B. Pladek's avatar

B. Pladek

@bpladek.bsky.social

233 followers 273 following 219 posts

Ben. Literature scholar & writer; Ass. Prof. of English at Marquette University. He/they. Debut DRY LAND out now from UWP: tinyurl.com/4mpasvyy
website: bpladek.net

Reposted by B. Pladek

Natalia Theodoridou's avatar Natalia Theodoridou @nassos.bsky.social
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I have a new story in this!
"Aktis Aeliou, or the Machine of Margot's Destruction" is science fantasy about Greek gods in space, needy love, and running towards oneself.
clarkesworldmagazine.com/theodoridou_...

2 replies 14 reposts 33 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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thank you so much! <3 and ditto, I'm always grateful to SH (they remain my favorite SFF market) but esp for this; I didn't even send it to them for ages bc I was afraid they'd reject it and I love them so much I couldn't have dealt with it, lol

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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I'm posting overmuch about this one but it's really fucking important to me & there were years when I thought I'd never sell it. it's abt so many things I care abt: our need to see ourself in books; queer community's vexed relation to history; what the past can & can't do for us.

1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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!! so grateful to @mariahaskins.bsky.social for including my beloved @strangehorizons.bsky.social story in her monthly round-up: "This story quite simply knocks my socks off as it combines a very personal story with a big dollop of surrealism, timey-wimey stuff, and incisive thoughts on art."

1 replies 2 reposts 4 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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I can't wait to read this (and it's cool I'm in it)--roster of brilliant writers I was already a fan of, fantastic editorial team, and also this cover is sick

0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes

Reposted by B. Pladek

Psychopomp's avatar Psychopomp @psychopomp.bsky.social
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we usually do our cover reveals in the morning

but why?

we're Psychopomp--we are creatures of the NIGHT

so here it is: the cover reveal for

Afterlives: The Year's Best Death Stories 2023

curated by @vajra.me

also available for PREORDER (do it. preorder it)

+click through for the full cover+

4 replies 24 reposts 59 likes

Reposted by B. Pladek

Vajra Chandrasekera's avatar Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me
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Cover reveal for AFTERLIVES!!! This is a truly brilliant book, with stories from some of the best writers working in contemporary short SFF. It's out next month, and you can (and definitely should!) preorder it now!

4 replies 12 reposts 49 likes

Reposted by B. Pladek

Reposted by B. Pladek

manu chander (he/him)'s avatar manu chander (he/him) @profchander.bsky.social
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twenty thousand children

4 replies 192 reposts 257 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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nope, had to google it -- didn't even know that novel existed! the intertexts here (beyond Mary Renault, the obvious) are Hope Mirrlees and early English fantasy

2 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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YESSSSSS <3 <3 (holding out for the Hugo and/or WFA to make a trifecta!)

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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YES YES YES!!! <3 <3 it's so satisfying to see your book get the recognition it should!!

1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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ooo if we're both at ICFA next year let's put a pin in this to talk abt it bc I'm also fascinated by it; like, it's critical that suffering isn't *inherently* meaningful (hello religious exploitation of varied flavors) but that we can choose to find meaning there, but it's a fine needle to thread

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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no worries and apologies for same!! I am wretched at socials these days lol

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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like not to be maudlin but the RNC is coming to my city in a few weeks & I needed your story bc it underlines that what we suffer can be turned to care, what they do to us need not define us, we can turn death, even ours, into a shield. <3

2 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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it was a really moving retelling of an incredibly difficult (and real) story---especially those final few paragraphs. <3

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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!! I spy both @dracopoullos.bsky.social's gutting, defiant tale of a ghost who transmutes the rage of her own violent death into another's queer survival & my @strangehorizons.bsky.social story abt the complexity of queer ancestry where a trans guy dream-meets a beloved author he hopes was trans too

1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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I love SH and the work they publish, especially their special issues and book reviews, which are among the best in the field. They're also lightyears in front of what other mags are doing in terms of opening SFF to new voices. Please donate to keep them running!

0 replies 7 reposts 10 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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If you want a copy of my debut DRY LAND (gay forester in WWI discovers martyrdom =/= ecology), UW Press is having a Pride sale: 30% off w the code PRIDE24WISC Their queer backlist is great too, including the only recent republication of Two Selves, the 20thc transish bildung by my fav, Bryher.

