Eric Notaro
@ericnotaro.bsky.social
Occasionally published fiction writer. Avid reader. Long time D&D nerd.
Pinned
Eric Notaro
@ericnotaro.bsky.social
· Mar 6
My novel in-progress is centered around the events of upstate New York's Anti-Rent War and its aftermath in the 19th century. In brief, it was the largest tenant strike in American history, comprising 11 largely rural counties. But this description only scratches the surface.
Reposted by Eric Notaro
In 2006 a high school English teacher asked students to write to a famous author & ask for advice.
KURT VONNEGUT - born 103yrs ago today - was the only one to respond.
His reply was a doozy.
KURT VONNEGUT - born 103yrs ago today - was the only one to respond.
His reply was a doozy.
November 11, 2025 at 10:39 AM
In 2006 a high school English teacher asked students to write to a famous author & ask for advice.
KURT VONNEGUT - born 103yrs ago today - was the only one to respond.
His reply was a doozy.
KURT VONNEGUT - born 103yrs ago today - was the only one to respond.
His reply was a doozy.
Not a bad way to spend a Sunday... unless you need to get up for any reason.
November 11, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Not a bad way to spend a Sunday... unless you need to get up for any reason.
Are email rejections typical for literary agents? I know to expect them for journals. My impression was that they typically don't respond unless they want to work with you. Just got an email from an agent assistant that was complimentary but said she had too much to work with now.
November 11, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Are email rejections typical for literary agents? I know to expect them for journals. My impression was that they typically don't respond unless they want to work with you. Just got an email from an agent assistant that was complimentary but said she had too much to work with now.
"Nobody thinks of the present as the future past." Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar #SundaySentence
November 2, 2025 at 6:26 PM
"Nobody thinks of the present as the future past." Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar #SundaySentence
Reposted by Eric Notaro
Wanting to go,
all the leaves want to go
though they have achieved
their kingly robes.
Weary of colours,
they think of black earth,
they think of
white snow…
—Norman MacCaig, “Autumn”
in The Poems of Norman MacCaig (Birlinn, 2009)
#BookWormSat #poem #Poetry
birlinn.co.uk/2022/10/21/p...
all the leaves want to go
though they have achieved
their kingly robes.
Weary of colours,
they think of black earth,
they think of
white snow…
—Norman MacCaig, “Autumn”
in The Poems of Norman MacCaig (Birlinn, 2009)
#BookWormSat #poem #Poetry
birlinn.co.uk/2022/10/21/p...
October 18, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Wanting to go,
all the leaves want to go
though they have achieved
their kingly robes.
Weary of colours,
they think of black earth,
they think of
white snow…
—Norman MacCaig, “Autumn”
in The Poems of Norman MacCaig (Birlinn, 2009)
#BookWormSat #poem #Poetry
birlinn.co.uk/2022/10/21/p...
all the leaves want to go
though they have achieved
their kingly robes.
Weary of colours,
they think of black earth,
they think of
white snow…
—Norman MacCaig, “Autumn”
in The Poems of Norman MacCaig (Birlinn, 2009)
#BookWormSat #poem #Poetry
birlinn.co.uk/2022/10/21/p...
Reposted by Eric Notaro
Ned Blackhawk - How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution
The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution
The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.
www.theatlantic.com
October 10, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Ned Blackhawk - How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution
The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
Reposted by Eric Notaro
Heaven have mercy on us all—Presbyterians and Pagans alike—for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending
October 7, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Heaven have mercy on us all—Presbyterians and Pagans alike—for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending
Reposted by Eric Notaro
This is going pretty well! I can't complain. But I'd like to get the "backers" number up to 2K, even 3K. This is one-and-done, this collection won't be in bookstores. Reserve one while you can!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
Our Long National Nightmare by Tom Tomorrow
Relive the trauma of the last five years through the cartoons of Herblock Award winner and Pulitzer nominee Tom Tomorrow.
www.kickstarter.com
October 2, 2025 at 1:29 PM
This is going pretty well! I can't complain. But I'd like to get the "backers" number up to 2K, even 3K. This is one-and-done, this collection won't be in bookstores. Reserve one while you can!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
Me as I send out some initial agent queries: "But what if this writing project that all of my friends and loved ones who have read it have praised, that I feel good about as I actually read through it, that my research contacts have all encouraged is actually... bad?"
September 27, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Me as I send out some initial agent queries: "But what if this writing project that all of my friends and loved ones who have read it have praised, that I feel good about as I actually read through it, that my research contacts have all encouraged is actually... bad?"
"They are invested in this story because having to look too closely at the disturbing parts of American history would mean having to look closely at the disturbing parts of themselves."
I debated writing this. It can feel tempting, upon encountering yet another instance of this administration’s racism, to let it be. How many ways can you say the same thing over and over again? And yet we have to write it down, if for nothing else, so those who come after us know we were against it.
Actually, Slavery Was Very Bad
The president’s latest criticism of museums is a thinly veiled attempt to erase Black history.
www.theatlantic.com
August 22, 2025 at 5:04 PM
"They are invested in this story because having to look too closely at the disturbing parts of American history would mean having to look closely at the disturbing parts of themselves."
"Yes, the 'Horrors' of Spider Island."
