Alex Harford

Habitats looks lovely, with artwork from Mateusz Urbanowicz, an illustrator from some of my favourite anime (like Your Name).

I missed it first time around, so it's Volumes 1 & 2 for me.

#ShortStory #FantasyArt

Oof, what a great story.

A wonderful story and summation of the ableism that exists from the top down in our society and the impact that has.

Fluff content is a negative and actually something Google cracks down on. Articles need to be as long as they need to be, with whatever information is useful.

Structure is important.

(I specialise in SEO)

Ah, great! I was undecided but this is reason enough for me to switch to Instapaper.

This is something I’ve had lots of big feelings and thoughts about, so it’s only appropriate that I constrain myself to 100 words for this story.

Happy pub day to Gig Economy 🎙️

Do you know what time the poetry workshop is likely to be? I'm in the UK so need to account for the time difference and my sleepy time if I attend live.

On the contrary, it's raised my expectations. If anything has a strong whiff of generative AI now, my brain turns off and I go elsewhere, even reporting it as spam in some cases.

In a dream world, I imagine paying well above the base-pro rate, but I know that's unlikely and will probably have to settle for much less. When it comes to it, I'll investigate arts funding and that kind of thing.

Done...I think?

Apologies for the slow response - I'm away travelling and things like this are difficult with only my phone.

Me too! I'd love to publish favourites by other writers. It was very exciting when my first favourite from slush made it through.

I want to get published more myself first, then I'll seriously think about it...

Duolingo is already an awful app that treats its users with contempt and coercive tactics.

I'm currently reading your WotF volume. If I remember correctly, I was glad to see your story early in the contents.

In Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 Episode 49, @ginasue.bsky.social joins @alexhanna.bsky.social & I to take apart the UK government’s “AI Opportunities Action Plan” and discover it’s made up of so much AI magic dust:

www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/epis...

Thx to @whatulysses.bsky.social for production!

Done. 🙂

Done. 🙂

YouTube under fire for recommending videos of kids with inappropriate comments | TechCrunch More than a year on from a child safety content moderation scandal on YouTube and it takes just a few clicks for the platform's recommendation algorithms

The algorithms are designed to push all sorts of crap like that. YouTube has a checkered history e.g. techcrunch.com/2019/02/18/y...

TikTok is even worse.

Done. 🙂

✔️

The Perfect Match - Lightspeed Magazine Sai woke to the rousing first movement of Vivaldi’s violin concerto in C minor, “Il Sospetto.” He lay still for a minute, letting the music wash over him like a gentle Pacific breeze. The room brighte...

I mention it often, but my favourite prescient sci-fi short story is probably The Perfect Match by @kyliu99.bsky.social

Published in 2012 and a brilliant example of how the big tech companies aim to control our lives, and will, if we let them:
www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-...

Scientists can help governments plan for the future. But don’t forget sci-fi writers: we can do it too | Emma Newman Our job is to imagine scenarios from the impact of the climate crisis to the rise of AI – and decision-makers need our help, says Emma Newman

I love this article by @emmanewman.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"Science-fiction writers have the ability to look at big systems and how changing one variable can affect the people who live within them. We bring them to life and help readers to understand..."

Here's a Starter Pack I created - you'll know a few, and I've added you too: bsky.app/starter-pack...

Sky Follower Bridge - Chrome Web Store Easily transfer your following users and list members from X to Bluesky.

If you use Chrome on desktop, this extension can match your Twitter follows to here. Then just uninstall it after. 🙂
chromewebstore.google.com/detail/sky-f...

Puts a new meaning on bricking it before a first date, though I think it'd be easy to cement the relationship.

In the UK there is a magazine called Positive News. I don't know if they have an app.

I tried standup comedy to improve my confidence speaking in front of people. I was very scared, and it worked!

Funny how libraries used to be silent and now we have silent discos.

Also my earworm today is a new song called No One Leaves the Discotheque Alive.

This is one of the most important texts about agency in fiction. I'm always pointing people to it. I think almost every writer and reader in Latin America, and probably anywhere in the "Global South", will frown upon being told to write more active protagonists.

The market teaches them too. Unless I'm mistaken, a couple of pro paying mag editors did so on courses I did.

It's the same with conflict. But not all stories need conflict in how it's widely taught or expected. I know Asian authors who struggle with this in English language markets.

Interesting and good to know, thanks for sharing.

Some of the best stories I've read have 'passive' protagonists, but if a story doesn't resonate with me, I often look out for an active protagonist and recommend so if I'm critiquing. I'll aim to look past that.