'To read is to put our selves at risk, to make ourselves vulnerable by welcoming the presence of an other into our psychic space'
Is #reading really good for you? Tara Isabella Burton investigates:
https://aeon.co/essays/how-books-can-sap-the-soul-and-poison-readers-with-ideas
In this video I am taking a look at 5 fountain pens from my collection themed around Autumn.
These are:
⁃ Jinhao 9016 + Diamine Cinnabun
⁃ Wing Sung 630 + Diamine Harmony
⁃ Just Turnings Enceladus + Diamine Pick Me Up
⁃ Delta Dune + Diamine Early Dusk
⁃ Nahvalur Nautilus + Diamine Grotto
Join me now to explore these pens.
Broth makes it across the river, with a first appearance in #NorthLondon
Get your copy of Diana Evans's 'lean, quiet and shocking' short story at the Book Art Bookshop on Pitfield Street N1, or at https://www.fictionable.world/pages/fictionable-edition-broth-by-diana-evans
#books #reading #writing #fiction #bookshops #publishing #bookstodon @bookstodon
… calling #Rome …
The Casa di Goethe is exhibiting 'documents and testimonies that illustrate the extent to which Ingeborg Bachmann’s life followed an aesthetic concept that is inseparable from her work':
https://casadigoethe.it/en/exhibitions/temporary-exhibition
#podcast #books #reading #writing #fiction #translation #exhibitions #bookstodon @bookstodon
Yesterday I wrote a thread about the Hepburn and Kunrei-shiki systems of romanization of the Japanese language.
I turned it into a blog post if you care:
Fellow writers--- PEN is running a webinar "Speak Out For Books! Testifying to State Legislative Committees" . I just registered for it-- I need to learn more about how best to defend the freedom to read. More info here:
"As more and more bills impacting our freedom to read get proposed, the importance of speaking about them directly to legislatures can not be understated. In this workshop webinar, American Bookseller Association’s Philomena Polefrone, EveryLibrary’s Peter Bromberg, and PEN America’s Laura Benitez will share the basics of testifying about bills to state legislative committees.
This webinar will go over the basics of book ban-related bills, speaking to legislative committees, and how to strategize comments to effectively get their message across. Participants will walk away with information about giving public comments and crafting the most effective possible testimony"
https://pen.org/event/speak-out-for-books-testifying-to-state-legislative-committees/
#books #writing #writersofmastodon #WritingCommunity #bookstodon @bookstodon@a.gup.pe @bookstodon@fedigroups.social
Alright, I'm often critical of Japanese authorities (with reason) so I need to also underline when they do the right thing. And they are for once. Japan is officially dropping the "kunrei shiki" way of transcribing their language into Roman alphabet to officially adapt the Hepburn system.
Let me explain in a small thread if you're not familiar with the whole thing.
I have been wearing this coat a lot since I have been regularly carrying my pocket notebook daily
Stay tuned for a #blog post about this project soon!
I love being able to keep my book and pen in this little pocket.. it makes me feel like a detective or something when I whip them out to jot important info down
Carrying a Word Galaxy notebook and Retro 51 Big Lava
In this video I take a brief look at the Lanbitou Forest fountain pen.
I then fill it with Diamine Nutmeg ink and do a brief writing sample.
Join me to see what I think about this pen during my first few minutes of using it.
When you assemble stories from fragments of real life, you need to take the long view, says Helga Schubert.
https://www.fictionable.world/podcasts/helga-schubert-story-distance-fragments
#podcast #books #reading #writing #fiction #translation #comics #blog #bookstodon @bookstodon
Do you live in Vienna? Would you be willing to take a photograph for a writer based in San Francisco?
My debut novel THE EXPERT OF SUBTLE REVISIONS features Egon Schiele's Seated Woman with Bent Knees on the cover. Much of the story is set in Vienna AND the Schiele painting will be traveling to Vienna to be part of the Leopold Museum's Changing Times: Egon Schiele’s Last Years, 1914-18 show, which runs from 28 March-13 July.
I would LOVE a photograph of my book in front of the painting in Vienna, but I don't think I'll be able to get there myself. Would anyone be willing to take this shot? The show doesn't start for another couple weeks, but I figured if I start to look now, I might be able to find a volunteer and figure out the best way to get the book there. Please respond if you're willing to do this, or boost for reach!
Thank you!
#books #writing #writersofmastodon #WritingCommunity #bookstodon @bookstodon@a.gup.pe @bookstodon@fedigroups.social
On the @fictionable #podcast we look for meaning in the world to come with the writer Joanna Kavenna:
https://www.fictionable.world/podcasts/joanna-kavenna-notes-future-world-meaning-characters
#books #reading #writing #fiction #translation #comics #blog #bookstodon @bookstodon
Do we write and speak to inform or to make others, think, feel, act? #communication #writing #writerslife
Time Out has spoken:
What do you think, #London ?
#books #reading #writing #bookshops #publishing #bookstodon @bookstodon
In this video I am looking at my top 5 favourite fountain pens for 2025.
These are
⁃ Faber-Castell Hexo + Colorverse Dante’s Cosmology
⁃ Pilot Elite E95S + Colorverse Red Horizon
⁃ Benu Talisman + Diamine Tinsel
⁃ Leonardo Momento Zero Grande + Colorverse Pulsar Pulse
⁃ Visconti Homo Sapiens + Diamine Fireside Snug
Join me now to explore these pens.
Alright, here's a world building pitch: A #fantasy civilization where every thousand years (give or take a few centuries) there's a Great Filter type event, some calamity that destroys everything and resets the few survivors to Stone Age levels of science and magic.
Basically, for thousands and thousands of years, every civilization has been built on the ruins of the previous one, unable to advance beyond a certain threshold. A world of wonders, doomed to repeat a deadly cycle.
"The End" (Chapter 3 - Part 5) in which Bond starts his investigation and the reader meets Goulu.
https://metastructure.net/the-clones-quarters-the-end-chapter-3-part-5/
#story #fiction #writing #MetaStructure
My latest Brief Ecology post is live. This edition includes an essay I wrote for @clarkesworld last year about the eeriness of nature in both ecology research and speculative fiction.
