Jake Casella Brookins
@casella.bsky.social
Appalachian in the big city. Editor at Ancillary Review, host of A Meal of Thorns, bookseller, coffee pro, SF reviewer & scholar. He/him.
https://linktr.ee/jakecasellabrookins
https://linktr.ee/jakecasellabrookins
fascism, a movement of and for unintelligent cowards, progresses almost solely by identifying and pressuring less intelligent and more cowardly members of existing power structures
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
November 30, 2025 at 11:17 PM
fascism, a movement of and for unintelligent cowards, progresses almost solely by identifying and pressuring less intelligent and more cowardly members of existing power structures
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
I've mentioned it before but as I read The West Passage I felt the way I felt staying up until the wee hours of the morning reading The Hobbit (and getting me started on this whole journey)
today’s a good day to get the book people are calling “kaleidoscopic,” “lovingly queer,” “brutal & bloodthirsty,” “fascinating,” “dangerous,” “whimsical,” “deeply strange and cannibalistic”, and one of the best fantasy novels of 2024
The West Passage a book by Jared Pechaček
THE LADIES REIGN. THE PALACE ROTS. THE BEAST RISES. "The West Passage is a dangerous book of secrets." --Travis Baldree, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Legends & Lattes "A weird and wonde...
bookshop.org
November 29, 2025 at 5:27 PM
I've mentioned it before but as I read The West Passage I felt the way I felt staying up until the wee hours of the morning reading The Hobbit (and getting me started on this whole journey)
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
"the left needs a Rogan" "the left needs a Miller" no it is obvious that the left needs an Eliot Ness/Ben Ferencz hybrid, possibly in some kind of mecha
August 4, 2025 at 4:59 PM
"the left needs a Rogan" "the left needs a Miller" no it is obvious that the left needs an Eliot Ness/Ben Ferencz hybrid, possibly in some kind of mecha
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
Not technically allowed to say what I think should happen to everyone involved in the boat strikes but I think we all know what it is and that it should definitely happen
November 28, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Not technically allowed to say what I think should happen to everyone involved in the boat strikes but I think we all know what it is and that it should definitely happen
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
Happy Friday, SF readers. Some fresh links to ponder over the weekend:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/28/w...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/28/w...
Wow! Signal: November 2025
Jake Casella Brookins The Ancillary Review of Books was founded to address the radical possibilities of criticism, particularly in the context of the radical possibilities of speculative fiction. N…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 28, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Happy Friday, SF readers. Some fresh links to ponder over the weekend:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/28/w...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/28/w...
Very cool news. Bookstores (and what they do for their communities) only get better with age & stability.
November 28, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Very cool news. Bookstores (and what they do for their communities) only get better with age & stability.
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
The only antidote - and I do mean the ONLY one - to Trump and Miller's xenophobia is a full-throated defense of immigration and a full-throated attack on the racism and xenophobia currently guiding immigration policy. You can't half-ass this one, you can't Very Reasonable Limits this one.
November 28, 2025 at 12:55 PM
The only antidote - and I do mean the ONLY one - to Trump and Miller's xenophobia is a full-throated defense of immigration and a full-throated attack on the racism and xenophobia currently guiding immigration policy. You can't half-ass this one, you can't Very Reasonable Limits this one.
scanning books for next year: eyeroll at the 600-page JKR hagiography, lol because of course it's Skyhorse, almost fall out of my chair when I see that the author's blurbs are from Donald Trump & Mike Tyson
November 28, 2025 at 3:43 AM
scanning books for next year: eyeroll at the 600-page JKR hagiography, lol because of course it's Skyhorse, almost fall out of my chair when I see that the author's blurbs are from Donald Trump & Mike Tyson
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
Having seen this, I’ve got to say, the KPop Demon Hunter fans need to re-discover Final Fantasy X-2, where you play a girl band who changes fighting classes by changing dresses and has no less than two concerts on the way to saving the world from a giant weapon.
Okay, the crowd going nuts like someone just scored a touchdown at the Super Bowl all *through* the KDH performance is a hell of a thing to see hear/see:
November 27, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Having seen this, I’ve got to say, the KPop Demon Hunter fans need to re-discover Final Fantasy X-2, where you play a girl band who changes fighting classes by changing dresses and has no less than two concerts on the way to saving the world from a giant weapon.
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
well this post is still up so raw sexual content was definitely not the reason for my short banishment
November 27, 2025 at 9:58 AM
well this post is still up so raw sexual content was definitely not the reason for my short banishment
each new piece of info about the Nuzzi/RFK story is a level of Macdonald's "Now this might strike some viewers as harsh" previously unknown to science
November 26, 2025 at 11:20 PM
each new piece of info about the Nuzzi/RFK story is a level of Macdonald's "Now this might strike some viewers as harsh" previously unknown to science
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
This is a very good and important thread
THREAD.
3 years ago, with no warning, a brilliant orange farm cat wandered over from the draughty barn where he had been living, in rural Cornwall, and decided he wanted to live with us instead.
We decided to call him Jim.
This is the first photo I took of him, on that night: December 1st, 2022.
3 years ago, with no warning, a brilliant orange farm cat wandered over from the draughty barn where he had been living, in rural Cornwall, and decided he wanted to live with us instead.
