Bill Coberly
@billcoberly.bsky.social
Public defender, writer, mediocre Smash Bros. player.
Substack: billcoberly.substack.com
Substack: billcoberly.substack.com
Reposted by Bill Coberly
"Instead of being a book for grownups, 'Katabasis' flounders through a shallow stream of underdeveloped ideas while occasionally pointing beyond itself to much weirder and wilder places left unexplored." www.thebulwark.com/p/cheap-tric...
Cheap Tricks
In R.F. Kuang’s novel ‘Katabasis,’ two philosopher-magicians wander Hell to rescue their thesis supervisor. Jejunity ensues.
www.thebulwark.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:30 AM
"Instead of being a book for grownups, 'Katabasis' flounders through a shallow stream of underdeveloped ideas while occasionally pointing beyond itself to much weirder and wilder places left unexplored." www.thebulwark.com/p/cheap-tric...
Reposted by Bill Coberly
Y’all have got to stop trying to teach people magic with edh
Pope Leo XIV Will Have Lunch With 4 Trans Women in "Unprecedented" Meeting
https://www.them.us/story/pope-leo-xiv-lunch-trans-activists-alesia-nobile
https://www.them.us/story/pope-leo-xiv-lunch-trans-activists-alesia-nobile
November 15, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Y’all have got to stop trying to teach people magic with edh
My review of Kuang’s Katabasis is up over at the Bulwark! Thanks to @martynwendell.bsky.social for his help with this piece!
Cheap Tricks
In R.F. Kuang’s novel ‘Katabasis,’ two philosopher-magicians wander Hell to rescue their thesis supervisor. Jejunity ensues.
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:14 PM
My review of Kuang’s Katabasis is up over at the Bulwark! Thanks to @martynwendell.bsky.social for his help with this piece!
Reposted by Bill Coberly
Another fantastic review on our homepage this morning from @billcoberly.bsky.social—this one is an incisive take on R.F. Kuang's buzzy fall book, Katabasis: www.thebulwark.com/p/cheap-tric...
Cheap Tricks
In R.F. Kuang’s novel ‘Katabasis,’ two philosopher-magicians wander Hell to rescue their thesis supervisor. Jejunity ensues.
www.thebulwark.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Another fantastic review on our homepage this morning from @billcoberly.bsky.social—this one is an incisive take on R.F. Kuang's buzzy fall book, Katabasis: www.thebulwark.com/p/cheap-tric...
Reposted by Bill Coberly
how I came to be in the Epstein files
How I Came to Be in the Epstein Files
A conspiracy wrapped in a conspiracy theory wrapped in an enigma
www.theatlantic.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:35 PM
how I came to be in the Epstein files
Reposted by Bill Coberly
Book of the New Sun rules— every page is like the part of the Inferno where Dante asks Virgil what those towers in the distance are and Virgil replies that no, they're giants
November 12, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Book of the New Sun rules— every page is like the part of the Inferno where Dante asks Virgil what those towers in the distance are and Virgil replies that no, they're giants
I have posted a short story (or perhaps a "tale?" is that too precious?) on my substack, here:
"Never leave babies alone. Nothing tastes sweeter to the Ghrivit than the fear of a child too young to understand its fate. A mother’s grief is the Ghrivit’s delight."
"Never leave babies alone. Nothing tastes sweeter to the Ghrivit than the fear of a child too young to understand its fate. A mother’s grief is the Ghrivit’s delight."
The Ghrivit
A short story, or perhaps a "tale"
open.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:48 PM
I have posted a short story (or perhaps a "tale?" is that too precious?) on my substack, here:
"Never leave babies alone. Nothing tastes sweeter to the Ghrivit than the fear of a child too young to understand its fate. A mother’s grief is the Ghrivit’s delight."
"Never leave babies alone. Nothing tastes sweeter to the Ghrivit than the fear of a child too young to understand its fate. A mother’s grief is the Ghrivit’s delight."
Reposted by Bill Coberly
The far right is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and Musk keeps posting about "hobbits" because modern scientific racism owes more to fantasy worlds and gaming systems than genetic science, and they see both as effective mediums for right-wing propaganda www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons and Dragons to Be Racist
The fantastical roots of “scientific racism”
www.theatlantic.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:42 PM
The far right is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and Musk keeps posting about "hobbits" because modern scientific racism owes more to fantasy worlds and gaming systems than genetic science, and they see both as effective mediums for right-wing propaganda www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Bill Coberly
Kendrick, Joyce Carol Oates, Menswear Guy, and Isaac Chotiner are the Voltron of People You Don't Want Focusing on You
November 11, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Kendrick, Joyce Carol Oates, Menswear Guy, and Isaac Chotiner are the Voltron of People You Don't Want Focusing on You
Reposted by Bill Coberly
"babies are born worshipping unknown gods" is one of the most incredible dwarf fortress bugs i have heard of. its poetry.
November 11, 2025 at 4:18 PM
"babies are born worshipping unknown gods" is one of the most incredible dwarf fortress bugs i have heard of. its poetry.
