Tobias S. Buckell
@tobiasbuckell.bsky.social
Grenadian-born, Virgin Island raised, Ohio settled, SF/F author. I also teach creative writing as a prof. Views my own. More at http://www.tobiasbuckell.com (email Tobias at tobiasbuckell.com to reach me if needed)
Learning Pine v4 keyboard layout, and have learned all the highlighted letters (the greener the faster/better I am on them). Only 9 more left before I switch over.
Doing 30 minutes a night of typing in Pine v4, then doing all my regular work in Colemak.
layouts.wiki/layouts/2021...
Doing 30 minutes a night of typing in Pine v4, then doing all my regular work in Colemak.
layouts.wiki/layouts/2021...
January 2, 2026 at 1:29 AM
Learning Pine v4 keyboard layout, and have learned all the highlighted letters (the greener the faster/better I am on them). Only 9 more left before I switch over.
Doing 30 minutes a night of typing in Pine v4, then doing all my regular work in Colemak.
layouts.wiki/layouts/2021...
Doing 30 minutes a night of typing in Pine v4, then doing all my regular work in Colemak.
layouts.wiki/layouts/2021...
Reposted by Tobias S. Buckell
Say that ish again cuz obviously folk wasn’t listening. Rod Serling had bars for the ages. #twilightzonemarathon
January 2, 2026 at 12:32 AM
Say that ish again cuz obviously folk wasn’t listening. Rod Serling had bars for the ages. #twilightzonemarathon
Discussing with my daughters why the ending of Stranger Things didn't work for them, and they identified all the things I teach in writing class as classic mistakes, I feel, of endings.
We often don't study endings as much in classes, articles, or as writers and I think it shows.
We often don't study endings as much in classes, articles, or as writers and I think it shows.
January 1, 2026 at 7:29 PM
Discussing with my daughters why the ending of Stranger Things didn't work for them, and they identified all the things I teach in writing class as classic mistakes, I feel, of endings.
We often don't study endings as much in classes, articles, or as writers and I think it shows.
We often don't study endings as much in classes, articles, or as writers and I think it shows.
Happy New Year.
Let's rock 2026 and spit out the taste of 2025.
Go time.
Let's rock 2026 and spit out the taste of 2025.
Go time.
January 1, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Happy New Year.
Let's rock 2026 and spit out the taste of 2025.
Go time.
Let's rock 2026 and spit out the taste of 2025.
Go time.
For Patreon supporters, I've posted a Patreon supporter only essay for now that's my overview of modern alt keyboard layouts and talking about the one I chose to learn in my spare time this winter break:
tobiasbuckell.com/further-adve...
tobiasbuckell.com/further-adve...
Further Adventures in Going Down a Rabbit Hole: Adopting an Alternative Keyboard Layout from Tobias S. Buckell
In my last post I passed along what I knew about ergonomic keyboards of late, and my own adventures with them. In this post, I’m going to talk about Alternative Keyboard Layouts (AKLs). Back …
tobiasbuckell.com
December 31, 2025 at 11:04 PM
For Patreon supporters, I've posted a Patreon supporter only essay for now that's my overview of modern alt keyboard layouts and talking about the one I chose to learn in my spare time this winter break:
tobiasbuckell.com/further-adve...
tobiasbuckell.com/further-adve...
This has been a tough year for me. No way around it. 2025 goes up there with 1995, the year I lost everything to a hurricane, 2009, the year I had a pulmonary embolism, and the first year of the pandemic.
Emily's cancer, kid medical stuff, burnout in the first half. The country. AI & students.
Emily's cancer, kid medical stuff, burnout in the first half. The country. AI & students.
December 31, 2025 at 10:26 PM
This has been a tough year for me. No way around it. 2025 goes up there with 1995, the year I lost everything to a hurricane, 2009, the year I had a pulmonary embolism, and the first year of the pandemic.
Emily's cancer, kid medical stuff, burnout in the first half. The country. AI & students.
Emily's cancer, kid medical stuff, burnout in the first half. The country. AI & students.
I've posted an essay for Patreon supporters on my site about adopting Pine v4, an alternative keyboard layout, and how it's going.
I've opened up my post about ergonomic keyboards and the one I use to anyone:
tobiasbuckell.com/an-overview-...
