Robert Kluver

Just finished the first ten pages and am immediately mesmerized.

Read #8 of 2026

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

An engrossing, challenging, and essential Victorian novel, perhaps Dickens' finest.

Of course. And that’s why Dems need to lean in and work towards dismantling ICE.
First no funding.
Impeach Noem.
Demand hearings on ICE’s operation in MN.
Demand that Miller resign.

Don’t let up.

Dawn by Octavia Butler

Read #7 of 2026

Dawn by Octavia Butler

This is My Body by Lindsay King-Miller (paperback)

Read #6 of '26

This is My Body by Lindsay King-Miller

Enjoyed this well constructed novel of possession horror and religious trauma. Recommended.

Fiend by Alma Katsu

Read #5 of 2026

Fiend by Alma Katsu

Read #4 of 2026

Roots Run Deep by J. Krawczyk /
The ‘Dillo by Max Booth III

Dear Library Commissioners, I am a very frequent Oakland Library user (I borrowed 76 titles last year) and have loved libraries all my life. I am also an author with two books in the Oakland Library's catalog. I'm writing because I'm so fed up with Artificial Intelligence again inserting itself into the reading and listening experience of library users, and again attempting to replace the work of librarians, this time via the Libby/Overdrive app. I've recently learned that Libby/Overdrive will be allowing titles to be listed in its catalog that were "created" using large language models and artificial intelligence tools. These kinds of works are anathema to the mission of a public library. First of all, their quality is atrocious. AI "voice" narration, for example, operates in an inhuman, uncanny valley-like simulacrum of the human voice. These works don't soothe or connect human beings; they are alienating, jarring, and awful. The same is true of "books" and other written materials generated using AI tools. Do not let them into our library's catalog. (Also, don't be fooled by this "self-identification" nonsense. Who would self-identify their work as not created by a human, when there are no consequences for failing to do so? There are disincentives, in fact, to self-identifying, because lots of people, myself included, avoid works made using LLMs.)

Ethical considerations are also a major concern. LLMs were created using stolen work -- including mine. AI voice narration imitations were all created using work that was stolen from human narrators. Furthermore, AI use is an environmental disaster. To cite Forbes magazine: "recent research has shown that training the GPT-3 language model in Microsoft’s U.S. data centers can directly evaporate 700,000 liters of clean freshwater." Finally, Overdrive announced that it will be pioneering -- word chosen very consciously -- an AI-powered feature aimed at replacing the work of human librarians. I am very curious what actual human librarians in the Oakland Library system would have to say about a Large Language Model that human beings are programming to mimic their very essential work. Commissioners, I am tired. I am tired of fighting to keep a planet-killing plagiarism machine -- one that rots the brain upon usage -- out of my email, my Discord channels, my private documents, my life. AI tools just robbed me of the hour of my life I spent writing and editing this letter to you: an hour I could have spent working on my current novel, or reading one of the many library books sitting on my desk right now. I counted on my library to be the one place where I could feed my lifelong love of books (audio and print), without having to fight to keep AI out of that experience too. And the very likely possibility that I might be tricked into reading a book that a human being created using AI tools stolen from my own books is not just throwing salt into the wound. It's opening up a barely-healed wound first, in order to toss in some salt. With lemon juice on top. Our library is a customer of Libby/Overdrive. Please use that power to demand that Overdrive drop its awful AI policy. And, if it doesn't, please find a new app that can replace it, and let Overdrive know why. Thank you for all the work you do in stewarding our beloved library.

I wrote this letter to my library board, asking them to drop Libby or find another app.

Read #3 of 2026

The Willows by Algernon Blackwood

Discord wants to know how you feel about AI.

Go tell them: discord.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Paperback book: The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne. Deer antlers protruding through a woman’s eyes, face severed don the middle.

The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne

A quick, tightly paced, fun horror thriller.

Towards self-preservation, to pull back from witnessing the real-time, blow-by-blow destruction of democracy and civil liberties, I’m aiming to watch a movie a day this year.

A few favorite new watches so far: Together, Train Dreams, The Naked Gun, Saturday Night.

#LastFourWatched

For 248 years the streets of America didn’t feature a roving masked federal kidnapping squad that might send you a Central American death camp or just murder you themselves, but getting rid of it now is some impossible lefty fantasy that professional Democrats lamentably must struggle against.

The “prosecute the former regime at every level” candidate has my vote in 2028.

The 2026 reading thread kicks off with a sci-fi banger from the prolific imagination of Coy Hall, The Owl Men of Shanidar. Do yourself a favor: drop everything and read all of Coy’s books. Time very well spent.

Marco Rubio is reportedly saying Maduro will stand trial in US courts.

Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.

That's a wrap on Silent Hill f. Great atmosphere, helluva game.

One of Us by Dan Chaon

Excellent, magical, thought provoking. Among my favorite new releases of the year.

Sick fucking ghouls. Every last one of them.

Call your senators now. Tell them to reject this bill.

Protect Trans Care Now As wave after wave of extreme measures to criminalize and strip trans people of rights and safety continue, tell Congress to act.

Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on a bill that bans gender-affirming medical care for any transgender person under 18, and threatens any medical professional providing this care to youth with 10 years in prison.

Tell Congress to protect trans youth and vote NO.

King Sorrow by Joe Hill

Stealworkers

Meta shuts down global accounts linked to abortion advice and queer content More than 50 organisations report sites being restricted or removed, with abortion hotlines blocked and posts showing non-explicit nudity triggering warnings

Meta is an evil company. I know people like Instagram but imo Zuckerberg is as bad as Musk www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

its im asuming a bookstore with those words in the front on a poster

FUCK SOCIAL MEDIA.
MARRY BOOKS.
KILL AI.

The October Film Haunt by Michael Wehunt

Beautiful afternoon at the local nature preserve.

Was teetering on the edge of DNFing a recent horror release and then the author confuses veracity with voracity and now I'm fully out.

Endling by Maria Reva

Fantastic read set in contemporary Ukraine. Longlisted for the Booker.

New book release!!

A Dark Whimsy is a contemporary dark fantasy tale of horror and magical realism set in the forest.

Tagline: Sometimes you should just stay out of the woods.

Please check it out!
Link in comments.