There are 5 gigantic publishers: Penguin Random House, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, & HarperCollins. 4 of them signed a letter urging the US Congress to undo the Trump/Musk cuts to libraries. Only HarperCollins didn’t sign the letter. Rupert Murdoch, who owns Fox so-called News, also owns HarperCollins.

Happy National #library Week to you all! #libraries need your love and support right now, just as they love and support you. #bookstodon

The latest FOSS Academic post is: "Copyediting: The Bane of the FOSS Academic Lifestyle Dream."

https://fossacademic.tech/2025/04/06/copyediting.html

I talk about the copyediting phase of writing a book. It often forces me to use Microsoft Word. This wasn't a big deal when I wrote my first book back in '14. Today, it's entirely different: using Microsoft Word in 2025 is basically feeding your work to an LLM machine. The post talks about a workaround I found -- this time, anyway.

Happy National Library Week!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Library_Week

Some things you can do this week to celebrate:

- Get yourself a library card, if you haven't already, or help someone else sign up!
- Check out your library's free resources and services, or attend an event!
- Donate to your local library, if you have the means!
- Call your elected representatives' offices, and tell them why libraries are important to you and your community: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative and https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

Presented as a means to “restore the rule of law” to the United States’ southern border, hundreds of miles of border walls have been erected by successive presidential administrations. This new book claims it is the walls themselves that transcend the law: https://www.texasobserver.org/the-lawless-border-wall/

Here's something nice: the New York Review of Books @nybooks has joined the party. Worth following. https://newsie.social/@nybooks/114275637845132010

Introducing the Tinker WriterDeck OS!

Convert any laptop and most chromebooks into a writer deck: A device designed solely for writing.

No distractions.
No internet.
No apps. No games. No social media.

Just writing.

The Tinker WriterDeck is very light weight and specifically seeks to lower the barrier of entry to creating writer decks. It converts older, reused, refurbished, or inexpensive laptops into a dedicated writing machine.

A digital typewriter.

The Tinker WriterDeck sits on top of a "headless" Debian Linux image and boots directly into a console based text editor.

We're using the Tilde Text Editor because it is a simple text editor, has an intuitive User Interface, and allows for customized color schemes for light and dark modes.

Operating System download and instructions on how to convert your laptop into a dedicated writer deck for free are found here: https://tinker.sh

See below for an example of the writer deck in light mode and dark mode.

If anyone has any questions or needs any help setting your laptop up, let me know here!

'The company has taken our books and used it to make money. It has money, but instead of paying us for our intellectual property instead of licensing a word, it's taking it all for free.'

Andrew Rogers talks to the authors standing up against #Meta

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70w24j7jk1o

#books #reading #writing #publishing #AI #bookstodon @bookstodon

Every so often I read a book that's so good it makes me feel like I need to recalibrate my book ratings scale. How can it be a "five star" book when it's so much better than other "five star" books I've read?

But I've always found the ubiquitous star rating scales poorly suited to my mental model of cataloguing books, which vary so widely they could never be boiled down to a plain numeric scale. Do the stars represent how much I enjoyed a book? The depth of feelings it made me feel? The quality of the prose? The ease with which I find myself turning to the next page?

I've deeply enjoyed many a book with terrible writing and clichéd plots; is that a five star book? How do I rate a book with beautiful prose and intricate plotlines, that nonetheless causes me to dread picking it back up?

And what is a "one star" book? If a book is truly unenjoyable, I likely won't finish it at all — and thus won't rate it, as it feels unfair to cast judgment on a book I've only partially read. Is "one star" a book I liked enough to finish, but just barely?

