Alex Penland, Academia Native
@alexpenname.bsky.social
he/they.
Conlanger, former boy adventurer, Smithsonian alum, PhD at U of Edinburgh (MVAMO). ANDRION was published in 2023.
BSFA, BFS, SFWA; BSFA longlisted and Pushcart nominated. Interzone pubbed, etc.
Conlanger, former boy adventurer, Smithsonian alum, PhD at U of Edinburgh (MVAMO). ANDRION was published in 2023.
BSFA, BFS, SFWA; BSFA longlisted and Pushcart nominated. Interzone pubbed, etc.
Pinned
Whole bunch of new people out here, so I should probably do a proper introduction post?
So! He/they and much more openly trans here than elsewhere on the internet. I write SFF; currently I'm working on a linguistic fantasy about genocide and heritage for my PhD dissertation. (Agents, hit me up.)
So! He/they and much more openly trans here than elsewhere on the internet. I write SFF; currently I'm working on a linguistic fantasy about genocide and heritage for my PhD dissertation. (Agents, hit me up.)
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
A dream denied: My 54-year quest to publish a short story in F&SF ‹ Scott Edelman
www.scottedelman.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
something my life has taught me, both through my own struggles & through observation of most people around me, is that disruptive or controlling emotional reactions in response to criticism/inability to “hear” criticism accurately does NOT come from too high self esteem or lack of adversity (1/?)
yeah this is a poison thing to put out into the world at large where anyone can see it. also, my experience has been that being meaner to myself mostly doesn’t result in my being a better person, just a more scared person who’s more likely to snap at other people
I just wanna say as a dude Going Through Some Shit right now this is an incredibly irresponsible thing to post that makes me feel even shittier than I already do. Feeds into every scrap of self loathing I carry with me and functionally is indifferentiable from the worst voices in my own head.
November 17, 2025 at 1:30 PM
something my life has taught me, both through my own struggles & through observation of most people around me, is that disruptive or controlling emotional reactions in response to criticism/inability to “hear” criticism accurately does NOT come from too high self esteem or lack of adversity (1/?)
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
This is a well-done essay, rather in the spirit of E.B. White’s own brilliant essays in the years around 1940. Shame on those ignorant fools who chose to steal White’s title for their newest attacks.
NEW: Gregory Bovino is exactly who E.B. White — author of 'Charlotte's Web' — warned us about.
DHS named its North Carolina anti-immigrant effort "Operation Charlotte's Web." In 1940, White wrote of the "smell" that "rises" from those who "adjust to fascism" over freedom.
Tonight, at Law Dork:
DHS named its North Carolina anti-immigrant effort "Operation Charlotte's Web." In 1940, White wrote of the "smell" that "rises" from those who "adjust to fascism" over freedom.
Tonight, at Law Dork:
Gregory Bovino is exactly who E.B. White — author of 'Charlotte's Web' — warned us about
DHS named its North Carolina anti-immigrant effort "Operation Charlotte's Web." In 1940, White wrote of the "smell" that "rises" from those who "adjust to fascism" over freedom.
www.lawdork.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:46 AM
This is a well-done essay, rather in the spirit of E.B. White’s own brilliant essays in the years around 1940. Shame on those ignorant fools who chose to steal White’s title for their newest attacks.
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
Want to walk into and through an actual Iron Age house…and UP THE STAIRS?
Of course you bloody do.
Come with me.
Carn Liath broch, just sitting quietly beside the A9 as thousands whizz by without stopping. Their mistake.
Far too excited to wait for #HillfortsWednesday
Of course you bloody do.
Come with me.
Carn Liath broch, just sitting quietly beside the A9 as thousands whizz by without stopping. Their mistake.
Far too excited to wait for #HillfortsWednesday
November 17, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Want to walk into and through an actual Iron Age house…and UP THE STAIRS?
Of course you bloody do.
Come with me.
Carn Liath broch, just sitting quietly beside the A9 as thousands whizz by without stopping. Their mistake.
Far too excited to wait for #HillfortsWednesday
Of course you bloody do.
Come with me.
Carn Liath broch, just sitting quietly beside the A9 as thousands whizz by without stopping. Their mistake.
