ContextFall

The final post for my newsletter project, Steward of the Fair. It's been a real joy to put together, and I appreciate everyone who took some time out of their days to check it out. (Shout out to my reader from Sweden, who was remarkably consistent) buttondown.com/ContextFall/...

No new pictures. Where are you at mentally?

New litrpg idea. In order to loot bodies, the characters have to stand over the corpses and shred on their lutes. Lute First, Ask Questions Later, coming Winter of who knows if I’ll ever write this.

I was recently chatted up by a friendly guy at a bar. When he asked what I "do," I told him I've been working on a book about how fake "self-driving" tech is killing people to make Elon Musk the richest man alive. He frowned. "People like fun stories," he said. 'You should write about Sasquatch."

allowing people to bet on what they think the news will be and allowing the news to report on what people are betting they think the news will be is bad.

Is KITT a mech?

I think about this story all the time. clarkesworldmagazine.com/spires_12_18/

Shout out to the folks sneaking a secret smoke today while walking the dog.

"So he sat with the two wizards, thinking of himself as false coin to their gold, but listening to them with all his mind; for they trusted him and spoke freely, and their talk was an education he had never dreamed of as a sorcerer."

"He had been looking at the people of his city. So many here, and so enraged—or perhaps just caught up in the illusion of rage. The fraternity of it. The theatre. City life was often theatre."

shawnlangley.myshopify.com/en-ca/produc...

Oh.

Fave short fiction read this week was this banger of a poignant ghost story from @champwongs.bsky.social in Nightmare. Layered motifs, strong characterisation and a deft ending. Well worth your time www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/auto...

I wish forums came back. With them, part of the magic was lost and we've never recovered.

I think about this story a lot. clarkesworldmagazine.com/spires_12_18/

Locking in (great tune on right now) rainwave.cc/chiptune/#!/

Highly recommend everyone keep at least one folder just for art that makes you want to create

Still hits.

Been listening to classical music (Big Shiny Tunes 2) all morning

"everyone needs to preemptively agree to eat this shit sandwich in two years. Everyone has to do this right now. It's SO important, you have to do it. why are our voter registration numbers tanking"

do you want over 600 spooky photos of maine for a cheap price? if so, your incredibly specific wishes are granted

So this guy's the acting CDC director? www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/30/1...

Comics are fun.

Bill Sienkiewicz, operating on another level.

I don't care how overdone it is, snarling beast with a thorn in its paw hits every time.

Pronouncing cheerios like 'serious' until my daughter's head explodes

A lot of people seem one wrong chatbot convo away from going full Dwayne Hoover.

If ginger cookies are bad why do I keep eating them.

what if teeth were made of nails?

I've been reading a lot more lately, broad mix of old and new novels, and my goodness does pacing change abruptly in the mid-2000s.

An important part of creativity is allowing yourself the opportunity to mark out on a regular basis.

Slowly catching up on all my rewatch/reread podcasts, any underrated ones out there?

I got mad about AI so I made this comic about The Fucking Point of it all (1/7)

I've heard different reasons on why, but if you change the font to Comic Sans when editing it's easier to spot errors.

Maybe I'm just not in the right circles, but I feel like Hilda and Kid Cosmic deserve way more credit than they seem to get.

There were signs

A large number of articles with fake quotes from me have appeared on "Resist"/Dem accounts. I suspect they were written with AI because they are so formulaic. Other "experts" are cited -- all without links. If you see a quote from me without a link to the source, beware. Examples of fakes:

This quickly became one of my favorite podcasts, well worth your time even if you're not into anime.

something genuinely hilarious to me about bill Watterson going miyazaki-taking-long-drag-on-cigarette-with-eyes-closed mode about u.s. acres

Dear elderly woman taking vigorous notes while watching Transformers lore videos in the library, never change

Younger folks will never understand just how unbelievable Google search was from like 2004-2010. You could unearth so many amazingly detailed and thoughtful expert resources on any topic. The first three pages of results could give you weeks worth of info to comb through and dive deeper into. A joy.

Cooking up my next piece Big upside down tree!

I shouldn’t be - but I continue to be kind of shocked the degree to which some American businesses and their owners are really misreading the current populist moment and the boiling anger and discontent that’s driving it. It’s like watching someone drive their car into a flooded road.