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Reposted by Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear)

Kieron Gillen @kierongillen.bsky.social · 15h

October 20th is the order cut off for DIE: LOADED, sequel to the three-time Hugo-nominated DIE. I've pulled together a short primer it with all the info you need on it - what it is, previews, full cover details (check out our sketch variant!) and more. Go nose! Join our party. It's an experience.

DIE: Loaded

The sequel to the three-times Hugo-nominated, award winning dark fantasy comic, DIE.

bindings.app

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 19h

I don't get many of these (I suspect my old-school spam-deterrent method of writing my email as firstname at domain dot suffix helps) but the ones I have seen are super creepy.

Kate Heartfield @kateheartfield.com · 23h

Today's newsletter is about the patterns in fake book club and other scam emails sent to authors.

How to spot an author scam email

I’ve grumbled enough on social media about the rise in AI-generated scam emails that now, more than one of my author friends has sent an email to me, asking...

buttondown.com

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Reposted by Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear)

OTHERSIDE - Kickstarter is LIVE! @othersidespec.bsky.social · 1d

We have some lovely rewards for you over on Kickstarter! Snag a subscription + poetry critique from the wonderful @angelaliu.bsky.social! Angela is a Nebula, Hugo, Astounding, Locus, AND Ignyte finalist—as well as a Rhysling Award recipient! And also the best.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/hyb...

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 1d

THIS.

Eden Robins @edenrobins.bsky.social · 1d

It remains an absolute thrill to be short-listed for this award. I'm making my way through the whole list and these books are IN-CRE-DI-BL-E

Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · 1d

🌟 Shortlisted for the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction 🌟 Remember You Will Die traces the lives of artists, activists, scientists, and more as they intersect with the existence of a yearning AI. Eden Robins weaves a polyphonic narrative that is intergenerational, art-filled, and subversive.

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 2d

SAME BUT I WAS FOURTEEN.

Arkady Martine | Dr. AnnaLinden Weller @byzantienne.bsky.social · 4d

eeeeeeeeeee OTHER PEOPLE WHO WANT TO TALK ABOUT THIS BOOK, I have loved this book since I was nine years old

Ancillary Review of Books @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org · 4d

In our latest critical book-club, we talk about Melissa Scott's BURNING BRIGHT (@torbooks.bsky.social), a queer cyberpunk/space opera about political machinations and online role-playing games, with author Ursula Whitcher!

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 3d

This is mostly a @barbarafantechi.bsky.social question but I welcome more general airport reminiscences. I don't speak German or Italian but I fake the latter better.

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 3d

If I am flying within the EU and I have a choice between a 50-minute Lufthansa/Air Dolomiti connection in Frankfurt and a 3-hour Air Italia connection in Rome, who is more likely to lose my luggage?

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 4d

Come talk to us about Burning Bright, whether my take on the tiny ending mystery makes sense, and why cyberpunk/space opera fusions are best!

A Meal of Thorns @mealofthorns.bsky.social · 4d

For Episode 34, @yarntheory.bsky.social joins to talk about structure, art & endings, relationships, and much more in Melissa Scott's 1993 cyberpunk space-Venice thriller BURNING BRIGHT:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/10/06/a...

A Meal of Thorns 34 – BURNING BRIGHT with Ursula Whitcher

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books.Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon!Guest: Ursula WhitcherTitle: Burning Bright by Melissa ScottHost: Jake Case…

ancillaryreviewofbooks.org

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Reposted by Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear)

Jake Casella Brookins @casella.bsky.social · 4d

Really glad Ursula brought my attention to this book: a particularly fine vintage of 90s SF, with some interesting character work and ideas about artistry. Recommended.

A Meal of Thorns @mealofthorns.bsky.social · 4d

For Episode 34, @yarntheory.bsky.social joins to talk about structure, art & endings, relationships, and much more in Melissa Scott's 1993 cyberpunk space-Venice thriller BURNING BRIGHT:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/10/06/a...

A Meal of Thorns 34 – BURNING BRIGHT with Ursula Whitcher

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books.Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon!Guest: Ursula WhitcherTitle: Burning Bright by Melissa ScottHost: Jake Case…

ancillaryreviewofbooks.org

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Reposted by Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear)

A Meal of Thorns @mealofthorns.bsky.social · 4d

For Episode 34, @yarntheory.bsky.social joins to talk about structure, art & endings, relationships, and much more in Melissa Scott's 1993 cyberpunk space-Venice thriller BURNING BRIGHT:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/10/06/a...

