Matthew Murray 🦇
@midnitelibrary.bsky.social
Data Librarian. Co-Host of Book Club for Masochists: A Readers' Advisory Podcast. Editor of Two-Fisted Library Stories. Spooky Librarian. Goth. Comics. Manga. Zines. Games. ScholComm. OA. RDM. Social Justice. He/They.
"A known human friend" - Graham Stark
"A known human friend" - Graham Stark
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
my dissertation was about the history of Catholic converts in the US and every day something makes me remember how often I was told it was too niche
My dissertation turns 10 next month and I've been dipping in to see if there's anything in there worth pulling out and working with, and each chapter is effectively about a different emotional struggle that would be familiar today.
November 26, 2025 at 11:12 PM
my dissertation was about the history of Catholic converts in the US and every day something makes me remember how often I was told it was too niche
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Social science takes time. Here, social scientists analyze a decade of evidence to show that a Supreme Court decision designed to suppress the black vote actually did. SCOTUS may soon obliterate the rest of the Voting Rights Act and we should not be shy about calling out what's going on here.
As we all wait for Callais to come down, our piece showing that Shelby County increased the racial turnout gap in most of the covered parts of the country has cleared the replication check and is incoming at JOP.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
November 26, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Social science takes time. Here, social scientists analyze a decade of evidence to show that a Supreme Court decision designed to suppress the black vote actually did. SCOTUS may soon obliterate the rest of the Voting Rights Act and we should not be shy about calling out what's going on here.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
November 26, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
LIBRARIES EXIST. if you want to read my book for free that is absolutely fine by me, and you can go to a library and take it home and make a note of anything that’s interesting, and then return it and someone else can do the same. And doing that will help your local library AND I’ll earn a tiny fee.
I see the book piracy discourse is back and as a writer I only have one opinion which is that yea I would actually quite like to earn a comfortable life doing an easy, likeable creative job, I don't think the world owes that to me, but it would be nice, and it's not an insane thing to want
November 26, 2025 at 9:58 PM
LIBRARIES EXIST. if you want to read my book for free that is absolutely fine by me, and you can go to a library and take it home and make a note of anything that’s interesting, and then return it and someone else can do the same. And doing that will help your local library AND I’ll earn a tiny fee.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Also tucked away in the binder was an eviction notice for the presumed owner of the binder and his four housemates, with the scribbled notes on the reverse "the 3 day notice is here!" and "get ready to bail!"
November 26, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Also tucked away in the binder was an eviction notice for the presumed owner of the binder and his four housemates, with the scribbled notes on the reverse "the 3 day notice is here!" and "get ready to bail!"
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
There are local coffee joints willing to step in to fill your caffeinated needs.
Seek them out and do not patronize Starbucks until the strike is over
Seek them out and do not patronize Starbucks until the strike is over
No contract, no coffee.
We don’t believe in sitting on the sidelines. Join our Transition co-chair @linamkhan.bsky.social , First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan & @sbworkersunited.org at the picket lines.
We don’t believe in sitting on the sidelines. Join our Transition co-chair @linamkhan.bsky.social , First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan & @sbworkersunited.org at the picket lines.
November 26, 2025 at 9:36 PM
There are local coffee joints willing to step in to fill your caffeinated needs.
Seek them out and do not patronize Starbucks until the strike is over
Seek them out and do not patronize Starbucks until the strike is over
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
AND supporting your local library is super important! If you actually DO want books to be available to everyone, the library *already exists* and is staffed by the people who are deep in the trenches of fighting censorship! Supporting the library is doing actual good for your community!
TAPS SCREEN
For like the zillionth time: Libraries are FREE for you, but WE still get compensated for our work!!
For like the zillionth time: Libraries are FREE for you, but WE still get compensated for our work!!
Just saw someone claim that authors who want to be paid for their work are "class traitors" because we "only let the wealthy" read our books, and I think I need to go into the woods to scream into the night for a bit.
It's $5, not your first-born child! I need that $5 for health insurance!
It's $5, not your first-born child! I need that $5 for health insurance!
November 26, 2025 at 8:01 PM
AND supporting your local library is super important! If you actually DO want books to be available to everyone, the library *already exists* and is staffed by the people who are deep in the trenches of fighting censorship! Supporting the library is doing actual good for your community!
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Anybody who is like “Piracy is activism!”—trust me, supporting your local library is about 1000% more effective activism, and it’s still free for you and authors still get paid!
November 26, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Anybody who is like “Piracy is activism!”—trust me, supporting your local library is about 1000% more effective activism, and it’s still free for you and authors still get paid!
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
picturing a room of children pounding on surfaces and chanting in unison SPINES SPINES SPINES
November 26, 2025 at 7:56 PM
picturing a room of children pounding on surfaces and chanting in unison SPINES SPINES SPINES
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
NEW VIDEO
It’s a lean 4.5 hours about a game you’ve probably never heard of.
