Writing everything about everything.

The Best of The Week

Hey, kids, let's check the calendar! It's getting closer to October and Halloween in the year 2025 -- or maybe 1936. In either case, it's a good time to talk about antifascist horror. 

Antifascism themes are common in fiction, particularly in science fiction and fantasy. Try to find a fictional dystopia that doesn't code as fascist. But antifascist horror is much more rare. Science fiction and fantasy often feature brave heroes whose triumphant victories lead their worlds to freedom, justice, equality, and new prosperity. Horror is less optimistic about the future, about human goodness, about our ability or willingness to oppose evil. 

Nevertheless, antifascist horror exists, so let's have a quick overview of the subgenre. 

It's easiest to find examples in film, and part of that is because director Guillermo del Toro really, really hates fascists. Both "The Devil's Backbone" and "Pan's Labyrinth" are set in the Spanish Civil War and feature Franco's fascist goons as the chief

Odd Week, That

So apparently, Anthropic's AI used my collection, Live Nude Aliens and Other Stories, to train itself. Granted, it falls among a lot of texts, but it's an odd sort of compliment and an affront. In an American lawsuit, Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion in damages to authors whose books they scraped from pirating sites for the purpose of training their generative. The settlement only applies to American authors, but a Canadian lawsuit may follow.

Coffee for the love of coffee.


"coffee is not about caffeine"
longwinter


I'm totally down with the sentiment of this title. My first coffee these days is a pourover at around 0700, partly for the wake-up-juice and partly the ritual. The very process is making my coffee is a pleasure; the smell of the beans grinding, the artistry in setting up the brewer, even folding the filter is a vital part of the

News for Noders


August 4: Happy birthday avalyn!

August 6: 広島

August 9: 長崎

August 27: Happy birthday Bitriot!

If you have an item for this calendar, /msg Tem42.

July 1: Canada Day.

July 4: America Day.

July 25: Happy birthday TanisNikana!

July 26: Happy birthday teleny!


If you have anything to add to this calendar, let Tem42 know.

June 3: Saint kevin's Day.

June 4: Aesop's Birthday.

June 11: TerribleAspect's birthday!

June 13: Serjeant's Muse's birthday!

June 16: Bloomsday.

June 19: Juneteenth.

June 20: Summer solstice (northern hemisphere) and winter solstice (southern hemisphere).

June 21: nicolasstag's birthday!

June 23: AdamTheDewott's birthday!

June 23: weroland's birthday!

June 28: Tau Day.


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April 1: By popular demand, March has been redacted.

April 10: Happy birthday, nuggets!

April 12: Yuri's Night

April 22: Happy Earth Day, fellow earthlings!

April 23: Saint George's Day.

April 24: Happy birthday, Rancid_Pickle!

April 30: Walpurgis Night.

If you have something to add to the monthly news, /msg Tem42.

February 1: Brevity Quest 2025 begins!

February 2: Happy birthday Auspice!

February 2: Happy birthday npecom!

February 5: Happy birthday wertperch!

February 8: Happy birthday to panamaus

February 15: Happy birthday Admin to the goo!

February 23: Happy birthday Samuel Pepys!

February 29: Happy birthday Browncoat!


If you have an item for this calendar, /msg Tem42.