Francesco Dimitri
@messapianfrank.bsky.social
Author. Making the world stranger one book at a time.
Instagram: @messpianfrank
Telegram channel: https://t.me/messapianfrank
Instagram: @messpianfrank
Telegram channel: https://t.me/messapianfrank
A terrific read reactormag.com/avoid-magic-...
“Avoid Magic”: Le Guin’s Case for “Solitude” in the Era of Romantasy - Reactor
Weighed against the narrative perfection of a Happily Ever After, can there be pleasure in remaining alone?
reactormag.com
December 12, 2025 at 9:53 AM
A terrific read reactormag.com/avoid-magic-...
Reposted by Francesco Dimitri
Reposted by Francesco Dimitri
It's hard to believe, but 2025 means Romanitas has been in print for 20 years. A modern world where the Roman Empire never fell. If that sounds good to you, the ebook's just £0.99 for the anniversary all this month! www.amazon.co.uk/Romanitas-1-...
November 1, 2025 at 1:05 PM
It's hard to believe, but 2025 means Romanitas has been in print for 20 years. A modern world where the Roman Empire never fell. If that sounds good to you, the ebook's just £0.99 for the anniversary all this month! www.amazon.co.uk/Romanitas-1-...
Yanez su Repubblica!
October 14, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Yanez su Repubblica!
Oceano Pacifico, diciannovesimo secolo. Yanez de Gomera percorre i mari con il Gabbiano di Lisbona, commerciando in sete damascate e diamanti del Borneo. Ma un giorno la sua nave subisce l’assalto dei pirati. In pochi minuti, Yanez capisce che la battaglia è persa…
October 1, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Oceano Pacifico, diciannovesimo secolo. Yanez de Gomera percorre i mari con il Gabbiano di Lisbona, commerciando in sete damascate e diamanti del Borneo. Ma un giorno la sua nave subisce l’assalto dei pirati. In pochi minuti, Yanez capisce che la battaglia è persa…
Reposted by Francesco Dimitri
Watched Superman over the weekend and the most unrealistic part of the film was the notion that an expose of Lex Luthor by a major media outlet actually harmed his reputation.
September 22, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Watched Superman over the weekend and the most unrealistic part of the film was the notion that an expose of Lex Luthor by a major media outlet actually harmed his reputation.
Slightly diminish a book
The Lord of the Fruit Flies
The Lord of the Fruit Flies
Slightly diminish a book
The Green Man’s Kerfuffle 😛
The Green Man’s Kerfuffle 😛
Slightly diminish a book
The Thief's Safe Bet
The Thief's Safe Bet
September 8, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Slightly diminish a book
The Lord of the Fruit Flies
The Lord of the Fruit Flies
“You are the violent ones. You who hide behind schools and prisons, you who impose your laws, your morality onto us. Why should we treat you better than you have treated us? You have ripped magic from us, you have polluted sex, you have erased the Enchantment from the world.
September 1, 2025 at 4:50 PM
“You are the violent ones. You who hide behind schools and prisons, you who impose your laws, your morality onto us. Why should we treat you better than you have treated us? You have ripped magic from us, you have polluted sex, you have erased the Enchantment from the world.
Reposted by Francesco Dimitri
This is so key. A real problem of writing genre is you can get tricked into thinking genre-normal is actual-normal and unmoor your characters' responses to it, which renders everything weightless nonsense.
This is, as it happens, a lot like the storytelling advice Jack Kirby once gave me. He said that as long as your characters react like real people with real feelings, then no matter how far out you get, the audience will follow you.
On the other hand, if you believe the people on the street as real-seeming people on a real-seeming street, when they say "Look, up in the sky!" and see something weird, you're more likely to buy into the weird thing as real, because the people and place and their reactions make sense.
July 21, 2025 at 6:40 AM
This is so key. A real problem of writing genre is you can get tricked into thinking genre-normal is actual-normal and unmoor your characters' responses to it, which renders everything weightless nonsense.
Paola’s thoughts on holidays and how to make them work for you - check it out, on Psychologies’ latest issue! Psychotherapy is a life’s journey.
www.psychologies.co.uk/6-ways-to-av...
www.psychologies.co.uk/6-ways-to-av...
6 ways to avoid holiday guilt and actually enjoy your break
Discover the five obstacles to enjoying your holiday (and six ways to make them better), with clinical psychologist Paola Filotico Holidays are an
www.psychologies.co.uk
July 16, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Paola’s thoughts on holidays and how to make them work for you - check it out, on Psychologies’ latest issue! Psychotherapy is a life’s journey.
www.psychologies.co.uk/6-ways-to-av...
www.psychologies.co.uk/6-ways-to-av...
Reposted by Francesco Dimitri
The better you are at a thing, the more "AI" will be a drag on your time, because it's operating at a lower level of skill than you are, and you have to fix what it does, rather than just do what you already know how to do.
July 14, 2025 at 8:30 PM
The better you are at a thing, the more "AI" will be a drag on your time, because it's operating at a lower level of skill than you are, and you have to fix what it does, rather than just do what you already know how to do.
Reposted by Francesco Dimitri
"I DON'T WANT YOUR STUPID MAGIC RULES" has been an item on my "column topics for someday" list for a very long time, so it was very fun to see it cropping up all over my feed this week!
Anyway if you like rules I'm happy for you but I'm not reading all that. This one is for the chaos babies.
Anyway if you like rules I'm happy for you but I'm not reading all that. This one is for the chaos babies.
Magic Doesn't Have to Make Sense - Reactor
In praise of fantasy that embraces rebellious, lawless, and delightfully un-rulebound magic.
reactormag.com
May 22, 2025 at 3:09 PM
"I DON'T WANT YOUR STUPID MAGIC RULES" has been an item on my "column topics for someday" list for a very long time, so it was very fun to see it cropping up all over my feed this week!
