If you're in the Bay Area #sfba and/or are going to LitQuake, I'll be doing an event on 10/12 with amazing cartoonist Lee Lai and critic Soleil Ho about food and recovering from disaster. You really don't want to miss this.

Litquake 2025: Disaster, with a Side of Noodles

View more about this event at Litquake 2025

Flies are glimmering iridescent creatures who float upon the air. And yet most humans think they are disgusting. What would it take to convince you that they are beautiful, jeweled microfauna?

In case you are like me and have always wondered what was in garum, the iconic fermented fish oil popular in the ancient Roman world: At last, we have an answer! Archaeologists analyzing DNA in an Iberian garum workshop have discovered ... SARDINES! (Obviously people might have used different fish in other areas, which will be the focus of future studies.)

Cambridge Core

Roman Atlantic garum: DNA confirms sardine use and population continuity in north-western Iberia | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

Roman Atlantic garum: DNA confirms sardine use and population continuity in north-western Iberia - Volume 99 Issue 406

I'm slated to speak at an event where the host refuses to ask the audience to mask because "they are pouring wine." COVID levels are currently high in California (where the event takes place) and nobody will have gotten their vaccines for the new strains yet. My partner is immuno-compromised, so this is a life-and-death issue in my family. I am traveling to the event on my own dime, to perform for free. All I ask is that the audience mask FOR AT MOST 90 MINUTES. Why is this so hard?

I keep wondering if all the ants who are hanging around in the nest seemingly doing nothing are in fact totally vibing to some pheromone-based anternet memes. https://www.nature.com/articles/srep20846

Infrared and Ultraviolet have discovered pillow fort technology. #catsofmastodon

This is coconuts. I was using PirateShip, an app for buying and managing mailing labels. When I entered the window for printing a label, a dialog box popped up asking me if I wanted the document summarized by AI. The document, to be clear, was a mailing label that I was in the process of printing.

If you're waiting for your bookstore or library to get more copies of Automatic Noodle, never fear! We've gone into a second printing (after just two weeks!) and fresh noodles will arrive shortly!

OMG "Automatic Noodle" is an instant USA Today and Indie bestseller!! AAAAAAA! Thank you so much for making this happen, humans! (I suspect some bots are reading the ebook too.)

If you are at #worldcon today I have a reading at 4:30 in room 428! I'll read from Automatic Noodle and give you a sneak reading of my WIP, about a slime mold who is a graduate student! Plus I have some stickers!! #bookstodon