Just some light viewing to throw on before bed.
youtu.be/TMrL8nKJGQw
It’s a lean 4.5 hours about a game you’ve probably never heard of.
Just some light viewing to throw on before bed.
youtu.be/TMrL8nKJGQw
The Horrors Of Modern Japan | Yuuyami Doori Tankentai (PS1)
YouTube video by Dungeon Chill
youtu.be
November 21, 2025 at 1:22 PM
NEW VIDEO
It’s a lean 4.5 hours about a game you’ve probably never heard of.
Just some light viewing to throw on before bed.
youtu.be/TMrL8nKJGQw
It’s a lean 4.5 hours about a game you’ve probably never heard of.
Just some light viewing to throw on before bed.
youtu.be/TMrL8nKJGQw
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
LIBRARIES MAKE BOOKS ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE, she shouts, apparently inaudibly
WHY DO THESE "YOU'RE A CLASS TRAITOR" PEOPLE KEEP PRETENDING LIBRARIES DON'T EXIST?
ARE THEY CLASS TRAITORS WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN LIBRARIES?
WHY DO THESE "YOU'RE A CLASS TRAITOR" PEOPLE KEEP PRETENDING LIBRARIES DON'T EXIST?
ARE THEY CLASS TRAITORS WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN LIBRARIES?
Just saw someone claim that authors who want to be paid for their work are "class traitors" because we "only let the wealthy" read our books, and I think I need to go into the woods to scream into the night for a bit.
It's $5, not your first-born child! I need that $5 for health insurance!
It's $5, not your first-born child! I need that $5 for health insurance!
November 26, 2025 at 3:51 PM
LIBRARIES MAKE BOOKS ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE, she shouts, apparently inaudibly
WHY DO THESE "YOU'RE A CLASS TRAITOR" PEOPLE KEEP PRETENDING LIBRARIES DON'T EXIST?
ARE THEY CLASS TRAITORS WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN LIBRARIES?
WHY DO THESE "YOU'RE A CLASS TRAITOR" PEOPLE KEEP PRETENDING LIBRARIES DON'T EXIST?
ARE THEY CLASS TRAITORS WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN LIBRARIES?
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
The problem with ICE is not that it's targeting people who aren't criminals. The problem with ICE is that it's an unaccountable secret deportation police. It cannot be reformed under a better president. It can be made less terrible, but the instrument of repression remains for the next tyrant.
November 26, 2025 at 5:04 PM
The problem with ICE is not that it's targeting people who aren't criminals. The problem with ICE is that it's an unaccountable secret deportation police. It cannot be reformed under a better president. It can be made less terrible, but the instrument of repression remains for the next tyrant.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Reminder: you don't have to engage with AI as an instructor. You can talk about AI--even build AI literacy, if you want to call it that--and still not engage directly with a brutal, unethical, ecologically disastrous bundle of technologies. Regardless of institutional pressure, you can refuse.
November 26, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reminder: you don't have to engage with AI as an instructor. You can talk about AI--even build AI literacy, if you want to call it that--and still not engage directly with a brutal, unethical, ecologically disastrous bundle of technologies. Regardless of institutional pressure, you can refuse.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Holy cats. Check out her bio.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_G...
She could easily have been an inspiration for Millennium Self, one of my journaling games on 5"x7" cards.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_G...
She could easily have been an inspiration for Millennium Self, one of my journaling games on 5"x7" cards.
November 26, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Holy cats. Check out her bio.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_G...
She could easily have been an inspiration for Millennium Self, one of my journaling games on 5"x7" cards.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_G...
She could easily have been an inspiration for Millennium Self, one of my journaling games on 5"x7" cards.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
“You say ‘No Kings’ and yet you play with a deck that contains four of them.”
November 26, 2025 at 5:39 AM
“You say ‘No Kings’ and yet you play with a deck that contains four of them.”
I don't think I realized how terrible this book was. Dang.
Episode 46: Sapiens
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
Sapiens
Podcast Episode · If Books Could Kill · 11/20/2025 · 1h 38m
podcasts.apple.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:08 PM
I don't think I realized how terrible this book was. Dang.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Pizza Hut Wild Style Pizzas (1992-1992): A line of pizzas marketed as "crazy" and "outrageous" , featuring new topping and sauce combos. Check this 🧵to see the (supposed) wackiness!
November 26, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Pizza Hut Wild Style Pizzas (1992-1992): A line of pizzas marketed as "crazy" and "outrageous" , featuring new topping and sauce combos. Check this 🧵to see the (supposed) wackiness!
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
And the folks who are actually writing full-time generally only got there after years of day jobs, family support, or both.
