Thomas Elrod
@thomas-elrod.com
THE FRANCHISE (Tor, May 2026) https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250406583/thefranchise/
Philadelphia and environs. Posts mostly about books and baseball
http://thomas-elrod.com
Philadelphia and environs. Posts mostly about books and baseball
http://thomas-elrod.com
Pinned
Thomas Elrod
@thomas-elrod.com
· Dec 13
The Franchise
Check out The Franchise - <p><b><i>Game of Thrones</i> meets <i>The Truman Show</i> in this epic tale of a Hollywood-owned fantasy world where nothing is quite as it seems to the people who live and d...
bookshop.org
Pinned post o' links:
Preorder my book, out May 12: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
Also available on NetGalley: www.netgalley.com/catalog/book...
And subscribe to my website newsletter for additional updates: thomas-elrod.com/subscribe
#booksky 📚🪐
Preorder my book, out May 12: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
Also available on NetGalley: www.netgalley.com/catalog/book...
And subscribe to my website newsletter for additional updates: thomas-elrod.com/subscribe
#booksky 📚🪐
I don’t really like the actual experience of watching this movie (something about Bay’s style makes me almost physically ill) but it’s true that there’s nothing else like it. The movie is so utterly itself, makes sense that Criterion added it to its collection.
watching ARMAGEDDON on hotel TV and i love this stupid-ass movie. can’t wait to cover it for the pod (sorry john)
January 14, 2026 at 2:12 AM
I don’t really like the actual experience of watching this movie (something about Bay’s style makes me almost physically ill) but it’s true that there’s nothing else like it. The movie is so utterly itself, makes sense that Criterion added it to its collection.
We had one of those apple corers like in this pic. It had a suction cup to keep it stuck to the counter. I thought, “Am I strong enough to pull it off the counter?” Guess what? I was! And I sliced up my hand in the process. I was, like, 12. So old enough to know better but too young to stop myself
January 5, 2026 at 9:25 PM
We had one of those apple corers like in this pic. It had a suction cup to keep it stuck to the counter. I thought, “Am I strong enough to pull it off the counter?” Guess what? I was! And I sliced up my hand in the process. I was, like, 12. So old enough to know better but too young to stop myself
Reposted by Thomas Elrod
sufficiently advanced postmodernism is indistinguishable from the effects of getting kicked in the head by a horse
January 4, 2026 at 11:46 PM
sufficiently advanced postmodernism is indistinguishable from the effects of getting kicked in the head by a horse
Thinking back to the 24 hours where Obama roasted Trump at the WHCD immediately before the Bin Laden raid, and realizing that day was like Trump’s Rosebud. He thinks about it constantly and everything he does is driven by a desire to fill the hole he thinks it created
With Rubio as Hillary Clinton
January 3, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Thinking back to the 24 hours where Obama roasted Trump at the WHCD immediately before the Bin Laden raid, and realizing that day was like Trump’s Rosebud. He thinks about it constantly and everything he does is driven by a desire to fill the hole he thinks it created
It is really fun to see that so many people have adopted the New Year’s Eve/Day LotR marathon rewatch as an annual tradition. Friends of ours in North Carolina introduced this to us about 15 years ago and we still do it, too.
Here, however, I must reiterate my LotR hot take:
Here, however, I must reiterate my LotR hot take:
January 2, 2026 at 4:12 AM
It is really fun to see that so many people have adopted the New Year’s Eve/Day LotR marathon rewatch as an annual tradition. Friends of ours in North Carolina introduced this to us about 15 years ago and we still do it, too.
Here, however, I must reiterate my LotR hot take:
Here, however, I must reiterate my LotR hot take:
Reposted by Thomas Elrod
Apparently through January 1st Barnes & Noble is having a 25% off sale on all pre-orders for premium & rewards members. The code is PREORDER25. eBooks and audiobooks are included, too.
You can pre-order my book there: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-franch...
You can pre-order my book there: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-franch...
The Franchise|Hardcover
A FanFiAddict Most Anticipated Title!Game of Thrones meets The Truman Show in this epic tale of a Hollywood-owned fantasy world where nothing is quite as it seems to the people who live and die at the...
www.barnesandnoble.com
December 31, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Apparently through January 1st Barnes & Noble is having a 25% off sale on all pre-orders for premium & rewards members. The code is PREORDER25. eBooks and audiobooks are included, too.
You can pre-order my book there: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-franch...
You can pre-order my book there: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-franch...
Happy public domain day web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicd...
Public Domain Day 2026 | Duke University School of Law
January 1, 2026 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1930 are open to all, as are sound recordings from 1925! By Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle[1] CC BY 4.0 Please note that this site is only about US l...
web.law.duke.edu
January 1, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Happy public domain day web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicd...
Apparently through January 1st Barnes & Noble is having a 25% off sale on all pre-orders for premium & rewards members. The code is PREORDER25. eBooks and audiobooks are included, too.
You can pre-order my book there: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-franch...
You can pre-order my book there: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-franch...
The Franchise|Hardcover
A FanFiAddict Most Anticipated Title!Game of Thrones meets The Truman Show in this epic tale of a Hollywood-owned fantasy world where nothing is quite as it seems to the people who live and die at the...
www.barnesandnoble.com
December 31, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Apparently through January 1st Barnes & Noble is having a 25% off sale on all pre-orders for premium & rewards members. The code is PREORDER25. eBooks and audiobooks are included, too.
You can pre-order my book there: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-franch...
You can pre-order my book there: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-franch...
So much good work over a long and varied career. Just to highlight one people maybe missed: his season 4 appearance in ATLANTA (“Light Skinned-ed”). He’s in the b-plot of the episode, but it’s very funny and his final outburst is very sad. RIP
December 31, 2025 at 2:28 AM
So much good work over a long and varied career. Just to highlight one people maybe missed: his season 4 appearance in ATLANTA (“Light Skinned-ed”). He’s in the b-plot of the episode, but it’s very funny and his final outburst is very sad. RIP
I had an incredibly dispiriting discussion with my family over the weekend about AI. Everyone is using LLMs all the time. My wife and I are the only ones who don’t use them, ever, for anything. Everyone seems to think this is foolish. But it was impossible to break through bc “ChatGPT is so useful!”
December 28, 2025 at 5:54 PM
I had an incredibly dispiriting discussion with my family over the weekend about AI. Everyone is using LLMs all the time. My wife and I are the only ones who don’t use them, ever, for anything. Everyone seems to think this is foolish. But it was impossible to break through bc “ChatGPT is so useful!”
And Tiny Tim - who did NOT die - stood by himself against its hills, holding darkness within; he had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more.
December 25, 2025 at 1:28 PM
And Tiny Tim - who did NOT die - stood by himself against its hills, holding darkness within; he had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more.
We just rewatched this tonight and my wife remarked how George can be a real jerk. That’s the point, I think, and Mary is the counterbalance. Great essay
This is an almost shockingly wise essay. I'm glad I've finally read it.
There Is No Mary Problem in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
George’s vision of his wife without him is essential to the film, but critics continue to miss its true—and profound—meaning.
open.substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 4:21 AM
We just rewatched this tonight and my wife remarked how George can be a real jerk. That’s the point, I think, and Mary is the counterbalance. Great essay
Reposted by Thomas Elrod
This is an almost shockingly wise essay. I'm glad I've finally read it.
There Is No Mary Problem in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
George’s vision of his wife without him is essential to the film, but critics continue to miss its true—and profound—meaning.
open.substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 12:34 AM
This is an almost shockingly wise essay. I'm glad I've finally read it.
Reposted by Thomas Elrod
Techbros seem to love Tolkien, so here's an analogy to help you understand what genAI is.
GenAI is The One Ring. You think your use is justified, b/c you don't have evil in your heart.
But it came from evil, it is intended for evil purpose, & anything you do with it will be twisted to that end.
GenAI is The One Ring. You think your use is justified, b/c you don't have evil in your heart.
But it came from evil, it is intended for evil purpose, & anything you do with it will be twisted to that end.
December 17, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Techbros seem to love Tolkien, so here's an analogy to help you understand what genAI is.
GenAI is The One Ring. You think your use is justified, b/c you don't have evil in your heart.
But it came from evil, it is intended for evil purpose, & anything you do with it will be twisted to that end.
GenAI is The One Ring. You think your use is justified, b/c you don't have evil in your heart.
But it came from evil, it is intended for evil purpose, & anything you do with it will be twisted to that end.
