iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

I've lived in my county my entire life and have never once seen a "Vote NO Against the Police Levy" sign and just drove past one a couple blocks from my elementary school. What a time to be alive.

000

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

My adult daughter is visiting for lunch and just looked up from her phone to say: "Mom. Mom. Hey, mom. I just love the lengths to which fanfic writers go to get men pregnant." "It's truly inspirational," I replied.

020

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Sheree Reneé Thomas's The Tongue I Dream In brings together poems, short stories, and nonfiction writing to celebrate Black excellence and her works' communal cosmology: a collection @readingtheend.bsky.social calls "a particular treat"

reactormag.com

The Tongue I Dream In by Sheree Renée Thomas Celebrates Black Art and Shared Universes - Reactor

Jenny Hamilton reviews a thoughtfully assembled and beautifully packaged set of stories, poems, and essays.

03422

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Drove to Dayton to pick up this Vonnegut book and accidentally got a couple other things as well

Three books: A Spooky Cutie coloring book, Crossing the Wind-Dark Sea by Emily Wilson and Vonnegut's War by Susan Farrell

020

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 14/10/2026

Simba Kundizeza's statement on his Caine Prize-winning story "The Blue Fighter" is also worth reading—keep in mind, the evidence-free article slandering him was published in The Atlantic to a mass readership and his defense is a tweet to his eight hundred followers

Simba Kundizeza
@S_S_Kundizeza
Statement on The Atlantic article concerning “The Blue Fighter”

I would like to say at the outset that this statement is not in any way a proffer of an explanation or a defense against the allegations levelled against me in the article published by The Atlantic, because I don’t believe the article warrants either. I am however writing because of the level of public interest generated in its aftermath, and out of respect for the people who have supported and championed my writing, as well as my fellow shortlisted writers for the Caine Prize. I want to set the record straight.

For the avoidance of doubt, I wrote "The Blue Fighter." I did not use generative AI to write it. It is entirely my own work.

This story did not appear out of nowhere; it has a concrete, documented history. Its genesis was during my LOATAD Black Atlantic Residency in Ghana. While there‚ I read a poem by vangile gantsho titled “my father's hands․” I was inspired by this poem to write a story about my family's experiences in Zimbabwe‚ including my father leaving his accounting profession and the hardships my family faced as a result․ Other aspects of the story‚ including characters and the setting‚ are drawn from events in my own life․

There is also a clear chronology to the story's development. I sent the completed first draft of the story to vangile for feedback on May 15‚ 2025․ I then submitted the story to The Shallow Tales Review on May 27‚ 2025․ Fiction editor Nzube Nlebedim accepted the story on June 10‚ 2025‚ and it went through the standard editorial process. vangile then provided her feedback to me on June 25‚ 2025․ On the same day Nzube also provided editorial feedback to me․ In an email dated June 27‚ 2025‚ I sent the final draft and requested that the editor preserve the formatting of an epigraph in the story as originally submitted by vangile as a courtesy to her․ The story was published on June 30‚ 2025․

The Atlantic article seems to question the story's authorship by comparing its style to my other writing. As writers we develop recurring interests, but we don’t produce work from a single fixed template. My debut novel, “Freelance”, and the story titled "The Whistleblower" published in Transition Magazine in 2021 which is referenced by Ms. Vara, are thrillers dealing with political intrigue. "The Blue Fighter," however, is a deeply personal story about economic collapse and familial relationships. The voice shifts because the subject matter demands it. To suggest that a writer cannot write in different styles or genres, or improve his writing substantially after five or more years fundamentally misunderstands the craft of writing.

The motive for my supposedly using AI to generate the story is equally difficult to understand. I was under no obligation to write “The Blue Fighter”. I was not commissioned to produce it, nor was I paid a fee for its publication. The decision to submit the piece for consideration for the Caine Prize was made by the editor of The Shallow Tales Review months after its publication. I therefore didn’t write the story with any guarantee that it would be submitted, let alone win anything. The idea that I would have somehow written the story with the express intention of entering and winning the Caine Prize, despite the inherently competitive and uncertain nature of the prize, conjures up a motive that simply did not exist.

"The Blue Fighter" is my work, and I stand by it completely. I'm grateful to vangile for her inspiration, to The Shallow Tales Review for giving the story a home, and to the Caine Prize judges for recognizing the work on its merits. I’m also heartened by the numerous messages of solidarity from fellow writers and readers, and to Adrienne Ingrum and Regina Brooks at Serendipity Literary Agency for their support throughout.
I look forward to continuing to work with the Caine Prize team, and to celebrating this recognition with the people who helped bring this story into the world.

