José Pablo Iriarte
@labyrinthrat.bsky.social
3K followers 710 following 3K posts
Spec fic author and middle grade novelist. Cuban-American ceterosexual enby. They/them. Debut MG novel BENNY RAMÍREZ AND THE NEARLY DEPARTED is a Norton, BSFA, Ignyte, and Florida SSYRA finalist!!! https://linktr.ee/labyrinthrat
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Pinned
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
Really should get a new pinned post, but I'm feeling lazy. Buy my book! It's out now!
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
Since it's easier to make a new post and pin it than to go back a month to find the old one . . .

Here's a reminder that AJ Torres and the Treasure of Captain Grayshark comes out NEXT MONTH!!!!
AJ TORRES AND THE TREASURE OF CAPTAIN GRAYSHARK

The follow-up to Benny Ramírez and the Nearly Departed!
Coming June 24, 2025 from Penguin/Random House
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
I was SO GOOD today when a student came up to me to complain that they had never been taught how to differentiate this.

SO GOOD
A photo of a question on a math quiz, asking students to differentiate 4√x.
Reposted by José Pablo Iriarte
jessdkant.bsky.social
So when I hear of students being encouraged to use GPT in college I don’t hear innovation. I hear cognitive atrophy, the inability to think critically for oneself, and total dependence on vulnerable centralized repositories of data for knowledge without ever understanding how knowledge is generated.
Reposted by José Pablo Iriarte
djangowexler.bsky.social
My boss: so how's our fourth quarter looking?

Me, the sales manager at the company that makes inflatable frog suits: well, you're never going to believe this, but
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
I wrote this on my hand sometime *this afternoon*, while ostensibly awake. I know what "Reward points" and "hours" refer to, but have no clue on "pics."
A photo of my left hand. Three phrases have been written on it, as a To-Do list for today:
- in purple ink: reward points
- in pink ink: hours
- in purple ink: pics
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
I wonder if I need to update or at least restart my phone.
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
Is the Wolfram Alpha app dead? I can't get squat out of it.
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
No cookie right now.

Okay, fine, have a cookie, just stop screaming.

Okay, fine, take the rest of the cookies.

Why are you still screaming? Here, have some chocolate.
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
The era of trump is revealing to us who in our society would be/is inept at dealing with toddlers.
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
And a shirt that says, "Careful, or you'll wind up in my novel. That I am writing. Because I am an author. For reals."
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
I really think all the non-writers in my meatspace life think I'm just faking about being an author and stuff.
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
Congratulations to the Toronto Blue Jays and especially their catcher, R2-D2.
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
(Anybody else "watch" on gamecast and notice that it just turned from night to day? Neat trick, that.)
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
I'm not watching the baseball game, because I don't have a television and am too cheap to pay to watch it streaming, but . . . why would you replace your pitcher in the third inning of a 1-1 game? Did something happen that I can't see from the gamecast? Injury?
Reposted by José Pablo Iriarte
Reposted by José Pablo Iriarte
bookshop.org
Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?

Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
I assume it was unbelievably cringe, because nobody present ever spoke of it again.
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
Just thinking about that time at ICFA when I attended a flash poetry reading, and was invited to participate, and I said, I don't have any poetry, and somebody said, "Aren't you a singer?" and and so I ended up singing harmony on an impromptu a capella rendition of "Ghost" by Indigo Girls.
Reposted by José Pablo Iriarte
kiixlyn.bsky.social
i took tylenol while i was autistic and now my son is pregnant
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
Wore a super queer shirt today, yes, in Florida, because I knew I was going someplace safe...

forgetting, as always, the likelihood I would need to stop at *other* places along the way, like the gas station.
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
TFW you realize that one of your friends has grown into one of your absolute top pantheon writers.
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
Has anybody been getting the really plausible AI generated fan mail spam via their contact form rather than direct email?

Up until now I have thought everything from my contact form was clean, but now I have caused to doubt.
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
This tracks with my *own* reading habits/patterns, and I'm somebody who loves to read (and write).
adapalmer.bsky.social
I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections
labyrinthrat.bsky.social
Used to be that if I wanted a recommendation for an app or for hardware, I would Google for what I wanted and find an article from a PC magazine comparing several top options. Now the results are all bogus sites "recommending" whoever gave them a kickback, with the text usually AI slop.
Reposted by José Pablo Iriarte
davidho.bsky.social
If I were starting a civil war, I would send National Guard troops from one state to another.