As the World Stearns
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mikalroy.bsky.social
As the World Stearns
@mikalroy.bsky.social
Former editorial director and editor; current agency head, book packager, and writer. USC film, Hollins U, Clarion West alum. Dad. Books & cats & f&sf & film & games & music & Brooklyn. He/him/foul unspeakable one.
Pinned
The world is too often unbearably heartbreaking. In lieu of all that, here is my cat, Maeby. I love her.
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People who hate Zohran and everything he stands for: Now that Zohran has won, the most effective thing he can do is betray all of his principles
November 6, 2025 at 2:39 PM
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November 6, 2025 at 12:30 PM
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PSA to all authors affected by the Anthropic settlement: You don't have to file your claim right now. You have until March 2026 to do so. My agent advised that I should wait a little while and let things shake out. You *can* file now but it won't hurt to wait a bit and it might benefit you.
October 21, 2025 at 8:53 PM
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That really moving Marseillaise scene in Casablanca is now 400% more moving youtu.be/CbWgOpG1988
Casablanca - Marseillaise Scene (extended edition)
YouTube video by Jeremy Limb
youtu.be
October 11, 2025 at 9:26 PM
The world is too often unbearably heartbreaking. In lieu of all that, here is my cat, Maeby. I love her.
September 21, 2025 at 1:07 AM
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Everything is bad, but books are good. Get a book. Read the book. Cherish the book. Finish the book. Tell your friends about the book, and leave a review of the book. Hold the book close. Listen to what it tells you. Do as it commands. Place it on the dread altar and let it guide your every choice.
September 15, 2025 at 12:40 PM
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A friend perfectly summed up why legacy media is unequipped to adequately report on this moment/era in history:
September 13, 2025 at 5:15 PM
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I wrote about how I am not buying the narrative that the anthropic AI settlement is good for authors: defector.com/if-the-thiev...
If The Thieving AI Company Can Survive The Legal Settlement, Then It Is Not Big Enough | Defector
There is an easy answer to the question “How long does it take to write a book?” but it is not a true one. The easy answer is the duration between when you actually start putting your pen down on the ...
defector.com
September 8, 2025 at 6:50 PM
August 27, 2025 at 5:15 PM
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Christ almighty.
Democrats’ favorite research firm told them to avoid discussing Trump’s “rising authoritarianism” and focus on tariffs instead.

Story: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
August 26, 2025 at 4:40 PM
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Why do these people *still have jobs*
August 26, 2025 at 4:46 PM
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All
Folks
Had
To
Do
Was
Vote
For
The
Super
Qualified
Black
Lady…
With
A
Degree
In
Economics
August 23, 2025 at 3:36 AM
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RT if you also wish ill upon JK Rowling.
August 21, 2025 at 1:43 PM
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Cities are the best of us and there’s no future if they are captured by these goons
August 12, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Damn. Dire news.
It's profoundly saddening to read that AP will no longer be assigning or running book reviews because readers don't engage with them enough and they take too much effort to plan and assign. People complain about critics as gatekeepers; wait until all that's left is marketing.
August 11, 2025 at 2:16 AM
“Fiendishly well-constructed horror comedy” is the perfect description of this terrific movie. Such dark fun.
I rarely enjoy writing a review — reliving the experience of watching a movie — as much as I did with “Weapons,” the fiendishly well-constructed horror comedy that opened on Friday. Posting this (free) link if only to urge you all to see it in a theater with a roaring crowd.

wapo.st/4fuKo2J
Review | ‘Weapons’ is a fright-night delight from a promising director
Our critic says to see this one in a theater, if you can.
wapo.st
August 10, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Two days later and I am still giddy about how absolutely terrific Weapons is. Gruesome? Of course. But also full of surprising turns, a clever structure, and more laugh out loud funny than The Naked Gun. Just gd marvelous.

I need to see it again.
August 10, 2025 at 1:45 AM
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True: @zohranmamdani lives in 1 unit of rent-stabilized housing.

Also true: Andrew Cuomo oversaw the loss of 96,064 units of rent-stabilized housing. And killed NYC’s program helping people move out of shelter.

Leaders must show moral clarity. Andrew, time to move out. 🧵
x.com/andrewcuomo/...
August 9, 2025 at 1:04 PM
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Gretchen got suspended, so we have to extra spread the word about Black Flame's release. I had the chance to read it a few months back and it's such a brutal hard look at cultural trauma, assimilation, self hatred, revenge, and the messiness of history. It will knock your socks off
August 7, 2025 at 2:51 AM
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Hey, so, TOTALLY not suggesting that RFK Jr. BACKS DOWN when we PUSH BACK, BUT if you’d like to call…

HHS Toll-Free: 1-877-696-6775

HHS Direct Line: 202-690-7000

PLEASE share and consider calling your senators and representatives as well.

NONE of this is okay.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
RFK Jr’s health department to halt $500m in mRNA vaccine research
Agency to end 22 federal contracts, questioning safety of technology credited with helping end Covid pandemic
www.theguardian.com
August 6, 2025 at 4:00 PM
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All. Of. This.

Do. Not. Use. AI. Period.
If I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea to use a machine that makes shit up 15-80% of the time AND destroys the environment AND contributes to rising fascism and genocide AND puts brilliant skillful creatives out of work by stealing their work, then we're already speaking different languages
August 6, 2025 at 6:13 PM
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The employee asked the girl and her mother if they needed help shopping. That’s it. That’s all. The misinformation, the insinuations (because the facts are inconveniently benign) are EXACTLY what was done to lesbians in the 80s. This is the product of hate and fear, not reality.
August 6, 2025 at 9:39 AM
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Be the reason they stop using the phrase 'there's no such thing as a stupid question'
August 3, 2025 at 3:59 PM
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I’ve long said this, and with the rise of AI, it rings more true than ever—the jobs our kids will have in the future have yet to be invented. But if we teach them how to be creative problem solvers, we’ll set them up for success.
August 3, 2025 at 9:14 PM
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