john
@johnamitchell.bsky.social
Multi-genre writer, esp. speculative fiction.
The right-leaning prepper space is awash with claims there's been some kind of reveal recently proving covid was fake or a pretense or something (False. Covid, like climate change, is real and dangerous -- and ongoing).
Jessica Wildfire writes about the challenge of finding 'collapse community:'
Jessica Wildfire writes about the challenge of finding 'collapse community:'
September 22, 2025 at 8:58 AM
The right-leaning prepper space is awash with claims there's been some kind of reveal recently proving covid was fake or a pretense or something (False. Covid, like climate change, is real and dangerous -- and ongoing).
Jessica Wildfire writes about the challenge of finding 'collapse community:'
Jessica Wildfire writes about the challenge of finding 'collapse community:'
Sucks at the Canadian border too.
September 3, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Sucks at the Canadian border too.
Want to buy a musical instrument from Italy? Will the tariff tax be 4.2% or 40 %? Who can say.
And if you figure the correct answer to that, who's to say the poor bastards at US Customs trying to make sense of this might not charge you some other random amount? 🤷♀️
And if you figure the correct answer to that, who's to say the poor bastards at US Customs trying to make sense of this might not charge you some other random amount? 🤷♀️
September 3, 2025 at 3:46 AM
Want to buy a musical instrument from Italy? Will the tariff tax be 4.2% or 40 %? Who can say.
And if you figure the correct answer to that, who's to say the poor bastards at US Customs trying to make sense of this might not charge you some other random amount? 🤷♀️
And if you figure the correct answer to that, who's to say the poor bastards at US Customs trying to make sense of this might not charge you some other random amount? 🤷♀️
At best, companies are confused too. At worst, they don't give a shit: They make the sale then leave US buyers holding the bag our fucked up president handed us.
September 3, 2025 at 3:31 AM
At best, companies are confused too. At worst, they don't give a shit: They make the sale then leave US buyers holding the bag our fucked up president handed us.
Tariff reporting in the US has been dishonest, framed entirely as a business story -- whether or how much ennobled companies will absorb the tariffs -- with costs maybe dribbling up later in the form of rising prices.
Tariff bills are coming to people now if they buy something that crossed a border.
Tariff bills are coming to people now if they buy something that crossed a border.
September 3, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Tariff reporting in the US has been dishonest, framed entirely as a business story -- whether or how much ennobled companies will absorb the tariffs -- with costs maybe dribbling up later in the form of rising prices.
Tariff bills are coming to people now if they buy something that crossed a border.
Tariff bills are coming to people now if they buy something that crossed a border.
Blowing up the de mimimis exemption on top of Trump's ongoing tariff eruptions has maybe convinced a lot of businesses to shut down until stability is restored.
August 31, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Blowing up the de mimimis exemption on top of Trump's ongoing tariff eruptions has maybe convinced a lot of businesses to shut down until stability is restored.
Joseph Smeaton Chase, from his best-selling “California Desert Trails” published in 1919, on the Joshua tree.
August 18, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Joseph Smeaton Chase, from his best-selling “California Desert Trails” published in 1919, on the Joshua tree.
LA Times link is paywalled.
Whatever they're getting up to in CA, nature has, or once had, means to deal with threats like climate change all on its own.
Here is environmental writer Chris Clarke's long-form essay on how that might have worked for the Joshua tree.
www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbou...
Whatever they're getting up to in CA, nature has, or once had, means to deal with threats like climate change all on its own.
Here is environmental writer Chris Clarke's long-form essay on how that might have worked for the Joshua tree.
www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbou...
August 18, 2025 at 2:32 PM
LA Times link is paywalled.
Whatever they're getting up to in CA, nature has, or once had, means to deal with threats like climate change all on its own.
Here is environmental writer Chris Clarke's long-form essay on how that might have worked for the Joshua tree.
www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbou...
Whatever they're getting up to in CA, nature has, or once had, means to deal with threats like climate change all on its own.
Here is environmental writer Chris Clarke's long-form essay on how that might have worked for the Joshua tree.
www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbou...
Free link --
My father was poor but read everything he could get his hands on, including some of the doomer/survivalist stuff that ended up in the used book bins.
He said if the govt ever used the military against US civilians it would move troops out of their home regions, the idea being...
My father was poor but read everything he could get his hands on, including some of the doomer/survivalist stuff that ended up in the used book bins.
