Terrance Blackthorn
@terranceblackthorn.bsky.social
A man who has gotten tired of waiting and is now trying to realize his dream of writing about aliens being sad at each other.
I sometimes write about AIs, but I do not use GenAI.
https://books2read.com/ap/nAeykj/Terrance-Blackthorn
I sometimes write about AIs, but I do not use GenAI.
https://books2read.com/ap/nAeykj/Terrance-Blackthorn
Pinned
On a planet orbiting one of the last glowing embers of an old universe, two alien species have ended their generations-long war, and now an actress struggles to make sense of the new peace as she performs a play for her species' former predators.
books2read.com/u/4NVEDz
#scifi #booksky #💙📚
books2read.com/u/4NVEDz
#scifi #booksky #💙📚
November 28, 2025 at 3:40 PM
November 27, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Terrance Blackthorn
This.
Whenever local government reviews the library budget and asks, "Why should we give you money?"
We want the library to be able to say, "Because we provide a valuable service used by many people!"
Libraries are like muscles, using them more makes them stronger. 💪
Whenever local government reviews the library budget and asks, "Why should we give you money?"
We want the library to be able to say, "Because we provide a valuable service used by many people!"
Libraries are like muscles, using them more makes them stronger. 💪
Anybody who is like “Piracy is activism!”—trust me, supporting your local library is about 1000% more effective activism, and it’s still free for you and authors still get paid!
November 26, 2025 at 8:46 PM
This.
Whenever local government reviews the library budget and asks, "Why should we give you money?"
We want the library to be able to say, "Because we provide a valuable service used by many people!"
Libraries are like muscles, using them more makes them stronger. 💪
Whenever local government reviews the library budget and asks, "Why should we give you money?"
We want the library to be able to say, "Because we provide a valuable service used by many people!"
Libraries are like muscles, using them more makes them stronger. 💪
If I had the time or the brains, I would tackle the "conservatives have no media literacy" meme used whenever some popular media is appropriated with the depth it deserves. Since I have neither, I'll just say that its a bit hypocritical since fiction is not inherently didactic.
November 26, 2025 at 3:49 PM
If I had the time or the brains, I would tackle the "conservatives have no media literacy" meme used whenever some popular media is appropriated with the depth it deserves. Since I have neither, I'll just say that its a bit hypocritical since fiction is not inherently didactic.
This is kind of how I envisioned the Illitani stage actors from The Mask to work.
From Insta. This is so neat! We need monsters like this. Stylized, fluid, unconventional.
(Not me however. My spine says “no,” but in less polite terms.)
(Not me however. My spine says “no,” but in less polite terms.)
November 22, 2025 at 2:29 AM
This is kind of how I envisioned the Illitani stage actors from The Mask to work.
The more I learn about cover letters, the more I think they are a waste of time.
November 22, 2025 at 1:17 AM
The more I learn about cover letters, the more I think they are a waste of time.
Nothing really illustrates the failure of credentialism quite like reading short stories by Ph.Ds and Hugo Award winners and it turns out to be the most mediocre, boring writing. There are people who have worked cash registers their whole lives with more interesting fiction than this.
November 21, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Nothing really illustrates the failure of credentialism quite like reading short stories by Ph.Ds and Hugo Award winners and it turns out to be the most mediocre, boring writing. There are people who have worked cash registers their whole lives with more interesting fiction than this.
People who say the Star Wars Prequels are "good, actually," are just remembering the story better than how Lucas told it.
Lucas's intent was to crank out a six-hour ad to sell merchandise, and it comes across in the execution.
Lucas's intent was to crank out a six-hour ad to sell merchandise, and it comes across in the execution.
November 20, 2025 at 1:29 AM
People who say the Star Wars Prequels are "good, actually," are just remembering the story better than how Lucas told it.
Lucas's intent was to crank out a six-hour ad to sell merchandise, and it comes across in the execution.
Lucas's intent was to crank out a six-hour ad to sell merchandise, and it comes across in the execution.
Reposted by Terrance Blackthorn
"Huh, half the internet is timing out, lemme try a traceroute... ohhh, shit, either it's raining in Virginia or someone parked on the internet again."
every time I see people whining about the internet and single points of failure and “remember when” I laugh and LAUGH. folks. did you know that at one point sufficient rain in northern Virginia could take half the internet down? the infrastructure is way more robust and resilient than it used to be.
November 18, 2025 at 11:54 PM
"Huh, half the internet is timing out, lemme try a traceroute... ohhh, shit, either it's raining in Virginia or someone parked on the internet again."
Reposted by Terrance Blackthorn
do you believe in ghosts or are you like me, a person who finds themself saying all the time “I absolutely don’t believe in ghosts, but this place has ghosts.”
November 19, 2025 at 5:24 AM
do you believe in ghosts or are you like me, a person who finds themself saying all the time “I absolutely don’t believe in ghosts, but this place has ghosts.”
Reposted by Terrance Blackthorn
“But you can bounce lasers off of mirrors the Apollo astronauts put on the moon yourself!”
I mean; ok, pretty good, but have you tried, “Yeah, the government /did/ lie about the moon landings…for example, every time an Apollo astronaut said ‘sunofabitch’ the official transcripts read ‘garbled’.”
I mean; ok, pretty good, but have you tried, “Yeah, the government /did/ lie about the moon landings…for example, every time an Apollo astronaut said ‘sunofabitch’ the official transcripts read ‘garbled’.”
