A’liya Spinner
@cladist-magpie.bsky.social
Incoming PhD candidate — hopefully.
Entomological archivist.
Author of fiction (speculative) and non-fiction (sciency) in various places. Novel on query (represent me?)
Unapologetically queer. she/him.
https://ajhspinner.wixsite.com/aliyaspinner
Entomological archivist.
Author of fiction (speculative) and non-fiction (sciency) in various places. Novel on query (represent me?)
Unapologetically queer. she/him.
https://ajhspinner.wixsite.com/aliyaspinner
My SFWA membership application has officially been submitted 🫡
November 21, 2025 at 3:56 PM
My SFWA membership application has officially been submitted 🫡
Predator: Badlands is proof that making things woke and gay and feminized actually makes them 10x cooler that shit was awesome
November 13, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Predator: Badlands is proof that making things woke and gay and feminized actually makes them 10x cooler that shit was awesome
Moderately sad that probably my best work to date was published a year before I knew anything about award nominations/awards in general (not that I’d win—but I’d want the chance to try.) Especially given I haven’t had anything published in almost a year now. Anyone wanna uhh reprint Mothership?
November 12, 2025 at 4:42 AM
Moderately sad that probably my best work to date was published a year before I knew anything about award nominations/awards in general (not that I’d win—but I’d want the chance to try.) Especially given I haven’t had anything published in almost a year now. Anyone wanna uhh reprint Mothership?
Unsubtly queer employee at unspecified fast casual restaurant chain complimented my gay shirt and then gave me a free drink. I feel loved.
November 7, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Unsubtly queer employee at unspecified fast casual restaurant chain complimented my gay shirt and then gave me a free drink. I feel loved.
I had an outdated species name at work today that took me to Swedish Wikipedia. Apparently the AI they used the mass-generate base entries for human editing/fact checking was the only entity in the world that remembered this outdated synonym and no one had edited it out yet
November 5, 2025 at 3:38 AM
I had an outdated species name at work today that took me to Swedish Wikipedia. Apparently the AI they used the mass-generate base entries for human editing/fact checking was the only entity in the world that remembered this outdated synonym and no one had edited it out yet
Anyone else getting those ads with the lady eagerly announcing the official color for 2026 and it’s like, a depressing ash grey (I don’t retain advertiser names so I don’t remember which paint company (?) decided to make this our official color)
October 29, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Anyone else getting those ads with the lady eagerly announcing the official color for 2026 and it’s like, a depressing ash grey (I don’t retain advertiser names so I don’t remember which paint company (?) decided to make this our official color)
Once again asking for good lurking recommendations as I try to defeat my Twitter addiction. Right now the League Worlds tournament has been delivering good content on Twitter but I fear the overlap of people who play League and people who use BlueSky may be just me.
Anybody know any good Blue Sky drama I can lurk? My Twitter feed is like 60% asoiaf Blacks vs. Greens discourse (team Black forever btw I genuinely think Green stans just hate women) but I can’t seem to find that energy here. Please help— I love lurking discourse instead of working on my novel
October 26, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Once again asking for good lurking recommendations as I try to defeat my Twitter addiction. Right now the League Worlds tournament has been delivering good content on Twitter but I fear the overlap of people who play League and people who use BlueSky may be just me.
Got accidentally fired from my job. Couldn’t access the faculty page to log my hours and sent a confused email to my boss and HR department. HR confusedly forwarded it to a different HR, who said my “appointment” had expired? Anyways my boss had to reassure them I was still a valued employee.
October 26, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Got accidentally fired from my job. Couldn’t access the faculty page to log my hours and sent a confused email to my boss and HR department. HR confusedly forwarded it to a different HR, who said my “appointment” had expired? Anyways my boss had to reassure them I was still a valued employee.
Sometimes working in the collections means finding a dead mole by the parking lot, asking the mammal curator if he wants it, and getting sent back out with a ziplock bag and gloves. He was fairly impressed because usually these carcasses are too decayed to collect when found. Not mine tho
October 15, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Sometimes working in the collections means finding a dead mole by the parking lot, asking the mammal curator if he wants it, and getting sent back out with a ziplock bag and gloves. He was fairly impressed because usually these carcasses are too decayed to collect when found. Not mine tho
I know it’s not even top 300 most evil things he’s done, but the current administration just casually making graduate school/programs ten times as difficult to get into is such a bummer. So many amazing advisors in utter despair as they warn me the funding is getting slimmer and slimmer.
October 10, 2025 at 4:57 PM
I know it’s not even top 300 most evil things he’s done, but the current administration just casually making graduate school/programs ten times as difficult to get into is such a bummer. So many amazing advisors in utter despair as they warn me the funding is getting slimmer and slimmer.
