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Marguerite Sheffer

@mlensheffer.bsky.social
3.4K followers 1.7K following 303 posts

Author of THE MAN IN THE BANANA TREES (Nov 2024, Iowa Short Fiction Award from U of Iowa Press) writer and teacher in New Orleans stories in Asimov's, Lit Hub, The Dread Machine, The Pinch and others

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Reposted by Marguerite Sheffer
Cat Rambo @catrambo.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
For newer F&SF writers, here's a resource you may not be aware of, the Submission Grinder. It helps you find markets and track your submissions - and even publishes some fiction. Free to use, but if you use it a lot, consider supporting their Patreon. #booksky thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com
thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com
The Submission Grinder
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kottke.org @kottke.org · 22/09/2026
“The best next steps are the concrete ones: Big AI needs to follow all current laws—just like everyone else. So far—they haven’t. When Big AI breaks those laws, they must face pros­e­cu­tion and penal­ties—just like everyone else. So far—they haven’t.” [matthewbutterick.com]
matthewbutterick.com
Big AI to humanity: drop dead
Taking the NYT op-ed as a template, let’s consider why pundit-friendly proposals for AI safety likely won’t work.
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I will be reading a snippet of a YA story about a magic manicure this Sunday with @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social ! Come see these fantastic writers, and me!
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Presenting our fabulous readers for this Sunday's young adult fiction series! Come out to Big Couch this September 20th to support these wonderful people and their work! Doors open at 7:00 PM and it is completely free to attend. We hope to see you there!
The Fiction Sessions: Live reading series

YA Fiction!

Sunday September 20th - 7 to 9 PM - Big CouchMEET YOUR READERS:

Alys Arden

BarbaraLynn Cantone

Amber Sanchez

Marguerite Sheffer

M. Kelleher

Paula Ibieta
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kottke.org @kottke.org · 16/09/2026
We Must Create the Shit Machine. “I asked everyone I know at the BIG TECH HUMAN CENTIPEDE ROUNDTABLE, and we all agreed that UNCONTROLLABLE SHIT-RAIN IS USEFUL AND GREAT, and that EVERYONE WANTS IT.” [mcsweeneys.net]
mcsweeneys.net
We Must Create the Shit Machine
“For as long as humans have created SHIT with our BODIES AND BUTTS, we have been asking this FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION: What if there were a COMPUTER that could ALSO SHIT?
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John Wiswell @wiswell.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
This is what they've done.
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Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 15/09/2026
you don't even need to be good at it. people who are bad at a thing are also (a) correct to hate on ai (b) in most cases probably still better than it at the thing (c) are required by the rules of reality to hate on ai if they want to ever get good at the thing
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I've been looking forward to Tierney Oberhammer's debut for so long! Now you can pre-order it: modernartistpress.com/books/foreve... These short stories are stunningly tense, tender, and smart
modernartistpress.com
Forever Egg - Modern Artist Press
by Tierney Oberhammer Publication Date: March 2, 2027 Forever Egg is a debut short story collection that explores questions of love, identity, and shame. Across a dozen linked stories, Tierney Oberham...
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I've been looking forward to Tierney Oberhammer's debut for so long! Now you can pre-order it: modernartistpress.com/books/foreve... These short stories are stunningly tense, tender, and smart
modernartistpress.com
Forever Egg - Modern Artist Press
by Tierney Oberhammer Publication Date: March 2, 2027 Forever Egg is a debut short story collection that explores questions of love, identity, and shame. Across a dozen linked stories, Tierney Oberham...
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Very excited to teach this online class this Nov: "Getting your Hands Dirty: Craft Challenges to Level Up Your Fiction" We'll talk about play and voice and getting unstuck and learning by doing and trying (over and over). writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/getting-your...
Class poster for an online writing class: Getting Your Hands Dirty: Craft Challenges to Level Up Your Fiction (all details included at link in post)
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Murderers As Leaders @morbidhegel.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury.
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Very excited to teach this online class this Nov: "Getting your Hands Dirty: Craft Challenges to Level Up Your Fiction" We'll talk about play and voice and getting unstuck and learning by doing and trying (over and over). writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/getting-your...
Class poster for an online writing class: Getting Your Hands Dirty: Craft Challenges to Level Up Your Fiction (all details included at link in post)
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Reposted by Marguerite Sheffer
Sage Tyrtle 🇨🇦 @sagetyrtle.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Hey #SpeculativeFiction folks, any ideas? This is flash fiction but fits the brief: "When Amanda Corin arrived at Mommy & Me Yoga, everyone could see that her new baby had turned into a glass of wine..." thedisappointedhousewife.com/2025/07/02/a...
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Favorite short stories that showcase WORLDBUILDING (science fiction, fantasy, or adjacent?) I have a bonus day in my "Speculative Fiction for Social Change" course and am looking to shake it up a bit with some new stories. Thanks for any ideas!
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kottke.org @kottke.org · 09/09/2026
Bayeux Go! A playable video game of the Bayeux Tapestry. “Thou art Harold. Win Thine Battle. Tap to starte.” [bayeuxgo.live]
bayeuxgo.live
Bayeux Go!
Bayeux Go! Thou art Harold. Go forth and win thine battle. Jump your way to victory, avoiding arrows…
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Our September calendar is here!
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Lincoln Michel @thelincoln.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Truly crazy how many people mocked the idea that students outsourcing their work to LLMs would degrade their capabilities. Imagine arguing that about a student who paid a friend to do all their homework. Why would it be any different with a computer program?
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Submissions for our YA Fiction Sessions open until August 25th! 📚 Go to the link below and read the details! thirdlanternlit.org/page-to-stage
Submissions open

