Josh Cook
@joshthelibromancer.bsky.social
Co-owner of @portersqbooks.bsky.social Author of The Art of Libromancy & An Exaggerated Murder. Opinions my own. BlueSky for @authorsabb.bsky.social & @massaabb.bsky.social He/him https://linktr.ee/joshthelibromancer
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Josh Cook
@joshthelibromancer.bsky.social
· Oct 21
www.portersquarebooks.com
An intro post for the latest BlueSky wave! I'm a writer & bookseller w/ @portersqbooks.bsky.social where I mostly hype books from small presses written by marginalized voices or works in translation. If you're into the books on this list www.portersquarebooks.com/category/sta... you dig my taste
Reposted by Josh Cook
This is what AABB has been talking about. This is a truly insane overreach, and people on the ground are really scared.
1. In Tennessee, public libraries have closed for up to a week to facilitate a Trump-inspired book purge.
Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R) has ordered most of the state's public librarians to remove children's books with LGBTQ characters or themes.
Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R) has ordered most of the state's public librarians to remove children's books with LGBTQ characters or themes.
Tennessee public libraries close for Trump-inspired book purge
One hundred and eighty-one public libraries in Tennessee are reviewing their children’s collections after Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R) ordered them to remove books with LGBTQ themes…
popular.info
November 25, 2025 at 5:07 PM
This is what AABB has been talking about. This is a truly insane overreach, and people on the ground are really scared.
Reposted by Josh Cook
Are you an author? Come slay dragons with us.
November 25, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Are you an author? Come slay dragons with us.
Reposted by Josh Cook
pro wrestling
I figure Ken Burns has one, maybe two big documentary series in him before he fully retires. What do you think they should be? My votes include Football, Hip-Hop, World War 1, Reconstruction (though Skip Gates did this one well), Iraq/Afghanistan, 19th Century Expansionism.
November 25, 2025 at 2:29 AM
pro wrestling
Reposted by Josh Cook
AABB has joined Read Freely Alabama, EveryLibrary, PEN America and other organizations in expressing alarm at a new ban on youth access to trans books by the Alabama Public Library Service. Read the full statement
Statement on Discriminatory APLS Code Change
Supporting the Right to Read in All Alabama Libraries
www.readfreelyalabama.org
November 24, 2025 at 8:55 PM
AABB has joined Read Freely Alabama, EveryLibrary, PEN America and other organizations in expressing alarm at a new ban on youth access to trans books by the Alabama Public Library Service. Read the full statement
I think it's really difficult to talk about something like artists/writers pay without acknowledging that wages have not kept pace with inflation or productivity in decades. Nearly everyone has less spending power than they did before Regan & that puts downward pressure on EVERYTHING.
November 24, 2025 at 7:30 PM
I think it's really difficult to talk about something like artists/writers pay without acknowledging that wages have not kept pace with inflation or productivity in decades. Nearly everyone has less spending power than they did before Regan & that puts downward pressure on EVERYTHING.
Reposted by Josh Cook
I talked to Aftyn Behn, who's making a race of a U.S. House seat in and around Nashville that Trump won by 22 points.
Her big proposed bill in the state legislature would have ended grocery taxes in Tennessee and paid for it by stopping corporate tax avoidance. Perfect for the political moment.
Her big proposed bill in the state legislature would have ended grocery taxes in Tennessee and paid for it by stopping corporate tax avoidance. Perfect for the political moment.
Aftyn Behn: Running for Congress in deep red Tennessee
Aftyn Behn is trying to flip a seat Donald Trump won by 22 points in a December special election. Grocery bills and corporate taxes dominate.
prospect.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:06 PM
I talked to Aftyn Behn, who's making a race of a U.S. House seat in and around Nashville that Trump won by 22 points.
Her big proposed bill in the state legislature would have ended grocery taxes in Tennessee and paid for it by stopping corporate tax avoidance. Perfect for the political moment.
Her big proposed bill in the state legislature would have ended grocery taxes in Tennessee and paid for it by stopping corporate tax avoidance. Perfect for the political moment.
Reposted by Josh Cook
The high pressure question of the holiday gift-buying season descends upon us once again: Is this dad a Civil War book dad or a World War II book dad?
November 24, 2025 at 6:47 PM
The high pressure question of the holiday gift-buying season descends upon us once again: Is this dad a Civil War book dad or a World War II book dad?
Reposted by Josh Cook
Alright #BookSky got a little time this afternoon, we're all staring down the barrel of the holiday shopping season, sooooo....give us your toughest reader to shop & we'll give you a recommendation for them.
November 24, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Alright #BookSky got a little time this afternoon, we're all staring down the barrel of the holiday shopping season, sooooo....give us your toughest reader to shop & we'll give you a recommendation for them.
Every Democrat in Congress should put out a video saying troops have an obligation to refuse unlawful orders. Make them prosecute all of you. This isn't a close call.
I'd add Republicans too if I thought any of them had the courage to actually cross Trump on this.
I'd add Republicans too if I thought any of them had the courage to actually cross Trump on this.
Hegseth is now threatening to recall Sen. Mark Kelly to active duty in order to court martial him.
November 24, 2025 at 5:59 PM
The opportunities for total chaos in this
Support emerging writers! Attend a totally unique creative competition! Take a break from thinking about holiday shopping! So many reasons to attend our first ever Write Off!
Write-Off Fundraiser
Join Porter Square Books: Boston Edition for our First Ever Write-Off Fundraiser for GrubStreet’s Emerging Writer Fellowship.
What’s a Write-Off?