Most importantly, I will continue to write.

14802289

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Kate Marvel @drkatemarvel.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

The only way to prevent geoengineering turning into a giant shitshow is to have a robust and credible planetary governance structure, but if we had one of those we would have already stopped climate change

20846190

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Jenny with a Green Ribbon Around Her Neck @readingtheend.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

YAYYYYYYY they met their goal! consider tossing some more dollars on the pile for the good of all humankind!

072

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Jen Donohue @authorizedmusings.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

the Apex Magazine 2027 kickstarter is at $9,636 out of their $21,000 goal!! LET'S GET THIS BREAD www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...

kickstarter.com

Apex Magazine 2027

An award-winning digital literary journal of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror.

056

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Kinda feel like anyone old enough to have seen this movie in the theater is too old to have ever played with Bratz, but cute.

000

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Yikes! I was not prepared for how heinous the thing she's whining about facing consequences for saying actually was. Pretty bad!!

020

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Also, what a wild series to put out a nice reprint of. I feel like it should be required by law that Flowers in the Attic only exist as a dingy mass market paperback on the spinny rack in the elementary school library.

000

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

I think I consumed it like watching the Jerry Springer Show, if that makes sense? There's a certain gruesome spectacle to it when you're too young to know better, and I'm certain in hindsight that a lot of things went over my head because I was very young.

100

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

I don't remember discussion questions in the book when I read it at probably age 11.

100

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Lightspeed Magazine @lightspeedmagazine.com · 11/10/2026

According to Kickstarter tracking service, Kicktraq, the LIGHTSPEED + NIGHTMARE campaign is trending toward only reaching 94% of our goal. So WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP. If you love SF, fantasy, and horror short fiction, please consider backing today and sharing this post. bit.ly/LS-NM-26

0113147

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

onion person @junlper.beer · 10/10/2026

this is the ultimate end point of capitalism, ai will completely atomize everyone and there will be zero shared experiences. there will be no culture, only pure consumption. this must be resisted

17769481271

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Caroline M. Yoachim @carolinemyoachim.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Five days left on the Lightspeed & Nightmare kickstarter, and they still need $10k to meet their funding goal! Love short fiction? Go pick up a subscription and help spread the word! www.kickstarter.com/projects/lig...

kickstarter.com

LIGHTSPEED & NIGHTMARE: Award-Winning SF, Fantasy, & Horror

We've published nearly 10 million words of science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction. Help us write the next chapter.

2131142

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I know it's "Time Traveller" weekend at the Renaissance Festival, but if you are here dressed as a 20th century US army guy with a gun, I am judging you.

000

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

This is by design. They want all of us to see what they're doing and they want us to know we can't stop them and that we can't protect anyone --not even our own children--from them.

000

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

It's absolutely fucking wild to have to go to work at my normal, boring, contributing-to-society job in a grocery store while the country I live in turns into a horrifying evil hellscape where we're doing public executions and privately-owned concentration camps. Feels bad.

000

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

United Wizards of the Coast - CWA @uwotc-official.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Curious how you can help? We ask that you sign our petition for Wizards to voluntarily recognize our union, share it with your communities, and keep an eye on this account for future updates! actionnetwork.org/forms/uwotcp...

actionnetwork.org

Stand with Dungeons & Dragons and Magic Workers Forming a Union!

The Dungeons & Dragons team and Studio X (Magic: The Gathering; Duel Masters) are forming a union! We are joining the ranks of United Wizards of the Coast - CWA (UWOTC-CWA) and following in the fo...

91544771

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

They’re live-streaming the execution of the person they think they can get away with doing that to first. It’s a test. If they can do that, they’ll expand the margins of permission.

11150021485

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

goof_off_artiste746393@yahoomail.com @goofoffartiste.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The main project of the US now is a line-item vindication of the most histrionic and paranoid stuff ever said by Jello Biafra

322235461

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

violet allen @blipstress.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Clearly the actual goal of life is to figure out the best order to put the words in and secondarily to find out which colors and shapes go best together.

0319

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

violet allen @blipstress.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

A lot of people on here seem to think that the goal of life is to find the morally correct people to be violent sadists to.

