Laurence Raphael Brothers

Laurence Raphael Brothers

@lrb.bsky.social

Technologist, writer, futurist. Codex, Viable Paradise, SFWA. Seeking representation for new novels. Publishers: Mirror World, Water Dragon, Brigid's Gate USPTO he/him @laurence@petrous.vislae.town https://www.laurencebrothers.com/

1.3K followers1.1K following2.9K posts

Laurence Raphael Brothers
@lrb.bsky.social

Recently received an unusually brief book inquiry via email in my spam folder. (Usually it's long, obvious AI slop). I hate so much that I have to assume that such inquiries are fake. If the sender sees this and is legit, my apologies. No, none of my books are available in Spanish, alas.

Laurence Raphael Brothers reposted

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal
@jayapal.house.gov

The persecution of @repilhan.bsky.social just days before an election is vile and politically-motivated. I'm leading 175 House Democrats in denouncing this. When we retake power, we have to seriously look at how we can stop these abuses of power — starting with the power of the purse.

Laurence Raphael Brothers reposted

George Takei
@georgetakei.bsky.social

My heart is heavy. Walter Koenig, our Ensign Pavel Chekov, passed away early today. Walter and I met on the bridge of the Enterprise in the 1960s, and we stayed friends for nearly six decades. When Brad and I married in 2008, Walter stood beside us as our best man.

Laurence Raphael Brothers
@lrb.bsky.social

Strongly recommended!

Premee Mohamed@premeemohamed.com

Happy Friday (gloomy and rainy over here, good weather for goths) and remember that time @portersqbooks.bsky.social gave a nice review to WICKHILLS? "all the twists, double-crosses, contests of wits, clever gadgets, shady associates, and daring escapes you'd expect from the best spy thrillers"

portersquarebooks.comReview of WickhillsBook Cover ISBN Imagine Francis Bacon did the concept art for a version of Tolkein’s Minas Tirith that had been squashed from its long climbing spiral into a chaotic network of neighborhoods, squares, alleys, zones, warrens, and castles. Imagine if it was contained by a wall that was too short to keep out any real invaders and imagine if no one knew how the wall got there. Imagine if that city was filled with both humans and strange beasts, some relatively familiar like dragons, vampyrs, and manticores, and others are, as far as I know, unique to this world like the living street lights, the Indigo King, and the professor without a head who speaks through a snake hosted in the body of a grad student. Imagine pairs of stone spires could snap together like jaws, that the walls move in the night, that there are neighborhoods that have vanished yet can be visited if you know the right place to go. This is Wickhills, the setting for Premee Mohamed’s new novel and one of the most compelling fictional worlds I’ve ever read. No one knows Wickhills better than our protagonist, Vycol Ferec. Ferec is an agent of Seaborn, Wickhills’s version of the CIA, and he is a damn good spy. So good that he is assigned to recover a refugee from St. Barothain, one of the other six cities and a strict authoritarian regime, who carries a tool with the potential to completely destroy the city. But not everyone in the powers that be of Wickhills have the same goal for this mysterious tool or its creator, and Ferec and his team find themselves on the wrong side of a conspiracy that might go all the way to the top of both Wickhills and St. Barothain. What follows is a thrilling race for the truth that has all the twists, double-crosses, contests of wits, clever gadgets, shady associates, and daring escapes you'd expect from the best spy thrillers. Mohamed is even able to deploy a plucky band of misfits without it feeling like a trope. We have our world-wise and world-weary Ferec, his ancient manticore handler, a young thief, a vampyr, an agent more at home in the archives than the field, and, of course, a young man just trying to do the right thing who finds himself way way way over his head, all working together to protect an extremely grumpy scientist and his dangerous discovery. For all that it confronts questions of identity, power, and political intrigue, Wickhills is, in some ways, a love story because so much of it is driven by Ferec’s love for his city. From the castles, to the mysterious monoliths and statues, to the baffling alleyways, to the collapsing structures in neglected neighborhoods, to the mahogany auraed dining clubs, to the vast city beneath the sewers, to the sewers themselves, to the botanical gardens, to the trick doors, the living street lights, the very cobblestones, Ferec loves it all. He risks everything and loses much to protect the only thing in his life that has always been with him, the city of Wickhills. See, a love story. As compelling as the characters are, as thrilling as the plot is, as intriguing as the science behind the potential weapon is, ultimately this is a story about place. It’s a story that asks questions about how cities and communities are truly created, what it takes to protect them, and what happens when the people who live in them disagree on the answers to those questions with the people in charge. Mohamed could write a hundred books set in Wickhills and not nearly exhaust the potential she creates in this one. Perhaps this is the most (maybe only) sympathetic aspect of Ferec. Of course he loves his city. How could he not? Afterall, as we read Mohamed’s brilliant novel, we fall in love with Wickhills too. Josh Cook is a bookseller and co-owner at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he has worked since 2004. He is also author of the critically acclaimed postmodern detective novel An Exaggerated Murder and The Art of Libromancy: On Selling Books and Reading Books in the 21st Century. He has also self-published the zine For White Dudes (Like Me) Who Have Not Considered Reading Trans Books. His fiction, criticism, and poetry have appeared in numerous leading literary publications. He grew up in Lewiston, Maine and lives in Somerville, Massachusetts. If you'd like to read more of Josh's writing about books, subscribe to his newsletter Yesterday Today Tomorrow Forever.

