Zohar Jacobs
@zoharjacobs.bsky.social
Migrant Jewish intellectual. Writer, historian, mystic | Fiction in Sunday Morning Transport, Analog, Asimov's & Clarkesworld | Oxford, UK
Happy to announce that my novelette "On the Night Shift," originally in @asimovssfmag.bsky.social, will be reprinted in Best of British Science Fiction 2025. You can pre-order now! www.newconpress.co.uk/info/book.as...
Best of British Science Fiction 2025, Keith Brooke, Eric Brown, Emma Burnett, Anne Charnock, David Cleden, Lyndsey Croal, EM Faulds, Stark Holborn, Lyle Hopwood, Stewart Hotston, Zohar Jacobs, Tim Maj...
NewCon Press is a multiple award-winning independent publisher specialising in science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy and horror.
www.newconpress.co.uk
February 13, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Happy to announce that my novelette "On the Night Shift," originally in @asimovssfmag.bsky.social, will be reprinted in Best of British Science Fiction 2025. You can pre-order now! www.newconpress.co.uk/info/book.as...
A large proportion of my novels and short stories were written while watching cycling on TV.
Not liking spectator sport is one of the best life hacks going. Over a lifetime you'll end up with literally years of time to dedicate to whatever you want, compared to spending it being pointlessly obsessed with other people playing a game
February 13, 2026 at 11:22 AM
A large proportion of my novels and short stories were written while watching cycling on TV.
Damn.
The Trump administration is dramatically expanding an effort to revoke U.S. citizenship for foreign-born Americans as it works to curb immigration, according to two people familiar with the plans.
Trump administration working to expand effort to strip citizenship from foreign-born Americans
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials focused on denaturalization were sent to offices nationwide, sources say.
nbcnews.to
February 12, 2026 at 10:22 PM
Damn.
Amazed and delighted to discover that Diane Vaughan (author of "The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA") has recently published a 700-page book about air traffic controllers. Yes I am buying it.
February 12, 2026 at 2:15 PM
Amazed and delighted to discover that Diane Vaughan (author of "The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA") has recently published a 700-page book about air traffic controllers. Yes I am buying it.
Reposted by Zohar Jacobs
Someone told me lately "Bluesky is just like Twitter." I argued that was untrue on the basis that last time I had a Twitter account most times I got a new follower their bio said "single & looking for fun" & here when I get a new follower it tends to say something like "professor of rare moths".
February 12, 2026 at 10:55 AM
Someone told me lately "Bluesky is just like Twitter." I argued that was untrue on the basis that last time I had a Twitter account most times I got a new follower their bio said "single & looking for fun" & here when I get a new follower it tends to say something like "professor of rare moths".
Reposted by Zohar Jacobs
The Oxfam Bookshop on St Giles, the charity’s first ever dedicated bookshop, could be closed. Landlords Regent’s Park College have applied to convert the premises into a Middle Common Room for graduate student use.
February 10, 2026 at 10:35 AM
The Oxfam Bookshop on St Giles, the charity’s first ever dedicated bookshop, could be closed. Landlords Regent’s Park College have applied to convert the premises into a Middle Common Room for graduate student use.
Identified with this up to the point I read it was an A1 exam. C'mon, my guy... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Mississipi judge travels 4,000 miles to sit Welsh-language exam
A US judge travels more than 4,000 miles after teaching himself Welsh.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 9, 2026 at 8:32 PM
Identified with this up to the point I read it was an A1 exam. C'mon, my guy... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Sedna enjoyed watching the curling this afternoon.
February 7, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Sedna enjoyed watching the curling this afternoon.
Reposted by Zohar Jacobs
This could be why Bitcoin is crashing. People are switching back to high yield tulips.
Tulips from Lincolnshire on sale in a cafe/deli around the corner from my office in London for... yes, **£50** a bunch 🌷🌷😬😲
February 6, 2026 at 8:45 AM
This could be why Bitcoin is crashing. People are switching back to high yield tulips.
