Kate Orman
@kateorman.bsky.social
http://kateorman.wordpress.com. she/her
Three Doctor Who novels available at Penguin Books: https://www.penguin.co.uk/search-results?q=kate+orman
Black Archives: The Pyramids of Mars https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/12-pyramids/
Three Doctor Who novels available at Penguin Books: https://www.penguin.co.uk/search-results?q=kate+orman
Black Archives: The Pyramids of Mars https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/12-pyramids/
Pinned
Kate Orman
@kateorman.bsky.social
· Jul 25
she/her
Occasional news kateorman.wordpress.com
Doctor Who Novels www.penguin.co.uk/search-results?q=kate+orman
Black Archives: Pyramids of Mars obversebooks.co.uk/product/12-pyramids/
Read "Saltier" free at IZ Digital interzone.digital/saltier/
The Mirror Matter - 3rd Dr audio www.bigfinish.com/
Occasional news kateorman.wordpress.com
Doctor Who Novels www.penguin.co.uk/search-results?q=kate+orman
Black Archives: Pyramids of Mars obversebooks.co.uk/product/12-pyramids/
Read "Saltier" free at IZ Digital interzone.digital/saltier/
The Mirror Matter - 3rd Dr audio www.bigfinish.com/
Enjoyed this bite-size SF
Sci-Fi Short Film "JUMPER" | DUST
YouTube video by DUST
youtu.be
January 27, 2026 at 12:30 PM
Enjoyed this bite-size SF
"Heredity is nothing but stored environment." -- Luther Burbank
I put this in my quotes file long ago, assuming Burbank meant the tale of evolution we carry in our DNA.
It turns out he was a Lamarckist: he *literally* meant that our experiences alter our genes, which our kids then inherit. /1
I put this in my quotes file long ago, assuming Burbank meant the tale of evolution we carry in our DNA.
It turns out he was a Lamarckist: he *literally* meant that our experiences alter our genes, which our kids then inherit. /1
January 26, 2026 at 11:58 PM
"Heredity is nothing but stored environment." -- Luther Burbank
I put this in my quotes file long ago, assuming Burbank meant the tale of evolution we carry in our DNA.
It turns out he was a Lamarckist: he *literally* meant that our experiences alter our genes, which our kids then inherit. /1
I put this in my quotes file long ago, assuming Burbank meant the tale of evolution we carry in our DNA.
It turns out he was a Lamarckist: he *literally* meant that our experiences alter our genes, which our kids then inherit. /1
Taco the tortie was successfully desexed, but she didn't think much of her recovery suite.
January 26, 2026 at 11:06 PM
Taco the tortie was successfully desexed, but she didn't think much of her recovery suite.
When we see the colour we call red, do you & I actually see the same colour? The philosophical riddle's answer is yes: your eyes & brain are the same as mine.*
What do we have in common with an LLM? What structures, patterns, methods? What machinery does Anthropic have that could be used to feel?
What do we have in common with an LLM? What structures, patterns, methods? What machinery does Anthropic have that could be used to feel?
Anthropic's philosopher, Amanda Askell, says she worries that AI might not 'feel that loved' and grow up feeling 'always judged.'
Anthropic's philosopher says we don't know for sure if AI can feel
Anthropic's philosopher, Amanda Askell, says she worries that AI might not 'feel that loved' and grow up feeling 'always judged.'
www.businessinsider.com
January 26, 2026 at 8:03 AM
When we see the colour we call red, do you & I actually see the same colour? The philosophical riddle's answer is yes: your eyes & brain are the same as mine.*
What do we have in common with an LLM? What structures, patterns, methods? What machinery does Anthropic have that could be used to feel?
What do we have in common with an LLM? What structures, patterns, methods? What machinery does Anthropic have that could be used to feel?
I wonder how much it would cost me to have this photo as the cover of a novel
Laila Borges Fortes on Instagram: "By Paul Weiner @paulweinerstudio
#angustia"
4 likes, 0 comments - psico.laila on December 16, 2025: "By Paul Weiner @paulweinerstudio
#angustia".
www.instagram.com
January 26, 2026 at 7:49 AM
I wonder how much it would cost me to have this photo as the cover of a novel
January 26, 2026 at 7:06 AM
Dear God.
