N.P. Thompson 🍁

How on earth do you use up that much yogurt before it goes bad??

Flatlay of the middle grade book, The Aftermyth, with a glowing gold box on the cover. Background is ancient Greek letters and buildings.

Are your middle grade readers looking for the next Percy Jackson? Meet Penelope Weaver! 🍏

Read my interview with author Tracy Wolff over at @mixedupfiles.bsky.social #kidlit 📚👍

fromthemixedupfiles.com/tracy-wolff/

We're LITERALLY running out of water and our Minister of AI in Canada is talking about putting up massive AI Data Centres??

We sure hope @evansolomon.bsky.social – who has promised "data centres are coming" – realizes they GUZZLE water >> thenarwhal.ca/ai-data-cent... @thenarwhal.ca

Congratulations!

Hey funny story!

Remember how for like 20 years we said if you tell people to only study STEM that job market would tank & also no one would be able to think critically about rhetoric or ethics, know what happened at any point in history or value much but money?

Man, I love that one. Cracks me up.

No, your artificial lawn is not a "life hack". It's another tiny nail in the planet's coffin.

Doc wasn't going to give it to me until I mentioned it was recommended and she checked the website herself. 😑

Can you get that one at a pharmacy, maybe? I was born in the 70s, with no record of a second dose and few years ago I was able to get one at the doctor's office because Ottawa Public Health had something on their website recommending people born in that time frame get a 2nd dose.

ONE WEEK LEFT to sign up to join us in this all-Canadian Itchio bundle! We have a *stellar* group so far, and would love to have you with us! #BookSky #CanLit #CanKidLit #WritingCommunity

Get these monsters out of Canada. 😡

⚠️ WATER BANKRUPTCY ⚠️

A new UN report makes AI Data Centres look even LESS feasible: "many regions are living beyond their hydrological means, many critical water systems are already bankrupt."

We're using freshwater faster than ecosystems can renew. Standard paradox of infinite growth paradigms.

He won't face justice. He'll be found mentally unfit and incapable of standing trial. Or he'll die before it ever gets to that stage. Which is infuriating. But, yes, those around him had better pay for what they've done because he would never have been able to do all this without them.

Ford government storing records ‘central’ to secret cabinet deliberations in Google Docs | Globalnews.ca New information shows staff within Ontario Premier Doug Ford's office are using unsecured Google services to create or circulate official documents.

There are SO MANY things, over YEARS, that should have brought the Ford government down. This is yet another. Why do we keep letting him get away with this kind of thing?
globalnews.ca/news/1164609...

This Toronto doctor has over 2,000 patients, but still no permanent residency | CBC Radio Dr. Michael Antil left the U.S. in 2023 with his family, driven out by an increasingly conservative political climate and COVID-era hostility toward doctors. Now a family physician to over 2,000 patie...

The mind boggles at how hard we make it for skilled professionals *in fields in which we desperately need people*.
www.cbc.ca/radio/whitec...

"Cook little pot, cook!"

WHAT?! We should be *ending* foreign control of our media, not encouraging more of it!

587 jobs to be cut at Canadian Food Inspection Agency The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will cut 587 positions as part of the federal government’s move to reduce the size of the public service by 28,000 positions by 2029.

This is madness. You cannot cut this many people from the *food inspection agency* and not expect fallout. Canadians will be harmed by this. Blasted politicians and their austerity budgets. 😡
www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

So much this. 😣

A downy woodpecker sits on a spruce on a sunny winter day. "Ahh... Febuary" it says. Close up on it correcting "Febrary" then "Febberary..." then finally "Frebrury"

Ferbruary #oldknees

Friendship Centred SFF Book Bundle 37 Books Feb 1st-15th Background photo: four friends standing with arms around each other. Photo by Helena Lones, Itchio Covers: The Unidentified Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys Walking the Knife's Edge Bonkpocalypse Bad Grains A Spark in Space The Damsel AN UNCOMMON CURSE Courage Is the Price Puppetry Duckett & Dyer, Dicks For Hire The Old Goat and the Alien Spirits of the Relentless Without Wings Clipped Sing In Me, Holy One, and Through Me The Lucky Machine The Lost Star Chart Werecockroach Rescue from the Orc Fortress Riyati Ripple Wherever the Stars Call The Crows Woodspell Common Accord Awakenings River of Crows A Study on Magic and Crystals Once Upon A Wave of Witches Fortitude Waters Dust & Lightning The Re-Emergence

SFF Readers, do you like stories which centre friendship, or where friendship groups tackle plot problems?

To help you find them, I've organised this 37 book bundle. It's an even split of Fantasy, SciFi & SciFi-Fantasy, available till Feb 15! (Book blurbs in link 😉.)

🌈📚🪐📚💙 itch.io/b/3486/frien...

I have had a THOUGHT that ties all my series threads together and maybe now the last half of this thing will actually make sense after all! 👊 #AmWriting #wip

Friendship Centred SFF Book Bundle 37 Books Feb 1st-15th Background photo: four friends standing with arms around each other. Photo by Helena Lones, Itchio Covers: The Unidentified Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys Walking the Knife's Edge Bonkpocalypse Bad Grains A Spark in Space The Damsel AN UNCOMMON CURSE Courage Is the Price Puppetry Duckett & Dyer, Dicks For Hire The Old Goat and the Alien Spirits of the Relentless Without Wings Clipped Sing In Me, Holy One, and Through Me The Lucky Machine The Lost Star Chart Werecockroach Rescue from the Orc Fortress Riyati Ripple Wherever the Stars Call The Crows Woodspell Common Accord Awakenings River of Crows A Study on Magic and Crystals Once Upon A Wave of Witches Fortitude Waters Dust & Lightning The Re-Emergence

Looking for a book bundle centering friendship and found families? We've got just the thing!

