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Matthew Cheney

@melikhovo.bsky.social

2.2K followers 810 following 810 posts

Writer, teacher, person. Books from Black Lawrence, Bloomsbury Academic, punctum, Third Man, Lethe. Horror fiction, modernism, pedagogy, weirdness. (Would love to post less about politics, but, well, look outside...) https://matthewcheney.net

matthewcheney.net

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Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · Aug 29

Kirkus gives Moon Songs a star!

"This compellingly assembled retrospective gives longtime Emshwiller fans a chance to savor her unique sensibility again, while lucky newcomers enjoy the thrill of discovery."

@thirdmanbooks.bsky.social

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

MOON SONGS | Kirkus Reviews

A greatest hits collection of unclassifiable speculative fiction.

www.kirkusreviews.com

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Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · 1h

Hard Times, dir. Walter Hill, starring Charles Bronson playing a man named "Chaney". Hmmmm...

Bo Bolander @bbolander.bsky.social · 1h

i think we should just do horoscopes based on what the number one movie at the box office was the day we were born, it seems more scientifically rigorous

Reposted by Matthew Cheney

Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 2h

“Stripped for Parts”: Secretive Hedge Fund Accused of Plundering U.S. Newspapers

“Stripped for Parts”: Film Explores How Hedge Fund Plundered U.S. Newspapers

The new documentary Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink looks at how hedge funds have gutted newsrooms across the country. The hedge fund strategy of “distressed asset investing” invo...

www.democracynow.org

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Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · 2h

The Gates Foundation actually doing something good for education:

Open Access Tracking Project @oatp.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 2h

The European Diamond Capacity Hub receives a 3-year grant to boost its services | EDCH https://diamas.org/european-diamond-capacity-hub-receives-3-year-grant-boost-its-services

The European Diamond Capacity Hub receives a 3-year grant to boost its services | EDCH

diamas.org

Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · 2h

"Where Are We Gonna Work (When the Trees Are Gone)" performed by Jello Biafra & Mojo Nixon, written by Darryl Cherney

youtu.be/6FuTiGdN-i8?...

Where Are We Gonna Work (When the Trees Are Gone?)

YouTube video by Jello Biafra - Topic

youtu.be

Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · 4h

(Don't assume all readers who might be interested in scholarship have access via a university library. Even if they do happen to have access to a library, it might be one like mine: budget slashed year after year, and this summer we ended our Project MUSE subscription.)

Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · 4h

No surprise: only 1 of the top 10 and 4 overall are behind the paywall. If you want scholarship to reach readers, open it up.

Hopkins Press @hopkinspress.bsky.social · 4h

September's Top 20 most-read journal articles list is now live!

Old favorites like CEA Critic's investigation of undergrads reading Bleak House still dominate, alongside new entries like Postmodern Culture's Palestinian Book Forum!

See the list: tinyurl.com/cps6s3xb

Top 20 Journal Articles September 2025
Featuring a collage of covers from this month's top 20 journals

Reposted by Matthew Cheney

So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · 4h

In every industry meeting I did for Raising Films some junior exec (no bosses ever attended) would ask "What's the one easy win I can take to my boss?" and we'd say "Pay people fairly, in full & on time -- that's the lowest bar." And they'd invariably say "no, not that. How about mindfulness?"

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Reposted by Matthew Cheney

Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 5h

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org

The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org

The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...

www.nobelprize.org

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Reposted by Matthew Cheney

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 1d

For every €1 provided through a Basic Income For Artists pilot program in Ireland, the government got €1.46 back. So it’s being made permanent.

Over and over we see it. It saves public money to provide public housing. And it makes public money to provide basic income.

We can’t afford to NOT do it.

Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 1d

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

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Reposted by Matthew Cheney

Oisín McGann @oisinmcgann.bsky.social · 1d

It’s really hard to describe to people who are not artists how survival mode does *not* inspire creativity, as the myth would have us believe. It suppresses creativity as you try to limit every possible risk – and the opportunities that come with them.

Aliette de Bodard @aliettedebodard.com · 1d

It turns out building habits and stuff actually requires not being in survival mode, who knew?!
(Yeah yeah I did)

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Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · 21h

I started by going back to Battlestar Galactica and that was just too much.

Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · 23h

I've been rewatching Orphan Black because I needed something I knew I liked and yet had mostly forgotten, wanted an escape from the present ... and I forgot how much it's about the evils of corporate tech, messiah complexes, eugenics... Feels somehow more contemporary than when it first aired.

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Reposted by Matthew Cheney

Ben Miller @benwritesthings.bsky.social · 23h

updates from the free speech movement

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Reposted by Matthew Cheney

⛧ Mother Suspiria ⛧ (StinaMarie) @stinasdemons.com · 1d

Today's "FFS, STOP!" news:

-Deleted my V/H/S/Halloween review due to the "AI" in the film. I'm convinced despite no confirmation from Shudder 🤬

-If "AI" blocklists get banned here, I'm leaving 🤬

-Ads for Welcome to Derry, pretty sure they're AI then PS'd 🤬

-5/7 Wired stories were abt AI 🤬

Boo.

r/BlueskySocial from Reddit
Post from u/Equivalent_Hand1549

"List of Al Slop Posters violated the BSky Community Guideline"

Post text:

"fuck. (From carrion @carrion.bsky.social. 5h)
just don't create a moderation list, bluesky said that's bad

noreply 10:52 AM

to me

Hi there,

Your Bluesky account

(@carrion.bsky.social) has created a list called "Al Slop Posters" that may violate our Community Guidelines. We've temporarily hidden this list from other users because it contains one or more of these issues.