Writers will compete in a live test of their literary chops! The competitors will respond to timed, writing prompts.
portersquarebooks.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:49 PM
The opportunities for total chaos in this
Reposted by Josh Cook
I read Caren Beilin’s Sea, Poison on recommendation of Josh from @portersqbooks.bsky.social and it was so good I immediately read Revenge of the Scapegoat. Now @davidnaimon.bsky.social drops the latest conversation with Beilin, which means I get to listen to her talk about both books back to back.
November 23, 2025 at 10:04 PM
I read Caren Beilin’s Sea, Poison on recommendation of Josh from @portersqbooks.bsky.social and it was so good I immediately read Revenge of the Scapegoat. Now @davidnaimon.bsky.social drops the latest conversation with Beilin, which means I get to listen to her talk about both books back to back.
Reposted by Josh Cook
If I organized a meet-up for radical trekkies to discuss radical Star Trek, why we love it, and how we want to engage with the struggles of our real-world moment, here, in Chicago, how many people would show up?
November 24, 2025 at 2:41 AM
If I organized a meet-up for radical trekkies to discuss radical Star Trek, why we love it, and how we want to engage with the struggles of our real-world moment, here, in Chicago, how many people would show up?
The random phenomena of existence has coalesced into what I think is my first poetry focused edition of my newsletter! Should be out in a couple of days so you can read it while ignoring your family at Thanksgiving
Josh's Newsletter
joshs-newsletter-dc434e.beehiiv.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:12 AM
The random phenomena of existence has coalesced into what I think is my first poetry focused edition of my newsletter! Should be out in a couple of days so you can read it while ignoring your family at Thanksgiving
Some of you have never had to keep your shit together while reading City Dog, Country Frog to your toddler and it shows
November 24, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Some of you have never had to keep your shit together while reading City Dog, Country Frog to your toddler and it shows
Hey, does anyone else remember how we eventually learned that Russian bots & operatives used Facebook to specifically target swing districts in 2016 & Trump's electoral college victory hinged almost entirely on thin margins in these absolutely vital districts?
If you’re a journalist who’s still on Twitter, from now on in your writing you have to replace “the American people want” with “troll bots in Eastern Europe demand”
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
November 23, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Hey, does anyone else remember how we eventually learned that Russian bots & operatives used Facebook to specifically target swing districts in 2016 & Trump's electoral college victory hinged almost entirely on thin margins in these absolutely vital districts?
Reposted by Josh Cook
Do you or does someone you love live in the mid-Hudson Valley and want books for the holidays? I'm doing a limited run of curated book bags for folks — 3 titles, either hc or pb, in a Rough Draft tote with a little swag on the side. roughdraftny.square.site/shop/holiday...
November 22, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Do you or does someone you love live in the mid-Hudson Valley and want books for the holidays? I'm doing a limited run of curated book bags for folks — 3 titles, either hc or pb, in a Rough Draft tote with a little swag on the side. roughdraftny.square.site/shop/holiday...
Reposted by Josh Cook
Why is startup culture always “I am inventing a coffeeproof phone you can put in your coffee cup to keep it warm with cell radiation” and never “I’m inventing a new library wholesaler to replace the single company that is shutting down and sending libraries into crisis”
November 22, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Why is startup culture always “I am inventing a coffeeproof phone you can put in your coffee cup to keep it warm with cell radiation” and never “I’m inventing a new library wholesaler to replace the single company that is shutting down and sending libraries into crisis”
Wait, was the Pope rave earlier TODAY?
November 22, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Wait, was the Pope rave earlier TODAY?
Reposted by Josh Cook
Zohran flip your hair again we need healthcare get him to give us healthcare.
November 21, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Zohran flip your hair again we need healthcare get him to give us healthcare.
Reposted by Josh Cook
People say socialism is unrealistic. I say infinite growth on a finite planet is a fairy tale for adults.
November 21, 2025 at 10:18 PM
People say socialism is unrealistic. I say infinite growth on a finite planet is a fairy tale for adults.
Reposted by Josh Cook
Laughing at Donald Trump saying he'd definitely feel comfortable living in Zohran Mamdani's New York on the same day that half the consultant brain-poisoned Democratic party voted to condemn socialism
November 21, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Laughing at Donald Trump saying he'd definitely feel comfortable living in Zohran Mamdani's New York on the same day that half the consultant brain-poisoned Democratic party voted to condemn socialism
Oh! I forgot to tell you that I saw a fancified sprayed-edges edition of The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire at Costco, and you know, I think thay's a bit much
November 21, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Oh! I forgot to tell you that I saw a fancified sprayed-edges edition of The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire at Costco, and you know, I think thay's a bit much
Reposted by Josh Cook
We can mitigate the harm of book bans by bringing those books into impacted communities in ways & spaces beyond the control of the book banners. Carabiner Collections is doing that work in Brazos County, TX. Maybe you can set something like that up in your neck of the woods.
Carabiner Collections, Inc.
Carabiner Collections, Inc. is an LGBTQIA+ community-run library serving the Brazos Valley of Texas
www.carabinercollections.org
November 21, 2025 at 6:56 PM
We can mitigate the harm of book bans by bringing those books into impacted communities in ways & spaces beyond the control of the book banners. Carabiner Collections is doing that work in Brazos County, TX. Maybe you can set something like that up in your neck of the woods.
There's other great stuff too, but still trying to wrap my head around all three of these coming out within a few months of each other
Got a minute so just a quick thread for #BookSky to get you just beside yourself with excitement for 2026 because you have all three of these books to look forward and I don't know how my brain will survive them. Let's goooooooo.....
November 21, 2025 at 1:18 AM
There's other great stuff too, but still trying to wrap my head around all three of these coming out within a few months of each other