Polenth Blake
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polenth.bsky.social
Polenth Blake
@polenth.bsky.social
3.8K followers 1.4K following 2.3K posts
Fantasy and science fiction writer/artist with a tendency towards ecology and quietly strange things. Keeper of invertebrates and fish. Enjoys walking simulators and Second Life. Multiply marginalised.

Website: http://www.polenthblake.com
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polenth.bsky.social
Polenth Blake @polenth.bsky.social · Jun 1
WERECOCKROACH has an aroace agender lead, aliens and gentle vibes. Friendship focused.

www.polenthblake.com/words/cockro...

EVERYDAY ALIENS is a flash fiction collection about weird aliens. Often experimental.

www.polenthblake.com/words/aliens...

#PrideBookFair #QueerBookSky #BookSky #Pride
The cover of WERECOCKROACH by Polenth Blake is at an angle on a green background. The cover has hand drawn letters and a hissing cockroach drawn in brown and black wax crayon. Captions surround the cover in a childish messy font with arrows pointing at things. Captions pointing at the cockroach: wiggly antennae, cute face, little feets, tough outside, squishy soft inside, danger attack spikes, more little feets. Captions pointing at the title: i love wax crayons, beautiful hand drawn letters. Captions for the book: friendship, this book is ace, aliens wearing hats, gentle, full of yay, sarcastic, buy this book (trust me i'm a professional). The cover of EVERYDAY ALIENS by Polenth Blake is on a black background. The cover has a complex doodle of alien life in rainbow colours on black, drawn by the author. The title and author are in a black box in the centre, with an alien worm separating the two. Captions surround the cover in the same rainbow font. Captions pointing at the book cover read: Xenofiction, Weird, Flash Fiction, Citations, Speculative Biology, Slice-of-(Alien)Life, Poetry, Starfish Aliens and Very Alien Aliens. A caption points across the cover to the worm which reads: Fred.
polenth.bsky.social
Do you wish authors wrote more weird little books?! If the answer is yes, here is flash fiction from the perspective of very alien aliens! Many alien types, often experimental, all the persons (including indefinite fourth), are they stories or poems, who knows! #WeirdFiction #BookSky #FlashFiction
Polenth's Nothing: Words: Books: Everyday Aliens
Everyday Aliens - A flash fiction collection by Polenth Blake.
www.polenthblake.com
January 27, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
strangehorizons.bsky.social
Welcome to the 2026 Criticism Special Issue!

The Brackish Pool: Towards a Critical Practice of Reading Weird Fiction
by Zachary Gillan @megapolisomancy.bsky.social

Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
NON-FICTION Quote the ideal reader of the weird has to embrace a kind of wilful suspension of foreknowledge or generic expectation. This affected tabula rasa perspective requires, in turn, a critical approach, a practice of weird reading [1] hyper-attuned to the weird poetics of a piece as it signals its own weirding and becomes weird fiction. end Quote The Brackish Pool: Towards a Critical Practice of Reading Weird Fiction by Zachary Gillan 26 January 2026 Strange Horizons
January 26, 2026 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
ashponders.bsky.social
Being a journalist is sick: I just contacted a pre-eminent jaguar conservationist in Argentine with a question that has been weighing on me for ages and he wrote back right away with an informed answer.
A screenshot of WhatsApp: Ash: Sebastián, I have one very pressing question. Sebastián Di Martino: Let me know Ash: Are jaguar soft? Sebastián Di Martino: They are very soft (two hearts on the answer)
January 25, 2026 at 11:13 PM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
tadethompson.bsky.social
Larry says hello.
An axolotl
January 18, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
wiscon.bsky.social
Melissa Gay is our featured artist today!

WisCon 2026 will have an online-only Art Show. If you make any form of visual art and want to share it with other WisCon members, please apply! form: forms.gle/FkUNkX5eNLXZ.... Applications open through April 30. Qs? contact Tahlia at [email protected].
Background lavender with gold stripes. Cartoon dragon presenting the WisCon logo. Text: Featured WisCon Artist: Melissa Gay www.melissagayart.com I am a neurodiverse LGBTQ+ artist who is equally passionate about sci-fi, fantasy, and wildlife art. Myths and legends about the natural world inspire me, as does our increasingly detailed view of the Universe through science and technology. I love to create hazy, dreamlike, otherworldly scenes, and my goal is to incorporate just enough detail to fire the viewer’s imagination and inspire them to fill in the story. WisCon URL: wiscon.net On a background of diagonal stripes of lavender and gold, an inset image: Medusa, shown as a middle-aged white woman wearing red, braiding her hair of brown snakes while facing away from the viewer. Art by Melissa Gay, www.MelissaGayArt.com On a background of diagonal stripes of lavender and gold, an inset image: A blue whale in the sky bursts out of a cloud. It has structures on its back resembling a city. Farther away, many other similar whales fly among the clouds. Art by Melissa Gay, www.MelissaGayArt.com Lavender background with gold stripes. Cartoon dragon, WisCon logo at bottom. Text: Apply for the 2026 WisCon Art Show! Contact: Tahlia at artshow@wiscon.net We'll be having an online-only Art Show as part of WisCon 2026. If you make any form of visual art and want to share it with other WisCon members, please do apply! In past years, the Art Show has included painting, drawing, illustration, photography, comics, printmaking, jewelry and other wearable art, sculpture, animation, and more. WisCon URL, wiscon.net
January 25, 2026 at 12:01 AM
polenth.bsky.social
I have some new xylitol sweets (Peppersmith brand) that don't have other sweeteners in them. So far I've tried the pastilles (more like tablets) and the gum. I think the gum wins for tooth stuff. The pastilles aren't really chewable.

