Notices by Annalee Newitz 🍜 (annaleen@wandering.shop)

@Steveg58 So what I'm hearing you say is that flies need better boundaries and should barf in the proper recepticles

Update for all the folks asking: Apparently we will be allowed to "encourage" masking, and a different organizer of the event will bring free masks. I will ask people (nicely) to wear them, and will likely just have to mask on stage. I will also bring my CO2 monitor -- if the air circulation is really good I may take my mask off on stage, as that makes it much easier to project. I'm still really upset, but I'm trying to be nice about it. I'll just never go to this venue again.

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

@jeridansky @aral Mike is the greatest

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.

I don't think this is PirateShip's fault. They are using Adobe Acrobat to format their labels, and it would appear that Adobe got their AI bloatware to blorp up a dialog box in PirateShip's app.

What does the future hold for California? On 9/7, 3pm, six incredible Bay Area authors will speculate and dream about the future of our state. Don't miss this amazing Lit Quake event with @mikechenwriter @anitafelicelli, Sheri Joseph, Susanna Kwon, & Zoe Young!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-they-did-it-imagining-a-future-california-tickets-1497253197619

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

Happy book birthday to Automatic Noodle, which is all about three things I love: biang biang noodles, San Francisco, and robots. Catch me on book tour, and pick up one of these amazing t-shirts or other swag at our retro-90s HTML masterpiece https://www.automaticnoodle.website/ (yes, this is the exact URL the robots use in the book). Tour dates are linked from the FAQ at the bottom of the site. Because of course you need an FAQ. It's what humans like.

The Automatic Noodle book launch is today at 3pm in Noe Valley, San Francisco, the very neighborhood where most of the book takes place. Come spend a lazy afternoon with me and @alex talking about robots, noodles, and community. https://noevalleybooks.com/event/2025-08-03/automatic-noodle-event-annalee-newitz

Look at this glorious display at Noe Valley Books for Automatic Noodle!! I'm joining the hype by wearing my Automatic Noodle hoodie, and inviting all of you to come to the San Francisco book launch this Sunday at 3pm! RSVP here! (it's FREE) https://noevalleybooks.com/event/2025-08-03/automatic-noodle-event-annalee-newitz

Do you like noodles and robots? Of course you do! And because I love you, I wrote a very cozy novella about both called Automatic Noodle, which you can pre-order now! Find out what happens when a group of abandoned bots decide to open their very own noodle restaurant in San Francisco, while the city recovers from a devastating war. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250357465/automaticnoodle/

There is so much absolutely weird and sad shit in US politico-cultural war news today that I started to post like fifteen angry things and deleted all of them because all I want to say is hug your friends and remember that saying hello to a neighbor is worth more than 5000 hot takes online.

San Francisco! Spend next Sunday afternoon (8/3) with noodles, robots, and friendly humans for the FIRST stop on the Automatic Noodle book tour, hosted by Noe Valley Books at 3pm. I'll be chatting with @alex. RSVP to reserve a spot! It's free! https://noevalleybooks.com/event/2025-08-03/automatic-noodle-event-annalee-newitz

This week, you can get the ebook of The Terraformers for just $2.99 wherever ebooks are sold -- including indie bookseller platform Bookshop.org, along with the usual places. If you can't wait for Automatic Noodle, this will tide you over!

If you're at San Diego Comic-con next week, come say hi!! I'll be there on a couple of panels, and will be signing books too!

Some foods are an acquired taste. My cats are an acquired smell. They are total stinkers but their aroma is so pleasing to me! Am I a total weirdo?

It's a twofer! Barnes & Noble members can get 25% off if they pre-order Automatic Noodle AND We Will Rise Again (a glorious anthology about hope and resistance that I co-edited with @older and Karen Lord). Today through Friday!

Not a time for fireworks, people. Read the room.