Don Mark Baldridge
@donmarkmaker.bsky.social
Professor of Art and Comp Sci / Author of Sci-Fi + / CODEXian
donmarkbaldridge.com
donmarkbaldridge.com
The Human Vapor 1960
Dailymotion video by Niptar hojynn
www.dailymotion.com
February 1, 2026 at 10:25 PM
A ruthless selection determines the reality we perceive. Time competes with time to bring us to the present.
Our existence represents the extermination of billions of alternatives.
Our existence represents the extermination of billions of alternatives.
January 31, 2026 at 1:48 AM
A ruthless selection determines the reality we perceive. Time competes with time to bring us to the present.
Our existence represents the extermination of billions of alternatives.
Our existence represents the extermination of billions of alternatives.
The grandmother paradox is outmoded (screw patriarchy, we KNOW who the mother is)
Go back and murder your grandma before your mother is born. Cause and effect isn't disrupted, it goes:
First time through: Granny, Mommy, You -> Back to the past, Murder Granny...
Now go forward. Your loop is closed.
Go back and murder your grandma before your mother is born. Cause and effect isn't disrupted, it goes:
First time through: Granny, Mommy, You -> Back to the past, Murder Granny...
Now go forward. Your loop is closed.
January 20, 2026 at 1:04 AM
The grandmother paradox is outmoded (screw patriarchy, we KNOW who the mother is)
Go back and murder your grandma before your mother is born. Cause and effect isn't disrupted, it goes:
First time through: Granny, Mommy, You -> Back to the past, Murder Granny...
Now go forward. Your loop is closed.
Go back and murder your grandma before your mother is born. Cause and effect isn't disrupted, it goes:
First time through: Granny, Mommy, You -> Back to the past, Murder Granny...
Now go forward. Your loop is closed.
Anaïs Nin died this day, 1977 — an immense influence on me. She showed me what a novel might be.
January 15, 2026 at 12:30 AM
Anaïs Nin died this day, 1977 — an immense influence on me. She showed me what a novel might be.
Imagine a bowl, sunlight falling into it.
Then remove the bowl.
Then remove the bowl.
January 11, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Imagine a bowl, sunlight falling into it.
Then remove the bowl.
Then remove the bowl.
Sendak on Fresh Air, a playlist
freshairarchive.org/playlist/9281
freshairarchive.org/playlist/9281
Playlist
Listen to interviews from more than 40 years of Fresh Air with Terry Gross, the celebrated radio show and podcast produced by WHYY and broadcast by NPR.
freshairarchive.org
January 10, 2026 at 10:55 PM
Sendak on Fresh Air, a playlist
freshairarchive.org/playlist/9281
freshairarchive.org/playlist/9281
"Didn't anyone ever tell you kneeling stunts the growth?"
—The 4th Doctor
—The 4th Doctor
January 4, 2026 at 1:17 PM
"Didn't anyone ever tell you kneeling stunts the growth?"
—The 4th Doctor
—The 4th Doctor
some hunched homunculus at the bottom of the stairs or moving toward me in the hallway and I would totally lose it
January 2, 2026 at 2:20 AM
some hunched homunculus at the bottom of the stairs or moving toward me in the hallway and I would totally lose it
Lying in bed, predawn, listening to a reading of Greg Bear's 1983 short story "Blood Music" (I've also read the novel, it doesn't scale well) I look up and, in the gloom, make out a dot or mark on the ceiling directly above me —some kind of bug, big as my thumbnail— and I shudder. Life is everywhere
December 27, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Lying in bed, predawn, listening to a reading of Greg Bear's 1983 short story "Blood Music" (I've also read the novel, it doesn't scale well) I look up and, in the gloom, make out a dot or mark on the ceiling directly above me —some kind of bug, big as my thumbnail— and I shudder. Life is everywhere
"We have to throw your brain out the window"
—Richard Feynman
—Richard Feynman
December 26, 2025 at 7:39 PM
"We have to throw your brain out the window"
—Richard Feynman
—Richard Feynman
In writing, all you've done up to the point of finding the thing you need, has to go.
It wasn't wasted, as no work is ever wasted. But it can do nothing but obscure what you've found.
It wasn't wasted, as no work is ever wasted. But it can do nothing but obscure what you've found.
December 17, 2025 at 8:21 PM
In writing, all you've done up to the point of finding the thing you need, has to go.
It wasn't wasted, as no work is ever wasted. But it can do nothing but obscure what you've found.
It wasn't wasted, as no work is ever wasted. But it can do nothing but obscure what you've found.
Inaugural edition of Games and Comics Quarterly!
drive.google.com/file/d/1cuZX...
drive.google.com/file/d/1cuZX...