I've opened up my post about ergonomic keyboards and the one I use to anyone:
tobiasbuckell.com/an-overview-...
An Overview of the State of Ergonomic Keyboards from Tobias S. Buckell
I never gave much thought to my keyboard in my early 20s. It just came with the computer I purchased. If one died, I would go out and buy a $20 keyboard at the store, more often than not, I just ha…
tobiasbuckell.com
December 31, 2025 at 10:19 PM
I've posted an essay for Patreon supporters on my site about adopting Pine v4, an alternative keyboard layout, and how it's going.
I've opened up my post about ergonomic keyboards and the one I use to anyone:
tobiasbuckell.com/an-overview-...
I've opened up my post about ergonomic keyboards and the one I use to anyone:
tobiasbuckell.com/an-overview-...
Reposted by Tobias S. Buckell
Oh hey! here's another interview @drkarenlord.bsky.social @annaleen.bsky.social and I did about our new anthology of spec fic about activism!
Book links: www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Wil...
Book links: www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Wil...
We Will Rise Again w/ Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, and Malka Older - Write On! Radio | News | KFAI | Minneapolis & Saint Paul
We Will Rise Again is an anthology of stories, essays, and interviews that offer inspiration for the social justice movements of tomorrow.
kfai.org
December 31, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Oh hey! here's another interview @drkarenlord.bsky.social @annaleen.bsky.social and I did about our new anthology of spec fic about activism!
Book links: www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Wil...
Book links: www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Wil...
Reposted by Tobias S. Buckell
Dear bluskeeters!
I'm doing research with a friend.
If you're a Black Author with a speculative book publishing in 2026, could you please pitch and link me, please? This a difficult to sus intersection.
Please add your friends' work. Please tag people. Please share
I'm doing research with a friend.
If you're a Black Author with a speculative book publishing in 2026, could you please pitch and link me, please? This a difficult to sus intersection.
Please add your friends' work. Please tag people. Please share
December 29, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Dear bluskeeters!
I'm doing research with a friend.
If you're a Black Author with a speculative book publishing in 2026, could you please pitch and link me, please? This a difficult to sus intersection.
Please add your friends' work. Please tag people. Please share
I'm doing research with a friend.
If you're a Black Author with a speculative book publishing in 2026, could you please pitch and link me, please? This a difficult to sus intersection.
Please add your friends' work. Please tag people. Please share
Reposted by Tobias S. Buckell
particular shout-outs to stories by @izzyxen.bsky.social @rblemberg.bsky.social @tobiasbuckell.bsky.social @drkarenlord.bsky.social @charliejane.bsky.social @samjmiller.bsky.social @jhameia.bsky.social Laia Asieo Odo
This is such an amazing review from @ruthjoffre.bsky.social at @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social! "The stories in We Will Rise Again offer readers a glimpse of not just how things are now but also how they could be. They present worlds where we solve problems collectively..."
Fantastical Transcendence and the Magic of Resistance | Los Angeles Review of Books
Ruth Joffre digs into a new anthology of speculative writing about resistance, edited by Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, and Malka Older.
lareviewofbooks.org
December 28, 2025 at 2:59 PM
particular shout-outs to stories by @izzyxen.bsky.social @rblemberg.bsky.social @tobiasbuckell.bsky.social @drkarenlord.bsky.social @charliejane.bsky.social @samjmiller.bsky.social @jhameia.bsky.social Laia Asieo Odo
Best thing that came out of my heart defect at 30 was all the transactional people dropped me when they thought I was dying or going to be out of the game due to my health.
Like over 1/2 of my peer group just... disappeared in a month from my inbox and starting looking through me at events!
Like over 1/2 of my peer group just... disappeared in a month from my inbox and starting looking through me at events!
Yup. Of course, I’ve met my share of “transactional” fellow writers who will only be friends with people with more “status” than them, then freeze out those of “lesser status” as they achieve more and set their sight on larger targets, but they really are the exception.
And other writers talk...
And other writers talk...
December 27, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Best thing that came out of my heart defect at 30 was all the transactional people dropped me when they thought I was dying or going to be out of the game due to my health.
