Holy crap-- #Confluence made it to the #SFWA reading list! https://www.sfwa.org/forum/reading/work/6670-confluence-a-person-shaped-story/

*finds long S*

Man I could really go for ſome cheeſe ſteakſ

one of my favorite things to annoy my anglophile partner: singing "My Country Tis of Thee" when the English national anthem comes on during a #soccer game. 😉

@Bliss Yeahhh. It's...frustrating.

This is why Japan can't have nice things. A #Buddhist temple is bulldozing its toilet because some hikers can't behave themselves.

Read on in my latest for #UnseenJapan: https://unseenjapan.com/jurinji-temple-hyogo-bathroom-controversy/

@WestofMars still in Pittsburgh, no longer at Pitt-- after how I was abused at the university, and what I saw of the academic job market, I'd had enough. Got my PhD and got out. Thankfully the people who hurt me are all retired now, and I can actually mean it when I say H2P.

Way back when, I worked at the University of Pittsburgh's Japan Information Service, and one day, I got a call about a #sword

Read on in https://riverside-wings.com/2022/11/23/on-swords-and-treasures-and-due-diligence/

This tweet hit nearly 70k likes. I feel like the responses were an excellent case in point of pre-Nov. Twitter's good and bad points.

On one hand, it got others sharing unlikely but true stories from Japanese and world history. On the other hand, I had people doing everything from accusing me of lying and belittling the Revolutions of 1848, to going "lol, still boring," to calling me slurs.

I'm not gonna miss the way the site was built to drive rage and the worst instincts of its users

Shoutout to whoever gave my novel #Confluence its first rating (5 stars) on Amazon. Thank you so much!

@you_mountebank @jpderboghossian It was a great time!

I had the pleasure of being interviewed with @jpderboghossian
of the Queer Armenian Library for #7MinutesInBookHeaven, in which we talked #Confluence, writing, and the worst advice I've ever been given. Please give it a listen! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/7-minutes-in-book-heaven-with-dr-nyri-bakkalian/id1613404149

Hard on the heels of Confluence's launch, it's Queer for the New Year! My story "Hatsumōde," which is a sort of postlude to #Confluence, is one of the stories that are appearing within. Preorders open soon-- meanwhile, here's the Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63324563-queer-for-the-new-year

Thanks for your support, and please spread the word! #newbooks

@you_mountebank Y'know, I'd be curious to know, too.

For all its flaws, Barnes and Noble was the bookstore I first got to know after moving back to the US in the mid-1990s. I tried, and failed, to write a novel then, in the hopes it would reach B&N's shelves.

I wish I could go back in time and show young Nyri that she did it.

If anybody tries to convince you that history is boring, just remember that a bunch of samurai in 1848 learned how to say "shiver me timbers" from a guy named Ranald MacDonald.

So a man goes to the doctor and says he doesn't know whether to put an O and an F at the end of the Armenian alphabet. Doctor says that's no problem, go see monk and famous linguist Mesrob Mashdots, he'll know what to do.

The man sobs. "But doctor,"

You can of course get the ebook from the dreaded Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Confluence-Person-Shaped-Story-Nyri-Bakkalian-ebook/dp/B0BLB74XDD

But you can also get it direct from the press via Itchio: http://balanceofseven.itch.io/confluence