@davidmagill.bsky.social
Reposted
South Park's Matt Stone and Trey Parker are storytelling geniuses! I highlight their remarkably simple but effective "but/therefore rule" in every science communication lecture I give.
July 25, 2025 at 9:16 PM
South Park's Matt Stone and Trey Parker are storytelling geniuses! I highlight their remarkably simple but effective "but/therefore rule" in every science communication lecture I give.
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Came across an obviously "AI"-made article of "Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novels of 2025" where every one of the books doesn't actually exist, including one purported to be by me. The internet's filling up with slop, y'all.
Here's a canonical list of my work, btw:
whatever.scalzi.com/about/books-...
Here's a canonical list of my work, btw:
whatever.scalzi.com/about/books-...
Books and Other Projects by John Scalzi
You may have heard: I write books. Here’s what I’ve published. The Old Man’s War Novels This series of books is what I’m currently best known for. Old Man’s War (2005)…
whatever.scalzi.com
June 26, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Came across an obviously "AI"-made article of "Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novels of 2025" where every one of the books doesn't actually exist, including one purported to be by me. The internet's filling up with slop, y'all.
Here's a canonical list of my work, btw:
whatever.scalzi.com/about/books-...
Here's a canonical list of my work, btw:
whatever.scalzi.com/about/books-...
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"Pick up a novel," @jeremygordon.bsky.social @theatlantic.com writes, for the value in seeking "new mental frontiers beyond the accumulation of information...It may shock you, the worlds you end up exploring—and the feelings you will stir up from nothing at all." www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...
The Real Reason Men Should Read Fiction
Literature is often pushed on allegedly reluctant men as a machine for empathy. I read it for a different reason.
www.theatlantic.com
June 24, 2025 at 8:43 PM
"Pick up a novel," @jeremygordon.bsky.social @theatlantic.com writes, for the value in seeking "new mental frontiers beyond the accumulation of information...It may shock you, the worlds you end up exploring—and the feelings you will stir up from nothing at all." www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...
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I believe the women who say he sexually harassed him so he’s a little more than annoying to me.
read Ian Smith’s “We Are Othello” for a breathtaking critique of scholars like Bloom who argue characters like Hamlet are universal.
read Ian Smith’s “We Are Othello” for a breathtaking critique of scholars like Bloom who argue characters like Hamlet are universal.
June 14, 2025 at 9:21 PM
I believe the women who say he sexually harassed him so he’s a little more than annoying to me.
read Ian Smith’s “We Are Othello” for a breathtaking critique of scholars like Bloom who argue characters like Hamlet are universal.
read Ian Smith’s “We Are Othello” for a breathtaking critique of scholars like Bloom who argue characters like Hamlet are universal.
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I put together a little folder for my department of some readings that shaped my pedagogy, helped me diversify my syllabi, & taught me how to be a better ally to my marginalized students & colleagues. it is by no means exhaustive, but I thought I'd share:
www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/c3ozt...
www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/c3ozt...
Dropbox
www.dropbox.com
June 10, 2025 at 8:41 PM
I put together a little folder for my department of some readings that shaped my pedagogy, helped me diversify my syllabi, & taught me how to be a better ally to my marginalized students & colleagues. it is by no means exhaustive, but I thought I'd share:
www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/c3ozt...
www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/c3ozt...
Reposted
This is a really good article about how AI works. And, more importantly, how it doesn’t….
www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
What Happens When People Don’t Understand How AI Works
Despite what tech CEOs might say, large language models are not smart in any recognizably human sense of the word.
www.theatlantic.com
June 6, 2025 at 4:21 PM
This is a really good article about how AI works. And, more importantly, how it doesn’t….
www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
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"We believe that mapping the damage done and its human costs—and the pushback and resilience work already underway—is necessary groundwork for building and retaining political agency"
May 31, 2025 at 12:08 AM
"We believe that mapping the damage done and its human costs—and the pushback and resilience work already underway—is necessary groundwork for building and retaining political agency"
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Raise your kids to be kind, empathetic, compassionate and respectful. Teach them to embrace differences, to question authority and fear blind loyalty. Raise them to think for themselves, be thoughtful, and have open minds.
Teach them to be good humans.
Fuck this gross, toxic masculinity bullshit.
Teach them to be good humans.
Fuck this gross, toxic masculinity bullshit.
