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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta
@dklatta.bsky.social
64 followers 65 following 440 posts
I write sometimes: F/SF/H/Myst &, when I can, superheroes! Tweets a mix of self-promotion, pop cultural musings, whimsy, politics. Older than I used to be. http://www.pulpanddagger.com/dk_latta.html https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=dk+latta&crid=3MO9V7TS40KDB&spr
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 8d
Probably shouldn't say but...God, I needed this; us little writers don't expect fame/fortune, but thrive on the crumbs of kind words :)
"What I particularly love about it is how Latta fits such carefully drawn characters and so much subtle emotion into a very action-packed short story." ~M. Haskins
mariahaskins.com
Maria Haskins @mariahaskins.com · 8d
Strange Horizons turns 25 this year, which is pretty much an eternity in the world of spec fic zines, and I had the privilege of going through the archives for a special short fiction roundup: 2 x 25 Gems from Strange Horizons’ Archives

strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...
A Short Fiction Treasures Special: 2 x 25 Gems from Strange Horizons’ Archives
Going through the archives of Strange Horizons for this special column has been a bit like exploring a treasure chamber. I’ve picked fifty stories. I could have picked hundreds. Meaning: I left a l…
strangehorizons.com
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Reposted by DK Latta
ourmankoto.bsky.social
Stephen Kotowych 🇨🇦 @ourmankoto.bsky.social · 9h
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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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 12h
Yeah, I actually thought the Congresswoman/politician was an interesting/off-beat secret ID premise
dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 13h
I -- unironically -- always enjoy when pop culture entertainment (TV, movies, comics, pulp novels) throw in a little infotainment. Cap. Kirk & Khan bantering about Milton, Dr Who meeting historical figures, or Batman having a rare book hobby :)
A couple of panels from Detective Comics #359 showing librarian Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon putting aside a copy of the Bay Psalms ordered by Bruce (Batman) Wayne with an editor's footnote explaining the book's value.
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Reposted by DK Latta
gailsimone.bsky.social
Gail Simone @gailsimone.bsky.social · 13h
A bunny
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 14h
I should get in the habit of doing more random plugs/shout outs for things I like (or of interest) because, I know myself, we could all use a boost these days! :)
I enjoyed your reading (I'm a fan of audio drama and books) enough that I've made a mental note to try others you did (What He Woke)
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 1d
Guess it's worth adding (in the shameless self-promotion dept.) that it reminded me a bit of my own stab at this kind of Gothic creepiness in a story titled, rather generically, "The Old Manor House" (pub. in a short-lived horror mag, Who Knocks?); it's not on-line so I'm just mentioning it :) 5/5
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 1d
..host @alasdairstuart.bsky.social talks about how creepy the story is. I'll admit: I often find horror doesn't work as well on me these days, I have trouble fully losing myself in 'em (as you *need* to). Hence why I say it was "fun", like an old Vincent Price movie; horror...but with a twinkle. 4/5
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 1d
..the great reading by @chronicleflask.katday.com; a full-on performance investing the story w/ so much personality (which can be the criticism of readings: it imposes a 3rd interpreter, not just author/reader, onto the story). Admittedly I use the term "fun" cautiously because in the afterward..3/5
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 1d
I've come across a zillion tales in this milieu (horror & non-horror, from MR James pastiches to Brideshead Revisited) but usually about young males. Here it's a female lead, and that wery British, Agatha Christie-esque, unflappably spunky (very much NOT a victim) heroine. But I can't ignore... 2/5
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 1d
Random shout out:
"The Old Lady" by Eleanor Scott (vintage tale on Pseudopod: 1929) read by writer/ed/VOA Kat Day; a fun tale managing to be very traditional (old manor house, Oxford students, creepy families) w/ some freshness. Some, I think, via the female POV. 1/5
pseudopod.org/2025/01/03/p...
PseudoPod 956: The Old Lady
Adela Young must have come up to Oxford at the same time as myself; but no one, in a way, knew that she had. She was one of those people whom one never notices, physically or mentally – the kind of…
pseudopod.org
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Reposted by DK Latta
valeriesirenko.bsky.social
Valerie Sirenko @valeriesirenko.bsky.social · 2d
BEARS! (You never know who you'll meet on a hike...)
