Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · 16d

Instead of posting story submission rejections, I should start posting NetGalley request rejections from Tor.

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · 16d

Oh hey, I’m so glad you appreciated it!

Related, I have a dream that one day TSOTD gets a theater production and Viggo plays Donal. Would be pretty cool?

2

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · Sep 8

One of my favorite reviewers @litscialliance.bsky.social asks should you read one of my favorite authors @cadwellturnbull.bsky.social. The easy short answer is “YES RIGHT NOW HAVE YOU READ IT YET WHY NOT?!”

Should you read No God No Monsters || The Convergence Saga Series Review

YouTube video by Literature Science Alliance

www.youtube.com

1 1 3

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · Sep 5

Oh no there are two of them

1 5

Reposted by Sam Baxter

Short Fiction Book Club @shortficbookclub.bsky.social · Aug 23

Hi to our new followers! It was extremely cool to meet some of you at Worldcon.

Short Fiction Book Club is a collection of nerds who love short fiction. Twice a month from fall to spring (outside of our Hugo Readalong project), we pick a few stories around a common theme and discuss them.

1 5 9

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · Aug 18

@shortficbookclub.bsky.social portent of an upcoming SFBC session…

There are the wonderfully/sadly mortal fucked up birds that we repress within ourselves of “Auspicium” by @dianadima.com psychopomp.com/deadlands/is...

Auspicium, by Diana Dima - PSYCHOPOMP.COM

There has always been a sparrow inside me. At first it was just an egg, something I felt in my belly before I even had the words for it. I remember asking my mother about it, the way she hugged me and...

psychopomp.com

1 5

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · Aug 16

These are big words coming from the author of the desperate, harrowing, crow story One for Sorrow www.blanketgravitymag.com/oneforsorrow

If you haven’t yet, you should go read both of these stories/authors!

1 2 3

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · Aug 14

Un-Pragmagic was a great, incendiary story - I’ll check these out for sure!

1 1

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · Aug 7

Thank you for shouting about this story! I loved this one and have gone on to read and enjoy a bunch of your stories since first seeing you post on them here :D

1 1

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · Aug 7

Why is 👁️ so so creepy and 👀 just totally natural?

Welcome to my campaign to make eyes more eldritch.

Where is my monster romance of someone getting lost (literally) in their (many) eldritch eyes?

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · Jul 22

Who doesn’t want a good grief story though? Do other types of stories even exist? Skeptical.

1 1

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · Jul 12

@clairejiawen.bsky.social's If an Algorithm Can Cast a Shadow contains so much fantastic theme work- immigrant standards, bias, and generational divides, well-intentioned broken family causing irreparable emotional damage, casual LLM use's disregard for truth

clarkesworldmagazine.com/jia-wen_06_25/

If an Algorithm Can Cast a Shadow by Claire Jia-Wen

Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast.

clarkesworldmagazine.com

1 1 2

Reposted by Sam Baxter

Premee Mohamed @premeemohamed.com · Jun 13

If you spend all your time trying to squeeze meaning, intent, motivation, fetishes, kinks, and subtext out of someone's work, you will kill it and you will kill your enjoyment of it. You have to take breaks to let some things just be what they are (unsqueezed and alive).

4 6 100

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · Jun 9

Why is any story featuring crows automatically so good?

One for Sorrow is such a difficult and moving read, a fantastic debut story by @rjaurand.bsky.social in a debut magazine. Go check it out!

RJ Aurand @rjaurand.bsky.social · Jun 3

It's a weird and bitter kind of Pride this year. If you're like me and find miserable stories cathartic, consider reading my feel-bad Queer stories "One for Sorrow" and "Goose Teeth" this June. The horrors persist, but so do we.

www.blanketgravitymag.com/oneforsorrow
www.patreon.com/fictionfansp...

1 1 1

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · Jun 6

Just a cat doing totally normal cat things

Cat sitting gracefully (not gracefully) on a sofa cushion by a window

1

Reposted by Sam Baxter

Atthis Arts @atthisarts.com · Jun 6

Thrilled to see this new number roll over. We feel the love for Ulla's art. So much. (Well, we feel it too!)

