Matthew Claxton

@matthewclaxton.bsky.social

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Reporter, hack sci-fi and fantasy writer, dinosaur enthusiast. Deeply confused most of the time. He/him

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Matthew Claxton

Of course, we’ve missed the most important news, which is that West Japan Railway has deployed a colossal robot.

Japan introduces enormous humanoid robot to maintain train lineswww.theguardian.com The 12-metre high machine has coke bottle eyes and a crude Wall-E-like head, as well as large arms that can be fitted with blades or paint brushes

Not to make too much of this, but: 1) Cellulose was the plastic before plastic 2) It's made from plants 3) Its production used to be hellishly toxic/dangerous to workers 4) There are now much, much cleaner ways to make it 5) It's biodegradable 6) A plastic-free future has a lot of cellulose

'Cellulose nitrate was used to make dice from the late 1860s until the mid twentieth century, and remains stable for decades. Nitric acid is released in a process called outgassing. The dice cleave, crumble, and then implode.' Deception, Fate & Rotten Luck by Ricky Jay and Rosamond Purcell

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Matthew Claxton

Missed this when it happened a couple weeks back, but some good news!

Alberta's last coal plant has powered down, marking the end of an era | CBC Newswww.cbc.ca In a feat once thought impossible, the province went from 80 per cent coal power to zero — years ahead of schedule.

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Matthew Claxton

TIL that the Chicken Soup for the Soul twee self-help books series turned into a mini-business empire that made pet food, actual soups, bought Crackle and then Redbox, and then last month went bankrupt, because… well, they bought Redbox. Capitalism – sometimes it's just weird.

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Matthew Claxton

The bartender says "sorry, we don't serve faster than light particles here." Two tachyons walk into a bar. The punchline comes before the joke You know what the worst thing about time travel jokes is?

The evolution of social media bio tags: INJT => Chaos Slytherin => star sign, ironically => star sign, deadly serious => whatever the hell this nonsense is.

hotfix male. release candidate male. shovelware male

The future is going to be so awesome once we stop obsessing about "where's my jetpack and Mars colony?" bullshit.

Exciting new science: Part algae, part red blood cell, these microrobots can travel to hard-to-reach tumors deep in the lungs. 🧪#medsky

Microrobots made of algae carry chemo directly to lung tumors, improving cancer treatmenttheconversation.com Green algae carry drug-loaded nanoparticles directly to the lungs, reducing side effects in other organs and increasing treatment efficiency.

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Matthew Claxton

do I need this

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Matthew Claxton

It occurs to me the argument that we have to let AI fuck up the environment because it’s going to learn how to solve climate change is _exactly_ what an AI would be saying if it wanted to destroy us.

Google’s emissions are up 48% in 5 years. Microsoft’s are up 30% since 2020. Those soaring figures are being driven by mass investments in data centers to power AI tools. Generative AI is a climate disaster and data center expansion must be stopped.

Generative AI is a climate disasterdisconnect.blog Tech companies are abandoning emissions pledges to chase AI market share

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Matthew Claxton

Hello social medias... You may not be aware a major Cat 5 hurricane struck an area that normally doesn't get them. The eye passed directly over Carriacou and Petit Martinique. The devastation is tremendous. The need is great. You can help and make a difference: www.gofundme.com/f/the-people...

Help the people of Carriacou and Petite Martinique recover, organized by Marine and Yachting Association of Grenada MAYAGwww.gofundme.com On 1 July, the eye of Hurricane Beryl bore down on two tiny i… Marine and Yachting Association of Grenada MAYAG needs your support for Help the people of Carriacou and Petite Martinique recover

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Matthew Claxton

We’re less than $2K away from bringing my lost novel, KAMIKAZE L’AMOUR, back into print! With 4 days to go can we push it over the top? Please take a look at it and consider backing. Thanks! www.kickstarter.com/projects/kam...

KAMIKAZE L'AMOURwww.kickstarter.com Nervous Breakdown Edition

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Matthew Claxton

You want to filter all writing advice by writers through the fact that writing advice usually pays better than writing.

Most good writers don’t have good writing advice. They’re just good writers, so what they say gets wrapped up in something that seems like a good idea. All of this is make-believe

The current writing project is now about 92,000 words, of which almost 1,000 are a bunch of scene fragments and notes to myself saying "REWRITE THIS CHAPTER SO IT DOESN'T SUCK!" and "THIS CHARACTER NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING TERRIBLE HERE." So, about like normal at this stage, as far as I can tell.

