Holly Messinger
@hollysmess.bsky.social
Author, sewist, historian, martial artist
Pinned
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Free escapist literature for subscribers. Feminist rage historical fantasy.
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Put em up against the wall. Fucking destructive jackals.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Two men filmed felling of Sycamore Gap tree during ‘mindless’ act, court hears
Jury shown phone footage with sound of chainsaw and toppling tree, in trial of pair who deny criminal damage
www.theguardian.com
April 30, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Put em up against the wall. Fucking destructive jackals.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Yknow how you think "I should make coffee bc I'll want coffee when I get to work" but you don't and the coffee shop is four-deep with people eating avocado toast and let that be a lesson to you.
April 18, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Yknow how you think "I should make coffee bc I'll want coffee when I get to work" but you don't and the coffee shop is four-deep with people eating avocado toast and let that be a lesson to you.
Author's Guild is offering a Human Author Certification. A lifetime of reading science fiction should have better prepared me for this eventuality.
authorsguild.org/human-author...
authorsguild.org/human-author...
Human Authored Certification - The Authors Guild
Human Authored is a project of the Authors Guild that allows an author to certify that their book is created by a human. “Human Authored” means that the text of the book was written by a human and not...
authorsguild.org
March 21, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Author's Guild is offering a Human Author Certification. A lifetime of reading science fiction should have better prepared me for this eventuality.
authorsguild.org/human-author...
authorsguild.org/human-author...
Reposted by Holly Messinger
If you could commission one fictional character to fix the current US political problems, who would it be?
March 16, 2025 at 12:35 PM
If you could commission one fictional character to fix the current US political problems, who would it be?
Reposted by Holly Messinger
We can upload 3 minute videos now.
YOU KNOW THE RULE
YOU KNOW THE RULE
March 10, 2025 at 7:52 PM
We can upload 3 minute videos now.
YOU KNOW THE RULE
YOU KNOW THE RULE
Watching Dev Patel’s Monkey Man…. It’s not great, but it’s within spitting distance. It’s not merely an “Indian John Wick” and there is a lot of political subtext that I’m not grasping, but portrayals of power, corruption, and abuse are universal. Recommended if you can stomach the violence.
March 9, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Watching Dev Patel’s Monkey Man…. It’s not great, but it’s within spitting distance. It’s not merely an “Indian John Wick” and there is a lot of political subtext that I’m not grasping, but portrayals of power, corruption, and abuse are universal. Recommended if you can stomach the violence.
Print books are about to become a luxury item/signal of wealth, again.
We’ll keep producing “ala carte magazine article”-length PDFs for between 3–8 bucks (depending on page count), but yeah, PDFs of full-length books are going to have to reflect reality.
…and POD costs are going up for publishers already, so expect retail prices on those to rise as well.
…and POD costs are going up for publishers already, so expect retail prices on those to rise as well.
Customers who want the RPG industry to continue to thrive and grow outside of a handful of bigger publishers able to weather the storm of hugely increased prices on print products are going to have to become comfortable paying realistic prices for digital products. $5 PDFs aren't going to cut it.
March 8, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Print books are about to become a luxury item/signal of wealth, again.
To do:
1. Migrate all platforms to Ghost
2. Draw and scale 12 patterns in sizes Gnat to Blue Whale
3. Scrub stovetop
4. Launch marketing plan that does not support fascism
5. Exercise
6. Finish my novel
7. Finish my other novel
8. Build my museum CV
9. Job hunt outside of museum field
10. Laundry
1. Migrate all platforms to Ghost
2. Draw and scale 12 patterns in sizes Gnat to Blue Whale
3. Scrub stovetop
4. Launch marketing plan that does not support fascism
5. Exercise
6. Finish my novel
7. Finish my other novel
8. Build my museum CV
9. Job hunt outside of museum field
10. Laundry
March 8, 2025 at 4:29 PM
To do:
1. Migrate all platforms to Ghost
2. Draw and scale 12 patterns in sizes Gnat to Blue Whale
3. Scrub stovetop
4. Launch marketing plan that does not support fascism
5. Exercise
6. Finish my novel
7. Finish my other novel
8. Build my museum CV
9. Job hunt outside of museum field
10. Laundry
1. Migrate all platforms to Ghost
2. Draw and scale 12 patterns in sizes Gnat to Blue Whale
3. Scrub stovetop
4. Launch marketing plan that does not support fascism
5. Exercise
6. Finish my novel
7. Finish my other novel
8. Build my museum CV
9. Job hunt outside of museum field
10. Laundry
Museum work is checking a spreadsheet to verify how many you have of something, only to find a thing that wasn't supposed to be there, and spend 20 minutes chasing down said thing to find out it was given a duplicate number 2 years ago.
