Richard Garfinkle
@rgarfinklesff.bsky.social
Writer and Computer Programmer. I write science fiction, fantasy, and popularizations / textbooks for science, math, and computer programming.
No AI.
He/Him They/Them
No AI.
He/Him They/Them
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
And keyword searches favor known genres over harder to classify.
November 29, 2025 at 10:06 PM
And keyword searches favor known genres over harder to classify.
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
It is in some ways easier than when I started because the internet makes it possible to communicate directly (like this). It also makes self publishing and small presses a lot more viable then they used to be, but at the same time, it's a much larger universe of available titles.
November 29, 2025 at 10:06 PM
It is in some ways easier than when I started because the internet makes it possible to communicate directly (like this). It also makes self publishing and small presses a lot more viable then they used to be, but at the same time, it's a much larger universe of available titles.
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
Ironically, I've had an easier time getting interest in textbooks I write because they aren't expected to be simple. /2
November 29, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Ironically, I've had an easier time getting interest in textbooks I write because they aren't expected to be simple. /2
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
Therein lies a problem. Elevator pitches work for stories that fit easily into current ideas or have easy comparisons. I don't write things that have elevator pitches.
The tips for elevator pitches or query letters are restrictive and already select against what I write. /1
The tips for elevator pitches or query letters are restrictive and already select against what I write. /1
November 29, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Therein lies a problem. Elevator pitches work for stories that fit easily into current ideas or have easy comparisons. I don't write things that have elevator pitches.
The tips for elevator pitches or query letters are restrictive and already select against what I write. /1
The tips for elevator pitches or query letters are restrictive and already select against what I write. /1
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
Most of what I write is hard to classify. It's gotten even more frustrating since people are often asking for comparable books. But I usually try to write in relatively empty spaces with zero to just a few even remotely similar works.
November 29, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Most of what I write is hard to classify. It's gotten even more frustrating since people are often asking for comparable books. But I usually try to write in relatively empty spaces with zero to just a few even remotely similar works.
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
📌📌 PINS HERE 📌📌 GETCHA PINS HERE 📌📌
overlysarcastic.shop
The Black Friday sale is ON! Our enamel pins are all in stock and 20% OFF across the board this weekend.
We're talkin' Floof Squad, Vembis Lion, zodiac constellations and also Knife Crab Best Crab – plus Greek, Norse, etc.
LOTS OF PINS.
-B
overlysarcastic.shop
The Black Friday sale is ON! Our enamel pins are all in stock and 20% OFF across the board this weekend.
We're talkin' Floof Squad, Vembis Lion, zodiac constellations and also Knife Crab Best Crab – plus Greek, Norse, etc.
LOTS OF PINS.
-B
November 28, 2025 at 6:19 PM
📌📌 PINS HERE 📌📌 GETCHA PINS HERE 📌📌
overlysarcastic.shop
The Black Friday sale is ON! Our enamel pins are all in stock and 20% OFF across the board this weekend.
We're talkin' Floof Squad, Vembis Lion, zodiac constellations and also Knife Crab Best Crab – plus Greek, Norse, etc.
LOTS OF PINS.
-B
overlysarcastic.shop
The Black Friday sale is ON! Our enamel pins are all in stock and 20% OFF across the board this weekend.
We're talkin' Floof Squad, Vembis Lion, zodiac constellations and also Knife Crab Best Crab – plus Greek, Norse, etc.
LOTS OF PINS.
-B
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
You can’t fake honesty. You can’t automate honesty.
You have something the fascist slop machines will never have. You have humanity. You have a point of view. You have a heart.
You have something the fascist slop machines will never have. You have humanity. You have a point of view. You have a heart.
November 27, 2025 at 3:10 PM
You can’t fake honesty. You can’t automate honesty.
You have something the fascist slop machines will never have. You have humanity. You have a point of view. You have a heart.
You have something the fascist slop machines will never have. You have humanity. You have a point of view. You have a heart.
