C.B. Bernard
@cbbernard.com
Novelist (ORDINARY BEAR, SMALL ANIMALS CAUGHT IN TRAPS), nonfiction writer (CHASING ALASKA). Pacific NW/Alaska expat in Rhode Island exile. Dogs, books, boats. Feet in the ocean, head in the clouds. Find me at www.cbbernard.com.
"How to Build a Boat," @elainefeeney.bsky.social
"City of Bohane," Kevin Barry
"The Wren, The Wren," Anne Enright
"The Colony," Audrey Magee
"Young Skins," Colin Barrett
"City of Bohane," Kevin Barry
"The Wren, The Wren," Anne Enright
"The Colony," Audrey Magee
"Young Skins," Colin Barrett
Introduce yourself by naming five books by Irish writers that you have read.
Handiwork by Sara Baume
Cacophony of Bone by Kerri ní Dochartaigh
House of Splendid Isolation by Edna O'Brien
In Ordinary Time by Carmel McMahon
A Ghost In the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
Cacophony of Bone by Kerri ní Dochartaigh
House of Splendid Isolation by Edna O'Brien
In Ordinary Time by Carmel McMahon
A Ghost In the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
December 3, 2025 at 8:33 PM
"How to Build a Boat," @elainefeeney.bsky.social
"City of Bohane," Kevin Barry
"The Wren, The Wren," Anne Enright
"The Colony," Audrey Magee
"Young Skins," Colin Barrett
"City of Bohane," Kevin Barry
"The Wren, The Wren," Anne Enright
"The Colony," Audrey Magee
"Young Skins," Colin Barrett
This is a great story in a raft of great stories, including one by @cmattwrite.bsky.social.
ICYMI: My novelette "They Eat Their Own," part of a great collection from @jeffcircle.bsky.social and @leonardoaudio.bsky.social. Available in ebook and audiobook: amzn.to/3HSLycg
December 2, 2025 at 6:58 PM
This is a great story in a raft of great stories, including one by @cmattwrite.bsky.social.
My Rhode Island neighborhood is in day eight of the annual Festival of a Thousand Leafblowers.
December 2, 2025 at 1:28 PM
My Rhode Island neighborhood is in day eight of the annual Festival of a Thousand Leafblowers.
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
It's not a new insight, but a little time spent traveling abroad really brings home how the U.S. is currently engaged in a rapid self-destructive doom spiral.
This country is, of its own volition, hacking away at so many of the things that made it great.
This country is, of its own volition, hacking away at so many of the things that made it great.
December 2, 2025 at 11:43 AM
It's not a new insight, but a little time spent traveling abroad really brings home how the U.S. is currently engaged in a rapid self-destructive doom spiral.
This country is, of its own volition, hacking away at so many of the things that made it great.
This country is, of its own volition, hacking away at so many of the things that made it great.
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
A few years back I arranged to have WINTER’S BONE scanned into a Word file - I wanted to try an experiment (for my eyes only) of editing the novel down using the same formula that Ellroy used for cutting down LA CONFIDENTIAL (cutting 1/3rd of the novel without removing plot or character).
November 30, 2025 at 2:11 AM
A few years back I arranged to have WINTER’S BONE scanned into a Word file - I wanted to try an experiment (for my eyes only) of editing the novel down using the same formula that Ellroy used for cutting down LA CONFIDENTIAL (cutting 1/3rd of the novel without removing plot or character).
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
Gift article of the NYT Woodrell obit: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/o...
In the early 2010s, Esquire described him as “one of American literature’s best-kept secrets,” and The New York Times said that he “writes about violence and dark deeds better than almost anyone in America today.”
In the early 2010s, Esquire described him as “one of American literature’s best-kept secrets,” and The New York Times said that he “writes about violence and dark deeds better than almost anyone in America today.”
Daniel Woodrell, ‘Country Noir’ Novelist of ‘Winter’s Bone,’ Dies at 72
www.nytimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Gift article of the NYT Woodrell obit: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/o...
In the early 2010s, Esquire described him as “one of American literature’s best-kept secrets,” and The New York Times said that he “writes about violence and dark deeds better than almost anyone in America today.”
