Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
@vertvoltapress.bsky.social
Imprints: Extra:Solar, Hinton Publishing.
Run by Vlad Verano, Designer/Publisher; part-time bookseller. Moonlights as artist/illustrator/astromech. Latest book; THREE ALARM FIRE (Hinton) https://vertvolta-design-press.square.site/product/Three_Alarm_Fire/3
Run by Vlad Verano, Designer/Publisher; part-time bookseller. Moonlights as artist/illustrator/astromech. Latest book; THREE ALARM FIRE (Hinton) https://vertvolta-design-press.square.site/product/Three_Alarm_Fire/3
Pinned
Hello to all the new followers! It's been a while since I talked about Vertvolta, & an introductory thread is in order.
Vertvolta Press is a publishing house (some would say 'hybrid'). We publish books, contemporary & reprints, & offer consulting & design services to self-published authors (1/5)
Vertvolta Press is a publishing house (some would say 'hybrid'). We publish books, contemporary & reprints, & offer consulting & design services to self-published authors (1/5)
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
yeah they’re just grabbing random people at bus stops there is absolutely no attempt to even give the pretense that this is about immigration anymore. it is absolutely just a military occupation
Not an exaggeration at all to say that the feeling in Minneapolis is that the entire metro area is being treated as occupied territory by federal agents. Impossible to overstate how overwhelmingly people here do not like it. This does not feel sustainable.
January 10, 2026 at 1:07 AM
yeah they’re just grabbing random people at bus stops there is absolutely no attempt to even give the pretense that this is about immigration anymore. it is absolutely just a military occupation
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
It should be bigger news that masked agents were filmed hours ago removing potentially inculpatory evidence from the ICE shooter's house, clearly lacking evidence tags or chain of custody stickers.
Before we have word on whether he underwent a toxicology screen at the hospital following the killing
Before we have word on whether he underwent a toxicology screen at the hospital following the killing
January 9, 2026 at 9:17 PM
It should be bigger news that masked agents were filmed hours ago removing potentially inculpatory evidence from the ICE shooter's house, clearly lacking evidence tags or chain of custody stickers.
Before we have word on whether he underwent a toxicology screen at the hospital following the killing
Before we have word on whether he underwent a toxicology screen at the hospital following the killing
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
Attention Bluesky elders: The artist behind the ANIMORPHS covers is here!
I did flipbooks for all of the Animorphs covers I did, but they appeared in black and white and very small, so I am posting them here so you can see them large and in color. No AI here--just Elastic Reality and painting. You can buy a signed print of this cover here:
www.etsy.com/listing/798775628
www.etsy.com/listing/798775628
January 9, 2026 at 5:13 PM
Attention Bluesky elders: The artist behind the ANIMORPHS covers is here!
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
I saw a post going around yesterday that ICE should be like the sex offender registry, you should have to announce yourself to your neighbors and stay 500 feet away from kids. I have never supported any watchlist more
January 10, 2026 at 12:21 AM
I saw a post going around yesterday that ICE should be like the sex offender registry, you should have to announce yourself to your neighbors and stay 500 feet away from kids. I have never supported any watchlist more
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
Leah doesn’t like slow songs but I dig this. You decide.
January 9, 2026 at 2:07 PM
Leah doesn’t like slow songs but I dig this. You decide.
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
Hernandez's parents worked on farms.
She hoped her print would "unmask the truth behind the wholesome figures of agribusiness" and show the health dangers faced by agricultural workers.
Sun Mad, 1982
Ester Hernández, b. 1944
Chicana and American with Mexican and Yaqui heritage
#SixtiesSurreal
She hoped her print would "unmask the truth behind the wholesome figures of agribusiness" and show the health dangers faced by agricultural workers.
Sun Mad, 1982
Ester Hernández, b. 1944
Chicana and American with Mexican and Yaqui heritage
#SixtiesSurreal
October 5, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Hernandez's parents worked on farms.
She hoped her print would "unmask the truth behind the wholesome figures of agribusiness" and show the health dangers faced by agricultural workers.
Sun Mad, 1982
Ester Hernández, b. 1944
Chicana and American with Mexican and Yaqui heritage
#SixtiesSurreal
She hoped her print would "unmask the truth behind the wholesome figures of agribusiness" and show the health dangers faced by agricultural workers.
