to ask coz I know it’s super hard for everyone especially around this time of year… but I’m also about to hit negative balances and I don’t get paid til next Friday :/
been a real f’ing hard eight months tbh and I’m sorry everything is so awful
ko-fi.com/mercwolfmoor
been a real f’ing hard eight months tbh and I’m sorry everything is so awful
ko-fi.com/mercwolfmoor
Support Merc Wolfmoor
I appreciate you! (And the kitties do, too!)
ko-fi.com
December 20, 2025 at 2:03 PM
blergh, I HATE having to ask coz I know it’s super hard for everyone especially around this time of year… but I’m also about to hit negative balances and I don’t get paid til next Friday :/
been a real f’ing hard eight months tbh and I’m sorry everything is so awful
ko-fi.com/mercwolfmoor
been a real f’ing hard eight months tbh and I’m sorry everything is so awful
ko-fi.com/mercwolfmoor
Great new research for those of us at a certain stage in life: across disciplines, exceptional early-career performance and exceptional late-career performance are unrelated. The things that make you great early don't make you great later.
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
Science Magazine - Recent discoveries on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance
Exceptional performers at the highest levels push the boundaries of human capability, drive innovation, and help solve the world’s most pressing problems.
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org
December 20, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Great new research for those of us at a certain stage in life: across disciplines, exceptional early-career performance and exceptional late-career performance are unrelated. The things that make you great early don't make you great later.
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
My short story, "Recognition, Memory" is out in the latest issue of @analogsf.bsky.social! analogsf.com/current-issue/
It's science fiction about technological immortality, brain-printing, and becoming the person everyone expects you to be. In Peter Vanler's case, the person he was before he died.
It's science fiction about technological immortality, brain-printing, and becoming the person everyone expects you to be. In Peter Vanler's case, the person he was before he died.
Current Issue - Analog Science Fiction and Fact
{!{wpv-view name='issue-current-intro'}!}
analogsf.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:47 PM
My short story, "Recognition, Memory" is out in the latest issue of @analogsf.bsky.social! analogsf.com/current-issue/
It's science fiction about technological immortality, brain-printing, and becoming the person everyone expects you to be. In Peter Vanler's case, the person he was before he died.
It's science fiction about technological immortality, brain-printing, and becoming the person everyone expects you to be. In Peter Vanler's case, the person he was before he died.
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
Psst!
If you'd like a gift idea for an SFF fan -- or if you'd like to read a scifantasy that's basically THE WITCHER meets Trinbagonian folklore & Caribbean mythology -- there's a $1.99 Ebook sale now for my book, THE NIGHTWARD!
www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSXFBWRN
If you'd like a gift idea for an SFF fan -- or if you'd like to read a scifantasy that's basically THE WITCHER meets Trinbagonian folklore & Caribbean mythology -- there's a $1.99 Ebook sale now for my book, THE NIGHTWARD!
www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSXFBWRN
The Nightward: An Epic Fantasy Adventure of Magic and Darkness Inspired by Caribbean Mythology (Waters of Lethe Book 1)
Amazon.com: The Nightward: An Epic Fantasy Adventure of Magic and Darkness Inspired by Caribbean Mythology (Waters of Lethe Book 1) eBook : Garcia, R.S.A.: Kindle Store
www.amazon.com
December 17, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Psst!
If you'd like a gift idea for an SFF fan -- or if you'd like to read a scifantasy that's basically THE WITCHER meets Trinbagonian folklore & Caribbean mythology -- there's a $1.99 Ebook sale now for my book, THE NIGHTWARD!
www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSXFBWRN
If you'd like a gift idea for an SFF fan -- or if you'd like to read a scifantasy that's basically THE WITCHER meets Trinbagonian folklore & Caribbean mythology -- there's a $1.99 Ebook sale now for my book, THE NIGHTWARD!
www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSXFBWRN
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
you've been waiting
and it's finally HERE!!
AFTERLIVES
curated by @shereereneethomas.bsky.social ✨🖤💀
get your ebook here!
psychopomp.com/product/afte...
and it's finally HERE!!
AFTERLIVES
curated by @shereereneethomas.bsky.social ✨🖤💀
get your ebook here!
psychopomp.com/product/afte...
Afterlives: The Year's Best Death Stories, 2024 - PSYCHOPOMP.COM
Afterlives The Year’s Best Death Fiction 2024 Curated by Sheree Renée Thomas While Psychopomp aims to publish all the death fiction, we cannot possibly, so we decided to round up the best death storie...
psychopomp.com
December 10, 2025 at 8:48 PM
you've been waiting
and it's finally HERE!!
AFTERLIVES
curated by @shereereneethomas.bsky.social ✨🖤💀
get your ebook here!
psychopomp.com/product/afte...
and it's finally HERE!!