March 4, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Museum work is checking a spreadsheet to verify how many you have of something, only to find a thing that wasn't supposed to be there, and spend 20 minutes chasing down said thing to find out it was given a duplicate number 2 years ago.
I've come to the inescapable conclusion that we all should've Just Said No to Paypal in the early oughts. I've been horribly right about a lot of things but I did not anticipate the fascist version of the penny-skimming scam from Office Space.
February 22, 2025 at 11:21 PM
I've come to the inescapable conclusion that we all should've Just Said No to Paypal in the early oughts. I've been horribly right about a lot of things but I did not anticipate the fascist version of the penny-skimming scam from Office Space.
See above, what happened after the Taliban took over and found they had no one to run the country.
Trump Cuts Target Next Generation of Scientists and Public Health Leaders www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/u...
Trump Cuts Target Next Generation of Scientists and Public Health Leaders
A core group of so-called disease detectives, who track outbreaks, was apparently spared. But other young researchers are out of jobs.
www.nytimes.com
February 18, 2025 at 3:10 PM
See above, what happened after the Taliban took over and found they had no one to run the country.
One of the things I love about the internet is how someone has already written the thing, so I don’t have to. This is also why the one-fact Wiki warriors are so annoying and dangerous: they lack context.
So one of the things that I think is lost on AI proponents is what I call the card catalog effect, a thing I shouldn’t call it because a lot of people probably have no experience with a card catalog.
February 18, 2025 at 3:08 PM
One of the things I love about the internet is how someone has already written the thing, so I don’t have to. This is also why the one-fact Wiki warriors are so annoying and dangerous: they lack context.
I once had a coworker tell me, "I'd rather run lean, and be a little late, than have all the hands we need and have people looking for work."
I thought of the long-term projects and infrastructure that wasn't getting done, and could only stare.
Anyway that company is out of business.
I thought of the long-term projects and infrastructure that wasn't getting done, and could only stare.
Anyway that company is out of business.
February 17, 2025 at 9:35 PM
I once had a coworker tell me, "I'd rather run lean, and be a little late, than have all the hands we need and have people looking for work."
I thought of the long-term projects and infrastructure that wasn't getting done, and could only stare.
Anyway that company is out of business.
I thought of the long-term projects and infrastructure that wasn't getting done, and could only stare.
Anyway that company is out of business.
Worth reading for several reasons but I’m stealing “ecocide-plagiarism machines.”
"We abandon the body and what it learns by being in the world - the physical world - at our peril."
I wrote about the basements of the @britishlibrary.bsky.social, what I learned there about historical method - and why ChatGPT can only ever be garbage. 🗃 #histsci
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
I wrote about the basements of the @britishlibrary.bsky.social, what I learned there about historical method - and why ChatGPT can only ever be garbage. 🗃 #histsci
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
Basement adventures showed me why ChatGPT can only ever be garbage.
In The British Library. Photo by Surekha Davies. Hallo readers, First, a news flash: Join me for a virtual book launch for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY...
buttondown.com
January 25, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Worth reading for several reasons but I’m stealing “ecocide-plagiarism machines.”
Andy Garcia showing up in LANDMAN made me happier than anything I've seen since Carol Kane appeared in ST:SNW. His amused contempt while Tommy is telling him how the world works is everything.
January 25, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Andy Garcia showing up in LANDMAN made me happier than anything I've seen since Carol Kane appeared in ST:SNW. His amused contempt while Tommy is telling him how the world works is everything.
Dawned on me yesterday I could totally just rewrite King Coal because no one’s read it anyway and I could do a better job than Clive Cussler.
January 23, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Dawned on me yesterday I could totally just rewrite King Coal because no one’s read it anyway and I could do a better job than Clive Cussler.
