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John Chu

@johnchu.bsky.social

7.8K followers 1.1K following 1.5K posts

The writer who won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. Not the movie director. (He/him/his) Mastodon: @[email protected]

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John Chu @johnchu.bsky.social · May 6

My novel, The Subtle Art of Folding Space, has a cover!
Read about repairing physics, unreasonable parental expectations, and great Taiwanese food! Out on April 7, 2026. Pre-order now: t.co/0nz8JuNhwf
Art credits: Jacket art by Weston Wei, Jacket Design by Katie Klimowicz.

Cover of The Subtle Art of Folding Space, coming April 7, 2026
Four sets of bamboo steamers going from the top of the cover to the bottom. The top one holds steamed bao. The contents of each steamer below it get progressively more surreal. One has bao with the universe as a filling. The next steamer below it has planets. The last steamer is filled with gear works. Two hands holding red chopsticks reach for the first and third steamer.

The Subtle Art of Folding Space, is the exhilarating debut science fiction novel from Nebula and Hugo-winning author John Chu channels unhinged physics, generational trauma, and the comfort of really good dim sum. This isn't your usual jaunt through quantum physics.
Ellie's universe, and this one, is falling apart. Her ailing mother is in a coma; her sister, Chris, accuses her of being insufficiently Taiwanese between assassination attempts; and a shadowy cabal of engineers is trying to hijack the skunkworks, the machinery that keeps the physics of each universe working the way it's supposed to.
Daniel, Ellie's cousin, has found an illicit device in the skunkworks-one that keeps Ellie's comatose mother alive while also creating destabilizing bugs in the physics of this universe. It's not a good day.
If she can confront her mother's legacy and overcome her family's generational trauma, she just might find a way to preserve the skunkworks and reconcile with her sister...but digging into her family's past is thornier than it seems, and the secrets she uncovers will force Ellie to choose between her family and the universe itself.

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Jen Bendery @jbendery.bsky.social · 14h

Jeffries says Dems "have made clear privately and publicly" to Mike Johnson that Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) must be sworn in.

"Why the delay?" he asks. "Does it have anything to do with Republicans continuing effort to hide the Epstein files from the American people?"

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Jen Bendery @jbendery.bsky.social · 14h

Mike Johnson said earlier today the House won't hold a standalone vote to protect military pay amid the shutdown, calling it a "show vote."

“It is insane not to pay our troops,” says Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). “Some are in high-risk missions. You want them thinking about whether they can get paid?”

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Jen Bendery @jbendery.bsky.social · 14h

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) a bit more blunt in his message to Republicans:

"Show up to Congress and do your goddamn job."

"Millions of people are about to lose their health care. This is a serious crisis we're in. We can avoid. it."

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Jen Bendery @jbendery.bsky.social · 14h

"House Democrats were here last week. House Democrats are here this week. House Democrats will be here next week," Hakeem Jeffries says at the Capitol.

"House Republicans are on vacation right now. That’s extraordinary."

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Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · 14h

If teachers are told using AI technologies creates time to spend developing relationships with students, and the report’s findings suggest AI technologies undermine these vital relationships, then it seems to me resistance and refusal of AI technologies is the most caring response.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 18h

“One of the negative consequences AI is having on students is that it is hurting their ability to develop meaningful relationships with teachers, the report finds. Half of the students agree that using AI in class makes them feel less connected to their teachers.”

Rising Use of AI in Schools Comes With Big Downsides for Students

A report by the Center for Democracy and Technology looks at teachers' and students' experiences with the technology.

www.edweek.org

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 16h

NN: Dems say you won't swear in Grijalva bc you don't want her vote on Epstein

JOHNSON: No. It's scheduling

NN: But there have been Rs sworn in during pro forma sessions

MJ: Only reason was bc they flew in their family

NN: So if she flies in her family you'd do it?

MJ: Again, it's a distraction

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Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 22h

It's out at the Dispatch:

DHS Says Videotaping ICE Agents Is Illegal. Federal Courts Disagree.

Filming law enforcement serves important goals central to a free republic.

thedispatch.com

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Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 15h

Much professional. Very journalism. Wow

Patrick Hruby @patrickhruby.bsky.social · 15h

This piece is about how the author thinks Bari is a brilliant journalist, and how people who think otherwise simply have derangement syndrome. About halfway through, the author mentions that Bari, her wife, and her sister are close personal friends.

