Patrick Nielsen Hayden
@pnh.nielsenhayden.com
Retired SF and fantasy editor, winner of three Hugos and a World Fantasy Award. Amateur musician, bibliophile, genealogist, layabout.
He, his. Anti-trans dingbats, get lost.
Signal: pnh.09
He, his. Anti-trans dingbats, get lost.
Signal: pnh.09
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
OK so Margaret Killjoy's infomercial for "Shut the fuck up" is my new favourite thing.
"When I get arrested, there's only one strategy I trust...
I shut the fuck up!"
- @margaret.bsky.social
"When I get arrested, there's only one strategy I trust...
I shut the fuck up!"
- @margaret.bsky.social
February 8, 2026 at 2:05 AM
OK so Margaret Killjoy's infomercial for "Shut the fuck up" is my new favourite thing.
"When I get arrested, there's only one strategy I trust...
I shut the fuck up!"
- @margaret.bsky.social
"When I get arrested, there's only one strategy I trust...
I shut the fuck up!"
- @margaret.bsky.social
In the unlikely event that you follow me and have never read this, fix that right away.
My Hugo and Nebula award winning novel Among Others about a science fiction reading girl with fantasy problems is on sale as an ebook for $2.99 www.amazon.com/Among-Others...
Among Others: A Novel (Hugo Award Winner - Best Novel)
Among Others: A Novel (Hugo Award Winner - Best Novel)
www.amazon.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:01 AM
In the unlikely event that you follow me and have never read this, fix that right away.
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Grocery stores barely rack magazines any more, much less tons of paperbacks ☹️
February 7, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Grocery stores barely rack magazines any more, much less tons of paperbacks ☹️
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Been a long time since I found a cheap ebook at a thrift store or a Free Little Library. Been a long time since a friend pressed a loved and weathered ebook into my hands. Been a long time since I bought extra copies of an ebook just so that I could give them away to friends.
February 7, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Been a long time since I found a cheap ebook at a thrift store or a Free Little Library. Been a long time since a friend pressed a loved and weathered ebook into my hands. Been a long time since I bought extra copies of an ebook just so that I could give them away to friends.
John Clute.
Who do you want to guest host a potential revival of The Muppet Show?
Here’s Who We Want to Guest Host ‘The Muppet Show’ If It’s Revived
February 7, 2026 at 2:37 PM
John Clute.
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Albums, books, and other works of art are gonna have "Human-Made" labels. Orgs will say,"Look for the human-made label."
seems like we are moving into a world where "indie" will basically mean "not slop"
February 6, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Albums, books, and other works of art are gonna have "Human-Made" labels. Orgs will say,"Look for the human-made label."
100%.
"We would have lost so much if we'd driven him away" is the justification.
But we lost all those girls. We lost the women they would have become. We lost the work they would have done. Why was his future work so much more valuable than theirs?
But we lost all those girls. We lost the women they would have become. We lost the work they would have done. Why was his future work so much more valuable than theirs?
February 5, 2026 at 10:25 PM
100%.
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
This is a remarkable @nytimes.com split screen:
A huge 3,526 word + photos profile on Sen Britt who "can't stop thinking about the boy ICE detained"
But Rep Jaoquin Castro- who actually got Liam Ramos out of detention & back home- gets no interview, no pix, just 116 words inside a story. WOW.
A huge 3,526 word + photos profile on Sen Britt who "can't stop thinking about the boy ICE detained"
But Rep Jaoquin Castro- who actually got Liam Ramos out of detention & back home- gets no interview, no pix, just 116 words inside a story. WOW.
February 5, 2026 at 7:13 PM
This is a remarkable @nytimes.com split screen:
A huge 3,526 word + photos profile on Sen Britt who "can't stop thinking about the boy ICE detained"
But Rep Jaoquin Castro- who actually got Liam Ramos out of detention & back home- gets no interview, no pix, just 116 words inside a story. WOW.
A huge 3,526 word + photos profile on Sen Britt who "can't stop thinking about the boy ICE detained"
But Rep Jaoquin Castro- who actually got Liam Ramos out of detention & back home- gets no interview, no pix, just 116 words inside a story. WOW.