Like over 1/2 of my peer group just... disappeared in a month from my inbox and starting looking through me at events!
Like over 1/2 of my peer group just... disappeared in a month from my inbox and starting looking through me at events!
Whoops, that went mini-viral, am just now swinging back and reading, my quiet wasn't ignoring you all and the great comments, I just was enjoying my break
Talking to one of these types at a con who asked how I 'got in' with so many 'famous writers' who I'd been talking to and I said "we made friends before anyone knew who we were decades ago by striking up interesting conversations and enjoying each other's company" and he kept re-asking the question.
They have come to the convention hoping to "break in" and then find themselves -- shocker! -- a "nobody in the book world." Yeah no shit! We all are! I have gently told guys like this a million times that it takes most of us *years* of hard work but they do not believe that could be true for them. +
December 27, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Whoops, that went mini-viral, am just now swinging back and reading, my quiet wasn't ignoring you all and the great comments, I just was enjoying my break
Talking to one of these types at a con who asked how I 'got in' with so many 'famous writers' who I'd been talking to and I said "we made friends before anyone knew who we were decades ago by striking up interesting conversations and enjoying each other's company" and he kept re-asking the question.
They have come to the convention hoping to "break in" and then find themselves -- shocker! -- a "nobody in the book world." Yeah no shit! We all are! I have gently told guys like this a million times that it takes most of us *years* of hard work but they do not believe that could be true for them. +
December 26, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Talking to one of these types at a con who asked how I 'got in' with so many 'famous writers' who I'd been talking to and I said "we made friends before anyone knew who we were decades ago by striking up interesting conversations and enjoying each other's company" and he kept re-asking the question.
Reposted by Tobias S. Buckell
This describes a solid 50% of all the writers I talked to at the library last year as writer-in-residence
They have come to the convention hoping to "break in" and then find themselves -- shocker! -- a "nobody in the book world." Yeah no shit! We all are! I have gently told guys like this a million times that it takes most of us *years* of hard work but they do not believe that could be true for them. +
December 26, 2025 at 5:03 PM
This describes a solid 50% of all the writers I talked to at the library last year as writer-in-residence
Also, of all the places I applied to for grad school when I had 4 published stories and several articles about writing in print, all but one turned me down because I wrote SF/F, and I was waitlisted, and then told what I wrote below. It was really wildly different in the 90s than now, in terms of SF
I was explaining to my undergrad students the way genre was *hated* in the 90s. I had the dean of the grad program I was waitlisted for after I graduated interview me for an open spot.
I was told I had the spot only if I promised not to write science fiction but 'real' fiction.
I crashed out:
I was told I had the spot only if I promised not to write science fiction but 'real' fiction.
I crashed out:
It's not what May means, but I always think of that college professor who told me it was time to stop writing Fantasy and move on to serious Literature.
December 23, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Also, of all the places I applied to for grad school when I had 4 published stories and several articles about writing in print, all but one turned me down because I wrote SF/F, and I was waitlisted, and then told what I wrote below. It was really wildly different in the 90s than now, in terms of SF
I was explaining to my undergrad students the way genre was *hated* in the 90s. I had the dean of the grad program I was waitlisted for after I graduated interview me for an open spot.
I was told I had the spot only if I promised not to write science fiction but 'real' fiction.
I crashed out:
I was told I had the spot only if I promised not to write science fiction but 'real' fiction.
I crashed out:
It's not what May means, but I always think of that college professor who told me it was time to stop writing Fantasy and move on to serious Literature.
what is your least favorite piece of writing advice and why? 👀
December 23, 2025 at 8:16 PM
I was explaining to my undergrad students the way genre was *hated* in the 90s. I had the dean of the grad program I was waitlisted for after I graduated interview me for an open spot.
I was told I had the spot only if I promised not to write science fiction but 'real' fiction.
I crashed out:
I was told I had the spot only if I promised not to write science fiction but 'real' fiction.
I crashed out:
Reposted by Tobias S. Buckell
Oh, I had one of those! Except instead of being about how Elvis was a groomer, it was every time I posted that ULINE was literally run by theocracy-craving disinfo-peddling fascists and we should all stop using their services.
