Samantha (Sam) Mills
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samtasticbooks.com
Samantha (Sam) Mills
@samtasticbooks.com
SFF Author | Nebula, Locus, Sturgeon winner | Archivist | Repped by Lisa Rodgers | THE WINGS UPON HER BACK, Compton Crook winner and World Fantasy finalist, out now! (she/her) www.samtasticbooks.com

Newsletter at https://subscribepage.io/samtasticnews
Pinned
Here it is! My 2025 award eligibility post!
"10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care For the End of Days" is a love letter about life under a doomsday cult, and a quick read! I'd be delighted for anyone to consider it for their short story ballots. ;D
www.uncannymagazine.com/article/10-v...
Reposted by Samantha (Sam) Mills
semi-regular reminder that ICE was only created in 2003

when you are asked to imagine a world without ICE, you're basically being asked to remember where you were when Lilo & Stitch came out
January 12, 2026 at 8:04 PM
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A forthcoming must read for me.
So it feels very weird to be talking about anything other than the ICE occupation right now, but the ARCs of my new book arrived on Saturday. I'm going to do a giveaway.
January 12, 2026 at 5:09 PM
Oh this is rad. Dooo itttt
Friends. The eBooks of our 2025 titles are on sale til the end of the month for just $3 each. Grab @thomasha.bsky.social's amazing debut, or Best Weird Fiction Vol. 1, or Weird Horror 10 and 11. Heck, grab 'em all!

undertowpublications.com/ebooks
EBOOKS — Undertow Publications
undertowpublications.com
January 12, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Damn I dreamed what seemed to be the perfect sequence of events for my book but when I woke up, it was unrelated gibberish 🥲
January 12, 2026 at 3:33 PM
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Stop falling for the “untrained” narrative.
NEW: Jonathan Ross is former National Guard and Border Patrol and has been part of ICE's SWAT equivalent, a team leader overseeing FBI, ATF, and IRS agents, and a firearms instructor, according to testimony obtained by WIRED. This is from @hudsongiles.bsky.social and me:
ICE Agent Who Reportedly Shot Renee Good Was a Firearms Trainer, Per Testimony
Jonathan Ross told a federal court in December about his professional background, including “hundreds” of encounters with drivers during enforcement actions, according to testimony obtained by WIRED.
www.wired.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:30 AM
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Not finished with awards reading, but here is a batch of stories I really loved by @bethgoder.bsky.social, @slharris.bsky.social, @fictionaljosh.bsky.social, @reasie.bsky.social, @emlinden.bsky.social, @effies.bsky.social, and @samtasticbooks.com.

Thank you for creating these great stories.
January 11, 2026 at 1:36 PM
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The “prosecute the former regime at every level” candidate has my vote in 2028.
January 7, 2026 at 8:26 PM
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Sam is easily one of the smartest people I know and her gift with words is astounding. Pick this up and everything else she writes. I promise itll be healing in these awful times.
my lord... this one is out April 21... it's packed full of imperfect parents, imperfect sisters, fantastical settings, and feminist rage... my lord, you can find some of these shorts for free at the link if you want a preview...

samtasticbooks.com/short-fiction/
January 8, 2026 at 12:36 AM
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I cannot emphasize enough the importance of finding one constructive real world offline thing you can do to use your particular skills in service of fighting fascism as a psychological defense against the constant drumbeat of fuckery
my hot take is that I don't think it's this website specifically that's toxic. the Circumstances are toxic and nobody really knows what to do about it so they come online and scream. and if I may offer an alternative: actually going outside and screaming feels better.
January 6, 2026 at 8:33 PM
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they are recruiting for the worst, bottom-of-the-barrel chuds imaginable and those chuds are behaving exactly as you'd expect
MPR playing an eye witness account right now of ICE shooting directly through the windshield at her face and not giving her medical care for 10 minutes.
MPR News is live right now bringing you updates on this. mprnews.org/listen
January 7, 2026 at 5:02 PM
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This book is awesome.
[most enticing vizier voice] my lord... this one was a World Fantasy finalist and Compton Crook winner... it's about hero worship and deprogramming from your fascist upbringing... and accepting that sometimes your gods don't love you back...

bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
January 7, 2026 at 5:17 PM
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RABBIT TEST AND OTHER STORIES is also available for pre-order from all finer booksellers and directly via Tachyon

tachyonpublications.com/product/rabb...