Fourteen years ago I wrote a sonnet sequence. THE POET TO HER YOUNG COMRADES about the coming of Fascism, and some possible futures. It gives me no pleasure that I was Cassandra.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1ByP...
www.facebook.com/share/p/1ByP...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:09 AM
Dear God.
I will write a novel or w/e about the Drahvins given the *slightest* excuse.
If you've got a spare 25 minutes, watch "Airlock" on iPlayer. Just dive in and let the scenes aboard the Drahvin ship bathe you in dramatically powerful world building. Maaga's character and Stephanie Bidmead's performance feel like my highlight of B&W Doctor Who. It's scary and weird.
January 26, 2026 at 12:38 AM
I will write a novel or w/e about the Drahvins given the *slightest* excuse.
Reposted by Kate Orman
40 years ago today, Voyager 2 became the first (and, so far, only) spacecraft to visit to Uranus, sending back astonishing images of the planet, its thin rings, and its peculiar set of moons. 🧪🔭
www.nasa.gov/history/35-y...
www.nasa.gov/history/35-y...
January 25, 2026 at 6:17 AM
40 years ago today, Voyager 2 became the first (and, so far, only) spacecraft to visit to Uranus, sending back astonishing images of the planet, its thin rings, and its peculiar set of moons. 🧪🔭
www.nasa.gov/history/35-y...
www.nasa.gov/history/35-y...
Reposted by Kate Orman
Artifice & Access released on January 25th, 2025, and it has been such a wonderful time seeing all the love for this #anthology & the stories within 💖
I am immensely grateful for every person who has ever supported this project in any way, big or small 💖😭💖
#booksky #book
I am immensely grateful for every person who has ever supported this project in any way, big or small 💖😭💖
#booksky #book
January 25, 2026 at 11:11 PM
Artifice & Access released on January 25th, 2025, and it has been such a wonderful time seeing all the love for this #anthology & the stories within 💖
I am immensely grateful for every person who has ever supported this project in any way, big or small 💖😭💖
#booksky #book
I am immensely grateful for every person who has ever supported this project in any way, big or small 💖😭💖
#booksky #book
Why do such a large percentage of prose characters have "cropped" hair? Is there a sheep loose
January 25, 2026 at 10:56 AM
Why do such a large percentage of prose characters have "cropped" hair? Is there a sheep loose
I've got more work done on this bloody story with pen and paper in the last 24 hours than I have at the keyboard in weeks.
January 25, 2026 at 1:58 AM
I've got more work done on this bloody story with pen and paper in the last 24 hours than I have at the keyboard in weeks.
Is there a way to get rid of the redundant "What's up?" box at the top of my feed?
January 24, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Is there a way to get rid of the redundant "What's up?" box at the top of my feed?
This video, honouring US astronauts who lost their lives, made my heart ache. I thought also of others who died in accidents while doing the many jobs that make spaceflight possible.
NASA’s Day of Remembrance 2026
YouTube video by NASA
youtu.be
January 23, 2026 at 1:23 PM
This video, honouring US astronauts who lost their lives, made my heart ache. I thought also of others who died in accidents while doing the many jobs that make spaceflight possible.
I'm following events in the US, but my plan is not to post about them here, and just post the usual writing news and random thoughts. Little breaks from it are good for us. (I'll still leave comments.)
January 23, 2026 at 10:44 AM
I'm following events in the US, but my plan is not to post about them here, and just post the usual writing news and random thoughts. Little breaks from it are good for us. (I'll still leave comments.)
Reposted by Kate Orman
I think this is a haunting image.
It's Uranus, the giant seventh planet in the Solar System, photographed by Voyager 2 on the outbound part of its flyby on 25 January, 1986.
Out there in the dark.
Waiting.
It's Uranus, the giant seventh planet in the Solar System, photographed by Voyager 2 on the outbound part of its flyby on 25 January, 1986.
Out there in the dark.
Waiting.
January 23, 2026 at 3:26 AM
I think this is a haunting image.
It's Uranus, the giant seventh planet in the Solar System, photographed by Voyager 2 on the outbound part of its flyby on 25 January, 1986.
Out there in the dark.
Waiting.
It's Uranus, the giant seventh planet in the Solar System, photographed by Voyager 2 on the outbound part of its flyby on 25 January, 1986.