He said if the govt ever used the military against US civilians it would move troops out of their home regions, the idea being...
August 16, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Free link --
My father was poor but read everything he could get his hands on, including some of the doomer/survivalist stuff that ended up in the used book bins.
He said if the govt ever used the military against US civilians it would move troops out of their home regions, the idea being...
My father was poor but read everything he could get his hands on, including some of the doomer/survivalist stuff that ended up in the used book bins.
He said if the govt ever used the military against US civilians it would move troops out of their home regions, the idea being...
What Finland is doing...
August 3, 2025 at 3:48 AM
What Finland is doing...
Chemical safety board: Not just a Texas story.
Guardrails coming off everywhere.
capitalandmain.com/trump-admini...
Guardrails coming off everywhere.
capitalandmain.com/trump-admini...
August 1, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Chemical safety board: Not just a Texas story.
Guardrails coming off everywhere.
capitalandmain.com/trump-admini...
Guardrails coming off everywhere.
capitalandmain.com/trump-admini...
Rump will likely use a sharpened stick on the blue states during the Medicaid apocalypse.
July 24, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Rump will likely use a sharpened stick on the blue states during the Medicaid apocalypse.
This author's reverential fascination with nature and the life of the garden sings in her writing. She conjures evocative, haunting images as her characters traverse the arbor worlds various gods have carved out of chaos.
And I wanted to follow that song but got tripped up and lost on the way.
And I wanted to follow that song but got tripped up and lost on the way.
July 23, 2025 at 1:25 AM
This author's reverential fascination with nature and the life of the garden sings in her writing. She conjures evocative, haunting images as her characters traverse the arbor worlds various gods have carved out of chaos.
And I wanted to follow that song but got tripped up and lost on the way.
And I wanted to follow that song but got tripped up and lost on the way.
Murder, mystery, historical fiction. Protagonist Red (later Rachel) seeks her birth mother among warring scions of a duplicitous, dangerous, and very wealthy London family. An enjoyably twisty narrative that grows more convoluted as ties among characters, major and minor, proliferate in revelation.
July 21, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Murder, mystery, historical fiction. Protagonist Red (later Rachel) seeks her birth mother among warring scions of a duplicitous, dangerous, and very wealthy London family. An enjoyably twisty narrative that grows more convoluted as ties among characters, major and minor, proliferate in revelation.
New arrivals
Excited for Bora Chung's Red Sword, her 1st novel in translation (Anton Hur).
Fields of Play by Robert Hayashi, gift from a friend. Intriguing.
A Whisper in the Dark by Elizabeth Devecchi, a Bluesky discovery from that brief period when the follow/follow-back ethos had a moment here.
Excited for Bora Chung's Red Sword, her 1st novel in translation (Anton Hur).
Fields of Play by Robert Hayashi, gift from a friend. Intriguing.
A Whisper in the Dark by Elizabeth Devecchi, a Bluesky discovery from that brief period when the follow/follow-back ethos had a moment here.
July 21, 2025 at 12:36 PM
New arrivals
Excited for Bora Chung's Red Sword, her 1st novel in translation (Anton Hur).
Fields of Play by Robert Hayashi, gift from a friend. Intriguing.
A Whisper in the Dark by Elizabeth Devecchi, a Bluesky discovery from that brief period when the follow/follow-back ethos had a moment here.
Excited for Bora Chung's Red Sword, her 1st novel in translation (Anton Hur).
Fields of Play by Robert Hayashi, gift from a friend. Intriguing.
A Whisper in the Dark by Elizabeth Devecchi, a Bluesky discovery from that brief period when the follow/follow-back ethos had a moment here.
I know this looks like one of my book review posts but this is actually a craft post (And yes, recommended. Everybody should read this).
After reading the short story "Cursed Bunny" last night, I immediately thought of a craft essay I read years ago by Chuck Palahniuk titled, "Hiding a Gun."
After reading the short story "Cursed Bunny" last night, I immediately thought of a craft essay I read years ago by Chuck Palahniuk titled, "Hiding a Gun."
July 5, 2025 at 10:23 PM
I know this looks like one of my book review posts but this is actually a craft post (And yes, recommended. Everybody should read this).
After reading the short story "Cursed Bunny" last night, I immediately thought of a craft essay I read years ago by Chuck Palahniuk titled, "Hiding a Gun."
After reading the short story "Cursed Bunny" last night, I immediately thought of a craft essay I read years ago by Chuck Palahniuk titled, "Hiding a Gun."
