Simone Heller

An Ewok playing an ICE and Border Patrol drumset.

This machine yub nubs fascists.

“In the Sea of Binary Stars” by Simone Heller – Plott Hound Magazine A sharp nose for amazing animal stories

Sniffing around for some good fiction? Well do we have a seal of a story for you. Check out "In the Sea of Binary Stars" by @herlizardness.bsky.social

We love it, and we hope you will, too!

lol
AI stole my life’s work
to use it to replace me
and now I need a new computer to do what’s left of this work
and it costs as much as a car or maybe a small spaceship
because of AI

Cover of John Brunner‘s Stand on Zanzibar, Morgenwelt in German, a paperback with a cover in a surreal style.

It will
Or maybe the headaches are due to the small print, who knows?

Mit dem perfekten Lesezeichen auch noch! <3

Danke & komm gut rüber (mit Saurierkutsche, hoffe ich)

If you believe LLMs can translate your book, there’s no reason to think LLMs can’t also write your book.

Awesome reading list & glad you enjoyed those!

Sidebar:

A part of the AI conversation that passes me off is the fact that the proponents know and sometimes outright say seas of people will lose their jobs (i.e., creatives and skilled workers) and rarely have an even passable answer about what these people will do instead.

I still can’t believe I sold four stories this year!

Bei dem dicken Star-Wars-Brocken war ich aber nur “Planeten” ^^

A young harbor seal looking up at the camera hopefully while on the ground, all her whiskers out)

If you'd like to support seals, this awesome hospital, and me, and get an adorable sticker for your good deed, maybe consider participating - you would be the fish in their bucket (see rescue seal Scarlett for reference for how hungry they are) and make me very happy <3

And last but not least, I'm running a fundraising event right now with my Seal Signal project. You help a really good seal center, I send you a cute seal sticker designed by a human artist. This is the project of my heart, all cobbled together to multiply the impact I could have on my own.

Uncertainty & kindness, I could deal with that.

Cover of the German version of “Avatar Fire and Ash - illustrated dictionary”. It’s black with various items and persons from the movie, a blue alien with a red feather headdress is prominently displayed in the Center.

Cover of the German version of the “Ultimate Star Wars Book” in movie poster style yellows and oranges, with a dozen characters arranged on it.

Cover of the German version of a Warhammer miniature Encyclopedia, dark and crowded, with multiple miniatures arranged on it.

3 books I translated this year that almost made me lose my mind (for different reasons - one was a lot to learn, one I jumped on last minute, and one … we don’t talk about Bruno). My two fav translations of 2025 are not out yet :(

Onward in uncertainty, as always. Happy about the kindness I get to see while the powers in this world try their best to suck it all out.

What I did not have on my bingo card: 1. taking marine mammalogy courses, 2. going through a steep web programming learning curve, 3. making Instagram reels for promotion. All of this made my life brighter (... not the reels, these are a pain) - what can I say? Maybe I just love long low animals

1 story written & published, 2 abandoned after lots & lots of work put in. That's the way it goes. I'm on another thing now and feel excited about it. Let's see when I will hit a wall with that one. Still can't read in Japanese despite all my effort ^^ , but I’ll trudge on in that too.

Crazy year I had! Probably the most busy ever, but I also lost 3 reliable clients since A offers to translate Kindle books with a click. So next year might look quite different, and I'm glad and very frightened. I'd really like to work less, but these are 8 books I'm not going to translate in 2026.

Ugh. I hate them so much, and unfortunately it’s not mutual.

Happy Halloween und jede Menge treats! Ich fahre auf jeden Fall mit im Kürbismobil.

Come for the acid-spitting centipedes, stay for the calm of the forest - and for many more fabulous stories in this bundle.

Thank you!! ❤️🦭

My friend @herlizardness.bsky.social has been working on a very cool (and VERY CUTE) new project - check out what she's doing at sealsignal.org and give The Seal Signal a follow?

(spoilers: delightful seal stickers designed by human artists)

Ich fand auch, dass das verheißungsvoll klingt.

Yep, just automatic retcon

This is what the story should have been (and is, in my head).

I know this is a niche thing, but if you feel like entering a world of pinniped pups, nature art, and conservation action, take a look, support The Seal Signal with a follow on the platform of your choice, or simply choose more seals in your feed.

Our world is a dumpster fire of epic dimensions, and I needed something that made me believe in acts of empathy and change. Marine mammals and ocean conservation are just a way back to the roots for me.

The Seal Signal’s logo, showing a chunky Harbor seal silhouette in off-white projected into a circle with the text sealsignal.org on dark red ground.

I made a thing. Not my usual thing, but using similar skills - gathering information, structuring it, thinking up a good way to present it. Enter: The Seal Signal @sealsignal.bsky.social - a global guide to seal rescue and conservation.