Peak @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social content
February 5, 2026 at 11:04 AM
Peak @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social content
Reposted by Zohar Jacobs
This is preying on my mind a bit. Jeffrey Epstein was not primarily a British scandal! So far we've removed a Prince from the Royal family, fired our US ambassador who was one of the most important political figures of the last few decades and banned the CEO of Barclays from the financial industry..
One by one, Europeans mentioned in the Epstein files who still hold political office are beginning to resign or are being forced out of office.
Meanwhile, ruled by an administration almost entirely made up of Epstein associates, the US carries on as if nothing really happened.
Meanwhile, ruled by an administration almost entirely made up of Epstein associates, the US carries on as if nothing really happened.
February 4, 2026 at 11:13 AM
This is preying on my mind a bit. Jeffrey Epstein was not primarily a British scandal! So far we've removed a Prince from the Royal family, fired our US ambassador who was one of the most important political figures of the last few decades and banned the CEO of Barclays from the financial industry..
Reposted by Zohar Jacobs
New fuck/marry/kill list just dropped
February 4, 2026 at 6:05 AM
New fuck/marry/kill list just dropped
Reposted by Zohar Jacobs
I don't mean to seem alarmed, but it appears Google's book search function is, just...gone.
In a sane country it would be a huge deal, front page news, that a privately owned utility that millions researches, from journalists to scholars, rely on every day to advance knowledge can just disappear.
In a sane country it would be a huge deal, front page news, that a privately owned utility that millions researches, from journalists to scholars, rely on every day to advance knowledge can just disappear.
February 3, 2026 at 5:36 PM
I don't mean to seem alarmed, but it appears Google's book search function is, just...gone.
In a sane country it would be a huge deal, front page news, that a privately owned utility that millions researches, from journalists to scholars, rely on every day to advance knowledge can just disappear.
In a sane country it would be a huge deal, front page news, that a privately owned utility that millions researches, from journalists to scholars, rely on every day to advance knowledge can just disappear.
It is going to be such a shock when we next see the sun again
Here in the UK it is cold and wet but there is at least the positive that the days are getting longer quite rapidly now. At 51 degrees north where I live we will gain an extra 24 minutes of daylight this week as this #dataviz shows.
February 3, 2026 at 5:35 PM
It is going to be such a shock when we next see the sun again
Reposted by Zohar Jacobs
I’m not sure how to word this but it also feels like it adds a confounding factor moving forward when folk put forth that retroactive diminishing.
Like, it makes it *harder* to out horrible people who’ve made good art, because of the added (false!) conceit of "bad people only make bad art"?
Like, it makes it *harder* to out horrible people who’ve made good art, because of the added (false!) conceit of "bad people only make bad art"?
February 3, 2026 at 4:47 PM
I’m not sure how to word this but it also feels like it adds a confounding factor moving forward when folk put forth that retroactive diminishing.
Like, it makes it *harder* to out horrible people who’ve made good art, because of the added (false!) conceit of "bad people only make bad art"?
Like, it makes it *harder* to out horrible people who’ve made good art, because of the added (false!) conceit of "bad people only make bad art"?
Reposted by Zohar Jacobs
one thing that would be cool, when prominent creators turn out to be terrible people, would be if we didn't have to go through this performative dance of insisting that their work was never good in the first place.
February 2, 2026 at 9:48 PM
one thing that would be cool, when prominent creators turn out to be terrible people, would be if we didn't have to go through this performative dance of insisting that their work was never good in the first place.
Reposted by Zohar Jacobs
Reposted by Zohar Jacobs
For @thepointmag.bsky.social I wrote one of the most personally important essays I’ve ever written. Please give it a read if you’re someone who cares about education. thepointmag.com/examined-lif...
The Left Case for Great Books | The Point Magazine
A great-books model at the undergraduate level is, in fact, so consonant with Freire’s radical critique that it represents a far better path forward for a left-wing vision of education than virtually ...
thepointmag.com
February 1, 2026 at 5:20 PM
For @thepointmag.bsky.social I wrote one of the most personally important essays I’ve ever written. Please give it a read if you’re someone who cares about education. thepointmag.com/examined-lif...
