Jake Casella Brookins

Jake Casella Brookins

@casella.bsky.social

Appalachian in the big city. Editor at Ancillary Review, host of A Meal of Thorns, bookseller, coffee pro, SF reviewer & scholar. He/him. https://linktr.ee/jakecasellabrookins

3.1K followers825 following4.8K posts

"Mass Effect Fans Call for Thing They Love to be Replaced by Shambling Husk Controlled by Other Entity; Uninterested in Side-Quest to Rescue Original Party Members"

Hayes Madsen@solfleet.bsky.social

Does it need to be said that Mass Effect shouldn’t exist without the developers and team that was working on this game? Either they come back and make the game they were, or Mass Effect dies. kotaku.com/mass-effect-...

Memento Morlys 🍉@aardwyrm.bsky.social

my current book has great potential but is terribly under-edited. first draft stuff, sentences that contradict the one before, as you know bob dialogue, internal inconsistencies in time and setting. and 2 editors are thanked in the acknowledgements. is everyone just too overwhelmed to work or what

super gross. They appear to be trying to gin up legitimacy for a pay-to-play award? Hard to say for sure but it feels like a pretty safe bet they're impersonating their other "featured authors"

Jordan Kurella De Vil@jordankurella.com

hey all i dont know what authorsdaily dot com is? but they have an "Interview" with me posted that i - never gave - is full of lies - has my wrong pronouns - is full of things i dont do - or would never say? so i emailed them and told them to take it down but jfc, i am tired

Something I wish was taught and discussed more is that there are good and bad efficiencies, and conversely there are good and bad inefficiencies.

Springer Nature@springernature.com

How can AI support researchers in peer review? Springer Nature and Google DeepMind are partnering to co-design an AI peer review assistant that helps reviewers navigate manuscripts and focus on where their scientific judgement matters most. Learn more: spklr.io/63320EVgT8

Spooky stuff, but this a wonderful piece of writing. One of the things that pulled me in to specialty coffee for so long is that really paying attention to food inevitably highlights all these deep connections between bodies, landscapes, cultures, technologies. Even in Hershey Park.

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Jake Casella Brookins reposted

idk how to explain how important this Lula win is but just know the entire balance of world power could have shifted in a terrible direction tonight and instead the people and democracy won despite overwhelming odds 🎉🎉🎉

Jake Casella Brookins reposted

Replying to @rachelcordasco.bsky.social

Pros of having an SFT publishing co.: easy to find SFT Cons: fewer people will read SFT because they'll have never heard of this publisher Pros of SFT scattered everywhere: lots of people finding SFT (even if they don't realize it) Cons: takes lots of effort to find the SFT amidst the other books

"invoking the Factory" is such a powerful phrase, only strengthened by the irony of its naive and clownish deployment "Only an elitist would invoke the Factory" and it's the microwave restaurant next to the boarded-up Spencer's I'm dying

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li@sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com

my entire life these people have been going on about how thin-skinned and sensitive libs are

Part of my job involves checking generated text-to-speech for accessibility. Very cool tech for that! But I'm daily reminded that even dry, boring writing is speech: it involves intentions, little pauses & emphases & tonal things that ultimately require a mind. You don't want AI to ready your book!

David Niall Wilson@davidniallwilson.com

An AI narrated audiobook will never reach the quality of a book narrated by the right voice talent. The AI can't read through a paragraph, see something that causes the reaction the author wanted, and react to it, it will just make a voice say the words.

Jake Casella Brookins reposted

in a very profound and real way this guy was the secret sauce behind the Coens features. Heavy use of storyboards is an incredibly important part of how they work. Doubtless when they work together again they'll be able to find someone to suit their needs, but dude was the Ringo to their John & Paul

The A.V. Club@avclub.com

J. Todd Anderson, the storyboard artist who visualized every Coen brothers movie since Raising Arizona, has died. tinyurl.com/mvcrzwnv

Jake Casella Brookins reposted

Feels weird to reshare this in the midst of festive season, but my mother is still on chemo, and I'm dealing w healthcare bills, electrical repairs and other expenses, along w frequent trips to medicine shops, police (due to safety issues), etc. It's a lot, so any support will help us stay alive.