G&CQ 2025 FALL.pdf
drive.google.com
December 13, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Inaugural edition of Games and Comics Quarterly!
drive.google.com/file/d/1cuZX...
drive.google.com/file/d/1cuZX...
in a bad horror film, saw a hand painted sign over a Hungarian cemetery: "feltámadunk"
google translate says it means "we rise"
google translate says it means "we rise"
December 8, 2025 at 7:14 PM
in a bad horror film, saw a hand painted sign over a Hungarian cemetery: "feltámadunk"
google translate says it means "we rise"
google translate says it means "we rise"
Sci-fi is notoriously bad at predicting the future.
But after decades of "zoom and enhance" in non-sci-fi cop shows, thriller films and etc., we now live in a world where that's actually possible.
But after decades of "zoom and enhance" in non-sci-fi cop shows, thriller films and etc., we now live in a world where that's actually possible.
November 29, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Sci-fi is notoriously bad at predicting the future.
But after decades of "zoom and enhance" in non-sci-fi cop shows, thriller films and etc., we now live in a world where that's actually possible.
But after decades of "zoom and enhance" in non-sci-fi cop shows, thriller films and etc., we now live in a world where that's actually possible.
•Fix-up: short stories reformed into continuity as a novel
•Mosaic: a continuity of theme, not character or plot. Cf Kosiński’s "Steps"
•Peel-away: Novel projects, from which sections have been sold as stand-alone stories
EXAMPLES OF THE LATTER?
Better name for the process?
All help accepted thanks
•Mosaic: a continuity of theme, not character or plot. Cf Kosiński’s "Steps"
•Peel-away: Novel projects, from which sections have been sold as stand-alone stories
EXAMPLES OF THE LATTER?
Better name for the process?
All help accepted thanks
November 26, 2025 at 3:28 PM
•Fix-up: short stories reformed into continuity as a novel
•Mosaic: a continuity of theme, not character or plot. Cf Kosiński’s "Steps"
•Peel-away: Novel projects, from which sections have been sold as stand-alone stories
EXAMPLES OF THE LATTER?
Better name for the process?
All help accepted thanks
•Mosaic: a continuity of theme, not character or plot. Cf Kosiński’s "Steps"
•Peel-away: Novel projects, from which sections have been sold as stand-alone stories
EXAMPLES OF THE LATTER?
Better name for the process?
All help accepted thanks
@swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy
Marie:
For an essay for publication, I'm looking for examples of novels-in-progress from which sections have been "peeled-away" for publication as short, stand-alone stores (not excerpts)
A Codexian suggested you as source. I'd welcome a brief exchange!
dM
Marie:
For an essay for publication, I'm looking for examples of novels-in-progress from which sections have been "peeled-away" for publication as short, stand-alone stores (not excerpts)
A Codexian suggested you as source. I'd welcome a brief exchange!
dM
November 26, 2025 at 3:23 PM
@swan-tower.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy
Marie:
For an essay for publication, I'm looking for examples of novels-in-progress from which sections have been "peeled-away" for publication as short, stand-alone stores (not excerpts)
A Codexian suggested you as source. I'd welcome a brief exchange!
dM
Marie:
For an essay for publication, I'm looking for examples of novels-in-progress from which sections have been "peeled-away" for publication as short, stand-alone stores (not excerpts)
A Codexian suggested you as source. I'd welcome a brief exchange!
dM
I'm kinda a connoisseur but this is one of his best interviews
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDPH...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDPH...
It's All About Hitler: Mel Brooks on Humor, Music, and Making History | Parkinson
YouTube video by The Michael Parkinson Channel
www.youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:12 PM
I'm kinda a connoisseur but this is one of his best interviews
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDPH...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDPH...
the new(?) playback speed slider on youtube is perfect for turning sleepytime lofi into productive listening lofi
November 13, 2025 at 2:36 PM
the new(?) playback speed slider on youtube is perfect for turning sleepytime lofi into productive listening lofi
If we remembered our birth, we could not possibly fear death. Birth must be far worse.
But we won't remember our death, so there's symmetry for you.
But we won't remember our death, so there's symmetry for you.
November 6, 2025 at 4:53 AM
If we remembered our birth, we could not possibly fear death. Birth must be far worse.
But we won't remember our death, so there's symmetry for you.
But we won't remember our death, so there's symmetry for you.
Dick Cheney is dead
See? Anyone can do it!
See? Anyone can do it!
November 5, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Dick Cheney is dead
See? Anyone can do it!
See? Anyone can do it!
All I found was a circle of sawdust
The circus had moved on
The circus had moved on
November 2, 2025 at 1:51 AM
All I found was a circle of sawdust
The circus had moved on
The circus had moved on
Onlique Strategies
October 21, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Onlique Strategies
Ich bin der Sohn des Monsters
October 15, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Ich bin der Sohn des Monsters
There was a reminder that the library was always seeking books, and that they paid in wine.
—Postapocalypic newspaper item, Station Eleven: a Novel
—Postapocalypic newspaper item, Station Eleven: a Novel
October 10, 2025 at 9:44 PM
There was a reminder that the library was always seeking books, and that they paid in wine.
—Postapocalypic newspaper item, Station Eleven: a Novel
—Postapocalypic newspaper item, Station Eleven: a Novel