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Josh Sutphin

@joshsutphin.com
371 followers 879 following 1K posts

(SUT-fin) Author of horror and hopepunk at joshsutphin.com. Co-founder @shirakipress.com. Veteran video game developer. Permanently exasperated.

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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 16h
However delightful you think this book is going to be, it's 10x more delightful than that. An absolute privilege to edit. ♥️
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 19h
So the thing about this is that obviously thinking people aren't going to use it but every system and institution we have is going to race to adopt it and thereby harm all of us anyway
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Formerly Known As No Display Name @kcvellum.bsky.social · 21h
Someone in my writing group has a novel coming out in May of 2027 -- you can preorder now (link below). I read this as part of the group, and I really enjoyed it. I suspect if you follow me for anything other than my bad hockey takes, you will too. Pre-order: shirakipress.com/products/a-p...
shirakipress.com
A Planet for Reluctant Revolutionaries - First contact sci-fi novel
When octopus-like aliens arrive on Earth, a curmudgeonly marine biologist and her activist mentee must learn cephalopod communication to avert interstellar war.
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Shiraki Press @shirakipress.com · 28/09/2026
Join us tomorrow at 7 PM at Third Place Books Ravenna for a joint book event! @ianpattersonauthor.bsky.social and @inezraybooks.bsky.social will be discussing Fruits of Our Labor and Buzzard. RSVP at thirdplacebooks.com/event/ian-pa...
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 28/09/2026
I'm loving how Amazon can't seem to set the paperback for Light & Earth & Marrow live despite it coming out last week (we have a support ticket open about this) while Bookshop is just out here selling it like a functional company 😅 bookshop.org/p/books/ligh...
bookshop.org
Light & Earth & Marrow
Hedge witch Tilly Reinicke resides in a bucolic village where magic and all manner of paranormal creatures are real-everyone knows it, but not everyone is necessarily kenning.Tilly passes the quiet…
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Shiraki Press @shirakipress.com · 28/09/2026
This is an excellent book money thread.
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Esker Park @esker.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
And here it is! Cover reveal of my novel coming out May 18, 2027. Art by the wonderful Haley Wakefield, text treatment by @joshsutphin.com and published by @shirakipress.com, where you can pre-order. Waddya waddya waddya think?
book cover showing an underwater scene with kelp waving in the background. In the foreground is a pink octopus arm with its tip giving a hug to an older person's fingers. Title of the book is: A Planet for Reluctant Revolutionaries, author is Esker Park.
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Jeannie (Jay) Marschall 🍇🫐🍏🍋🍊🍓 @jeanniemarschall.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Ooo and we just hit 40 GR ratings too! 🥰
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Jeannie (Jay) Marschall 🍇🫐🍏🍋🍊🍓 @jeanniemarschall.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Sapphic September, you say? 📚👀 #witch #horror #folklore #sff
shirakipress.com
Light & Earth & Marrow - Cozy folk horror
A cozy folk horror about nature, community, and tradition... and the consequences for those who disrespect them.
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 27/09/2026
On our way to Portland for the PNBA trade show. This will be our first industry-focused event—different from the reader-focused markets and conventions we've done so far this year—and I'm real curious to see how it goes, who we can meet, and what we can learn! #publishing #smallpress
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Jeannie (Jay) Marschall 🍇🫐🍏🍋🍊🍓 @jeanniemarschall.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
You can support indie presses even on a budget: Request their books at your local library! 📚💙 🫶 👉 shirakipress.com
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Esker Park @esker.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Haley Wakefield is an amazing artist, and also a scuba diver, so she was the perfect person to design the cover for A Planet for Reluctant Revolutionaries, my debut sci-fi novel coming out in May (but pre-orderable now). Please please please take a moment to admire it!
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Misha Maxwell | Queer Fantasy Author @mishamwrites.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I pitched this artist as a total long shot pie-in-the-sky suggestion. I actually still can't believe that I'm looking at the cover of MY book and it was illustrated by an artist I admire so much.
