Benjamin C. Kinney
@benjaminckinney.com
SFF writer, neuroscientist, Hugo finalist. Escape Pod 2017-2023. Codex, VP, SFWA. Short stories in Analog, Lightspeed, Sunday Morning Transport, etc.
Neuroscience (not under pen name): rehabilitation, neuroimaging, movement control, handedness
Neuroscience (not under pen name): rehabilitation, neuroimaging, movement control, handedness
Pinned
Benjamin C. Kinney
@benjaminckinney.com
· Apr 24
Introduction & Selected Fiction » Benjamin C. Kinney - still pruning...
An introduction post for new readers: six selected stories from my archive of 30+ publications.
benjaminckinney.com
Hello new followers! I'm not super social-media-active, but I sometimes talk neuroscience and/or speculative fiction. I've got 30+ short stories out in the world (most free to read), here's an intro sampler: benjaminckinney.com/introduction/
Slightly diminish a band:
Florence or the Machine
Florence or the Machine
Slightly diminish a band:
U what
U what
Slightly diminish a band:
9,998 Maniacs.
9,998 Maniacs.
January 10, 2026 at 5:50 PM
Slightly diminish a band:
Florence or the Machine
Florence or the Machine
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
Well overdue, but we have finally posted the Diabolical Plots 2025 Retrospective and Award Eligibility!
www.diabolicalplots.com/2025-retrosp...
www.diabolicalplots.com/2025-retrosp...
January 7, 2026 at 1:36 PM
Well overdue, but we have finally posted the Diabolical Plots 2025 Retrospective and Award Eligibility!
www.diabolicalplots.com/2025-retrosp...
www.diabolicalplots.com/2025-retrosp...
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
A few days late, but I'm happy to share that my story "Unsung" is live in the Jan/Feb issue of @analogsf.bsky.social. One reader described it as "cold, technical, and emotionally brutal," an A+ compliment if I've ever heard one.
analogsf.com/current-issu...
analogsf.com/current-issu...
January 5, 2026 at 1:56 PM
A few days late, but I'm happy to share that my story "Unsung" is live in the Jan/Feb issue of @analogsf.bsky.social. One reader described it as "cold, technical, and emotionally brutal," an A+ compliment if I've ever heard one.
analogsf.com/current-issu...
analogsf.com/current-issu...
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
8) Recognition, Memory by @benjaminckinney.com : Founder of consciousness-control-and-recall company acts as guinea pig for his own service as he dies. Resurrected with imperfections, he attempts to navigate world and relationships. Innovative, confusing at start, but rewarding at end
January 3, 2026 at 9:19 PM
8) Recognition, Memory by @benjaminckinney.com : Founder of consciousness-control-and-recall company acts as guinea pig for his own service as he dies. Resurrected with imperfections, he attempts to navigate world and relationships. Innovative, confusing at start, but rewarding at end
Today's dilemma (every day's dilemma): hot bean water or hot leaf water?
December 31, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Today's dilemma (every day's dilemma): hot bean water or hot leaf water?
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
Mel Brooks is asked to invent a mobster.
December 31, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Mel Brooks is asked to invent a mobster.
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
blergh, I HATE having to ask coz I know it’s super hard for everyone especially around this time of year… but I’m also about to hit negative balances and I don’t get paid til next Friday :/
been a real f’ing hard eight months tbh and I’m sorry everything is so awful
ko-fi.com/mercwolfmoor
been a real f’ing hard eight months tbh and I’m sorry everything is so awful
ko-fi.com/mercwolfmoor
Support Merc Wolfmoor
I appreciate you! (And the kitties do, too!)
ko-fi.com
December 20, 2025 at 2:03 PM
blergh, I HATE having to ask coz I know it’s super hard for everyone especially around this time of year… but I’m also about to hit negative balances and I don’t get paid til next Friday :/
been a real f’ing hard eight months tbh and I’m sorry everything is so awful
ko-fi.com/mercwolfmoor
been a real f’ing hard eight months tbh and I’m sorry everything is so awful
ko-fi.com/mercwolfmoor
Great new research for those of us at a certain stage in life: across disciplines, exceptional early-career performance and exceptional late-career performance are unrelated. The things that make you great early don't make you great later.
