Tove Ditlevsen, Vanessa Hua, Barry Walters, and more: 20 new books out today! https://lithub.com/tove-ditlevsen-vanessa-hua-barry-walters-and-more-20-new-books-out-today/

Total insomnia

Fortune cookies are a fun rabbit hole to fall down.

https://theunconventionalgardener.com/blog/slightly-unhinged-how-does-the-cookie-crumble/

@quidcumque Did a small tweak to bring it to exactly 1000 words. It had come out at 1001 on its own, simply too tempting.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 12. If not in your current format (novel, play, music, etc.), in what format would you write?

I write novels because that's how I can best earn a living, but I *really* prefer to work at novella length—20-40,000 words, not 100-150,000 words. Sadly there's no real trade distribution channel for them in the UK (where I live) so I have to keep wrestling bloated bulky books.

SecSystem records everything, even inside the sleeping cabins, and I see everything. That’s why it’s easier to pretend I’m a robot.

Book Review: Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade
Come for the lightsabers, stay for the intense analysis of alienation
Alex Wallace has our review at the Blog
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2026/05/book-review-inquisitor-rise-of-red-blade.html

#books #bookstodon @bookstodon

The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Tue-12-May, is #purple. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "purple" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/purple Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @tobadzistsini

https://globalvoices.org/2026/05/12/climate-change-what-africa-must-demand-at-cop31-in-antalya/

The Comeback is an incredible show, but I wasn’t sure what to expect from a season about AI, given the intense, irrational, flailing, mean-spirited, fear-driven hate that has been overflowing most creative communities the last few years.

But it ended up being beautiful…

Season three of The Comeback is a thoughtful, kind-hearted depiction of how the fear and hate against AI are what’s really causing all the pain, and that’s hurting everybody.

It was really healing actually.

Grateful!
For garden walks.
For reference photos.
For creamy dairy.

And lastly, Cat-Life Balance 1 by Akari Otokawa, a story of two coworkers, one socially awkward and one the office prince who bond over stray cats. This was a good start to a series that'll most likely lead to a love story, though it'll be slow.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8579726924

#manga

Tsumiki Ogami’s Not-So-Ordinary Life by Miyu Morishita has advanced to volume 6 already. It's a delightful series about friendship and differences. Maybe a bit about love too.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8579724581

#manga

Then there was A Man Who Defies the World of BL, Vol. 4 by Konkichi, which I keep reading even though I'm continuously confused by it. Kind of fun though.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8579725452

#manga

@quidcumque https://archiveofourown.org/works/84712796 (and one of my favourite poems as a paired reading: https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/nijh004verz05_01/nijh004verz05_01_0068.php (I think you can manage the Dutch, but don't hesitate to ask)

(edit: also posted the other two chapters, good thing I went to have a look)

I had some review copies of book(s) and manga that are published today.

First up, The Dragon and the Blade Saint: This Isn’t Where We End Vol. 1 by Garry. A fast-paced and entertaining light novel.
https://susannashore.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-dragon-and-blade-saint-this-isnt.html

#BookReview #LightNovel #fantasy @bookstodon

Here's a map showing which countries in Europe have no legal gender recognition. Starmer's Labour Party have made the UK worse on trans rights than *Belarus*.

This isn't talked about enough in straight cis media.

Source: ILGA Rainbow Map

People are, in all seriousness, calling this the 'Agentic Era'?

🤮

So-called 'AI' are NOT agents. The do not direct their own actions. And this bubble is not an 'era'.

JFC, are people really so quick to give up their own agency to pretty ropy machine?

🤬

It has been pointed out to me that my "writing life" blog might have more email subscribers if I made it easier for people to subscribe to it.
I gotta admit they have a point. So here's a signup page:
https://kmherkes.com/newsletter-signup

And here's a link to look at what kind of topics & pics I post. Just in case you want to do more research first, ya know? That's the kind of thing I would want to do.

https://kmherkes.com/the-blog

#blog #blogging #writing

Had myself a p solid nap.