1 replies 5 reposts 11 likes

Reposted by B. Pladek

Vajra Chandrasekera's avatar Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me
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We ask you to boost gazafunds.com and encourage your readers, fans, supporters and well-wishers to adopt and promote individual fundraisers.

1 replies 44 reposts 42 likes

Reposted by B. Pladek

Vajra Chandrasekera's avatar Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me
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We ask you to boost the Gaza Municipality's fundraiser. This is the single most important thing that you can do in this hour, with ANY spotlight that you find yourself fortunate enough to occupy. gaza-city.ensany.com/campaign/6737

1 replies 56 reposts 36 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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thank you so much for reading! <3

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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Reposting bc I've heard this story's spoken to some folks. <3 My fav story I've written is up @strangehorizons.bsky.social--about our love for books & history & our need to see ourselves in them. A trans guy meets a beloved author in a dream, who he suspects was trans too. Then stuff gets weird.

1 replies 6 reposts 7 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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<3 thank you so much for saying this. This story is the most personal thing I've ever written and imho one of my best, so it means so much to hear it spoke to you.

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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New story from me @strangehorizons.bsky.social, my favorite I've written so far. It's about our love for books & history & our need to see ourselves in them.

A trans guy meets a beloved author in a dream, who he suspects was trans too. Then stuff gets weird.

2 replies 9 reposts 21 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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New story from me @strangehorizons.bsky.social, my favorite I've written so far. It's about our love for books & history & our need to see ourselves in them.

A trans guy meets a beloved author in a dream, who he suspects was trans too. Then stuff gets weird.

2 replies 9 reposts 21 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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Thank you so much for reading!

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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hey Marquette people & everyone else whose uni admin is slashing their budgets because of "headwinds in higher ed": here's the actual story behind the MU $31M cuts.

tl;dr: our leadership mismanaged our $$ and is making faculty/staff pay for it.
tinyurl.com/budgettimeline

0 replies 9 reposts 13 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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hey Marquette people & everyone else whose uni admin is slashing their budgets because of "headwinds in higher ed": here's the actual story behind the MU $31M cuts.

tl;dr: our leadership mismanaged our $$ and is making faculty/staff pay for it.
tinyurl.com/budgettimeline

0 replies 9 reposts 13 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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it's a hell of a novel!!

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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Marquette students, your peers wrote a great open letter you can still sign! please share widely if you don't want to pay $50k/year for bigger classes, fewer programs, & profs w less time for you bc they're doing more work: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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hey there Marquette students, workers, and parents! please follow this instagram account run by MU students who are fighting the $31M budget cuts & very understandably don't want their teachers fired or their majors shuttered: instagram.com/muforthefutu...

1 replies 1 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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stoked to death (!) to be appearing in this antho, among an amazingly talented TOC, from a rad press, & edited by the magnificent @vajra.me!!

2 replies 1 reposts 11 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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yep. & our students will eventually stop coming. the $ mismanagement's bled into no $ for maintenance too: dorms are outdated/leaky/catching-on-fire, classroom buildings have busted heaters & black mold. no smart student would pay $50k+/year for this (& mine are telling me so. they're PISSED)

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B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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we didn't even take on debt -- we just chopped new construction DIRECTLY out of operating (we secured much less donor $$ than usual too). so the pretext is barely a fig leaf. they just want to gut the liberal arts.

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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not on socials bc busy fighting MU admin's financial mismanagement, but if you're at Haverford tomorrow I'm doing a talk on my novel! it's historical cli-fi about a gay guy with a martyr complex & a magic ability to grow trees, & about how those things are bad ideas for ecology (& relationships)

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B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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Hey Haverford & Bryn Mawr folks! I'm going to be doing a talk/reading from DRY LAND on March 28 at Haverford (first time I've been back to the bi-co since graduating in '07, RIP my youth)

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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We're facing down the barrel of a similar gun at Marquette. Administrative excuses are the same everywhere. In MU's case, they want to cut $31M--which almost certainly means firing staff, NTTs, and tenured faculty---to pay for 4-5 new building projects we took on w/o properly financing.

5 replies 67 reposts 133 likes

B. Pladek's avatar B. Pladek @bpladek.bsky.social
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FYI, for now I'm moving to a once-a-week social media check-in across all platforms (too busy/tired, also it's making my anxiety unmanageable). If I don't respond to something immediately, that's why.

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes