Marco Palmieri
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mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Marco Palmieri
@mxpalmieri.bsky.social
1.7K followers 160 following 170 posts
Independent Developmental Editor. Knight Errant. Ronin. Helping storytellers is my passion. Previously: Realm Media • Tor Publishing Group • Simon & Schuster • DC Comics
he/him

mxpalmieri.com

photography: https://www.instagram.com/the_megalopolitan
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mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Everything is terrible, but this made my day.

(Reproduced with the author’s permission and edited for confidentiality.)

#freelance #editor #writingcommunity #amediting
Part 1 of a letter from a client: Dear Marco, A few years ago, you helped me with two books: Soul Binder and Owen Greenley and the Cape of Leaves. I learned a great deal from your developmental edits. You opened my eyes, especially to character agency. I have since then kept working on the projects, working with critique groups, and by some wild luck, I was mentored by [two top executives at a major film studio]. It’s been quite a journey. Part 2 of a letter from a client: I also opened my own publishing company, and this May, I published Soul Binder. The second book in the series, Immortal Alchemy, will be released in September. Two other books are in the wings, one of which is Owen Greenley. All this has also led me to write screenplays and create book trailers with my son. It’s been great to work with him. And here I am, grateful to you, Marco, because you helped me improve my craft. Your input was some of the most valuable in this effort. With deep gratitude and best wishes, Kit Danforth
August 26, 2025 at 3:28 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Marquee sign outside a Brooklyn church reads, “Don’t oppress an immigrant. —Exodus 23.9”
June 29, 2025 at 7:03 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Felt weird. Might delete later.
April 26, 2025 at 5:18 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Share a movie scene that lives rent-free in your head.
April 24, 2025 at 5:55 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
With so many folks excited for Andor Season 2 kicking off in just a couple of days, this is your periodic reminder that writer-director Tony Gilroy's underrated Michael Clayton (2007; George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton) is a fucking masterpiece, and you should all watch it.
Still from Michael Clayton: George Clooney stares at a wall on which has been scrawled "Make believe it's not just madness."
April 20, 2025 at 5:50 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
bring me harry potter
April 10, 2025 at 11:58 AM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Asked for the reason behind this move, the Steward of Gondor said, “The halflings have been very unfair to us. Very unfair.”
A picture of Denethor from “The Return of the King,” framed by a TV new chyron that reads, “DENETHOR’S EXECUTIVE ORDER IMPOSES 300% TARIFF ON TOMATOES FROM THE SHIRE””
April 4, 2025 at 8:33 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
From Timothy Snyder, for The Guardian:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
"The American imperialism directed towards Denmark and Canada is not just morally wrong. It is strategically disastrous. The US has nothing to gain from it, and much to lose. There is nothing that Americans cannot get from Denmark or Canada through alliance. The very existence of the base at Pituffik shows that. Within the atmosphere of friendship that has prevailed the last 80 years, all of the mineral resources of Canada and Greenland can be traded for on good terms, or for that matter explored by American companies. The only way to put all of this easy access in doubt was to follow the course that Musk-Trump have chosen: trade wars with Canada and Europe, and the threat of actual wars and annexations. Musk and Trump are creating the bloodily moronic situation in which the US will have to fight wars to get the things that, just a few weeks ago, were there for the asking. And, of course, wars rarely turn out the way one expects. Much effort is spent trying to extract a doctrine from all this. But there is none. It is just senselessness that benefits America’s enemies. Hans Christian Andersen told the unforgettable tale of the naked emperor. In Greenland, what we saw was American imperialism with no clothes. Naked and vain."
March 31, 2025 at 1:58 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Very late to the party, but last night I finished a month-long, first-time watch of The Americans, the cold war spy drama with Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys. Riveting stuff.
Black & white photo of Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as Elizabeth and Philip from The Americans.
March 29, 2025 at 2:27 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
“[Speculative Fiction] does not predict. It does the opposite of predicting. It contests. SF demands we always seek out alternatives, where we find something far better than fatalistic optimism: we find hope. Hope is the belief that if we make a change that betters our circumstances, that from our new vantage point we will espy a previously obscured next step that will bring us closer to a better future. Hope is how we’ll get through the polycrisis.”
March 28, 2025 at 12:55 AM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pics, where are you mentally?
Sidewalk placard reads, “According to science, alcohol is a solution.”
March 21, 2025 at 6:47 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
― George Orwell