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Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” @ryanjreilly.com · 15h

FBI fires special agents who worked on Jack Smith's probe into Trump

www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

FBI fires special agents who worked on Jack Smith's probe into Trump

The three agents were fired after Kash Patel disclosed that Jack Smith's team obtained phone records of members of Congress, which the Smith report itself referenced.

www.nbcnews.com

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 15h

Pritzker: "He said he was going after the worst of the worst. It's not going after the worst of the worst when you're just literally stopping children who happen to be brown & asking them for papers as if they're gonna have proof they're a citizen. Pull out your phones and film everything you see"

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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 19h

Henry Farrell on the Trump admin’s proposed “compact” for universities, arguing that the rollout signals weakness, and that academics need to band together to reject this authoritarian attack on university independence and academic freedom.

Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 19h

We’re not dealing with brilliant strategists cleverly laying traps, we’re dealing with impulsive whiners whose advantage is contempt for laws, norms, and morality.

They’re not pulling some elaborate trick, they’re just willing—even eager—to do things regular, principled people consider off limits.

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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 16h

Marco Rubio is going to hell.

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Patr10tic @patr10tic.bsky.social · 1d

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Naomi Kritzer @naomikritzer.bsky.social · 16h

This story is a DELIGHT.

Marissa Lingen @marissalingen.bsky.social · 19h

Back from my family trip to tell you that I have a new story in @kaleidotrope.bsky.social ! "What a Big Heart You Have" is my tender tribute to Grandma and Aunt Ellen, though the characters aren't literally them. kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...

“What a Big Heart You Have” by Marissa Lingen

kaleidotrope.net

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 19h

This very very very bad. I cannot stress this enough. I said that they crossed the Rubicon with arresting Ras Baraka several months ago. This is very bad and portends more bad things for regular people.

Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 19h

The President of the United States is calling for the mayor of Chicago and governor of Illinois to be jailed.

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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 16h

White righties: this Super Bowl halftime pick is terrible. They should get someone conservative and hip, like this 96 year old cop I know who has a bluegrass band called Burning Crosses

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Robert King @robertking.bsky.social · 18h

For what it’s worth:

Speaking as a showrunner with two writers rooms going on now, this article from Ankler is insane. I don’t know who the insider is, but the reporter should call bullshit. This is a GPT press release.

The Ankler @theankler.com · 1d

The “GPT-5 pass” has gone from curiosity to mandate. Scripts, trailers, pitch decks are all being filtered through an AI model that remembers every draft and forgets what originality looks like. @erikbarmack.bsky.social on Hollywood’s uneasy reset:
theankler.com/p/run-it-thr...

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Andrew Mearns @mearns.bsky.social · 17h

lmao this dolt is beyond parody.
yeah Lee Greenwood, totally appealing to all audiences. you nailed it buddy

“Lee Greenwood for Super Bowl halftime show!” says the idiot

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Popehat Agitates And Irritates @kenwhite.bsky.social · 18h

Mike Johnson’s position is young pregnant American women shouldn’t have to wait before being turned away to die in the parking lot from an ectopic pregnancy the hospital is afraid to treat

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 18h

Mike Johnson: "If you're a young, pregnant American citizen women who shows up in an ER and you get treated and they pay the hospital less for treating you than some illegal rabble rouser who came in from some South American country to do us harm, that is wrong."

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 18h

Man people do NOT understand that a moose is like a thousand pounds of mean.

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More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 1d

A new White House memo says that furloughed federal workers aren't entitled to back pay.

This is clearly against the law, which guarantees furloughed federal employees back pay for the duration of a government shutdown.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 1d

“The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared likely to strike down Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy by licensed therapists practiced on minors — a ruling that could affect similar laws in nearly half the country and make life more difficult for LGBTQ children at an already perilous time.”

Supreme Court likely to strike down Colorado's conversion therapy ban

A lesson in how defining the case often resolves the case.

www.lawdork.com

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Cynthia Khoo @cyn-k.bsky.social · 18h

"Ignorance isn’t always innocent. A lot of the time, it’s strategic. ... White ignorance doesn’t persist bc there’s a lack of information—it persists bc there’s a refusal to engage... once you admit you knew & did nothing... you’d have to admit you were fine with it. You have to admit complicity."

Imani Gandy Corn 🎃 @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 19h

"Black people are tired. Not metaphorically tired—actually tired. The kind of tired that turns every group chat into a mix of gallows humor and emotional triage."

I write about white ignorance and how exhausting it is to hear white ppl insist "this isn't who we are, when it's ALWAYS who we've been.

White People’s Performative Ignorance Is Exhausting—Opinion

Disbelief over authoritarianism in America isn’t a cutesy personality trait. It’s a confession: You haven’t been paying attention.

rewirenewsgroup.com

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Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · 18h

We are definitely in an era where a disturbing portion of our news sounds like deranged, satirical Mad Libs.

Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 19h

www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Gay Virginia Republican plagued by Nazi porn scandal brags running mate is ‘100% against’ marriage equality

It's a statewide political ticket of extremes.

www.yahoo.com

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