Anyway, this is all to say you should read East of Eden, which topped the charts in just about every category, whether it was the prose, enjoyment, or deepness of feelings I felt afterwards.

https://www.mollywhite.net/micro/entry/east-of-eden
#bookstodon

In #books: While “restoring the rule of law” to the U.S.-Mexico border has been a resonant and repeated talking point for successive administrations, it is the border walls that they have built, not the #border itself, that are lawless. https://www.texasobserver.org/the-lawless-border-wall/

#bookstodon #immigration #CriminalJustice #law #USpol #politics #news @bookstodon

Feminist Friendly Fantasy. Eine verpeilte Heldin in Nesselumhang und mit Knochenhund an der Seite, unterstützt von pragmatisch-magischen Weibern, Heiligen und Dämonen und auch einem starken Mann (aber einer von den Guten). Bisschen Ehre und Moral, Glaube an sich selbst, auch wenn man glauben will nichts zu bedeuten. Flutscht weg wie nix, flapsig aber schön und atmosphärisch. (Übersetzung: @lavievagabonde !) #frauenlesen #books #bookstodon #TKingfisher #2025reads #bücherliebe

“Sometimes their last words speak not only for the victim but for society and we ignore them at our peril.”

Now out from Lise Olsen: A forensic anthropologist spent decades identifying the victims of a notorious serial killer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/the-scientist-and-the-serial-killer/

Hitting People in the Feels:
A quick roundup of some of the lovely reviews of The Gates of Polished Horn.

I'm really touched that this collection is working for readers. I was nervous to put some of these more serious and literary stories together with my usual blend of SFF and humor. But I guess it works. Thanks to @ilanderz for believing in the project!

https://markarayner.com/hitting-people-in-the-feels/

March reading (https://www.mollywhite.net/reading). Quite an eclectic mix this month, with some really enjoyable reads.

The new book from Lise Olsen traces a forensic anthropologist’s decades-long attempt to restore the identities of the victims of one of #Texas’ most prolific serial killers—and explores the shocking reasons why so many boys who were kidnapped, tortured, and killed by a murderer trolling #Houston neighborhoods in the early 1970s remained anonymous for so long.
https://www.texasobserver.org/the-scientist-and-the-serial-killer/

#history #CriminalJustice #books #bookstodon @bookstodon #GulfCoast

Earlier: From Texas to Florida, Louisiana, and New Jersey, this film reveals how librarians across the country have become victims of a crisis manufactured by national organizations bent on infiltrating and disrupting local school boards.
https://www.texasobserver.org/librarians-movie-sxsw-book-bans/

I recently read @markarayner 's latest book, "The Gates of Polished Horn". I've waited a few days to let you know what I think of it.

It's a collection of short stories, alternating between mind-blowing plots, hilarious situations and occasionally very poignant moments.

I can't remember the last time I cried, but after reading "Empty Space Times Two" I went to bed with moist eyes and a warm melancholy empty spot where my heart used to be.

Mark - I don't know how much truth or fiction is in that story, but if Ollie (Olivetti) exists, I hope he's on a warm blanket in the sun right now. And I'll remember that story any time I see a double space after a period. Thank you for such a wonderful book.

Buy this book: https://markarayner.com/books-old/gates/

¡Buenos días grumetes! ¡Ya tenéis nuevo episodio de nuestro #podcastnave! En esta ocasión os traemos ¡un especial de #fullmetalalchemist ! Con Lau Organa, Virginia y @darkor_LF . Tened cuidado porque hacemos un desglose de la obra y por tanto hay muchisimos spoilers https://www.ivoox.com/2x08-el-fullmetal-alchemist-audios-mp3_rf_144042075_1.html #podcasts #bookstodon #literadon #HiromuHarakawa #Fmab

So LBM zuende. Schön war's, wenn auch unglaublich voll. Wenn doch angeblich niemand mehr liest fragt man sich wo die ganzen Leute herkamen. An einigen Ständen stundenlange Schlangen nur zum Bücherkauf, nicht einmal zum Signieren.
Jedenfalls bin ich ganz zufrieden mit meiner Ausbeute, und dem @Hoaxmaster durfte ich auch noch lauschen.
Nun ist nur die Frage: "Was zuerst lesen?"
#bookstodon

Just finished Becky Chambers’ “The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet”. Can recommend. Character driven, episodic #scifi - I like the ethical and cultural ruminations that infuse the mostly light and breezy narrative. #bookstodon #reading #books #fiction