C.B. Bernard

C.B. Bernard

@cbbernard.com

Novelist (ORDINARY BEAR, SMALL ANIMALS CAUGHT IN TRAPS), nonfiction writer (CHASING ALASKA). Pacific NW/Alaska expat in Rhode Island exile. Dogs, books, boats. Feet in the ocean, head in the clouds. Find me at www.cbbernard.com.

1K followers1.2K following1.3K posts

C.B. Bernard reposted

Justin Baragona
@justinbaragona.bsky.social

Replying to @justinbaragona.bsky.social

He also said Arabs don't produce any literature. Last year's winner of the National Book Award was Lebanese writer and painter Rabih Alameddine. The winner in non-fiction? Egyptian-American journalist Omar El Akkad.

C.B. Bernard
@cbbernard.com

Always a good day when I find @hhharlow.bsky.social in my inbox, this time writing about the Frankfurt Book Fair. Hannah co-owns one of New England's coolest bookshops and is an exemplary literary citizen who does so much for many different communities. www.shelf-awareness.com/theshelf/202...

shelf-awareness.comFrankfurt: Serving the Community--and the WorldHannah Harlow is the co-owner and day-to-day operator of the Book Shop of Beverly Farms, Beverly Farms, Mass., which she and her brother bought
C.B. Bernard
@cbbernard.com

Last night this fifty-five year old bald guy with a gray beard and the tired eyes of someone who's been reading the news every day since puberty got carded buying a beer by a bartender who wasn't yet born the last time I got carded, and I made my wife take a picture to commemorate the event.

C.B. Bernard
@cbbernard.com

As a past Barry winner, I want to shout out how much George & the Deadly Pleasures team have done to elevate the careers & amplify the voices of writers & connect them with readers. It's a labor of love, but it's still a labor, and they deserve a ton of thanks. Congrats @blacktopkid.bsky.social

SACosby@blacktopkid.bsky.social

King of Ashes won the Barry for best novel. My third such award and I am infinitely grateful for it. I am also saddened to learn after 30 years George Easter, the editor of Deadly Pleasures magazine is ending the Barrys. George, thank you so much for all you do The Barrys will be so missed 

C.B. Bernard
@cbbernard.com

"Since 1973, RAGBRAI, Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, has been a celebrated tradition, bringing thousands of cyclists and spectators together for an unforgettable journey across the state."

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Joe Mitchell: "Thank God you're building the ballroom. Thank God you're getting rid of those awful bike lanes. We don't ride bicycles in Iowa."

C.B. Bernard
@cbbernard.com

This is a horrific story about a tech company illegally and quite literally destroying the natural world. And then halfway through it gets even worse when Trump offers his criticism because he wishes it had happened in the U.S. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com‘Pure arrogance’: anger in Finland as Google illegally fells 250,000 trees for datacentreCompany ordered to stop work at two sites in country, which has found itself at forefront of tech firms’ latest push

C.B. Bernard reposted

Brendan Nyhan
@brendannyhan.bsky.social

He swore an oath to the Constitution

Headquarters@headquartersnews.bsky.social

Trump's Attorney General Todd Blanche: There was this misperception that there's this 'separation' and 'independence' between the Department of Justice and the White House and everybody likes to accuse me of not suffering from independence. I don't. I work for President Trump.

C.B. Bernard reposted

Scott Stein
@sstein.bsky.social

Replying to @chuckwendig.bsky.social

Being the "best AI for novel writing" is like being the best sandpaper for wiping your ass.

C.B. Bernard
@cbbernard.com

Sudowrite, pseudowriting. Don't do this. One theory of creativity says all art is a kind of autobiography, but this is inherently devoid of self. The act of the work itself gives art its value and beauty, for both the person who creates it and the one who receives it. Do the work. Reap the beauty.

London Review of Books@lrb.co.uk

‘Sudowrite, the “best AI for novel writing”, promises to maintain your ‘unique voice’. Whether or not you have a unique voice, it will give you scene directions and alternative options for the plot, and act as your editor.’ Alfred Nunney on AI and books, from the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/oc...

lrb.co.ukAlfred Nunney | Write a Novel in Thirty DaysMy boss at the bookshop has said he would sell AI novels if there were clear demand and clear labelling. We almost...

C.B. Bernard reposted

Tom Bradley Jr.
@tbradleywrites.bsky.social

“I’ve decided that since Utah did the egregious disservice of passing a law that says my book is illegal on school shelves, everyone here is getting a copy of it.” @jodipicoult.bsky.social and the art of subverting book bans. www.sltrib.com/news/educati... via The Salt Lake Tribune

sltrib.comAuthor Jodi Picoult came to Utah with a surprise: 600 free copies of her bestselling novel banned from public schoolsPicoult encouraged Salt Lake Book Festival attendees to give their copy to a teen who might “need to read it.”