From Don Moynihan:
The representation of women or LGBTQ people or Hispanics or Asian Americans or Black people mattered because their stories had historically not been featured. Erasing them is not a return to some bygone era of color-blind merit, but of blindness to the contribution of anyone who did not fit Trump's whitewashed vision of America. The Trump presidency is, as much as anything, a project of purging and erasing large parts of America, of people, ideas, capacities, and knowledge. Trump has also pledged to remove the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which is an independent federal agency that supports libraries, archives and museums in America. A presidential campaign built on the Big Lie, and incorporating lots of little lies, is intolerant of images, voices or evidence at odds with its worldview. It has only one vision of America in mind, much of it fanciful, and so it will erase anyone not part of that narrative.
March 16, 2025 at 9:48 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
From Don Moynihan:

donmoynihan.substack.com/p/whitewashi...
Except from article at link: The word "diversity" itself, and "fairness" are too dangerous to survive, painted over to avoid offending the new administration. (“Leadership", "compassion" and "integrity" are also no longer welcome at the FBI).
March 16, 2025 at 9:00 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Post by Amanda Hu: "Friendly reminder that anti-intellectualism is an authoritarian tactic that is used to control a population by robbing people of the tools to understand and solve problems, foster innovation and build up communities. Education gives people power to improve their conditions."
March 15, 2025 at 3:41 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
From the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, published in 1949.
Quote from Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell: “Thoughtcrime, they called it. Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed for ever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you. It was always at night -- the arrests invariably happened at night.”
March 13, 2025 at 12:31 AM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
From Adam Serwer: “This is what is important: It does not matter if you approve of Khalil's views. It does not matter it you support the Israelis or the Palestinians. It does not matter if you are a liberal or a conservative. It does not even matter if you voted for Trump or Kamala Harris. If the state can deprive an individual of his freedom just because of his politics, which is what appears to have happened here, then no one is safe. You may believe that Khalil does not deserve free speech or due process. But if he does not have them, then neither do you. Neither do I.”
March 11, 2025 at 6:01 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
Musk, Trump, and Vance standing together.
March 10, 2025 at 9:55 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Another week of dystopian hellscape, another comfort-food Friday.
Homemade brown rice with chicken and mixed vegetables.
March 8, 2025 at 1:21 AM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Think you'll need a developmental edit or editorial assessment next year? Plan ahead! I'm currently booking for 2026!

I have 29 years of professional experience in genre storytelling.

Honest, direct, easygoing, upbeat, encouraging.

mxpalmieri.com

#amediting #freelance #editor #writingcommunity
Banner for my web site, mxpalmieri.com: Editor of Imaginary Worlds—genre fiction, audio dramas, narrative games, and more.
March 7, 2025 at 4:05 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Reminder that this is happening tomorrow, Friday the 28th.

And related to my last post, find yourself an indie bookseller and buy a banned book.
Poster promoting the Feb 28 Economic Boycott. If you have to make purchases, seek out small businesses only. Pay cash.
February 27, 2025 at 4:24 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Meme by God account on FB: “All billionaires must explain what they got done each week for society or have their wealth seized.”
February 25, 2025 at 3:54 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
From D. L. Mayfield:
Writer D. L. Mayfield’s advice for resisting fascism.
February 20, 2025 at 10:10 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Drop a picture of yourself and turn it B&W
B&W selfie.
February 20, 2025 at 4:43 AM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Terrify them.
February 19, 2025 at 1:51 PM
mxpalmieri.bsky.social
Smokey dying because I haven’t fed him yet.
My cat faking his own demise from imagined starvation.
February 17, 2025 at 10:44 PM