The packets are plastic free, so that's a bonus.
January 24, 2026 at 10:27 PM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
fossilforager.bsky.social
a little Burgess Shale action

#sciart
An illustration of a piece of rock shale with various Cambrian organisms fossilized on it. Clockwise from the top is Hallucigenia, Opabinia, and Marrella. At the center is Naraoia. They are mostly blue-gray and illustrated on top of a dark blue-gray background.
January 24, 2026 at 7:43 PM
polenth.bsky.social
I've written quite a bit today. Removed a minor character who wasn't really needed and wasn't that interesting.
January 24, 2026 at 4:24 AM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
shadesogrey.bsky.social
She's beauty and she's grace, she lost her whole damn face
A grey and peach tortoiseshell kitten lying in a basket with a grey cushion in it. Her front get are splayed upwards, belly visible, but her head is turned in such a way that it looks like it's completely missing because cats are just noodles with paws apparently
January 23, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
carolinemyoachim.bsky.social
I've photographed bubbles in this fountain before, but yesterday it was dark enough that the underwater lights gave everything a lovely glow.
Closeup of two bubbles floating on the dark surface of relatively still water. The bubble in the foreground is surrounded by tiny ripples of golden light, like thin rings of Saturn. In the center of the bubble, half a dozen small dots of light inside a darker outer circle. In the background, a second bubble, blurry and darker.
January 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
parisvivian.bsky.social
If you want to read about snow wereleopards and werelions in 2010s South Ontario, The Claws of the Ounce is waiting for you!

Kobo: kobo.com/ebook/the-claws-of-the-ounce
Itch: parisvivian.itch.io/the-claws-of-the-ounce

#BookSky #IndieAuthor #UrbanFantasy #shifter

💙📚🪐
📚🌃
The Claws of the Ounce ebook by Paris Vivian - Rakuten Kobo
Read "The Claws of the Ounce" by Paris Vivian available from Rakuten Kobo. The myth of the full moon is just that: a myth. However, the lives of some shapeshifters are ruled by cycles much subtle...
kobo.com
January 16, 2026 at 4:07 AM
polenth.bsky.social
Bigots: Why does He-Man have PRONOUNS!

Me, a non-binary person: Yay, giant green kitty!
January 23, 2026 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
khanwong.bsky.social
Thrilled to share that my novel, DOWN IN THE SEA OF ANGELS, made it to the longlist for the British Science Fiction Association’s Best Novel category, along with books by my agent siblings @voidcricket.bsky.social and @cassnewbould.bsky.social !

www.bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-...
Vote for the BSFA Awards
www.bsfa.co.uk
January 22, 2026 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
skyladawn.ca
Helping.
A long-haired black cat pokes his head around the side of an open laptop. He has green eyes and looks like he might be getting into mischief. A furry black cat paw, grasping the top of an open laptop screen. The rest of the cat is hidden, but you can imagine what he’s doing. A long-haired black cat with green eyes is on the other side of the open laptop now with his pause, extended and face barely visible. He is doing crime.
January 22, 2026 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
gdbee.bsky.social
Supurrnova
Illustration of a celestial woman holding a supernova containing a tuxedo cat. She's wearing a frilly periwinkle dress, periwinkle ribbons, and has white long hair. The cat is curled up cutely in the supernova. Drawn by gdbee, Jan 2026
January 14, 2026 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
transitionalform.bsky.social
Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
January 21, 2026 at 7:25 PM
polenth.bsky.social
I haven't needed to buy new cotton buds in ages. The regular supermarket ones are now plastic free, so that's neat.
January 22, 2026 at 1:07 AM
polenth.bsky.social
Academics out there inventing citations whilst my flash fiction collection has all real citations (I read all the papers and someone else checked the list for errors).
January 21, 2026 at 4:50 PM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
shhhitsgavin.bsky.social
I think about this picture I took of the Queen’s Gambit board game in 2022 a lot.
The Queen’s Gambit board game with a small sign in front of it saying “NOT CHESS”
January 13, 2026 at 1:57 AM
polenth.bsky.social
People posting their punctuation stats and that's a lot of emdashes! I only have four in Werecockroach. I have finally passed a test to prove I'm not a robot!

(Let's not worry about all the ones I failed.)
January 20, 2026 at 10:52 PM
polenth.bsky.social
I've also been on a bus where the driver insisted it was a different bus and went the wrong way. Fortunately, I happen to live near the mystic bus nexus that all buses must pass, so I just got there by a slightly more scenic route.
January 20, 2026 at 6:07 AM
polenth.bsky.social
There's a space between viral and only being seen by the same few people. Most of what I post isn't going to interest most people, but I wouldn't mind if I could get book posts to go a bit wider. It does make a difference to sales at the unknown author end of things.
January 20, 2026 at 1:51 AM
polenth.bsky.social
As is usual for times when the aurora happens down south, it's cloudy and raining right now. I did see it once some time back, though it wasn't very bright that time.
January 19, 2026 at 11:36 PM
Reposted by Polenth Blake
johnniejae.bsky.social
Just a warning for folks prone to photosensitive epilepsy:

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is not epilepsy safe. There is a pretty visually & aurally wild scene that caused a man sitting next me to have a seizure and caused a pretty nasty headache and 'bout of nausea for me.
January 19, 2026 at 3:23 AM
polenth.bsky.social
I had a bath and ate beetroot, so time for some writing!
January 19, 2026 at 1:19 AM