“In RABBIT TEST AND OTHER STORIES, Mills examines the human spirit with a sharp eye and a gentle heart.” — @foxesandroses.bsky.social
Rabbit Test and Other Stories - Tachyon Publications
“In Rabbit Test and Other Stories, Mills examines the human spirit with a sharp eye and a gentle heart.” —Eugenia Triantafyllou This subversive debut short-fiction collection comes from one of the hot...
tachyonpublications.com
January 7, 2026 at 4:58 PM
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I work in healthcare, and let me tell you that preventing hospitals and healthcare centers from billing Medicaid is DEVASTATING. that is a huge portion of their revenue evaporated, AND they cannot access federal funding. make no mistake, this is an effective ban on gender affirming care for youth
The regime has announced two proposed rules intended to make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for trans youth to receive the healthcare they need.

Your public comments probably won't sway this transphobic regime, but they will be very important for future lawsuits:
Submit Public Comments
The federal government has proposed two new rules that could make it virtually impossible for transgender youth to get the health care they need.
act.hrc.org
January 7, 2026 at 3:18 AM
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January 7, 2026 at 3:10 PM
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WRITERS HAVE BILLS TO PAY BUY BOOKS
Just got an estimate from the kids' orthodontist, perhaps you might... buy my books... 🥲

bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

bookshop.org/p/books/rabb...
January 5, 2026 at 9:36 PM
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Rabbit Test and other stories, @samtasticbooks.com, out 4/1. This is a fantastic collection of short stories from Ms. Mills, including the title story that won the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus for short stories that was a response to the overturn of Roe v Wade.
January 7, 2026 at 2:06 AM
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You probably know about some of the biggest trends in genre fiction, like romantasy and cozy fiction. But the trend that surprised me most was stories about people storing and sharing their memories.

My latest newsletter: buttondown.com/charliejane/...
The Most Surprising Book Trend Right Now: Memory-Sharing
If you asked someone to name the main trends in genre book publishing from the past year or two, they'd probably mention romantasy, cozy fiction, horror and...
buttondown.com
January 6, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Just got an estimate from the kids' orthodontist, perhaps you might... buy my books... 🥲

bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

bookshop.org/p/books/rabb...
January 5, 2026 at 9:28 PM
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A reminder that the US killed 80 people in Venezuela, and it would be nice if the US media cared enough to think that the life of a grandmother in Caracas whose building is destroyed by a US bomb matters as much as the life of a person in the US.
January 5, 2026 at 5:54 PM
This was so fun!
Another year of Eating the Fantastic is in the rearview mirror, so I've assembled a collage of the 28 guests with whom I chatted and chewed during 2025. I'm honored they trusted me with their voices, and hope you'll revisit some of last year's meals as I plan for the year ahead. pod.link/1083737796
January 4, 2026 at 11:17 PM
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As the deadline to register for WSFS membership approaches (January 31), it's a great time to toss in some recs of art you loved from 2025! #HugoAwards
The Hugo Awards (2026)
docs.google.com
January 4, 2026 at 3:52 PM
This is an amazing review and I'm going to wait a bit to post the movie title so you can all ponder what it might possibly be for.
January 4, 2026 at 11:15 PM
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the administration wants to frame this (bizarrely) as law enforcement. but if law enforcement conducted a raid for a suspect and killed 40 people, including an unknown number of unarmed civilians, it would be treated as a clear disaster like Waco.
NYT:

At least 40 people were killed in the US attack on Venezuela, including military personnel and civilians.
January 3, 2026 at 11:32 PM
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Candid answer - as someone who handled constituent affairs calls for years - while they’re not checking the phone right now, the urgency of the moment is important.

Show them you care enough to make the weekend call, and be counted that way. Staffers will clock and report this upstream.
Is there actually a benefit to leaving a VM now vs getting a staffer on Monday? Can do both but just curious
January 3, 2026 at 4:03 PM