Harmful language such as insults or slurs

Unverified claims

Appears intended to shame or abuse users"

Picture from IG from acct coldopenvenice
A faux Norman Rockwell type ad for Welcome to Derry of a family walking down the street that is very indicative of AI generated imagery

Picture from IG from acct coldopenvenice
A faux Norman Rockwell type ad for Welcome to Derry of a girl eating "Pennywise's Cornflakes" that is very indicative of AI generated imagery

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Reposted by Matthew Cheney

Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 1d

The "Policia" label on the shields was a clue, but the thing about stupid, lazy people is that they're stupid and lazy. So here we are, having to debunk photoshops that the Right is gleefully meming and sharing. "A lie can travel around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes," as they say

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

“.. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the image was not a photograph of a real event in Portland, but instead a fabrication created by combining two photographs of scenes that unfolded in South America nearly a decade apart ..”

@theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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Reposted by Matthew Cheney

Tali Woodward @taliwoodward.bsky.social · 1d

Must-read story from @mikespies.bsky.social about what actually happened to the gun industry's suicide prevention effort

mikespies.bsky.social @mikespies.bsky.social · 1d

1/My latest story, part 4 of our series “The Secret Files of the Gun Industry,” begins in in 2016, when the country’s best-known suicide prevention group teamed up with the gun industry to tackle the biggest form of gun death + help reduce suicide 20% by 2025 www.thetrace.org/2025/10/gun-...

A Program Backed by the Gun Industry Failed to Reduce Suicide — and Was Secretly Shut Down Early

The country’s best-known suicide prevention group teamed up with the gun industry. The effort was good for public relations and raising money, but it never met its goal, and internal records show why.

www.thetrace.org

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Reposted by Matthew Cheney

Patrick Hruby @patrickhruby.bsky.social · 1d

A society that makes lying profitable and truth expensive is in big big trouble

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 1d

eventually politicians need to start advocating for criminal and civil penalties for people involved in fabricating stories to get citizens incarcerated.

or, put another way: a society that would like to keep functioning has to discourage baldfaced lying, especially by authorities

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 1d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

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Reposted by Matthew Cheney

Nick Sturm @nicksturm.bsky.social · 1d

This is a huge collapse in the book distribution business, especially following the closure of Small Press Distribution last year. Baker & Taylor--originally established in 1828--has been central to the library market for decades.

Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 1d

seems very bad www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

Baker & Taylor Prepares Plan to Shut Down

At a town hall yesterday, B&T owner and CEO Aman Kochar announced that following the termination of the ReaderLink acquisition deal, he does not see a path to keep the library wholesaler in business.

www.publishersweekly.com

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Reposted by Matthew Cheney

Gavin, Small Beer, long covid, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 1d

Carol Emshwiller's great, weird, gentle novel Carmen Dog is always worth re-upping. Consortium are celebrating their 40th anniversary with mini interviews and Lise Solomon's & Bob Harrison's (new to me!) recs are doggone amazing.
Now I get to close 3 tabs, phew.
smallbeerpress.com/not-a-journa...

Screenshot from Lise's interview with 5 books and covers (titles and authors below):

What are 5 Consortium titles you love and why?

Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions by Valeria Luiselli (Coffee House Press)
This short book about Valeria Luiselli’s work translating for immigrant children will make you sob on the BART train.

Carmen Dog by Carol Emshwiller (Small Beer Press)
After learning that former rep Bob Harrison named his dog Carmen for this book, I knew it would be a great read. So true!

I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita (Coffee House Press)
Epic, brilliant blend of real and imagined history of SF Chinatown.

Blue Marlin by Lee Smith (Blair)
I’m not from the South but the family dynamics and life seen through a young teen’s eyes is so perceptive and universal.

Animals Strike Curious Poses by Elena Passarello (Sarabande Books)
Learned a lot and laughed a ton, damn she is funny.

Kevin Huizenga pencil sketch for the cover — a stage with many people, a dog-headed woman, some more animals, all signing, with some trees and buildings behind and the silhouettes of an audience in front.

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Reposted by Matthew Cheney

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 1d

Mourning those murdered by Hamas isn't incompatible with mourning those murdered by the Israeli state.

Demanding that the hostages return isn't incompatible with naming & demanding an end to genocide.

Naming the power imbalance & impact thereof doesn't desecrate those murdered two years ago today.

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Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · 1d

I hear it's the path to fame and fortune!

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 1d

News that shocks no one: Carbon offsets do nothing for climate.

Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says

Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions

www.theguardian.com

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Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · 1d

It's good stuff to have! Beautifully produced! No complaints! But not exactly what some of the marketing is saying. And I fear readers will be disappointed if they're expecting a big book of new and unknown Woolf material.

Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · 1d

Let's be honest about what Princeton is selling: 36 pages of early, light Woolf stories plus a 37-page afterword about Woolf, Violet Dickinson, and the stories (plus some photographs), followed by textual notes, etc. 121 pages not including the 1-page index.

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Matthew Cheney @melikhovo.bsky.social · 1d

Here's a picture of one of the pages of notes on differences between the drafts. These notes run from p. 95 to p. 111, so not insignificant — but these are the types of differences between the drafts. Punctuation. Paragraphs. A few words.

A table of textual notes. Two columns of about 30 lines of words, with the individual words separated by solid black horizontal lines.

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