In the early 2010s, Esquire described him as “one of American literature’s best-kept secrets,” and The New York Times said that he “writes about violence and dark deeds better than almost anyone in America today.”
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
RIP to Daniel Woodrell, whose book Winter's Bone is just about as good as a novel can be. Here's a Book Fight ep where we talked about him with Tod Goldberg
New Book Fight! Noir season continues with @todgoldberg.bsky.social discussing WINTER'S BONE, worldbuilding in the Ozarks, subverting crime novel tropes, writing violence, and a whole lot more.
Listen on Spotify or pretty much anywhere else open.spotify.com/episode/3RQQ...
Listen on Spotify or pretty much anywhere else open.spotify.com/episode/3RQQ...
Tod Goldberg on Winter's Bone
Book Fight · Episode
open.spotify.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:58 AM
RIP to Daniel Woodrell, whose book Winter's Bone is just about as good as a novel can be. Here's a Book Fight ep where we talked about him with Tod Goldberg
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
Our books won’t save the world but they can remind you of how good this place can be.
November 30, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Our books won’t save the world but they can remind you of how good this place can be.
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
Seth Kantner will break your heart. He writes unflinchingly, bearing witness to the disruptive effects of climate changes that upend all our Iives.
Life and death on the coast www.adn.com/alaska-life/...
Life and death on the coast www.adn.com/alaska-life/...
Life and death on the coast
What the flooding in Northwest Alaska took and left behind.
www.adn.com
November 30, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Seth Kantner will break your heart. He writes unflinchingly, bearing witness to the disruptive effects of climate changes that upend all our Iives.
Life and death on the coast www.adn.com/alaska-life/...
Life and death on the coast www.adn.com/alaska-life/...
She's a national treasure, if you ask me.
All you writer types will want to get your hands on @elizmccrack.bsky.social's wonderful new A Long Game, which goes on sale (in the U S of A) this coming Tuesday! So it's not too late to preorder it!
A Long Game
[my conversation with Elizabeth McCracken]
open.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:54 PM
She's a national treasure, if you ask me.
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
There is hope for the future
There was an article in The Guardian a few weeks back about how Gen Z find bookshops preferable to online shopping, and a key factor was that an algorithm will offer you 6000 books identical to the one you just finished whereas a bookseller will offer you three that are different but meet the vibe.
November 30, 2025 at 12:19 AM
There is hope for the future
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
Happy holidays to the one person who bought a copy of ENDPAPERS last week according to BookScan 😃! I hope you enjoy(ed) it!
Which reminds me: If anyone would like a signed copy for a holiday gift, please DM me. I have a few hardcovers and a bunch of paperbacks. (US only please!)
Which reminds me: If anyone would like a signed copy for a holiday gift, please DM me. I have a few hardcovers and a bunch of paperbacks. (US only please!)
November 29, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Happy holidays to the one person who bought a copy of ENDPAPERS last week according to BookScan 😃! I hope you enjoy(ed) it!
Which reminds me: If anyone would like a signed copy for a holiday gift, please DM me. I have a few hardcovers and a bunch of paperbacks. (US only please!)
Which reminds me: If anyone would like a signed copy for a holiday gift, please DM me. I have a few hardcovers and a bunch of paperbacks. (US only please!)
Or buy ten copies and give them as Christmas gifts...
hey hey free black friday shipping at @bookshop.org if you wanna grab a copy of THE SHAMSHINE BLIND
My book THE SHAMSHINE BLIND was a Library Journal Top 10 SFF 2023, if you'd like a distraction this week in which folks doing the good work* capsize a conspiracy to turn the US into a theocratic dictatorship this sci-fi/noir/alt-history might be for you
*tracking down caches of illicit feelings
*tracking down caches of illicit feelings
November 28, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Or buy ten copies and give them as Christmas gifts...
Great bookstore.
Congratulations to Chapters Bookstore in Dublin, for winning the An Post Award for Bookshop of the Year! Well deserved!
Thank you!!
November 28, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Great bookstore.
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.
