Drew Broussard
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drewsof.bsky.social
Drew Broussard
@drewsof.bsky.social
2.2K followers 780 following 2.9K posts
he/him
writer
bookstore manager, Rough Draft Bar & Books
podcasts editor at Literary Hub & host of The Lit Hub Podcast
head full of pumpkins
www.drewbroussard.com
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drewsof.bsky.social
On the other hand, I guess there are a lot of underappreciated old books out there. Anyway, the new Doubleday one might owe Pioneer Works some royalties on the graphic design front.
www.instagram.com/p/DQwySMjCf42/
a dark-mauve book on a pink background. at the top of the book in thin sans serif font, it reads FIXER CHAO HAN ONG over a pink line-drawing of a key hole. It's the first book out from this Doubleday "outsider editions" imprint, out 7.14.26
November 13, 2025 at 2:39 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
I fucking love bookmatch season, there are always questions that make me genuinely crack up, but this is an all-timer forever.
a screenshot of the bookmatch quiz with the question, in an brown-orange-ish box: Crazy out there. And the three choices below, in blue ovals: "Boy, I'll say." "whooo-eeee." "Eh, it'll blow over." And I chose "Boy, I'll say" because that's genuinely a conversation I have like once a day.
November 6, 2025 at 4:50 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
I have a copy soon enough winging its way to me from the fine folks at New Dominion in Charlottesville, but that doesn't mean I can't take an early flip through the finished copies of @alixeharrow.bsky.social's THE EVERLASTING aka my favorite book of the year (out on Tues! RD has signed copies!)
under the book desk at Rough Draft, at this exact moment, is a box — the box shown in a photograph here, a box filled with signed copies of Alix E. Harrow's THE EVERLASTING, which is a shiny black hardcover with a sorta stained glass Venn diagram that has a bastard sword straight down through it through which you can see a face. This book rocks.
October 23, 2025 at 6:28 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
Man, not to be grumpy online again, but... nobody fucking needs this. Publishers need to wake the fuck up and realize that chasing the bookfluencer "I'll post this but probably not read it" crowd is going to only hasten the coming crash and make it hurt that much harder when it happens
the IG ad from Penguin Random House for the "hardcover deluxe" edition of Andy Weir's THE MARTIAN, with text reading: FEATURING: * Sprayed Edges * New Cover Art on a Deluxe Jacket * Full-color Illustrated Endpapers * A Custom-Stamped Case and below that, the book itself, looking admittedly beautiful but utterly and in every way unnecessary
October 21, 2025 at 5:26 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
This from @kristenarnett.bsky.social's latest "Am I the Literary Asshole" is going to every single artist I know who has even ever been tempted by the machine: lithub.com/am-i-the-lit...
You need to stop putting your work into these platforms, immediately. [HIGHLIGHTED]I could get up on a high horse and give you a million reasons why you should not ever, under any circumstances be doing this when it comes to the greater collective (theft of others work and effort and time, the fact that it depletes our natural resources). But I only need tell you that you are ruining your chance at creative happiness. It’s ruining your brain. I know this because it’s making you bleed joy.[END HIGHLIGHTING] Your letter troubled me, friend. I worry that you have decided to just let go of all thought and let a computer think for you. That’s not what writing and passion and creativity is about. It’s not art. You do not need generative AI to give you story ideas. You do not need a robot to tell you whether your work is good. Only you can do that. Stop roadblocking your own writing life.
October 17, 2025 at 2:40 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
Perhaps the funniest moment in all of Trek, from STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME, when Scotty is told to use the computer and he starts talking to it, is instructed to use the mouse, and then he speaks into the mouse like it's a com unit. The guy helping them looks confused, while Bones looks patronizingly on at the old computer.
October 16, 2025 at 3:32 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
Just got a pitch for a 2026 title that has a pretty obviously AI generated cover. Sent this back to the publicist, in case anybody else wants to join me in saying no to such things.
As interesting as the book sounds, the fact that it has an obviously AI-generated cover means I not only have to pass, but feel compelled to write and tell you that that's why. It's an insult to the author, and to all the other authors, illustrators, and artists on the HC list, and I wish I could say I was shocked that it got past the initial design meeting let alone every successive conversation somebody had to have about it. I hope HC makes a different decision in the future, although I can't say I'm holding out hope.
October 6, 2025 at 5:44 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
Every year for the last idk how many, I've written a short piece of flash to accompany my annual October Country reading list (an assortment of eerie/spooky/strange/autumnal reads) — but I'm tired of emails, I'm even tired of most social media. So: www.drewbroussard.com/the-october-country
october 1 2025. my front yard, where the trees are thinning and turning and also not!
October 1, 2025 at 2:33 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
lol
(iykyk)
it's that dril tweet, you know the one: "and another thing: im not mad. please dont put in the newspaper that i got mad."
September 25, 2025 at 4:56 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
Vogue suggests you visit my bookstore 🥰

(come to Kingston but don't be weird about it, okay? don't ruin it for everyone?)
