Author | Lightnews

Cliff Burns

Cliff Burns

@cliffburns.bsky.social

100 followers 82 following 110 posts

Indie author & publisher for more than three decades, with 16 books and appearances in well over 100 publications and anthologies around the world. Host of the literary podcast "Standing At an Angle to the Universe". For more info, visit cliffburns.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 1d

Last night I read at the launch of a new horror anthology SASKATCHEWAN SCREAMS. A number of fellow contributors were there and the location for the event (The Art Bar in Saskatoon) was intimate and congenial. The place was full and we all had a great time. #darkfantasy #horrorfiction #books

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

Spot on!

#racism #xenophobia #refugees #Christmas #Nativity

Mommapolitico @mommapolitico.bsky.social · 15d

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

My kinda guy. Mate, if there were more people like you, the Farages of this world would be cleaning toilets or flipping burgers at McDonalds. Solidarity.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

Good cast, Roy Thinnes (under-rated) &, of course, the brilliant Herbert Lom. I heard Malcolm McDowell talking ruefully about a Lew Grade-produced film he was in with Orson Welles. The cast jokingly referred to him as "Low Grade"...though he did gift us with "UFO" and "Space: 1999"--some fun there.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

Love "Andromeda Strain"--James Olson was terrific, so was my fellow Canadian, Kate Reid. Apparently Olson was a bit of a free spirit, suffered no bullshit. I like that. Lived to be 91--good for him. Another oldie but goody was "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun"--remember that one?

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

"Forbin" was a terrific little chiller--saw it on the late-late show when I was in my early teens (a loooong time ago) and it really put the whammy into me. Finally scrounged up a DVD version some years back and found it still packed a wallop.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

It seems like we've seen all the films ("Forbin Project", "Terminator") but we're still consciously building an A.I. controlled dystopia regardless. There is something innately stupid and self-destructive about our species--how we've lasted as long as we have is nothing short of a miracle.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

I see what you mean...I sound bad enough without the misspellings.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

Very good. Very, very good.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

EARTHLY POWERS (Anthony Burgess)
GOSPEL (Wilton Barnhardt)
TOWING JEHOVAH (James Morrow)
THE INTUITIONIST (Colson Whitehead)
THE LAST GOOD KISS (James Crumley)

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

BIG fan of Jake Arnott's work and dearly wish I could be there. Good luck to all involved.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks for the nudge--I'll pop over and check them out.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

Big shoutout to my colleagues in the small press world--keeping it real, publishing the books we love, the stuff the corporate world won't touch with a ten-foot pole.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

The words "Uh oh..." come to mind.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

...plus sometimes, especially in the morning, my eyes aren't as sharp and miss those aforementioned glitches.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 7d

A-men. I'm obsessive about my spelling and when I discover a glitch in something I've posted, I'm furious. To me, it diminishes the insightfulness and intelligence of what I'm trying to communicate.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 10d

Currently playing:

#music #Tool #MaynardKeenan #heavyrock #video #stopmotion

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nspx...

TOOL - Sober (Official Video)

YouTube video by TOOLVEVO

www.youtube.com

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 11d

Don't mess with senior citizens.

#dissent #protest #politics #fascism

Humor For Resistance @funnysnarkyjoke.bsky.social · 12d

a woman holding a sign that says 'i guess i'm a terrorist now' - picture of old woman holding a pbs bag and carrying a sign that says 'liberty and justice for all'

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 11d

THE CANON, by Natalie Angier.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/60...

The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of …

The Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist and autho…

www.goodreads.com

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 11d

Couldn't have said it better.

#racism #xenophobia

Diosa Luna @rainsong9.bsky.social · 12d

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 11d

What I love about "Best of..." lists is that no one can agree on them! And there's always some obscure film everyone's forgotten about or don't usually characterize as SF--I mean, is "Eraserhead" SF or horror? It's certainly not set on Earth Prime.
And who remembers the ultra-weird "Liquid Sky"?

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 13d

Going to see "The Exorcist" on a big screen for the first time tomorrow. In the 1970s, William Friedkin directed a trio of great films in succession: "The French Connection", "The Exorcist" and "Sorcerer". Is it blasphemy to say "Sorcerer" is the best of the three? #film #cinema #movies

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 14d

We have to get to the point where people look at a headline like "Elon Musk Worth 500 Billion Dollars" and feel nothing but revulsion. We come from ancient societies that believed in sharing, an equitable distribution of goods. This greedhead mentality is relatively recent...and utterly disastrous.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 14d

In the province where I live we have "crown corporations" owned by our citizens, providing us with heating, electricity and phones/communication. Public health care. But there's always talk of "privatizing" and the Right certainly loves their "austerity", don't they, as long as it doesn't harm THEM.

Cliff Burns @cliffburns.bsky.social · 14d

But we need our ideological roots, they give us the spine of a belief system to build around. Otherwise we're invertebrates, flapping in the wind. To me, Marxism doesn't present us with a philosophy or cohesive politics, it's a critique of capitalism, how it works, exploiting us for maximum profit.