Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦

@ourmankoto.bsky.social

2.3K followers 970 following 2.5K posts

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 4d

Submissions are OPEN for Year's Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume Four (the best of 2025). Send me your SFF published in 2025, you crazy Canucks! Details on my site at the link below. DON'T SELF REJECT! You can't win if you don't play ;) Subs close Feb 28, 2026. Pls share WIDELY.

Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction | Stephen Kotowych

kotowych.com

96 86

Reposted by Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦

D. Earl Stephens @dearlstephens.bsky.social · 6h

📌“The fact that I am American means, among other things, people can’t say, like they did about Francis, ‘he doesn’t understand the United States, he just doesn’t see what’s going on.’
“Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed?”

-Pope Leo in a direct rebuke of the hideous Trump

58 1K 4.1K

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 2h

They should put "always an adventure" on Little's baseball card for this season

Reposted by Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦

NaNo 2.0 @nano2point0.bsky.social · 11d

NaNo 2.0 is LIVE. We're so glad you're here, because #NaNoWriMo is only 30 days away. Hope you're ready to write! ✍️ nano2.org #WritingCommunity #NaNo2point0

Text: NaNo 2.0 is now live! on a light blue and white checkered background. NaNo 2.0 in bold blue lettering with a fountain pen illustration. Hand holding megaphone. Bright gold stars. Text: Your source for all things NaNoWriMo!

3 10 27

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 3h

1 4

Reposted by Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦

Ree @reeclian.bsky.social · 4h

You can email complaints about the premise and set-up of the questionnaire to ISED: [email protected].

You can even tell them they're not acting in accordance with the Directive on the Management of Communications and Federal Identity, as all the jargon makes it inaccessible to the public.

Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 4d

Canadians: The federal government is seeking public input on how AI should be developed and used in business, research, and the military.

If this scares the shit out of you, please let them know:

Help define the next chapter of Canada's AI leadership

Current status: Open from October 1 to October 31, 2025 Canada helped invent modern AI. To stay a leader—and protect our digital sovereignty—we're running a 30-day national sprint to shape a renewed...

ised-isde.canada.ca

14 15

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 3h

2 6 80

Reposted by Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦

Blake Leyh @earlofedgecombe.bsky.social · 1d

If you think you know why US newspapers died, this feature documentary now streaming for free on PBS might surprise you. It wasn't the Internet. Newspapers were specifically targeted by vulture capitalists.

I composed the score for the film, which features electric cello & Crowfoot guitars.

Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink

A handful of journalists rebel against a hedge fund that is gutting newspapers nationwide.

www.pbs.org

23 590 1.3K

Reposted by Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦

Diasporic Minnesotan @diasporaminnesotan.bsky.social · 1d

A protester in an inflatable frog costume with a blue cape standing in front of a line of armed police officers with shields. The caption says "I have frogs everywhere"

9 29

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 1d

😉

a cartoon character from south park is saying you 're a traitor

ALT: a cartoon character from south park is saying you 're a traitor

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦

Micah @rincewind.run · 21d

we have gone from a world in which we were told not to cite wikipedia because it was unreliable to a world where wikipedia might be the only reliable source left on the internet and we all owe a lot to the pedantic nerds who got us there

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 21d

for all people mock it wikipedia is genuinely one of the wonders of the modern world

52 2.4K 10K

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 1d

two men are standing next to each other in front of a building with soldiers standing in the background .

ALT: two men are standing next to each other in front of a building with soldiers standing in the background .

media.tenor.com

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 1d

Okay, it's going to 15 and I'm going to bed. I gotta get up and cook a turkey in the morning. Lemme know how it ends. Here's hoping they set some kind of record for longest-ever MLB elimination game 😉

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 2d

Blue Jays fans watching the Tigers/Mariners Game 5 go into the 13th inning... #GoJaysGo #ALCS #WantItAll

two men are standing next to each other in front of a building with soldiers standing in the background .

ALT: two men are standing next to each other in front of a building with soldiers standing in the background .

media.tenor.com

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 2d

As a Jays fan, I'm fine if they play all night and use every reliever in the pen... Looking forward to Sunday!

two men are standing next to each other in front of a building with soldiers standing in the background .