Rough Draft There’s something about Rough Draft that calms your soul. Maybe it’s the surroundings, both inside and out: housed in an old stone building that pre-dates the Revolutionary War, the interiors feature wood-beamed ceilings and exposed bricks. Or maybe just because it’s a fantastic indie bookstore in an age where fantastic indie bookstores feel few and far between. Order a latte—or even a cider—from their café and peruse the latest titles on its historic shelves.
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
I think it would be really cool if we generally tried to demilitarize our language a bit. I know this is well-meant and I don't entirely disagree with the sentiment but this sort of thing is almost as obnoxious a cosplay as the tac-vest brigade. I'm a bookseller, not a soldier.
from today's Shelf Awareness, an excerpt of the remarks that Jon Meacham gave at the NEIBA Fall Conference yesterday: "Booksellers "didn't sign up" to fight for democracy "in wartime, but it's wartime," he went on. "You are soldiers in a cause of enlightenment, democracy, dissent, and in the classical sense, liberalism.""
September 10, 2025 at 1:49 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
Hot tip for writers pitching bookstores on events: don't do this! For one, you don't know what we might have going on that isn't reflected on the external-facing calendar or why we might not have programming there but, mainly, don't *link* to our calendar in your email.
Trust me, ~we know~ about it.
I'd love to come do an author event at your store this October, if I may. I'll be in the Kingston area the week of October 15-22, when I see there is indeed space on your calendar. I'd be able to do any of your currently open dates from the 16-20th (inclusive). ("space on your calendar" is hyper-linked to... my store's events calendar.)
September 6, 2025 at 1:47 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
I'm gonna fucking lose my mind over this bullshit from the Washington BezPost: "But if you want to lower your emissions, you’d be better off changing your commute or eating less meat than stopping your AI use."

Like sure! Sure, bro! We *should* stop farming cattle AND we can stop using AI! DO BOTH!
An Instagram caption on a post from @postclimate: A single Q&A session with a large language model can consume more than a half-liter of fresh water to cool servers. Asking ChatGPT one question reportedly consumes 10 times as much electricity as a conventional Google search. And generating an image is equivalent to charging a smartphone. But if you want to lower your emissions, you’d be better off changing your commute or eating less meat than stopping your AI use.
August 27, 2025 at 5:11 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
Just received a blanket pitch from a children's book author (sent, presumably, to many indie bookstores) pitching a clearly AI-illustrated book. In the interest of public service, this was my response. I'm fucking done with being nice to these people.
Hi John — Thanks very much for reaching out. I'm assuming you've used AI to generate the art here, just based on a quick look through the attached PDF — we will not stock AI-generated works of any kind, as currently available AI tools are not only environmentally disastrous but also trained largely off the backs of stolen creative labor. I can't imagine we'll be the only store to respond in this manner, but even if we are, we'll be holding firm to this line. Better luck with your next, hopefully all-human, book.
August 23, 2025 at 2:47 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
one of the best tweets that ever tweeted, from Rachael Stott (@RachaelAtWork) Star Trek TNG episodes are called like 'Explosion' and the episode is about a big explosion. TOS episodes are called 'What yonder soul doth go hence... a brother??" and are about an omnipotent space frog who makes everyone take their clothes off
August 7, 2025 at 9:41 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
Would you believe that Stephen Schwarzman's wife runs a Broadway producing company? And that instead of spending that ill-gotten money to, I don't know, subsidize ticket prices, they're commissioning studies like this?
Broadway Isn't Overpriced, It's Undervalued: New Study Finds Gen Z & Millennials Will Spend More Than Triple When They See What's Behind the Curtain
July 29, 2025 at 2:44 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
in case anybody would like to hear some good music, we're playing a show in two weeks in Kingston! my partner in life and art has put together yet another incredible band (okay and me, I'm playing guitar, wheeeee) and it should be a very fun time TM
a hot-pink show poster with nine red suns-with-a-face-on-them in the middle. On the top: "EVELYN and friends" and on the sides, "join us for a 1st birthday party for SOMEDAY WE WILL EAT A FEAST OF LIGHT" (that was the name of the record) and at the bottom, "with TJ Douglas" Then, beneath all that, the important info: August 3, 7pm, Unicorn Bar (in Kingston NY) — tix are $15 in advance, $20 at the door! This show is gonna be tight!!
July 20, 2025 at 6:35 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
Hey I have an idea, why don't we start talking about "compromising on straight rights" and see how quickly people realize the absolute ghoulish absurdity of this kind of thinking. I'm gonna have to spend time arguing with my relatives and even some friends because the NYT prints shit like this.
from the latest absolute bullshit printed in the NYT opinion section, another "we talked to a bunch of democrats about how to fix the party and win again" piece written by Jonathan Rauch and Peter Wehner that features this gem of a section suggesting that: "Democrats should also be welcoming to people of faith and willing to accommodate their reasonable needs, even if that sometimes means compromising on things like L.G.B.T. rights." Gods, I hate these fucking people and their logical fallacies and their unnecessary cruelties and the fact that they get to spout their bullshit wherever and for however long they'd like when the simplest answer! is right in front of everyone! and that's to just be good to one another!! You win elections by showing that you care for people and you aren't a crazy goddamn sorta-fascist who is willing to throw any and all groups under the bus simply to gain power—or at least that's not how anybody who *isn't* a fascist *should* function. But nooooo, Rahm Emanuel is gonna try to run for president. Fuck this noise.