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
The main issue with the box o art is the supplies in it aren't even crayola level functional.
An experienced artist will know this, appreciate that your heart was in the right place, and then never use it.
A beginning artist will not know this and blame themselves when their art is bad.
An experienced artist will know this, appreciate that your heart was in the right place, and then never use it.
A beginning artist will not know this and blame themselves when their art is bad.
November 26, 2025 at 9:02 PM
The main issue with the box o art is the supplies in it aren't even crayola level functional.
An experienced artist will know this, appreciate that your heart was in the right place, and then never use it.
A beginning artist will not know this and blame themselves when their art is bad.
An experienced artist will know this, appreciate that your heart was in the right place, and then never use it.
A beginning artist will not know this and blame themselves when their art is bad.
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
I'm a programmer and an author. They are both arts I practice, learn by doing and know that what I make is my work and comes from my mind in ways that I hope will be interesting and useful to other people.
Why would I wish to stop doing what makes my mind spark and create?
Why would I wish to stop doing what makes my mind spark and create?
November 26, 2025 at 3:41 PM
I'm a programmer and an author. They are both arts I practice, learn by doing and know that what I make is my work and comes from my mind in ways that I hope will be interesting and useful to other people.
Why would I wish to stop doing what makes my mind spark and create?
Why would I wish to stop doing what makes my mind spark and create?
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
On this episode of the Overly Sarcastic Podcast: Red's unique style gets put on blast by her coworker and her own sister. No fashionista is safe.
(The OSPodcast is available on all podcast platforms!)
(The OSPodcast is available on all podcast platforms!)
November 26, 2025 at 2:06 PM
On this episode of the Overly Sarcastic Podcast: Red's unique style gets put on blast by her coworker and her own sister. No fashionista is safe.
(The OSPodcast is available on all podcast platforms!)
(The OSPodcast is available on all podcast platforms!)
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
I think it’s time to put this one back out into the ether, friends
Come and learn about how the tropes undergirding anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories as they exist today came to be…
Come and learn about how the tropes undergirding anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories as they exist today came to be…
The Antisemitism Post (tm)
Gotta get the history to know where the tropes live in the discourse today.
www.lifeisasacredtext.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:12 PM
I think it’s time to put this one back out into the ether, friends
Come and learn about how the tropes undergirding anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories as they exist today came to be…
Come and learn about how the tropes undergirding anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories as they exist today came to be…
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
The AI evangelists don't mention how much randomization is going on in their software.
"Randomly Generated stories, art, reports, scientific conclusions, legal briefs, and legislation" doesn't inspire confidence the way,
"AI Generated..." does.
"Randomly Generated stories, art, reports, scientific conclusions, legal briefs, and legislation" doesn't inspire confidence the way,
"AI Generated..." does.
November 25, 2025 at 3:31 PM
The AI evangelists don't mention how much randomization is going on in their software.
"Randomly Generated stories, art, reports, scientific conclusions, legal briefs, and legislation" doesn't inspire confidence the way,
"AI Generated..." does.
"Randomly Generated stories, art, reports, scientific conclusions, legal briefs, and legislation" doesn't inspire confidence the way,
"AI Generated..." does.
The AI evangelists don't mention how much randomization is going on in their software.
"Randomly Generated stories, art, reports, scientific conclusions, legal briefs, and legislation" doesn't inspire confidence the way,
"AI Generated..." does.
"Randomly Generated stories, art, reports, scientific conclusions, legal briefs, and legislation" doesn't inspire confidence the way,
"AI Generated..." does.
November 25, 2025 at 3:31 PM
The AI evangelists don't mention how much randomization is going on in their software.
"Randomly Generated stories, art, reports, scientific conclusions, legal briefs, and legislation" doesn't inspire confidence the way,
"AI Generated..." does.
"Randomly Generated stories, art, reports, scientific conclusions, legal briefs, and legislation" doesn't inspire confidence the way,
"AI Generated..." does.
