James Milton - he/him
@jg-milton.bsky.social
Australian spec-fic writer. Sociology PhD (violence). Gen-X media tragic. Astronomy & history nerd. On Wulgurukaba Country (North QLD).
Fandoms: Dr Who, Star Trek, B5, BSG (both), The Expanse, Murderbot. Rec: Linda Nagata’s Inverted Frontier series.
Fandoms: Dr Who, Star Trek, B5, BSG (both), The Expanse, Murderbot. Rec: Linda Nagata’s Inverted Frontier series.
Tentative but still really interesting... www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyac...
Major Breakthrough in Figuring Out How Life Started on Earth
YouTube video by Anton Petrov
www.youtube.com
September 3, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Tentative but still really interesting... www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyac...
I've been rereading George Saunders's "A Swim In A Pond in the Rain". Still my absolute favourite #WritingBook by light years. It's a gentle, transformative journey through the short story writer's craft and, frankly, a little bit of a joy to read.
September 2, 2025 at 2:02 AM
I've been rereading George Saunders's "A Swim In A Pond in the Rain". Still my absolute favourite #WritingBook by light years. It's a gentle, transformative journey through the short story writer's craft and, frankly, a little bit of a joy to read.
My new weapon against paralyzing writer's block: poetry. I'm just playing with short, structured forms like haiku, limericks, & clerihews. Writing anything is a balm, the structure is scaffolding to lean on, & I get the little 'win' of actually finishing something, which is uplifting. It's going OK.
August 24, 2025 at 2:48 AM
My new weapon against paralyzing writer's block: poetry. I'm just playing with short, structured forms like haiku, limericks, & clerihews. Writing anything is a balm, the structure is scaffolding to lean on, & I get the little 'win' of actually finishing something, which is uplifting. It's going OK.
The most recent #StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds is drawing some hate. It's not perfect. But my god the whole space whale SFX thing was gorgeous. There are artists in their SFX department, and no mistake.
August 24, 2025 at 2:36 AM
The most recent #StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds is drawing some hate. It's not perfect. But my god the whole space whale SFX thing was gorgeous. There are artists in their SFX department, and no mistake.
I'm too old not to judge a movie by its trailers... so going out on a limb and guessing that (despite very excellently rendered tripods), War of the Worlds is not going to break its long streak of wretchedly awful adaptations. They eat your data! Sure. Why not.
July 30, 2025 at 7:26 AM
I'm too old not to judge a movie by its trailers... so going out on a limb and guessing that (despite very excellently rendered tripods), War of the Worlds is not going to break its long streak of wretchedly awful adaptations. They eat your data! Sure. Why not.
TL;DR New owners introduced new contracts that were rights-grabby and deliberately convulted while offering the same (small) amount of money as the old contracts.
locusmag.com/2025/07/subm...
locusmag.com/2025/07/subm...
Submission Grinder Delists Analog
Analog Science Fiction & Fact has been delisted on The Submission Grinder due to new terms in the magazine’s recent contracts. Steven Salpeter of parent company Must Read Books has respon…
locusmag.com
July 11, 2025 at 7:16 AM
If you have access to Prime and don't mind the sound of a police procedural horror science fiction series that's insanely well-made and alternately scares you and kicks your emotions in the nethers, have a look at The Devil's Hour. It's exceptional.
July 6, 2025 at 10:08 AM
If you have access to Prime and don't mind the sound of a police procedural horror science fiction series that's insanely well-made and alternately scares you and kicks your emotions in the nethers, have a look at The Devil's Hour. It's exceptional.
Any recommendations for a history of Germany in relation to World War II? (How Germany moved from its situation post-Great War to being a global threat, discussing the course of the war from a historical rather than military perspective, again centred on the German experience, but in English?
June 29, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Any recommendations for a history of Germany in relation to World War II? (How Germany moved from its situation post-Great War to being a global threat, discussing the course of the war from a historical rather than military perspective, again centred on the German experience, but in English?
Terrific article: complicating the idea of the habitable zone to work out good candidates for exoplanet habitability, and Earth as not common but not a Unicorn, either. www.universetoday.com/articles/a-s...