Laurence Raphael Brothers reposted

E. Catherine Octobler
@ecatherine.com

Thought I would be going home on Friday, but my wound care is complicated and so I am not yet going home (2 months in the hospital now 🙃). If you can contribute, it will really help. www.gofundme.com/f/help-suppo...

gofundme.comDonate to Help Support Elise While She Recovers, organized by Sean Markeyhello. friends if you're reading this, you're likely a Friend of The Deadl… Sean Markey needs your support for Help Support Elise While She Recovers
Laurence Raphael Brothers
@lrb.bsky.social

MISS PRISM In a moment of mental abstraction, for which I never can forgive myself, I deposited the manuscript in the basinette, and placed the baby in the hand-bag. [Could happen to anyone, I wouldn't blame her myself. A lost manuscript is a real catastrophe, however.]

Laurence Raphael Brothers reposted

A.T. Sayre
@atsayre.bsky.social

My 2nd novel, THE ASTERIST is out today and available both online & in bookstores. @publisherswkly.bsky.social called it a 'first contact story with enjoyable results' that Kirkus Reviews said 'will have readers applauding'. Get your copy today at any of the links in the comments. #speclit #booksky

Laurence Raphael Brothers
@lrb.bsky.social

I'm reading "The End of Everything" by M. John Harrison. Much of Harrison's work conveys a feeling of unMaking in a profound Earthsea sense, but this is the pure quill, primal chaos and structural decay, a sort of anti-novel. It is austere, beautiful, and appalling.

Laurence Raphael Brothers reposted

R.S.A. Garcia (BUY THE NIGHTWARD)
@rsagarcia.bsky.social

Want a chance to win a handsewn, one-of-a-kind quilt that took 3 years to make? From now until the end of October, all donations to my breast cancer treatment Go Fund Me will be entered into a draw to win this gorgeous quilt donated by the talented Mary Garber! See the link below for details!

R.S.A. Garcia (BUY THE NIGHTWARD)@rsagarcia.bsky.social

YOU COULD WIN THIS QUILT! This Breast Cancer Awareness month I'm having a giveaway to help raise funds for the increasing costs of my breast cancer treatment. Every donation from today to Oct 31 will be eligible to win! See link for details! Kindly boost & share! www.gofundme.com/f/help-r-s-a...

Laurence Raphael Brothers reposted

Viable Paradise
@viableparadise.bsky.social

Congratulations to the graduate of Viable Paradise 2026!!!!! 24 writers joined the VP community today and, man, they are amazing! I'm sure we'll continue to see amazing things from you.

Laurence Raphael Brothers reposted

Clarkesworld
@clarkesworldmagazine.com

On behalf of everyone at Clarkesworld, we would like to thank all the subscribers who joined during our recent subscription drive. Because of you, we've been able to give all our staff and contributors a raise for our 20th anniversary.

Laurence Raphael Brothers
@lrb.bsky.social

Quixotic but worthy.

Truthout@truthout.org

Rep. Delia C. Ramirez has introduced a bill that would abolish not just ICE, but the DHS altogether, repealing the 2002 law establishing the agency and replacing it with one focused on protecting civil and human rights.

truthout.orgRep. Delia Ramirez Introduces Landmark Bill to Abolish DHS, ICE, and CBPThe Department of Homeland Security was established in 2002 as part of the Bush administration’s war on terror.