Reposted by Thomas Elrod
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5
December 23, 2025 at 1:28 AM
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5
Reposted by Thomas Elrod
!! Here’s a link to full video of the 60 Minutes segment that Bari Weiss killed last minute, via @jasonparis.bsky.social:
is.gd/paU8Ko
(It was uploaded to the Global TV app in Canada, seemingly by accident, and has now been taken down)
is.gd/paU8Ko
(It was uploaded to the Global TV app in Canada, seemingly by accident, and has now been taken down)
December 22, 2025 at 10:39 PM
!! Here’s a link to full video of the 60 Minutes segment that Bari Weiss killed last minute, via @jasonparis.bsky.social:
is.gd/paU8Ko
(It was uploaded to the Global TV app in Canada, seemingly by accident, and has now been taken down)
is.gd/paU8Ko
(It was uploaded to the Global TV app in Canada, seemingly by accident, and has now been taken down)
I dunno about this one
Quick perspective on the Phillies' trade of Matt Strahm to the Royals
www.nytimes.com/athletic/690...
www.nytimes.com/athletic/690...
Phillies trade Matt Strahm to Royals for Jonathan Bowlan in cost-saving reliever swap
The Phillies traded the lefty set-up man to Kansas City in a move designed to free up money — nearly $7M in 2026 — to address other needs.
www.nytimes.com
December 19, 2025 at 6:35 PM
I dunno about this one
Reposted by Thomas Elrod
Pinned post o' links:
Preorder my book, out May 12: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
Also available on NetGalley: www.netgalley.com/catalog/book...
And subscribe to my website newsletter for additional updates: thomas-elrod.com/subscribe
#booksky 📚🪐
Preorder my book, out May 12: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
Also available on NetGalley: www.netgalley.com/catalog/book...
And subscribe to my website newsletter for additional updates: thomas-elrod.com/subscribe
#booksky 📚🪐
The Franchise
Check out The Franchise - <p><b><i>Game of Thrones</i> meets <i>The Truman Show</i> in this epic tale of a Hollywood-owned fantasy world where nothing is quite as it seems to the people who live and d...
bookshop.org
December 13, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Pinned post o' links:
Preorder my book, out May 12: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
Also available on NetGalley: www.netgalley.com/catalog/book...
And subscribe to my website newsletter for additional updates: thomas-elrod.com/subscribe
#booksky 📚🪐
Preorder my book, out May 12: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
Also available on NetGalley: www.netgalley.com/catalog/book...
And subscribe to my website newsletter for additional updates: thomas-elrod.com/subscribe
#booksky 📚🪐
Some kind milestone today as I received my first bot email from an AI publicist claiming they can "leverage my book's potential." It even included an AI summary of my book, which is like looking at yourself in one of those carnival funhouse mirrors. Weird and disorienting!
December 18, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Some kind milestone today as I received my first bot email from an AI publicist claiming they can "leverage my book's potential." It even included an AI summary of my book, which is like looking at yourself in one of those carnival funhouse mirrors. Weird and disorienting!
Reposted by Thomas Elrod
These fucking guys!!!
RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz to announce moves to ban gender-affirming care for young people
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to announce a package of measures that would together ban gender-affirming care for minors. A press conference is set for 11 a.m. Thursday.
www.npr.org
December 18, 2025 at 3:13 PM
These fucking guys!!!
Reposted by Thomas Elrod
The photos of those Haitian refugees was his first big break, as they earned him the Robert Capa Gold Medal award, which catapulted his career. But at the moment he took the images, he and the other men on the boat thought they were going to die.
He had this to say about the experience:
He had this to say about the experience:
December 18, 2025 at 2:43 AM
The photos of those Haitian refugees was his first big break, as they earned him the Robert Capa Gold Medal award, which catapulted his career. But at the moment he took the images, he and the other men on the boat thought they were going to die.
He had this to say about the experience:
He had this to say about the experience:
One of my favorite books as a kid was THE PREHISTORY OF THE FAR SIDE, Larson’s quasi-memoir/exploration of his comics. Very funny and a great look at the business and art of creative work.
It would be very difficult to convince anyone who wasn’t alive in the 1980s of just how popular Far Side cartoons were for a while.
December 17, 2025 at 3:07 AM
One of my favorite books as a kid was THE PREHISTORY OF THE FAR SIDE, Larson’s quasi-memoir/exploration of his comics. Very funny and a great look at the business and art of creative work.