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
Science Magazine - Recent discoveries on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance
Exceptional performers at the highest levels push the boundaries of human capability, drive innovation, and help solve the world’s most pressing problems.
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org
December 20, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Great new research for those of us at a certain stage in life: across disciplines, exceptional early-career performance and exceptional late-career performance are unrelated. The things that make you great early don't make you great later.
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
My short story, "Recognition, Memory" is out in the latest issue of @analogsf.bsky.social! analogsf.com/current-issue/
It's science fiction about technological immortality, brain-printing, and becoming the person everyone expects you to be. In Peter Vanler's case, the person he was before he died.
It's science fiction about technological immortality, brain-printing, and becoming the person everyone expects you to be. In Peter Vanler's case, the person he was before he died.
Current Issue - Analog Science Fiction and Fact
{!{wpv-view name='issue-current-intro'}!}
analogsf.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:47 PM
My short story, "Recognition, Memory" is out in the latest issue of @analogsf.bsky.social! analogsf.com/current-issue/
It's science fiction about technological immortality, brain-printing, and becoming the person everyone expects you to be. In Peter Vanler's case, the person he was before he died.
It's science fiction about technological immortality, brain-printing, and becoming the person everyone expects you to be. In Peter Vanler's case, the person he was before he died.
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
Psst!
If you'd like a gift idea for an SFF fan -- or if you'd like to read a scifantasy that's basically THE WITCHER meets Trinbagonian folklore & Caribbean mythology -- there's a $1.99 Ebook sale now for my book, THE NIGHTWARD!
www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSXFBWRN
If you'd like a gift idea for an SFF fan -- or if you'd like to read a scifantasy that's basically THE WITCHER meets Trinbagonian folklore & Caribbean mythology -- there's a $1.99 Ebook sale now for my book, THE NIGHTWARD!
www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSXFBWRN
The Nightward: An Epic Fantasy Adventure of Magic and Darkness Inspired by Caribbean Mythology (Waters of Lethe Book 1)
Amazon.com: The Nightward: An Epic Fantasy Adventure of Magic and Darkness Inspired by Caribbean Mythology (Waters of Lethe Book 1) eBook : Garcia, R.S.A.: Kindle Store
www.amazon.com
December 17, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Psst!
If you'd like a gift idea for an SFF fan -- or if you'd like to read a scifantasy that's basically THE WITCHER meets Trinbagonian folklore & Caribbean mythology -- there's a $1.99 Ebook sale now for my book, THE NIGHTWARD!
www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSXFBWRN
If you'd like a gift idea for an SFF fan -- or if you'd like to read a scifantasy that's basically THE WITCHER meets Trinbagonian folklore & Caribbean mythology -- there's a $1.99 Ebook sale now for my book, THE NIGHTWARD!
www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSXFBWRN
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
you've been waiting
and it's finally HERE!!
AFTERLIVES
curated by @shereereneethomas.bsky.social ✨🖤💀
get your ebook here!
psychopomp.com/product/afte...
and it's finally HERE!!
AFTERLIVES
curated by @shereereneethomas.bsky.social ✨🖤💀
get your ebook here!
psychopomp.com/product/afte...
Afterlives: The Year's Best Death Stories, 2024 - PSYCHOPOMP.COM
Afterlives The Year’s Best Death Fiction 2024 Curated by Sheree Renée Thomas While Psychopomp aims to publish all the death fiction, we cannot possibly, so we decided to round up the best death storie...
psychopomp.com
December 10, 2025 at 8:48 PM
you've been waiting
and it's finally HERE!!
AFTERLIVES
curated by @shereereneethomas.bsky.social ✨🖤💀
get your ebook here!
psychopomp.com/product/afte...
and it's finally HERE!!
AFTERLIVES
curated by @shereereneethomas.bsky.social ✨🖤💀
get your ebook here!
psychopomp.com/product/afte...
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
New Book Day! Please tell the world. Read a comic about it here: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/sawyer...
Or if you just want to buy it: us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
Thanks everyone! It took me over a year to write, but I think you and/or your kid(s) will have many laughs together.
Or if you just want to buy it: us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
Thanks everyone! It took me over a year to write, but I think you and/or your kid(s) will have many laughs together.
November 10, 2025 at 4:43 PM
New Book Day! Please tell the world. Read a comic about it here: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/sawyer...