Anyway if you like rules I'm happy for you but I'm not reading all that. This one is for the chaos babies.
Anyway if you like rules I'm happy for you but I'm not reading all that. This one is for the chaos babies.
‘The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.’
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Ministers block Lords bid to make AI firms declare use of copyrighted content
Government uses arcane procedure to strip amendment passed by House of Lords from its data bill
www.theguardian.com
May 15, 2025 at 10:18 AM
‘The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.’
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you - maybe they’re right, you know.
May 10, 2025 at 9:45 AM
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you - maybe they’re right, you know.
Reposted by Francesco Dimitri
The zero-sum mindset is no mystery: on.ft.com/44vZbH9
The zero‑sum mindset is no mystery
[FREE TO READ] Stefanie Stantcheva’s economic survey of US citizens deserves the acclaim it has received
on.ft.com
May 9, 2025 at 7:20 AM
The zero-sum mindset is no mystery: on.ft.com/44vZbH9
Reposted by Francesco Dimitri
Good to see, but the ongoing decline in writing incomes is surely the biggest factor in driving out 'working class' writers. As with other creative industries.
UK-wide initiative launched to tackle marginalisation of working-class writers
UK-wide initiative launched to tackle marginalisation of working-class writers
New Writing North’s literary venture The Bee includes magazine and podcast, and is supported by Michael Sheen
Writing and publishing in the UK is in crisis, with a growing marginalisation of working-class people whose stories and experiences are not being heard, the backers of a new literary magazine and platform have argued.
The Early May bank holiday has been chosen for the launch of The Bee, a UK-wide initiative that will include a website, literary magazine, podcast and outreach programme. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
May 5, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Good to see, but the ongoing decline in writing incomes is surely the biggest factor in driving out 'working class' writers. As with other creative industries.
Reposted by Francesco Dimitri
Cover reveal! Writing the Magic will be published on 18 September. 13 brand new essays by:
Francesco Dimitri, Hannah Kaner, RJ Barker, Kritika H. Rao, Juliet E McKenna, Jen Williams, Jeff Noon, Alex Pheby, James Worrad, Richard W. Strachan, Charlotte Bond, Katherine Langrish & Lucy Holland.
Francesco Dimitri, Hannah Kaner, RJ Barker, Kritika H. Rao, Juliet E McKenna, Jen Williams, Jeff Noon, Alex Pheby, James Worrad, Richard W. Strachan, Charlotte Bond, Katherine Langrish & Lucy Holland.
April 16, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Cover reveal! Writing the Magic will be published on 18 September. 13 brand new essays by:
Francesco Dimitri, Hannah Kaner, RJ Barker, Kritika H. Rao, Juliet E McKenna, Jen Williams, Jeff Noon, Alex Pheby, James Worrad, Richard W. Strachan, Charlotte Bond, Katherine Langrish & Lucy Holland.
Francesco Dimitri, Hannah Kaner, RJ Barker, Kritika H. Rao, Juliet E McKenna, Jen Williams, Jeff Noon, Alex Pheby, James Worrad, Richard W. Strachan, Charlotte Bond, Katherine Langrish & Lucy Holland.
Reposted by Francesco Dimitri
It’s always weird realising that people will pay more for a blank Moleskine notebook than for a novel.
April 8, 2025 at 9:37 AM
It’s always weird realising that people will pay more for a blank Moleskine notebook than for a novel.
Reposted by Francesco Dimitri
the GenAI trend of the 'studio ghibli style' is especially insidious and malicious because of how outspokenly scathing Miyazaki has been toward the tech. why not CalArts style or Disney style or literally any other style. why ghibli specifically.
it's always about contempt for artists, every time
it's always about contempt for artists, every time
March 27, 2025 at 9:16 AM
the GenAI trend of the 'studio ghibli style' is especially insidious and malicious because of how outspokenly scathing Miyazaki has been toward the tech. why not CalArts style or Disney style or literally any other style. why ghibli specifically.
it's always about contempt for artists, every time
it's always about contempt for artists, every time
Just finished reading Chapel Perilous, @propanon.bsky.social ‘s bio of RAW, one of my intellectual heroes and main influences. Do check it out. It’s a wonderful book. All hail Discordia, today more than ever.
March 23, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Just finished reading Chapel Perilous, @propanon.bsky.social ‘s bio of RAW, one of my intellectual heroes and main influences. Do check it out. It’s a wonderful book. All hail Discordia, today more than ever.
There goes the neighbourhood.
March 14, 2025 at 4:13 PM
There goes the neighbourhood.
Reposted by Francesco Dimitri
I'm passing this on as US friends might have missed this post by the always-insightful UK legal commentator David Allen Green. “What is happening in the United States can happen elsewhere," he writes. "It can happen here.“
NEW
By me
Thinking about a revolution
Some things are changing rather fundamentally and the way we think should perhaps change too
Includes Monty Python, Yeats, and C.S.Lewis
Substack: emptycity.substack.com/p/thinking-a...
Personal blog: davidallengreen.com/2025/03/thin...
By me
Thinking about a revolution
Some things are changing rather fundamentally and the way we think should perhaps change too
Includes Monty Python, Yeats, and C.S.Lewis
Substack: emptycity.substack.com/p/thinking-a...
Personal blog: davidallengreen.com/2025/03/thin...
Thinking about a revolution
Some things are changing rather fundamentally and the way we think should perhaps change too
emptycity.substack.com
March 6, 2025 at 9:05 AM
I'm passing this on as US friends might have missed this post by the always-insightful UK legal commentator David Allen Green. “What is happening in the United States can happen elsewhere," he writes. "It can happen here.“