Far too excited to wait for #HillfortsWednesday
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
Hast thou seen the White Whale?
November 13, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Hast thou seen the White Whale?
Spent the afternoon writing at the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick (perfect place to spend a rainy afternoon).
I swear to god they were playing the soundtrack to the tv show Scrubs. Don’t ask me how I know this.
I swear to god they were playing the soundtrack to the tv show Scrubs. Don’t ask me how I know this.
a man in a blue scrub is looking at the camera in a hospital room
ALT: a man in a blue scrub is looking at the camera in a hospital room
media.tenor.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Spent the afternoon writing at the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick (perfect place to spend a rainy afternoon).
I swear to god they were playing the soundtrack to the tv show Scrubs. Don’t ask me how I know this.
I swear to god they were playing the soundtrack to the tv show Scrubs. Don’t ask me how I know this.
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
"The toy is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me, and I am in no humor at present to give consequence to small catnip mice who are slighted by other felines." - Fitzwilliam
November 12, 2025 at 12:19 PM
"The toy is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me, and I am in no humor at present to give consequence to small catnip mice who are slighted by other felines." - Fitzwilliam
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
okay, so, with Dems successfully keeping anyone up in 2026 for voting for this turd let's take a look at who's up in 2026 anyway:
1. Cory Booker - apparently involved behind the scenes, constantly looking for bipartisanship. I don't dislike him personally but he doesn't have what we need. Primary.
1. Cory Booker - apparently involved behind the scenes, constantly looking for bipartisanship. I don't dislike him personally but he doesn't have what we need. Primary.
November 10, 2025 at 2:20 AM
okay, so, with Dems successfully keeping anyone up in 2026 for voting for this turd let's take a look at who's up in 2026 anyway:
1. Cory Booker - apparently involved behind the scenes, constantly looking for bipartisanship. I don't dislike him personally but he doesn't have what we need. Primary.
1. Cory Booker - apparently involved behind the scenes, constantly looking for bipartisanship. I don't dislike him personally but he doesn't have what we need. Primary.
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
One of the best pieces of flash fiction I've ever read - and just left lying in the road.
#flashfiction #writingcommunity
#flashfiction #writingcommunity
November 10, 2025 at 1:10 PM
One of the best pieces of flash fiction I've ever read - and just left lying in the road.
#flashfiction #writingcommunity
#flashfiction #writingcommunity
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
I don't use generative AI because as a writer of fiction, it offers me nothing useful creatively and nothing trustworthy when I do research. It's not worth the environmental impact. That it's been created by stealing my work and using it in breach of copyright law is a further but separate issue.
Hands up if you've never used Chat GPT ✋
(I feel like Dozer and Tank in The Matrix right now - at first I didn't use it because, rather ironically, I'm lazy and stubborn (peak Taurus energy there) - literally no, don't make me use the new thing I don't wanna. Now I'm glad I didn't 😅)
(I feel like Dozer and Tank in The Matrix right now - at first I didn't use it because, rather ironically, I'm lazy and stubborn (peak Taurus energy there) - literally no, don't make me use the new thing I don't wanna. Now I'm glad I didn't 😅)
Probably a good way to tell right now if the job you’re applying for is run by absolute dumbfucks is to ask if they’re using AI.
November 9, 2025 at 8:57 AM
I don't use generative AI because as a writer of fiction, it offers me nothing useful creatively and nothing trustworthy when I do research. It's not worth the environmental impact. That it's been created by stealing my work and using it in breach of copyright law is a further but separate issue.
Just watched a man pick a cigarette off the pavement and smoke it. Didn’t appear to be his and it’s just rained, so I’m not sure how he lit it.
a close up of a cartoon character 's face with a serious look on his face
Alt: Jet from Avatar the Lat Airbender’s face as he realized Iroh is a fire bender
media.tenor.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Just watched a man pick a cigarette off the pavement and smoke it. Didn’t appear to be his and it’s just rained, so I’m not sure how he lit it.
This is an exceptional ≡PhD thesis≡. It is printed on sheets of paper. Written on the item is a novel titled "An Act of Translation", authored by Alex Penland. It concerns languages. The writing is surprisingly humorous. Overall, the prose is acceptable. It menaces with spikes of paper.
