Jon Olfert 🌾🍁
@jonolfert.bsky.social
Stories in Analog, On Spec, Lightspeed, Beneath Ceaseless Skies. History's eighth or ninth most prolific writer of speculative paleofiction. Polling and policy by day. If we pull this off, we'll eat like kings. http://jonathan-olfert.carrd.co
Reposted by Jon Olfert 🌾🍁
Nice to see @onspecmag.bsky.social acknowledged by the CBC: www.cbc.ca/arts/on-spec...
Canada’s premier speculative fiction magazine calls it a day after 35 years | CBC Arts
Edmonton-based On Spec, which showcased authors like Julie E. Czerneda, Tony Pi and a young Cory Doctorow, will publish its final issue in December
www.cbc.ca
November 10, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Nice to see @onspecmag.bsky.social acknowledged by the CBC: www.cbc.ca/arts/on-spec...
Reposted by Jon Olfert 🌾🍁
Petition for a red-letter edition of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
(or, if this already exists, for someone to tell me where I can find it)
(or, if this already exists, for someone to tell me where I can find it)
November 10, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Petition for a red-letter edition of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
(or, if this already exists, for someone to tell me where I can find it)
(or, if this already exists, for someone to tell me where I can find it)
Got the last few details locked down and this is my final 2025 roster. Pound for pound this has been my big year.
November 10, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Got the last few details locked down and this is my final 2025 roster. Pound for pound this has been my big year.
Nothing's gonna cure your just-world fallacy faster than looking for convention parking I tell ya what
November 9, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Nothing's gonna cure your just-world fallacy faster than looking for convention parking I tell ya what
Got some good notes from Alexandra Barr's creative writing session at Hal-Con yesterday. It was basically 'I got my litfic degree five years ago from a solid program, now I'm querying fantasy, here's the nuts and bolts of using this stuff in spec fic.' Standing room only, 200 people riveted.
November 9, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Got some good notes from Alexandra Barr's creative writing session at Hal-Con yesterday. It was basically 'I got my litfic degree five years ago from a solid program, now I'm querying fantasy, here's the nuts and bolts of using this stuff in spec fic.' Standing room only, 200 people riveted.
Murderbot hasn't clicked for me so far, but Skarsgard's utter horror of PEOPLE is just beautiful.
November 8, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Murderbot hasn't clicked for me so far, but Skarsgard's utter horror of PEOPLE is just beautiful.
Unconscionable. Young men need conscientiousness training en masse, not whatever the hell this is.
1.This is not the only known example we know of ChatGPT cheering on a vulnerable young person to die by suicide, this time it is a recent Texas A&M grad
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Unconscionable. Young men need conscientiousness training en masse, not whatever the hell this is.
"The Standing Committee on Health and Research had originally sought details on student and faculty applications to three agencies between 2000 and 2025 but now says it will accept anonymized, high-level data that better preserves privacy."
Thank hell. October was amateur hour.
Thank hell. October was amateur hour.
Parliamentary committee revises order to share federal grant applicant data https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/politics/parliamentary-committee-revises-order-to-share-federal-grant-applicant-data/article_b65acc21-48a2-5a0e-880e-9f9f82b1f75d.html
𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 ⇢ CanadaHealthwatch.ca/newsletter
𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 ⇢ CanadaHealthwatch.ca/newsletter
November 7, 2025 at 2:51 AM
"The Standing Committee on Health and Research had originally sought details on student and faculty applications to three agencies between 2000 and 2025 but now says it will accept anonymized, high-level data that better preserves privacy."
Thank hell. October was amateur hour.
Thank hell. October was amateur hour.
Took a tally and I just passed my 560th publisher rejection for creative writing (533 tracked on the Submission Grinder and 27 that I've got record of before then, going back 13 years or so) plus 62 primary or reprint publications (so about 10% success rate). Not too shabby. Not too bad at all.
November 6, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Took a tally and I just passed my 560th publisher rejection for creative writing (533 tracked on the Submission Grinder and 27 that I've got record of before then, going back 13 years or so) plus 62 primary or reprint publications (so about 10% success rate). Not too shabby. Not too bad at all.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: give me Lee Pace as D. Michael Quinn and Titus Welliver as Boyd K. Packer. Chills just thinking about it.
lee pace at the premiere of THE RUNNING MAN
I would so be vaporlocked like the reporter in the second pic if mr. pace was in front of me like that
I would so be vaporlocked like the reporter in the second pic if mr. pace was in front of me like that
November 6, 2025 at 2:04 AM
I've said it before and I'll say it again: give me Lee Pace as D. Michael Quinn and Titus Welliver as Boyd K. Packer. Chills just thinking about it.