November 10, 2025 at 4:40 AM
“But you can bounce lasers off of mirrors the Apollo astronauts put on the moon yourself!”
I mean; ok, pretty good, but have you tried, “Yeah, the government /did/ lie about the moon landings…for example, every time an Apollo astronaut said ‘sunofabitch’ the official transcripts read ‘garbled’.”
I mean; ok, pretty good, but have you tried, “Yeah, the government /did/ lie about the moon landings…for example, every time an Apollo astronaut said ‘sunofabitch’ the official transcripts read ‘garbled’.”
I usually have a good idea of what the ending is going to be even before I start writing. I feel like without that anchor, I would meander directionlessly.
That doesn't mean I don't realize I could have a better ending in the middle of writing, though.
That doesn't mean I don't realize I could have a better ending in the middle of writing, though.
Ok #WritingCommunity
When in the process do you know what your ending is going to be?
I know by the end of writing the first chapter. Normally I know before that.
When in the process do you know what your ending is going to be?
I know by the end of writing the first chapter. Normally I know before that.
November 10, 2025 at 7:02 AM
I usually have a good idea of what the ending is going to be even before I start writing. I feel like without that anchor, I would meander directionlessly.
That doesn't mean I don't realize I could have a better ending in the middle of writing, though.
That doesn't mean I don't realize I could have a better ending in the middle of writing, though.
Another spoopy #excerpt from a current project, appropriate for October.
#booktok #📚💙 #scifi #xenofiction
#booktok #📚💙 #scifi #xenofiction
October 21, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Another spoopy #excerpt from a current project, appropriate for October.
#booktok #📚💙 #scifi #xenofiction
#booktok #📚💙 #scifi #xenofiction
Reposted by Terrance Blackthorn
Ouch. This one cuts to the bone.
October 18, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Ouch. This one cuts to the bone.
Reposted by Terrance Blackthorn
More writers need to watch all the seasons of HOW IT'S MADE because they for whatever reason have NO idea how the world works, or how things work, or how things work in the world, and then it shows up in their fiction and makes me yell and swear and pace and weep and rend my clothes in despair.
Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat
October 13, 2025 at 8:55 PM
More writers need to watch all the seasons of HOW IT'S MADE because they for whatever reason have NO idea how the world works, or how things work, or how things work in the world, and then it shows up in their fiction and makes me yell and swear and pace and weep and rend my clothes in despair.
There is such thing as too much, but this, absolutely.
October 13, 2025 at 11:40 PM
There is such thing as too much, but this, absolutely.
Reposted by Terrance Blackthorn
With many authors treating writing as their second job, they should not need a third job as social media influencer and become a walking brand in order to have, yknow, a chance at a career.
Also bring back the midlist.
Also bring back the midlist.
Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat
October 13, 2025 at 9:17 PM
With many authors treating writing as their second job, they should not need a third job as social media influencer and become a walking brand in order to have, yknow, a chance at a career.
Also bring back the midlist.
Also bring back the midlist.
Reposted by Terrance Blackthorn
Authors shouldn’t need day jobs
Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat
October 13, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Authors shouldn’t need day jobs
We teach the classics because they are thoroughly explored topics which enables a standardized approach to teaching literary criticism, something which you can't do with a more free-form curriculum.
Less an unhinged opinion and more something some of the unhinged takes needed to be reminded of.
Less an unhinged opinion and more something some of the unhinged takes needed to be reminded of.
Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat
October 13, 2025 at 11:10 PM
We teach the classics because they are thoroughly explored topics which enables a standardized approach to teaching literary criticism, something which you can't do with a more free-form curriculum.
Less an unhinged opinion and more something some of the unhinged takes needed to be reminded of.
Less an unhinged opinion and more something some of the unhinged takes needed to be reminded of.
Reposted by Terrance Blackthorn
All novels are fantasy novels.
It's just some novelists lie about this.
It's just some novelists lie about this.
October 13, 2025 at 1:46 PM
All novels are fantasy novels.
It's just some novelists lie about this.
It's just some novelists lie about this.
Reposted by Terrance Blackthorn
Moore predicted this.
October 12, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Moore predicted this.
The author might be dead, but Thiel is doing unspeakable things to the corpse.
October 12, 2025 at 8:04 PM
The author might be dead, but Thiel is doing unspeakable things to the corpse.
One of the more distasteful forms of story promotion, I think, is comparing a story to another story. "It is just like X," is not a good selling point. If I wanted something like X, I would just go back to X. If I am out looking for something new, then don't give me re-heated leftovers of the old.
October 12, 2025 at 8:01 PM
One of the more distasteful forms of story promotion, I think, is comparing a story to another story. "It is just like X," is not a good selling point. If I wanted something like X, I would just go back to X. If I am out looking for something new, then don't give me re-heated leftovers of the old.
Reposted by Terrance Blackthorn
On a planet orbiting one of the last glowing embers of an old universe, two alien species have ended their generations-long war, and now an actress struggles to make sense of the new peace as she performs a play for her species' former predators.
books2read.com/u/4NVEDz
#scifi #booksky #💙📚
books2read.com/u/4NVEDz
#scifi #booksky #💙📚
July 14, 2025 at 10:59 PM
On a planet orbiting one of the last glowing embers of an old universe, two alien species have ended their generations-long war, and now an actress struggles to make sense of the new peace as she performs a play for her species' former predators.
books2read.com/u/4NVEDz
#scifi #booksky #💙📚
books2read.com/u/4NVEDz
#scifi #booksky #💙📚