#academicsky
#academicsky
November 3, 2025 at 12:45 PM
This is an exceptional ≡PhD thesis≡. It is printed on sheets of paper. Written on the item is a novel titled "An Act of Translation", authored by Alex Penland. It concerns languages. The writing is surprisingly humorous. Overall, the prose is acceptable. It menaces with spikes of paper.
#academicsky
#academicsky
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
"Gemini performed worst with significant issues in 76% of responses, more than double the other assistants, largely due to its poor sourcing performance."
And yet: "We want these tools to succeed and are open to working with AI companies to deliver for audiences and wider society.’"
Dude, what???
And yet: "We want these tools to succeed and are open to working with AI companies to deliver for audiences and wider society.’"
Dude, what???
Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory
An intensive international study was coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and led by the BBC
www.bbc.co.uk
October 29, 2025 at 9:29 AM
"Gemini performed worst with significant issues in 76% of responses, more than double the other assistants, largely due to its poor sourcing performance."
And yet: "We want these tools to succeed and are open to working with AI companies to deliver for audiences and wider society.’"
Dude, what???
And yet: "We want these tools to succeed and are open to working with AI companies to deliver for audiences and wider society.’"
Dude, what???
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
Just under 20 days to get your micros (-250 words) in! Fiction, CNF, hybrid, published, unpublished, translations. We're so easy. What about that killer micro you published 20 years ago? It's eligible. We're searching for the best. Deadline Nov 15th. www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest 2025 - SmokeLong Quarterly
The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest (The Mikey) is now an annual competition celebrating and compensating the best micro fiction and nonfiction online. The grand prize winner of The Mikey is automatical...
www.smokelong.com
October 27, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Just under 20 days to get your micros (-250 words) in! Fiction, CNF, hybrid, published, unpublished, translations. We're so easy. What about that killer micro you published 20 years ago? It's eligible. We're searching for the best. Deadline Nov 15th. www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
Oh hey, a reason to be hopeful: groves of American chestnut trees have once again become self-reproducing in the wild.
Turned off comments so 12 people don't show up to tell me why this is actually very sad. Be happy, you assholes.
Turned off comments so 12 people don't show up to tell me why this is actually very sad. Be happy, you assholes.
Nearly a Century Ago, American Chestnut Trees Died Off. Now, Hikers Can Walk Among Them Again.
Efforts to restore the American chestnut comprise "one of the most epic conservation stories ever told.”
share.google
October 28, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Oh hey, a reason to be hopeful: groves of American chestnut trees have once again become self-reproducing in the wild.
Turned off comments so 12 people don't show up to tell me why this is actually very sad. Be happy, you assholes.
Turned off comments so 12 people don't show up to tell me why this is actually very sad. Be happy, you assholes.
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
Enormous news for US literature. A new, Mellon-led, $50 million fund for nonprofit literary orgs and publishers. Closest thing we've ever had to it was Mellon and Wallace in 1991, which, in today's dollars, was still less than half this. Open call begins Nov 10. literaryartsfund.org/about/
About | Literary Arts Fund
The Literary Arts Fund advances support for the nonprofit literary arts field toward ensuring creative writers’ contributions to American literature for generations to come.
literaryartsfund.org
October 28, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Enormous news for US literature. A new, Mellon-led, $50 million fund for nonprofit literary orgs and publishers. Closest thing we've ever had to it was Mellon and Wallace in 1991, which, in today's dollars, was still less than half this. Open call begins Nov 10. literaryartsfund.org/about/
#Glutenfree baking adventures. I am DETERMINED to bake a good GF bread—one that looks like bread itself. Getting a proper dough feels like a good first step?
(It’s sitting on my hot water bottle so the yeast doesn’t get cold.)
(It’s sitting on my hot water bottle so the yeast doesn’t get cold.)
October 28, 2025 at 6:57 PM
#Glutenfree baking adventures. I am DETERMINED to bake a good GF bread—one that looks like bread itself. Getting a proper dough feels like a good first step?
(It’s sitting on my hot water bottle so the yeast doesn’t get cold.)
(It’s sitting on my hot water bottle so the yeast doesn’t get cold.)