A Fox host’s ‘rules for being a man’: no leg-crossing, no public soup drinking | Arwa Mahdawi
A Fox host’s ‘rules for being a man’: no leg-crossing, no public soup drinking | Arwa Mahdawi
Jesse Watters’ list is so bizarre, it has me agreeing with Ted Cruz – and Watters’ show helps shape US politics
www.theguardian.com
May 24, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Raise your kids to be kind, empathetic, compassionate and respectful. Teach them to embrace differences, to question authority and fear blind loyalty. Raise them to think for themselves, be thoughtful, and have open minds.
Teach them to be good humans.
Fuck this gross, toxic masculinity bullshit.
Teach them to be good humans.
Fuck this gross, toxic masculinity bullshit.
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I can’t tell you how many people have said they found new favorite songs via this former-DJ-curated music series. It has already published hundreds of recommendations—and now dozens of unlisted, RETRO-exclusive playlists for subscribers. Hope you’ll check it out.
The New Music Discovery Project, Vol. 24
These Retro-exclusive YouTube playlists offer a mix of contemporary genres curated by a former DJ. And if past is precedent, each is guaranteed to hold at least one new favorite song per listener.
retrostack.substack.com
May 24, 2025 at 8:38 PM
I can’t tell you how many people have said they found new favorite songs via this former-DJ-curated music series. It has already published hundreds of recommendations—and now dozens of unlisted, RETRO-exclusive playlists for subscribers. Hope you’ll check it out.
Reposted
Bookish Taste Test:
How similar is our taste in books??
The bookish taste test trend is back! Here's a look at some of my favorite books...
+ 10 pts for each book read
+ 5 pts for each on your TBR
120 points possible!
What's your score??
How similar is our taste in books??
The bookish taste test trend is back! Here's a look at some of my favorite books...
+ 10 pts for each book read
+ 5 pts for each on your TBR
120 points possible!
What's your score??
May 19, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Bookish Taste Test:
How similar is our taste in books??
The bookish taste test trend is back! Here's a look at some of my favorite books...
+ 10 pts for each book read
+ 5 pts for each on your TBR
120 points possible!
What's your score??
How similar is our taste in books??
The bookish taste test trend is back! Here's a look at some of my favorite books...
+ 10 pts for each book read
+ 5 pts for each on your TBR
120 points possible!
What's your score??
Reposted
FAVORITE NOVELS THAT DEAL WITH FAITH:
1. GILEAD, Marilynne Robinson
2. PALE FIRE, Nabokov
3. CATHEDRAL, Ben Hopkins
4. THE BOOKS OF JACOB, Tokarczuk
5. THE NAMES, DeLillo
6. LIGHT IN AUGUST, Faulkner
7. OUTER DARK, McCarthy
8. WISE BLOOD, O’Connor
9. THE BROTHERS K, Dostoevsky
1. GILEAD, Marilynne Robinson
2. PALE FIRE, Nabokov
3. CATHEDRAL, Ben Hopkins
4. THE BOOKS OF JACOB, Tokarczuk
5. THE NAMES, DeLillo
6. LIGHT IN AUGUST, Faulkner
7. OUTER DARK, McCarthy
8. WISE BLOOD, O’Connor
9. THE BROTHERS K, Dostoevsky
May 9, 2025 at 4:58 PM
FAVORITE NOVELS THAT DEAL WITH FAITH:
1. GILEAD, Marilynne Robinson
2. PALE FIRE, Nabokov
3. CATHEDRAL, Ben Hopkins
4. THE BOOKS OF JACOB, Tokarczuk
5. THE NAMES, DeLillo
6. LIGHT IN AUGUST, Faulkner
7. OUTER DARK, McCarthy
8. WISE BLOOD, O’Connor
9. THE BROTHERS K, Dostoevsky
1. GILEAD, Marilynne Robinson
2. PALE FIRE, Nabokov
3. CATHEDRAL, Ben Hopkins
4. THE BOOKS OF JACOB, Tokarczuk
5. THE NAMES, DeLillo
6. LIGHT IN AUGUST, Faulkner
7. OUTER DARK, McCarthy
8. WISE BLOOD, O’Connor
9. THE BROTHERS K, Dostoevsky
Reposted
Reposted
here’s the syllabus for this course, on “Bad Mothers in Literature: Then & Now,” inspired by Jessamine Chan’s School for Good Mothers:
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
April 24, 2025 at 2:38 AM
here’s the syllabus for this course, on “Bad Mothers in Literature: Then & Now,” inspired by Jessamine Chan’s School for Good Mothers:
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted
Without fail, whenever there's an article about a transgender person, the comments have at least one person who boldly declares: “There are only two genders! XX and XY!” The reality, of course, is not that simplistic, far from it.
