Vampira, the ultimate glamour ghoul!
Photographer: Maria S. Varela Model: Vicky Butterfly
Kickstarting the audiobook of The Lost Cause, my novel of environmental hope
Tonight (October 2), I'm in Boise to host an event with VE Schwab. On October 7–8, I'm in Milan to keynote Wired Nextfest.
The Lost Cause is my next novel. It's about the climate emergency. It's hopeful. Library Journal called it "a message hope in a near-future that looks increasingly bleak." As with every other one of my books Amazon refuses to sell the audiobook, so I made my own, and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter:
That's a lot to unpack, I know. So many questions! Including this one: "How is it that I have another book out in 2023?" Because this is my third book this year. Short answer: I write when I'm anxious, so I came out of lockdown with nine books. Nine!
Hope and writing are closely related activities. Hope (the belief that you can make things better) is nothing so cheap and fatalistic as optimism (the belief that things will improve no matter what you do). The Lost Cause is full of people who are full of hope.
The action begins a full generation after the Hail Mary passage of the Green New Deal, and the people who grew up fighting the climate emergency (rather than sitting hopelessly by while the powers that be insisted that nothing could or should be done) have a name for themselves: they call themselves "the first generation in a century that doesn't fear the future."
I fear the future. Unchecked corporate power has us barreling over a cliff's edge and all the one-percent has to say is, "Well, it's too late to swerve now, what if the bus rolls and someone breaks a leg? Don't worry, we'll just keep speeding up and leap the gorge":
That unchecked corporate power has no better avatar than Amazon, one of the tech monopolies that has converted the old, good internet into "five giant websites, each filled with screenshots of the other four":
Amazon maintains a near-total grip over print and ebooks, but when it comes to audiobooks, that control is total. The company's Audible division has captured more than 90% of the market, and it abuses that dominance to cram Digital Rights Management onto every book it sells, even if the author doesn't want it:
The Video Rental Girl, by Alex Waterhouse (1983).
1983
Vincent Price and Carol Ohmart - The House on Haunted Hill (1959) dir. William Castle
#What if this is my last straw
I could watch these two banter back and forth forever.
Neil Gaiman: Hi, I'm Neil Gaiman. I'm wearing the first red T-shirt I've worn since 1987. Because I'm a member of the WGA. I'm on strike. I care so much for the things that I've written but I'm out here right now not working and here until we get a good contract because I care about the future of the WGA, the future of young writers. I want a world in which no AI writes scripts or attempts to. I want a world in which young writers get to learn how to make television. And I want a world in which we are fairly compensated for the things that we put up on streaming.
crowley being silly 🤪
David Tennant was born to play this role in Good Omens. So much fun to watch!
Barbie Halloween?
Pee-Wee’s Playhouse (1986 - 1990)
Ms. Bettie Mae Page with Bunny Yeager and Kathleen Stanley
From An Earlier Post Of Mine A Year Ago, To Good Not To Repeat
Thanks to “House Of Bettie” for Colorisation, Please Visit their Tumblr blog.
💕💕💕💕💕
Leicht Kitchen (mid 70s)
The noblest warrior in the fairy realms, Lieutenant Alvin…the chipmunk 🐿️
✨IT’S CANON NOW✨
Lizzo defies drag ban by inviting drag queens on stage in Tennessee
“In an act of defiance against Tennessee’s anti-drag law, Lizzo has performed in the state with a whole bunch of Drag Race faves and local queens, and yes, it was iconic.”
Lizzo said:
“In light of recent and tragic events and current events, I was told by people on the internet, ‘Cancel your shows in Tennessee,’ ‘Don’t go to Tennessee,’ ‘We don’t have to go there’.
“Their reasons were valid. But why would I not come to the people who need to hear this message the most, the people who need to feel this release the most?
“Why would I not create a safe space in Tennessee where we can celebrate drag entertainers and celebrate our differences? And celebrate fat Black women?”
Together we can beat the Fascists.
(Video from SBS News embedded above).