The point of sharing this is not to demoralize anyone, but to let emerging writers know they're not failing if they can't make a living off writing alone. Almost no one can.
The point of sharing this is not to demoralize anyone, but to let emerging writers know they're not failing if they can't make a living off writing alone. Almost no one can.
almost every novelist you read who's not from the airport fiction or bestseller sections is working a full on day job, including multi-award winners and absolute legends, or they have a spouse or trust that supports them. virtually across the board. just normalize in your mind that's how it works.
I know we know this, but authors need to get better at talking about how they actually make their money. Stop pretending it's from the books.
November 25, 2025 at 11:24 PM
And the folks who are actually writing full-time generally only got there after years of day jobs, family support, or both.
The point of sharing this is not to demoralize anyone, but to let emerging writers know they're not failing if they can't make a living off writing alone. Almost no one can.
The point of sharing this is not to demoralize anyone, but to let emerging writers know they're not failing if they can't make a living off writing alone. Almost no one can.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
I wrote to Alan, to ask if he minded if I use an element from one of these in Aphra and he called me up and said he has no memory of writing this, but sure.
197. In case you didn’t know, Alan Moore wrote some Star Wars comics in the 80s for a UK Star Wars magazine. It is clear from the content that he was not entirely sure what Star Wars is supposed to be. They’re awesome.
November 26, 2025 at 12:15 AM
I wrote to Alan, to ask if he minded if I use an element from one of these in Aphra and he called me up and said he has no memory of writing this, but sure.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Every company sued for wrongful death:
November 26, 2025 at 5:22 AM
Every company sued for wrongful death:
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
I assume that getting steak and lobster dinners with 20,000 calories of appetizers for your whole family delivered by personal chauffeur is inexpensive again now that Uncle Joe Brandon is out of the White House at least
November 26, 2025 at 6:17 AM
I assume that getting steak and lobster dinners with 20,000 calories of appetizers for your whole family delivered by personal chauffeur is inexpensive again now that Uncle Joe Brandon is out of the White House at least
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Let's play a checking-in-new-comics-day game! Guess what comic this is?! If you said Venom #3, YOU ARE 150% WRONG. It's Battleworld #3! For the love of Kirby, I am begging comic companies to STOP. DOING. THIS. SHIT.
November 25, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Let's play a checking-in-new-comics-day game! Guess what comic this is?! If you said Venom #3, YOU ARE 150% WRONG. It's Battleworld #3! For the love of Kirby, I am begging comic companies to STOP. DOING. THIS. SHIT.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
"Contingent" magazine in the USA is collecting a list of (academic?) publications by non-tenure-track historians with release dates in 2025 https://contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-lists/ #histodons #antiquidons #glam
Publications by Non-Tenure-Track Historians
Since we began publishing in 2019, _Contingent_ has published end-of-year lists of books and articles by **non-tenure-track historians** released in the past calendar year. To submit something for inclusion on this year’s lists, fill out the form below. Books, journal articles, and chapters are all welcome. Check out all of our previous lists here.
Please give _complete_ citation info and a link to the publisher’s webpage for the book or the stable URL for the article. If you wish to submit multiple publications, each one should be its own submission. The due date for submissions is Saturday, November 29. **Anything with a clear 2025 publication date is acceptable, even if it hasn’t come out yet.**
Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.
Name *
First
Last
Citation *
URL stable list
Link to publisher's webpage or stable URL *
If you're submitting a journal article, is it open access?
* Yes
* No
* I'm not sure
Check this box if you're submitting for the philosophy list
* Philosophy
Twitter/Bluesky/Instagram handle
Not required, but it can help interested readers contact you easily without making your email public. Make it clear what social media platform you're talking about so we can link to it.
Submit
contingentmagazine.org
November 26, 2025 at 6:52 AM
"Contingent" magazine in the USA is collecting a list of (academic?) publications by non-tenure-track historians with release dates in 2025 https://contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-lists/ #histodons #antiquidons #glam
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
"Gaming Like It's 1930" is coming this January: itch.io/jam/gaming-l...
Come join us for our annual public domain game jam, celebrating new works that are entering the commons
Come join us for our annual public domain game jam, celebrating new works that are entering the commons
Gaming Like It's 1930
A game jam from 2026-01-01 to 2026-02-01 hosted by Randy Lubin & Copia Gaming. A new year means new material entering the public domain! Starting January 1st 2026, works from 1930 are free to use and ...
itch.io
November 25, 2025 at 11:14 PM
"Gaming Like It's 1930" is coming this January: itch.io/jam/gaming-l...
Come join us for our annual public domain game jam, celebrating new works that are entering the commons
Come join us for our annual public domain game jam, celebrating new works that are entering the commons