Reposted by Jon Olfert 🌾🍁
Back on the market after, uh, quite a while, so I made a little portfolio site. Feeling like an actual grown up. Please have a look!
Nathan Long: Writer
Resume and Portfolio site for Nathan Long
nathanlongwriter.carrd.co
November 5, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Back on the market after, uh, quite a while, so I made a little portfolio site. Feeling like an actual grown up. Please have a look!
It was not sound.
As a corollary, do not attempt federal budget analysis while putting young children to bed. Just a bad idea all around.
As a corollary, do not attempt federal budget analysis while putting young children to bed. Just a bad idea all around.
While there's a lot of Budget 2025 I can't talk about here for reasons, there's one angle I'm chewing on that a) doesn't overlap with those reasons, b) doesn't seem under scrutiny, and c) is, to me and ten other people, highly interesting. If it still looks sound in the morning I'll start writing.
a small white church with a steeple with a cross on it
Alt: Zooming in ominously on a small white church
media.tenor.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:31 AM
It was not sound.
As a corollary, do not attempt federal budget analysis while putting young children to bed. Just a bad idea all around.
As a corollary, do not attempt federal budget analysis while putting young children to bed. Just a bad idea all around.
While there's a lot of Budget 2025 I can't talk about here for reasons, there's one angle I'm chewing on that a) doesn't overlap with those reasons, b) doesn't seem under scrutiny, and c) is, to me and ten other people, highly interesting. If it still looks sound in the morning I'll start writing.
a small white church with a steeple with a cross on it
Alt: Zooming in ominously on a small white church
media.tenor.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:23 PM
While there's a lot of Budget 2025 I can't talk about here for reasons, there's one angle I'm chewing on that a) doesn't overlap with those reasons, b) doesn't seem under scrutiny, and c) is, to me and ten other people, highly interesting. If it still looks sound in the morning I'll start writing.
My 'recipe' brought to you by the 38,000 times I've tried to approximate this Curries With Bumbi masterpiece from what I already had in the house.
youtu.be/Os7kYPYvo50?...
youtu.be/Os7kYPYvo50?...
November 4, 2025 at 10:45 PM
My 'recipe' brought to you by the 38,000 times I've tried to approximate this Curries With Bumbi masterpiece from what I already had in the house.
youtu.be/Os7kYPYvo50?...
youtu.be/Os7kYPYvo50?...
Flexible lentil curry:
Fry a paste of mustard, cumin, curry powder, and something spicy (really anything) with chopped potatoes and/or frozen cauliflower.
Add lots of hot water and red lentils and rice. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring. Add peas (canned or frozen).
Serve with rice or by itself.
Fry a paste of mustard, cumin, curry powder, and something spicy (really anything) with chopped potatoes and/or frozen cauliflower.
Add lots of hot water and red lentils and rice. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring. Add peas (canned or frozen).
Serve with rice or by itself.
IT IS TIME FOR BLUESKY RECIPE POSTING
do you have a cheap, healthy, low-cost recipe? post it here! or quote tweet this post. or dunk on me for something I don't care just post easy meals that people can make right now.
do you have a cheap, healthy, low-cost recipe? post it here! or quote tweet this post. or dunk on me for something I don't care just post easy meals that people can make right now.
November 4, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Flexible lentil curry:
Fry a paste of mustard, cumin, curry powder, and something spicy (really anything) with chopped potatoes and/or frozen cauliflower.
Add lots of hot water and red lentils and rice. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring. Add peas (canned or frozen).
Serve with rice or by itself.
Fry a paste of mustard, cumin, curry powder, and something spicy (really anything) with chopped potatoes and/or frozen cauliflower.
Add lots of hot water and red lentils and rice. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring. Add peas (canned or frozen).
Serve with rice or by itself.
Getting in gear to become just insufferable about Halifax food and used bookstores leading up to @tricon-hfx.bsky.social
November 3, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Getting in gear to become just insufferable about Halifax food and used bookstores leading up to @tricon-hfx.bsky.social
Reposted by Jon Olfert 🌾🍁
writing ad copy for FM radio taught me that every 2 seconds had to have a hook, or what David Lynn (former editor of the Kenyon Review) called Delight or Surprise.
this is the *same* in fiction. every few moments the reader is reading, i try to add in that delight or surprise. or...
/ctd
this is the *same* in fiction. every few moments the reader is reading, i try to add in that delight or surprise. or...