A Statistical Analysis of Exoplanet Habitability Turns Up One Great Candidate - And Significant Observational Bias
The search for life beyond our planet continues, and one of the most underappreciated tools in an astrobiologists' toolkit is statistics. While it might not be as glamorous as directly imaging a plane...
www.universetoday.com
June 28, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Terrific article: complicating the idea of the habitable zone to work out good candidates for exoplanet habitability, and Earth as not common but not a Unicorn, either. www.universetoday.com/articles/a-s...
You often hear the question, "What is the difference between a human writing producing work inspired by what they've read and generative AI producing work based on their training data?" Often delivered as a gotcha. But it's pretty straightforward and pretty big.
June 26, 2025 at 1:08 AM
You often hear the question, "What is the difference between a human writing producing work inspired by what they've read and generative AI producing work based on their training data?" Often delivered as a gotcha. But it's pretty straightforward and pretty big.
One of my favourite space opera writers novelizing one of my favourite episodes seems ... seems too good to be true. Might be a trap.
Pre-orders are live!
3 weeks to go! Very excited to read the story in Gareth's style. 💜📚
June 25, 2025 at 10:26 PM
One of my favourite space opera writers novelizing one of my favourite episodes seems ... seems too good to be true. Might be a trap.
Vera Rubin is my favourite human thing since New Horizons. Considering what humans actually can do, it's kind of unfathomable what we waste most of our doing on.
June 24, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Vera Rubin is my favourite human thing since New Horizons. Considering what humans actually can do, it's kind of unfathomable what we waste most of our doing on.
Reposted by James Milton - he/him
This heat wave is absolutely bone crushing. I'm so glad I installed central air two years ago.
But if you're without AC, or you're dealing with a heat wave for the first time because it's reaching areas that don't historically get this hot, here are a few tips from my years of poverty in a desert:
But if you're without AC, or you're dealing with a heat wave for the first time because it's reaching areas that don't historically get this hot, here are a few tips from my years of poverty in a desert:
June 21, 2025 at 5:48 PM
This heat wave is absolutely bone crushing. I'm so glad I installed central air two years ago.
But if you're without AC, or you're dealing with a heat wave for the first time because it's reaching areas that don't historically get this hot, here are a few tips from my years of poverty in a desert:
But if you're without AC, or you're dealing with a heat wave for the first time because it's reaching areas that don't historically get this hot, here are a few tips from my years of poverty in a desert:
I can't imagine my schooling without librarians. Teachers assigned work & school librarians showed you how to build your study skills. They were also my first guides to recreational reading: who to read next if you loved this or that, how to navigate all the world's books. What a damn fool move.
Every Glasgow secondary school set to lose its librarian 📚
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
June 23, 2025 at 7:26 AM
I can't imagine my schooling without librarians. Teachers assigned work & school librarians showed you how to build your study skills. They were also my first guides to recreational reading: who to read next if you loved this or that, how to navigate all the world's books. What a damn fool move.
Reposted by James Milton - he/him
Why do the characters in JAWS not simply defeat the shark in the marketplace of ideas?
June 21, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Why do the characters in JAWS not simply defeat the shark in the marketplace of ideas?
Just finished reading David Mitchell's Unruly, a history of English monarchs. Enjoyed it thoroughly. It was irreverently funny and informative in turns, and sometimes simultaneously, and I wouldn't weep in my beer if he wrote more history. #amreading
June 17, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Just finished reading David Mitchell's Unruly, a history of English monarchs. Enjoyed it thoroughly. It was irreverently funny and informative in turns, and sometimes simultaneously, and I wouldn't weep in my beer if he wrote more history. #amreading
For some reason, this strikes me as insanely funny ...
June 16, 2025 at 3:52 AM
For some reason, this strikes me as insanely funny ...
Reposted by James Milton - he/him
@prisonculture.bsky.social and I have been encouraging people to read chapter six of our book, Let This Radicalize You, which deals with the question of "violence" in social movements. We have decided to share the chapter publicly, to offer some context and grounding for the current conversation.
Protest, Power, and the Violence Debate
"We are told we are experiencing peace, so long as everyone is cooperating."
organizingmythoughts.org
June 13, 2025 at 1:49 PM
@prisonculture.bsky.social and I have been encouraging people to read chapter six of our book, Let This Radicalize You, which deals with the question of "violence" in social movements. We have decided to share the chapter publicly, to offer some context and grounding for the current conversation.
Really fascinating discussion of communication with dolphins from a somewhat SETI perspective: youtu.be/qXE4y9bGerA?...
