Catherine Nygren
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broomgrass.bsky.social
Catherine Nygren
@broomgrass.bsky.social
270 followers 140 following 260 posts
PhD in dh, c18; Teaching English lit, esp sff, at Champlain College-Saint Lambert; she/her
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broomgrass.bsky.social
Glad to see @worldsbeyondnumber.bsky.social on this list - it's doing some of the best fantasy storytelling of the past few years, imo. "54 episodes of pure gold," indeed. Excited for their upcoming turn to SF!
reactorsff.bsky.social Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · 1d
Welcome to THE BEST BOOKS OF 2025: REVIEWER'S CHOICE!! Reactor's book reviewers have come together to recommend their favorite 2025 reads. How many have you picked up?
Reviewers' Choice: The Best Books of 2025 - Reactor
Reactor’s regular book reviewers talk about notable titles they read in 2025
reactormag.com
December 9, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
scottbot.bsky.social
Hey, I don't think we've advertised the Frankenstein Variorum since the movie came out!

If you're interested in how Frankenstein changed across five early "editions", click here: frankensteinvariorum.org

Made by many hands, including (centrally) @epyllia.bsky.social & @raffazizzidh.bsky.social.
December 5, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
saskajanet.bsky.social
It started on the weekend. Ice pancakes form and travel down river toward my bridge 🌿
December 2, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
marynmck.bsky.social
You really have to read this thread. The genius of Tom Stoppard, the fragility of memory, the magic of theatre — and the glorious stubbornness of a researcher who would not stop.
bfletcherwatson.bsky.social Ben Fletcher-Watson @bfletcherwatson.bsky.social · 10d
Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.
"Years and years ago, there was a production of The Tempest, out of doors, at an Oxford college on a lawn, which was the stage, and the lawn went back towards the lake in the grounds of the college, and the play began in natural light. But as it developed, and as it became time for Ariel to say his farewell to the world of The Tempest, the evening had started to close in and there was some artificial lighting coming on. And as Ariel uttered his last speech, he turned and he ran across the grass, and he got to the edge of the lake and he just kept running across the top of the water — the producer having thoughtfully provided a kind of walkway an inch beneath the water. And you could see and you could hear the plish, plash as he ran away from you across the top of the lake, until the gloom enveloped him and he disappeared from your view. And as he did so, from the further shore, a firework rocket was ignited, and it went whoosh into the air, and high up there it burst into lots of sparks, and all the sparks went out, and he had gone. "When you look up the stage directions, it says, 'Exit Ariel.”
November 30, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
alyssaharad.bsky.social
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
blipstress.bsky.social violet allen @blipstress.bsky.social · 16d
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
jasonhaslam.ca
Some more details on my new #ScienceFiction anthology, including one inclusion that I’m especially happy about (thanks in large part to Brooks Hefner’s terrific work in *Black Pulp*)
broadviewpress.bsky.social Broadview Press @broadviewpress.bsky.social · 16d
Edited by Jason Haslam, our upcoming reader is the first new SF anthology in almost ten years 🌌@jasonhaslam.ca

Anthologized here for the very first time is “The Space Ship,” a story by Black SF pioneer James H. Hill. -- and tons more.

See the full TOC 🔗https://buff.ly/E6RyEE4
The Broadview Anthology of Science Fiction - Broadview Press
The Broadview Anthology of Science Fiction -
buff.ly
November 24, 2025 at 6:27 PM
broomgrass.bsky.social
If you're interested in poetry and AI, can I recommend Toward Eternity by Anton Hur? There's an AI, and later, multiple AIs, who are, as they say, "built on poetry," who think that "Poetry, not your body, is the true vehicle of your soul."
November 21, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
tolonen.bsky.social
Great news! This is out: Opening the black box of EEBO academic.oup.com/dsh/advance-...
Opening the black box of EEBO
Abstract. Digital archives that cover extended historical periods can create a misleading impression of comprehensiveness while in truth providing access t
academic.oup.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
csffa.bsky.social
Eligibility lists are now OPEN for Canadian speculative fiction works published in 2025.

If you purchased a 2025 membership to vote in the Aurora Awards this past year, you can head over to www.csffa.ca and log in to add works to our lists. 1/
The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) – Home of the Prix Aurora Awards and CSFFA Hall of Fame
www.csffa.ca
November 5, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
ursulakleguin.com
Congratulations to Vajra Chandrasekera (@vajra.me), recipient of the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for Rakesfall!

Chandrasekera's book was chosen by authors Matt Bell, Indra Das, Kelly Link, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Rebecca Roanhorse.
Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera, with the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction sticker on the cover Vajra Chandrasekera, photo by Sanjeewa Weerasinghe. The author sits at a white table, arms resting in front of him, wearing a tan jacket and a white shirt.
October 21, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
heuser.bsky.social
Excited to share my latest publication, "Generative Aesthetics: On formal stuckness in AI verse." It's published in a special issue in the Journal of Cultural Analytics, expertly edited by Tess McNulty and Laura Chapot, on "Computation and Form, Reconsidered."
culturalanalytics.org/article/1448...
Generative Aesthetics: On formal stuckness in AI verse | Published in Journal of Cultural Analytics
By Ryan Heuser. This paper examines the formal and aesthetic patterns of AI-generated poems through a series of computational experiments.
culturalanalytics.org
October 13, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
biblioraptorphd.bsky.social
Reading the Northanger Abbey chapter of @devoney.bsky.social’s latest book and this “turn a Romance into a novel!” table is killing me 😂
A castle,.. put An House. A cavern, •A bower. A groan,. A sigh. A giant,.A father. A blood-stained dagger.A fan. Howling blasts …A zephyr. A knight - a gentleman without whiskers A lady who is the heroine - need not be changed being versatile Assassins, - killing glances A monk, - an old steward Skeletons, skulls, &c. — Compliments, sentiments, &c. A lamp, — a candle A magic book sprinkled with blood - a letter bedewed with tears Mysterious voices _ Abstruse words, (easily found in a dictionary). A secret oath, a tender hint A gliding ghost, - an usurer or attorney A witch, - an old housekeeper A wound - a kiss A midnight murder, - a marriage
October 15, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
archive.org
Hampsterdance started as a friendly bet between Canadian artist Deidre LaCarte and her sister. She made a page of animated hamsters set to a chipmunked loop of Whistle Stop from Disney’s Robin Hood (1973). Within months, it took over inboxes & office desktops.

Today, it's gone from the live web.
Image with text at the top that reads: "Wayback Machine Then and Gone" and "HAMPSTERDANCE.COM". Below are Wayback Machine captures of the Hampsterdance website from April 23, 1999, alongside a stylized computer window featuring a pixel art frowning face representing that the website is gone.
October 7, 2025 at 4:06 PM
broomgrass.bsky.social
Short story rec on using AI to plan your (social etc) life: Better Living Through Algorithms by Naomi Kritzer. (It's not all bad, though!) clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_05_23/
birdsaredinosaurs.bsky.social Birds Are Dinosaurs 🦢=🦖 @birdsaredinosaurs.bsky.social · Aug 23
If only there was an entire branch of literature dedicated to what happens to those who delegate their choices to machines
hypervisible.blacksky.app Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Aug 23
Life is a continuous series of burdensome choices. True freedom comes when you give yourself over to the algorithm.
September 21, 2025 at 4:19 PM
broomgrass.bsky.social
brb, modifying my SF course slideshow for next year 🔥
amalelmohtar.com Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · Sep 10
Simply the best slide I have ever seen in a powerpoint presentation care of @premeemohamed.com’s talk at @banffcentre.bsky.social re: Putting the Science in Science Fiction
Text mounted on a screen reads as follows: WHAT IS SCIENCE FICTION? 1. DOESN'T MATTER 2. WHO CARES 3. MARKETING DEPARTMENT'S PROBLEM 4. NOT YOURS
September 10, 2025 at 9:03 PM
broomgrass.bsky.social
Aaron Burr: "And Hamilton wrote...the other...51!" [Federalist papers]

Me, every time: "🙏 I love the digital humanities"

companions.digitalhumanities.org/DH/?chapter=...
A Companion to Digital Humanities
companions.digitalhumanities.org
August 30, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
wtalabi.bsky.social
Major congratulations to all the Nommo award nominees for 2025! It was an honor to be able to make the announcement virtually at Seattle worldcon. I've read almost all the nominated stories and they represent some of the best of African speculative fiction. You should definitely check them out!
August 19, 2025 at 11:22 PM
broomgrass.bsky.social
The Hugo Awards are this weekend, and I start teaching my Hugos course on Wednesday! It's fun to teach a "contemporary literature" course and have it be contemporary, indeed!
August 15, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social
BTW, if ppl are looking for repositories of scientific films that can be viewed online, I created this list for a class I taught several years ago on science and film. Happy to hear about any that are missing!

