Margaret Owen

Margaret Owen

@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

doodler, demi, USA Today, Sunday Times, and NYT #1 bestselling author of LITTLE THIEVES, THE MERCIFUL CROW, ROOTBOUND & more ✨ She/her. Rep: Victoria Marini

3K followers515 following1.8K posts

Margaret Owen reposted

Phil Lewis
@phillewis.bsky.social

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — Dolores Huerta, United Farmworkers co-founder and civil rights icon, has died, her family says.

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

This is a gut-punch in many ways, none the least of which is: four months before Macmillan apparently rolled out "NOA," I got an email telling me they were killing the hardcover edition of LITTLE THIEVES because they could no longer afford to print it. Guess we know where the budget went now.

Adam Morgan@adamm0rgan.bsky.social

For @wired.com, I spoke with Macmillan and PRH staff about AI at the rest of the Big Five. I also spoke with bestselling authors who've gone to "war" with publishers over AI use and are now demanding disclosures and threatening to leave their publishers altogether. www.wired.com/story/macmil...

wired.comMacmillan Staff Say the Publisher Threw a Party for a Workplace AI Assistant That Was Later KilledWorkers tell WIRED that NOA—or “No Ordinary Assistant”—was unhelpful. Bestselling authors also say AI is ruining their relationships with Big Five publishers.

Margaret Owen reposted

🌌Sia is a numinous nebula atm🌌
@raenbowpunk.bsky.social

For #AceWeek, I have book recs! 15 of my favourite ace fantasies! Incl ⛓️‍💥 @wiswell.bsky.social's shapeshifting monster-sapphic! ⚔️ King Arthur's knights in Vancouver by @jesbattis.bsky.social! 💎 The Goose Girl like you've never seen it from @what-eats-owls.bsky.social! buff.ly/uAkQTil

buff.lyFantasy Recs for Asexual Awareness & Acceptance Week!Fantasy Recs for Asexual Awareness & Acceptance Week!It’s so much easier to find asexual and aromantic leads in Fantasy than it used to be!

Margaret Owen reposted

ℳatt
@matttomic.bsky.social

Eric Bauza was the People's Bugs Bunny, he fought tirelessly to get Coyote vs. Acme released, he was on the front lines of strikes supporting writers and actors, this is a huge loss

Margaret Owen reposted

Phil Lewis
@phillewis.bsky.social

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wins fourth term, according to electoral court.

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

the final boss of these is "fazed/unfazed"

Merriam-Webster@merriam-webster.com

We acknowledge that no one has the bandwidth for this, but if it helps: -It’s ‘sleight of hand’ -It’s ‘bated breath’ -It’s ‘lo and behold’ -It's 'buck naked' -It’s ‘brass tacks’ -It’s ‘free rein’ -It’s ‘toe the line'

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Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

If I had any gripes, it’s that the 22-minute, 13-episode schedule means they have to pace things FAST, and I think the story could benefit from a bit more generosity with the connective tissue. A filler episode with these kids would land SO well but there’s just no room. Not the team’s fault.

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

I love that they let a character make a huge bad choice that was totally in-character, and let the consequences unfold like it *was* a bad choice, no handholding or excuses. Lots of stuff I really enjoy that is spoilers. Anyone complaining about the animation is weak and will not survive the winter.

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

They’ve made some very smart story design choices: grounding the story in 9-year-old protagonists so we get the childlike earnestness, while also giving very prominent adult ciphers to the original ATLA audience and may now be showing this to their kids.

Margaret Owen reposted

G. Willow Wilson
@gwillow.me

Fellow WA voters, let's bury this. I can't imagine any parent wants to subject their child to this vile "examination."