A Meal of Thorns 34 – BURNING BRIGHT with Ursula Whitcher

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books.Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon!Guest: Ursula WhitcherTitle: Burning Bright by Melissa ScottHost: Jake Case…

ancillaryreviewofbooks.org

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Reposted by Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear)

Yoon Ha Lee (he/him) @deuceofgears.bsky.social · 8d

I'm omitting the musicology (Schenkerian analysis...) readings for school but

1. The Villainess and the Demon Knight vol. 2
2. Christopher Ruocchio's Empire of Silence
3. Ursula Whitcher's North Continent Ribbon (reread)
4. Martin Van Creveld's Command in War
5. Poul Anderson's Tau Zero (reread)

Becky Annison 🔜 Ex Tenebris is Kickstarting now! @beckyannison.bsky.social · 8d

It is time again for me to confess the size of my 'in progress' reading pile. Please feel free to join me.

And lo it came to pass that I am currently reading many books

1. Less by Patrick Grant
2. The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman
3. Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse

1/2

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 9d

Credit to @pwr2dppl.bsky.social for getting me thinking about drawing cards of different suits and YHL for feeding the temporary Balatro addiction.

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 9d

How do you get from a good Balatro score to the physics of mirror symmetry? One path (for people who like infinite sums) leads via the hypergeometric series.

mathvoices.ams.org/featurecolum...

The Hypergeometric Flower Pot

The negative hypergeometric distribution isn’t labeled negative because it uses negative numbers. It’s negative because we’re thinking about failure… The Hypergeometric Flower Pot…

mathvoices.ams.org

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Reposted by Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear)

David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 10d

COVER REVEAL AND PREORDER: The Public Scholar - A Practical Handbook.

"Perry focuses on the practical details of how to approach public scholarship. How do you pitch a piece to an editor? When should you follow or ignore the rules of the genre? And what happens once your piece is out in the world?"

The Public Scholar

A Practical Handbook

www.press.jhu.edu

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 11d

Want me to critique your poetry? Or stare really really hard at a page of prose? That's an add-on here!

OTHERSIDE - Kickstarter is LIVE! @othersidespec.bsky.social · 11d

WE'RE FUNDED! BASE GOAL ANNIHILATED IN FOUR!! HOURS!!

We're full of SO MANY emotions. OTHERSIDE means a lot to us, and we're so grateful to everyone who wants queer stories, poems, and art to have more space to exist. Now more than ever, that matters 🪐🗡️

Now onto stretch goals?? 👀

OTHERSIDE KICKSTARTER FULLY FUNDED! There is a screaming kitten in the bottom left.

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Reposted by Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear)

Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · 12d

This is interesting—I see a lot of these tells in my work with writing scams, where the use of chatbots in scam solicitations and impersonations has become ubiquitous.

Mike Dickison @adzebill.bsky.social · Aug 31

Wikipedia editors trying to fend off the onslaught of AI crap have crowdsourced some telltale signs of LLM-generated writing; it might be handy for editors and proofreaders generally. Thanks to @ellenrykers.com for pointing me to it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...

Wikipedia:Signs of AI writing - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 12d

This one:

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Battleship and the negative hypergeometric distribution

The negative hypergeometric distribution is often not formally studied in secondary or collegiate statistics in contexts other than drawing cards without replacement. We present a different context w...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 13d

And I had the basic terminology insight that it's negative because you're thinking about failure, which is hilarious if you're coming from math instead of stats.

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 13d

I found a cute stats ed paper about a lesson that teaches it using a modification of Battleship!

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 13d

Hey, Mathsky, what's your favorite reference for the negative hypergeometric probability distribution?

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Reposted by Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear)

Christopher Caldwell @seraph76.bsky.social · 13d

On the advent of Black Speculative Fiction Month *and* Black History Month in the UK, I’d like to remind you that my very Bjack, very queer collection of short stories publishes on October 14! You can pre-order here: www.neonhemlock.com/books/call-a...

Call and Response by Christopher Caldwell (pre-order) — neon hemlock

A collection of short stories. Publication date: October 14th, 2025. An 8” x 5” paperback. 188 pages. This is a pre-order—any other books ordered with it will ship when the pre-order is ready to ship....

www.neonhemlock.com

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Reposted by Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear)

Brandon O’Brien, low on Action Points @therisingtithes.bsky.social · 14d

It's @flightsoffoundry.bsky.social weekend!

On Sunday at 3pm Eastern, come listen to @akualezlihope.bsky.social, @dianadima.com, @yarntheory.bsky.social and yours truly, led by moderator @bugthewriter.bsky.social, as we chat about speculative poetry!

FoF is online & free! Register here:

Registration – Flights of Foundry

flights-of-foundry.org

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Reposted by Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear)

Tajja Isen @tajjaisen.bsky.social · 14d

I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...

The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem | The Walrus

Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it

thewalrus.ca

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Reposted by Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear)

Interstellar Flight Press @interstellarflight.bsky.social · 14d

At Interstellar Flight Mag, R. Thursday interviews Marie Brennan, winner of the first Hugo Award for poetry. magazine.interstella...

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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 15d

I would like to thank the Facebook class action settlement for buying me Hades 2.

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