/ctd
November 3, 2025 at 3:13 AM
writing ad copy for FM radio taught me that every 2 seconds had to have a hook, or what David Lynn (former editor of the Kenyon Review) called Delight or Surprise.
this is the *same* in fiction. every few moments the reader is reading, i try to add in that delight or surprise. or...
/ctd
this is the *same* in fiction. every few moments the reader is reading, i try to add in that delight or surprise. or...
/ctd
Booting up RStudio for a rigorous TURF analysis to determine the smallest number of dinner components that everyone in the house will actually eat at the same damn time. n=1 ('order pizza') discarded as an outlier.
November 2, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Booting up RStudio for a rigorous TURF analysis to determine the smallest number of dinner components that everyone in the house will actually eat at the same damn time. n=1 ('order pizza') discarded as an outlier.
I wasn't aware of this career path and it turns out there are exciting skilled labour shortages in the Becoming Dolphin sector.
Very low barrier to entry, reskilling is straightforward and widely available at waterfront locations. Graduate income not the best, but job satisfaction extremely high.
Very low barrier to entry, reskilling is straightforward and widely available at waterfront locations. Graduate income not the best, but job satisfaction extremely high.
And no one knows how many of the dolphins that leap in the waters of the Inmost Sea were men once, wise men, who forgot their wisdom and their name in the joy of the restless sea.
November 2, 2025 at 9:16 AM
I wasn't aware of this career path and it turns out there are exciting skilled labour shortages in the Becoming Dolphin sector.
Very low barrier to entry, reskilling is straightforward and widely available at waterfront locations. Graduate income not the best, but job satisfaction extremely high.
Very low barrier to entry, reskilling is straightforward and widely available at waterfront locations. Graduate income not the best, but job satisfaction extremely high.
Apparently while 2/3 asleep I tried to reinvent publishing from first principles. Notebook pages full of columns with titles like:
(and mean it)
where do people read words
^(IRL)
who pays for that
(and mean it)
where do people read words
^(IRL)
who pays for that
November 1, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Apparently while 2/3 asleep I tried to reinvent publishing from first principles. Notebook pages full of columns with titles like:
(and mean it)
where do people read words
^(IRL)
who pays for that
(and mean it)
where do people read words
^(IRL)
who pays for that
Some
Kingdoms get sandy
But my works will outlast me
So gaze upon them all and despaiiir
Kingdoms get sandy
But my works will outlast me
So gaze upon them all and despaiiir
These three MCsa from an antique LAND
Said hey there's a place with lots of SAND
Where two vast and trunkless legs of STONE
Stand in the desert all aLONE
Ozymandias, no disreSPECT
But sure looks like all your works got WRECKED
Said hey there's a place with lots of SAND
Where two vast and trunkless legs of STONE
Stand in the desert all aLONE
Ozymandias, no disreSPECT
But sure looks like all your works got WRECKED
my name is Oz
and wen the stone
is broke to bits
and all alone
i lie in sand
it stretches bare
you read my words
you pls despair
and wen the stone
is broke to bits
and all alone
i lie in sand
it stretches bare
you read my words
you pls despair
October 31, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Some
Kingdoms get sandy
But my works will outlast me
So gaze upon them all and despaiiir
Kingdoms get sandy
But my works will outlast me
So gaze upon them all and despaiiir
Vanguards in the robot wars, that's us'ns
Alexa explodes after Canadian replies to query with, “Oh, yeah, no, for sure.”
Alexa explodes after Canadian replies to query with, “Oh, yeah, no, for sure.”
OROMOCTO, NB - A local man almost lost his home yesterday after his Amazon Alexa smart home device burst into flames. Lloyd Wentworth, 38, says the fire started as he was preparing dinner in his bunga...
www.thebeaverton.com
October 30, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Vanguards in the robot wars, that's us'ns
You know, Jackson Lamb really is living the dream, dietarily speaking.
a man is holding chopsticks over a bowl that says ' chinese ' on the front
Alt: A scraggly man pokes a younger man with chopsticks
media.tenor.com
October 29, 2025 at 10:24 PM
You know, Jackson Lamb really is living the dream, dietarily speaking.
Canada a vraiment besoin de plus des comiques en colère au sujet d'insécurité alimentaire
Le regard de notre caricaturiste Godin sur l'actualité du 29 octobre 2025 👉https://bit.ly/430okZ8
October 29, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Canada a vraiment besoin de plus des comiques en colère au sujet d'insécurité alimentaire
Reposted by Jon Olfert 🌾🍁
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"
October 28, 2025 at 10:46 AM
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"