C.B. Bernard reposted

Scott Horton
@robertscotthorton.bsky.social

On No Kings Day, 7 million Americans turned out to protest the Trump administration. Here's the wonderful front-page coverage furnished by NYT. (There isn't any).

C.B. Bernard
@cbbernard.com

Holly Williams is like the Platonic ideal of what a correspondent should be.

Oliver Darcy@oliverdarcy.bsky.social

NEW: We are publishing audio from CBS News’ explosive foreign bureau all-hands, in which foreign editor Shayndi Raice unleashed an extended tirade before tangling with correspondent Holly Williams. Listen to the audio on this week’s Power Lines: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

C.B. Bernard reposted

Brian Goldstone
@brian-goldstone.bsky.social

Sally Rooney's publisher is pulling her books from the UK market. She can no longer receive royalties from UK sales of her books. She fears arrest if she enters the country. Political dissent, effectively treated as a criminal offense. It's hard to overstate how frightening and insidious this is.

theguardian.comSally Rooney says she can no longer sell books in UK due to Palestine Action supportIrish writer of Normal People says she can no longer receive royalties from British sales and she cancelled UK trip due to fear of arrest
C.B. Bernard
@cbbernard.com

The country is choking on smugness.

David Gura@davidgura.bsky.social

A letter from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, and a member of the Senate Finance Committee:

C.B. Bernard reposted

Shibley Telhami
@stelhami.bsky.social

"The sanctions are intended to undermine the rule of law internationally and the work ​that an independent judicial institution is doing. Our work will continue across all our situations, our investigations and our prosecutions." www.reuters.com/world/us-imp...

reuters.comEXCLUSIVE: US imposes sanctions on ICC hours after former judge wins Nobel Peace PrizeThe Trump administration has long been hostile to the court and has previously imposed sanctions on its prosecutors and judges.

C.B. Bernard reposted

Nobel Prize
@nobelprize.org

Just in! New Nobel Prize laureate in literature Anne Carson stands surprised in her kitchen in Reykjavík, Iceland. Stay tuned for our exclusive interview with her coming soon. Join us in congratulating our 2026 literature laureate - send your greetings in the comments.

C.B. Bernard reposted

Erin Okuno
@thiserin.bsky.social

"Librarians are defenders of democracy. We’re defenders of the freedom to read. We’re protectors of patron privacy. Libraries are one of the few places in this surveillance economy that are not trying to collect and sell your data." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

nytimes.comForget the Shushing. Librarians Have a Whole Lot to Say. (Gift Article)We asked dozens of them about America’s libraries — what they provide, what they need to survive. Here’s what they told us.

C.B. Bernard reposted

jamelle
@jamellebouie.net

what an asshole

Marty Lederman@martylederman.bsky.social

Samuel Alito: We won't overturn Obergefell because it's engendered reliance interests. Jan Crawford: Well, many people had organized their lives around Roe v. Wade. Alito: No, they didn't. Women merely had an "abstract" interest in "ideas about the kind of society that they were going to live in."

cbsnews.comThe Alito Court: A rare interview with the influential Supreme Court justiceJustice Samuel Alito discussed his opinion in the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the leaked draft and its aftermath, same-sex marriage rights and why he's not retiring yet.

C.B. Bernard reposted

Gwen C. Katz
@gwenckatz.bsky.social

Great chance to post my all-time favorite headline

Nick Pettigrew@nick-pettigrew.bsky.social

I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.

C.B. Bernard
@cbbernard.com

"A writer is an organism that will go on writing even after its heart has been cut out." — Wallace Stegner #5amwritersclub

C.B. Bernard
@cbbernard.com

Read and share this far and wide.

stevelevitsky.bsky.social@stevelevitsky.bsky.social

Lucan Way and I have been writing about competitive authoritarianism for more than 25 years. We never thought we'd write this piece. www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/com...

journalofdemocracy.orgCompetitive Authoritarianism in America | Journal of DemocracyThe United States has slid into competitive authoritarianism. The slide has been modest and remains reversible—but it is real. Even after Donald Trump, American democracy will remain fragile.
C.B. Bernard
@cbbernard.com

People need to get real human friends to talk to and books to read to hide from those human friends, just like the rest of us.

Maris Kreizman@maris.bsky.social

This is so silly and I truly cant imagine many consumers will feel that being able to “talk” to characters in a book adds much value. techcrunch.com/2026/10/01/a...

techcrunch.comAudible's new features let you explore book worlds — and use AI to talk to characters | TechCrunchAudible is rolling out new features that help listeners keep track of characters, explore places and imagery mentioned in books, and even interact with characters using generative AI.