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
This is tear gassing protesters just for protesting. There is no threat, and the only danger presented is ICE behaving recklessly. There is no provocation; this is just straight up assault.
Just experienced the most intense tear gassing of my life by federal officers outside the ICE facility in Portland where marchers gathered. There was no fast exit as they indiscriminately threw loads of gas and flash bangs. Children were in the crowd screaming. @oregoncapitalchronicle.com
February 1, 2026 at 4:07 AM
This is tear gassing protesters just for protesting. There is no threat, and the only danger presented is ICE behaving recklessly. There is no provocation; this is just straight up assault.
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Reminded of the time that a BBC World Service presenter asked their guest how long there had been a Latino presence in Los Angeles and I yelled at my car stereo, “The name of the city is **LOS ANGELES**!”
I may have a stroke.
Someone said protests don’t belong in church and it took every ounce of self-censure within me not to say “Deborah you are literally a Protestant.”
A PROTESTant.
I assume they think Luther was nailing Bed, Bath, & Beyond coupons to the door.
Someone said protests don’t belong in church and it took every ounce of self-censure within me not to say “Deborah you are literally a Protestant.”
A PROTESTant.
I assume they think Luther was nailing Bed, Bath, & Beyond coupons to the door.
January 31, 2026 at 7:43 PM
Reminded of the time that a BBC World Service presenter asked their guest how long there had been a Latino presence in Los Angeles and I yelled at my car stereo, “The name of the city is **LOS ANGELES**!”
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Someday—probably after she’s gone—we’ll hopefully be able to have an honest reckoning of Oprah’s outsized, decades-long role in poisoning our culture by elevating and mainstreaming reactionary grifters and pseudoscientific woo woo wellness bullshit.
January 30, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Someday—probably after she’s gone—we’ll hopefully be able to have an honest reckoning of Oprah’s outsized, decades-long role in poisoning our culture by elevating and mainstreaming reactionary grifters and pseudoscientific woo woo wellness bullshit.
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
A while back, I saw a thread by someone who was upset that people were using Mr. Roger's advice "look for the helpers" to apply to adults. The poster correctly pointed out that this was advice _for kids_. It was to help them feel safe in perilous times. /1
January 31, 2026 at 1:08 AM
A while back, I saw a thread by someone who was upset that people were using Mr. Roger's advice "look for the helpers" to apply to adults. The poster correctly pointed out that this was advice _for kids_. It was to help them feel safe in perilous times. /1
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
My 7yo daughter’s best friends’ family fled the country a few weeks ago. Today she came home with a drawing of her and another friend blowing whistles at ICE agents.
“We’re blowing the whistles and so ICE will go away and our friends can come back,” she said.
I started sobbing uncontrollably.
“We’re blowing the whistles and so ICE will go away and our friends can come back,” she said.
I started sobbing uncontrollably.
January 30, 2026 at 5:30 AM
My 7yo daughter’s best friends’ family fled the country a few weeks ago. Today she came home with a drawing of her and another friend blowing whistles at ICE agents.
“We’re blowing the whistles and so ICE will go away and our friends can come back,” she said.
I started sobbing uncontrollably.
“We’re blowing the whistles and so ICE will go away and our friends can come back,” she said.
I started sobbing uncontrollably.
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Companies have long paid to optimize their Google search results, writes Christopher Mims, but appearing in chatbot answers requires a whole new discipline—Generative Engine Optimization
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-w... via @WSJ
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-w... via @WSJ
How Businesses Are Manipulating ChatGPT Results
You’ve long heard about search engine optimization. Companies are now spending big to feature prominently in the output of AI chatbots. It’s called GEO.
www.wsj.com
January 30, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Companies have long paid to optimize their Google search results, writes Christopher Mims, but appearing in chatbot answers requires a whole new discipline—Generative Engine Optimization
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-w... via @WSJ
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-w... via @WSJ
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
I have a new newsletter out, about John McPhee, the role of perspective and structure in writing, Hubert Dreyfus clowning on 'AI' with the tools of phenomenology, and how to understand the things that even the most capable LLMs can't do and most likely will never be able to do.