Think I'll post this link again! He hates it.
refuseuline.com
Think I'll post this link again! He hates it.
refuseuline.com
December 23, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Oh, I had one of those! Except instead of being about how Elvis was a groomer, it was every time I posted that ULINE was literally run by theocracy-craving disinfo-peddling fascists and we should all stop using their services.
Think I'll post this link again! He hates it.
refuseuline.com
Think I'll post this link again! He hates it.
refuseuline.com
I've been working on adopting a new keyboard layout, practicing 30 minutes a night, after 10 days I've unlocked 13 letters on KeyBR.com.
Colemak-DH is my current 7 year layout, but in 7 years the alt layout fans have found better layouts and I've been looking into the recommendations...
Colemak-DH is my current 7 year layout, but in 7 years the alt layout fans have found better layouts and I've been looking into the recommendations...
December 21, 2025 at 11:44 PM
I've been working on adopting a new keyboard layout, practicing 30 minutes a night, after 10 days I've unlocked 13 letters on KeyBR.com.
Colemak-DH is my current 7 year layout, but in 7 years the alt layout fans have found better layouts and I've been looking into the recommendations...
Colemak-DH is my current 7 year layout, but in 7 years the alt layout fans have found better layouts and I've been looking into the recommendations...
I can't stop re-watching this. It's like Logan Paul became the human embodiment of the latter half of the phrase FAFO.
He's just FO.
He's just FO.
December 20, 2025 at 3:09 PM
I can't stop re-watching this. It's like Logan Paul became the human embodiment of the latter half of the phrase FAFO.
He's just FO.
He's just FO.
For Patreon subscribers: I just posted "An Overview of the State of Ergonomic Keyboards" up at the website: https://tobiasbuckell.com/an-overview-of-the-state-of-ergonomic-keyboards/
December 20, 2025 at 12:46 AM
For Patreon subscribers: I just posted "An Overview of the State of Ergonomic Keyboards" up at the website: https://tobiasbuckell.com/an-overview-of-the-state-of-ergonomic-keyboards/
I've been head down. End of the semester grading (was teaching 4 classes this semester, that extra class just... that's a lot) and I really reduced my online time so I could write more, and it's been super great for my mental health... probably horrible for my career/visibility but oh well lol
December 17, 2025 at 12:59 AM
I've been head down. End of the semester grading (was teaching 4 classes this semester, that extra class just... that's a lot) and I really reduced my online time so I could write more, and it's been super great for my mental health... probably horrible for my career/visibility but oh well lol
Reposted by Tobias S. Buckell
Writing the Other is doing their ends of year fundraiser!
writingtheother.com/2025-eoy-fun...
writingtheother.com/2025-eoy-fun...
Verifying…
writingtheother.com
December 16, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Writing the Other is doing their ends of year fundraiser!
writingtheother.com/2025-eoy-fun...
writingtheother.com/2025-eoy-fun...
Reposted by Tobias S. Buckell
love to see this review for WE WILL RISE AGAIN on amzn. so happy the book is working for people 💜💚🧡 @drkarenlord.bsky.social @annaleen.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 6:19 PM
love to see this review for WE WILL RISE AGAIN on amzn. so happy the book is working for people 💜💚🧡 @drkarenlord.bsky.social @annaleen.bsky.social
This is *chef's kiss*
For the past six weeks, an AI Facebook account has been pulling my history posts on Instagram and slopping out new captions, so I’ve been feeding it poison pills and its followers are having meltdowns in the comments. It’s been pretty spectacular.
December 1, 2025 at 5:58 PM
This is *chef's kiss*
Reposted by Tobias S. Buckell
BCS parent co. is 501c3 nonprofit; donations are tax deductible. Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday! If you believe paying writers & First Readers a worthy cause, pls consider supporting us, recurring or one-time. THANK YOU. www.patreon.com/beneath_ceas... www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/support-bcs/... 3/3
Get more from Beneath Ceaseless Skies on Patreon
creating an online fantasy magazine & podcast
www.patreon.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
BCS parent co. is 501c3 nonprofit; donations are tax deductible. Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday! If you believe paying writers & First Readers a worthy cause, pls consider supporting us, recurring or one-time. THANK YOU. www.patreon.com/beneath_ceas... www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/support-bcs/... 3/3