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John Scalzi

Sep 15, 2020 • 7 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X

GOOD MORNING HUMANS OF EARTH although I'm aware that thanks to the curvature of the Earth it might not be morning for some of you NEVERTHELESS I have information/commercial notices relating to books and events this week, followed of course by a cat picture. Ready? LET'S BEGIN.

ONE: Christopher Paolini's MASSIVE new novel To Sleep In a Sea of Stars is out, and I'm enjoying it! I will be talking with him about it TWICE this week:

For the UK, this Thursday: eventbrite.co.uk/e/online-event…

For the US, next Sunday: eventbrite.com/e/a-conversati…

@AstroTerry

TWO: Real live astronaut @AstroTerry has written "How To Astronaut" -- just in case you ever wanted to know, and you probably did -- and I am ALSO speaking to him about this book and other cool stuff, this Wednesday:

facebook.com/events/cuyahog…

@michaelianblack

THREE: My pal @michaelianblack also has a book out today: "A Better Man: A (Mostly Serious) Letter to My Son." It's moving and contemplative and I'm glad he wrote it.

michaelianblack.org

@seananmcguire

FOUR: I have a reprint story in the upcoming "Shaper of Worlds" anthology, which also features NEW fiction from @seananmcguire, @TanyaHuff and several others. It comes out next week, but you can pre-order because you like pre-ordering.

shadowpawpress.com/product/shaper…

@audible_com

FIVE: My new release "Murder By Other Means" is still #1 on the @audible_com "Top Audible Plus Listens" chart, which is great (thank you!) and speaking of top listens, remember "Murder" has a BADASS theme wrong, written and performed by @tedleo. DIG IT:

THUS CONCLUDES MY PROMOTION OF MYSELF AND OTHERS. I mean, I may point out other cool stuff people are doing later on, but for now, it's at an end. Gotta pace these things.

AND NOW, AS PROMISED, A CAT, looking contemplative af.

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More from @scalzi

John Scalzi

@scalzi

May 13, 2023

1. To reiterate this once again for everyone: If you see me blurbing a book, it's because I have actually read the fucking thing and I liked it enough to say so in public. I (and I daresay Neil) don't have to blurb a goddamned thing for self-promotion.

2. A blurb won't make or break a book, but they certainly can have an effect on the margins - several is the time where someone has told me they found a new favorite book because they saw my blurb for it and that helped them to take a chance on it. That makes me happy. It worked.

3. I think it's easy to be cynical about blurbs and I think it's reasonable to take them with a grain of salt (the bit about good authors sometimes having bad taste is... not wrong). But the heart of blurbing is authors being actual READERS and being excited to share new books.

Read 11 tweets

John Scalzi

@scalzi

Jan 19, 2023

Well, fuck, guess I'll never be allowed to talk to Texas kids either. Ain't that some shit.

lithub.com/emma-straub-go…

I remember 4th grade being the year the kids at Ben Lomond Elementary decided they were incorporating swear words into their vocabulary, and I have never heard more and more consistent swearing before or since. So, yes, Texas parents, your precious children have let "fuck" fly.

Note to self: Write into appearance contracts that if I'm "disinvited" to an event, that I'm still to be paid my appearance fee plus all non-refundable expenses (air fare, etc). If nothing else, it will cut down on bullshit invites from snowflaky sorts.

Read 4 tweets

John Scalzi

@scalzi

Jan 3, 2023

1. So, a thread on where I am with Twitter right now, and how, at the moment, I'm going to be using it. Don't worry, there's a cat picture at the end of it.

2. First, I'm of two minds of Twitter's immediate survival. Anecdotally it feels like the follower bloodletting has subsided a bit, which is good, but the actual technological foundation is crumbling more rapidly, which is bad. Musk is closing data centers and not paying rent...

3. ... or paying key creditors, which means absolutely nothing good. It's entirely possible Twitter blows up simply from tech neglect and/or lack of capacity and/or employees getting sick of having to bring their own toilet paper because Musk fired the janitors...

Read 14 tweets

John Scalzi

@scalzi

Dec 20, 2022

THREAD: I've had people ask, given the general ridiculousness, mercuriality and fascist-friendly demeanor of Twitter's current owner, if I intend to stick around. So, here's the current state of my thinking, and why, for now, the answer is yes.

First, bluntly, I don't expect the current owner will remain the current owner for very long. He's losing too much money and he's damaged the product too much for it to become profitable for him. If he still owns it in a year, I'll be mildly surprised; in two, very surprised.

(If he still owns it in two years, it's because he's tried to use Twitter to become a kingmaker in the 2024 election cycle. While I don't think that's going to be great for anyone, I also suspect the body politic will have a few more antibodies against that kind of fuckery.)

Read 17 tweets

John Scalzi

@scalzi

Dec 2, 2022

@RxArtInc

1. Because I think it'll be fun, I'm going to do a daily advent-like calendar of AI images made from Christmas-themed text prompts, and make it into a thread. Also, to support actual artists and the impact their art can have, I have donated to @RxArtInc:

rxart.net

@RxArtInc

2. From the mission statement of @RxArtInc: "RxART commissions established contemporary artists to transform children’s hospital settings into engaging and uplifting healing environments." That seems like a worthy goal and worth donating to.

rxart.net/support/projec…

@rxart

3. If you enjoy the thread of (sometimes weird but hopefully fun) images I'll be posting here, I hope you'll consider donating to @rxart and/or other visual arts-related charities near you, and also supporting actual artists and their buying their work. Support art and artists!

Read 5 tweets

John Scalzi

@scalzi

Nov 27, 2022

@midjourney

The prompt was "A baby in a manger but the manger was designed by Jony Ive" and, Jesus (no pun intended), AI-generated art got smart fast

(It's @midjourney, in case you were wondering)