Ephemera XC: Shetland ponies in sweaters

The Ghost of Workshops Past: How Communism, Conservatism, and the Cold War Still Mold Our Paths Into SFF Writing. By S.L. Huang at Tor.com. The classic method of teaching writing workshops dates back to the 1930s, and was popularized at the University of Iowa in the 1950s, with CIA support, as a method of opposing Communism. It has served many writers very well, and thrives today in science fiction and fantasy workshops such as Clarion.

But it fails many writers, particularly BIPOC people. Leaders of today’s writing workshops, including Clarion, are reevaluating the methods.


I Went Viral in the Bad Way. By Charlie Warzel at The Atlantic Galaxy Brain









Second time recently I’ve seen recommendations to just read Moby-Dick as a novel.




Donald Sutherland and Clint Eastwood in “Kelly’s Heroes,” 1970



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