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Misha Maxwell | Queer Fantasy Author @mishamwrites.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In case you missed it: the cover is now live and official. Please enjoy this insanely beautiful art by Carson Daniels. Dark Lord Library is available for preorder and comes out March 2, 2027. Be gay, do crime…sort of… #booksky #coverreveal #indieauthor #fantasybooks #queerauthor
Book cover featuring tall beautiful vampire and a lil guyThe Most Terrible and Wicked Evil Dark Lord Accidentally Invents the
Public Library
Queernormative
Villains
Who Suck at Villainy
Found Family
MISHA MAXWELL
Be Gay, Do Crime
Genre:
Cozy fantasy
Coming March 2027 from Shiraki PressHOWL'S MOVING CASTLE X CAN'T SPELL
TREASON WITHOUT TEA
Dirc is the greatest villain the world has ever known, but when a pesky hero shows up to thwart his dastardly deeds, he ends up sealed in time. He wakes up 300 years from his evil empire. With nothing to rely on but his loyal henchman and a quirky, queer found family, Dirc only has one course of action in this strange, new, hostile world:
Be gay and do crime.
Coming in 2027 from Shiraki Press.
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Shiraki Press @shirakipress.com · 26/09/2026
Our next Shiraki Press Book Club will be on October 10th at 10 AM! We'll be discussing Light & Earth & Marrow by @jeanniemarschall.bsky.social RSVP: www.eventbrite.com/e/shiraki-pr...
Light & Earth & Marrow book cover
Shiraki Press Book Club discusses Light & Earth & Marrow by Jeannie Marschall
Author photo of a smiling woman with short hair
Love it? Hate it? Let's chat!
Join us October 10th at 10 AM Pacific
~Virtual Event~
RSVP via eventbrite
pre-order at shirakipress.com/LEM
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 25/09/2026
We launched our fifth book and revealed two more covers this week, which is AMAZING and also probably explains why I'm so tired rn 😅 shirakipress.com/blogs/news/f...
shirakipress.com
Fall new releases and cover reveals!
We've had an incredibly busy fall and we're only four days in! New Release! On Tuesday we released our fifth and final title for the year, Light & Earth & Marrow by Jeannie Marschall. It's a quick…
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Shiraki Press @shirakipress.com · 25/09/2026
Seattle friends! On Sept 29 at 7 PM we'll be at @thirdplacebooks Ravenna for a joint book event! @ianpattersonauthor.bsky.social and @inezraybooks.bsky.social will be discussing Fruits of Our Labor and Buzzard. RSVP at buff.ly/mEahvL2
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Shiraki Press @shirakipress.com · 25/09/2026
This most excellent cover was illustrated by @emberwickart.bsky.social !!! Check out their work at cara.app/emberwick The Most Terrible and Wicked Evil Dark Lord Accidentally Invents the Public Library by @mishamwrites.bsky.social will be released on 3/2/27! Pre-order it now at shirakipress.com.
A cover illustration for The Most Terrible and Wicked Evil Dark Lord Accidentally Invents the Public Library featuring a tall dark skinned vampire with pointy ears and long silver hair holding a book, with a very short pale fae toting a large bag of stolen books.A cover illustration for The Most Terrible and Wicked Evil Dark Lord Accidentally Invents the Public Library featuring a tall dark skinned vampire with pointy ears and long silver hair holding a book, with a very short pale fae toting a large bag of stolen books.
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 23/09/2026
Essential reading. Don’t be fooled by this summer of AI hype: Breathless claims about AGI and new capabilities fall apart pretty quickly under scrutiny. By Timnit Gebru & Emily M. Bender www.technologyreview.com/2026/09/22/1...
technologyreview.com
Don’t be fooled by this summer of AI hype
Breathless claims about AGI and new capabilities fall apart pretty quickly under scrutiny.
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 23/09/2026
I bought the Oreo cereal somewhat ironically... but it turns out to be kinda lit?! Alright, share your most unhinged cereal recs!
A box of Oreo Puffs cereal
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 23/09/2026
We live in deeply bizarre times. www.ign.com/articles/con...
ign.com
CONFIRMED: Microsoft Hands Halo to Call of Duty Developer Activision as Part of Seismic Xbox Studios Shakeup
Microsoft has today confirmed that the next mainline Halo game will be developed by Call of Duty maker Activision, with mass layoffs hitting Halo Studios amid a significant restructure of its Xbox…
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Alyssa Winans @alawinans.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Had a great time working on this one! I love drawing roots.
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 22/09/2026
These sure are interesting times in which to be trying to market books 😵‍💫 www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Planetary boundaries’ necessary for flourishing of life have been massively breached, scientists warn.

