Stephen Brooke (@stephenbrooke) — Bluesky Profile

6 hours ago

Change

All things change.

Not for the better, mind you,
not for the worse. Just different
from the way they were.

I, too, change.

This way, that way, slowly,
imperceptible
even to myself

sometimes, changing

none the less. Each morning
must be made anew;
each man must wake changed,

as all things.

Stephen Brooke ©2026

Change, a #poem
#poetry

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1 day ago

Wayfaring Stranger (From the Film Hellfire) YouTube video by Mean Mary - Topic

Mean Mary's take on Wayfaring Stranger from the film Hellfire #americana #folkmusic #banjo #meanmary
youtu.be/MymtD5nZz3c?...

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2 days ago

I shouldn't be surprised

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2 days ago

Yet another reason to stick with @mapquest.com

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2 days ago

Chekhov’s gun
proved only a red herring
Christie put it there

Stephen Brooke ©2026
#writing #senryu

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2 days ago

These days I've ended up creating most of my simpler graphics for posting online with LibreOffice Draw, on Linux. It's not ideal but it generally can do the job. Serious stuff is done with Corel Draw but I have to crank up Windows to use it.

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6 days ago

Oh, it started very small... They began by controlling books of cartoons and then detective books and, of course, films, one way or another, one group or another, political bias, religious prejudice, union pressures; there was always a minority afraid of something, and a great majority afraid of the dark, afraid of the future, afraid of the past, afraid of the present, afraid of themselves and shadows of themselves. ~ Ray Bradbury (from The Martian Chronicles)

a concept Bradbury more thoroughly explored later in Fahrenheit 451 #books #sciencefiction #censorship

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1 week ago

Pasta made from chick peas must be one of the most horrible things I've ever tasted.

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1 week ago

Mexico

A fringe of sea oats and yes, some sand-spurs
separated manicured lawns
from white sand. Beyond, the Gulf,
whispered soft onto our shores,

as it did on distant beaches,
in languages we’d yet to learn.
Texas was that way; Mexico
a little to the left. We would

not swim that far today. Tomorrow
we might seek those shores, swimming,
swimming, into oblivion.
It and Mexico were waiting.

Stephen Brooke ©2026

Mexico, a #poem

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1 week ago

The only way I've used AI in my stories is as a character.

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2 weeks ago

I fear this short story is going to turn into the opening chapter of a #novel. As if I don't have enough of those I need to work on.

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3 weeks ago

All That Will Not Be

To what empty shores might your storm carry me
as I name the stars above this restless sea?
Gaze upon each truth, in fixed forgetfulness,
know each secret sin I must someday confess.
Edging forward now, ablaze then in regress,
crossing ebon fields, points dim and luminesce;
laugh on in eternal cold cacophony,
light my way to shores of all that will not be.

Now in fear I cower, now in ecstasy;
prophets shoulder forth and vie to set me free.
Let them slip me keys to promised doors and gates;
in the rooms of darkness, naught I know awaits.
As the stars grow silent, as each storm abates,
voices of the void take up our whispered fates;
echoes chasing echoes through infinity
fade among the vaults of all that will not be.

Stephen Brooke ©2026

All That Will Not Be #poetry

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3 weeks ago

As someone who has been a bodybuilder for fifty years and a writer for fitness magazines, I do not feel RFK's workout video does us any favors.

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3 weeks ago

Flock Cameras Destroyed in La Mesa Amid Surveillance Backlash - San Diego Slackers [LA MESA, Calif., Mon Feb. 16] At least two Flock automatic license plate reader cameras…

sdslackers.com/2026/02/16/f...

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3 weeks ago

What’s behind your eye-popping power bill? We broke it down, region by region. The culprit depends on where you live — but it’s probably not data centers (yet).

What’s behind your eye-popping power bill? We broke it down, region by region. | grist.org/energy/power...

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3 weeks ago

I've titled chapters in a few books but it doesn't seem particularly worth the effort to come up with names. I'm sometimes tempted to do like Terry Pratchett and not have chapters at all.

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3 weeks ago

Once one gets past all the little touches that say 'Gaiman' or 'Pratchett,' "Good Omens" reads much like a Michael Moorcock novel. I half-expect Jerry Cornelius to step through the door at any moment.

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3 weeks ago

A note that if you happen to catch the movie 'Hellfire' premiering on Prime tonight, that's my niece, the one and only Mean Mary James, performing 'Wayfaring Stranger' at the close. #folkmusic

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3 weeks ago

Just reread Zelazny's Amber novels (the five Corwin ones) to remind myself what good #fantasy is like.

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3 weeks ago

Is someone who makes copies a copywright?

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3 weeks ago

I'm a third of the way through #reading the rather thick 'Master and Commander' and so far it doesn't seem to be about anything. I guess I'll stick with it a while. #historicalfiction

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1 month ago

Kristi Noem's DHS is demanding priests prove citizenship based on skin color: cardinal A prominent Catholic leader in the Archdiocese of Chicago is alleging that Department of Homeland Security agents are stopping priests and demanding they prove their citizenship, based solely on the c...

Kristi Noem's DHS is demanding priests prove citizenship based on skin color: cardinal

www.rawstory.com/chicago-card...

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1 month ago

When I’m Wearing Red ❤️ | Mean Mary | Official Music Video YouTube video by Mean Mary

Mean Mary (my talented niece) wears red and plays the #blues
youtu.be/Z59K2wP2Ilo?...

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1 month ago

Martyr
Valentine was a martyr but not
a martyr for love, unless one counts
love of God, which has its own perks
but isn’t quite the same. I do
not doubt that he knew earthly love
as well, no matter quite how holy
a saint he might have been. I do
not doubt that he was human as I.
Valentine never shared a box
of chocolates but I’m sure he would
have enjoyed it. I could see
him chewing a nougat as he composed
serious letters of hope, despite
prison walls about him, death
ahead. The season of his feast day
and his letter writing made
of him a saint of paper hearts,
a saint of lovers and of every
martyr with an empty mailbox.
Valentine would write each of them
a message of hope, if he could.
Stephen Brooke (C)2011

Martyr, a #valentine #poem by Stephen Brooke. This piece appeared in the collection Ticking, from Arachis Press (arachispress.com)

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1 month ago

When one lives among greyhounds, one should avoid giving life-like imitations of rabbits. ~ Saki

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1 month ago

Cover of the four-in-one edition of Stephen Brooke's epic Donzalo's Destiny. Picture by Renaissance artist Sebastiano del Piombo

A hardcover edition of the #epic fantasy, Donzalo's Destiny, has been released at Arachis Press (arachispress.com). The four books included in the volume remain available as paperbacks and free ebooks.

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1 month ago

Trump news: Canadian ICC judge won't let sanctions stop her When Kimberly Prost goes on vacation, she needs to phone hotels in advance to explain that she can’t pay for a room with a credit card — because she’s been sanctioned by the Trump administration.

Canadian ICC judge says Trump’s sanctions won’t stop her from doing her job

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1 month ago

That makes sixty consecutive Super Bowls I haven't watched.

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1 month ago

'They can’t take us all' – global bike rides set to take place in remembrance of Alex Pretti The 37-year-old cyclist was killed last week by federal agents in Minneapolis

www.cyclingweekly.com/news/they-ca...

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1 month ago

Big wet flakes of snow starting to fall. Snow two years running in the Florida Panhandle is unheard of.

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