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Reposted by Charlotte Ashley

Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 5h

Submissions are OPEN for Year's Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume Four (the best of 2025). Send me your SFF published in 2025, you crazy Canucks! Details on my site at the link below. DON'T SELF REJECT! You can't win if you don't play ;) Subs close Feb 28, 2026. Pls share WIDELY.

Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction | Stephen Kotowych

kotowych.com

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 9h

Almost everything in my life started online--I've lived here since Usenet in 1995. 😅 So let's go with the latest:

I bought @tridenthalifax.bsky.social after seeing it for sale on IG.

The text under an Instagram post of Trident Cafe Halifax offering a bookstore/cafe for sale, and hidashara's reply asking how much.

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Reposted by Charlotte Ashley

rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 1d

And I just want to reiterate this ( from a thread deep in replies). I started doing this work before any of these tools existed. The number of my contemporaries in the field who have died by suicide is NOT A SMALL NUMBER. The work is incredibly traumatizing.

rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 1d

As someone who was doing that human review of images before even PhotoDNA existed, I can testify that the amount of human suffering automated image classification prevents is MASSIVE. Like, I am the best case scenario of the human cost of that work and I still have lifelong consequences from it.

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 3d

We tend to fail at the livestream part, though. 😅 Only for paid hybrid workshops... (see: @tridenthalifax.bsky.social )

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 3d

I eat octopus *because* they might be sapient and I think it is important that we show em who's boss 😒

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 5d

It's me, I am TriCon! Kid A and I will be in Ottawa in a couple of weeks repping TriCon and answering all your questions. Come chat, hang, exchange. 😊

TriCon @tricon-hfx.bsky.social · 5d

TriCon will be at @canconsffh.bsky.social! Look for our Executive Chair, @charlotteashley.bsky.social, in Ottawa the weekend of October 17-19 2025. She'll have TriCon swag & all the answers you could want about Kjipuktuk's newest literary event!

Come say hi and introduce yourself! 💙📚🔱

TriCon's schedule: Saturday, October 18, 11:30-12:20pm, Reading Like a Writer w/ several panelists; Sunday, October 19, 2:30-3:29pm, Local Writing Communities & How to Join Them w/ several panelists.

An October calendar indicating the dates of Can*Con (October 17, 18, and 19) reading Let's hang at Can*Con! Includes social media handles.

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Reposted by Charlotte Ashley

The Beaverton @thebeaverton.com · 7d

New Tron movie looks pretty co - aw, shit is Jared Leto in this?

Saint John, New Brunswick - Initial excitement over the latest entry in Disney’s sci-fi Tron franchise was ruined when it was discovered it also stars Jared Leto. During a recent family movie night, a...

www.thebeaverton.com

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Reposted by Charlotte Ashley

Dr. Jen M @awesomebiota.bsky.social · 8d

I’m sorry, HOLD THE PHONE. The Brilliant Lady has the ability to light up balconies in either blue or red light to SPELL THINGS????????

It says “❤️ HALIFAX”

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 8d

That's fantastic, we'll be so thrilled to have you. 😁

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 8d

This has got to be ragebait, right?! "Job hugging??"

Are you being exploited and belittled by uncaring parasytes? Get a plant! Remind yourself you technically get a paycheque! Be silly, but only after hours and remember that this is technically mischief...

Definitely don't change anything!

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 8d

Hate your job – but can’t afford to leave? 20 ways to love your work a little more

In these precarious times, many people hang on to roles they’d rather ditch. So, how to rekindle your passion and purpose? Readers and experts share their best suggestions

www.theguardian.com

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 9d

A Distant Soil by Colleen Doran?

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 9d

That was me! I moderated the panel, and I am now the Chair of TriCon. 😂

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 10d

Just saying

Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 10d

There is no such claim on kinktober however

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 11d

This is ultimately the same as being with a small press, imo--except you *are* the small press.

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Reposted by Charlotte Ashley

'Nathan Boo-goine 👻 @nathanburgoine.bsky.social · 12d

I keep thinking about buyers and how—over the space of a decade or two—I watched how the chain bookstore I worked at went from "let us tell find the right book for you" to "these books go here on these displays, exactly like this, no exceptions."

It… sucked.

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Tajja Isen @tajjaisen.bsky.social · 12d

I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...

The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem | The Walrus

Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it

thewalrus.ca

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 12d

I write my best with no prep, a tight deadline, and an excuse to show off. I am so excited about this!!

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 12d

Late night weekend promo, you say? Best time for marketing!

I am gonna be participating in the WFNS's Writing Rumble this Oct 23! We're raising funds for the Alistair MacLeod Mentorship program by writing team stories over the course of an afternoon! Sponsor me at:

writers.ns.ca/workshops-ev...

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 12d

Anyway, there's nothing we can do about this except maybe break up PRH and Amazon, B&N and Indigo. Don't put this on readers. This is out of our hands. -.-

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 12d

But that's economics of scale for you. Way cheaper to make 100,000 of one thing than 1,000 each of 100 things.

Since when has big business *ever* been about serving customers? We only get Oreos and Star Wars.

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 12d

Here's a secret: nobody who enters a bookstore leaves it empty-handed.

They don't come in, look for ONE SPECIFIC BLOCKBUSTER, and leave if they don't find it. They explore and buy something that catches their eye.

Blockbusters are created by Amazon, B&N, Penguin, S&S. Not readers.

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 12d

As a used bookseller, this is maddening because every damn day I see appetite for strange books, old books, indie books, forgotten books. Readers are there. They love to explore the store & buy things they've never heard of.

Publishing's biggest problem is that they've forgotten how to sell books.

Tajja Isen @tajjaisen.bsky.social · 12d

I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...

The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem | The Walrus

Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it

thewalrus.ca

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 13d

Icymi, these are our three incredible guests of honour at @tricon-hfx.bsky.social! 👇

TriCon @tricon-hfx.bsky.social · 13d

We all know publishing is much more than putting words on a page! A book is created by a team of skilled people beyond the author, and to excel in this industry is to include them all in our celebration!

In that spirit, TriCon welcomes three Guests of Honour—an editor, an agent, & a writer. 🎉📖🧵

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Reposted by Charlotte Ashley

TriCon @tricon-hfx.bsky.social · 13d

TWO great opportunities from the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia!

The Charles R. Saunders Prize for an "emerging or early-career writer with a speculative fiction work-in-progress" and the Hal-Con 2025 zines are both OPEN for applications, and closing next month!

Apply at writers.ns.ca

Image of a person on a rocky planet facing a portal superimposed with information about the WFNS Hal-Con 2025 Call for Speculative Writing

Infographoc for the Charles R. Saunders Prize in green and white with a line drawing of Charles R Saunders in the top right

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Charlotte Ashley @charlotteashley.bsky.social · 13d

Ahhh, I am so excited to see you guys! 😊😊😊