Have discovered that civilians can book onto the RAF airbridge from Brize Norton to the Falklands via a short stopover on Ascension Island. I mean, this is almost certainly a terrible idea (also over £2,000 return), but what an experience it would be.
January 31, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Have discovered that civilians can book onto the RAF airbridge from Brize Norton to the Falklands via a short stopover on Ascension Island. I mean, this is almost certainly a terrible idea (also over £2,000 return), but what an experience it would be.
Seen in Oxford: man walking down the street in full Captain America costume. Group of teenage boys at the bus stop watching him: "Is that ICE?"
January 30, 2026 at 1:39 PM
Seen in Oxford: man walking down the street in full Captain America costume. Group of teenage boys at the bus stop watching him: "Is that ICE?"
The day after Challenger, 40 years ago today. Seeing a flight director as tough and experienced as Jay Greene on the verge of tears really brings the tragedy home: "There was nothing anybody could have done for this one. It just stopped."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo60...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo60...
STS-51L Flight Director/Launch Commentator Press Conference
YouTube video by lunarmodule5
www.youtube.com
January 29, 2026 at 1:39 PM
The day after Challenger, 40 years ago today. Seeing a flight director as tough and experienced as Jay Greene on the verge of tears really brings the tragedy home: "There was nothing anybody could have done for this one. It just stopped."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo60...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo60...
I was not quite 4, but already really interested in astronomy and space exploration. My mother intentionally kept me from seeing the news; she knew how traumatic it would be.
But since I grew up in New Hampshire, going to the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium, I can't remember not knowing about it.
But since I grew up in New Hampshire, going to the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium, I can't remember not knowing about it.
So much going on, it’s almost escaped notice today is the 40th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
If you were alive back then (of any age to be aware of world events), you probably know exactly where you were when it happened
Most of us watched it in real time in the classroom
If you were alive back then (of any age to be aware of world events), you probably know exactly where you were when it happened
Most of us watched it in real time in the classroom
January 29, 2026 at 12:35 PM
I was not quite 4, but already really interested in astronomy and space exploration. My mother intentionally kept me from seeing the news; she knew how traumatic it would be.
But since I grew up in New Hampshire, going to the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium, I can't remember not knowing about it.
But since I grew up in New Hampshire, going to the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium, I can't remember not knowing about it.
Reposted by Zohar Jacobs
Problem: You are not a very good writer.
Solution: Your narrator is not a very good writer.
Solution: Your narrator is not a very good writer.
Twenty Solutions to Common Story Problems
1. Problem: The story you are writing has plot holes. Solution: Unreliable narrator. - - -2. Problem: The story you are writing has severe, glaring...
buff.ly
January 28, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Problem: You are not a very good writer.
Solution: Your narrator is not a very good writer.
Solution: Your narrator is not a very good writer.
Reposted by Zohar Jacobs
*Coughs*
Person here who literally wrote a PhD thesis on the BBC's coverage of the Holocaust while it was actually happening: they did this then too.
Person here who literally wrote a PhD thesis on the BBC's coverage of the Holocaust while it was actually happening: they did this then too.
‘Shameful’ BBC accused of ‘Holocaust erasure’ after omitting word ‘Jew’ from HMD coverage
www.thejc.com/news/uk/sham...
www.thejc.com/news/uk/sham...
‘Shameful’ BBC accused of ‘Holocaust erasure’ after omitting word ‘Jew’ from HMD coverage - The Jewish Chronicle
Corporation forced forced to apologise for ‘incorrect wording’
www.thejc.com
January 28, 2026 at 11:09 AM
*Coughs*
Person here who literally wrote a PhD thesis on the BBC's coverage of the Holocaust while it was actually happening: they did this then too.
Person here who literally wrote a PhD thesis on the BBC's coverage of the Holocaust while it was actually happening: they did this then too.
Not sure if vibes are London pub, French bistro or fairyland.
(The Tap on the Line, Kew Gardens station)
(The Tap on the Line, Kew Gardens station)
January 27, 2026 at 8:08 PM
Not sure if vibes are London pub, French bistro or fairyland.
(The Tap on the Line, Kew Gardens station)
(The Tap on the Line, Kew Gardens station)