Drew Broussard

hell yeah

In days of yore when the Earth was young, we used to just block somebody who was posting some garbage opinion. Didn’t matter if they seemed like they were on our side and other things. We just blocked them. It was a simple and a better time here

what if instead of every writer having an individual premium substack we had lots of writers working together for one publication. you might have editors, too, and designers. and only one regular fee, instead of seventy billion! wonder who will invent that. sounds like it’d be good

A bunch of fish men following a cultist lady

Goin down to the ocean!
Gonna get myself a MAN!

Absolutely not trying to make the terrible news of the closure of Washington Post's Books coverage about me or anything, but I cannot stress how bad this is for books. The biggest divide between Big 5 and independent/nonprofit press books is not quality--it's the marketing spend.

woof, I completely assumed that because of your regularity, there was a more robust infrastructure around you — sad indeed.

I'm using "industry" as a verrrry broad-brush term to suggest "folks who know about books" — I don't think the average person unaware of genre fiction/Tor/etc is stumbling upon Reactor to read criticism in the same way that they *might* while flipping through the paper and hitting an arts section.

Public Funding of Journalism Is the Only Way There is no other magic solution. I promise.

www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/public-fun...

Realizing that there could be a @flaminghydra.com / @hearingthingsco.bsky.social model possible here too. Like maybe in-your-mailbox/on-your-doorstep paper is not worth reviving but the concept, the concept I think could have legs. I am too tired to think about it more but... I'm thinking about it.

Wondering about what a rebuilt direct-to-consumer outlet could look like. Not just books, but an actual arts section — hell, call it The Arts Section since nobody's local is gonna have one in about twenty minutes. You could even syndicate it to papers who will, in ~2 yrs, realize they want it again.

(purposefully not including industry-facing spots, because while plenty of reviews run in the LRB and Bookforum and BOMB and Reactor and so on... let's not kid ourselves, those are different beasts!)

Real question: what's left, when it comes to widely-read dedicated books sections? The British papers have decent ones, although they too have seen some shrink. The NYT, for what it's worth. Chicago Trib?

In all seriousness this is a primary reason why I hate when cyberpunk is reduced to an aesthetic. Its roots are INTENSELY political!

One of the last actual books sections in the country, gone.

Rax, I think this is a very strong pitch for a new Batman movie and/or comic

it makes sense because if you think about it, they are fundamentally the same person- a hollow vessel of empty personal ambition with no other tether or ties to anything of any sort, no wonder he hates Boris because that is his spiritual twin, it's like looking in a mirror every time for him

one thing that would be cool, when prominent creators turn out to be terrible people, would be if we didn't have to go through this performative dance of insisting that their work was never good in the first place.

The Nation’s homepage today is dedicated entirely to Gaza and its people. Despite a so-called ceasefire, bombings continue, hunger persists, aid trickles, and hundreds of thousands live in threadbare tents.

Neil Gaiman: "everyone has smeared me but here's a link to a Substack by some person which was previously apt 'how to reclaim your attention through mindfulness meditation techniques' but now exonerates me, also I'll have a new book for sale soon, also I'm a Dad feel bad for me, disable comments"

ICYMI, Gai*man is slinking out of the shadows and posting again, trying to scuttle his way back into the public's good graces.

Please take care of yourselves, believe women, believe survivors, and fuck that guy.

Defend the Kennedy center, use laws to do it, don’t let him turn it into the Kim Jong il theater from team America world police only dumber

ten years ago today no one clapped

I need you guys also to realize that out here in the woods, the only real newspaper people accept as reality-based comes out once a week and contains basically zero of this

I've been doing Summer '26 ordering for the store, which means a huge wave of galleys, including a box from MPS with CJ Leede, Chuck Tingle, Olivie Blake on top. CJ's new book is spectacular so far—a truly top-notch horror-thriller—and I'm taking Chuck & Olivie on vacation with me this week.

this particular line is maybe the best statement of purpose i have seen for those of us who want a more militant opposition to this administration

"Nonviolent but confrontational resistance" is exactly it. For too long, 'we go high' has meant 'we stay above it' but actually 'we go high' should mean 'we stick to our principles and full-throatedly defend what we believe in, even if it means telling fascists to, in no uncertain terms, get fucked'

Screen grab from the Dark magazine site showing opening few lines of story "Hunger".

Hey friends! I have a brand new story up at The Dark. Somewhat autobiographical, and one of the favorite things I've written for that. I hope you'll give it a read. It is a bit strange and dark.

www.thedarkmagazine.com/hunger-2/

From: which.king@angmar.gov
To: xXSauronDaDeceiverXx@angband.edu
Date: 1554 Second Age
Subject: Re: Master Ring (Forged in secret)???

lmfao u totally shoulkd

wait wait wait this isn't fiction this is real?! ohhhh no, no no no, gang, we are FUCKED-fucked.

The UAW Strike May Have Finally Set Us Up for a General Strike Who’s up for a little class warfare?

Some further reading on this subject for folks who'd like to learn more about general strikes as a tactic (and about the one that's already being planned for 2028): www.teenvogue.com/story/uaw-ge...