We are in Will Rogers country right now which is making me again remember his line “I do not belong to an organized political party, I am a Democrat.” Why is this still relevant about 100 years later and after the various switches in politics that have happened?
November 11, 2025 at 3:27 AM
We are in Will Rogers country right now which is making me again remember his line “I do not belong to an organized political party, I am a Democrat.” Why is this still relevant about 100 years later and after the various switches in politics that have happened?
What better way to start a Friday than by listening to Joel and I talk about Mason & Dixon? on.soundcloud.com/dhLTLsFPABxW...
Episode Twenty-Eight: Mason & Dixon (November 2025)
Reading too widely and talking too seriously.
soundcloud.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:12 PM
What better way to start a Friday than by listening to Joel and I talk about Mason & Dixon? on.soundcloud.com/dhLTLsFPABxW...
Reposted by Bill Coberly
What if I told you prosecutors were doing this to poor folks in every single courtroom in the country?
The utter stupidity of pursuing a criminal trial against someone for throwing a sandwich that bounced off a bullet proof vest pissing away hundreds of thousands of dollars for this joke is the perfect encapsulation of this Administration.
November 6, 2025 at 7:23 AM
What if I told you prosecutors were doing this to poor folks in every single courtroom in the country?
Reposted by Bill Coberly
oh my god they actually did it lmao
November 6, 2025 at 12:36 AM
oh my god they actually did it lmao
I have no idea what the takeaway from Mamdani’s victory actually should be; to some extent “young, charismatic guy with Big Ideas beats 70-year-old ghoul running as an Independent” is the least surprising thing in the world, so that might be all it means.
November 5, 2025 at 3:17 PM
I have no idea what the takeaway from Mamdani’s victory actually should be; to some extent “young, charismatic guy with Big Ideas beats 70-year-old ghoul running as an Independent” is the least surprising thing in the world, so that might be all it means.
Dude opened his speech by quoting Eugene Debs!
November 5, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Dude opened his speech by quoting Eugene Debs!
Reposted by Bill Coberly
a good thing happened, looks like! those are occasionally still possible!
November 5, 2025 at 2:40 AM
a good thing happened, looks like! those are occasionally still possible!
Reposted by Bill Coberly
I wrote about the irony of the AI bubble, a phenomenon driven by storytelling and imagination in an industry that has contempt for both
The AI Bubble Is Not a Question. What Happens If It Bursts Is.
The AI industry's most important product is not a chatbot or a video generator; it's the story the AI industry is telling about itself
www.theringer.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:15 PM
I wrote about the irony of the AI bubble, a phenomenon driven by storytelling and imagination in an industry that has contempt for both
Reposted by Bill Coberly
thinking about gene wolfe's coworker being driven mad by potato chips again
November 4, 2025 at 2:28 AM
thinking about gene wolfe's coworker being driven mad by potato chips again
Reposted by Bill Coberly
Dick Cheney did more than anyone else to build up expansive and destructive executive branch powers in the wake of 9/11; he lived to see another president turn those same powers against his own daughter.
He should be a warning sign to the GOP today but too many of them are in the cult.
He should be a warning sign to the GOP today but too many of them are in the cult.
November 4, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Dick Cheney did more than anyone else to build up expansive and destructive executive branch powers in the wake of 9/11; he lived to see another president turn those same powers against his own daughter.
He should be a warning sign to the GOP today but too many of them are in the cult.
He should be a warning sign to the GOP today but too many of them are in the cult.
Who has a bunch of capital and wants to fund a doomed and unprofitable magazine with me as a sort of vanity project? No one? Not even some wealthy failson trying to annoy his dad? Damn.
November 3, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Who has a bunch of capital and wants to fund a doomed and unprofitable magazine with me as a sort of vanity project? No one? Not even some wealthy failson trying to annoy his dad? Damn.
Reposted by Bill Coberly
"One of my dear friends eulogized him as a 'pleasantly bitter creature.' Another described his endealment as 'I want to be in the action but not perceived or interacted with.'" Enjoyed @billcoberly.bsky.social's remembrance of his "brave and silly" dog Theo billcoberly.substack.com/p/a-little-b...
A Little Black Dog
Theo, ca. 2009-2025
billcoberly.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:28 PM
"One of my dear friends eulogized him as a 'pleasantly bitter creature.' Another described his endealment as 'I want to be in the action but not perceived or interacted with.'" Enjoyed @billcoberly.bsky.social's remembrance of his "brave and silly" dog Theo billcoberly.substack.com/p/a-little-b...
I wrote a few words about my dog: billcoberly.substack.com/p/a-little-b...
A Little Black Dog
Theo, ca. 2009-2025
billcoberly.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I wrote a few words about my dog: billcoberly.substack.com/p/a-little-b...
I regret to announce the passing of Nyarlathotep, called Theo, who lived with me for more than 11 years. He was a good dog, and my friend.
November 1, 2025 at 5:17 PM
I regret to announce the passing of Nyarlathotep, called Theo, who lived with me for more than 11 years. He was a good dog, and my friend.