Sam J Miller
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sentencebender.bsky.social
Sam J Miller
@sentencebender.bsky.social
4.4K followers 1.2K following 1.3K posts
Gay shit. Sometimes even award-winning gay shit. BLACKFISH CITY; etc. RED STAR HUSTLE is a USA Today Bestseller! https://linktr.ee/samjmiller
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Reposted by Sam J Miller
matthewkressel.net
Here's the audio from this month's Fantastic Fiction at KGB, with guests Lara Elena Donnelly & Sam J. Miller. Such a great night with two fabulous guests!

@larazontally.bsky.social @sentencebender.bsky.social @datlow.bsky.social @maryrobinettekowal.com

www.kgbfantasticfiction.org/2025/11/28/a...
Audio from Nov 12th, with Lara Elena Donnelly & Sam J. Miller
Here's the audio from the Nov 12th Fantastic Fiction at KGB, with guests Lara Elena Donnelly & Sam. J. Miller, Nov 12th, 7pm ET (Note: we continue to troubleshoot an audio issue that caused the author...
www.kgbfantasticfiction.org
November 28, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
r-emrys.bsky.social
Coming next week! I'm grateful that I can finally share this very personal story of grief and swamps.
reactorsff.bsky.social Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · 4d
Transformed by a fungal infection that connects humans with nature, one woman feels closer to the world than ever, but further from the people she loves the most...

December 3rd. "All That Means or Mourns," by @r-emrys.bsky.social

Art by Jacqueline Tam
Edited by @englelaird.bsky.social
The vague figure of a woman fades into the outline of trees, surrounded by a dragon, fish, a lizard, bugs, and two cranes
November 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
jordankurella.com
eligibility post time!!!!
this year i published two things:

novella: THE DEATH OF MOUNTAINS from @lethepress.bsky.social

short story: "The Messengers of Despair" from @bcsmagazine.bsky.social

🧵
the cover of THE DEATH OF MOUNTAINS is off to the left of this image. the rest of it is text on a dark blue background. it says: AWARDS ELIGIBILITY The Death of Mountains from Lethe Press ELIGIBLE FOR: the Nebula, the Hugo, the Locus, and other novella etcetera LISTEN: if you want to think of this book during awards season? great! thank you very much! are there too many things to think about right now? of course there are. way too many things. i am making this graphic while also internally screaming and procrastinating dinner. so. i get it.
November 21, 2025 at 8:55 PM
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dracopoullos.bsky.social
Story day!! I’m so delighted to debut in @unchartedmag.bsky.social with ‘Love Story in Colored Glass:’ an inter-dimensional love story about a starship that breaks reality - and a pair of lovers who find themselves, again and again, across the fracture.

www.unchartedmag.com/stories/love...
Love Story in Colored Glass - Uncharted
“This,” her father says, the stone a matte black promise in his hand, “is how your ship will travel.” With a bravura flick, he throws it out onto the lake, but all she can focus on is the spike of ten...
www.unchartedmag.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
wiswell.bsky.social
I published some pieces I'm deeply proud of this year. My second novel, one of my most personal novelettes, one of my weirdest short stories, and an essay on an idea that's been nagging me for years.
John Wiswell 2025 Awards Eligibility Post Novel: WEARING THE LION (DAW Books) Novelette: PHANTOM VIEW (Reactor) Short Story: An Asexual Succubus (Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabres) Non-Fiction: Breakout, Ripoff, Genre: How Fiction Outgrows Originality (Uncanny Magazine)
November 21, 2025 at 4:07 PM
sentencebender.bsky.social
Fellow undercover operatives, Honing the Blade by @clclark.bsky.social is one of my very favorite newsletters, so this recognition is deeply meaningful. And this post is a great example of why you should absolutely subscribe today.

clclarkwrites.com/career-advic...
November 25, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
lpkindred.bsky.social
@sentencebender.bsky.social most recent newsletter speaks on the grounding of artists as culture workers is writing, and how the grounding of a writing life is community. Give that man a follow and subscribe.
November 25, 2025 at 4:24 PM
sentencebender.bsky.social
What's it like, touring a country that feels terrifying now? Heading into the reddest of red states?