We decided to call him Jim.
This is the first photo I took of him, on that night: December 1st, 2022.
November 26, 2025 at 9:25 PM
This is a very good and important thread
This is easily one of the best books I've read this year: haunting, smart, funny. Highly recommended.
Never-Ebbing Story: @casella.bsky.social reviews Eva Meijer's SEA NOW, translated by Anne Thompson Melo (@catransitnerd.bsky.social)
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/26/n...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/26/n...
Never-Ebbing Story: Review of Eva Meijer’s Sea Now
Jake Casella Brookins Under Review:Sea Now. Eva Meijer, translated by Anne Thompson Melo. Two Lines Press, October 2025. Ironically, it’s the very dry humor of Eva Meijer’s Sea Now—a story entirely…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
November 26, 2025 at 4:49 PM
This is easily one of the best books I've read this year: haunting, smart, funny. Highly recommended.
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
Hey @bsky.app @safety.bsky.app @support.bsky.team please unsuspend Goran immediately.
Goran is a great person, a great artist, and the whole anti-Palestine thing youre on is one of those "Ford funding Hitler" disasters you remember being shocked and dismayed by when you learned of in middle school.
Goran is a great person, a great artist, and the whole anti-Palestine thing youre on is one of those "Ford funding Hitler" disasters you remember being shocked and dismayed by when you learned of in middle school.
November 26, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Hey @bsky.app @safety.bsky.app @support.bsky.team please unsuspend Goran immediately.
Goran is a great person, a great artist, and the whole anti-Palestine thing youre on is one of those "Ford funding Hitler" disasters you remember being shocked and dismayed by when you learned of in middle school.
Goran is a great person, a great artist, and the whole anti-Palestine thing youre on is one of those "Ford funding Hitler" disasters you remember being shocked and dismayed by when you learned of in middle school.
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
it is crazy that Logan square is lowkey a food desert
you can immediately tell by the responses who has never lived in a grocery desert and cannot even conceive of the problem
November 26, 2025 at 2:15 PM
it is crazy that Logan square is lowkey a food desert
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
Talking extinction, climate apocalypse, the horrors of the wounded earth, and the importance of dodging eco-fascism with @ckunzelman.bsky.social next Monday. Probably important you have this context:
Cyclopterus lumpus | Lumpsucker | Lumpfish
YouTube video by Siamdive
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Talking extinction, climate apocalypse, the horrors of the wounded earth, and the importance of dodging eco-fascism with @ckunzelman.bsky.social next Monday. Probably important you have this context:
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
I have a feeling this is the week Wile E. Coyote finally kills Jürgen Habermas
November 26, 2025 at 12:13 PM
I have a feeling this is the week Wile E. Coyote finally kills Jürgen Habermas
three people buying a book we didn't really have on our radar at my old bookstore was instant "order more, face it out, somebody on staff read it and write a talker for it" territory
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:16 PM
three people buying a book we didn't really have on our radar at my old bookstore was instant "order more, face it out, somebody on staff read it and write a talker for it" territory
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
The American left isn't going to be able to handle an extremely hot smart funny guy with decent politics in an important office with national exposure and constant media. We need to ease into this with a sewer socialist who reminds you of Columbo
November 25, 2025 at 10:11 PM
The American left isn't going to be able to handle an extremely hot smart funny guy with decent politics in an important office with national exposure and constant media. We need to ease into this with a sewer socialist who reminds you of Columbo
to be clear, if there is a war on pie I will join it on the side of pie. However, I've never been able to unhear a coworker sarcastically asking "How often have you said to yourself 'gosh, I really wish I had some hot fruit right now!'"
November 25, 2025 at 10:33 PM
to be clear, if there is a war on pie I will join it on the side of pie. However, I've never been able to unhear a coworker sarcastically asking "How often have you said to yourself 'gosh, I really wish I had some hot fruit right now!'"
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
Simon is such a beast
CITIZEN ONE - an immortal class traitor, a cadre of coup plotters, and the fate of a communist utopia (now available to buy as pdf)
November 18, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Simon is such a beast
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
[Werner Herzog voice]: you must never see this
November 25, 2025 at 3:59 PM
[Werner Herzog voice]: you must never see this
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
No email from a library system stirs the imagination like a notice my scan is ready to download through WORLDCAT. The great cat that surrounds the world? That nuzzles the roots of the world-scratching-tree? The great world cat who is and was and shall be? That cat???
November 25, 2025 at 8:19 AM
No email from a library system stirs the imagination like a notice my scan is ready to download through WORLDCAT. The great cat that surrounds the world? That nuzzles the roots of the world-scratching-tree? The great world cat who is and was and shall be? That cat???
a lot of people think you can save a few bucks and skip the rotoscoped lightning bolts arcing all over the place, but listen: this is your special day
Thinking about going here and having the final confrontation with my arch nemesis. Sparks, squibs, explosions, the whole nine yards.
"there are no third spaces anymore" wrong. blast furnace
November 25, 2025 at 3:55 AM
a lot of people think you can save a few bucks and skip the rotoscoped lightning bolts arcing all over the place, but listen: this is your special day
Reposted by Jake Casella Brookins
every star wars property for some reason
November 24, 2025 at 9:02 PM
every star wars property for some reason