We have a lovely update for you in the morning, our second Celebrating Art guest post. Thank you, so much, for your love, shares, and support! 💜

www.kickstarter.com/projects/att...

Faraway Dreaming by Ulla Thynell

An art book and story of forest, peace, and a calming night journey. Dragons, hills, and magic to soothe your soul.

www.kickstarter.com

3 5

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · May 30

@samtasticbooks.com can write an anxiety spiral better than anyone and still make me want to climb back out

@cadwellturnbull.bsky.social for too many reasons - writing broken but repairing relationships, the swim meet chapter, introducing me to collectivism, using the word “simulacra” a whole bunch

Amanda Rutter @alrutter.bsky.social · May 29

I urge you to please tell me two authors YOU really admire, to share our admiration and love for those who create.

1 1 2

Reposted by Sam Baxter

Short Fiction Book Club @shortficbookclub.bsky.social · May 28

Short Fiction Book Club is mostly on hiatus during the Hugos, but our monthly discussions are still running! Stop by and swap recommendations with us:
www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/co...

Short Fiction Book Club Presents: May 2025 Monthly Discussion

www.reddit.com

3 4

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · May 24

me, reading flash, usually: I wish this had a couple thousand more words.

me, writing, or attempting to: unable to write anything longer than flash. what is a plot? what is an ending? can write 800 words five times, but can’t write 4000 words once.

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · May 20

I don’t always trust my feelings about Dad stories because I’m easy to emotionally manipulate in that way, but this one is fantastic.

“I will tell you this again if you get older” - ooof

@psychopomp.com @premeemohamed.com

psychopomp.com/everyone-kee...

Everyone Keeps Saying Probably - PSYCHOPOMP.COM

Publisher's Note: Please enjoy this short story by Premee Mohamed, who, coincidentally(!!), has a book out from Psychopomp on February 11th. It's called One

psychopomp.com

1 7 14

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · May 16

@psychopomp.com marketing has been doing its job too well on me with this one. I, too, want a radish emoji and I don’t even understand why yet.

Aimee Ogden @aimeeogdenwrites.com · May 16

Happy Friday! May I present for your consideration: buy my book? The reasons you should do this are: it's my book, and it's very good, and it has a radish and her fox wife whom she adores and also a rock determined to live her best life even if maybe she wasn't meant to have a life to live.

Starstruck, by Aimee Ogden | Psychopomp

a radish, a fox, and a boulder walk into the world... check out the cover for Aimee's amazing novella STARSTRUCK, and preorder your copy today.

psychopomp.com

1 1 6

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · May 11

Need to stop following such interesting authors and publishers who do such a good job promoting upcoming works and tricking me into preordering.

Orrr I can justify my lack of restraint since they’re all small press and I had a birthday this year and everyone deserves to treat themselves sometimes.

Reposted by Sam Baxter

Celeste Ng @pronounced-ing.bsky.social · Apr 26

Did you know that Davis Sq. is now home to Narrative, a hidden gem of a bookstore? It's proudly immigrant-woman owned and operated and focuses on books by women of color. And it's about to celebrate its first birthday! 🎂 Let's keep them around for many more years.

Narrative

www.narrativebookshop.com

3 8 69

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · Apr 24

For the second year in a row, remaking a broken person out of dead crow body parts is sitting at the top of my watchlist for early favorites of the year, only this time the broken person is a lot angrier, and the crows don’t speak in profoundly nonsensical riddles.

The Deadlands @thedeadlands.com · Apr 24

TODAY, beloveds!!

FICTION 🖤

"Layla rises like a breath in winter from the hollow beneath the black cottonwoods beside the river, shrugging off the blanket of dirt and leaves and centipedes she slept beneath."

Highway 1, Past Hope by @mariahaskins.com

psychopomp.com/deadlands/is...

Highway 1, Past Hope - PSYCHOPOMP.COM

SPRING 2025, SHORT STORY, 3400 WORDS Prefer to read this as an EPUB or PDF? Join our Patreon and instantly […]

psychopomp.com

1

Sam Baxter @baxtersa.bsky.social · Apr 23

I’m sure I will! Thanks for writing one of my favorites

1