Notices by Lili Saintcrow (lilithsaintcrow@raggedfeathers.com), page 4

For the curious. It does appear that it’ll currently “only” be on “AI” bloat in Notepad, but I suspect that’s a grace of exceeding short duration. https://www.pcworld.com/article/2614943/microsoft-is-paywalling-these-features-in-notepad-and-paint.html

Libre Office and Notepad++ are going to be your best bets going forward.

(Can't believe they're putting a fuckin' paywall on MSPaint, too. What a time to be alive.)

I continue to be amazed at how predatory some publishers (trad, indie, AND small) are, and how they simply cannot seem to understand that writers actually *talk* to each other.

Last call! During the month of June, my love song to Wyoming, Baba Yaga, and the perils of growing up--RATTLESNAKE WIND--is $1.99USD in ebook on Kindle. https://openroadmedia.com/ebook/rattlesnake-wind/9781504080170

"It's alarming enough that people with no history of mental health issues are falling into crisis after talking to AI. But when people with existing mental health struggles come into contact with a chatbot, it often seems to respond in precisely the worst way..."
https://futurism.com/commitment-jail-chatgpt-psychosis

During the month of June, my love song to Wyoming, Baba Yaga, and the perils of growing up--RATTLESNAKE WIND--is $1.99USD in ebook on Kindle. https://openroadmedia.com/ebook/rattlesnake-wind/9781504080170

Wandering around the kitchen muttering to myself, when along comes my daughter and says, "Christ, Mum, just make yourself more coffee, it's before 2pm and you *were* up all night."

The kids are all right.

"The rhetoric was so much more appealing than the reality, so he chose the former over the latter, loaded his guns and put on a costume to wage war on those demonic forces and enemies of God."
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/06/23/mazes-and-monsters-the-prophets-are-dms/

Last call! A retelling of Beauty & the Beast, complete with a curse, a rose garden... and a magical library. ROSE & THUNDER is $1.99USD in ebook through these retailers until June 24. https://books2read.com/rosethunder

It's not that Republicans/MAGAs/evangelicals/fascists are "crazy", or "demented". They're simply bigoted, greedy, and sadistic, and have been given escalating societal and bureaucratic permission to express those qualities for decades.

I know it's horrifying to realize that Republicans/evangelicals/fascists/MAGAts are sane, they just *outright enjoy hurting other people*. Calling them "crazy" elides their responsibility for their actions, gives them a pass they don't deserve and an advantage they use to the hilt.

And yes, I am putting "evangelicals" in with Republicans and fascists because they have taken that term and made it their own, along with "conservatives". If you're choosing to call yourself by those names now, I know where you stand, and it's with the greedy sadistic bigots, not your Buddy Jesus.

Woke up with a surprise nosebleed and (unrelated) have called my congresscritters to encourage some kind of action against a tiny-fisted orange dictator, so there’s that.

"...what worries me is that what we’re witnessing nationwide are not the actions of an agency that believes it will ever be subject to meaningful oversight or legal authority ever again."
https://www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/ice-believes-it-will-never-face-accountability-again

"Now, all of a sudden, this once-fringe network of corporate secessionists finds itself knocking on open doors at the dead center of global power."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/13/end-times-fascism-far-right-trump-musk

An incredibly interesting half-hour video from the Second Story about why there "hasn't been another Tolkien". The answer is... not what you think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BBrDhgGz1k

The history dovetails with my recent realisation that for trad publishers, the enemy isn't censorship, IP theft, or the plagiarism slop machine. No, the base assumption for tradpub C- and managerial suites is that the enemy is *writers demanding a fair price for their artistic labour*.

It must be noted that without authors, publishers don't have anything to edit, proof, market, sell, profit from. Yet the managerial and above echelons of tradpub consistently treat authors like the biggest threat in the world, penalizing us at every turn.

It's very odd.

Earlier today at the No Kings protest in East Vancouver, WA. The crowd was already considerable, and just kept growing. Overwhelming support from motorists.

I can't stress how rare and stunning this is. Protests generally happen over the river in PDX, or (very) small ones in downtown Vancouver.

Back from a local No Kings protest. Absolutely gobsmacked at the size of the crowd.

It was good to not feel so alone. And the signs were AMAZING.