S.M. Mack (Smack)
@whatsmacksaid.bsky.social
Dog person, spec fic reader and writer (DEATH VALLEY BLOOMS 2025), Clarion 2012, Stonecoast 2019. She/her, opinions my own. https://linktr.ee/whatsmacksaid and 📷 @what_smacksaid
Pinned
*ahem* to anyone still doing some holiday shopping for readers who love weird family curses where everyone is queer: hi, I wrote a novella! It's called Death Valley Blooms and goddamn just look at that cover, I'll never get over it www.neonhemlock.com/books/death-...
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
With the caveat that there are much more important things in need of financial support in our fucked up times, the support page for the Ignytes is back up for the 2026 cycle.
ignyteawards.fiyahlitmag.com/support/
ignyteawards.fiyahlitmag.com/support/
support - The Ignyte Awards
We live in immensely difficult times and hope our supporters are utilizing their discretionary income to prioritize giving to causes which aid in our collective survival and the dismantling of oppress...
ignyteawards.fiyahlitmag.com
February 18, 2026 at 11:08 PM
With the caveat that there are much more important things in need of financial support in our fucked up times, the support page for the Ignytes is back up for the 2026 cycle.
ignyteawards.fiyahlitmag.com/support/
ignyteawards.fiyahlitmag.com/support/
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
Normalize laughing derisively in men's faces when they deserve it.
February 18, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Normalize laughing derisively in men's faces when they deserve it.
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
At least 12 Democrats are planning to boycott Trump's State of the Union address.
That's not enough.
That's not enough.
February 18, 2026 at 5:18 PM
At least 12 Democrats are planning to boycott Trump's State of the Union address.
That's not enough.
That's not enough.
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
This is the kind of thing white supremacists have been doing to Emmett Till’s memorial for decades.
It’s wild to see them do this to a white woman who the entire world saw extrajudicially murdered.
It’s wild to see them do this to a white woman who the entire world saw extrajudicially murdered.
Someone doused Renee Good’s Minneapolis memorial and a nearby pile of wood with gasoline and started a fire at about 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Renee Good memorial site in south Minneapolis doused in gasoline
Damage was minimal but police are investigating.
bit.ly
February 18, 2026 at 5:19 PM
This is the kind of thing white supremacists have been doing to Emmett Till’s memorial for decades.
It’s wild to see them do this to a white woman who the entire world saw extrajudicially murdered.
It’s wild to see them do this to a white woman who the entire world saw extrajudicially murdered.
I know there's a lot going on, but this is (also) important.
aje.news/s1ry02
aje.news/s1ry02
Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate
US-made thermal weapons burning at 3,500C caused 2,842 people to "evaporate" in Gaza, Al Jazeera investigation finds.
aje.news
February 18, 2026 at 9:39 PM
I know there's a lot going on, but this is (also) important.
aje.news/s1ry02
aje.news/s1ry02
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
And if you’re wondering “Why is there a blob in the back?” Well, that’s where the first woman president was supposed to go. More than a century later, it remains unsculpted.
February 17, 2026 at 3:38 AM
And if you’re wondering “Why is there a blob in the back?” Well, that’s where the first woman president was supposed to go. More than a century later, it remains unsculpted.
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
Hey folks! Look at this group! Their website is amazing and full of great resources, and they have a wishlist as well!
So if you were out there thinking "man I really want to buy some filament that will magically become whistles in Colorado" man do I have the link for you!
So if you were out there thinking "man I really want to buy some filament that will magically become whistles in Colorado" man do I have the link for you!
February 17, 2026 at 4:30 AM
Hey folks! Look at this group! Their website is amazing and full of great resources, and they have a wishlist as well!
So if you were out there thinking "man I really want to buy some filament that will magically become whistles in Colorado" man do I have the link for you!
So if you were out there thinking "man I really want to buy some filament that will magically become whistles in Colorado" man do I have the link for you!
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
We just hit THREE QUARTERS OF A MILLION WHISTLES since mid-December, more than half of that total was printed and shipped THIS MONTH. At this rate we will hit a million by the end of the month. Let us get whistles to you too: whistlegoblins.fun
February 17, 2026 at 3:50 AM
We just hit THREE QUARTERS OF A MILLION WHISTLES since mid-December, more than half of that total was printed and shipped THIS MONTH. At this rate we will hit a million by the end of the month. Let us get whistles to you too: whistlegoblins.fun
The number of award winning books offered in this is frankly incredible. Don't skip out.
I'm stoked that the Humble Bundle of my and @annaleen.bsky.social's books from Tor has raised nearly $5000 for the TGI Justice Project and Miss Major/Alexander Lee Black Trans Cultural Center.
www.humblebundle.com/books/charli...
Let me tell you about when I went to the TGIJP's anniversary party
www.humblebundle.com/books/charli...
Let me tell you about when I went to the TGIJP's anniversary party
Humble Book Bundle: Charlie Jane Anders & Annalee Newitz by TOR
Don’t miss this bundle of novels and story collections from acclaimed authors Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz! Pay what you want and support charity!
www.humblebundle.com
February 17, 2026 at 9:09 AM
The number of award winning books offered in this is frankly incredible. Don't skip out.
