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Benjamin C. Kinney

@benjaminckinney.com

3.2K followers 1.1K following 870 posts

SFF writer, neuroscientist, Hugo finalist. Escape Pod 2017-2023. Codex, VP, SFWA. Short stories in Analog, Lightspeed, Sunday Morning Transport, etc. Neuroscience (not under pen name): rehabilitation, neuroimaging, movement control, handedness

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · Apr 24

Hello new followers! I'm not super social-media-active, but I sometimes talk neuroscience and/or speculative fiction. I've got 30+ short stories out in the world (most free to read), here's an intro sampler: benjaminckinney.com/introduction/

Introduction & Selected Fiction » Benjamin C. Kinney - still pruning...

An introduction post for new readers: six selected stories from my archive of 30+ publications.

benjaminckinney.com

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Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 2d

I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections

After Dinner Conversation® @afterdinnerconversation.com · 2d

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Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney

Elizabeth Bear @matociquala.bsky.social · 6d

Very excited to offer the internet this novelette about dirtbags, privatization, heavy weather, and a beagle named Henry.

Escape Pod @escapepod.org · 6d

Sure, we all know Buckaroo Banzai's wisdom: "no matter where you go, there you are." In case you'd rather be somewhere else, this week we bring you part 1 of "Here Instead of There" by @matociquala.bsky.social, complete with grade-A cursing! Great for wherever in spacetime you find yourself.

Escape Pod 1013: Here Instead of There (Part 1 of 2)

Waking up sick in a punk house shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody so I don’t know why it always came as a surprise to me. My head throbbed so bad I couldn’t tell the difference between the hangover…

escapepod.org

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Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney

Patrick Nielsen Hayden @pnh.nielsenhayden.com · 7d

To cite a really simple example — I think I first heard this one from @lydy.bsky.social — it’s obviously useful to any band of humans to have a few members who can’t sleep at night or stay awake during the day.

Richard Garfinkle @rgarfinklesff.bsky.social · 7d

The benefits of neurodiversity are obvious if people would stop to think about it. Different ways of thinking means that different skills are easier for different people. A mentally diverse population can therefore do much more, learn much more and create much more than a mental monoculture. /1

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 7d

Aw, fluff black kitty💔 I hope she is still here for a murder (and loving) time, even if not a long one!

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 7d

Oh wow! I heard about that years ago, English translation at last??! 👀

Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 9d

SECRET PLANS ARE BREWING

BE PATIENT

VERY VERY PATIENT

MORE PATIENT THAN THAT

MAYBE IT'S TOO EARLY TO MENTION IT

BUT STILL

🕵️🌓

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Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney

Escape Pod @escapepod.org · 10d

If you're not a supporter of Escape Pod and you're looking to be, lock in your subscription before October 1st, lest you hear the ads crackling against the cosmic microwave background. More details here! www.patreon.com/posts/lock-i...

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Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney

kelsey jaffer @kelatonin.bsky.social · 15d

i challenge you to find cooler news today than “despite all odds against American scientific research rn, a CO researcher developed a temperature-stable, single dose rabies vaccine that works bc of particles coated in CANDY & SAPPHIRE, & it could help reduce rabies deaths in places w/o electricity”

Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 15d

Happy (rainy) Tuesday, #Boulder. I've got a new story for you all about a new temperature-stable, single-injection rabies vaccine developed by @colorado.edu researcher Ted Randolph.

www.colorado.edu/today/2025/0...

New single-dose, temperature-stable rabies vaccines could expand global access

CU Boulder engineers have developed a new method for making vaccines that combines multiple, timed-release doses into a single injection that doesn't require

www.colorado.edu

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 15d

But we sing it anyways!

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 16d

Subtly downgrade a band:

A 1975.

Arturo Serrano 🇨🇴🤖👽🧙🦄 @carturo222.bsky.social · 16d

Subtly downgrade a band:

Stream-enterer.

born miserable @bornmiserable.bsky.social · 17d

subtly downgrade a band:

Some Doubt

Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney

POKEY THE PENGUIN @pokeythepenguin.bsky.social · 20d

IT IS A NATIONAL DAY OF POKEY!!!

IT IS POKEY, STANDING AMONGST THE GREENERY OF THE LOVELY ARCTIC CIRCLE, STATING: HOORAY!

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Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney

Dr Kat Day (she/her) @chronicleflask.katday.com · 20d

… and then you delete that sentence because it’s not really serving the story, actually

Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 20d

The primary diff between writing fiction and nonfiction is when you write nonfic, you research a topic for 2 weeks and then write 1000 words on it and when you write fiction you research a topic for 2 weeks and get one sentence out of it.

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 20d

Boo, the store lists Aleph and Bet as both out of stock. Any idea when they might be available?

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 24d

Had fun today setting @inkfoundry.bsky.social as a hub to find my stories - including some previously unavailable online!

I could describe "For Every Bee a Hive," "A Living Planet," "The Successors" & more - but Inkfoundry's tagging system does the job so well 😎

inkfoundry.net/writer/benja...

inkfoundry.net

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 24d

Tagging my stories with "birds aren't real," "hopeful skynet," and "adventure fantasy (but not about the adventurers)" has been the highlight of my day.

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 24d

I got to tag one of my stories with "birds aren't real" and I am happy forever now

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 24d

inkfoundry.net

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 25d

Yessss, I have brought pastries from that bakery to Readercons past, shall endeavor again!

Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 25d

Have you ever received the black & whites from my home bakery in Boston (Cheryl Anne's)? They are like cupcakes compressed into cookie form, and growing up on them spoiled me for all other B&W's ever.

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 25d

Nobody dared to broach the question

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 26d

If (you're serious and) you want any advice, I have an in-house expert (literally) on what they call Isolated & Confined Environments, lmk if you want any advice or maybe even contacts!

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · 26d

Sick burn LIES

Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney

John Wiswell @wiswell.bsky.social · 29d

Unveiling the cover for THE DRAGON HAS SOME COMPLAINTS!

Garrodigh is a curmudgeonly three-headed dragon who pretends to be tame so he can eat for free at the local dragon-riding academy. Unfortunately, the rider he's assigned to is... a lot.

Coming Summer 2026 from DAW (US) and Arcadia (UK)!

A cover illustrated by James Fenner. A woman with long red hair and padded clothing sits on the ground, petting the head of a smiling serpentine dragon. But the dragon has more than one head! On the left, a second giant dragon head emerges, frowning, looking at her while wearing a monocle. On the right, a third giant dragon head emerges, jaws wide, screaming in anger. The text is teal, contrasting sharply against the red and maroon of the creatures. The text on the cover reads "THE DRAGON HAS SOME COMPLAINTS. JOHN WISWELL, author of the Nebula and Locus Award-winning SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN."

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Benjamin C. Kinney @benjaminckinney.com · Sep 8

Independent invention of kashrut (kosherness), A+

Reposted by Benjamin C. Kinney

Greg van Eekhout @gregvaneekhout.bsky.social · Sep 8

Every time there’s litfic vs genre discourse I remember that writing was invented by Sumerians to track beer inventory and I head to the fridge.

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