Bryan Camp

Who am I going to see at ICFA??

Who am I going to see at ICFA??

Looks like the rabbit from Groening's Work is Hell.

My reaction to this is the Spiderman-Dinosaur-baddie-don't-want-to-cure-cancer" meme, but it's "but I don't want to selectively breed animals over generations, I want a potion that turns us into rubber people."

It's really amazing how a copyeditor's track changes can go from "this is a perfect human and also a genius and I will chew glass to try to meet their lofty, but perfectly reasonable, expectations" to "biiiiiiiiiiiiitch.gif" just by mentioning a single punctuation mark.

Or! Maybe they have a potion that lets them truly become "rubber people" and they just bounce everywhere like Gummi Bears.

Olmec: Why is that person strapped to that cart?

Other NPC: Oh, you don't know what horses are? *explains the concept of beasts of burden* Guess you folks just have to walk everywhere, huh?

Olmec: My god answers the prayers of travel by making me a jewel-scaled, many winged serpent.

NPC: Oh.

Animated_Spiderman_Pointing_at_Animated_Spiderman_in_a_Dank_Alley.gif

Much else can be said about Dan Simmons, but what I remember is that he created a whole message board, voluntarily, with which to communicate with developing writers, and then chose to rebuke them when they dared to be disappointing.

The author's reply?

Mu.

A zen koan that means "You asked a question with faulty starting logic." He didn't explain this. Didn't explain what was wrong with my question. Just, "Mu."

Two letters to say, "Ha ha, what a dumb question." Concise, at least.

As a young writer, thirsting for some font of wisdom to drink from, I discovered an online writing community on the professional site of a SF&F writer I enjoyed. More, the author engaged with the posts! Answered questions about craft and the creative life! A gift! I gathered nerve; asked a question.

Me: Leland Gaunt's 'Needful Things' gambit would never get me, for I am too clever and...

'The Past and the Curious': We're open!

Me: Oh, a store just for me!

Hi there folks! We're on the hunt for someone who needs ~10 hours a month of WordPress dev and management support. Drop us an email at studio@clockpunkstudios.com if you or someone you know could use our help!

For everyday use: "Everything's coming up Milhouse!" because it is such delightful, ironic, hopelessly optimistic obvious foreshadowing.

and

"Shuttuppa you face!"
"Shut up *your* face."

because before LLMs I was Linguo, and now I'm the Springfield Mafia.

I can't decide if post-dark-academia is more "post-modern" or "post-apocalyptic" and I have decided the answer is both?_both_both_is_good.gif.

Absolutely. We're going through this right now with my old man ginger, and facing "at what point does his dementia/quality of life outweigh 'he can still eat and drink and more or less navigate the house'?"

I don't know the rest of the joke, but the punchline is "I couldn't get any sleep on vacation. Silence was deafening without any sirens."

You_Had_My_Curiosity_But_Now_You_Have_My_Attention_DiCaprio_in_Django_Unchained.gif

A two circle Venn diagram. Left: Multiple BG3 runs to romance all companions. Right: Heists but make it cozy. Center: The Feywild Job

Does this meme sell my book or nah

"No specific, obvious references to the current administration or its abuses, no politics here!"

Opens with sugarcane cutters.
Sugarcane cutters working on powerlines.
"God Bless America!"/List of every country on the continent.

Right. No political messages here.

Herodotus said Xerxes got so pissed at a river for destroying a bridge that he had his soldiers whip it and stab it with hot irons.

And sure, that's nuts. Pathological levels of power and privilege.

But lately all I can think about are the ones who picked up a chain and flailed at the river.

I don't think so. Hell, I don't think they let adjuncts call themselves "Professor so and so" these days.

I *will*, however, greet you with: "What up, Prof?" the next time we meet, and if it sticks, it sticks.

Do I hurt in this unexpected part of my body because I caught the spell plague? Or is it just perimenopause/low testosterone/shingles? Or did I just sleep wrong?

This is the beginning of a novel whose comps are "Dark Academia + Du Maurier's REBECCA + Caroline Kepnes' YOU"

My first thought as well.

So uhhh, say one checks boxes 1 and 5. Hypothetically speaking, if one were to like, uhh, accept this job, and then take the money to do the job deliberately badly...hypothetically speaking, of course, how long could uh, my friend play this out and get paid to make the AI exponentially worse?

fart: OneLook Thesaurus Synonyms and related words for fart from OneLook Thesaurus, a powerful English thesaurus and brainstorming tool that lets you describe what you're looking for in plain terms.

Once, @tanaudel.bsky.social gave unto me the gift, nay, the blessing of the one look thesaurus, and I share it with you now, at the turning of the tide: onelook.com/thesaurus/?s...

Deleting Signal now that I know it's compromised. Find me dancing with the Devil in the pale moonlight.