The Fiction Sessions: Young Adult

08/11 to 08/25
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kottke.org @kottke.org · 12/08/2026
I’m Done Using AI. “It made me lazy. It made me stop caring. It made me a worse programmer. It made me depressed. Because I stopped doing the hard work, I stopped learning, I stopped growing, I stopped being the one making the software.” [brettcodes.com]
brettcodes.com
I'm done using AI
Why I'm stopping using AI for coding (and anything else) after using it earnestly for a year and coming to understand the harms it causes on personal, societal, and environmental levels.
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Had a blast talking to JM Sidorova about her magical and mysterious novel THE WITCH OF PRAGUE for CRAFT Literary www.craftliterary.com/2026/07/29/i... @homewardbooksco.bsky.social
craftliterary.com
Interview: J.M. Sidorova - CRAFT
I first learned of J.M. Sidorova’s The Witch of Prague because we share a love for the famed Unicorn Tapestries, a set of unicorn tapestries woven more than 500 years ago, depicting a medieval unicorn...
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Had a blast talking to JM Sidorova about her magical and mysterious novel THE WITCH OF PRAGUE for CRAFT Literary www.craftliterary.com/2026/07/29/i... @homewardbooksco.bsky.social
craftliterary.com
Interview: J.M. Sidorova - CRAFT
I first learned of J.M. Sidorova’s The Witch of Prague because we share a love for the famed Unicorn Tapestries, a set of unicorn tapestries woven more than 500 years ago, depicting a medieval unicorn...
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Join us every 2ndTuesday for this new daytime writing series! We’ll run through a new set of unusual writing prompts every session, pulled from craft books, classes, and imagination, before moving into forty minutes of free writing. (1/2)
Uncommon Prompts: generative writing workshop

08/11, 1 to 3 PM. 

High Grounds
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Our August calendar is here!
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Margaret Killjoy @margaret.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
this week's post is about the torment nexus, AI dystopia, and self-driving cars that will take you to jail margaretkilljoy.substack.com/p/when-they-...
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Come write with us tomorrow at Sports Drink from 11 AM to 1 PM!
Daytime Get Lit

Friday July 31st 

11- 1 PM at Sports Drink

Leave with words on the page!
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the beggars out of here getter @milesklee.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Parents are fed up with friends and relatives giving their kids “personalized” AI-generated storybooks with characters resembling their kids. Apart from data privacy concerns, literacy experts say these garbled and convoluted narratives could be an impediment to learning how to read.
wired.com
Boomers Can’t Stop Gifting Their Grandkids AI-Generated Slop Books
Parents are getting fed up with garbled bedtime stories that feature characters based on actual photos of their children.
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kottke.org @kottke.org · 09/07/2026
We Are Losing the Ability to Discover What We Didn’t Know to Ask. “Scientific breakthroughs, artistic leaps, technological innovation — these rarely emerge from efficient retrieval of known information.” [nytimes.com]
nytimes.com
Opinion | We Are Losing the Ability to Discover What We Didn’t Know to Ask
What used to be a meandering journey is now an immediate arrival at your destination.
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Hey folks! Here goes our July event calendar!
07/07 YA Generative Workshop - 6 to 8 PM - Big Couch
07/11 5 Hour Writing Marathon - 12 to 5 PM - 12 Mile Limit
07/14 Uncommon Prompts: Generative Workshop - 1 to 3 PM - high grounds
07/25 Writing Retreat 10 am to 6 PM 
07/31 Day time Get Lit 11 Am to 1 PM - Sports Drink Cafe
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Cozy in for our next Fiction Sessions reading over at Big Couch! This quarter's theme: Southern Gothic!!
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Hello! Here is our calendar for June! Hope to catch you at an event :)
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
one of these kind of writing days www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMrO...
youtube.com
10 hours of Stevie Nicks - Wild Heart
YouTube video by Rickard
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Do I happen to be connected to any writers or readers in Edinburgh or Glasgow? Hit me up!
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Do I happen to be connected to any writers or readers in Edinburgh or Glasgow? Hit me up!
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
IT'S GIVENOLA DAY! When looking for communities to support, please consider sending a donation our way. These funds help us continue all of our FREE literary events such as workshops and Page to Stage. We could not do any of this without you! www.givenola.org/organization...
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
$483 away! www.givenola.org/organization...
givenola.org
Support Third Lantern Lit on GiveNOLA
We aim to lower the barrier to entry to the writing community by connecting New Orleans writers to others with a shared passion so that we can learn, write, and grow together. With events geared towar...
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Marta Jewson @martajewson.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
I have a smaller, freelance-life list this year, Third Lantern Lit is among the orgs on it. As are The 18th Ward and SOUL, both facing fed/local funding cuts under the ripple effects of this administration.
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
GiveNOLA Day is today! Please consider supporting @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social if you have attended our events (or want to!) for writers in New Orleans. These donated funs keep things free, accessible, and help us pay local writers for their generous time. www.givenola.org/organization...
givenola.org
Support Third Lantern Lit on GiveNOLA
We aim to lower the barrier to entry to the writing community by connecting New Orleans writers to others with a shared passion so that we can learn, write, and grow together. With events geared towar...
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
@thirdlanternlit.bsky.social is 1/3 of our way to our big 2026 fundraising goal ($3000) to keep all our programming free, and to keep paying New Orleans writers to support New Orleans writers! I love this community. www.givenola.org/organization...
thirdlanternlit.org
Third Lantern Lit
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
OUR MAY CALENDAR IS HERE!
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
In this workshop, we will discuss examples of famous revisions that improved literature. Attendees will participate in writing exercises, and attendees are invited, but not required, to bring along an excerpt of something they've written! The workshop will be led by @mauricenow.bsky.social !
Monday May 4th @ 6pm to 8 pm at Big Couch

Revising the Southern Gothic

Led by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
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kottke.org @kottke.org · 01/05/2026
Ada Palmer & Bruce Schneier: AI Learns Language From Skewed Sources. That Could Change How We Humans Speak – and Think. “Our sense of the world may become distorted in ways we have barely begun to comprehend.” [theguardian.com]
theguardian.com
AI learns language from skewed sources. That could change how we humans speak – and think | Bruce Schneier
Large language models aren’t trained on real-life conversations. As we encounter their language, it could affect our own
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Danny Cherry Jr (twitter/Insta/tiktok: @Deecherrywriter) @deecherrywriter.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
3 things that happened this week that my state, Louisiana, was involved with: - the temporary blocking of the distribution of a mail order abortion drug - The erosion of the VRA - overturning the election of a democratically elected would-be official We're crushing it no notes
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
It's time to get some writing done! Come join your fellow writers this Tuesday the 28th to tackle that favorite project of yours ✒️📖 (Excuse the date typo on the graphic!)
Get Lit

Tuesday the TWENTY-EIGHT

6 to 8 PM

Miel Brewery
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Marguerite Sheffer @mlensheffer.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Look what i found at my writing residency at the porches! @writesloud.bsky.social
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kottke.org @kottke.org · 22/04/2026
“In a new book called “Israel: What Went Wrong?,” [Israeli professor of Holocaust & genocide studies] Omer Bartov argues that Zionism has morphed into an ideology of extremism that led to genocide in Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7th.” [newyorker.com]
newyorker.com
A Genocide Scholar Asks “What Went Wrong” in Israel
The Israeli historian Omer Bartov argues in his new book that a “state ideology” of Zionism has led to what he calls genocide in Gaza.
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
It's time to get those projects written! Join us at 12 Mile Limit this Saturday to tackle your latest project along with plenty of writers ready to cheer you on. We can't wait to see what you're working on!
5 Hour Writing Marathon

Saturday April 18

12 to 5 PM

Twelve Mile Limit

A Third Lantern Lit event
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Drew Broussard @drewsof.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
@colsonwhitehead.com making my day, putting it better than just about anybody so far. Thank god for the writers, the artists, the jokesters, the weirdos like us. Humanity sucks! Let's do the work, it's the only thing worth doing! www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/o... (this skeet written by the Gooch)
nytimes.com
Opinion | Don’t Use A.I. to Do This
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Maggie Harrison Dupré @mharrisondupre.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
NEW: A new pre-print study offers the first causal evidence that outsourcing reasoning tasks to AI can rapidly erode users' independent performance AND their will to persist despite difficulty. "People’s persistence drops... they’re also not willing to try without AI.” futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
AI Use Appears to Have a "Boiling Frog" Effect on Human Cognition, New Study Warns
A new study claims to offer the first causal link between AI dependency and cognitive erosion. Researchers warn of long-term implications.
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Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 09/04/2026
Helen DeWitt on turning down a $175k Windham-Campbell Prize because she wasn't able to handle the prize's mandatory publicity requirements. Imo a moving, deeply relatable, and darkly funny story about money, obligation, mental health, & executive dysfunction paperpools.blogspot.com/2026/04/we-l...
paperpools.blogspot.com
We lose again: Windham-Campbell Prize manqué
Was going to post this on Substack, but they don't let you indent blocks of text.     Today’s insanely long installmen...
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Third Lantern Lit @thirdlanternlit.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
For all of our witches and magically inclined folks, local witch Veronica Varlow will be teaching us spells to unlock inspiration, break past blocks, and summon opportunities to us. Come with an open mind and be prepared to call forth your full power 🌙✨
Summoning the Supernatural Story of You as a Writer: Veronica Varlow

Monday, April 13th - 6 to 8 PM - Big Couch
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