Or if you just want to buy it: us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
Thanks everyone! It took me over a year to write, but I think you and/or your kid(s) will have many laughs together.
Or if you just want to buy it: us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
Thanks everyone! It took me over a year to write, but I think you and/or your kid(s) will have many laughs together.
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
(I mean also a good day to educate yourself about both histories of the holiday, and Lincoln's actual views and actions as regard to slavery and racial equality—but Lincoln can neither vote nor call the cops because he's super dead. We've gotta fix the hearts that are still beating)
November 27, 2025 at 12:24 AM
(I mean also a good day to educate yourself about both histories of the holiday, and Lincoln's actual views and actions as regard to slavery and racial equality—but Lincoln can neither vote nor call the cops because he's super dead. We've gotta fix the hearts that are still beating)
Thankfully, later history gives Thanksgiving a second origin story, more worth celebrating than its sordid start: As a day of unity in the battle against white supremacist separatism, exactly as Abraham Lincoln intended when he made it a national holiday.
On the topic of Thansgiving, my parents moved to Plymouth when I was a teenager. The one thing that cured my ra-ra pilgrim bullshit real quick were the Indigenous Wampanoag protests proclaiming Thanksgiving a day of mourning.
This holiday has good carbs.
And that's about it.
This holiday has good carbs.
And that's about it.
November 26, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Thankfully, later history gives Thanksgiving a second origin story, more worth celebrating than its sordid start: As a day of unity in the battle against white supremacist separatism, exactly as Abraham Lincoln intended when he made it a national holiday.
As a neuroscientist I agree with this 100% - but *also*, there's evidence that language contributes to some specific mental functions: regulation and executive function. Telling yourself a story is one way you shape & organize your brain's operations.
I’ve been running around asking tech execs and academics if language was the same as intelligence for over a year now - and, well, it isn’t. @benjaminjriley.bsky.social explains how the bubble is built on ignoring cutting-edge research into the science of thought www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
November 25, 2025 at 6:31 PM
As a neuroscientist I agree with this 100% - but *also*, there's evidence that language contributes to some specific mental functions: regulation and executive function. Telling yourself a story is one way you shape & organize your brain's operations.
There are situations where SF can communicate science - but to be effective that science must be part of the underlayer. You can improve the audience's understanding at an implicit level.
My favorite example: Lab B-15 by Nick Wolven. escapepod.org/2019/08/01/e...
My favorite example: Lab B-15 by Nick Wolven. escapepod.org/2019/08/01/e...
November 24, 2025 at 2:52 PM
There are situations where SF can communicate science - but to be effective that science must be part of the underlayer. You can improve the audience's understanding at an implicit level.
My favorite example: Lab B-15 by Nick Wolven. escapepod.org/2019/08/01/e...
My favorite example: Lab B-15 by Nick Wolven. escapepod.org/2019/08/01/e...
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
Yooo! Someone You Can Build A Nest In was picked as a Kindle Gold Box Deal! For today only, get it for just $4.99.
A shapeshifting monster *accidentally* falls in love with the woman who's hunting her. We've all been there, right?
A shapeshifting monster *accidentally* falls in love with the woman who's hunting her. We've all been there, right?
Someone You Can Build a Nest In
Amazon.com: Someone You Can Build a Nest In eBook : Wiswell, John: Kindle Store
www.amazon.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Yooo! Someone You Can Build A Nest In was picked as a Kindle Gold Box Deal! For today only, get it for just $4.99.
A shapeshifting monster *accidentally* falls in love with the woman who's hunting her. We've all been there, right?
A shapeshifting monster *accidentally* falls in love with the woman who's hunting her. We've all been there, right?
It's been a long time since I sent out my Callosal Bridge newsletter, but I have enough writing news to be worth sharing! Out tonight with 1 new publication, 2 sales, & instructions for how to get a free best-of-the-year anthology. eepurl.com/bTeJIv
Benjamin C. Kinney
Benjamin C. Kinney Email Forms
eepurl.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:50 PM
It's been a long time since I sent out my Callosal Bridge newsletter, but I have enough writing news to be worth sharing! Out tonight with 1 new publication, 2 sales, & instructions for how to get a free best-of-the-year anthology. eepurl.com/bTeJIv
Eeee somehow I missed this, you too can join me in belated excitement over this shiny cover and awesome anthology - and a way to get it free when it comes out this month!