Beyond XX & XY—Human Sex And Gender Were Never A Simple Binary
Humans are more complicated than most online experts think.
thinkbigpicture.substack.com
April 22, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Without fail, whenever there's an article about a transgender person, the comments have at least one person who boldly declares: “There are only two genders! XX and XY!” The reality, of course, is not that simplistic, far from it.
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Toni Morrison - Racism and Fascism.
April 12, 2025 at 6:55 PM
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It's the last day of Women in Horror month, so I wrote up a brief recap of all the creepy books I read over the past four weeks. 😍
Women in Horror: March 2025 Reads
Obviously, the best month to read some ladies writing horror is every month. But as March is specifically Women in Horror month, I’ve been primarily reading—you guessed it—horror books writte…
mygeekblasphemy.com
March 31, 2025 at 4:40 PM
It's the last day of Women in Horror month, so I wrote up a brief recap of all the creepy books I read over the past four weeks. 😍
Reposted
I read more nonfiction than fiction these days, so psyched for a reminder of stuff to pick up: www.kirkusreviews.com/nonfiction/b...
March 31, 2025 at 2:22 PM
I read more nonfiction than fiction these days, so psyched for a reminder of stuff to pick up: www.kirkusreviews.com/nonfiction/b...
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for those on the market, here are all my job materials: everything from the cover letter to the job talk that got me a tenure-track job at William & Mary + some other materials.
yes, it’s a lottery. yes, it’s also helpful to see successful examples:
www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxln6...
yes, it’s a lottery. yes, it’s also helpful to see successful examples:
www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxln6...
Dropbox
www.dropbox.com
March 30, 2025 at 8:18 PM
for those on the market, here are all my job materials: everything from the cover letter to the job talk that got me a tenure-track job at William & Mary + some other materials.
yes, it’s a lottery. yes, it’s also helpful to see successful examples:
www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxln6...
yes, it’s a lottery. yes, it’s also helpful to see successful examples:
www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxln6...
Reposted
I was interviewed for The Nation in advance of the Portable Feminist Reader coming out on 3/25. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Roxane Gay on What Feminism Can Do in This Moment
An interview with the best-selling author about her latest project, The Portable Feminist Reader.
www.thenation.com
March 13, 2025 at 6:13 PM
I was interviewed for The Nation in advance of the Portable Feminist Reader coming out on 3/25. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Reposted
from senator @chrismurphyct.bsky.social chris murphy's recent floor speech, via @davidcorn.bsky.social ...
link.motherjones.com/public/38940...
link.motherjones.com/public/38940...
March 12, 2025 at 4:31 PM
from senator @chrismurphyct.bsky.social chris murphy's recent floor speech, via @davidcorn.bsky.social ...
link.motherjones.com/public/38940...
link.motherjones.com/public/38940...
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Beyond flattered to be on this list with so many amazing comedians.
The 25 Best Stand-Up Specials on Netflix
The best stand-up comedy specials to watch on Netflix right now
time.com
February 25, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Beyond flattered to be on this list with so many amazing comedians.
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I heard my friend Dan here give a remarkable brief talk about this last month. Thankfully, he’s written it up at length to share.
In light of everything happening, I wrote about how the KKK in the 1920s felt unstoppable, about the people that fought against them anyway, and about how fascism always fails. dansinker.com/posts/202…
February 24, 2025 at 2:06 PM
I heard my friend Dan here give a remarkable brief talk about this last month. Thankfully, he’s written it up at length to share.
Reposted
one of the stupidest things i have had the misfortune of reading today and i am sharing it with you.
February 17, 2025 at 2:29 PM
one of the stupidest things i have had the misfortune of reading today and i am sharing it with you.
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To be fair, The Great Gatsby was only a modest success while Fitzgerald was alive; it took off as a "classic" only after it was selected for a WWII program to send books to soldiers. He died in 1940, thinking his soon-to-be-most-famous book was an underachiever.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council...
January 30, 2025 at 11:39 PM
To be fair, The Great Gatsby was only a modest success while Fitzgerald was alive; it took off as a "classic" only after it was selected for a WWII program to send books to soldiers. He died in 1940, thinking his soon-to-be-most-famous book was an underachiever.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council...