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by our table this #PAXUnplugged ! It was a pleasure to meet friends old and new in Philly, hopefully we’ll catch each other out on the Astral Sea! Or at least, at the next PAXU
November 24, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by our table this #PAXUnplugged ! It was a pleasure to meet friends old and new in Philly, hopefully we’ll catch each other out on the Astral Sea! Or at least, at the next PAXU
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
And checking again on my ipad, it has only Celestial Matters and All of an Instant before segueing into things like a book about Art Garfunkel. /3
November 24, 2025 at 1:28 AM
And checking again on my ipad, it has only Celestial Matters and All of an Instant before segueing into things like a book about Art Garfunkel. /3
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
But my laptop has my Amazon publishing access, so there's more relevant information on my laptop, but it still kept using the wrong search to happen to produce the correct results, which is a telltale sign of an LLM rather than a regular search engine./2
November 24, 2025 at 1:24 AM
But my laptop has my Amazon publishing access, so there's more relevant information on my laptop, but it still kept using the wrong search to happen to produce the correct results, which is a telltale sign of an LLM rather than a regular search engine./2
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
It seems to have been Amazon. It insisted on searching for garfinkel, not garfinkle. On my ipad it didn't find most of my books. When I switched to my laptop, it still insisted on - el searches but then found all my books.
/1
/1
November 24, 2025 at 1:21 AM
It seems to have been Amazon. It insisted on searching for garfinkel, not garfinkle. On my ipad it didn't find most of my books. When I switched to my laptop, it still insisted on - el searches but then found all my books.
/1
/1
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
Amazon's current search function insists on autocorrecting my name and substituting different searches for other authors.
I can no longer search for my own books.
I can no longer search for my own books.
November 23, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Amazon's current search function insists on autocorrecting my name and substituting different searches for other authors.
I can no longer search for my own books.
I can no longer search for my own books.
Amazon's current search function insists on autocorrecting my name and substituting different searches for other authors.
I can no longer search for my own books.
I can no longer search for my own books.
November 23, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Amazon's current search function insists on autocorrecting my name and substituting different searches for other authors.
I can no longer search for my own books.
I can no longer search for my own books.
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
#PAXUnplugged day 2! We’re low on prints but high on spirits! Stop on by!
November 22, 2025 at 4:57 PM
#PAXUnplugged day 2! We’re low on prints but high on spirits! Stop on by!
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
Now with ALT text! The crew of the D&D podcast Rolling With Difficulty has a table at #PAXUnplugged this weekend, along with this fetching muppet of the party bard Oobtaglor Oobtaglorbur, a plasmoid ooze.
November 21, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Now with ALT text! The crew of the D&D podcast Rolling With Difficulty has a table at #PAXUnplugged this weekend, along with this fetching muppet of the party bard Oobtaglor Oobtaglorbur, a plasmoid ooze.
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
Guys my Google image search history is *abominable*.
The amount of propaganda posters I swam through for this video, the search terms I had to type with my own to hands...
youtu.be/z3qD-R5Gapw?...
-B
The amount of propaganda posters I swam through for this video, the search terms I had to type with my own to hands...
youtu.be/z3qD-R5Gapw?...
-B
History Summarized: The World Between the Wars
YouTube video by Overly Sarcastic Productions
youtu.be
November 21, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Guys my Google image search history is *abominable*.
The amount of propaganda posters I swam through for this video, the search terms I had to type with my own to hands...
youtu.be/z3qD-R5Gapw?...
-B
The amount of propaganda posters I swam through for this video, the search terms I had to type with my own to hands...
youtu.be/z3qD-R5Gapw?...
-B
Reposted by Richard Garfinkle
Come say hi and trade dice!
The Oob (and crew) have landed! Stop by Brandland at #PAXUnplugged to say hi and have your mysteries solved
November 21, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Come say hi and trade dice!