Includes AN UNCOMMON CURSE, 1st in my series of fairy tales-meet-musicals fantasy novels!

itch.io/b/3486/frien...

I am old enough to remember being told that the fancy new-fangled machines called "computers" were going to ease everyone's workload.

Why the hell are we all still working 40+ hours a week?

I really need weekends to be longer. There just isn't enough time to get everything done that I need to. 😣

You don’t beat fascism and anti-science movements by pretending there’s a middle ground.

You beat it by exposing its propaganda and fighting back.

SUCH a great time for Canada to be pouring tax dollars into new LNG pipelines, don'cha think? 🫠 /sarcasm/

Billionaire-owned, corporate media has censored critical public health information for years.

“Advertisers dropped ads adjacent to coronavirus content, even on trusted news sites, in order to protect “brand safety,” which meant that certain public health‑oriented stories lost visibility.” #COVID

I squoosh. 🥰

(No squoosh owl. Owl no like squooshies. I sad. So soft and squooshable-looking.)

Jared Horvath in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯:

Here’s the thing: Ridiculous numbers of people are getting the flu right now. Cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are reaching or have already reached record-breaking numbers. People of all ages are getting sick, being hospitalized, and dying, even if they had no other health conditions. And lots of people who are “ok” and don’t require hospitalization are feeling terrible and probably wish they were not sick.

You should really be trying not to get the flu (and COVID-19 and RSV and more). This means, yes, you should really get vaccinated….Vaccines teach your body how to recognize and respond to the particular viruses they were created for. No amount of washing your hands, eating healthy, sleeping, or exercising can do this for you. Sorry. These are all important for your immune system and other reasons, but they cannot replace the work of vaccines. People of all ages, with or without other health issues, should get vaccinated. Vaccines help prevent infection and severe illness in people of all ages (yes, even kids. Healthy children can and do die from the flu. And most children who die are unvaccinated*). *Sources if you don’t believe us: bit.ly/428YhOU, tinyurl.com/4tmv8km8, bit.ly/mm7241a2. ... and you should wear masks.

If you don’t want to get or spread the flu (or COVID-19 or other things) you should really wear masks. Seriously, people. Yes, we know, some of you love them and some of you hate them. But we’re a health agency so we’re here to share the things that work to protect your health. Masks keep you from breathing in, or breathing out into the air, virus particles that make you and others sick, even if you don’t know you or the people around you are sick (and honestly you often won’t know). You should wash your hands frequently, eat healthy foods, and get plenty of sleep, but no amount of any of this is going to keep you from breathing in virus particles in the air. Definitely wash your hands. Please. Viruses can spread in multiple ways, and handwashing helps prevent some of those ways. But you can’t wash away a virus you’ve breathed in. There’s a reason masks often become required again at doctors’ offices and hospitals whenever virus spread gets bad (like now). It’s because they work.

Also, it’s very unkind to choose to be unmasked around others if you know you’re sick (and if there’s no reason you can’t wear a mask). For you, maybe it’s “just” the flu or a mild case of another illness, and you don’t care if you’re sick. But for the person you pass it to, it could be: Too much for their body to handle in addition to their chronic illness | The illness they pass to a loved one who has cancer | The reason they are sick on the day of an important life event | A hospital stay for a child | The infection that leads to a disability | Their cause of death. If you are sick, please be kind and stay away from others as much as possible, and wear a mask if you have to spend time away from home. PS: A lot of cases of illness spread by people who don’t have symptoms, so if you want to be even more considerate, it’s a good idea to mask around other people even if you don’t think you’re sick.

We don’t know who needs to hear this, but the flu is getting out of hand. And we needed to make a post about it. Here are our pretty direct thoughts, because sometimes our social media manager/infographic designer is tired & can’t think of a way to put it more gently. Please make good choices. (1/2)

Friendship Centred SFF Book Bundle 37 Books Feb 1st-15th Background photo: four friends standing with arms around each other. Photo by Helena Lones, Itchio Covers: The Unidentified Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys Walking the Knife's Edge Bonkpocalypse Bad Grains A Spark in Space The Damsel AN UNCOMMON CURSE Courage Is the Price Puppetry Duckett & Dyer, Dicks For Hire The Old Goat and the Alien Spirits of the Relentless Without Wings Clipped Sing In Me, Holy One, and Through Me The Lucky Machine The Lost Star Chart Werecockroach Rescue from the Orc Fortress Riyati Ripple Wherever the Stars Call The Crows Woodspell Common Accord Awakenings River of Crows A Study on Magic and Crystals Once Upon A Wave of Witches Fortitude Waters Dust & Lightning The Re-Emergence

A bundle with indie authors for everyone that likes SFF that centres friendship or found family!

It includes 13 Fantasy books, 12 SciFi's, 10 SciFi-Fantasy's and 2 Horror books.

💙📚📢📚📦📚

itch.io/b/3486/frien...