Author | Lightnews

Rachael 📚 🎶 @rachaelreadswrites.bsky.social · 21h

What is this feeling? One short day to be popular? Or to defy gravity? Subscribers, aka "enrolled students," get to vote on Wicked-themed prompts for November's writing challenge!
#writersky #fantasy #writingchallenge #magicschool #specfiction #sff #writingprompts
open.substack.com/pub/fantasys...

Monthly Term Begins Today -- Time to Vote for the Assignment Prompt

Time to ... defy gravity...

open.substack.com

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Rachael 📚 🎶 @rachaelreadswrites.bsky.social · 2d

I wrote a story about witches, words, and rabbits. It's not spooky.
#writersky #booksky #fantasy #cozyfantasy #magicschool
open.substack.com/pub/fantasys...

The T.A.'s Story: "The Word Witch"

From the October 2025 Fantasy Story Writing Challenge

open.substack.com

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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 5d

Wow! It’s not even close. Food banks can’t keep up with the need…

Question: “How long is this sustainable.”

Food bank director: “It’s not… for every meal that a food bank provides, the SNAP program provides nine. There’s no way we can meet that gap.”

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Rachael 📚 🎶 @rachaelreadswrites.bsky.social · 17d

It's not too late to shop fall and Halloween in my Etsy store! www.etsy.com/shop/TheHarp...
#booksky #writersky

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Roxane Gay @roxanegay.bsky.social · 7d

The depth of the shame of a country this wealthy and abundant allowing its people to go hungry is impossible to measure. The fact that a handful of people could fix this by paying their fair share of taxes while still remaining obscenely wealthy makes it even worse.

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Liz Shannon Miller @lizshannonmiller.com · 8d

friend shared this, immediately updated my settings

$Screenshot of text: unfuck google drive by shooting gemini Hey folks! Google is fucking you via sneaky enshittification again! Want the shit in your google drive to load instantly again, instead of taking for-fucking-ever? Open your gdrive (web OR app) Settings > Manage Apps Gemini was checked "use as default" (and i sure the fuck didn't set it that way, this was a silent push) Nuke that, and suddenly, folders that took up to a minute to populate and sort do so in a fraction of a second.$

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Mychal Threets @mychal3ts.bsky.social · 10d

POV: The new singer of the Reading Rainbow theme song and the new host of Reading Rainbow meet for the first time in Canada 🥹📚🌈

Video Description:
Mychal and Bukola meet for the first time! They joyfully dance to the Reading Rainbow theme song, sung by Bukola ✨

youtube.com/@kidzuko?feature=shared

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NPR @npr.org · 15d

Three high schoolers founded a book club that reads some of the country's most frequently banned books after a state law removing books with sexual content was signed in 2023. Two years later, many of the books have been reshelved and parts of the law can't be enforced.

When books were being pulled from Iowa classrooms, these teens started an after-school club to read them

Three Iowa City West high schoolers founded a book club that reads some of the country's most frequently banned books after a state law removing books with sexual content was signed in 2023. Two years later, many of the books have been reshelved and parts of the law can't be enforced.

n.pr

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Jordan Sorcery @jordansorcery.bsky.social · 15d

If we make it illegal to steal paintings from the Louvre then the entire industry will be unsustainable

jeremy kaplowitz @jeremykaplowitz.com · Aug 3

you don't understand. as someone who isn't inherently good at art, stealing paintings from the museum is the *only* way i'm able to express myself creatively. i wouldn't be able to paint beautiful portraits. but by breaking into a museum and stealing the paintings, now i am

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Rachael 📚 🎶 @rachaelreadswrites.bsky.social · 17d

It's not too late to shop fall and Halloween in my Etsy store! www.etsy.com/shop/TheHarp...
#booksky #writersky

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Rachael 📚 🎶 @rachaelreadswrites.bsky.social · 18d

This series is so good! Cannot recommend Jordan Ifueko highly enough.

Sistah Scifi @sistahscifi.bsky.social · 18d

🎧✨ Audiobook of the Week: Redemptor by @JordaniFueko✨🎧

The epic conclusion to the Raybearer duology is here! 👑

🎧 Available now in audiobook—step into Jordan Ifueko’s unforgettable world.

@librofm @blackstonepublishing

#sistahscifi #AudiobookOfTheWeek

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Rachael 📚 🎶 @rachaelreadswrites.bsky.social · 18d

Possibly only time I can say this, but I got 99 followers, and you aren't one of 'em (but you could be!)