Does anyone else have an MST3K line they use regularly, even if it makes no sense out of context?
Because I have both "That'll keep your panfish down for a while." and "Come come, boys, we must confound Jerry at every turn!" from MST3K the movie alone.
Because I have both "That'll keep your panfish down for a while." and "Come come, boys, we must confound Jerry at every turn!" from MST3K the movie alone.
August 22, 2025 at 1:25 PM
"Yes, the 'Horrors' of Spider Island."
Reposted by Eric Notaro
August 20, 2025 at 9:16 PM
An unmentioned part of the novel in progress depicts the Shaker 'Era of Manisfestations' from 1842 to 1860 so this caught my eye. www.npr.org/2025/08/19/n...
The number of Shakers in the U.S. rises to 3
A new person has joined the last active Shaker community in the U.S, bringing the Christian, communal, and celibate group to a total of three. They once numbered in the thousands.
www.npr.org
August 20, 2025 at 4:35 PM
An unmentioned part of the novel in progress depicts the Shaker 'Era of Manisfestations' from 1842 to 1860 so this caught my eye. www.npr.org/2025/08/19/n...
So a book review I did for a journal years ago was listed here. I am wondering how that works in this case...
"If your books were uploaded to LibGen/fed into the LLMs, add your name to the potential class action lawsuit by tomorrow." Details:
LibDem database: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Attorney form: www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...
(This information comes via a reliable Discord source.)
LibDem database: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Attorney form: www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...
(This information comes via a reliable Discord source.)
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.
www.theatlantic.com
August 14, 2025 at 11:05 PM
So a book review I did for a journal years ago was listed here. I am wondering how that works in this case...
Reposted by Eric Notaro
higgledy-piggledy whale statements
August 13, 2025 at 8:47 PM
higgledy-piggledy whale statements
This is made all the more heartening by the fact that my novel is actually about a rent strike too!
Counterpoint: There is has never been a more urgent time to write a book. Technofascism is, among other things, an attempt to capture and enclose literature and literacy. Print is a rent strike.
is there anything more pointless right now that writing a book? feels that way to me
August 13, 2025 at 11:35 AM
This is made all the more heartening by the fact that my novel is actually about a rent strike too!
To underscore how out of touch I am, I had originally mistaken those "Disregard all prior instructions" posts NOT as a way to scramble a suspected bot account but rather as "ignore this trolling jerk and go do something else (especially silly or out there)."
August 12, 2025 at 8:49 PM
To underscore how out of touch I am, I had originally mistaken those "Disregard all prior instructions" posts NOT as a way to scramble a suspected bot account but rather as "ignore this trolling jerk and go do something else (especially silly or out there)."
I heard he just got an endorsement from the Clintons... the DeWitt Clintons that is.
Cuomo: Yes, I can make a second giant city hate me. I can do this.
August 9, 2025 at 10:27 PM
I heard he just got an endorsement from the Clintons... the DeWitt Clintons that is.
Reposted by Eric Notaro
civilization vi leader two turns before you destroy his lone attacking trebuchet unit with a missile cruiser
August 9, 2025 at 1:58 PM
civilization vi leader two turns before you destroy his lone attacking trebuchet unit with a missile cruiser
🎶Moon reactor
Wider than a mile!🎶
Wider than a mile!🎶
EXCLUSIVE: Sean Duffy will announce expedited plans to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, his first major action as interim NASA administrator.
Duffy to announce nuclear reactor on the moon
This is the first major agency effort by the interim NASA administrator, who is also the Transportation secretary and a former Fox News host.
www.politico.com
August 4, 2025 at 10:31 PM
🎶Moon reactor
Wider than a mile!🎶
Wider than a mile!🎶
"On turning round I saw that all the graves were open, that all the dead bodies had emerged from them, and that all had effaced the lies inscribed on their gravestones by their relations, substituting the truth instead." - "Was it a Dream?" by Guy De Maupassant #SundaySentence
August 3, 2025 at 2:40 PM
"On turning round I saw that all the graves were open, that all the dead bodies had emerged from them, and that all had effaced the lies inscribed on their gravestones by their relations, substituting the truth instead." - "Was it a Dream?" by Guy De Maupassant #SundaySentence
Name a book you loved from a used bookshop (or library) that you loved but might not have read had you not found it on the shelf? #booksky
August 3, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Name a book you loved from a used bookshop (or library) that you loved but might not have read had you not found it on the shelf? #booksky
In a mirror universe, John Roberts becomes a historian and posts grumblings about people's lazy historical analogies. The Supreme Court is still governed by precedent and what laws actually say. Also, hamburgers eat people in that universe but, on balance, it's still better than ours.
July 27, 2025 at 2:50 PM
In a mirror universe, John Roberts becomes a historian and posts grumblings about people's lazy historical analogies. The Supreme Court is still governed by precedent and what laws actually say. Also, hamburgers eat people in that universe but, on balance, it's still better than ours.
"How strange it is to have carried your convictions like a set of keys, only to realize they will not open any doors." - There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
#sundaysentence
#sundaysentence
July 27, 2025 at 2:23 PM
"How strange it is to have carried your convictions like a set of keys, only to realize they will not open any doors." - There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
#sundaysentence
#sundaysentence