November 21, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
JFC
WAPO SCOOP: U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
wapo.st/3Mbd9a6
wapo.st/3Mbd9a6
U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”
wapo.st
November 20, 2025 at 6:36 PM
JFC
November 20, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Offering high profile placement in my next book and my next omelet. Have your people contact my people.
United Talent Agency has signed literal type of cheese Parmigiano Reggiano to its roster with the goal of finding product-placement opportunities for the brand in film and TV
www.vulture.com/article/parm...?
www.vulture.com/article/parm...?
Beloved Cheese Parmigiano Reggiano Signs With UTA
The blonde Italian bombshell is about to be all over film and TV.
www.vulture.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Offering high profile placement in my next book and my next omelet. Have your people contact my people.
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
I fundamentally do not understand why anyone is interested in these parlor tricks. It's outperformed nothing because recombining word patterns into a text isn't writing. Writing is born out of human experiences filtered through a unique sensibility. Only Han Kang can make more Han Kang.
Put writing high quality literary text on the list of things that AIs used to not be able to do but now can do
With fine-tuning, now outperforming MFA-trained expert writers at emulating award-winning authors when rated blindly by MFA-trained experts papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
With fine-tuning, now outperforming MFA-trained expert writers at emulating award-winning authors when rated blindly by MFA-trained experts papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
November 19, 2025 at 1:41 PM
I fundamentally do not understand why anyone is interested in these parlor tricks. It's outperformed nothing because recombining word patterns into a text isn't writing. Writing is born out of human experiences filtered through a unique sensibility. Only Han Kang can make more Han Kang.
Happy World Toilet Day to all who celebrate. Thread your holiday decorations below.
November 19 is World Toilet Day — officially declared by the United Nations to bring attention to the the 3.4 billion people who live without "safely managed sanitation." n.pr/3X1BB07
World Toilet Day is today! Um .. is that really the best name?
November 19 is World Toilet Day — officially declared by the United Nations to bring attention to the the 3.4 billion people who live without "safely managed sanitation."
n.pr
November 19, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Happy World Toilet Day to all who celebrate. Thread your holiday decorations below.
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
If you saw this week's John Oliver @lastweektonight.com, KYUK is one of those underresourced remote public media outlets that serves mostly-Indigenous listeners, many lacking internet, many in need of local emergency news during events like last month's storm.
Please donate!
Please donate!
KYUK, one of the few sources of local news and native language programming in the region devastated by last month's storm, lost federal funding that was up to 70% of its budget and plans to make cuts in January.
(From @npr.org)
(From @npr.org)
Alaska station that covered devastating storm cuts jobs
KYUK public TV and radio station in Western Alaska serves dozens of villages damaged by Typhoon Halong. But with federal funding eliminated, KYUK makes severe cuts to its staff and news department.
www.ktoo.org
November 18, 2025 at 7:44 PM
If you saw this week's John Oliver @lastweektonight.com, KYUK is one of those underresourced remote public media outlets that serves mostly-Indigenous listeners, many lacking internet, many in need of local emergency news during events like last month's storm.
Please donate!
Please donate!
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
This country has lost the thread.
Jaw dropped. Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content
Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content - Oklahoma Watch
The Trump administration removed a congressionally mandated report on missing and murdered Native Americans from the DOJ website, citing compliance with an executive order against DEI. Senators who ch...
oklahomawatch.org
November 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM
This country has lost the thread.
Reposted by C.B. Bernard
Sssssooooo... yeah. (Wow!) 😳🤗
✨ Please join SFWA in celebrating the announcement of our latest Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award: N. K. Jemisin. ✨
Learn more here about @nkjemisin.bsky.social, the Grand Master Award, and how the work goes on after the accolades for all we've already done:
www.sfwa.org/2025/11/16/p...
Learn more here about @nkjemisin.bsky.social, the Grand Master Award, and how the work goes on after the accolades for all we've already done:
www.sfwa.org/2025/11/16/p...
November 16, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Sssssooooo... yeah. (Wow!) 😳🤗
Looking for investors in my Moby Dick Fishing Charter business.
People need to study the humanities, case study number one million.
This is a real flight school, teaching people to fly planes!!! Like????
November 14, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Looking for investors in my Moby Dick Fishing Charter business.