Just imagine if you’d read my Contingent article but instead of looking at a picture of a cute bumblebee it was a huge grasshopper with spikes on every single one of its feet and “bite your finger” shaped mandibles
Big-Bee is officially ended, and I’m playfully apprehensive to reveal my new digitization project. These guys are not so… charismatic as the bees that made such good spokesinsects for conservation and museum collections
September 18, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Just imagine if you’d read my Contingent article but instead of looking at a picture of a cute bumblebee it was a huge grasshopper with spikes on every single one of its feet and “bite your finger” shaped mandibles
Big-Bee is officially ended, and I’m playfully apprehensive to reveal my new digitization project. These guys are not so… charismatic as the bees that made such good spokesinsects for conservation and museum collections
September 18, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Big-Bee is officially ended, and I’m playfully apprehensive to reveal my new digitization project. These guys are not so… charismatic as the bees that made such good spokesinsects for conservation and museum collections
Finally updated my website. Most notable: two new FUTURES articles for Starset and my Contingent article are live on the non-fiction page. Unfortunately I somehow managed to make my footer tremendously long and Wix won’t let me shrink it. So ignore that
ajhspinner.wixsite.com/aliyaspinner...
ajhspinner.wixsite.com/aliyaspinner...
Non-Fiction | Aliyaspinner
ajhspinner.wixsite.com
September 17, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Finally updated my website. Most notable: two new FUTURES articles for Starset and my Contingent article are live on the non-fiction page. Unfortunately I somehow managed to make my footer tremendously long and Wix won’t let me shrink it. So ignore that
ajhspinner.wixsite.com/aliyaspinner...
ajhspinner.wixsite.com/aliyaspinner...
Happy to have made the cut!… a month belated. I’ve been really humbled by the positive reception to my Contingent piece about the entomology collections and my work, which can seem so small and yet has such a big impact.
August is here, and with it my 236th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share widely, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ +
americanstudier.substack.com/p/scholarsun...
americanstudier.substack.com/p/scholarsun...
#ScholarSunday Thread 236
Published on August 3, 2025
americanstudier.substack.com
September 16, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Happy to have made the cut!… a month belated. I’ve been really humbled by the positive reception to my Contingent piece about the entomology collections and my work, which can seem so small and yet has such a big impact.
Reposted by A’liya Spinner
“Our natural history is held in these archives, a history which can only be discovered thru support for both the collection & its stewards.”- @cladist-magpie.bsky.social
Tens of millions of dollars in NSF grants have been slashed: www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/02/1...
Tens of millions of dollars in NSF grants have been slashed: www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/02/1...
July 29, 2025 at 12:01 PM
“Our natural history is held in these archives, a history which can only be discovered thru support for both the collection & its stewards.”- @cladist-magpie.bsky.social
Tens of millions of dollars in NSF grants have been slashed: www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/02/1...
Tens of millions of dollars in NSF grants have been slashed: www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/02/1...
Reposted by A’liya Spinner
For the next entry in our Losses series, A’liya Spinner takes us into an NSF-funded project threatened by government cuts.
"These ambassadors for entomology have already taught us so much about evolution, phylogeny, and climate change by acting as miniature windows into natural history."
"These ambassadors for entomology have already taught us so much about evolution, phylogeny, and climate change by acting as miniature windows into natural history."
The Losses: Of Archives and Arthropods
Dead for centuries, the bees can help save their living descendants
contingentmagazine.org
July 28, 2025 at 4:49 PM
For the next entry in our Losses series, A’liya Spinner takes us into an NSF-funded project threatened by government cuts.
"These ambassadors for entomology have already taught us so much about evolution, phylogeny, and climate change by acting as miniature windows into natural history."
"These ambassadors for entomology have already taught us so much about evolution, phylogeny, and climate change by acting as miniature windows into natural history."
If I were disgustingly wealthy I would spend it all patroning the arts like God intended and my first commission would be a full-cast re-recording of the Hunchback of Notre Dame musical that
1) replaces all the g-slurs with Roma & Romani
2) adds a Rest & Recreation reprise
1) replaces all the g-slurs with Roma & Romani
2) adds a Rest & Recreation reprise
October 30, 2023 at 7:18 PM
If I were disgustingly wealthy I would spend it all patroning the arts like God intended and my first commission would be a full-cast re-recording of the Hunchback of Notre Dame musical that
1) replaces all the g-slurs with Roma & Romani
2) adds a Rest & Recreation reprise
1) replaces all the g-slurs with Roma & Romani
2) adds a Rest & Recreation reprise
Bestie/boyf/I finally finished Saws 1-9 in preparation for Saw X/to get cultured. Here’s every Jigsaw killer AS I REMEMBER THEM:
