T. Frohock (she/her)

More hedgehogs. These two big lads are evidently getting territorial ahead of potential mating opportunities. #TinyJoys

Working on a q&a lecture for a class today: The story of robots is always a story about slavery. The story of LLMs labeled as AI is a story about class, and which humans pay the cost, including the physical toll on their bodies/minds, and the lack of water and electricity, so data centers can exist.

Spam email begins with THIS WILL BE MY LAST EMAIL.

Me: *promises, promises*

The Weird Death of Joan Norkot Sir John Maynard (d. 1690) had a long and distinguished career as a lawyer, serjeant-at-arms, and Member of Parliament.  Shortly after his d...

"Shortly after his death, discovered among his papers was his account of an unusually eerie and puzzling murder case from Hereford, England, in 1629."

I Hired a Book Publicity Firm for £1,800. Here’s What Went Wrong. | Jane Friedman One author reflects on how her desire to not just outsource marketing, but to outsource even thinking about it, led to regrettable results.

How book promotion can go horribly wrong even when the PR firm isn't an out-and-out scammer janefriedman.com/i-hired-a-bo...

Today, I have been the cranky library lady. Tomorrow may find me in the same mood.

Alwenna tried to draw breath, to shout out, but somehow she couldn’t move. Vasic leaned over Tresilian, his movements measured, almost lover-like. Now Alwenna could see her husband’s face, bruised and bloodied, eyes closed. She shouted out a warning, but neither man reacted. “You begin to bore me, cousin. I cannot abide boredom.” Vasic drew an ornate dagger from his belt and set the blade against Tresilian’s ribs, pressing just hard enough for the motion of his breathing to draw blood. “This is your last chance. Tell me where to find her.” Tresilian’s eyes flicked open. “Just finish it.” Vasic leaned closer still, as if to whisper a confidence. “Would you like that? Would it be a kindness to you?” “You haven’t the mettle.” “You always underestimated me.” “If you only knew…” Tresilian was seized by a paroxysm of laughter.

Cover of The Waterborne Blade by Susan Murray. A woman clad in an ornate gown is moving past the viewer, a long dagger held in her blood-spattered right hand. Cover art by Paul Young.

Today's #BookQW word is 'open'.

In this extract from The Waterborne Blade Alwenna's started to have disturbing visions.

The best way to get blocked by me is to DM me and tell me how you want to have a relationship w/me, b/c I'm pretty.

If that's your best spammer move, it means you haven't read anything I've written & your whole basis for a relationship is superficial. Also, that photo is old. Like me.

Indefinite Book Club Hiatus Today in “Things that ‘AI’ has ruined”: No, I won’t be able to show up to your book club’s online/offline gathering, and the reason for this is simple: I, and li…

I get asked to show up to book clubs, online and offline. Here is why from now on the answer is always "no." If you think this might have something to do with "AI" ruining yet another thing for everyone, you're absolutely 100% correct.

whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/03/i...

a woman in a blue apron is holding a red frying pan in her hand . ALT: a woman in a blue apron is holding a red frying pan in her hand .

When someone DMs me online to tell me I'm beautiful:

My brain was mush last night, so I started watching Bridgerton, and I know everyone said it is good, but zomg, it's GOOD. And just the kind of escapism my tired brain needed.

Picture of Lish McBride, a very pasty white lady with tattoos, holding her new book, Most Likely to Murder. Behind her is a very adorable dog-shaped creature named Boo.

Everything is pretty garbage-y but hey here is my new book which comes out on the 24th! I love it when my author copies show up. 💕

Bumping this. And much gratitude to those who have helped me get the word out.

The dreaded blurb request How to ask for what nobody wants to give

Excellent advice on requesting blurbs: almakatsu.substack.com/p/the-dreade...

This is beyond appalling.

I see some people are conflating regime change in Iran with WWII Germany & Japan. To be clear: The United States would not have entered WWII if Japan had not bombed Pearl Harbor. We did not go into Germany or Japan to effect regime change. We responded to an act of aggression by a foreign nation.

We're working on cover art for the new Los Nefilim editions and I'm beginning to get excited about these. The biggest changes are in the novellas. The novels will all be the same as those published by Harper Voyager, but I'll also include bonus material in them, as well.

Since I can't bear to put a child in danger, I rewrote portions of the third Los Nefilim novella, formerly titled "The Second Death" and streamlined the omnibus so it reads like a novel, rather than 3 novellas. There will also be a bonus short story in this edition. Watch for it ...

TAKEN is $2.99USD (and CAD) in ebook until 2/28.

It's an (early) Weasel Boy Weekend! TAKEN is $2.99USD (and CAD) in ebook through these retailers, until 2/28. books2read.com/carcajou

Me seeing the Tower in a tarot spread: oh fuck what now

Sadly, no, not with Mr. Ginger. This cat has seen things ...

A rant most definitely worth reading:

It would be a game changer

Every day I have to convince my poor dog that the neighborhood feral cat does not want to be friends.

Sure, there's cat food for your indoor cat and for cats with hairballs and for your senior cat, but there isn't a single brand of cat food for the feral cat that's taken up residence in my carport. Shouldn't the food taste like squirrel?

Martha Wells Book Club: System Collapse - Reactor Murderbot faces its biggest challenge yet: its own organic tissue.

The Martha Wells Book Club catches up on the Murderbot series with System Collapse! If universe-wide politics weren't already a problem, Murderbot's been having some problems with its operating systems...

If he did, Santa is dead ... now I have an idea for a story.

I'm also not going especially dark with this story, because I think we all need a respite from time to time. As much as I love horror (reading and writing it), I also need lighter feel-good stories that redeem my faith in humankind. Otherwise, I'll become a serial killer.

I love exploring characters and the relationships they share. What makes this particular story even more fun is instead of damaged people damaging others even more, it's about emotionally grounded people accepting and helping someone find their way out of trauma and toward mental health.