Marguerite Sheffer

Interviewer @mlensheffer.bsky.social talks to Bradley Sides about his novella THE VOLCANO KEEPER (@regalhouse.bsky.social). necessaryfiction.com/interviews/a...

For newer F&SF writers, here's a resource you may not be aware of, the Submission Grinder. It helps you find markets and track your submissions - and even publishes some fiction. Free to use, but if you use it a lot, consider supporting their Patreon. #booksky thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com

“The best next steps are the concrete ones: Big AI needs to follow all current laws—just like everyone else. So far—they haven’t. When Big AI breaks those laws, they must face pros­e­cu­tion and penal­ties—just like everyone else. So far—they haven’t.” [matthewbutterick.com]

I will be reading a snippet of a YA story about a magic manicure this Sunday with @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social ! Come see these fantastic writers, and me!

Presenting our fabulous readers for this Sunday's young adult fiction series! Come out to Big Couch this September 20th to support these wonderful people and their work! Doors open at 7:00 PM and it is completely free to attend. We hope to see you there!

We Must Create the Shit Machine. “I asked everyone I know at the BIG TECH HUMAN CENTIPEDE ROUNDTABLE, and we all agreed that UNCONTROLLABLE SHIT-RAIN IS USEFUL AND GREAT, and that EVERYONE WANTS IT.” [mcsweeneys.net]

This is what they've done.

I've been looking forward to Tierney Oberhammer's debut for so long! Now you can pre-order it: modernartistpress.com/books/foreve... These short stories are stunningly tense, tender, and smart

I've been looking forward to Tierney Oberhammer's debut for so long! Now you can pre-order it: modernartistpress.com/books/foreve... These short stories are stunningly tense, tender, and smart

Very excited to teach this online class this Nov: "Getting your Hands Dirty: Craft Challenges to Level Up Your Fiction" We'll talk about play and voice and getting unstuck and learning by doing and trying (over and over). writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/getting-your...

Very excited to teach this online class this Nov: "Getting your Hands Dirty: Craft Challenges to Level Up Your Fiction" We'll talk about play and voice and getting unstuck and learning by doing and trying (over and over). writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/getting-your...

Hey #SpeculativeFiction folks, any ideas? This is flash fiction but fits the brief: "When Amanda Corin arrived at Mommy & Me Yoga, everyone could see that her new baby had turned into a glass of wine..." thedisappointedhousewife.com/2025/07/02/a...

Favorite short stories that showcase WORLDBUILDING (science fiction, fantasy, or adjacent?) I have a bonus day in my "Speculative Fiction for Social Change" course and am looking to shake it up a bit with some new stories. Thanks for any ideas!

Bayeux Go! A playable video game of the Bayeux Tapestry. “Thou art Harold. Win Thine Battle. Tap to starte.” [bayeuxgo.live]

Our September calendar is here!

Submissions for our YA Fiction Sessions open until August 25th! 📚 Go to the link below and read the details! thirdlanternlit.org/page-to-stage

I’m Done Using AI. “It made me lazy. It made me stop caring. It made me a worse programmer. It made me depressed. Because I stopped doing the hard work, I stopped learning, I stopped growing, I stopped being the one making the software.” [brettcodes.com]

Had a blast talking to JM Sidorova about her magical and mysterious novel THE WITCH OF PRAGUE for CRAFT Literary www.craftliterary.com/2026/07/29/i... @homewardbooksco.bsky.social

Had a blast talking to JM Sidorova about her magical and mysterious novel THE WITCH OF PRAGUE for CRAFT Literary www.craftliterary.com/2026/07/29/i... @homewardbooksco.bsky.social

Join us every 2ndTuesday for this new daytime writing series! We’ll run through a new set of unusual writing prompts every session, pulled from craft books, classes, and imagination, before moving into forty minutes of free writing. (1/2)

Our August calendar is here!

this week's post is about the torment nexus, AI dystopia, and self-driving cars that will take you to jail margaretkilljoy.substack.com/p/when-they-...

Come write with us tomorrow at Sports Drink from 11 AM to 1 PM!

Parents are fed up with friends and relatives giving their kids “personalized” AI-generated storybooks with characters resembling their kids. Apart from data privacy concerns, literacy experts say these garbled and convoluted narratives could be an impediment to learning how to read.

We Are Losing the Ability to Discover What We Didn’t Know to Ask. “Scientific breakthroughs, artistic leaps, technological innovation — these rarely emerge from efficient retrieval of known information.” [nytimes.com]

Hey folks! Here goes our July event calendar!

Cozy in for our next Fiction Sessions reading over at Big Couch! This quarter's theme: Southern Gothic!!

Hello! Here is our calendar for June! Hope to catch you at an event :)

one of these kind of writing days www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMrO...

Do I happen to be connected to any writers or readers in Edinburgh or Glasgow? Hit me up!

Do I happen to be connected to any writers or readers in Edinburgh or Glasgow? Hit me up!

IT'S GIVENOLA DAY! When looking for communities to support, please consider sending a donation our way. These funds help us continue all of our FREE literary events such as workshops and Page to Stage. We could not do any of this without you! www.givenola.org/organization...

$483 away! www.givenola.org/organization...

I have a smaller, freelance-life list this year, Third Lantern Lit is among the orgs on it. As are The 18th Ward and SOUL, both facing fed/local funding cuts under the ripple effects of this administration.

GiveNOLA Day is today! Please consider supporting @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social if you have attended our events (or want to!) for writers in New Orleans. These donated funs keep things free, accessible, and help us pay local writers for their generous time. www.givenola.org/organization...

@thirdlanternlit.bsky.social is 1/3 of our way to our big 2026 fundraising goal ($3000) to keep all our programming free, and to keep paying New Orleans writers to support New Orleans writers! I love this community. www.givenola.org/organization...

OUR MAY CALENDAR IS HERE!

In this workshop, we will discuss examples of famous revisions that improved literature. Attendees will participate in writing exercises, and attendees are invited, but not required, to bring along an excerpt of something they've written! The workshop will be led by @mauricenow.bsky.social !

Ada Palmer & Bruce Schneier: AI Learns Language From Skewed Sources. That Could Change How We Humans Speak – and Think. “Our sense of the world may become distorted in ways we have barely begun to comprehend.” [theguardian.com]

3 things that happened this week that my state, Louisiana, was involved with: - the temporary blocking of the distribution of a mail order abortion drug - The erosion of the VRA - overturning the election of a democratically elected would-be official We're crushing it no notes

It's time to get some writing done! Come join your fellow writers this Tuesday the 28th to tackle that favorite project of yours ✒️📖 (Excuse the date typo on the graphic!)

Look what i found at my writing residency at the porches! @writesloud.bsky.social

“In a new book called “Israel: What Went Wrong?,” [Israeli professor of Holocaust & genocide studies] Omer Bartov argues that Zionism has morphed into an ideology of extremism that led to genocide in Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7th.” [newyorker.com]

It's time to get those projects written! Join us at 12 Mile Limit this Saturday to tackle your latest project along with plenty of writers ready to cheer you on. We can't wait to see what you're working on!

@colsonwhitehead.com making my day, putting it better than just about anybody so far. Thank god for the writers, the artists, the jokesters, the weirdos like us. Humanity sucks! Let's do the work, it's the only thing worth doing! www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/o... (this skeet written by the Gooch)

NEW: A new pre-print study offers the first causal evidence that outsourcing reasoning tasks to AI can rapidly erode users' independent performance AND their will to persist despite difficulty. "People’s persistence drops... they’re also not willing to try without AI.” futurism.com/artificial-i...