New report shows key indicators of Earth’s health are ‘outside the safe operating space’ as climate disaster looms.
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 22/09/2026
I'm battling with multiple online advertising platforms today, and just, why are they all so bad
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 22/09/2026
Shiraki Press's fifth and final book of the year is out today: LIGHT & EARTH & MARROW by Jeannie Marschall. I wrote a bit of behind-the-scenes about the design of this lovely, witchy novella: joshsutphin.com/shiraki-pres...
joshsutphin.com
Light & Earth & Marrow
How Light & Earth & Marrow by Jeannie Marschall got made.
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Jeannie (Jay) Marschall 🍇🫐🍏🍋🍊🍓 @jeanniemarschall.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
If you enjoy this little tale of mine, may I recommend The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer 💚
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Shiraki Press @shirakipress.com · 22/09/2026
LIGHT & EARTH & MARROW is out TODAY! #cottagecore #horror Hedge witch Tilly Reinicke tries to guide her new neighbors to respect the paranormal world, but their contempt threatens everyone, and the Others will soon walk the Paths again. Grab your copy here: shirakipress.com/lem
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 22/09/2026
IT'S NEARLY HERE and just in time for spooky season 🥰
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Misha Maxwell | Queer Fantasy Author @mishamwrites.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
“Murder, Pender! Murder, abduction, ransoms, deviousness of the highest order! Prepare yourself, my companion." “My Lord, that sounds awesome to behold. I await your instructions most eagerly!” Art by @hungryghost.bsky.social of the MCs of my queer cozy fantasy novel! (pre-order below)
Beautiful silver haired vampire leaning over a smaller man with glasses and wings who's holding an armload of books and looking flustered
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 22/09/2026
Pissing into the wind at this point, tbh. Six years too late on the whole "the content vault was a bad idea". If only anyone had said anything, at any point, ever, at all! 🙄 But at least a handful of dudes got spectacularly rich while burning all of this down...? aftermath.site/destiny-cont...
aftermath.site
After Laying Off Most Of Destiny Team, Bungie Decides That Destiny Is ‘Foundational’ To Its Future
Sincerely did not see this one coming
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 22/09/2026
Absolutely breathtaking sociopathy on display here. #ai www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
The Authors Guild has highlighted some of the now public comments made by OpenAI executives in the case. "The better we do on GPT-X, the more worried genre fiction authors will become about us substituting for them on Amazon,” OpenAI policy director Jack Clark stated in testimony given in May 2020. He further acknowledged that while “there will be a point where a bunch of artists express worry about what we’re doing here and we’ll likely ignore their concerns and release anyway.”
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Shiraki Press @shirakipress.com · 20/09/2026
LIGHT & EARTH & MARROW is out September 22! #cottagecore #horror Preorder now: shirakipress.com/lem
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Jeannie (Jay) Marschall 🍇🫐🍏🍋🍊🍓 @jeanniemarschall.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Just right for #SapphicSeptember 🩷🤍🌸🤍🩷
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Shiraki Press @shirakipress.com · 19/09/2026
LIGHT & EARTH & MARROW is out September 22! #cottagecore #horror Preorder now: shirakipress.com/lem
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Steve Hugh Westenra 🕷️🧛‍♂️🏳️‍⚧️📚✒️ @stevewestenra.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
And the #SFINCS 4 entry form is LIVE! If you've written a self-published or small press speculative (SFFH) novella, and would like to enter it, the form's here!: www.sfincscompetition.com
sfincscompetition.com
The Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship | SFINCS
The Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship (SFINCS, pronounced “sphinx”) is a yearly competition to recognize, honor, and celebrate the talent and creativity present in the indie community.
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Jeannie (Jay) Marschall 🍇🫐🍏🍋🍊🍓 @jeanniemarschall.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I just set an early timer juuust to be on the extra safe side. JOIN US in two days, 18ish hrs and stir some warm tea magic into your day! 🫶 📚👀 #booksky
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 20/09/2026
I am running out of ways to express my anger that don't involve spectacular violence. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
The Rise of Parasite Authors
First, AI stole their books. Now it’s stealing their readers.
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 19/09/2026
I finally got my September update out, after what's been a hilariously busy and disrupted last several weeks. I am the tired. 😩 joshsutphin.com/blog/septemb...
joshsutphin.com
September Update: A Report from Worldcon
A Shiraki Press book launch, a report from Worldcon, and more.
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 18/09/2026
