Jo Miles

Joseph Scrimshaw tweet from 2022: "Daylight Saving Time is increasingly hard to notice when my digital devices are like, 'What? Nothing happened. We know what time it is.' And my stove is left blinking and screaming, 'IT HAPPENED! TIME SHIFTED UNNATURALLY! THEY'RE ALL LYING! ONLY I KNOW! ONLY I REMEMBER!' "

Ah, it's that time again...

Things are haaaaaappenning!

Seeing art come together is my favorite part, up there with actually holding a book in my hands.

Cow piloting a UFO. "Kickstarter Countdown: T-Minus 24 HOURS Next Stretch Goal: $1,294 Click the link in our bio to help us fund the next year of Alex Magazine!"

Our Kickstarter ends in just 24 HOURS! This is your LAST CHANCE to shop our catalogue of new ebooks, author critiques, and exclusive merch before it's gone for good. Check the 🧵 to see our full selection!

Thank you all for supporting another year of Apex. 🖤👽

www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...

Audiobook lovers! All three Brennex books are now out in audio, narrated by the excellent Adi Cabral. Available everywhere!

Get your anti-capitalist space opera fix:

Warped State: books2read.com/u/3Jeere
Dissonant State: books2read.com/u/3nBwR8
Ravenous State: books2read.com/u/3RPqAx

Literally just got bored! There's a ton of angles that get me in their story, but the fact that these rich white guys just made this mess for lolz is... a lot.

Oh wow, that took off!

If you like this, my anti-corporate space operas might be up your alley. Labor organizers doing Leverage style heists against a big bad corporation... In space!
books2read.com/u/3Jeere

Hi, It’s Me, Wikipedia, and I Am Ready for Your Apology “Wikipedia, the constantly changing knowledge base created by a global free-for-all of anonymous users, now stands as the leading force for the dum...

"I suppose you’ve come to say you’re sorry? I hope so, given your years of sneering and hand-wringing about how I was ruining knowledge."

The Luddites weren't anti-progress. They weren't anti-technology. They were pro worker rights. And it's convenient for the tech barons (in any age) to make us believe those are the same thing.

It's not an accident that "Luddite" is now synonymous with "backward, technology-fearing dummies." That's how they'd like to brand anyone who dares to question whether new tech might be bad for us.

They posted clear demands which, if met, they would stop the violence. They weren't anti-tech. Some new tech was helpful to them. They just wanted back their careers.

The rich factory owners were no more willing to negotiate than Big Tech today. Same playbook. Shockingly similar abuses.

So they moved on to direct action. They had a strategy. They smashed only the specific machines that took their jobs. They didn't attack people. Only the machines.

Of course they protested! They had no work, their families were starving. They begged for new laws to protect their trades, and even for existing laws to be enforced. You can guess how that went.

So you've got children and newbies working in horrible conditions for awful wages doing what was previously a skilled trade and good livelihood that people did from their homes.

These machines can do the work of 4 skilled men with just one worker. They're so easy even a child can run them.

...which in this period meant: Oh good, we can recruit children to work our factories!

Then one day some rich asshat gets bored and invents a machine to do this skilled work. "It'll save so much work and money," they say, churning out an inferior product. (Sound familiar?? Nah.)

The original Luddites were cloth makers. This was a skilled trade in the early 1800s. Men apprenticed for 7 years to learn it, then spent life honing their skill. They were proud of their high quality work.

Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech

(This all comes from Blood in the Machine by Brian Merchant, which draws a line from the Luddite rebellion to the modern tech industry, go read it, it's really good: bookshop.org/p/books/bloo... )

I only knew the modern meaning of "Luddite" until recently. Turns out, the Luddites were badass, actually. So you get a thread! And now you'll know too!

Don’t Stream Fascism: Cancel Spotify

Spotify is running recruitment ads for ICE, so... that's gross. Instructions on how to cancel your Spotify subscription: app.sosha.ai/s/kvYKdhBX #DontStreamFascism

a cat is drinking from a white cup with a flower design on it Alt: an orange cat is drinking tea from a white cup with a flower design. A tiny hint about the new book? Maybe!

I'm super excited for this week's newsletter: I'm going to announce my new series!

Obv I'll share here, later, but I like to give my newsletter folks cool news before sharing with the world. Want to hear about my new cozy fantasy before anyone else? You know what to do! www.jomiles.com/newsletter

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"

So, you don't start massive renovations to your house if you're only planning to live there for 4 years.

LIVE NOW ON KICKSTARTER short story or query letter critique by JO MILES author of THE GIFTED OF BRENNEX trilogy plus short fiction published in Lightspeed, F&SF, Analog, Fireside, and elsewhere! Logo is at the bottom over blurred purple OTHERSIDE website banner art.

Interested in a query critique OR a short story critique from @jomiles.bsky.social? We’re deeply grateful to Jo for offering both!

Jo is the author of The Gifted of Brennex trilogy plus short fiction published in Lightspeed, F&SF, Analog, and elsewhere!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/hyb...

I'm so excited for this new market! Back it and support queer stories, authors, and artists!!! Cool rewards, too (including a story critique by me)

For every pledge UFO10 receives today, our Chief Canine Officer Leia will get a treat. Who's in?

www.kickstarter.com/projects/ufo...

I love that too, especially for its warmth. More about parenting than teaching, compared to Incandescent (so far), and that sort of school is delightful but would not scale up well!

Have you read the sequel? It's even queerer and angrier.

I'm reading it right now, and loving it! Such a good idea to flip this genre around and show it from the teacher's perspective.

This is such a lovely book. Do yourself a favor and go get it!

orange cat standing in sink. text on reddit title says: yesterday he found cheese in the sink so now he’s looking for more sink cheese tag: ✨Floofy Orange ✨ (i.redd.it) submitted 7 hours ago by Melegie_ to r/OneOrangeBraincell subreddit 108 comments.

in a way aren't we all looking for more sink cheese where we found it yesterday

And it's delightful!