Sun Mad, 1982
Ester Hernández, b. 1944
Chicana and American with Mexican and Yaqui heritage
#SixtiesSurreal
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
My scheming vizier when I start to cough after taking a swig of wine from my goblet
January 9, 2026 at 3:44 PM
My scheming vizier when I start to cough after taking a swig of wine from my goblet
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
Pundits may try to attribute the events in Iran to a 4-D Trump gov move, but this is THEIR time & movement; our ghoulish & dumb leaders couldn’t ever coordinate this.
So if Iran finds its way, NONE of it is cia/nsa/etc
So if Iran finds its way, NONE of it is cia/nsa/etc
January 9, 2026 at 8:52 AM
Pundits may try to attribute the events in Iran to a 4-D Trump gov move, but this is THEIR time & movement; our ghoulish & dumb leaders couldn’t ever coordinate this.
So if Iran finds its way, NONE of it is cia/nsa/etc
So if Iran finds its way, NONE of it is cia/nsa/etc
The soft-sell headline of an even softer-sell headline to the actual article is a bummer that it’s Al-Jazeera doing this too.
The meat of the article is clear & straight-forward. Why is global media dropping the knee at every turn
The meat of the article is clear & straight-forward. Why is global media dropping the knee at every turn
US and Russian ideologies would be in alignment, leaving Europe as an island of liberalism, according to analysts.
Europe should prepare for Greenland's annexation and end of NATO: Experts
US and Russian ideologies would be in alignment, leaving Europe as an island of liberalism, according to analysts.
www.aljazeera.com
January 9, 2026 at 8:39 AM
The soft-sell headline of an even softer-sell headline to the actual article is a bummer that it’s Al-Jazeera doing this too.
The meat of the article is clear & straight-forward. Why is global media dropping the knee at every turn
The meat of the article is clear & straight-forward. Why is global media dropping the knee at every turn
Monetizing rape fantasies is musk’s entire goal from the moment he bought Twitter, we just never fathomed it would be… outsourced
This should read: ‘Turns off image generator for non-paying customers, but still offers it as a premium service’
Grok turns off image generator for most users after outcry over sexualised AI imagery
January 9, 2026 at 8:21 AM
Monetizing rape fantasies is musk’s entire goal from the moment he bought Twitter, we just never fathomed it would be… outsourced
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
This should read: ‘Turns off image generator for non-paying customers, but still offers it as a premium service’
Grok turns off image generator for most users after outcry over sexualised AI imagery
Grok turns off image generator for most users after outcry over sexualised AI imagery
X to limit editing function to paying subscribers after platform threatened with fines and regulatory action
Grok, Elon Musk’s AI tool, has switched off its image creation function for the vast majority of users after widespread outcry over its use to create sexually explicit and violent imagery.
It comes after Musk was threatened with fines, regulatory action and reports of a possible ban on X in the UK. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
January 9, 2026 at 8:12 AM
This should read: ‘Turns off image generator for non-paying customers, but still offers it as a premium service’
I don’t know— if you switched this many jobs in the book industry this would create red flags (& this is all armed occupations, no less) 🫠
NEW: Jonathan Ross is former National Guard and Border Patrol and has been part of ICE's SWAT equivalent, a team leader overseeing FBI, ATF, and IRS agents, and a firearms instructor, according to testimony obtained by WIRED. This is from @hudsongiles.bsky.social and me:
ICE Agent Who Reportedly Shot Renee Good Was a Firearms Trainer, Per Testimony
Jonathan Ross told a federal court in December about his professional background, including “hundreds” of encounters with drivers during enforcement actions, according to testimony obtained by WIRED.
www.wired.com
January 9, 2026 at 7:58 AM
I don’t know— if you switched this many jobs in the book industry this would create red flags (& this is all armed occupations, no less) 🫠
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
The Maduro kidnapping was 5 days ago, bro
January 9, 2026 at 6:18 AM
The Maduro kidnapping was 5 days ago, bro
Of the many fucked-up USA things (secret police rounding up people; thug military renditions & murders of foreign citizens & leaders; thug diplomacy, & so much more), the fact that Trump can just “renovate casino white house” & no dems or gop are throwing Molotovs yet?