Short answer? Amazing. The radical wonderful weirdoes I met there gave me so much hope & peace.

Long answer is in this week's newsletter:

undercover-in-the-apocalypse.ghost.io/touring-a-co...
Touring a country that's turned toxic.
Nine cities. Eight flights. Twelve days. Fellow travelers, the tour for RED STAR HUSTLE / APPREHENSION was exhausting even for a practiced undercover operative like your present correspondent. The f...
undercover-in-the-apocalypse.ghost.io
November 25, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
deecherrywriter.bsky.social
AWARDS ELIGIBILITY POST!

If any of you short fiction loving folks plan on voting in any of the sci-fi awards coming up, I'd like to throw Children of the Singularity in contention!

1 reviewer found it "heartwarming" and "compelling" so I think you'd like it to!

HMU for a copy if interested!!
I’ve been on a bit of a robot/AI kick lately, so it will be no surprise that my favourite work in this issue was “Children of the Singularity” by Danny Cherry Jr. The short story follows a Sentient, an artificial intelligence confined to a highly contained corner of the internet behind a firewall, who is granted permission to inhabit a human body. Despite the peace accords between humans and her kind following an AI uprising, tensions remain high; she is left alone and struggling to find a real sense of identity when she meets Todd. The young man’s strong opposition to being cybernetically enhanced himself along with his complete acceptance of Sentients leaves him struggling to find employment. The story’s emphasis on friendship warms my heart, and its exploration of discrimination and marginalization through two black main characters—one of whom is not entirely human but is nonetheless inhabiting the body of a person of colour—is compelling. Even after finishing the story, I’m still turning it over in my head.
November 10, 2025 at 10:14 PM
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jayaprakash777.bsky.social
If you're an author being published by small and tiny presses, please shamelessly promote your work, however much your temperament might militate against it. I've seen many wonderful authors at this level so quickly forgotten when they die, you deserve all the readers you can get while you're alive.
November 23, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
haileypiperfights.bsky.social
Yes yes, Nosferatu (2024), Frankenstein (2025), Werwulf in 2026

but now we need an Abbott and Costello equivalent to meet them all in 2027
November 20, 2025 at 12:31 PM
sentencebender.bsky.social
Can anyone with JSTOR access help me out with this article? 🥹🥹🙏🙏

www.jstor.org/stable/90016...
Kafka’s Golem on JSTOR
EDAN DEKEL, DAVID GANTT GURLEY, Kafka’s Golem, The Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 107, No. 4 (Fall 2017), pp. 531-556
www.jstor.org
November 19, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
eliaseells.bsky.social
Currently reading and this rips! You definitely want RED STAR HUSTLE!!
November 19, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
maryrobinettekowal.com
Throwback photos from the New York + Brooklyn portion of @sentencebender.bsky.social 's and my book tour for Apprehension and Red Star Hustle. Thanks so much to @twistedspinebooks.bsky.social for hosting us.
Mary Robinette Kowal holding a copy of Apprehension with New York skyline in the background Sam J Miller reading to a seated audience in a bookstore Sam J Miller reading to a seated audience in a bookstore
November 19, 2025 at 6:16 PM
sentencebender.bsky.social
I'm giving away copies of my new novel RED STAR HUSTLE - new subscribers to my newsletter can enter for a chance to win.

undercover-in-the-apocalypse.ghost.io
Undercover in the Apocalypse
Covert dispatches from Sam J. Miller on craft, community, and surviving nightmare times.
undercover-in-the-apocalypse.ghost.io
November 19, 2025 at 5:36 PM
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resnikoff.bsky.social
Watching Ben Shapiro and other MAGA Jews slowly figure out the corner that they've boxed themselves into is a reminder that the only real security for American Jews isn't in making common cause with right-wing Christian Zionists, but in cosmopolitanism and multiethnic solidarity.
November 19, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
samtasticbooks.com
Been pondering the "write for yourself / no, write for an audience" convos I've seen going around. This obviously varies for everyone, but for me it's "write for myself, edit for an audience." I can't finish a project unless I retreat into a bubble and pretend nobody will ever read it--
November 18, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
effies.bsky.social
I've been thinking a lot about why I write.