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
I’d love to get every single Democrat on board with “abolish ICE and dismantle DHS” but you’re going to need some votes from folks who don’t want to embrace that particular rhetoric and good news “there’s just too much corruption we’ve got to dismantle it to solve the problem” is sitting right there
gotta do investigations into DHS “waste, fraud and abuse” as pretext for killing the agency
The interior of Kristi Noem’s new billionaire-class luxury jet is complete with two bidets and a wet bar with a wine chiller. It will be purchased on our dime from the slush fund Congress approved in the One Big Beautiful Bill.
open.substack.com/pub/newsnotn...
open.substack.com/pub/newsnotn...
February 17, 2026 at 4:48 AM
I’d love to get every single Democrat on board with “abolish ICE and dismantle DHS” but you’re going to need some votes from folks who don’t want to embrace that particular rhetoric and good news “there’s just too much corruption we’ve got to dismantle it to solve the problem” is sitting right there
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
Paramount's censorship of this Colbert interview w/ Rep. James Talarico will get more people to watch than if it had aired on TV.
100K views on YouTube in just 2 hours. And counting...
youtu.be/oiTJ7Pz_59A?...
100K views on YouTube in just 2 hours. And counting...
youtu.be/oiTJ7Pz_59A?...
February 17, 2026 at 7:13 AM
Paramount's censorship of this Colbert interview w/ Rep. James Talarico will get more people to watch than if it had aired on TV.
100K views on YouTube in just 2 hours. And counting...
youtu.be/oiTJ7Pz_59A?...
100K views on YouTube in just 2 hours. And counting...
youtu.be/oiTJ7Pz_59A?...
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
Live performance at the Kennedy Center.
February 17, 2026 at 7:19 AM
Live performance at the Kennedy Center.
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
My variation on this is to just do the loud safe part as often as possible while not giving the shitheads on this site the attention they so crave. 😂
Screencap them and cut out their names & mock them brutally. No boost, no cred, nothing but the scorn they've earned and the invisibility they fear.
Screencap them and cut out their names & mock them brutally. No boost, no cred, nothing but the scorn they've earned and the invisibility they fear.
The drunk uncle theory.
You don’t argue with the casually homophobic uncle at Thanksgiving dinner to change his mind; you argue so that the closeted cousin at the kids table knows there’s safe people and better possibilities out there
You don’t argue with the casually homophobic uncle at Thanksgiving dinner to change his mind; you argue so that the closeted cousin at the kids table knows there’s safe people and better possibilities out there
agree with this (hah) but also think a particular mistake the left made for a long time online, and still makes to an extent, is failing to understand that the person whose mind you may actually change is the one reading the argument you're having, not the one you're arguing with
February 17, 2026 at 1:44 AM
My variation on this is to just do the loud safe part as often as possible while not giving the shitheads on this site the attention they so crave. 😂
Screencap them and cut out their names & mock them brutally. No boost, no cred, nothing but the scorn they've earned and the invisibility they fear.
Screencap them and cut out their names & mock them brutally. No boost, no cred, nothing but the scorn they've earned and the invisibility they fear.
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
If you are wondering what words the all-male Congress found so "blasphemous" that they felt compelled to literally scrape them off the monument, they were: ''Woman, first denied a soul, then called mindless, now arisen, declared herself an entity to be reckoned.''
On this day in 1921, Congress reluctantly accepted a sculpture memorializing women’s 19th A victory. Congress relegated the memorial to the Capitol’s crypt & painted over the feminist inscription. The statue stayed entombed in the crypt for 76 years. The inscription is still not restored. #WeTheMen
February 16, 2026 at 4:35 PM
If you are wondering what words the all-male Congress found so "blasphemous" that they felt compelled to literally scrape them off the monument, they were: ''Woman, first denied a soul, then called mindless, now arisen, declared herself an entity to be reckoned.''
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
And not being able to count is a developmental stage in humans!
But when humans are in that developmental stage, we don’t ask them for business strategy, therapeutic talk, to make transcriptions, try to drive cars or write code!
The LLM is a developmental two year old. Treat accordingly!
But when humans are in that developmental stage, we don’t ask them for business strategy, therapeutic talk, to make transcriptions, try to drive cars or write code!
The LLM is a developmental two year old. Treat accordingly!
February 17, 2026 at 8:04 AM
And not being able to count is a developmental stage in humans!
But when humans are in that developmental stage, we don’t ask them for business strategy, therapeutic talk, to make transcriptions, try to drive cars or write code!
The LLM is a developmental two year old. Treat accordingly!
But when humans are in that developmental stage, we don’t ask them for business strategy, therapeutic talk, to make transcriptions, try to drive cars or write code!
The LLM is a developmental two year old. Treat accordingly!
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
Computers exist to do math. That’s their raison d’être.
They have broken the basic, foundational concept of the machine.
They have broken the basic, foundational concept of the machine.
February 17, 2026 at 7:52 AM
Computers exist to do math. That’s their raison d’être.
They have broken the basic, foundational concept of the machine.