Wtf are politicians for?
Wtf are politicians for?
Trump is planning even more insane renovations to the White House www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...
The Next Phase of Trump’s Renovations: A New ‘Upper West Wing’
www.nytimes.com
January 9, 2026 at 7:49 AM
Of the many fucked-up USA things (secret police rounding up people; thug military renditions & murders of foreign citizens & leaders; thug diplomacy, & so much more), the fact that Trump can just “renovate casino white house” & no dems or gop are throwing Molotovs yet?
Wtf are politicians for?
Wtf are politicians for?
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
One of the (several) problems with the demand that bystanders and targeted people be immediately compliant with ICE agents is that fleeing ICE is incredibly rational. They’re violent, piggish thugs who disappear some people into horrendous gulags and shoot others in the face.
January 9, 2026 at 5:35 AM
One of the (several) problems with the demand that bystanders and targeted people be immediately compliant with ICE agents is that fleeing ICE is incredibly rational. They’re violent, piggish thugs who disappear some people into horrendous gulags and shoot others in the face.
When the media asks for details to try to gotcha or derail said candidate , all they have to say is either “no comment”, “working on it”, or “stay tuned.”
Easy-peasy.
No need to mealy-mouth. Just keep repeating the sentence.
Easy-peasy.
No need to mealy-mouth. Just keep repeating the sentence.
The “prosecute the former regime at every level” candidate has my vote in 2028.
January 9, 2026 at 6:36 AM
When the media asks for details to try to gotcha or derail said candidate , all they have to say is either “no comment”, “working on it”, or “stay tuned.”
Easy-peasy.
No need to mealy-mouth. Just keep repeating the sentence.
Easy-peasy.
No need to mealy-mouth. Just keep repeating the sentence.
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
ICE killed a Black man, Keith Porter, 7 days before Renee Good, and I hadn't heard about it until today. His vigils went unnoticed. His life came and gone and America forgot to blink.
Two Americas.
Two Americas.
January 8, 2026 at 8:06 PM
ICE killed a Black man, Keith Porter, 7 days before Renee Good, and I hadn't heard about it until today. His vigils went unnoticed. His life came and gone and America forgot to blink.
Two Americas.
Two Americas.
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
The first lesson of firearms handling is don't point your weapon at someone you don't intend to kill, so it's going to be tough to convince a jury that an instructor had any other intention when he drew his gun.
NEW: Jonathan Ross is former National Guard and Border Patrol and has been part of ICE's SWAT equivalent, a team leader overseeing FBI, ATF, and IRS agents, and a firearms instructor, according to testimony obtained by WIRED. This is from @hudsongiles.bsky.social and me:
ICE Agent Who Reportedly Shot Renee Good Was a Firearms Trainer, Per Testimony
Jonathan Ross told a federal court in December about his professional background, including “hundreds” of encounters with drivers during enforcement actions, according to testimony obtained by WIRED.
www.wired.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:03 AM
The first lesson of firearms handling is don't point your weapon at someone you don't intend to kill, so it's going to be tough to convince a jury that an instructor had any other intention when he drew his gun.
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
Found the coolest website that takes random found cassette tapes people submit and digitizes them. I’m listening to an NYC hip hop station from 1994: intertapes.net
Intertapes — Main
Obscure tape finds and their stories
intertapes.net
December 13, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Found the coolest website that takes random found cassette tapes people submit and digitizes them. I’m listening to an NYC hip hop station from 1994: intertapes.net
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
wow really helpful, thank you new york times
October 24, 2025 at 2:57 PM
wow really helpful, thank you new york times
Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
April 18, 2025 at 1:33 AM
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
Had to double check this was not an Onion headline
Fight breaks out between fans at Warriors Hello Kitty giveaway game
Fight breaks out between fans at Warriors Hello Kitty giveaway game
(KRON) — A fight broke out between fans at the Warriors home game against the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday. Video of the fight shows a man in a Steph Curry jersey and a Warriors hat raining punches on a person in the next seat over. The video shows multiple people trying to intervene before Chase Center security [...]
www.kron4.com
January 9, 2026 at 4:49 AM
Had to double check this was not an Onion headline