It’s embarrassing to be seen playing in the bush leagues by actual professionals.
January 22, 2025 at 6:57 PM
It’s embarrassing to be seen playing in the bush leagues by actual professionals.
1. To be a writer, and be an editor or maybe a translator for my day job.
2. French
3. Burned out after four years, went back three years later after working full time and writing four novels; finished as an English major with a 4.0…
If you went to college
1. what was your career goal when you started?
2. your initial major?
3. if you changed majors, what did you change to?
4. what do you do now?
1. become a chemist
2. Logic (thru Philosophy dept)
3. stayed
4. Write SFF stories and sometimes consult on tech strategy/marketing
1. what was your career goal when you started?
2. your initial major?
3. if you changed majors, what did you change to?
4. what do you do now?
1. become a chemist
2. Logic (thru Philosophy dept)
3. stayed
4. Write SFF stories and sometimes consult on tech strategy/marketing
If you went to college
1. what was your career goal when you started?
2. your initial major?
3. if you changed majors, what did you change to?
4. what do you do now?
1. learn to treat diseases like my mom's (ME/CFS)
2. pharmacy
3. plant science
4. Scientific Director at an org advocating for #MECFS
1. what was your career goal when you started?
2. your initial major?
3. if you changed majors, what did you change to?
4. what do you do now?
1. learn to treat diseases like my mom's (ME/CFS)
2. pharmacy
3. plant science
4. Scientific Director at an org advocating for #MECFS
January 22, 2025 at 2:09 AM
1. To be a writer, and be an editor or maybe a translator for my day job.
2. French
3. Burned out after four years, went back three years later after working full time and writing four novels; finished as an English major with a 4.0…
As someone who grew up in a severely repressive household… you can retain a lot of sanity and self by just keeping quiet and going about your business.
The most powerful words you can say right now to these fascist bastards is:
"No, make me."
They cannot actually be everywhere and enforce their fascist policies. They rely on fear to do the job of governing for them. By refusing to comply, you make their means of compliance ineffective.
"No, make me."
They cannot actually be everywhere and enforce their fascist policies. They rely on fear to do the job of governing for them. By refusing to comply, you make their means of compliance ineffective.
January 21, 2025 at 7:48 PM
As someone who grew up in a severely repressive household… you can retain a lot of sanity and self by just keeping quiet and going about your business.
Extending further gratitude to my past self for buying some really warm secondhand snow boots two years ago. I only wear them a few times a year when we get these Arctic blasts, but by ghod I’m glad to have them on those days.
January 21, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Extending further gratitude to my past self for buying some really warm secondhand snow boots two years ago. I only wear them a few times a year when we get these Arctic blasts, but by ghod I’m glad to have them on those days.
Thanks, I had wondered about this.
I am a former incarcerated firefighter. I served in a California fire camp from 2009 to 2012.
Misinformation is afire on the internet, so here are facts about the prison firefighter program, all in one place.
A thread.
Misinformation is afire on the internet, so here are facts about the prison firefighter program, all in one place.
A thread.
January 15, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Thanks, I had wondered about this.
I absolutely agree, but I also think morally compromised people are more likely to force their way to the top, because they think little of the damage they do to others along the way.
January 15, 2025 at 2:59 AM
I absolutely agree, but I also think morally compromised people are more likely to force their way to the top, because they think little of the damage they do to others along the way.
Just really feeling sad for all the lost and abused children tonight. Can't help thinking all the forced birthing is going to make it worse.
January 15, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Just really feeling sad for all the lost and abused children tonight. Can't help thinking all the forced birthing is going to make it worse.
sharing so I can find it later
As noted in my general list of things I liked in 2024, I always give my favorite horror films their own list. And, lo and behold, here it is, just as the prophecy foretold.
Favorite Horror Films of 2024
The ones I liked from the past year.
jenmyers.net
January 15, 2025 at 2:49 AM
sharing so I can find it later
Around six am my dreaming mind realized the billionaires controlling our government are about to start locking up water rights for privatization. I woke up making plans to get another water barrel and an in-house filter.
January 12, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Around six am my dreaming mind realized the billionaires controlling our government are about to start locking up water rights for privatization. I woke up making plans to get another water barrel and an in-house filter.