X is bad, though: https://lexontech.org/x-is-bad-though

"Oh yeah," Crandall thumbed the social media feed. "The dead guy."
Several heads turned, two attendees of the Vagrant Vendor Shop award ceremonies gathered their things and left after terse words with the Master of Ceremonies.
Finch grabbed the ancient 'phone that didn't even use entpros, "Keep it quiet, dickhead." Out of habit, he flicked on the screen to ensure it still functioned. "But yeah, Adrian Sterling" he hissed. 1/x
#wss366

The alien paused outside the door to his trophy room. "Before I invite the representatives of the press in, I do want to warn you that some individuals have found my display... unseemly."

The reporters all shook their heads and assured the alien that no sort of unseemly display would upset them in the least.

"Very well," the alien said. He opened the door. The reporters came in, ooing and ahing at the displays of tiger pelts, bear skins, and other hides.

1/2

#wss366

The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Sun-11-Oct, is #fell. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "fell" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fell Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @NaraMoore

The grim hunter, Death, his eyes pale as the moon, his cloak as bleached and tattered as the flag of an abandoned fortress, astride a ghostly horse, moves at a measured pace equally over empty moors and down the crowded high streets of cities, his #fell blade unsheathed, striking at will, and those cut down fall like grass, the butterfly beat of their hearts stilled.

#wss366 #microfiction

As they climbed up toward the pass, he turned, listening.
"There is a #fell voice on the wind," he said.
"It's me, Larry," she said. "I've been asking you for an hour if we took the right turn back there. You said we'd be there by now drinking hot chocolate. Do you even know where we are?" #wss366

"Nobody shared my post," Peach moaned. "No one commented or even liked it! What's up with that?"

"Hmmm…" I scanned what they wrote. "Oh, Peach, you're not up to date on netiquette are you?"

"You mean online etiquette? What's the problem? There's nothing offensive there. No SCREAMING or anything."

"It's too perfect," I said.

"What's that even mean? Anyway, you lot were always making fun of my textspeak and poor writing. So, I used a spell checker."

"That's just it. You should always include an obvious spelling mistake or other error. At least one purr post."

"You're kidding! What on earth for?"

"To show that you're human. AI can't do that, at least not yet."

#etiquette #wss366 #microfiction

An Overwhelming Response

We've been nearly overwhelmed by the response to our initial call for submissions. And the enthusiasm of the authors. We've received more than 200 submissions already. We are working our way through the stories. We're having a great time reviewing…

https://blog.elegantlich.com/posts/2026/an-overwhelming-response/

The first three dates had been quite cheap. Ollie had invited Emily out for coffee first, then a local diner, then a Mexican place. Emily had offered to split the check at the latter two, and Ollie had declined.

The tech firm where Ollie had worked had been acquired almost two years earlier, and his stock options had vested. He wasn’t rich-rich, but he was rich enough that talking about money on dates had become a bit awkward.

1/6

#wss366

She clutched the letter to her chest. It was so corny, but so sweet at the same time.
She was about to open the letter when she caught her roommate peering over the edge of the bunk bed.
"Hey!" she said, shocked by this breach of #etiquette.
"Sorry!" she said, and pulled her head back. (2/2) #wss366

She carried the letter to her bed and, only then, inspected the envelope. It was hand addressed and always had some kind of wildlife stamp sealing it. This one showed a snail — an "apple snail" it said. Underneath was written, "You are the apple-snail of my eye." (1/2) #wss366

The ongoing Trump administration attacks on the International Criminal Court (ICC) are outrageous.

I wonder how many Americans even know what the ICC is and that the United States has refused to participate. I wish US citizens would rise up and compel the government to sign and ratify the Rome Statute. The US currently has, and historically has had, numerous government officials that should have faced war crimes tribunals. It's not too late to start to hold them to account.

The post was delivered around 2pm every day. She went to the mailroom to see if there was a #letter. And there was. She collected it and carried it upstairs, without inspecting it, to enjoy the anticipation the more.
"Did you get a letter again?" her roommate asked.
She nodded and held it up as proof.
"Does your boyfriend really write you every day?"
"Yep."
"You're so lucky!"
The other girls were incredibly jealous.
She didn't tell them it was actually a girlfriend. Maybe someday. #wss366

I returned the copy-edited manuscript for *Bearly Believable*. It's supposed to be out on October 25th.

And I got my first rejection for my Totemo and Lambda story.

I've just been informed that DuckDuckGo uses apparently LLM-generated descriptions of websites on its search results page. Yes, this includes NoAI version. I'm not sure it is coming from bing (the primary index). E.g., if you look up "comb" on DDG, it'll find you Wikipedia page, annotated with

Learn about the origins, materials, and functions of combs, a tool for cleaning, styling, and decorating hair. Explore the different kinds of combs...

And Cambridge dictionary, with this snippet:

Learn the meaning of comb as a noun and a verb in English, with synonyms, antonyms, and related words. See how to use comb in sentences and...

These sentences do not appear anywhere on the pages it found. Compare with Bing's snippet for Wikipedia result of the "comb" search:

A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it

(That's literally the beginning of the Wiki page, as it should be).

Edit: it might be Bing 3rd party API after all

🎶 If I had a boxer,
I'd walk her in the morning…
And I'd walk her in the evening,
all over this land.
She'd bark for danger!
She'd bark for warning!
She'd bark for the love between a doggo and a man
a-all over this land. 🎵

"It's tradition."
"Like 'Ta sardar Gor'?"
A lightning bolt struck out of a clear sky spitting a nearby tree, leaving the bark smouldering and steaming.
"No," Badger said, his hair all on end. "No, not like that."
(2/2) #wss366

"Cheers!" Rook said, raising his glass.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Badger said. "You didn't offer a libation!"
"A what?"
"A libation! You need to offer a libation to the gods!"
Rook fixed Badger with his gaze. "You're telling me I need to #slop out some of my good ale to satisfy the gods?" (1/2) #wss366

fellow authors/artists, stay the hell away from Must Read Magazines (Asimov's, Analog, F&SF)

https://bsky.app/profile/johnpicacio.bsky.social/post/3mxeredsg3c2j

#writersCoffeeClub Tell us about someone who supports you on the sidelines.

My wife: https://stevendbrewer.com/there-stands-a-woman/