Thomas D. Lee

honestly the authors pulling their books from the polari prize over the inclusion of a rancid transphobe, ESPECIALLY the debut authors, are all going straight on my TBR (if they weren’t already there)

It might seem obvious, but you do a lot more good for media literacy by giving kids books that they actually want to read. Because they will *actually read them*. You can insist on the classics and congratulate yourself for your fine taste, but kids don't learn anything if they never open the book.

I saw a lot more kids reading manga than I'd ever seen reading Tolstoy or Cervantes. And the Millennium Collection included 'On War' by Clausewitz and 'The Wealth of Nations' by Adam Smith - honestly, how many teenagers are voluntarily reading Clausewitz on their lunchbreak?

And this wasn't because the kids at my school were particularly slow-witted or allergic to reading - they weren't, they were bright and curious young thinkers. They were reading Maggie Stiefvater and Alice Oseman and Suzanne Collins. They'd asked the librarian to stock some manga, which she did.

So long story short that's how I ended up owning the entire Millennium Collection. They had been in that school for twenty years without being read, and I felt sorry for them. (And they would have ended up in the trash if I hadn't taken them, before anyone accuses me of stealing from kids).

The Grapes of Wrath - which had never been checked out, but did contain an old chew-its wrapper with the word HELP! written on it in scented purple biro, which is a familiar sentiment to anyone who's read The Grapes of Wrath

Kafka's collected works

Here's Don Quixote (one of my favourite books)

Here's War and Peace, Volume 1

At first I protested and said 'surely they're better off here, so that the kids can read them'. The librarian gave me a certain look and told me to check the return cards. Bear in mind, these books had been in the library from 1998-2018. Twenty years in which any student could have taken them out.

The school where I used to work was reorganising their library during the 2017-2018 school year. I used to do lunch shifts in the library. One day the librarian asked me if I would like to find a good home (and/or keep for myself) the school's copies of the Millennium Collection.

I actually have a great physical case study for this. Most schools in the UK were given the Western Canon for free in 1998. It was called The Millennium Collection. I'm not sure if it was a government initiative or a donation from the Everyman's Library, but it included Hugo, Tolstoy, Steinbeck...

I'm sorry that you're getting tired of reading this thread. Maybe you should keep reading anyway, even the gnarly bits that make you uncomfortable. It's important to challenge yourself and read things that you disagree with. Otherwise you're just prioritising reader-comfort over author-intent.

Have you quietly pondered the fact that this is an imaginary problem? The classics of the genre are sitting there in every bookshop and library for anyone who wants to read them. They're doing fine. They don't need to be prescribed reading, and they're not in competition with contemporary SFF.

I used to work in schools. Let's take it as an enormous victory that kids are reading anything, any paper book. If you see a teenager reading a book you should react as if a butterfly just landed on your hand.

Some people on here are far too enamoured with themselves as Serious Readers. Imagine going up to a teenage reader, slapping All Systems Red out of their hands, giving them a crusty copy of Heinlein and shouting 'It's not enough to be a CONSUMER, you have to ASSESS THE GENRE AS A WHOLE!'

I'm glad you enjoyed it! ☺️

Perilous Times IN PERILOUS TIMES LIKE THESE, THE REALM DOESN'T JUST NEED A HERO. IT NEEDS A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR. Sir Kay and his fellow knights awake from their my...

If you like art that was created with human intentionality then great news, I wrote a book that you can buy

www.orbit-books.co.uk/titles/thoma...

Thank you for introducing me to this phenomenon, what the absolute fuck

Me too! If it was developed by humans, with loving intentionality, and not by soulless machines.

Equally, don't let anyone make you feel bad for working in a bar or cafe or retail job while you work on your craft and get that book finished. Publishing is full of classist snobs who are embarrassed by the idea that anyone might need to work for a living, but you can ignore them and keep writing.

Some of the best writers I know are working in bars and kitchens or retail to keep the wolf from the door. If they can learn and grow and make art in their free time then these tech bro fucks certainly can, rather than delegating their humanity to a machine. But it's never been about the art.

I didn't notice that until you pointed it out! Absolutely cursed demon behaviour.

I'm in the same boat if that makes you feel any better 🥱😵😵‍💫

Keep writing that stupid book

Original painting: art, deliberate, soulful

AI 'exploration' of original painting: not art, ghoulish, inhuman, emperor's new clothes

Putting the Doom UI over it: art, intentional, hilarious, human, quietly profound

I've been meaning to learn more about the trauje condoutation wars

the thing that trans people ask of the world is so tiny, really. just to be able to exist as the person they are, without the rest of us being weird or cruel about it. it's a deep shame on our society that we are unable to deliver on so small a thing.

Funnily enough during WW1 it was often RNAS pilots who held this view, whereas the RFC were (on the whole, not universally) more chummy and chivalrous. Because letting Jerry ditch his kite in a field in France is a lot nicer than letting him ditch his kite in the North Sea.

Every day brings a new horror that makes the Butlerian Jihad seem like a reasonable solution to AI.