ANNOUNCEMENT
1. Afterlives 2024 curated by @shereereneethomas.bsky.social has been COVER REVEALED
2. the collection will be available FOR FREE to paid patrons of @thedeadlands.com
3. join now, read The Deadlands, and receive the book magically when it is released beginning of November
go see! 👇
1. Afterlives 2024 curated by @shereereneethomas.bsky.social has been COVER REVEALED
2. the collection will be available FOR FREE to paid patrons of @thedeadlands.com
3. join now, read The Deadlands, and receive the book magically when it is released beginning of November
go see! 👇
Afterlives 2024: Cover Reveal - PSYCHOPOMP.COM
One cool thing about being a psychopomp is the ability to lead people to places they haven't been before. Sure sure, the main place we lead people is the Realm of the Dead, yeah yeah, but we can take ...
psychopomp.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Eeee somehow I missed this, you too can join me in belated excitement over this shiny cover and awesome anthology - and a way to get it free when it comes out this month!
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
The Sunday Morning Transport treks through the cold today with a story from Benjamin C. Kinney (@benjaminckinney.com) about hard situations and harder choices, making its internet debut! As the first story of the month, it's free for everyone to read! www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/here-at-th...
Here at the Freezing End
In this month’s first, free, story, we welcome Benjamin C Kinney back with a story about survival in the midst of the impossible…
www.sundaymorningtransport.com
November 2, 2025 at 7:03 PM
The Sunday Morning Transport treks through the cold today with a story from Benjamin C. Kinney (@benjaminckinney.com) about hard situations and harder choices, making its internet debut! As the first story of the month, it's free for everyone to read! www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/here-at-th...
Do you like science fiction with search-and-rescue teams doing triage in cold alien woods full of metal wolves? You should! @morningtransport.bsky.social is giving "Here at the Freezing End" its first online publication (originally at @analogsf.bsky.social), free to read!
The Sunday Morning Transport treks through the cold today with a story from Benjamin C. Kinney (@benjaminckinney.com) about hard situations and harder choices, making its internet debut! As the first story of the month, it's free for everyone to read! www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/here-at-th...
Here at the Freezing End
In this month’s first, free, story, we welcome Benjamin C Kinney back with a story about survival in the midst of the impossible…
www.sundaymorningtransport.com
November 2, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Do you like science fiction with search-and-rescue teams doing triage in cold alien woods full of metal wolves? You should! @morningtransport.bsky.social is giving "Here at the Freezing End" its first online publication (originally at @analogsf.bsky.social), free to read!
Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney
If you missed it in @analogsf.bsky.social, @benjaminckinney.com's enjoyably grim "Here at the Freezing End" reappears this month in @morningtransport.bsky.social www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/here-at-th... #playlist
Here at the Freezing End
In this month’s first, free, story, we welcome Benjamin C Kinney back with a story about survival in the midst of the impossible…
www.sundaymorningtransport.com
November 2, 2025 at 3:11 PM
If you missed it in @analogsf.bsky.social, @benjaminckinney.com's enjoyably grim "Here at the Freezing End" reappears this month in @morningtransport.bsky.social www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/here-at-th... #playlist
Change one(ish) letter, ruin a candy
Nepo Wafers
Nepo Wafers
Change one letter, ruin a candy
Almond Goy
(I originally thought of Zounds but I'd eat that in a hot minute)
Almond Goy
(I originally thought of Zounds but I'd eat that in a hot minute)
Change one letter, ruin a candy
A&M
A&M
October 30, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Change one(ish) letter, ruin a candy
Nepo Wafers
Nepo Wafers
Writers, help me track down a classic (to me) example of character voice? A hardboiled/noir novel with a line like "He drew a gun. I took it." Showing a POV so inured to violence that an entire fight contains nothing worth remembering.
Anyone know the source? If there even is one?
Anyone know the source? If there even is one?
October 22, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Writers, help me track down a classic (to me) example of character voice? A hardboiled/noir novel with a line like "He drew a gun. I took it." Showing a POV so inured to violence that an entire fight contains nothing worth remembering.
Anyone know the source? If there even is one?
Anyone know the source? If there even is one?