#careergoals if I’m honest.
Happy birthday Cow Tools! Here’s Gary Larson explaining how it made him “want to crawl into a hole somewhere and die”
October 28, 2025 at 5:39 PM
#careergoals if I’m honest.
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
This is what they've done.
South Korea to probe potential human rights abuses in ICE raid at an Hyundai-operating electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia, U.S.
On September 4, around 475 people - mostly South Korean nationals were arrested, with some being led away in chains.
On September 4, around 475 people - mostly South Korean nationals were arrested, with some being led away in chains.
South Korea to probe potential human rights abuses in US Hyundai raid
More than 300 South Korean workers returned home on Friday after being held for a week in the US following the raid.
www.bbc.com
September 20, 2025 at 6:28 AM
This is what they've done.
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
This is what they've done.
New, w/ @mulchy.bsky.social & @djbyrnes1.bsky.social:
ICE shot & killed an immigrant in the Chicago suburbs yesterday.
Then they immediately gave a misleading account of events.
Chicago erupted in chaos and a father who lived here for decades is dead. This is what really happened:
ICE shot & killed an immigrant in the Chicago suburbs yesterday.
Then they immediately gave a misleading account of events.
Chicago erupted in chaos and a father who lived here for decades is dead. This is what really happened:
What happened to Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez
Immigration agents shot and killed an unarmed 38-year-old father outside Chicago on Friday—and their initial narrative of events was quickly disproven by videos captured by witnesses.
unraveledpress.com
September 20, 2025 at 3:46 AM
This is what they've done.
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
This is what they've done.
This year’s winter heating bills may send a shiver down many Americans’ spine.
More bad news for Americans battling higher prices: Your winter heating bills are about to rise | CNN Business
This year’s winter heating bills may send a shiver down many Americans’ spine.
www.cnn.com
September 19, 2025 at 11:52 PM
This is what they've done.
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
This is what they've done.
This is super cool bc:
1) Many of the highest-risk conditions, like ME/CFS & Long Covid, aren't on the list
2) The best way to protect the vulnerable is to protect the population so others don't infect them
3) None of this accounts for Novavax which is not mRNA
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
1) Many of the highest-risk conditions, like ME/CFS & Long Covid, aren't on the list
2) The best way to protect the vulnerable is to protect the population so others don't infect them
3) None of this accounts for Novavax which is not mRNA
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
CDC panel votes to limit who is eligible for this fall's Covid vaccine
Only people 65 and over or with underlying health conditions should get the shots, the advisory group recommended. There may be insurance roadblocks for others.
www.nbcnews.com
September 19, 2025 at 11:42 PM
This is what they've done.
I limit my news intake of what's going on back home (AKA American news) because it's SO much, but every time I get an update it hits me in the chest.
What do you mean he's destroying the White House.
How are there soldiers parading through my city, rounding people up?
It feels like a bad movie.
What do you mean he's destroying the White House.
How are there soldiers parading through my city, rounding people up?
It feels like a bad movie.
October 25, 2025 at 4:37 PM
I limit my news intake of what's going on back home (AKA American news) because it's SO much, but every time I get an update it hits me in the chest.
What do you mean he's destroying the White House.
How are there soldiers parading through my city, rounding people up?
It feels like a bad movie.
What do you mean he's destroying the White House.
How are there soldiers parading through my city, rounding people up?
It feels like a bad movie.
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
my one and only major demand for phones is "ridiculous battery life because I am a degenerate who is always looking at bluesky on my phone" and my upgrade timelines are based on when my previous battery starts to degrade
you cannot sell me on less battery life
you cannot sell me on less battery life
October 22, 2025 at 5:44 PM
my one and only major demand for phones is "ridiculous battery life because I am a degenerate who is always looking at bluesky on my phone" and my upgrade timelines are based on when my previous battery starts to degrade
you cannot sell me on less battery life
you cannot sell me on less battery life
Reposted by Alex Penland, Academia Native
Received my author copy of a rather beautiful collection today - Creative Futures from Flametree Press edited by Allen Stroud. This is the result of
October 22, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Received my author copy of a rather beautiful collection today - Creative Futures from Flametree Press edited by Allen Stroud. This is the result of