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.

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.

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...

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.

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 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…

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) Another baby in a manger, this one designed by Frank Gehry

I prefer to think of myself as the tuberculosis that killed sci-fi, I gave it a small cough that caused it to dab its lips discreetly with a handkerchief, then it went to the Bahamas to bake out the illness, and then in its final throes it gave the deceptive image of ruddy health Incidentally, one of the sillier contentions I see is that I don't actually like/respect Heinlein. Pish and posh. Heinlein is foundational for me as an SF writer. And also, I developed away from his style as I created my own. This is apparently not to be borne! But, oh, well.

Entered "Oh no! The kitten has burned the roast!" into @midjourney, was not disappointed. Followed up the previous image with "Oh no! The kitten has mixed beer and dark liquor!" and once again find no fault with the results

In case you're wondering which service for me is currently winning the "Twitter diaspora" sweepstakes, it's Mastodon, where I'm up about 6k followers since the Elon era, followed by Instagram (+3k), my public Facebook page (+1k) and then Hive (~1k). Ello, alas, has not budged. This movement doesn't mean Twitter is being abandoned (yet). It does mean people are hedging their bets, so if Twitter infrastructure goes down, or the fascist content becomes unignorable, people can go elsewhere and have some semblance of their previous community ready to go.

The Kaiju Preservation Society has landed on Amazon's list of the Best science fiction and fantasy of 2022! I'm very pleased.

Full list, featuring 19 other genuinely excellent SF/F books, at the link:

amazon.com/b/ref=s9_acss_… ALSO, The Kaiju Preservation Society is one of 20 Opening Round Nominees for the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards! If you would like to vote for it, or any other very fine nominee in the category, here's the link:

goodreads.com/choiceawards/b…

Look, I know I and many other folks are tweeting a vast amount about Twitter these days. But you have to know this is likely the single greatest self-inflicted business fuck-up in the history of the financial world, an unskippable financial car crash

variety.com/2022/digital/n… Never has one person lit so much of their own money on fire, with no sensible business plan or organizational principle. He's intentionally destroying the reputational and revenue-generating value of his purchase just to, essentially, own some libs. It's astounding yet watchable.

So in the new regime, "Verified" means "subscriber" and "Official" means "verified," which... okay, I guess? Apparently not every person is verified at the moment will be official in the next few days, so that's going to be some drama right there. We'll find out soon!

https://twitter.com/esthercrawford/status/1590109344976470016

(If I had to guess, my money would be on my currently-verified account not being made official, but as my verified status was obtained by somewhat random means (i.e., "Hey, wanna be verified?"), easy come, easy go, I suppose. Again, we'll see!)

As I'm cc'd here:

1. I mean, my blog, already up 24+ years now

2. I'm already trying to decide whether I want to pay $8/month for Twitter Blue, I'm not sure I would want to pay fair/prevailing IT rates (plus benefits) to a tech person to run/moderate a Mastodon server

(con't)

https://twitter.com/CaeVye/status/1588470287351582720

3. Outside the blog, I ran a Scalzi-related message board for a while, which convinced me I could run a message board with my time/energy, or write novels, but not both

4. I already have a Mastodon account (@scalzi@mastodon.social) which seems enough for folks to find me there.

Now that the "$20/month for verification" trial balloon has gone down like the Hindenburg, we've come to the "haggling" portion of the evening.

theverge.com/2022/11/1/2343… BTW, Expanding verification is *not* the problem; treating it as a paid perk is. Verification *should* be available more widely, and *freely,* for folks of all sorts. It's meant to be assurance the person you see is who they say they are, not a fake account. So, sure, open it up.

1. As folks are asking, no, I'm not leaving Twitter at this time, for reasons I explained in April, when the current owner first started his quest to own the place (see the attached article). What I am doing, however, is re-evaluating how I use the site.

whatever.scalzi.com/2022/04/26/on-… 2. And not just how I use Twitter, mind you, although that is the current hot topic du jour. I'm thinking about social media generally, and the utility of "being the product" in exchange for ease of use and an audience. I'd be lying if I said it doesn't have advantages...

HEY PEOPLE IN HALIFAX NOVA SCOTIA:

How's the weather, what sort of winter nonsense do I need to pack for this weekend Also as I checked in for my flight to Halifax on a mobile phone app, the app verified my passport via an NFT connection, something which is both amazingly "we live in the future" cool and also GAAAAAAH IDENTITY THEFT ALARMS RINGING SO HARD

I'm at that age in life when a railing on a balcony thrills and delights me. It's new and it's spectacular.

(pew placement and chancel accoutrement not finalized, btw) (And for the new folks who are all "wait, you have a church? Bwuh?" here is an explainer from when we got it)

whatever.scalzi.com/2021/12/06/and…

I have been left unsupervised. They say we have stayed from the sight of God. I say, God sees all... And chooses inaction.

Storm on the way. Update: Cloud panorama. Storm is now very much here.

1. Over on Facebook a post is being passed around in which an author is telling other authors not to take political positions because our job is to entertain, not alienate "half our readers." So, let me speak on this general concept of authors shutting up and staying in lanes. 2. Basically: Nah. Don't shut up, if you would prefer to speak. Also, as a human here on Earth in 2022, you're in a bunch of "lanes" including "a political stakeholder who has opinions on events that affect their life." You may decide that "lane" is the important one right now.

Friday evening COVID convalescent update: I have a runny nose, occasional cough and phlegm, and my brain is still at about 30%. Otherwise managing symptoms with ibuprofen and snacks. Plan for the evening: Catch up on shows. Watched the final episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi and I'm happy the series stuck the dismount here. Two thoughts: The series probably would have been better as a two-hour, twenty-minute movie, and there is absolutely no reason for a season two (except, of course, for money).