library.seattleu.edu/guides/FILM3...
August 13, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
friede.bsky.social
A reminder that Rice/Wake Forest’s Course Workload Estimators are helpful for thinking through class labor (and showing your process to your students, if you like)
Workload Estimator 2.0 - Center for the Advancement of Teaching
cat.wfu.edu
August 8, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
ghostingdani.bsky.social
Thinking about this more and I really like how it opens up reading as a learned skill that is embodied in a context. I think that's a powerful way to think about it in the wake of AI and in reports of literacy problems.
aktange.bsky.social Andrea Kaston Tange @aktange.bsky.social · Jul 16
Here you go! I'll write some new ones for this semester too. They loved them. The "read without your phone or screens in the room" was a revelation, and many of them decided to keep doing it. They had NO IDEA (& were horrified) how often they interrupt themselves to look at a phone for no reason.
Reading Scenario Experiments. This series of prompts is designed to get you thinking about how the setting for reading affects concentration, comprehension, and even the existential experience of reading. Every week, one of the following prompts will appear on the syllabus. I encourage you to try all of them that you are able. How does a different reading setting affect your mood? Your receptiveness to the prose? Your pleasure or difficulty reading? What are the particular impacts of changing your lighting or surroundings? What do you notice about yourself and about the work you are reading during this experiment? 1. read by candlelight (use a small lamp in dorms where no candles are allowed!) 2. read for one hour without checking any devices, answering texts, etc. 3. walk out into nature (climb a tree, sit on a rock, grab a spot in a hammock) and read 4. host a reading night with friends & food (sit in companionable silence, reading without chatting) 5. read aloud a chapter to someone else 6. climb into bed at night and read by flashlight under the covers for at least 30 minutes, as if you’ve already been told “lights out” as a kid 7. reread a chapter and see what new things you notice the second time through 8. change your ambient-noise level: add music if you normally read in the quiet; or read without music if you are normally a music-listener 9. read with a sketchpad at hand and sketch scenes, characters, or other elements from the story 10. practice focused listening: have someone read to you 11. make yourself a special, fancy snack on a real plate to nibble while eating: pay attention to the cooking or arranging or choosing of ingredients to make it especially appetizing first 12. make tea (even if you’re not usually a tea drinker), and read and sip 13. invent a new reading scenario for yourself, or repeat the one you liked the best from this term [writing assignment using these prompts follows; text character limit prevents inclusion of it in full]
July 16, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
archive.org
New from Internet Archive Canada: Queen’s University Library has digitized a collection of rare, self-published sci-fi & fantasy fanzines, making long-lost voices from 1940s–1980s more widely accessible.

⚔️ Start your side quest: blog.archive.org/2025/07/15/s...

@internetarchiveca.bsky.social
Cover of Dark Fantasy No. 22 (1980), published by Shadow Press. The title is printed in bold, stylized yellow and black text at the top. The central illustration features a medieval knight in armor leaning against a large, leaf-covered tree, holding a bow and arrows. A castle is faintly visible in the background. A diagonal black-and-yellow banner across the bottom reads, “Nominated for 10 SPWAO Awards.” Price is listed as $1.50.
July 15, 2025 at 8:00 PM
broomgrass.bsky.social
I've been to @joiedelivresmtl.bsky.social, the SFF, bilingual bookstore in Montreal, four times since it opened four weeks ago. If I could, I'd be there for these two talks as well! Support your locals!
avec2accents.bsky.social Mathieu Lauzon-Dicső *closed to queries* @avec2accents.bsky.social · Jul 15
A busy, amazing week coming up at Joie de livres before going on vacation! 🎉😇📚

Avec Larissa Lai, Sylvie Bérard, Suzanne Grenier le 23 juillet.

And Guy Gavriel Kay on July 27th !

@joiedelivresmtl.bsky.social
joiedelivresmtl.bsky.social Joie de livres @joiedelivresmtl.bsky.social · Jul 15
Save the dates!

2 événements à ne pas manquer chez Joie de livres!

23 juillet : Larissa Lai et les traductrices des Sœurs de la Muée @sybermoi.bsky.social et Suzanne Grenier @lequartanier.bsky.social

27 juillet : @guygavrielkay.bsky.social en séance de dédicaces @vikingbooks.bsky.social

📚🎉
July 16, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
post45data.bsky.social
Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower was published in 1993 and starts in 2024—a 31-year leap. Are creators imagining futures that are closer or further away?

Explore a *new* dataset of 2.5k narrative works set in the future, each tagged with its release year and setting.

doi.org/10.18737/552...
June 25, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Reposted by Catherine Nygren
mgg.bsky.social
I put all the Heritage Minutes in chronological order by event so you don't have to. 🇨🇦

(I was looking for this and couldn't find it, so it became a weird hobby. It genuinely may be of interest only to me.)

www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
The history of Canada in Heritage Minutes - YouTube
Heritage Minutes in chronological order by event
www.youtube.com
June 24, 2025 at 11:39 PM