Reposted by Rachael 📚 🎶

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 18d

Wikipedia is seeing a significant decline in human traffic because more people are getting the information that’s on Wikipedia via generative AI chatbots that were trained on its articles and search engines that summarize them without actually clicking to the site

www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...

Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors

“With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”

www.404media.co

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Tallgirl6234 @tallgirl6234.bsky.social · 19d

It’s such a weird worlds when a music magazine will say what mainstream media won’t about Covid.

Long Covid Is Real -- And It's Changing an Entire Generation

Long Covid is affecting hundreds of thousands of kids in America, and many doctors and schools refuse to recognize their illness.

www.rollingstone.com

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Rachael 📚 🎶 @rachaelreadswrites.bsky.social · 18d

Perhaps the crowning moment of my existence to date was the one in which I recommended an L.M. Montgomery book to Gail Carson Levine in line for an Ella Enchanted signing, and she seemed genuinely interested because SHE HADN'T READ IT YET.
#booksky

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0wl @callme0wl.bsky.social · 20d

I'm convinced that 80% of the "people" who support generative 🅰️ℹ️ are bots themselves

The support for a technology that nobody wants or needs is so ridiculously overblown

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Mike Chen @mikechenwriter.bsky.social · 23d

Call your reps about this. Use @5calls.org for a script, use @resist.bot via text/IG DG if easier. They have pulled back on CDC/FDA firings before due to mass outrage, this isn't over yet.

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 24d

Fustiliarian Friday: Trump/Kennedy/GOP use the shutdown as an excuse to destroy the CDC’s elite field epidemiology team and one of the most important epidemiology journals in the world.

Gift link.

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Rachael 📚 🎶

USA TODAY @usatoday.com · 24d

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

bit.ly

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Rachael 📚 🎶 @rachaelreadswrites.bsky.social · 24d

First curated "class" lecture for my magic school for writers. Mary Robinette Kowal's introduction to writing short stories. Make sure you take good notes!
#writersky #fantasy #scifi #sff #specfiction
open.substack.com/pub/fantasys...

Caffeine for Class: Mary Robinette Kowal's Introduction to Writing Short Stories

A lecture for class

open.substack.com

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 25d

Bob Ross created thousands of paintings on PBS’s ”The Joy of Painting.” Now, 30 of his works are being sold at auction to benefit public broadcasters suffering under President Trump’s federal funding cuts.

30 Bob Ross Paintings Head to Auction to Support Public Media

The happy little fundraiser will benefit broadcasters affected by Trump’s funding cuts.

hyperallergic.com

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 24d

CHICAGO: REBUILD is providing therapy to folks detained by ICE. Please feel free to let people know.

findmeatherapist.org

Find Me A Therapist

findmeatherapist.org

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Rachael 📚 🎶 @rachaelreadswrites.bsky.social · Oct 5

www.writingbattle.com/join-battle I joined the upcoming Fear Flash Fiction Battle with writers from around the world. Get Ready to Battle on Oct 5, 2025! @writingbattle.bsky.social
#flashfiction #writingprompts #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writersofbluesky

Join the Battle and Learn More

Writing Battle — Write. Read. Win.

Write. Read. Win. A competitive writing platform for storytellers around the world. Receive oodles of feedback. Join the most supportive writing community on the web. You up for the chal...

www.writingbattle.com

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Rachael 📚 🎶 @rachaelreadswrites.bsky.social · Oct 4

#booksky #writersky #audiobook #fairytale #vintage
open.substack.com/pub/rachaelr...

"The Gudra's Daughter" by Frank R. Stockton + FREE Audiobook

Vintage American Fairytale - A Back-to-School Fantasy Short Story from 1873

open.substack.com

Rachael 📚 🎶 @rachaelreadswrites.bsky.social · Oct 4

Welcome to magic school for writers. "School" opens TODAY. Sign up below!
#booksky #writersky #fantasy #writingchallenge #magicschool #sff #specfic #specfiction
open.substack.com/pub/fantasys...

An Invitation to the Official House Sorting Ceremony

Welcome, students, to your first day of magic school

open.substack.com

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American Library Association @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social · Oct 3

Facing censorship challenges? You’re not alone.
Join us Oct 7 at noon CT for a free webinar on two ALA resources, Law for Librarians + Library Helplines, designed to help you push back.
Learn more and check out other free #BannedBooksWeek events at https://www.ala.org/bbooks/events

Censorship is so 1984. Librarians Supporting Eash Other to Confront Book Bans. Tuesday, October 7, 2025. Law for Librarians, Intellectual Freedom Hotline,

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