Notices by Annalee Newitz 🍜 (annaleen@wandering.shop), page 2

Today I have the usual questions for my cats, which include "why are you so soft?" and "what are you doing inside the trash can?"

There's something that nearly everyone gets wrong about the Ashley Madison data dump from 2015. And I should know, because I was one of the reporters who broke the story. It's my latest for @newscientist (sign up for a free account to read).
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26234952-100-what-everyone-gets-wrong-about-the-2015-ashley-madison-scandal/

Calling all aspiring climate fiction writers! Time to polish those stories and submit them to Imagine 2200! The deadline is fast approaching – submissions close on June 24th, 2024, at 11:59 PM PT. I'm one of the judges, along with Omar El Akkad. Don't miss your chance to see your work published, and to win a nice cash prize.

For full details and submission guidelines, visit: https://grist.org/climate-fiction/imagine-2200-contest-submissions/

In my latest newsletter, I teach you three easy ways to identify psyops in the wild. https://buttondown.email/thehypothesis/archive/how-to-recognize-a-psyop-in-three-easy-steps/

I am now going to eat the fuck out of this oatmeal raisin scone and nobody can stop me.

It's spring for real! I grew this rose and this new book, which you can pre-order now...https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881516

Science fiction, advertising, and a humble fellow named Benjamin Franklin created the psyops industry in the US. And then, in the late 20th century, something terrifying happened. Find out more in my new book STORIES ARE WEAPONS, available for pre-order everywhere! Plus, it's 25% off for B&N members today through Friday! https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stories-are-weapons-annalee-newitz/1144065538?ean=9780393881516

A science fiction obsession led me to psychological war. I spent the past three years researching and writing a book about the history of psychological warfare in the United States, and it's coming out in early June. Not all the gems I discovered could be crammed into the final manuscript, and I've been dying to share what I found in the archives ... check out my latest newsletter to see some amazing treasures from a history that's rarely told.
https://buttondown.email/thehypothesis/archive/how-a-science-fiction-obsession-led-me-to/

I am so excited to share this story with you! It's partly a response to the many people who read The Terraformers and asked me, "What happened to the worms after they were able to speak?" But it's also a standalone story about what it's like to celebrate your body, no matter what form it takes. https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-best-ever-cosplay-of-whistle-and-midnight/

In my latest column for New Scientist, I report on a new paper about UFO sightings, which reveals that the top two objects reported as UFOs are the planet Venus and Starlink satellites. Also, the paper is a treasure trove of delightful acronyms. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26134830-200-is-the-truth-out-there-yes-but-it-doesnt-involve-aliens

Since somebody asked whether leftists should be outraged that someone might be able to change their gender and/or sex just by "filling out a form," the answer is obviously no. But also, nobody is actually able to do that.

I feel very strongly about calling Elon Musk's social media platform "X" because I want to remind people that Twitter is gone -- it's dead. And we know who killed it. We need to acknowledge the power that one edgelord billionaire has over our public sphere, and remind ourselves that we cannot reclaim that space. We can't make it "ours" again by calling it Twitter. I'd rather build up new spaces online than chase after the memory of one that is lost.

"Amusement under late capitalism is the prolongation of work. It is sought after as an escape from the mechanised work process, and to recruit strength in order to be able to cope with it again. But at the same time mechanisation has such power over a man’s leisure and happiness, and so profoundly determines the manufacture of amusement goods, that his experiences are inevitably after-images of the work process itself." -- Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, in Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944)

To understand one’s place in national history is to feel the weight of a multi-generational campaign to prioritize ownership of land over the freedom to live.

I reviewed two fascinating new books about surveillance systems in the United States and China for @nytimes -- both Byron Tau's Means of Control and Minxin Pei's The Sentinel State argue that the real problem is overreaching law enforcement, not newfangled tech. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/books/review/means-of-control-byron-tau-the-sentinel-state-minxin-pei.html

My novel #TheTerraformers is on sale as an ebook across all platforms for $1.99 in the U.S. this week!!! Check it out here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250228062/theterraformers

The advance reader copies of my forthcoming book have arrived and they are beauties! Thanks to @wwnortonlibrary for supporting this investigation into how we can stop culture wars in the U.S. -- by understanding their history, and recognizing psychological weapons before they harm us and our communities. #StoriesAreWeapons drops in early June but you should pre-order now! Imagine how pleasing it will be to have an antidote to culture war this hot presidential race summer. #bookstodon #books

Last month I wrote about how Silicon Valley investors secretly bought thousands of acres of California farmland. Their plan is to turn it into an instant city called California Forever. Jan Sramek, who helms the California Forever project, has continued to present his ideas to community groups, but with no concrete clarifications about how it will be sustainable, nor where its water will come from. Read more on @newscientist (open access with a free NS account).
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26034712-800-the-weird-tale-of-california-forever-a-tech-billionaire-instant-city/

Have spent the last two days writing detailed descriptions of non-human cosplay and now I'm nearly done ... you just haven't lived until you've imagined how a worm would wear a wedding gown originally designed for a moose.

Over on @andrewliptak's newsletter Transfer Orbit, there is a really great essay about my novel The Terraformers, and why we might still be contending with fallout from capitalism in the far future. https://transfer-orbit.ghost.io/annalee-newitz-the-terrraformers-sci-fi-book-review/?ref=transfer-orbit-newsletter