Washington State Democrats@wadems.org

Doctors and nurses are voicing their objections. I-638 would require EVERY girl who wants to participate in sports to go through biological sex verification. That means expensive, invasive, and utterly gross examinations. Protect our kids and let them play. Vote NO on I-638

rangemedia.coMeasure to require "biological sex" verification for all WA girls’ sports athletes on November ballotIf passed, the hedgefund-millionaire-backed ballot measure would enact one of the nation’s strictest examination requirements for girls’ athletics.
Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

I don't care about either of these things but if a studio were to kickstart a fantasy adventure RPG with romantic and political plot threads called Griffon Era and advertise that it was made by DA alumni I would pledge in the first 20 seconds

PC Gamer@pcgamer.com

With BioWare dead, EA lays out its 'next chapter,' and it's pretty much as predicted: Guns and football are fine, and everything else is under the microscope.

pcgamer.comWith BioWare dead, EA lays out its 'next chapter,' and it's pretty much as predicted: Guns and football are fine, and everything else is under the microscopeThe changes predicted when Saudi Arabia bought Electronic Arts are coming true.
Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

One of my first threads to get meaningful engagement on Twitter was about the innovation of structuring DA2 narratively as a tragedy in a genre awash with classic hero's journeys, including its own predecessor

Zoe TunnHELL@zoewithasword.bsky.social

Also: Dragon Age 2 is an incredible video game that took storytelling swings no one else was even considering in 2011, had one of the best ensembles in any medium, and was a goddamn feat of development that got made in A YEAR AND 4 MONTHS. Haters can get bent, Kirkwall 4 life

Margaret Owen reposted

Dane is at Home.
@monkeyminion.com

BioWare paid me to draw a Citadel travel poster to promote the Mass Effect Legendary Edition & then let me sell copies. During the pandemic lockdown when all of the shows we do were shut down. They helped keep us alive that year. RIP BioWare. Thank you for everything.

Margaret Owen reposted

Wario64
@wario64.bsky.social

BioWare statement

Wario64@wario64.bsky.social

Bloomberg: Electronic Arts to Cut 400 Jobs, Shut Down BioWare www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

HOLY TERRORS is now available in paperback, which means all three books in the LITTLE THIEVES series are available in a matching physical format for the first time!! 🎉🎉🎉

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

You can grab your copy at your favorite local bookstore, or if you'd like to have it delivered right to your door, bookshop.org is a great option:

bookshop.orgHoly TerrorsAn Indie Next Selection!It's been nearly two years since Vanja brought down the cult she started, and she’s still paying the price. As the Pfennigeist, she bucks the law in order to help the desperate and haunt the corrupt all across the empire—and no matter what, she works alone.But an impossible killer is tearing through royalty, and leaving Vanja’s signature red penny on every victim. Suddenly the Pfennigeist is no longer a folk hero but a nightmare. When even the Blessed Empress falls, the empire’s seven royal families must gather to elect her successor within a matter of weeks, or risk the collapse of reality itself… even though it puts every house in the killer’s sights.Vanja tells herself she’s wading into the royalty’s vicious games only to save the name she made, and the loved ones also in jeopardy. But the Order of Prefects has also put their sharpest official on the case, the one who swore he’d always find Vanja—until she broke his heart. Journeyman Prefect Emeric Conrad may no longer be the boy Vanja knew, but they’ll have to work together one last time to have any chance of surviving the deadly catastrophe coming for them all. With bloody conspiracy, sinister magic, and old adversaries closing in, it will take everything Vanja has to save not just the people she loves, but the future she’s fought for. In this thrilling final chapter of the Indie Next series Little Thieves, New York Times-bestselling author Margaret Owen shows us the pain and beauty of choosing which demons to face, and which to forgive.
Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

I just don't think if you believe this you are in the same financial situation as median Americans

Matt Darling@besttrousers.bsky.social

I don't think $30k is a life-changing amount of money. Median American born in 1980 will have $2m in income in their lifetime. It's a 1% increase in earnings.

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

That's not even supposed to be a takedown! This is just someone who does not consider it life-changing to, say, pay off a car, or retire a student loan, or get the dental work you've been putting off. Or have 6 months' expenses saved up!

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

Or even the power of getting all that money *at once.* Publishing's pay structure can be hideously unstable, and if it's your main income you have to budget carefully to make each check stretch for months if not years, but the equations fundamentally change when you get the money up front!