3 weeks ago this was reported, but it wasn't urgent as the military said the request was under review.
The news now is that they approved, but (not in the Stars and Stripes story) the National Guard will only be activated under state authority, and so only present if your governor agrees to it.
The news now is that they approved, but (not in the Stars and Stripes story) the National Guard will only be activated under state authority, and so only present if your governor agrees to it.
June 6, 2025 at 12:45 PM
3 weeks ago this was reported, but it wasn't urgent as the military said the request was under review.
The news now is that they approved, but (not in the Stars and Stripes story) the National Guard will only be activated under state authority, and so only present if your governor agrees to it.
The news now is that they approved, but (not in the Stars and Stripes story) the National Guard will only be activated under state authority, and so only present if your governor agrees to it.
How it started, how it's going...
June 2, 2025 at 4:40 AM
How it started, how it's going...
Urban portal fantasy. Some magic users break through from another universe and take a handful of humans back after hijinks.
I didn't care about the characters or what they were trying to do in their personal arcs. The larger stakes weren't made less vague until the last 75 pgs.
#bookreviews
❤️🧙♂️⚔️
💙📚
I didn't care about the characters or what they were trying to do in their personal arcs. The larger stakes weren't made less vague until the last 75 pgs.
#bookreviews
❤️🧙♂️⚔️
💙📚
May 31, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Urban portal fantasy. Some magic users break through from another universe and take a handful of humans back after hijinks.
I didn't care about the characters or what they were trying to do in their personal arcs. The larger stakes weren't made less vague until the last 75 pgs.
#bookreviews
❤️🧙♂️⚔️
💙📚
I didn't care about the characters or what they were trying to do in their personal arcs. The larger stakes weren't made less vague until the last 75 pgs.
#bookreviews
❤️🧙♂️⚔️
💙📚
Time to lift a nonfiction choice to the top of the pile.
May 30, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Time to lift a nonfiction choice to the top of the pile.
Eddie Flynn is an ex-conman turned lawyer with a heart of gold who only takes clients he believes are innocent.
Sure, he has a sharp mind for the letter of the law, but he's clever with the use of props and stunts, and good at tripping up hostile witnesses in the cross.
Sure, he has a sharp mind for the letter of the law, but he's clever with the use of props and stunts, and good at tripping up hostile witnesses in the cross.
May 29, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Eddie Flynn is an ex-conman turned lawyer with a heart of gold who only takes clients he believes are innocent.
Sure, he has a sharp mind for the letter of the law, but he's clever with the use of props and stunts, and good at tripping up hostile witnesses in the cross.
Sure, he has a sharp mind for the letter of the law, but he's clever with the use of props and stunts, and good at tripping up hostile witnesses in the cross.
A sci-fi legal and political thriller.
Writing with brevity and clarity, Bhatia draws on a significant store of historical knowledge of civil wars and revolutionary uprisings to build a city riven in two, a geography of class conflict: the Commune and High Town.
Writing with brevity and clarity, Bhatia draws on a significant store of historical knowledge of civil wars and revolutionary uprisings to build a city riven in two, a geography of class conflict: the Commune and High Town.
May 23, 2025 at 2:00 AM
A sci-fi legal and political thriller.
Writing with brevity and clarity, Bhatia draws on a significant store of historical knowledge of civil wars and revolutionary uprisings to build a city riven in two, a geography of class conflict: the Commune and High Town.
Writing with brevity and clarity, Bhatia draws on a significant store of historical knowledge of civil wars and revolutionary uprisings to build a city riven in two, a geography of class conflict: the Commune and High Town.
Insightful -- and awful. Not an unhinged laugh-riot despite what the reviews say. If you have one of those mouthguards to prevent grinding your teeth while you sleep, wear it while you read this.
I don't envy the author whichever seven hells he had to traverse to research these characters.
I don't envy the author whichever seven hells he had to traverse to research these characters.
May 21, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Insightful -- and awful. Not an unhinged laugh-riot despite what the reviews say. If you have one of those mouthguards to prevent grinding your teeth while you sleep, wear it while you read this.
I don't envy the author whichever seven hells he had to traverse to research these characters.
I don't envy the author whichever seven hells he had to traverse to research these characters.
Mirror in the bathroom of Trump's new sky palace plane.
May 12, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Mirror in the bathroom of Trump's new sky palace plane.