They have broken the basic, foundational concept of the machine.
I'm on page six of The River Has Roots and I simply. Cannot. Handle. The prose. I feel like I've been dying of thirst and didn't even realize.
February 17, 2026 at 8:19 AM
I'm on page six of The River Has Roots and I simply. Cannot. Handle. The prose. I feel like I've been dying of thirst and didn't even realize.
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
My world, my Earth is a ruin. A planet spoiled by the human species. We multiplied and fought and gobbled until there was nothing left, and then we died. We controlled neither appetite nor violence; we did not adapt. We destroyed ourselves. But we destroyed the world first.
February 15, 2026 at 9:30 AM
My world, my Earth is a ruin. A planet spoiled by the human species. We multiplied and fought and gobbled until there was nothing left, and then we died. We controlled neither appetite nor violence; we did not adapt. We destroyed ourselves. But we destroyed the world first.
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
A reminder that measles cannot be treated, it can only be prevented.
It is one of the most contagious diseases in the world and can cause blindness, deafness and life-threatening lung and brain infections.
It is one of the most contagious diseases in the world and can cause blindness, deafness and life-threatening lung and brain infections.
More than 60 children infected in north London measles outbreak
Cases reported in seven schools and a nursery in Enfield amid concern over low levels of MMR vaccination in capital
www.theguardian.com
February 15, 2026 at 9:54 AM
A reminder that measles cannot be treated, it can only be prevented.
It is one of the most contagious diseases in the world and can cause blindness, deafness and life-threatening lung and brain infections.
It is one of the most contagious diseases in the world and can cause blindness, deafness and life-threatening lung and brain infections.
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
Need some cool stuff to read? 🤓 For free? 😀 This spreadsheet has *tons* of stories, poems, and more that got published last year and can be nominated for Hugo Awards.
Not everything in this spreadsheet is freely accessible, but a lot is. Have fun!
Not everything in this spreadsheet is freely accessible, but a lot is. Have fun!
If you need a refresher on art/writing that dropped in 2025 that may be eligible for a Hugo Award, we built a whole spreadsheet! It's pretty rad (fans are awesome).
The Hugo Awards (2026)
docs.google.com
February 14, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Need some cool stuff to read? 🤓 For free? 😀 This spreadsheet has *tons* of stories, poems, and more that got published last year and can be nominated for Hugo Awards.
Not everything in this spreadsheet is freely accessible, but a lot is. Have fun!
Not everything in this spreadsheet is freely accessible, but a lot is. Have fun!
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
Okay this whole Wikipedia page is fascinating. At skim some of these regions had water that was green as often it was blue, but the idea that “terms for brown, purple, pink, orange, and gray will not emerge in a language until the language has made a distinction between green and blue” is a mindfuck
February 15, 2026 at 7:42 AM
Okay this whole Wikipedia page is fascinating. At skim some of these regions had water that was green as often it was blue, but the idea that “terms for brown, purple, pink, orange, and gray will not emerge in a language until the language has made a distinction between green and blue” is a mindfuck
I wrote a novella called Death Valley Blooms about an aro/ace woman trying to break her family's curse--each of the women are pulled underground in Death Valley to feed the wildflower blooms in turn.
a.co/d/08gVKP6j
www.neonhemlock.com/books/death-...
a.co/d/08gVKP6j
www.neonhemlock.com/books/death-...
February 15, 2026 at 8:36 AM
I wrote a novella called Death Valley Blooms about an aro/ace woman trying to break her family's curse--each of the women are pulled underground in Death Valley to feed the wildflower blooms in turn.
a.co/d/08gVKP6j
www.neonhemlock.com/books/death-...
a.co/d/08gVKP6j
www.neonhemlock.com/books/death-...
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
Franzi Schimmer captured this Grizzly bear in Brooks Falls, Alaska just floating along, tippy-tapping down the river, browsing the salmon.
Prior to hibernation, up to 40% of a bear's body mass is fat, which is less dense than water (~0.9 g/cm^2), so the murder-monster is also a floaty-boaty.
Prior to hibernation, up to 40% of a bear's body mass is fat, which is less dense than water (~0.9 g/cm^2), so the murder-monster is also a floaty-boaty.
February 14, 2026 at 9:47 PM
Franzi Schimmer captured this Grizzly bear in Brooks Falls, Alaska just floating along, tippy-tapping down the river, browsing the salmon.
Prior to hibernation, up to 40% of a bear's body mass is fat, which is less dense than water (~0.9 g/cm^2), so the murder-monster is also a floaty-boaty.
Prior to hibernation, up to 40% of a bear's body mass is fat, which is less dense than water (~0.9 g/cm^2), so the murder-monster is also a floaty-boaty.
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
valentine's day isn't just for couples, it's also a day to celebrate love. for instance, i would love it if housing prices came down.
February 14, 2026 at 8:11 PM
valentine's day isn't just for couples, it's also a day to celebrate love. for instance, i would love it if housing prices came down.
Reposted by S.M. Mack (Smack)
friend shared this, immediately updated my settings
October 27, 2025 at 4:28 PM
friend shared this, immediately updated my settings