The answer: "I have something to say and I want it to have impact on someone", whether that's making them feel seen, or making them laugh, or making them pissed off w me, or anything else.

I don't think there's a wrong answer to the question tho.
samtasticbooks.com Samantha (Sam) Mills @samtasticbooks.com · 11d
Been pondering the "write for yourself / no, write for an audience" convos I've seen going around. This obviously varies for everyone, but for me it's "write for myself, edit for an audience." I can't finish a project unless I retreat into a bubble and pretend nobody will ever read it--
November 18, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
arleysorg.bsky.social
"IT IS A VERY GOOD SIGN if you are out-of-step with a deeply toxic moment."

One of many great, quotable lines in this post - worth a read, especially if you are a writer; a lot of this probably translates to other creatives as well! Slow down. Breathe. Listen to your heart and remember your joy.
November 18, 2025 at 4:46 PM
sentencebender.bsky.social
I am both heartened and saddened at how many people this miserable experience has resonated with 😭😭😭 why are we like
November 18, 2025 at 7:18 PM
sentencebender.bsky.social
🥹🥹🥹
karinlow.bsky.social 🐈‍⬛ @karinlow.bsky.social · 11d
“…the ones who love and value what you are making, and the weirdoes who are just like you, the ones who maybe haven't found your work yet, but when they do, it will mean something to them. That's who you're doing this for, not the folks who only buy what the New York Times tells them to.” 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
sentencebender.bsky.social Sam J Miller @sentencebender.bsky.social · 11d
Writers, publishing will suck all the joy and light from your life if you let it.

So don't let it.

This week, on Undercover in the Apocalypse: my dreams came true, but I just found new ways to be miserable.

undercover-in-the-apocalypse.ghost.io/my-dreams-ca...
November 18, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
evanby.bsky.social
Sharp analysis of the “my books never get enough attention” malaise. All too recognizable: you’ve just spent months pouring *all* your energy into creating something that *wasn’t there before*, and the number of people who actually seem to (genuinely) care is negligible compared to the effort.
November 18, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
maryrobinettekowal.com
@poisonedpen.bsky.social was so wonderful to host @sentencebender.bsky.social and me to celebrate the launch of Apprehension / Red Star Hustle. In case you missed it, they've shared the recording on YouTube: www.youtube.com/live/8aT8Vkd...
Mary Robinette Kowal and Sam J Miller discuss Apprehension/Red Star Hustle
YouTube video by The Poisoned Pen Bookstore
www.youtube.com
November 18, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Sam J Miller
angelaliu.bsky.social
"We are stupid hungry animals. And when we get what we want, it's all too easy to shift our focus, move our goalposts, and focus on what we don't have instead."

For anyone who's felt the joy of writing diminished by trying to get published. This was so uplifting to read.
November 18, 2025 at 3:51 PM
sentencebender.bsky.social
Writers, publishing will suck all the joy and light from your life if you let it.

So don't let it.

This week, on Undercover in the Apocalypse: my dreams came true, but I just found new ways to be miserable.

undercover-in-the-apocalypse.ghost.io/my-dreams-ca...
My dreams came true and I just found new ways to be miserable.
My fifth novel Red Star Hustle just dropped, and on pub day I did what I usually do on pub day - I swung by Union Square, where there's the Strand and a Barnes & Noble very near one another - probably...
undercover-in-the-apocalypse.ghost.io
November 18, 2025 at 3:30 PM