When I'm stuck in my apartment, consumed by work, I'm stuck in my own head.

When I return to the real world... without *immediately* running into situations that remind me how much it hurts being caught in the middle of belonging somewhere (two yesterday! back-to-back!)...

All is much better.

*So* many of us are fighting tough battles for safety and belonging.

But where we all "belong" is as allies in the struggle. Just doing our best to make sure the table is long enough to seat us all. 🕊

Morning loves.

So, as noted, I'm trying to share more book reviews in different forms, and on my BookTube I couldn't be happier to start with Life Beyond Us. The stories here are operating on a level that will inspire science-fiction writers & lovers for years to come.

Truly, if you've been itching for more genuinely *hard* SF, this is the ticket for you. The level of care and rigor in this curated volume is exceptional.

#SFF #Science #Aliens #Books #CoSoBooks #YouTube
https://youtu.be/gk69l-UZAb4

Was going to post the Patreon tonight, but there are different kinds of tears and the kind I had today is the kind that makes eyes tired for a while.

I made a muddle of myself, but I really didn't have the spoons to react calmly to some back-to-back scenarios.

Need to finish this MS so I can take an overdue break *away*.

But for now... can't!
And so it goes.

No time travel to the past is possible--only to tomorrow, when I'll try again.

Night all. 💙

vworrrrrruup!
vworrrrrruup!
vworrrrrruup!

All right, lovelies. 📜

Here's our final segment of The Dawn of Everything, the first outing in my #Humanist Book Club at #OnlySky.

In it, we look at pre-colonial histories in North America, and the *wide* range of human groupings that existed before Europeans showed up. It is *so* important to remember that political discourse & nuanced state arrangements existed everywhere. In a more robust #history of humanity, we find the tools we need for all our challenges today.

https://onlysky.media/mclark/humanist-book-club-a-different-history-of-end-states-in-human-progress/

Well, some days things go according to plan.

Other days, you have a good middle of the day cry.

(Pro Tip: PLAN for the cries, and then your day can still be going "according to"! 👌)

That party last night was something. Good band. Just couldn't focus on edits while it was playing in the yard.

Today, #BetterWorldsTheory reflects on the struggle to pay attention to what matters, when we're easily swept up as a culture in what someone else has declared a worthy debate.

When animal species yawn, there's usually an instinctive mirroring response.

How do we break from that instinct, when it comes to tedious debate taking up all our "air"?

#Newsletter
https://mlclark.substack.com/p/why-are-talking-about-this-again

As I keep noting, my industries are not in good shape.

Fantasy Magazine is shuttering.

(No, that's not the same as F&SF. F&SF lives on - but the pubs that were all online have been having a tough time, and the Kindle Periodicals service closing is just gutting subscription based funding for a lot of the big 'uns.)

(More later. I'm waiting out a vallenato band someone hired for a birthday in the yard. Cannot think/edit right now!)

#SFF #WritersOfCoSo #WritingCommunity
https://www.fantasy-magazine.com/fm/non-fiction/editorial-august-2023/

The internet is a wild ride.

I just received notice of an extremely thoughtful comment from someone whose username is Wave of Anal Fury.

You just didn't get the full multitudes that humans contain back in the old days of mere Letters to the Editor, you know? 🙃

This is a piece I reference in this week's forthcoming newsletter, on how we get caught in bad discourse. This is a proper contextualizing of the panic among "gender criticals" & their spate of recent books.

"Gender is how women are oppressed; sex is the excuse patriarchy uses for the oppression of women. Reality—the reality shared by women, actual women, in the world—really does matter for feminism. Metaphysical definitions of the category 'woman' really, really don’t."
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/gender-criticism-versus-gender-abolition-on-three-recent-books-about-gender/

Yesterday I clarified a name in Trek that someone had confused for another series. Then this morning I explained the difference between Noonian Soong and Noonien Singh - but this point of confusion is actually an excellent reminder to fellow fiction writers:

Roddenberry named two characters after the same man he'd known in WWII.

Writers! Mix up your influences!

You never know if your work is going to become so famous that the character confusion will come back to bite you! 😅

@JakeA @stephen_a_allen

How are your own creative lives finding you?

Are you enjoying the journey?

@misterfive, did you get that ekphrastic poem in on time?

Morning and happy new month, CoSo!

Who has goals on the go?

This is Day 1 of a new schedule, and I'm sequestering myself in my apartment for the next three days at least to get my routines for it sorted out. (With a stationary bike - it'll be like lockdown again).

Yesterday I tripped into two new students just by going to the store - and while that'll be good for the budget, I really need to focus on finishing a few projects. No new ones!

How about you? What's on tap for your August? 👀

Sticker albums are a popular cheap pastime here. When someone noticed that I was collecting the Colombian cultural stickers that come with Jet chocolates, they donated a picture album so I could build my collection. 🙃 Like a child, but hey! I'm almost five and a half in Colombian years, so that counts, right?

(Usually this is done around fútbol teams and events, but still. Adorable.)

My favourite part of watching Alfred at work is how much this Little Algorithm That Could reminds me that the real problem is and always will be corporate exploitation and everyday grifters, not the tech itself.

G'boy, Alfred. You are a fun and useful tool within certain parameters. *pat pat* We'll take care of the rest... or burn up the world with you in it in a few decades (50/50).

🖖 #Trekkies reassemble!

Since two episodes were released last week, there are two reviews of #StrangeNewWorlds today.

This time, we go deep into the challenges of war trauma, in an episode that asks questions for which we should never expect tidy answers: not in any age, and *certainly* not with all the suffering that exists around us every day.

M'Benga's struggle is not a hypothetical - and that's the bleakest part of the quandary here.

#GlobalHumanism #TV #StarTrek https://onlysky.media/mclark/whose-justice-will-emerge-from-under-the-cloak-of-war/