Jen Brown ✨ (is QUERYING, BABY)

It's official! You all will get to see my short that is definitely not an exercise in me being annoyed with my extended family lol.

screencap from the above link: I have found this problem fairly endemic to the romcomantasy (eh? eh?) subgenre to which McCallum’s debut belongs. Oh, I am so tired of reading book after book where nobody has ever done a single thing wrong, or, even if they have, it was all a terrible misunderstanding. I cannot bear these characters with personalities as smooth as Ken dolls, who run dear little retail shops in interchangeable Fantasylands and placeless middle Americas, unbothered by problems of inventory or human frailty. I am going to chew right through the bars of my enclosure, and go rampaging all around the countryside, if I am called upon to read one more book where a character’s big secret finally comes out, and the other character is like: “No problem, babe, I know your heart, and I understand that, while you initially had a scheme to sabotage my dreams, you changed your mind over the course of our courtship. Due to the trust we have built together, I understand this perfectly without your having to explain it.”

real footage of a critic being driven slowly out of her mind

losing a primary by FIFTY points because you backed ICE should tell everyone where the zeitgeist is right now

Y'all, get ready for shenanigans and confusion in November, because voter suppression is coming hard for middle-class white folks. I'm Williamson County, I left to vote at 2pm and didn't get home till 7:15pm. This county is more diverse than when I moved here 20 years ago, but still very white. 1/9

A light purple sign with my picture on it. Text: Brampton Arts Organization, Brampton Library, Fold. Writer in Residence. Suzan Palumbo. Suzan is on site at Mount Pleasant Village Branch Library from March 3rd-April 25th on Tuesdays from 10 am to 3 pm, Thursdays from 4 to 9 pm. Email events@bramptonlibrary to reserve your appointment to talk about writing

There's a purple sign with a picture of a goth at my local library with info on how you can ask writing questions or get your work reviewed.

Colman Domingo at the #naacpimageawards

More Lady Knights, more dragons

I often see posts saying name an author who you've read 5 books by.

I'm interested in short stories. So how about, name an author you've read 3 short stories by?

Also, the stories have to be published in the last 10 years.

Also, don't say me. 😂

A photography of a snowman with a massive ass.

Do you wanna build a snowman?

This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered sexual assault framed as BDSM in dark romance novels. I really need authors to learn about this kink community before perpetuating more harm. You’re doing rape culture, not romance. 6/

animus blink

I don’t have an issue with educating about Tourette’s.

I DO have an issue with the focus not being on the two Black men who were called a racial slur and not centering them/their feeling first.

Despite being the targets of the slur, they are forced to be secondary to the person uttering the slur.

I don’t feel good at all about how little empathy seems to be extended to Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan

Ooooou! 👀

Iconic. 🔥✨

🔥🔥🔥 factssss.

Strut YouTube video by Zeddy Will - Topic

To, quite literally, put that shit on, and STRUT. Go out. Tear up the town. Put on your best, find your people, and dance the darkness away.

(Obligatory Yan "Strut" insert here, baybee. Sorry. This song has me in a chokehold.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLYy...

And, though both these looks are earth-side, I could see either of them, easily, worn at a party inside a black hole. ✨ jus' sayin. Because that's the other beautiful thing Monica's book reveals--that the Black dandy wasn't just about reclaiming clothes, but celebration.

Janelle Monae wearing an exaggerated pinstripe suit at the 2025 Met Gala. Their suit is red and white pinstripes, with a red and white tie. They wear a black bowler hat and stylish eyepiece, covering one eye.

But ALSO in the avant garde, almost grounded sense, like their 2025 Met Gala look. (Don't come for me, this feels both grounded AND exaggerated. clean lines + ostentatious framing of their body. it's a vibe!)

Janelle Monae album art from The Archandroid. They wear a robotic-looking suit of armor, with a crown styled like a metropolis, atop their head. They stand against a blue-black, almost cosmic background.

For me, Janelle Monae's earliest work & vibes hits this. From The Archandroid to Dirty Computer, their tailored fashions (so obviously dandy!!) began as a way to reclaim the "working class" uniform of black family members & relatives. Both in the fantastical sense, like here:

So, this concept of the Black body, as a site of rebellion and memory + space opera imagery? To me, it feels like reclamation. Like reclaiming the identity(ies) demonized, vilified, and/or stratified for our own, in the one place settlers haven't (yet) colonized.

Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity

Monica Miller goes in deep, on this topic, in "Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity"

bookshop.org/p/books/slav...

I have so many feels, in particular, about blackness--and the black body--as a site of memory. At its earliest, the concept of the Black "dandy" is tied back to American chattel slavery. Enslaved black folks, given clothes, to signify who we "belonged" to.

What Elegant Stars Queer Tales of Impossible Style, a fashionable space opera anthology.

Today, @seraph76.bsky.social and I are threading some thoughts, feels, and vibes about Black fashions in space (particularly with the Black dandy as an iconic inspiration), in preparation for the "What Elegant Stars" anthology! 😍 www.kickstarter.com/projects/dav...

What Elegant Stars Queer Tales of Impossible Style, a fashionable space opera anthology.

Tonight, @therotund.bsky.social and I will be talking about examples of fashion in spec fic, both written and on-screen. Right here on Bluesky, in fanfare for the forthcoming "What Elegant Stars," a fashionable space opera anthology. www.kickstarter.com/projects/dav...

This is a hard world for Black women and girls. Once in a while, we need a little tenderness. Softness!

Stanford vandalism case ends in mistrial after 'hopelessly deadlocked' jury A Santa Clara County judge declared a mistrial Friday in the felony vandalism case of five Stanford University students who had barricaded themselves in the president’s office during a spring 2024 pro...

the trial of 11 Stanford anti genocide activists has ended in mistrial.

Stanford's claims re damages were obliterated by their own facilities director. This case is ridiculous & deeply politicized.

Call DA Rosen (408)299 3099 & insist he drops the charges.

www.paloaltoonline.com/courts/2026/...

Happy Friday y'all! We'll be posting more about our 2026 themed issues, but here's a sneak peek to get your ideas percolating for the upcoming submission windows:

Summer: Black Kishōtenketsu
Fall: Conjuring Academies & Spellbound Scholars

Share with a friend who you know will eat this up 🍽️

I don’t usually campaign for awards, but this year I’ve decided to go for broke for a Fan Writer Hugo Award. Yay me!
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I need folks to understand this. The idea that local police forces will intervene at scale against ICE is a utopian fantasy totally disconnected from how policing has always worked