Out there in the dark.
Waiting.
"She remembered a series of boxes within boxes, infinity nesting within the finite, a control room that seemed almost a parody of technology. A figure standing at a console. It too was transdimensional - something monstrous crammed down into a parody of human flesh." Ben Aaronovitch, Transit, p40.
"Somewhere, IN one of these... memories --"
In an NA/PDA/EDA, the Doctor is described as something like a cosmic being, "crunched down" into something like human form. It's been stuck in my mind for decades, especially that incredible verb, "crunched".
Do you think I can find it again???
In an NA/PDA/EDA, the Doctor is described as something like a cosmic being, "crunched down" into something like human form. It's been stuck in my mind for decades, especially that incredible verb, "crunched".
Do you think I can find it again???
January 22, 2026 at 8:31 AM
"She remembered a series of boxes within boxes, infinity nesting within the finite, a control room that seemed almost a parody of technology. A figure standing at a console. It too was transdimensional - something monstrous crammed down into a parody of human flesh." Ben Aaronovitch, Transit, p40.
These days I only really listen to my iPod* at the gym. I'm been fiddling with my various playlists: the latest exciting pop, the pop before that, songs I'm always happy to hear, songs to enjoy occasionally, bike machine songs. There's so *much*! How have I accumulated all of this?!
January 22, 2026 at 7:47 AM
These days I only really listen to my iPod* at the gym. I'm been fiddling with my various playlists: the latest exciting pop, the pop before that, songs I'm always happy to hear, songs to enjoy occasionally, bike machine songs. There's so *much*! How have I accumulated all of this?!
One of the local street cats got run over. Kindly neighbours alerted us. Jon is taking the body to the vet for a microchip check (just in case) & decent disposal.
Desexing is of the kindest things a cat lover can do. The poor thing only lived on our street because someone didn't desex its parents.
Desexing is of the kindest things a cat lover can do. The poor thing only lived on our street because someone didn't desex its parents.
January 21, 2026 at 12:01 PM
One of the local street cats got run over. Kindly neighbours alerted us. Jon is taking the body to the vet for a microchip check (just in case) & decent disposal.
Desexing is of the kindest things a cat lover can do. The poor thing only lived on our street because someone didn't desex its parents.
Desexing is of the kindest things a cat lover can do. The poor thing only lived on our street because someone didn't desex its parents.
In my teens, my little collection of poetry included this -- I forget which teacher handed out photocopies. You always get something new, reading a poem for the first time since childhood. In my imagination, it was set somewhere distant and exotic -- South Africa, perhaps -- where the racists lived.
Soyinka -- "Telephone Conversation"
www.k-state.edu
January 21, 2026 at 6:32 AM
In my teens, my little collection of poetry included this -- I forget which teacher handed out photocopies. You always get something new, reading a poem for the first time since childhood. In my imagination, it was set somewhere distant and exotic -- South Africa, perhaps -- where the racists lived.
I'm trying to place a quote -- Heinlein? -- about circus acrobats, how the audience is hoping they'll fall. Imagine if that was how everyone watched you -- waiting on the edge of their seats for that satisfying instant.
January 21, 2026 at 6:27 AM
I'm trying to place a quote -- Heinlein? -- about circus acrobats, how the audience is hoping they'll fall. Imagine if that was how everyone watched you -- waiting on the edge of their seats for that satisfying instant.
"[AI art is] bad art in the sense of being 'eerie', the word that cultural theorist Mark Fisher used to describe “when there is something present where there should be nothing, or there is nothing present when there should be something'."
AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow
AI is asbestos in the walls of our tech society, stuffed there by monopolists run amok. A serious fight against it must strike at its roots
www.theguardian.com
January 21, 2026 at 12:32 AM
"[AI art is] bad art in the sense of being 'eerie', the word that cultural theorist Mark Fisher used to describe “when there is something present where there should be nothing, or there is nothing present when there should be something'."
Hitherto unsuspected Fear and Loathing and Las Vegas sequel, opening words
I just woke up from a nap and somehow while I was asleep, everyone on the bus has figured out we are not going to the right place
January 20, 2026 at 8:07 AM
Hitherto unsuspected Fear and Loathing and Las Vegas sequel, opening words