1316

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Usman T. Malik @usmantm.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Elise Tobler, editor of the fabled SHIMMER magazine and now THE DEADLANDS is hospitalized after cancer and an infection. She made SFF an inclusive, interesting place and broke out many authors. Help if u can gofund.me/6ea1bf7a4

gofund.me

Donate to Help Support Elise While She Recovers, organized by Sean Markey

hello. friends if you're reading this, you're likely a Friend of The Deadl… Sean Markey needs your support for Help Support Elise While She Recovers

3165192

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Caroline Dodds Pennock @carolinepennock.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Very much enjoying the story of AI bros going to religious leaders and asking them to say that machines have souls, only to be told: a) no they obviously don’t and b) if they did then what the AI guys are doing is literally slavery and that would be BAD.

10589114

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The technology that served some of us really well for a long time is now serving ALL of us really poorly, and it truly would behoove us all to stop tolerating it. Which, I repeat, is a thing we really can just do.

000

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

But the real world still exists, and we can just go out into it and hang out with people who are near us. Learn about and connect with each other. Laugh at each other's jokes.

100

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

And it's a huge bummer that it's come to this. The Internet used to be GOOD. It brought us together and exposed us to people and ideas we never would have encountered. It's a real shame that some assholes have turned it into a horrifying fun house mirror of reality that none of us should look into.

100

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I think this is a great example of how most of this can be avoided by just interacting with real humans in the actual world instead of filtering one's experience of life through technology.

100

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

These don't have the heft of the old JC Penney and Sears catalogs, but they seem designed for similar use.

000

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Amazon AND Target appear to be trying to bring back holiday catalogs like it's 1988. Interesting.

Two thick printed holiday catalog mailers from Amazon and Target.

100

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 05/10/2026

This is your occasional reminder that generative "AI" in particular could have been developed on public domain materials and/or licensed and compensated works but the major players intentionally, methodically and systemically chose to steal labor from working creative folks instead

10795292993

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I love this. Great news. Hope it works out for you all!

000

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Going to bed at precisely 10pm the night before my 44th birthday because that is just actually the absolute limit of how late my body can stay vertical these days. Something something early worm.

010

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

B @judi-hench.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Meme from Peaky Blinders. Cillian Murphy is instructing his men, "No hate-watching! No! Fucking! Hate! Watching!"

68144496312

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I already cancelled Paramount months ago. I'm not afraid to let HBO go as well. It's never too late to just go outdoors more, y'all.

010

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Bookshop.org @bookshop.org · 06/10/2026

Anti-Prime Day starts…NOW! 🥳 Today through midnight on 10/7, enjoy free shipping site-wide, all while supporting local, independent bookstores.

2854653345

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This will be a thread of essays I recommend to students in my creative nonfiction workshop:

181275270

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Elizabeth Anne, PhD @lacksauthority.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

never the wrong time for this classic

Screenshot of a tweet by @RobbtKraft reading “scientist: "does everyone here know what Watson and Crick discovered?"
me from back of room: "Rosalind Franklin's notes"”

56120303575

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Freyja Valentine, Girl IRL Cat URL @freyjavalentine.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

This makes total sense to investors. If you either win the universe or destroy it, investment logic says you bet the farm, because clearly someone else was gonna destroy the universe anyway and it should be you who wins if it pans out. We should abolish the investor class.

813540

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

This has to be the funniest thing anyone has ever said to a pope. A+. No notes. What a time to be alive.

010

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 01/10/2026

AI safety expert Timnit Gebru says tech leaders are promoting greatly exaggerated claims about "superintelligence" and "existential risk" as a way to distract from the real threat — their own unregulated companies.

democracynow.org

The Real Existential Risk Is AI CEOs Avoiding Oversight: “Alternative Nobel” Winner Timnit Gebru

We speak to the prominent AI researcher and leading critic of the AI industry, Timnit Gebru, who was recently awarded a 2026 Right Livelihood Award for her work investigating the harms and hype behind...

19712307

Over-Informed Peasant @bridgetmckinney.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I've seen several of these around town as stickers on cars in the Cincinnati area. I thought that was yikes. This is permanent.

000

Reposted by Over-Informed Peasant

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.blacksky.app · 02/10/2026

This was a emotionally challenging piece for me to write--angering, saddening, and tbh frightening--but I also think it's important There were so many opportunities to save Tierra Walker's life and it's so obvious why her pregnancy ended in death anyway ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...

ballsandstrikes.org

Tierra Walker’s Death Was Preventable. The Conservative Legal Movement Made It Predictable

Republican politicians have made Texas doctors increasingly afraid to provide lifesaving abortion care.

530499