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Matthew Claxton

UK ebook sale at £0.99! At that price you should really just pick up all of these instantly. Includes my first novel THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS, which has been getting some buzz across the pond and only just came out in the UK, so an excellent chance to see what all the fuss is about

🚨🌈 EBOOK SALE!🌈 🚨 #pridemonth may be over but we're #stillproud! Until 23:59 on 14/7 you can grab all of these fab titles for 0.99 each on our website! Ft. @mattfnwallace.bsky.social @vajra.me @deuceofgears.bsky.social @rebeccafraimow.bsky.social @slhuang.com & more! Sale: bit.ly/3ng219P

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Matthew Claxton

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Premee Mohamed

Short stories are NO ONE WILL COME BACK FOR US (winner of an Alberta Literary Award!). 17 stories of strange folktales, weird bargains, faith, sacrifice, and more... undertowpublications.com/shop/no-one-...

No One Will Come Back for Us — Undertow Publicationsundertowpublications.com Cover art by Slug Draws PAPERBACK Here there be gods and monsters - forged from flesh and stone and vengeance - emerging from the icy abyss of deep space, ascending from dark oceans, and prowling ...

Just got Speak Through the Mountain, next on my TBR pile!

More into near-ish-future-ish climate fiction with Extremely Horrible Feral Hogs, a hereditary symbiont fungus with ? do we think behaviour-changing effects ? and the world after the worst has happened? Try THE ANNUAL MIGRATION OF CLOUDS (and its sequel WE SPEAK THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN!)

The Annual Migration of Cloudsecwpress.com Description Author Details AURORA AWARD WINNER “This packs a punch.” — Publishers Weekly “One of the most unique and engaging voices in genre fiction.” — Booklist “In this rich and nuanced universe, M...

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Matthew Claxton

HAPPY FRIDAY my people, today is a good day to pick up a book by a HUGE LARGE BUG! "WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MANY BOOKS OUT" I don't know, do we want a little guide or something?? I can do that! premeemohamed.com/books/

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Matthew Claxton

The project to bring my lost novel, KAMIKAZE L’AMOUR, back into print is doing well, but there’s less than a week to go. Can you help me push it over the top? Please take a look at it and consider backing. Thanks! www.kickstarter.com/projects/kam...

KAMIKAZE L'AMOURwww.kickstarter.com Nervous Breakdown Edition

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Matthew Claxton

This photo is pure 2024.

Just finished Colson Whitehead's Crook Manifesto – excellent. I've piled up a bunch more books I want to read lately, but at least on this vacation I've had time to tear through several of them. Nice to be able to read for long stretches of the day.

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Matthew Claxton

Strange Horizons is at $14,005! At $15k, they'll do an issue of Afro-Surrealist SF, guest-edited by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu www.kickstarter.com/projects/str...

Strange Horizons 2025www.kickstarter.com A free weekly speculative fiction magazine with a global perspective.

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Matthew Claxton

I didn't plan on making these daily updates, but we crossed into the 200s over the holiday and that seems like a reason to celebrate. Only 286 subscriptions remain before we've erased all the losses caused by Amazon!

We appreciate the support we're getting here. Today, it's down to 326.

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Matthew Claxton

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Matthew Claxton

One of the best things about selling stories is having people illustrate them. It's such a thrill, I've been lucky to have it happen four times now, I think. I love every one of them, including the murderous pink robot bear ("The Remora.")

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Matthew Claxton

Oh wow, this is the illustration to my story "Terminal City Dogs" in the current Analog! (My contributor copy has not yet arrived!) I love this, and the chosen quote, and the alternative sketch SO, SO MUCH!

The Art of Eldar Zakiroveldarzakirov.com The interior spread art for the July/August 2024 issue of "Analog Science Fiction and Fact" magazine Vol. XCIV No. 7 & 8 Illustration for the short story named ■Terminal City Dogs■ by Matthew Claxt...

If we import just one British tradition, please let it be "forcing all the candidates to stand awkwardly in a rented hall waiting to see who won, with the dude dressed in a bunny suit who ran as Mr. Muffins, Flopsy Party right next to them."

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Matthew Claxton

Y E S (I keep telling people to read THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS, read it please) It gave me the same 'so full of emtions I'm about to pop' feeling as at the end of PIRANESI As if the whole novel happened within one house, and the ending opened the front door to a WHOLE NEW GIANT WORLD

Wow just finished @vajra.me’s The Saint of Bright Doors and I’m so full of emotions. Maybe I’m over reading a bit but it also seems so about current events in certain ways…

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Matthew Claxton

What I’ve read in the last week: ANALOG Jul/Aug 2024 WORLDS OF IF Mar 1969 F&SF Aug 2007 CHANUR’S VENTURE - C. J. Cherryh (1984) GREAT SKY RIVER - Gregory Benford (1987) huwage.bsky.social @matthewclaxton.bsky.social @atsayre.bsky.social @librariangoblin.bsky.social @analogsf.bsky.social