What We Know About Dolphin Minds with Dr. Diana Reiss
YouTube video by Event Horizon
youtu.be
June 7, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Really fascinating discussion of communication with dolphins from a somewhat SETI perspective: youtu.be/qXE4y9bGerA?...
#DoctorWho finale was fun, I suppose. The latest crop of mysteries ... well, resolved doesn't seem the right word. SPOILER...
Then we get the regeneration, & look! A new mystery! Who is Billie Piper really playing, what's going on? Ooooh. Kind of exhausted with cheap Dr Who mysteries.
Then we get the regeneration, & look! A new mystery! Who is Billie Piper really playing, what's going on? Ooooh. Kind of exhausted with cheap Dr Who mysteries.
June 1, 2025 at 10:04 PM
#DoctorWho finale was fun, I suppose. The latest crop of mysteries ... well, resolved doesn't seem the right word. SPOILER...
Then we get the regeneration, & look! A new mystery! Who is Billie Piper really playing, what's going on? Ooooh. Kind of exhausted with cheap Dr Who mysteries.
Then we get the regeneration, & look! A new mystery! Who is Billie Piper really playing, what's going on? Ooooh. Kind of exhausted with cheap Dr Who mysteries.
An exceedingly interesting meditation on AI writing not in terms of assembling prose but as an act of communication. youtu.be/V5wLQ-8eyQI?...
You are a better writer than AI. (Yes, you.)
YouTube video by josh (with parentheses)
youtu.be
May 26, 2025 at 1:59 AM
An exceedingly interesting meditation on AI writing not in terms of assembling prose but as an act of communication. youtu.be/V5wLQ-8eyQI?...
Reposted by James Milton - he/him
A million Americans have died of COVID since this was printed. Reports estimate that hundreds still die of it every week. But the majority got bored of their neighbors' survival.
The alienation is a wound in my heart that has never closed. I try to be kind, but I feel alone everywhere.
The alienation is a wound in my heart that has never closed. I try to be kind, but I feel alone everywhere.
5 years ago: “An incalculable loss”
Today: Banning masks and restricting vaccine access
Today: Banning masks and restricting vaccine access
May 25, 2025 at 9:45 PM
A million Americans have died of COVID since this was printed. Reports estimate that hundreds still die of it every week. But the majority got bored of their neighbors' survival.
The alienation is a wound in my heart that has never closed. I try to be kind, but I feel alone everywhere.
The alienation is a wound in my heart that has never closed. I try to be kind, but I feel alone everywhere.
Reposted by James Milton - he/him
Wearing a mask is not “living in fear”, it’s adapting to reality.
Covid changed things. It’s a multi system vascular virus that spreads through the air.
Its killed & disabled millions.
A well fitted respirator is one of the best ways to live your life while safeguarding long term health.
Covid changed things. It’s a multi system vascular virus that spreads through the air.
Its killed & disabled millions.
A well fitted respirator is one of the best ways to live your life while safeguarding long term health.
May 25, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Wearing a mask is not “living in fear”, it’s adapting to reality.
Covid changed things. It’s a multi system vascular virus that spreads through the air.
Its killed & disabled millions.
A well fitted respirator is one of the best ways to live your life while safeguarding long term health.
Covid changed things. It’s a multi system vascular virus that spreads through the air.
Its killed & disabled millions.
A well fitted respirator is one of the best ways to live your life while safeguarding long term health.
Dang. #DrWho Interstellar Song Contest would have been insanely good without the Mrs Flood reveal. With it, we get the fourth consecutive week of astounding episodes plus extra added goodness (and, you know, the other reveal). Also, loving Ncuti Gatwa in dark mode...
May 17, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Dang. #DrWho Interstellar Song Contest would have been insanely good without the Mrs Flood reveal. With it, we get the fourth consecutive week of astounding episodes plus extra added goodness (and, you know, the other reveal). Also, loving Ncuti Gatwa in dark mode...
I'm a sucker for stories about stories, so latest #DrWho episode "The Story & the Engine" I absolutely loved beyond reason. A perfect gem of a story, beautifully made & performed. Instant classic. #DoctorWho
May 10, 2025 at 10:11 AM
I'm a sucker for stories about stories, so latest #DrWho episode "The Story & the Engine" I absolutely loved beyond reason. A perfect gem of a story, beautifully made & performed. Instant classic. #DoctorWho