MasterThief Press

As long as Donald Trump didn't win it. I'm sure he campaigned.

There's a presumption here that anything good will come out of AI stealing literature or other 'art'. It's not like literature could be changed. Perhaps genres are at risk, but does that even matter? If such writing is already formulaic then it's about manipulating the formula?

Hey there, we're in Australia, but our author who worked in prisons years ago wants to send his book to the cause. It won't be on anyone's wish list, but it is available locally in Seattle and he said he'd buy it for you from here: asterismbooks.com/product/man-...
If inappropriate, no sweat.

Recently read about the way that Amazon has turned its entire product base into a pile of overpriced garbage. Good thing I deleted my account.

the one on the left looks cartoonish

If AI thinks it's one of its own, we may be living in an animation, not a simulation

Man Alone by Nick Petroulias Milan Kundera observed, "Most protagonists of great novels do not have children. Scarcely 1 percent of the world's population is childle...

Putting this enjoyable review of Man Alone by Glenn Russell out there again.
Still a couple of copies left down at the Asterism Online Bookshop, classified these days under "Philosophical works" Fitting.

glenncolerussell.blogspot.com/2023/08/man-...

Sept. 27, 1962: Silent Spring Published Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was published.

#tdih 1962, "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson published, exposed impact of pesticides on environment.

Carson was vilified: called a Communist, disloyal, unscientific, and hysterical.

Sound familiar? Attacks on truth tellers, with media complicity.

See⬇️🧵
zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/si...

Republican voters suddenly with a headache.

YouTube video by Giramondo Publishing PiO in conversation with Ivor Indyk

You have to love the way Pio speaks and reads his poems. This interview with publisher Ivor Indyk shows the multifaceted thought processes at work in his poetry.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTnb...

Gosh, I hardly think the Democrats represent the left any more. I'd like more compelling debate than that. Inequality is growing at an alarming rate and it seems irrelevant to the media.

“No Guernicas, no sacred places”: On the closure of Meanjin - Overland literary journal Australia’s literary culture depends for its life on its journals. Literary journals are not just clearing houses for pithy snatches of commentary and readable middlebrow fiction — they’re incubators ...

“If we’ve learned anything from the recent slew of Zionist attacks on culture in Australia, it’s that institutions — mainly universities — are often a poisoned chalice for writers and editors.”

Deputy editor Eli McLean on the closure of MEANJIN.

“No Guernicas, no sacred places”: On the closure of Meanjin - Overland literary journal Australia’s literary culture depends for its life on its journals. Literary journals are not just clearing houses for pithy snatches of commentary and readable middlebrow fiction — they’re incubators ...

The deputy editor speaks

overland.org.au/2025/09/no-g...

A few people have been dusting off Karl Popper's paradox of tolerance. Simply, tolerating the intolerant is a mistake. And we're in the middle of that right now as a free country. Time to stop tolerating the nazi types, the bigots, the fascists, the hateful that seem to be everywhere.

Good article, thanks.

An independent journal needs to come out of it. Corporate housing of such journals no longer work.

Who killed Meanjin? And why won’t Melbourne University Publishing engage with efforts to save it?

New:
A deep dive with some alarming new revelations on the silencing of one of the few remaining independent progressive voices in Australian media. Who killed Meanjin?

a letter from me and m'learned colleagues in support of @meanjin.bsky.social (@savemeanjin.bsky.social )

Banksy genius.

The soft and quiet power of Australian literature needs public champions - InReview | InDaily, Inside South Australia Following the abrupt closure of Australian literary journal Meanjin after 85 years, Splinter journal editor Farrin Foster reflects on how literature’s quiet power makes it one of our least-valued art ...

The soft and quiet power of Australian literature needs public champions by Farrin Foster for InReview

www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/boo...

π reading at the Meanjin rally this morning.

Hopefully an independent group can take the name and archive and start afresh away from corporate control. happy to help in whatever wsy

Protesters gathered outside Melbourne University Publishing office at 715 Swanston St

Big turnout at this morning’s rally against @mupublishing.bsky.social vandalism of Meanjin. @beneltham.bsky.social called for Meanjin’s name and archive to be surrendered so the magazine can be published by someone who deserves to and appreciates the honour

Melbourne poet Pi-O performs a poem at the Save Meanjin rally this morning

Except when spelling the word "way" and punctuation like full stops. And capitalisation.

The end of Meanjin after 85 years is as sad as it is infuriating | Ben Walter MUP says it is ‘no longer viable’ to make the literary magazine – but almost none of them are financially viable. That’s not their purpose or value * Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email Some years ago, I wrote about the terrible repercussions that would follow if the literary magazine Island were forced to close following its defunding by the Tasmanian state government’s arts funding body. I argued that there would be significant impacts for readers and writers throughout the nation. In the end, the magazine survived, but only because of a lengthy period of seriously hard work by the magazine’s staff and board that raised enough support to keep it off the chopping block and get it back on its feet. This appears to be in embarrassing contrast to the efforts at Meanjin, where the board of Melbourne University Publishing has announced that after 85 years the magazine will simply close, making its two part-time staff (who were not involved in the decision) redundant and shutting the doors on what has long been regarded as Australia’s most prestigious literary magazine. Where is any sort of similar commitment to keep the magazine going in some form? As author Jennifer Mills wrote on social media: “The loss of Meanjin is devastating news for Australian writers and readers … An entirely avoidable disaster.” Continue reading...

The end of Meanjin after 85 years is as sad as it is infuriating | Ben Walter

The Death of Meanjin Price of everything, value of nothing dept.

The Death of Meanjin. a couple of thoughts. open.substack.com/pub/greenwor...

Sign the Petition Save Meanjin: It Matters.

chng.it/BWktwZMSL4

Rally to save Meanjin magazine
Thursday 11 Sept 9am
715 Swanston St Carlton

A number of Australian writers, editors and academics will speak in support of this vital cultural institution

Meanjin's 'financial' shutdown doesn't add up

Opinion | Melbourne University Press says it shut down Meanjin for "purely financial reasons". Perhaps the university could have used some of its $273 million surplus to safeguard the seminal journal, @catrionamp.bsky.social‬ writes.

The decision to close Meanjin misunderstands its wider importance. Australian culture deserves better The decision to close Meanjin is the latest in a string of recent decisions that suggest universities are not safe harbours for priceless cultural institutions.

If Melbourne University Publishing doesn’t want to keep publishing Meanjin, they should hand over the journal to someone worthy of the responsibility. Me in The Conversation theconversation.com/the-decision...

Been thinking the same thing all day today. Institutions like MelbUni becoming suspect in this area of free expression.

OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS: Looking to home your out-of-print book? Try us at Lost/Found, a new imprint at Split/Lip Press. Rolling submissions are now open! splitlippress.submittable.com

And it's go time! Submissions to our Lost/Found imprint are now open. Is your out-of-print prose book in need of a new home? If so, we'd love to consider your book for republication.

Our Lost/Found Editor @abigailoswald.bsky.social is waiting at
splitlippress.submittable.com (also linked in bio)!