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

fun story: I was diagnosed with a (relatively mild) medical disorder last year that has a classic symptom of constantly feeling cold. we couldn’t figure out why I felt slightly too warm instead but had all the other markers. WOULD YOU LIKE TO GUESS WHY IT TOOK SO LONG TO DIAGNOSE

ashley fairbanks@ziibiing.com

it is shocking that more people in perimenopause don’t simply walk into the woods

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

anyway I started HRT about six months later and oh my god I have been so happy to actually experience cold again instead of feeling like I was constantly being microwaved at the lowest setting

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

One of the great things about writer retreats is getting perspective from other authors on what big 5 publishers are doing, on the spectrum of “literal angels on earth” to “I have been waiting for edits on a complete manuscript for over a year”

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

Look… this is exactly why I’ve started pushing back whenever someone uses the term “coastal elite” around me. I’ve been a PNW resident my entire life and I do not remember a time when the region I call home has ever been considered representative of “real America.”

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "With the war, it's just artificial. It's a little bit high. It's a small price to pay ... let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay."

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

When someone complains about “coastal elites” we all know they don’t mean Florida, they don’t mean Texas, they don’t mean Maine, they don’t mean Virginia or Connecticut. They mean New York, and the west coast.

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

And the more people play into that, the more they normalize the narrative of “red states are real America and you *have* to empathize with their struggles, blue states are full of spoiled rich freaks who get what they deserve” and that’s one step closer to “let them take out Los Angeles”

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

I am curious if any other heavy folks have experienced this: I'll typically move at a brisk amble, but periodically, when I'm in a hurry and power walking, I'll pass someone skinnier... who then picks up their own pace, as if they cannot handle that I'm moving faster than them. Anyone else?

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

This most recently happened just yesterday afternoon, when I passed a raily fella, and when I stopped for the crosswalk he abruptly appeared from behind, stumbling almost into a gas station sign, seemingly from his own momentum of trying to stay on my heels 🥲

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

We've seen plenty of people claim AI could do [insert task] and only make it clear that they personally do not have the skills or subject understanding to do the task themselves. I don't think JCO's take on romance/AI is any different.

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

So this is anecdotal, but I was talking last night with a friend about how it feels like we see increasingly more infighting on the left, and my take was: There is absolutely clout to be chased by policing other people's activism, but we also can't underestimate how it's being algorithmically pushed

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Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

And specifically, it did that after two accounts I followed had happily posted about the sequel to TLH. No, I don't think it was just similar subject matter; Insta has been pretty vocal about analyzing any scrap of data it can, so I doubt it skipped the audio, the caption, etc.

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

All to say, I think the Meta algorithms in particular are deliberately steering people toward conflict because it keeps them engaged, and social justice communities on these platforms are not exempt. Something to keep in mind as we get fed more and more infighting pre-election.

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

So this is anecdotal, but I was talking last night with a friend about how it feels like we see increasingly more infighting on the left, and my take was: There is absolutely clout to be chased by policing other people's activism, but we also can't underestimate how it's being algorithmically pushed

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

We all know high-controversy content gets the highest engagement, but also, if it feels like you're being pushed into conflict, I can't say that's wrong. E.g. not five minutes ago, Instagram showed me two different posts from accounts I follow, announcing a sequel to The Love Hypothesis. And then...

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

... a couple posts down the feed, it injects a video of a podcast negatively reviewing the recent film adaptation. The caption was negative. The subtitles were negative. The audio was negative. And I wasn't following that account. Instagram's algorithm decided to show it to me.

Margaret Owen
@what-eats-owls.bsky.social

In what world is knowing your own zip code “fine intellectual dexterity”

Matt Ford@mford.bsky.social

Ezra Klein asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about AI making kids worse at math and reading. Huang’s reply: “Does it matter?” Then he said he doesn’t know his own address or phone number. “We’re going to lose some fine intellectual dexterity.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/o...