If you’re a Book World person, you probably read The Atlantic’s examination of Meta’s use of LibGen to feed their large language models. Yes, some of my work is in there, alongside the work of every author you’ve ever heard of. You can find every opinion possible on this topic if you glance through your social media of choice; as a person who has published work traditionally and DIY, and who has worked with academic and public library vendors (each more avaricious than the last), I have a lot of thoughts on these intersections, but none I wish to air here.

Mystique: let’s cultivate it!

What has been on my mind, though, is the attempts of some magazines to keep their contributors’ work out of scraping distance by removing or restricting their digital archives. You can read the thought process of one such magazine here. Incidentally, that’s a magazine in which I’ve placed three stories. So although I appreciate all good-faith attempts by independent publishers to remain flexible, encourage sales, and prioritize their contributors… I’m also pleased one of those stories will be seeing new life again soon in a Nat. 1 volume all about Florida Man (and Woman).

2025 is the year I’m getting into reprints. Hey, if it sold once…

And now for your links:

• in early March, I decided to indulge in some cathartic poesy and dropped a zine of poems (some new, some previously-published) & photography. Get mopey! It’s National Poetry Month!

• DIS/MEMBER’s first guest column, from author Saskia Nislow, is live and darkly delicious! (their book Root Rot is similarly so—one for the Last of Us and Bog Wife fans).

• The other day I made the adult decision to go out on a weeknight, and saw a great band as a result! (well, several. IYKYK) Wet the Rope are from California and they do have—obvious reference—a Minutemen vibe some of the time. Great fun, emotional and cathartic, deceptively straightforward, recommended.

Finally, hello to all of March’s new followers… and congratulations to Marie, Shea, and Ellen, our raffle winners! Your packages are on the road as of today.