July 18, 2025 at 11:43 AM
drewsof.bsky.social
I'm back on my César Aira tip after some time away and this, from ARTFORUM, so perfectly encapsulates my own mania when it comes to waiting for something to arrive. (Right now, I feel it intimately re: a few stories that are out and I keep refreshing the Grinder and I keep checking my email like 👀.)
A copy of César Aira's ARTFORUM, open to page 55 on a brown faux-wood table. The photographers index finger is just visible at the bottom of the book and a stack of pink post-its in the top right corner of the frame. The page reads: "Conjectures After my subscription was sorted out, my problems weren't over: new ones were created. Because such things are never fully sorted. The first two weeks of each month was the approximate span of time when one could reasonably expect the magazine to arrive. But it was more reasonable to wait a few days more. The truly reasonable thing would have been not to wait at all, but this was completely beyond my capabilities. I waited with fury, day after day, and within each day, hour after hour. I will not dwell on the vast number of suspenseful anecdotes, though they are all seared into my memory. Nor on the infinite conjectures I indulged in. I will tell only two." There's a bit more after that but it isn't relevant to the post, so you can pick up a copy at your nearest indie bookstore, available in English from New Directions.
July 17, 2025 at 2:06 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
What's a book you read as a kid that almost nobody seems to read nowadays?

There are many but this trilogy has stayed in my mind not because of anything about the plot (dragons? pit dragons for fighting?) but because of the covers and the book design, which was very pleasing on a tactile level.
the cover of Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen, which shows a blond young man in a tunic carrying a small gold dragon and raising a lantern in his other hand, while a red bird-like dragon is behind him. The cover of Heart's Blood by Jane Yolen, which shows a red dragon protecting the blond kind from the first book (who is now shirtless) and a young woman with black hair, and there's honestly something a little spicy about it or at least that's how I felt when I was a kid. the cover of A SENDING OF DRAGONS by Jane Yolen, which shows the blond kid (still no shirt!) and the dark-haired girl (in a tunic) tending to a several red dragons.
June 28, 2025 at 10:59 AM
drewsof.bsky.social
I’m a little late to this but goodness it’s the most Terry Pratchett thing I’ve read since Sir Terry passed away. An absolute joy, and not a moment too soon.
A paperback ARC of Oliver Darkshire’s ISABELLA NAGG AND THE POT OF BASIL, propped up on my knee and backdropped by a window out on blue sky
June 22, 2025 at 4:52 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
That's rich, coming from you AI-boosting goons! (also this was from me trying to read that AI piece so its really turtles all the way down)
the error message I get every time I try to read a piece from the NYT, which reads "You have been blocked from The New York Times because we suspect that you're a robot"
June 16, 2025 at 2:58 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
tumblr post from classically-lit-memes4u: RIP to everyone killed by the gods for their hubris but im different. and better. maybe even better than the gods 105,116 notes airplane speech bubble reblog trash pencil
June 13, 2025 at 6:08 PM
drewsof.bsky.social
New story alert, this one only in print(!) — I got to write a story inspired by a groovy, hypnotic Mulatu Astatke track for the inaugural 13Tracks Magazine. Cannot get over how beautiful it all looks. And my name, on the cover!!
You should consider picking up a copy of this. It’s very cool.
The first issue of 13Tracks Magazine sits square on a wooden table. The magazine is densely designed, with 13tracks on top in an italic font, with 13 black bars staggered below, each with a musician/band’s name in bold followed by the names of two respondents. At the bottom, MUSIC - ART - WRITING. The backdrop is a glitchy orange/blue/red illustration. On the same wood backdrop, a shot of the magazine’s interior. The double-spread has a sort of matte-tangerine background, and on the left: WORDS: Drew Broussard (hey that’s me!) ART: Shee Gomes On the right, in big purple 70s lettering: YEFIKIR TIZITA, by Mulatu Astatke The beginning of the story I wrote, which is called “Outside, It Was Still Raining” and begins: It had finally stopped raining, he heard someone say, and he craned his neck to see if it was true. The wall of bodies at the bar and the dark of night outside obscured most of the view, and the sweaty humidity of the tight space made dry air seem implausible at best, but he waved to his boss and signaled that he was stepping out for a quick break.
June 12, 2025 at 9:53 AM
drewsof.bsky.social
There are so many horrifying things in this article but fuck CAA particularly. I firmly believe they are responsible for a huge percentage of the shittiness that has come for creative industries. And that's not just because I've never been closer to killing myself than I was when I worked there!
I found a CAA agent sitting in a mostly empty row of vintage wooden theater seats. At CAA, she said, the subject of AI comes up every day. Back in 2023, the agency had launched a project, called the CAA Vault, to capture the likeness of all its clients so it could own and control the rights to their images. “Everyone’s using it,” the agent said. “They just don’t talk about it.”
June 4, 2025 at 3:01 PM