Archita Mittra@architamittra.bsky.social

Neither my physical nor mental health is great, but I'm NOT giving up. I urgently need funds for our healthcare, so please circulate/donate if you can, and if you're able to help out in any other way, pls DM. You can donate via Gpay/UPI QR code (if you're in India) or ko-fi: Ko-fi.com/architamittra

Jake Casella Brookins reposted

Really enjoyed the chance to revisit this series; they're doing some obviously big strange science-fictional things at the concept level, but this read through I was really struck by a lot of the line-and-structure level choices. Great to talk through this with @random-alex.bsky.social!

A Meal of Thorns@mealofthorns.bsky.social

“I don’t know what planet they’re on, but I know about the earrings!” We're talking character & style choices in space opera, and how they relate to empire & identity: critic & editor @random-alex.bsky.social is on the show to discuss Yoon Ha Lee's REVENANT GUN (@solarisbooks.bsky.social)!

also wild how these 15 people are so into promoting efficiency, effective altruism etc. If it were me and 14 other freaks tied to one set of the tracks and the planet tied to the other I don't think I'd be running around teaching Trolley Problem literacy

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Jake Casella Brookins reposted

Donate to Speculative Insight! Then, next year and among other delights, you will get to read me, a diffident British guy with an uncertain place in SFF who is fond of knowing literary references and worked-up irony, write about the various virtues of Adam Robe … oh. Donate to Speculative Insight!

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Jake Casella Brookins reposted

Replying to @niallharrison.bsky.social

Full shortlist: Animal Spiral Event Horizon The Formosa Exchange One Leg on Earth The Misheard World Plastic Prism Void The Strangers The Angel at the Gates What We Are Seeking

Jake Casella Brookins reposted

Assuming Counterpoint is included in the Catapult news, that means that 20% of this year's National Book Awards longlist for fiction was published by imprints that will no longer exist in their current form by the time of awards night.

This is why I've been so impressed with the Le Guin lists & winners so far. I'm not personally that interested in awards that try to show "what the field is like right now." Though they do invariably record or create a version of that; but that's more a question for sales figures and historians imo.

Dan Hartland@danhartland.bsky.social

Thus the caveats! But I gotta tell ya, I’d struggle to find a better list of books by “realists of a larger reality” - the shortlist does function as a very smart snapshot of that kind of work. Lotta worse answers to “hey, what was emerging in irreal writing that year?” than this list of books.

I can imagine the focus on new/under-recognized writers occasionally causing a miss of something great from established talents. But, especially given the state of artistic production today, emphasizing the margins seems not only just but artistically wise.

Jake Casella Brookins reposted

Le Guin Prize announcement coming today! Still time to listen to @casella.bsky.social & @chloroformtea.bsky.social's takes on the list:

ancillaryreviewofbooks.orgA Meal of Thorns 60- 2026 UKLG List with Roseanna PendleburyOnly in its 5th year of operation, the Le Guin Fiction prize has already become something of a critical darling, with very interesting shortlists and winners that rarely overlap with other genre aw…
Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin.com

On Wednesday, October 21st—Ursula's birthday—please join us as we announce the recipient of the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction! The announcement will be on YouTube at 9 am Pacific time. www.youtube.com/@ursula.k.le...

Really enjoyed the chance to revisit this series; they're doing some obviously big strange science-fictional things at the concept level, but this read through I was really struck by a lot of the line-and-structure level choices. Great to talk through this with @random-alex.bsky.social!

A Meal of Thorns@mealofthorns.bsky.social

“I don’t know what planet they’re on, but I know about the earrings!” We're talking character & style choices in space opera, and how they relate to empire & identity: critic & editor @random-alex.bsky.social is on the show to discuss Yoon Ha Lee's REVENANT GUN (@solarisbooks.bsky.social)!