Laurence Raphael Brothers reposted

Richard Kadrey
@richardkadrey.bsky.social

Hi. I wanted to explain something. If you see me posting my purchase links a lot it's because I have to. Almost all writers do at this point. Most publishers have shrunk or killed off their publicity departments, so we have to get the word out ourselves. That's the writing life in 2026.

Richard Kadrey@richardkadrey.bsky.social

If you’d like a signed copy of the final Sandman Slim novel, IN THE DEVIL WIND, you can order it from the link below. And if you’d like signed copies of my other books, scroll down the page or email samantha@riverstonebooks.com shop.riverstonebookstore.com/book/9780063...

Laurence Raphael Brothers reposted

Del - Martian Observer
@martian-observer.net

The search team's work, expected to take five days, could be hampered by giant land-dwelling crabs that will force them to spend nights back on their ship for safety

bbc.co.ukCrew searching for Amelia Earhart plane lands at remote island infested with carnivorous crabsResearchers will sleep on their ship to avoid giant crabs that can lift heavy weights, split open coconuts, and may have played a role in Earhart's demise.
Laurence Raphael Brothers
@lrb.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026... Hinton seems to be a bit a weirdo and despite his accomplishments I wouldn't call him the "godfather of AI", either, but he is 100% spot on about Trump, anyway.

theguardian.comAI godfather Geoffrey Hinton: Trump is ‘corrupt, senile felon’ who knows nothing about AIPioneering computer scientist on why Trump is using ‘superintelligence’ wrong, whether AI could wipe out humanity – and how our biggest challenge will be accepting we’re not the only intelligent being...

Laurence Raphael Brothers reposted

Kaleidotrope
@kaleidotrope.bsky.social

This is the last time Kaleidotrope will be open to fiction and poetry submissions this year, and I don't yet know exactly how long it will be closed after that.

Kaleidotrope@kaleidotrope.bsky.social

Kaleidotrope opens to fiction and poetry submissions on October 18. kaleidotrope.net/guidelines/

Laurence Raphael Brothers reposted

Tom Cox
@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social

Write the book you would like to see someone pull from a higgledy piggledy pile in a secondhand shop 63 years after your death and say, "This looks fucking weird. I think I will buy it for Joan.”

Laurence Raphael Brothers
@lrb.bsky.social

Always looking forward to a new installment of this great series!

Solaris Books@solarisbooks.bsky.social

The Chronicles of Osreth (the world of @pennyvixen.bsky.social 's THE GOBLIN EMPEROR) has a new instalment: THE ORB OF CAIRADO! A disgraced scholar tries to clear his name but stumbles on murder, death-trapped tombs and ancient artifacts! Buy (limited edition hardback & eBook) geni.us/orbcairado

Laurence Raphael Brothers reposted

Mark Chadbourn
@chadbourn.bsky.social

The first Russian diesel cargo heading for the US left St Petersburg on September 22, two weeks *before* Trump announced the deal with Putin, Windward reports. The Greek-flagged tanker Minerva Zen carrying 275,000 barrels of diesel/gasoil is due at the US East Coast around 11–12 October.

Laurence Raphael Brothers
@lrb.bsky.social

Happy to report that Water Dragon will be republishing "The Demons of Wall Street" in 2027 now that my former publisher Mirror World has sadly ceased operations. Noir! Sorcery! Romance! Sympathetic demons! Creepy bankers! Snarky PIs! Pretty elementals!

Laurence Raphael Brothers
@lrb.bsky.social

Écrasez l'infâme!

John Picacio@johnpicacio.bsky.social

🧵 Attention, Fellow SFF Artists and Authors -- here is my response to Must Read Magazines, after they presented an Asimov's art contract expecting me to waive all Moral Rights and Copyright to my art. And, I would strongly advise the following to my fellow pros…. 1/

Laurence Raphael Brothers
@lrb.bsky.social

A plate with a little chili crisp drying on it is a better perfume than any air freshener. Tempted not to clear it away at all and just leave it out by my desk. Every few minutes I sniff and think "What is that wonderful smell?" and then I get a stronger whiff and remember....