1. John Kramer
2. John + Amanda
3. J & A (RIP)
4. Copguy Hoffman
5. Hoffman again???
6. Lady Kramer vs Hoffman
7. Cary Elwes
8. White guy (best one)
9. Skank
1. John Kramer
2. John + Amanda
3. J & A (RIP)
4. Copguy Hoffman
5. Hoffman again???
6. Lady Kramer vs Hoffman
7. Cary Elwes
8. White guy (best one)
9. Skank
October 23, 2023 at 3:18 AM
Bestie/boyf/I finally finished Saws 1-9 in preparation for Saw X/to get cultured. Here’s every Jigsaw killer AS I REMEMBER THEM:
1. John Kramer
2. John + Amanda
3. J & A (RIP)
4. Copguy Hoffman
5. Hoffman again???
6. Lady Kramer vs Hoffman
7. Cary Elwes
8. White guy (best one)
9. Skank
1. John Kramer
2. John + Amanda
3. J & A (RIP)
4. Copguy Hoffman
5. Hoffman again???
6. Lady Kramer vs Hoffman
7. Cary Elwes
8. White guy (best one)
9. Skank
The bestie and boyf and I are participating today in the extraordinarily popular cultural phenomenon Helicoprion* in which we watch Jaws and Spiral: From the Book of Saw back to back
* Helicoprion is a genus of extinct shark known for its spiral-shaped “whorl” tooth
* Helicoprion is a genus of extinct shark known for its spiral-shaped “whorl” tooth
October 22, 2023 at 6:26 PM
The bestie and boyf and I are participating today in the extraordinarily popular cultural phenomenon Helicoprion* in which we watch Jaws and Spiral: From the Book of Saw back to back
* Helicoprion is a genus of extinct shark known for its spiral-shaped “whorl” tooth
* Helicoprion is a genus of extinct shark known for its spiral-shaped “whorl” tooth
Unstoppable Force (me holding up the entire line checking every pocket for my mCard so I can get on the bus) versus an Immovable Object (a very polite construction worker who refuses to get on the bus before me for chivalry reasons)
October 12, 2023 at 7:17 PM
Unstoppable Force (me holding up the entire line checking every pocket for my mCard so I can get on the bus) versus an Immovable Object (a very polite construction worker who refuses to get on the bus before me for chivalry reasons)
Being zoology’s longest-working lab tech definitely has its upsides (researchers chat with me, I’ve had some post-grant job offers, the illusion of superiority, etc) but I know I am ultimately only the mini-boss. The entomologist’s goon. I can never match the chaotic stage presence that my boss has.
Telling my boss (an entomologist) that the reason I don’t like to swim outdoors is because I accidentally swallowed a dead centipede in an outdoor pool when I was like, 11, and his response is “was it delish?”
October 4, 2023 at 7:46 PM
Being zoology’s longest-working lab tech definitely has its upsides (researchers chat with me, I’ve had some post-grant job offers, the illusion of superiority, etc) but I know I am ultimately only the mini-boss. The entomologist’s goon. I can never match the chaotic stage presence that my boss has.
Telling my boss (an entomologist) that the reason I don’t like to swim outdoors is because I accidentally swallowed a dead centipede in an outdoor pool when I was like, 11, and his response is “was it delish?”
October 4, 2023 at 7:36 PM
Telling my boss (an entomologist) that the reason I don’t like to swim outdoors is because I accidentally swallowed a dead centipede in an outdoor pool when I was like, 11, and his response is “was it delish?”
Reading a paleontologist’s response to another paleontologist who wrote a book criticizing *his* book and it includes several hilarious moments and THIS banger:
“The way [he] goes about biting the hand that once fed him would make a shoal of piranha seem decorous.”
“The way [he] goes about biting the hand that once fed him would make a shoal of piranha seem decorous.”
September 30, 2023 at 11:23 PM
Reading a paleontologist’s response to another paleontologist who wrote a book criticizing *his* book and it includes several hilarious moments and THIS banger:
“The way [he] goes about biting the hand that once fed him would make a shoal of piranha seem decorous.”
“The way [he] goes about biting the hand that once fed him would make a shoal of piranha seem decorous.”
Sketched three of my novel characters as “Esmeralda und Phoebus von Claude Frollo ueberrascht” by Auguste Couder (1837) during a Deadlands session last night. Those familiar with the novel know that I’ve designated the entire Hunchback of Notre Dame musical as its soundtrack.
September 8, 2023 at 4:25 PM
Sketched three of my novel characters as “Esmeralda und Phoebus von Claude Frollo ueberrascht” by Auguste Couder (1837) during a Deadlands session last night. Those familiar with the novel know that I’ve designated the entire Hunchback of Notre Dame musical as its soundtrack.
I don’t necessarily REGRET chickening out of making my senior quote “God is a cladist and I am a fish”, but I do sort of wish I could’ve seen if the yearbook committee tried to stop me on that one.
September 2, 2023 at 4:32 PM
I don’t necessarily REGRET chickening out of making my senior quote “God is a cladist and I am a fish”, but I do sort of wish I could’ve seen if the yearbook committee tried to stop me on that one.