ALT: two men are standing next to each other in front of a building with soldiers standing in the background .

media.tenor.com

3 34

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 2d

Blue Jays fans watching the Tigers/Mariners Game 5 go into the 13th inning... #GoJaysGo #ALCS #WantItAll

two men are standing next to each other in front of a building with soldiers standing in the background .

ALT: two men are standing next to each other in front of a building with soldiers standing in the background .

media.tenor.com

1 4

Reposted by Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦

Fusion Fragment @fusionfragment.bsky.social · 2d

On Spec was the very first SF magazine I ever bought a copy of, way way back when I was a teenager growing up in Alberta. They'll leave behind a big legacy, especially here in Canada.

On Spec Magazine @onspecmag.bsky.social · 3d

With our new issue, we are making the sad announcement that this will be the final year for On Spec. See www.onspec.ca for details.

5 22

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 2d

Pretty good, generally. Everything that's italics, for example, stays italics. Sometimes I have to manually correct some line or paragraph spacing or do a global change to unify the style of font, but I think that speaks more to the sloppiness with which I compose in Scrivener than the export ;)

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 2d

I'm not a power user by any means but I mostly really like the ease of writing in scenes/cards and moving them around and reordering. I write non-linear so I use this featured frequently both when drafting and outlining. It's also pretty easy to compile and export in various formats, including epub

1 4

Reposted by Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦

Kerry C. Byrne @kercoby.bsky.social · 2d

When I took my first writing workshop, On Spec was the only active SFF mag in Canada—and an inspiration when I launched Augur 3 years later.

That was 13 years ago.

They made space where there wasn’t for specfic in Canlit & set the stage for the many Canadian editors who’ve launched mags since.

On Spec Magazine @onspecmag.bsky.social · 3d

With our new issue, we are making the sad announcement that this will be the final year for On Spec. See www.onspec.ca for details.

3 7 51

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 2d

"Can*Con 2025--it's outta this world!"

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 2d

In addition to orbiting gently, people are also welcome to go zipping by me on an unbound, hyperbolic trajectory on their journey into deep space, like 3I/ATLAS!

1 2

Reposted by Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦

An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog @hugobookclub.bsky.social · 2d

And the thing is that *anyone* can become a Hugo voter.

It's relatively easy to sign up, and the price isn't terribly high (especially when you factor in that they usually provide e-book versions of most of the finalists so voters can make an informed choice).

1 2

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 2d

THIS ⬇️

An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog @hugobookclub.bsky.social · 3d

On Spec has long deserved recognition for best semiprozine at the Hugo Awards, but has never even made the ballot because it's Canadian and most Hugo voters are U.S.-based.

2026 will be your final opportunity to nominate an institution that has been an incubator for so much talent.

On Spec Magazine @onspecmag.bsky.social · 3d

With our new issue, we are making the sad announcement that this will be the final year for On Spec. See www.onspec.ca for details.

1 1 14

Reposted by Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦

Kate Heartfield @kateheartfield.com · 3d

Big thanks to the On Spec team for 35 years of publishing speculative stories in Canada. I was a reader before I was published there, and the stories I published with them are extremely Canadian ones. We have some newer, also excellent specfic magazines in Canada now, but they still leave a big gap.

On Spec Magazine @onspecmag.bsky.social · 3d

With our new issue, we are making the sad announcement that this will be the final year for On Spec. See www.onspec.ca for details.

1 2 21

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 2d

"When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist," the five-person Nobel committee said in its citation.

I do love when the Nobel Committee uses the Peace Prize to double as a troll 🤣

Venezuelan politician Maria Corina Machado awarded Nobel Peace Prize | CBC News

The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Maria Corina Machado, a Venezuelan opposition leader, it was announced Friday at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo.

www.cbc.ca

1 4

Reposted by Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦

Fiona Moore 🇨🇦 @drfionamoore.bsky.social · 2d

Gutted about On Spec. They were my first publishing venue that wasn't a school magazine/university magazine/teens' writing competition, and the editing there was always friendly, helpful and supportive.

onspec.ca/2025/10/09/t...

Thirty-Five Years

Editorial In On Spec VOL 35 No 3, Issue #133 Earlier this year, I announced that I’d be retiring and leaving On Spec at the end of December, and my final issue as Managing Editor would be VOL 35 No…

onspec.ca

9 23