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 2d
There are all sorts of niche conspiracy theories (flat earth, no moon landing, dinosaurs are fake, etc) but something that has always kind of nagged at me is...sabre-tooth tigers (smilodon, I guess). Lol. I mean, I just don't see how it works (even knowing how wide a house cat can yawn!)
dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 4d
For what it's worth I'd probably go with the 2nd (tho the scenery is striking in both, esp. the first!) The first you look posed for your photo; the second looks "casual" and like you're already contemplating your next story :)
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 5d
And that's what I think about when folk say they can't make things Canadian, it won't sell, CDN is boring (the "well it if it's not about maple syrup what's there to write about?" whinge).
Honestly? Maybe it'll just help boost the character stuff & 25 yrs later you'll be included in a list :)
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 5d
"since you ask me if I can boost the characterization...(heheh)" I put back in the CDN stuff including a Norman Bethune reference. USA editor of USA mag...loved the rewrite, even googled Bethune out of curiosity! (He also said nice things about the sarge stuff that I treasure to this day)
5/6
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 5d
And tho the Canadian thing was important too ME was it essential to this particular story? Reluctantly I cut ref to the protag being CDN :( But then the SH editor said he liked the story...but could I beef up the characters? "Well," I said (picture John Finnemore voice - if you get the ref lol)..4/6
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 5d
I also have a thing about being Canadian! And the Vietnam War wasn't a Canadian war (as the foofaraw 'tween Bob McKeown and Ann Coulter highlighted lol); so I decided to make my protag a CDN volunteer. HERE's where it gets interesting. 'Cause with short stories you sometimes gotta trim the fat.
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 5d
..I figured I didn't know much about the Civil War, only this n that about jazz/blues, but the Vietnam War was pretty ubiquitous in those days (as the joke goes: I saw a lot of movies). Pulpster that I am, I wanted to write a story that felt like a Twilight Zone episode. But there was a catch...
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 5d
A little BTS for my story, "Pvt. Parker, Missing in Action" for those interested in the "creative process" - and re: some of my recent posts vis-à-vis CDN identity :)
At the time it seemed like most spec mags would have a story about either: US Civil War, Jazz/Blues, or 'Nam. So mercenarily...
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mariahaskins.com
Maria Haskins @mariahaskins.com · 8d
Strange Horizons turns 25 this year, which is pretty much an eternity in the world of spec fic zines, and I had the privilege of going through the archives for a special short fiction roundup: 2 x 25 Gems from Strange Horizons’ Archives

strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...
A Short Fiction Treasures Special: 2 x 25 Gems from Strange Horizons’ Archives
Going through the archives of Strange Horizons for this special column has been a bit like exploring a treasure chamber. I’ve picked fifty stories. I could have picked hundreds. Meaning: I left a l…
strangehorizons.com
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 5d
Yeah! (Kirby's OMAC is also pretty wild in hindsight).
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 5d
I haven't seen the film, but I love that description :)
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Reposted by DK Latta
gabino.bsky.social
Gabino Iglesias @gabino.bsky.social · 6d
Scammers and plagiarists are pretty much the same people. Fuck Mary York and fuck everyone who steals words from authors.
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 6d
The X-Men have made such themes their bread n butter, but other comics have turned to them either as one-off issues, story arcs, or "imaginary"/alt world sagas. Even rooting it in real events (a 1978 retro story explaining the JSA disbanded because of HUAC and Joseph McCarthy!)
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 6d
-Superheroes are an odd genre, mixing real world with SF/F making them uniquely positioned for relevancy-thru-allegory
-Superheroes (not just mutants!) are oft coded as outsiders, minorities - scapegoats
-The genre came of age fighting Nazis!
-Less oversight/creators can be political (maybe?)
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A panel from Captain America #195 (1975) showing Cap, the Falcon, and a third figure watching a big screen image of an artificially generated politician speaking to a crowd.
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dklatta.bsky.social
DK Latta @dklatta.bsky.social · 6d
Interesting Pop Culture thing: we're in Dark Times, rising fascism/bigotry; weirdly, the genre you can look back thru old stories and find would oft warn of/address these themes? Not crime-dramas, not sitcoms, not even sci-fi necessarily.
But comic book superheroes!
The reasons are varied:
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Two panels from Sub-Mariner #7 (1968) depicting a populist demagogue politician speaking and an enraptured mob.
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