Mark Sarvas

A draft is born! 104K words, 445 pages. My biggest book to date, and my favorite. I have never had so much fun writing a novel in all my life. Rough, of course, but into the drawer until my November residency in Scotland, when the real work begins. Today we celebrate.

Every election cycle I hope Democrats will finally get this and every cycle they let me down. Don’t have high hopes for a $ Jeffries speakership but I’m willing to go back in one more time …

Berger & Berger (An occasional series pairing John Berger quotes with my dog Berger) "Hope is not a form of guarantee; it's a form of energy, and very frequently that energy is strongest in circumstances that are very dark."

Told ya.

Wishing a happy publication day to my dear pal Jim Ruland! Reading MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD at this very moment and having a blast with it. crimereads.com/jim-ruland-o...

Defenestrating RFK should be JOB ONE of the new congress. First day shit.

• Ahmed Zewail (Egypt / US): Won 1999 Nobel Prize in #Chemistry • Nader Masmoudi (Tunisia): Won Fermat Prize in #mathematics • Abbas Bahri (Tunisia): also received the Fermat Prize • Sir Michael Atiyah (Lebanese descent / British): #mathematician who won both Fields Medal and Abel Prize.

You have to really, really, really fucking suck for your 8th grade teacher to come out and shame you like this. Damn.

Rest in peace, Ensign.

None of us should forget this. Meta should be subjected to corporate death penalty and permanently broken up into small pieces.

Lula should lock up the son. Like, now.

Well, at least this kid will be able to afford all the therapy to come ...

A good day all around.

Budapest ... Belgrade ... Blue Wave? www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

The best rebuke to this piece of shit centrist (and her ilk) is for Abdul to walk away with it on Election Day.

It happened here. (As the powerful worked hard to pretend it wasn’t.)

In 1990, about 20 million animals a year were euthanized in kill shelters. Today, over half the shelters in the US are designated no-kill and less than 500,000 animals are euthanized.

“Every artist’s work changes when he dies,” John Berger wrote of the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti in 1966. Nearly a decade after Berger’s death in 2017 at the age of 90, his own work has undergone a similar transformation. https://dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/john-berger-centenary/

I do enjoy Slow Horses but I think this is overpraise. I find each season ends with me feeling just a wee bit "meh." Its strength is in its cast but the storytelling can be sloppy and lazy. I always want to love it and end up just liking it a lot. I think "The Agency" is far stronger.

🤷🏼 whoopsy atlantablackstar.com/2026/10/21/a...

There may be something I love more than listening to Republican crybabies squealing like stuck pigs but it's not coming to mind ... www.theguardian.com/film/2026/oc...

"I've Just Seen a Face In My Pants" - The Beatles

We were at dinner the other night at a schmancy Carmel Valley spot and the folks in the next booth had a golden retriever with them. (VIPs, we were told.) We had so much fun visiting with the dog that it was only upon his departure that we recognized the owner: Leon Panetta.

I rarely donate to gubernatorial races in other states but Vivek's sick bullshit just got me to ring the bell for Acton. 💸

One of America's enduring mistakse has been thinking actors are qualified to weigh in on, well, anything. What a truly dumb fuck he is.

Same.

There is literally no bigger dick move in social media than this.

Every Republican running for office in Ohio should be asked if they disavow the extremism of Vivek Ramaswamy

I've mentioned before I've updated my contracts to make sure everything in the production of my books is done by humans and not "AI"; if you're wondering what such a thing looks like, here's a clause covering that from a recent contract.

Dems need to haul Zuck up to Capitol Hill every week to answer for this shit treat these people like the political enemies they are

This is a full corporate purge. Meta isn't just shadow-banning the main No Kings account; they are now systematically suspending independent content creators who support the movement. The billionaire tech axis is actively wiping out civic organization in real time to protect the WH. #NoKings

North Carolina A&T students marched an hour each way to vote on the first day of early voting after their campus polling site was removed by the Guilford County Elections Board.

Power to the People ☭🕊 (@proudsocialistd.bsky.social): "France understood the assignment: We the People are humanity’s last line of defense against the neoliberal & neofascist politicians who work together to sell us out to the rich & the war machine. These are the real 'No Kings' protests"

The Panetta name has become a total embarrassed via stunts like this honor for Dan Quayle. www.panettainstitute.org/programs/jef...

Call Chuck Schumer and tell him to defend Ilhan Omar publicly or resign. (202) 224-6542

Americans, please don’t worry about your child coming home from school a different sex. Worry about your child not coming home from school because they were shot to death.

Stop me. Or don't. reverb.com/item/1022622...

Ways of Seeing & About Looking: John Powers @nprfreshair.bsky.social on John Berger – "a Marxist, among other things"– on @thenation.com podcast bit.ly/4yLsMbN – transcript bit.ly/4zBLt1H @versobooks.bsky.social

On the 100th anniversary of John Berger’s birth, John Powers comments on his life and writing—both of which were extraordinary.– on @thenation.com podcast bit.ly/4yLsMbN – transcript bit.ly/4zBLt1H @versobooks.bsky.social

Worked fast food on the grill in my teens. A woman sent back her sandwich, wanted it with melted cheese. My response, that she should "hold it between her legs and run" was overhead by the customer and, although I got the laugh, I lost the job.

Half the grocery store has been recalled. Measles deaths are at a 35-year high. And Susan Collins still doesn’t regret voting to confirm RFK Jr. Vote her out.

In which the age-old question, What unit of time is smaller than a Scaramucci, is answered. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/u...

Thrilling news this morning! I have been named to the longlist of the Granum Prize based on excerpts from the new novel-in-progress. Could not be happier today.

America murders its children and Republicans are solely to blame.

Look, sorry to be that guy, but no bakery ANYWHERE is worth a 45-minute wait. Try not to be sheep. la.eater.com/restaurant-o...

Leaving Las Vegas for Tax Purposes

It is at once astonishing and wholly unsurprising to see the Rubber Soul reissue enter the Billboard 200 at number four.

"Sontag 'knows everything, but she understands nothing,' the influential photographer, and photography teacher, Lisette Model reportedly said." A sound take. newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/the-canoni...

I am entirely serious when I say that this should be seen as a moderate position. It specifically and surgically dismantles institutions that did not exist pre-9/11 and assigns their functions much as they were assigned pre-9/11.

Today, Robert E. Hall was awarded the 2026 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. This is from a statement he released after the announcement: