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Sarah Zachrich Jeng

@sarahzj.bsky.social
526 followers 203 following 134 posts

Speculative thrillers: WHEN I'M HER and THE OTHER ME (Berkley) Rep: Joanna MacKenzie Tech worker/tech skeptic sarahzj.com/links.html

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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
💖📚 September reads 📚💖
Sarah Zachrich Jeng’s September reads, featuring covers for the following books: Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder by Rachel McCarthy James; Normal People by Sally Rooney; Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell; Die For Me by Shirlene Obuobi; The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer; The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman; This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews; Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
💖📚 August reads 📚💖
Sarah Zachrich Jeng’s August reads, featuring covers for the following books: Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris; Beowulf trans. Maria Dahvana Headley; Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher; Knife Children by Lois McMaster Bujold; Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi; Holloway by Elana K. Arnold; Priest and Midnight Mass by Sierra Simone; The Mabinogion by Evangeline Walton
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Happy 5th birthday to THE OTHER ME (August 10, 2021). Its themes are still relevant (see: my Substack about Obsession) and I still get comments from readers telling me how much they loved this book. I appreciate every one of you!
Paperback and hardcover copies of THE OTHER ME by Sarah Zachrich Jeng
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
💖📚 July reads 📚💖
Sarah Zachrich Jeng’s July reads, featuring covers for the following books: This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews; One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny; Beguilement, Legacy, Passage, and Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold; Dad Brain by Darby Saxby; The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley; Warning Signs by Tracy Sierra; The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo; The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley; Platform Decay by Martha Wells
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
In my latest newsletter, I write about how Obsession’s badly behaved main character reminded me of the antagonist in my debut novel.
sarahzj.substack.com
You regret 100% of the shots you don’t take
Obsession (the film), authorial choice, and not letting characters off the hook
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
💖📚 June reads 📚💖
Sarah Zachrich Jeng’s June reads, featuring covers for the following books: The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox; Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett; In Every Possible Way by Alicia Thompson; The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
💖📚 May reads 📚💖
Sarah Zachrich Jeng’s May reads, featuring covers for the following books: The House of the Beast by Michelle Wong; The Comeback by Lily Chu; The Young Will Remember by Eve J. Chung; Time Loops and Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau; How to Read a Book by Monica Wood; The Bombay Prince, The Mistress of Bhatia House, and The Star From Calcutta by Sujata Massey. The cover images are superimposed over a close-up photo of a dandelion head gone to seed, against a green field.
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Revisiting one of my favorite SF books from childhood, which serves Cold War vibes and really makes a case for reading the directions.
sarahzj.substack.com
Will anyone read in the future?
We’ve been worried about this for a while
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
💖📚 April reads 📚💖
The label “April Reads” with covers for the following books: Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale; Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki; More Perfect by Temi Oh; Bog Queen by Anna North; The Magicians’ Guild, The Novice, and The High Lord by Trudi Canavan
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Cross genre "speculative fiction plus x" seems to be having a moment. So how does one actually...bend genres?
sarahzj.substack.com
Am I going to disappoint everyone?
How I learned to stop worrying and write cross-genre
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
💖📚 February and March reads 📚💖 Kushiel’s Legacy had me in a chokehold (no innuendo intended but iykyk) for most of February and I’m not mad about it.
Cover images for the following books: Kushiel’s Chosen, Kushiel’s Avatar, Kushiel’s Scion, Kushiel’s Justice, and Kushiel’s Mercy by Jacqueline Carey; Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall; Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler
Cover images for the following books: For My Lady’s Heart by Laura Kinsale; An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister; Road Trip with a Vampire by Jenna Levine; Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
💖📚 January reads 📚💖
The label “January Reads” with covers for the following books: All the Broken Places by John Boyne; Kushiel’s Dart and Cassiel’s Servant by Jacqueline Carey; Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt; The Incandescent by Emily Tesh; The Princess and the P.I. by Nikki Payne; Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
In this month's newsletter I wrote about albums I couldn't stop listening to when I was 17, the formation of taste, and breaking rules in writing practice. Also, fuck ICE. sarahzj.substack.com/p/edge-of-se...
Graphic showing the album cover for Hips and Makers by Kristin Hersh, with the words Edge of Seventeen: All Possible Futures
Thread screenshot: The relationship between a girl and the album she couldn’t stop listening to when she was 17 is the strongest relationship on earth
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
💖📚 December reads 📚💖
Covers for the following books, over a background of fairy lights and the words “December Reads”: 
The Second Death of Locke by V.L. Bovalino; The Whisper Place by Mindy Mejia; The Phoenix Bride by Natasha Siegel; Dawn of the North by Demi Winters; Foul Days and Monstrous Nights by Genoveva Dimova
Covers for the following books, over a background of fairy lights and the words “December Reads”: 
The Governess and the Rogue by Mimi Matthews; Good Spirits by B.K. Borison; What the River Knows and Where the Library Hides by Isabel Ibañez; The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
"I, as a scholar of boning, know how hard it is to produce sex scenes that convey story and character while also being hot." This is the line that made me LOL IRL but the entire essay is a valuable read for anyone who reads or writes about sex (or who thinks sex scenes are always "unnecessary").
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
I'll be reading and signing books at the Lynx Bookstore's Local Author Festival this Saturday! Come say hi from 10-3. thelynxbooks.com/events/39217...
Lynx Bookstore Local Author Festival on Saturday, December 6, 2025 from 10am-3pm. Featuring readings, signings, books for sale, and moreAuthor photo for Sarah Zachrich Jeng, featured author at the Lynx Bookstore’s Local Author Festival on December 6, 2025
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
💖📚 November reads 📚💖
Covers for the following books, over a background of autumn leaves against a blue sky and the words “November Reads”: The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson; Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove; The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce; Full Speed to a Crash Landing, How to Steal a Galaxy, and Last Chance to Save the World by Beth Revis; The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
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Jennifer Laughran @literaticat.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
Authors, Beware! There's a firm called "ClaimsHero" doing aggressive social media outreach claiming to "help" you file to get $ in the Anthropic class action. In fact, it's a bait-and-switch, they are luring authors to sign up with them, then OPTING THEM OUT of the class action so they'll get zilch.
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
I wrote about worldbuilding in romantic fantasy and how there's plenty of room for plot-forward and character-driven SFF novels.
open.substack.com
A world without love is no world at all
On world building in romantic fantasy
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
💖📚 October reads 📚💖
Covers for the following books, over a background of a harvest moon and the words “October Reads”: Servant of Earth and Princess of Blood by Sarah Hawley; The Blighted Stars, The Fractured Dark, and The Bound Worlds by Megan E. O’Keefe; August Lane by Regina Black
Covers for the following books, over a background of a harvest moon and the words “October Reads”: Falling in a Sea of Stars by Kristen Britain; The Queen of Saturn and the Prince in Exile by Errick Nunnally; The Wedding People by Alison Esbach; Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood; Warrior Princess Assassin by Brigid Kemmerer
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Jason Sanford @jasonsanford.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Support the 2026 @apexmag.bsky.social Kickstarter! Apex publishes amazing SF, dark fantasy, and horror and we need their stories now more than ever. I'll give an Apex gift subscription and dedication to one random person who promotes this Kickstarter! 1/ www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...
kickstarter.com
Apex Magazine 2026
An award-winning digital literary magazine of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror.
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
💖📚 September reads 📚💖
Covers for the following books, over a background of autumn trees reflected in a pond and the text “September Reads”: Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker; The El by Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.; My Murder by Katie Williams; The Luckiest Lady in London, Private Arrangements, and His at Night by Sherry ThomasCovers for the following books, over a background of autumn trees reflected in a pond and the text “September Reads”: The Road of Bones and Kingdom of Claw by Demi Winters; Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood; People Watching by Hannah Bonam-Young
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Google docs giving me a popup telling me my birthday is coming up (I am AWARE, shit I'm not THAT old) when I'm just trying to make a comment on a document is going to be my villain origin story
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
"You may have heard the aphorism that Happiness = Reality / Expectations. Multiply that by about 30 for your feelings about your career in traditional publishing. (What do you mean that math doesn’t make sense?)" From my latest newsletter, about That Publishing Article:
sarahzj.substack.com
Yes, publishing is depressing
And maybe that’s okay?
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
💖📚 August reads 📚💖
Covers for the following books, over a background of pool water and the words AUGUST READS: The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez; Never Been Shipped by Alicia Thompson; Willing Prey by Allie Oleander; Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent; Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang; The Friendship Study by Ruby Barrett
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Sam Whyte @samwhyte.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
This gets progressively funnier with every use of the term "floppy".
One of Britain’s most senior police officers has launched an angry tirade against Extinction Rebellion protesters going “all floppy” when they get arrested.

Sir Stephen House, the deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police, said the tactic of going limp was a “flipping nuisance” as it required extra officers to drag protesters away.

House told a London assembly police and crime committee hearing: “We have asked them to stop being floppy. And that might seem like a silly thing to say, but when we arrest them and pick them up, they go all floppy, which is why you see four or five officers carrying them away. It’s a complete waste of officers’ time, and a complete pain in the neck.”

Extinction Rebellion: how successful were the latest protests?
Read more
House also expressed annoyance at how the tactic made the police look heavy-handed. He said: “The problem with them going floppy and four offices carrying them away [is that it] looks to the general public like police are overreacting here. We’re not making them go floppy. They’re just sort of being a nuisance.”
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
“A standalone can afford to leave questions unanswered. In fact it can’t not do that, because if you try to explain everything in one go then you don’t have a story, you have a wiki.”
sarahzj.substack.com
Fast zombies are still the scariest
20-mumblemumble years later
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
I ❤️ my library
WHEN IM HER by Sarah Zachrich Jeng featured on a library’s overdrive page under “freaky Friday reads: body swaps
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
I’ll be at Auk Market in Gainesville this Saturday for their 2nd annual book + art faire! Enjoy delicious treats and browse books and maker goods from 10-3. I’ll be inside the Protocol Gallery - come say hi! More info: www.facebook.com/events/68414...
Graphic with the text: Auk Market Book + Art Faire - local authors - back to school items - art + craft cards. With The Lynx Books, Frenchmen Street Food. At Curia on the Drag, Aug. 23, 10am-3pm.
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Happy 4th birthday to THE OTHER ME (released August 10, 2021). I’ll always love my weird speculative domestic suspense novel about an artist who discovers that marrying your high school sweetheart may not, in fact, be the best idea!
hardcover and paperback cover images for THE OTHER ME, a novel by Sarah Zachrich Jeng
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
I wrote about burying my father and traveling through the United States in 2025, and my complicated feelings about both.
sarahzj.substack.com
Hostile territory
A road trip through the American heartland + my emotions
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
The first draft of my “LABYRINTH in Florida” romantic fantasy is done! Now the real work begins. Image is one of Kay Nielsen’s illustrations for a 1914 edition of a book of fairy tales including East of the Sun, West of the Moon. The story and illustration both capture some relevant vibes ✌️
1914 Kay Nielsen illustration for East of the Sun, West of the Moon, captoned: ‘And then she lay on a little green patch in the midst of the gloomy thick wood.’ Illustration is layered over a sunlit forest and the words “THE END”
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
In my latest newsletter, I write about progressing toward the ending of your novel. (It doesn’t get easier as you get closer.) sarahzj.substack.com/p/the-mirage...
sarahzj.substack.com
The mirage of an ending
The closer I get, the more it recedes
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
💖📚 June reads 📚💖
Book covers for the following books, on a background of blurred greenery and the words “June Reads”: The Legendborn Cycle by Tracy Deonn (Legendborn, Bloodmarked, and Oathbound); The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong; Fan Service by Rosie Danan; All Systems Red by Martha Wells
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
💖📚 May reads 📚💖
Book covers for the following books, on a background of blurred wisteria and the words “May Reads”: Faebound and Cursebound by Saara El-Arifi; As Long as You’re Mine by Nekesa Afia; The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins; Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett; When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Technology is so shitty rn that I started writing fantasy instead of sci-fi. sarahzj.substack.com/p/writing-sf...
Composite image of Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg. Text says “Writing SFF in the age of crap technology: AKA that time I wrote a novel about Neuralink. Read post at sarahzj.substack.com”
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
The recent (and recurring) discourse on whether authors should post critical reviews of others' books got me thinking about professional relationships, creative insecurity, and nostalgia for well-loved media properties. Read at sarahzj.substack.com
A person skips in a carefree manner across a field under a blue sky. The superimposed text reads: Should authors review books? Shutting up is free. Read article at sarahzj.substack.com.
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
💖📚 April reads 📚💖
Book covers for the following books, on a background of blurred wisteria and the words “April Reads”: Deep End by Ali Hazelwood; The Favorites by Layne Fargo; Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis The Briar Club by Kate Quinn; In the Shadow of the Fall and At the Fount of Creation by Tobi Ogundiran
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Excited to be at Thrillerfest in June! If you're going, bring your coffee at 8am on Friday, June 20 to listen to me and these amazing authors talk about writing satisfying endings. (And if you're not a morning person, I'll see you at the bar!)
Graphic showing author photos for authors on the “TEAR-JERKER, HEA OR CLIFFHANGER? Writing Satisfying Endings” panel at Thrillerfest 2025. The panel authors are Anne Burt, Audrey J. Cole, Sarah Zachrich Jeng, Matthew Sullivan, and Tony Wirt, with Allison Brennan moderating.
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
The ebook of THE OTHER ME is only $4.99 at all ebook retailers! This is my debut! It's the story of an artist who is transported to an alternate life in which she never followed her dreams, and it's about the choices we make for love...and those that are made for us.
Graphic showing the cover of THE OTHER ME by Sarah Zachrich Jeng with the text: ebook sale $4.99, all ebook retailers.
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
In which I do a deep dive on adolescent rebellion, romantic longing, and the ways in which a 35-year-old movie about a mostly-obsolete technology connects to our current era. sarahzj.substack.com/p/pump-up-th...
Still from the 1990 film Pump Up the Volume. High school students converse in a group while Nora, a central character, listens or watches something with a serious expression on her face. All the characters wear quintessential 1990s fashions like retro dresses, flannel shirts, and combat boots. Superimposed over the image is the title of a newsletter article “Pump Up the Volume is about resistance: Words are like, weapons, or something.” and the URL sarahzj.substack.com.
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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 09/04/2025
if I come out of this actually having been forced to understand the stock market, I'm going to be so fucking pissed
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Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
AABB hosted a press conference about to protest Florida HB1539. Check it out here. Bet you'll recognize a few speakers. youtu.be/bYi_Ebu17uo?...
youtu.be
Florida's HB 1539 (2025) Press Conference
YouTube video by FL Freedom to Read Project
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
The future I always dreamed of for our next generation
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
💖📚 March reads 📚💖
The words “March Reads” on a background of calm water, with book covers for the following books: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery; Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai; Under the Earth, Over the Sky by Emily McCosh; Villains and Virtues series by A.K. Caggiano; Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty; Paladin’s Faith by T. Kingfisher
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
Well that’s one way to get a bunch of people to learn to code I guess (Orrrr make them extremely frustrated and bottleneck content updates through already overworked devs)
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
ngl the Trump rhetoric around these tariffs forcing the US to produce bananas and computer chips inside its borders is giving Great Leap Forward vibes, and we all know how that ended up. (Apparently we don’t all know)
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Happy Horny Trees Season to those who *achoo* celebrate
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Reposted by Sarah Zachrich Jeng
warrior cop @wyattprivilege.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Well at least there’s one bright spot. Lemme just look up what VIX is real quick
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Sarah Zachrich Jeng @sarahzj.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Not me reading Paladin's Faith and being all "the main couple's great, fire, no notes. But what about these two people who hate each other?" 😍
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