It's unbelievably frustrating how much our current systems punish conscience and reward sociopathy. This shit right here is how the Internet dies. futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
How Three Brothers Built an AI Slop Empire by Buying Legitimate News Sites and Turning Them Into Zombie Content Farms That They Say Get 50 Million Page Views per Month
Brown Brothers Media is a media empire raking in millions of clicks with AI, fake writers, and plagiarism.
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 17/09/2026
New rotating villain just dropped www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
seattletimes.com
Gluesenkamp Perez breaks with Dems to help Republicans again
Back-to-back defections by U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, of Washougal, demonstrate an unusual political calculus for the centrist Democrat.
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 17/09/2026
So the cool thing about all these AI "misalignments" is that you can just turn off the climate destroying computer. Just turn it off. Flip the switch. Be done. www.seattletimes.com/business/ope...
seattletimes.com
OpenAI discloses 6 new incidents of ‘concerning’ AI behavior
The artificial intelligence company also released a framework for reporting when its systems go wrong.
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 16/09/2026
I hate this economy so much. www.seattletimes.com/business/war...
seattletimes.com
Federal Reserve defies Trump, hikes key rate
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate Wednesday for the first time since 2023 in an effort to quell stubbornly-high inflation, a move that could spur a sharp response from the White…
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 14/09/2026
I'm gonna keep yelling about NSPM-7 until we have legislation on the books that effectively reverses it. www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
publishersweekly.com
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/101232-bookstores-sound-alarm-over-trump-s-anti-terrorism-memo.html
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 11/09/2026
The #AI booster-grifters piss me off, but I'm the *saddest* about all the smart people who've gradually given in to the dark side, either through peer pressure or just sheer exhaustion with the state of the world. Feels like losing folks to #covid denial all over again.
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Blake Emerson @blakeprof.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
There’s this one weird trick called LEGISLATION
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Shiraki Press @shirakipress.com · 11/09/2026
Our next Shiraki Press Book Club will be on October 10th at 10 AM! We'll be discussing Light & Earth & Marrow by @jeanniemarschall.bsky.social Pre-order today! (Paperback orders via Shirakipress.com will get a handmade bookmark from the author as well!) RSVP: www.eventbrite.com/e/shiraki-pr...
Light & Earth & Marrow book cover
Shiraki Press Book Club discusses Light & Earth & Marrow by Jeannie Marschall
Author photo of a smiling woman with short hair
Love it? Hate it? Let's chat!
Join us October 10th at 10 AM Pacific
~Virtual Event~
RSVP via eventbrite
pre-order at shirakipress.com/LEMHandcut corner page book marks on an open bookFour hand cut corner page bookmarks and lavender sprigsLight & Earth & Marrow book cover
Paperback $18.99 | Ebook $9.99
shirakipress.com/LEM
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 11/09/2026
He's still alive
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Shiraki Press @shirakipress.com · 11/09/2026
Y'all. I just realized that the Barnes & Noble pre-order sale applies to Light & Earth & Marrow by @jeanniemarschall.bsky.social too. 😅 It releases in 12 days! Don't wait! Order it now for $14.25 and get it just in time for the witching season. It's mostly cozy and just a little horror.
The book listing and cover of Light & Earth & Marrow on the Barnes & Noble website. 
Use code PREORDER25 to get 25% off this title.
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 10/09/2026
This argument is absurd. I already have a reverse chronological feed of only the people I follow: it's called Mastodon, I follow no brands on there, and therefore, I see no brand content. QED.
Mosseri said just a "very vocal minority” wants social media to go back to reverse chronological feeds, which he said would just incentivise people to post more.

"What ends up happening is the best way to get more reach is just to post more often and those who can afford to post the most often do and then therefore get the most reach,” he said.

"And it turns out your friends post a lot less than creators, who post a lot less than brands and companies."

He said people would be “overwhelmed” with content from brands, and creators and friends would be drowned out.
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Josh Sutphin @joshsutphin.com · 10/09/2026
Do you *want* to radicalize every single creative person in America? Because putting the whole weight of the US government on the side of AI in this way sure is going to do that! www.wordsandmoney.com/the-darn-unu...
wordsandmoney.com
The 'Darn Unusual' Legal Filing That Could Alter the AI Landscape, and Bolster Fair Use
In a 20-page 'Statement of Interest," lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice told the judge presiding over a closely-watched lawsuit that requiring "paid licensing" would "put U.S. AI companies…
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