AFTERLIVES
curated by @shereereneethomas.bsky.social ✨🖤💀
get your ebook here!
psychopomp.com/product/afte...
It's time for some game theory
December 12, 2025 at 3:03 AM
It's time for some game theory
I read this picture as "Thicc hearts and thicc lions" and it took me a long minute to realize it wasn't a @paperbackparadise.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 12:41 PM
I read this picture as "Thicc hearts and thicc lions" and it took me a long minute to realize it wasn't a @paperbackparadise.bsky.social
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
New Book Day! Please tell the world. Read a comic about it here: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/sawyer...
Or if you just want to buy it: us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
Thanks everyone! It took me over a year to write, but I think you and/or your kid(s) will have many laughs together.
Or if you just want to buy it: us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
Thanks everyone! It took me over a year to write, but I think you and/or your kid(s) will have many laughs together.
November 10, 2025 at 4:43 PM
New Book Day! Please tell the world. Read a comic about it here: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/sawyer...
Or if you just want to buy it: us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
Thanks everyone! It took me over a year to write, but I think you and/or your kid(s) will have many laughs together.
Or if you just want to buy it: us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
Thanks everyone! It took me over a year to write, but I think you and/or your kid(s) will have many laughs together.
No worries, I didn't take it that way - just affirming your point!
November 27, 2025 at 1:32 PM
No worries, I didn't take it that way - just affirming your point!
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
(I mean also a good day to educate yourself about both histories of the holiday, and Lincoln's actual views and actions as regard to slavery and racial equality—but Lincoln can neither vote nor call the cops because he's super dead. We've gotta fix the hearts that are still beating)
November 27, 2025 at 12:24 AM
(I mean also a good day to educate yourself about both histories of the holiday, and Lincoln's actual views and actions as regard to slavery and racial equality—but Lincoln can neither vote nor call the cops because he's super dead. We've gotta fix the hearts that are still beating)
Oh yes, I had to double check that the Thanksgiving Proclamation happened after the Emancipation one (it did) to confirm its practical effects - and even then I was verrrry intentional about using "white supremacist" as the adjective instead of the noun.
November 27, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Oh yes, I had to double check that the Thanksgiving Proclamation happened after the Emancipation one (it did) to confirm its practical effects - and even then I was verrrry intentional about using "white supremacist" as the adjective instead of the noun.
Thankfully, later history gives Thanksgiving a second origin story, more worth celebrating than its sordid start: As a day of unity in the battle against white supremacist separatism, exactly as Abraham Lincoln intended when he made it a national holiday.
On the topic of Thansgiving, my parents moved to Plymouth when I was a teenager. The one thing that cured my ra-ra pilgrim bullshit real quick were the Indigenous Wampanoag protests proclaiming Thanksgiving a day of mourning.
This holiday has good carbs.
And that's about it.
This holiday has good carbs.
And that's about it.
November 26, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Thankfully, later history gives Thanksgiving a second origin story, more worth celebrating than its sordid start: As a day of unity in the battle against white supremacist separatism, exactly as Abraham Lincoln intended when he made it a national holiday.
My pleasure! It was such a pleasant surprise when I learned how literal that "tell an internal story" seems to be.
November 25, 2025 at 8:33 PM
My pleasure! It was such a pleasant surprise when I learned how literal that "tell an internal story" seems to be.
Yes! I look forward to it!
November 25, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Yes! I look forward to it!
This comes from studies on deaf children born to hearing parents, who unfortunately sometimes go through early childhood without language, and end up with deficits/delays to that executive function srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
<em>Child Development</em> | SRCD Journal | Wiley Online Library
Much research has found disrupted executive functioning (EF) in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children; while some theories emphasize the role of auditory deprivation, others posit delayed language ...
srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:39 PM
This comes from studies on deaf children born to hearing parents, who unfortunately sometimes go through early childhood without language, and end up with deficits/delays to that executive function srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
As a neuroscientist I agree with this 100% - but *also*, there's evidence that language contributes to some specific mental functions: regulation and executive function. Telling yourself a story is one way you shape & organize your brain's operations.
I’ve been running around asking tech execs and academics if language was the same as intelligence for over a year now - and, well, it isn’t. @benjaminjriley.bsky.social explains how the bubble is built on ignoring cutting-edge research into the science of thought www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
November 25, 2025 at 6:31 PM
As a neuroscientist I agree with this 100% - but *also*, there's evidence that language contributes to some specific mental functions: regulation and executive function. Telling yourself a story is one way you shape & organize your brain's operations.
I love this story because I think its neuroscience is actually wrong/impossible - but nevertheless you will leave this story understanding the (real) science better than you did at its start.
November 24, 2025 at 2:52 PM
I love this story because I think its neuroscience is actually wrong/impossible - but nevertheless you will leave this story understanding the (real) science better than you did at its start.