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So Mayer

@suchmayer.bsky.social

5K followers 1.9K following 5.8K posts

They/them. Overthinker. Reads things, writes things. BAD LANGUAGE out now with Peninsula Press 🐉 THE WORD FOR WORLD (co-ed) out now with @silver-press.bsky.social 🌳 Website & newsletter: somayer.net. Won't age-verify so no DMs.

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So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · 23d

It's here.

BAD LANGUAGE
13/11/25

"made with love and horror, & a guidebook for our time" — @adamzmith.bsky.social
"Mayer's words & a gift and a gateway" — @elizabethlovatt.bsky.social
"incantation & spell distil a complex argument" — Lola Olufemi

Pre-order: peninsulapress.co.uk/products/bad...

Cover of Bad Language by So Mayer: hand-drawn illustration of an illuminated capital B, which is a grey dragon wrapped around a blue tree. The dragon has a red eye and smoke rising from its nostrils. The author's name and book title are written in a simple, non-joined-up cursive, as if on a chalkboard.

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Prof Lisa Schipper 🌍🍉💪 @lisaschipper.bsky.social · 9m

And day 5: Peace. Finally, a woman from the Global South.

www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace...

Nobel Peace Prize 2025

The Nobel Peace Prize 2025 was awarded to Maria Corina Machado "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transi...

www.nobelprize.org

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So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · 4m

I don't think anyone's supposed to -- hence the punishing. Means vulnerable kids fall further behind & risk exclusion.

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 9h

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.

There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.

What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.

It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

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Global Literary Theory @balaghas.bsky.social · 49m

Kayvan Tahmasebian and Rebecca Ruth Gould on Iranian writer & lexicographer Ali Akbar Dehkhoda
medium.com/global-liter...

How a Lexicographer Changed Iranian Politics

Introducing a collection of revolutionary satire from Iran

medium.com

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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 1h

The future of UK Independent presses hang by a thread. Supporting the sector is vital: this is where ALL the bravery lies. The big houses are risk averse, but copycat small press successes to revitalise their lists. Small presses are the motor!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/open...

Open letter on the future of small press publishing in the UK

The industry must work together to ensure the longevity of the UK’s independent presses.

www.thebookseller.com

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Leona Scream @editor.scot · 47m

This is important (no paywall)

The Bookseller @thebookseller.com · 58m

The industry must work together to ensure the longevity of the UK’s independent presses, independent publishers urge in a recent open letter 👇 #BookSky

Open letter on the future of small press publishing in the UK

ebx.sh

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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 1h

Just your basic reminder that for Israel under Netanyahu, "ceasefire" never actually means ceasing to fire...

BBC News report, 0845 today, of Israeli artillery strikes in Gaza.

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Aliette de Bodard @aliettedebodard.com · 3h

RIGHT, I think I've got bibliography up to date except for some weird bugs that are with my webmaster
BTW, in case you missed it, I've got two free stories:
-Angsty f/f Annatar/Celebrimbor
www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-...
-Death, grief, letting go and dragons: frictionlit.org/descendant/?...

The Breaker of Mountains and Rivers - Uncanny Magazine

Content note: torture Imawane has lost track of time, hanging in the chains—everything contracting to the pain in her legs, the pull of the chains on her wrists, the broken ribs, the breath that rat...

www.uncannymagazine.com

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So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · 38m

Academies are deep-fakes of schools tbh.

So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · 38m

It's a big New Book (with dragons) Twofer!!!! See you tonight for the other one...

www.silverpress.org/collections/...

The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin

Edited by So Mayer and Sarah Shin Pre-order: publishing October 2025 When Ursula K. Le Guin started writing a new story, she would begin by drawing a map. The Word for World presents a selection of t...

www.silverpress.org

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Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 3h

It's friday! Time for the weekly good news thread! What's your good news from the week? What's made you smile? For me it's this ridiculous show. So many bad choices. So many worse haircuts. And this slimy toad, I love him, he's so messy.

a man with a beard and a fur collar is smiling and looking up

Alt: Aethelwold from the last kingdom with a haircut like his mum put a bowl on his head and snipped below it. He's got a furry thing on the back of his chair and he's wearing a leather jerkin. His smile is what you'd see in the dictionary if you looked up "shit eating grin". He has a rubbish beard and moustache, like he's 14 but he's in his 30s.

media.tenor.com

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The Bookseller @thebookseller.com · 58m

The industry must work together to ensure the longevity of the UK’s independent presses, independent publishers urge in a recent open letter 👇 #BookSky

Open letter on the future of small press publishing in the UK

ebx.sh

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nancyforde.com @nancyfjorde.bsky.social · 54m

Now here is a human deserving of a Peace Prize. Congratulations to Venezuela's Opposition Leader María Corina Machado, who also won these prizes in 2024:

Sakharov Prize for Human Rights and Freedom of Thought

Václav Havel Human Rights Prize

Now THIS is how to human.
(Fascist 'leaders' take note.)

The Japan Times @japantimes.co.jp · 1h

BREAKING: The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Friday, for "keeping the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness."

Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado

Machado is 'a brave and committed champion of peace .. who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness,' the committee said in a statement.

ebx.sh

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So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · 52m

Got to hold my new book & it has dragons. Adult non-fiction can has dragons too!!!

So Mayer, a short, grey-haired white person, holds up copies of Bad Language. There's a sign that says Second-hand Books behind them.

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Translators Aloud @translatorsaloud.bsky.social · 58m

Vivid, joyful, raw, tender, Andrev Walden's BLOODY AWFUL IN DIFFERENT WAYS is a novel about growing up in the chaos of social change; about how love begins & ends; and above all, about men. Sound interesting? Here's a taste, read by translator @iangiles.bsky.social himself! youtu.be/ruwop7t0dME?...

Ian Giles reads from Andrev Walden’s BLOODY AWFUL IN DIFFERENT WAYS (Fig Tree, 2025)

YouTube video by Translators Aloud

youtu.be

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Natalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · 57m

brainwashfestival.nl/en/poem-by-m...

3.
You have to love your work, my hologram tells me.

But you don’t know, I say, how much work it is to love.

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elia ayoub 🌱 @ayoub.bsky.social · 56m

An overwhelming majority of ppl support a wealth tax bcs it's common sense. This is obfuscated with this weird paranoia that if we do that, the super rich will leave the UK to go to countries that have lower taxes.

But there already are such countries. Why are they still here?

Eddie Burfi @eddieburfi.bsky.social · 12h

Former Head of Comms for the IEA, Annabel Denham, says the super rich will leave if we have a wealth tax.

Yes, the very same IEA that brought us Liz Truss’ disastrous mini budget. 🤦🏽‍♂️

Green Party leader Zack Polanski explains that their taxable assets can’t leave. #bbcqt

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So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · 56m

This is a way of excluding, punishing & diminishing students with chronic illness, school avoidance & other legit reasons to be absent. While still meaning teachers have to do a shit-ton of unpaid labour, now as coders shilling for the destruction machine.

Schools Week @schoolsweek.bsky.social · 4h

Exclusive: Teachers will use 'deepfake' technology to create an AI avatar of themselves to deliver catch-up lessons for pupils who have missed school

Watch one of the school’s ‘deepfake’ teachers in our story below

schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-trus...

'Deepfake' teacher avatars to help pupils catch up

Academy trust staff to use AI generator to introduce resources for pupils returning to school

schoolsweek.co.uk

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Kate Elliott @kateelliottsff.bsky.social · 12h

The moral of this story is that WORD OF MOUTH is precious. Talk to people if there is any kind of opening about the books you love that they might also like, the tv shows & films you think are worth watching, the concerns of the day, even slide into a bit of soft political commentary. Open the door.

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Draught @draughtjournal.bsky.social · 1h

’What would be a reasonable assumption? English to Korean, or Korean to English? Is translation always direction-specific?’
Don Mee Choi on poetry, translation, politics and twinning
draughtjournal.com/article/tran...

Transatlantic Translation Anthology

<p>When I happen to mention to people that I translate contemporary Korean poets, I’m often asked which poets I translate into Korean. Am I to assume

draughtjournal.com

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The Allusionist @allusionistshow.bsky.social · 1d

New episode is in your podfeed, for Banned Books Week theallusionist.org/bannedbooks

Allusionist 218. Banned Books — The Allusionist

It's Banned Books Week. Honorary youth chair Iris Mogul and Sam Helmick, president of the American Library Association, talk about what it is, why it matters so much, and how you can get involved.

theallusionist.org

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PEN International @peninternational.bsky.social · 1h

#Guatemala: We welcome the decision of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice to overturn the conviction of José Rubén Zamora Marroquín.

The new trial must proceed with full independence and without persecution of journalism.

cnnespanol.cnn.com/2025/10/06/l...

Corte Suprema de Guatemala anula condena a José Rubén Zamora por lavado de dinero y ordena repetir juicio | CNN

La Cámara Penal de la Corte Suprema de Justicia (CSJ) anuló la condena impuesta en junio de 2023 contra el periodista José Rubén Zamora, acusado de lavado de dinero, y ordenó que se realice un nuevo j...

cnnespanol.cnn.com

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الكسندرا ميراي @lexialex.bsky.social · 1h

Naoise's brother is asking Irish people to please contact the government #Speirgorm

My sister @NaoiseDolan, alongside other members of the Thousand Madleens flotilla, has been abducted by Israeli forces while on a humanitarian mission to break the illegal siege and deliver aid to Gaza.
Please join me in urging the Irish government to demand their safe return.

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Ireland against Fascism @irlagainstfascism.bsky.social · 1h

Peace ?

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Rahul Bery @rrrahul.bsky.social · 1h

things u learn as a translator: "dick" meaning penis only came about in the 1880s and only as soldier slang, therefore not appropriate coming out of a civilian's mouth in the early 20th C. "Prick", however, has an illustrious past stretching back at least half a millennium...

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