It's still what computers still can't do
The cover of John McPhee’s book Oranges, which is about, you guesed it, oranges. It’s great. The New Yorker writer John McPhee, perhaps the 20th century's...
buttondown.com
January 29, 2026 at 9:08 PM
I have a new newsletter out, about John McPhee, the role of perspective and structure in writing, Hubert Dreyfus clowning on 'AI' with the tools of phenomenology, and how to understand the things that even the most capable LLMs can't do and most likely will never be able to do.
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
this month's column is up
“Whenever the Episcopalians get around to revising the Book of Common Prayer, I want to make some suggestions regarding Prayer #37: For Prisons and Correctional Institutions.”
– @philipchristman.bsky.social
www.christiancentury.org/voices/bette...
– @philipchristman.bsky.social
www.christiancentury.org/voices/bette...
A better prayer for prisons
I love the Book of Common Prayer. I have some problems with Prayer...
www.christiancentury.org
January 30, 2026 at 1:18 PM
this month's column is up
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Reminder to block or unfollow AltNPS. There are links to the YouTube exposes about the account downthread
AltNPS posted about Alex Pretti's murder 25 times since this morning. During that time, they spread misinformation about the shooting, lied about knowing the shooter's name, and generally flooded the zone with shit.
They're trying to milk this story for all it's worth.
They're trying to milk this story for all it's worth.
January 29, 2026 at 6:40 AM
Reminder to block or unfollow AltNPS. There are links to the YouTube exposes about the account downthread
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
One thing that is true in this age of "AI" is that authenticity is going to be prized more than ever before. A single hand-scrawled sign is going have more impact than the smoothest "AI" image because the people seeing it knows it comes from someone's brain, not a tuned algorithm.
January 29, 2026 at 1:39 PM
One thing that is true in this age of "AI" is that authenticity is going to be prized more than ever before. A single hand-scrawled sign is going have more impact than the smoothest "AI" image because the people seeing it knows it comes from someone's brain, not a tuned algorithm.
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Also the rule with Palestinians and Israelis, by a weird coincidence
This is sort of a throughline in cases of excessive force used by law enforcement. The civilian is supposed to perfectly adhere to some unwritten code of conduct; the armed professional supposedly trained for such situations is only human & must be given lattitude if they succumb to fear and rage.
The administration is insisting that its masked goons are so emotionally stunted that words can launch them into a murderous rage.
"Our professionals are just ordinary people so ordinary people better act professionally around them, or else."
"Our professionals are just ordinary people so ordinary people better act professionally around them, or else."
January 29, 2026 at 2:36 PM
Also the rule with Palestinians and Israelis, by a weird coincidence
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Usual reminder that the Confederacy had to implement an effective Police State behind the lines to keep men in its ranks, and that much of the civilian population of the South was effectively at war with the CSA, for that reason & many others.
www.jstor.org/stable/26381...
www.jstor.org/stable/26381...
The Confederate Army couldn’t even beat a math teacher.
January 29, 2026 at 1:41 PM
Usual reminder that the Confederacy had to implement an effective Police State behind the lines to keep men in its ranks, and that much of the civilian population of the South was effectively at war with the CSA, for that reason & many others.
www.jstor.org/stable/26381...
www.jstor.org/stable/26381...
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
“Do you want to be like the confident, hot lady or the ashamed dude in mom jeans and a windbreaker?” is maybe not the propaganda win AG Bondi is counting on.
Scrolling through the photos of Pam Bondi's "Minnesota rioters," it's just hero after hero. Every photo includes a cowardly DHS agent with their back to the camera.
Bondi thinks she's going to win the propaganda war with this shit, but it's never been more clear that they're losing.
Bondi thinks she's going to win the propaganda war with this shit, but it's never been more clear that they're losing.
January 28, 2026 at 11:13 PM
“Do you want to be like the confident, hot lady or the ashamed dude in mom jeans and a windbreaker?” is maybe not the propaganda win AG Bondi is counting on.
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
yeah, the guys who forced other people do all their manual labor for them must have been really strong, sure. 🫠
The Confederate Army couldn’t even beat a math teacher.
January 28, 2026 at 10:14 PM
yeah, the guys who forced other people do all their manual labor for them must have been really strong, sure. 🫠
The Confederate Army couldn’t even beat a math teacher.
January 28, 2026 at 9:56 PM
The Confederate Army couldn’t even beat a math teacher.