Today in Labor History February 1, 1912: The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) started the San Diego Free Speech Fight in response to a city ordinance preventing public speaking in and around the Stingaree neighborhood (now known as the Gaslamp Quarter). The authorities were trying to squelch labor and radical organizing in the multi-ethnic, working-class neighborhood, infamous for its houses of prostitution, gambling dens, opium dens and Chinese ghetto. Even as late as the 1980s, it still had a skid row feel, with its multitude of tattoo parlors, bars, sailors, junkies and fascination parlors. As a kid, I remember watching the con artists running games of 3-Card Monte on the sidewalks there.

The IWW had been active in San Diego since 1906. They organized timber workers and cigar makers, as well as workers at San Diego Consolidated Gas and Electric Company. Their strike at the power company led to the formation of a public service union, which disbanded in 1911, when many Wobblies flocked to Tijuana to join the anarchist Magonista revolution there. For more on this, read “The Desert Revolution,” by Lowell Blaisdell.

As the Free Speech fight progressed, anarchists, socialists and liberals joined the struggle, deliberately speaking in the restricted zone so that the jails would overflow. And they all demanded individual trials in order to clog up the legal system. Jail conditions were horrendous. Prisoners were crowded into the drunk tanks and forced to sleep on vermin-infested floors. Beatings were routine. 63-year-old Michael Hoy died from a police beating in jail. The IWW called on members from across the country to ride the rails to San Diego to join the fight. At least 5,000 heeded the call.

The local papers, of course, ran countless editorials attacking the radicals and glorifying the police. This encouraged vigilantes, who’d patrol the rail yards looking for incoming Wobblies. They deported many across county lines where they forced them to kiss the flag and run through gauntlets of men who beat them with pick axe handles. On May 7, the cops killed another Wobbly, Joseph Mikolash. And on May 15, vigilantes kidnapped Emma Goldman and her companion Ben Reitman, who had come to show their support. However, before deporting them, the vigilantes tarred and feathered Reitman and raped him with a cane. Ben Reitman was a physician who focused his practice on providing treatment for tramps, hobos, prostitutes and the most marginalized members of society. He also wrote the book “Boxcar Bertha.” The July 11, 1912 edition of the IWW’s “Little Red Songbook” included the song: “We’re Bound for San Diego:”

In that town called San Diego, when the workers try to talk,
The cops will smash them with a sap and tell them “take a walk.”
They throw them in a bull pen and they feed them rotten beans.
And they call that “law and order” in the city, so it seems.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #sandiego #freespeech #policebrutality #prison #IWW #anarchism #Revolution #socialism #strike #magonista #Tijuana #vigilantes #EmmaGoldman #acab #mexico #books #author #writer #fiction #nonfiction @bookstadon

Today in Labor History February 1, 1912: The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) started the San Diego Free Speech Fight in response to a city ordinance preventing public speaking in and around the Stingaree neighborhood (now known as the Gaslamp Quarter). The authorities were trying to squelch labor and radical organizing in the multi-ethnic, working-class neighborhood, infamous for its houses of prostitution, gambling dens, opium dens and Chinese ghetto. Even as late as the 1980s, it still had a skid row feel, with its multitude of tattoo parlors, bars, sailors, junkies and fascination parlors. As a kid, I remember watching the con artists running games of 3-Card Monte on the sidewalks there.

The IWW had been active in San Diego since 1906. They organized timber workers and cigar makers, as well as workers at San Diego Consolidated Gas and Electric Company. Their strike at the power company led to the formation of a public service union, which disbanded in 1911, when many Wobblies flocked to Tijuana to join the anarchist Magonista revolution there. For more on this, read “The Desert Revolution,” by Lowell Blaisdell.

As the Free Speech fight progressed, anarchists, socialists and liberals joined the struggle, deliberately speaking in the restricted zone so that the jails would overflow. And they all demanded individual trials in order to clog up the legal system. Jail conditions were horrendous. Prisoners were crowded into the drunk tanks and forced to sleep on vermin-infested floors. Beatings were routine. 63-year-old Michael Hoy died from a police beating in jail. The IWW called on members from across the country to ride the rails to San Diego to join the fight. At least 5,000 heeded the call.

The local papers, of course, ran countless editorials attacking the radicals and glorifying the police. This encouraged vigilantes, who’d patrol the rail yards looking for incoming Wobblies. They deported many across county lines where they forced them to kiss the flag and run through gauntlets of men who beat them with pick axe handles. On May 7, the cops killed another Wobbly, Joseph Mikolash. And on May 15, vigilantes kidnapped Emma Goldman and her companion Ben Reitman, who had come to show their support. However, before deporting them, the vigilantes tarred and feathered Reitman and raped him with a cane. Ben Reitman was a physician who focused his practice on providing treatment for tramps, hobos, prostitutes and the most marginalized members of society. He also wrote the book “Boxcar Bertha.” The July 11, 1912 edition of the IWW’s “Little Red Songbook” included the song: “We’re Bound for San Diego:”

In that town called San Diego, when the workers try to talk,
The cops will smash them with a sap and tell them “take a walk.”
They throw them in a bull pen and they feed them rotten beans.
And they call that “law and order” in the city, so it seems.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #sandiego #freespeech #policebrutality #prison #IWW #anarchism #Revolution #socialism #strike #magonista #Tijuana #vigilantes #EmmaGoldman #acab #mexico #books #author #writer #fiction #nonfiction @bookstadon

“Mum and Dad were on a cruise when they messaged me to say that Adele Parks MBE was on the cruise to do a book talk. We have seen Adele at quite a few book talks over the last few years as she is one of mine and Mum's favourite authors.

Anyway, I was jealous! I said let me know what is covered in the talk."

1/4

#Kindness #Parenting #Author

“Mum and Dad were on a cruise when they messaged me to say that Adele Parks MBE was on the cruise to do a book talk. We have seen Adele at quite a few book talks over the last few years as she is one of mine and Mum's favourite authors.

Anyway, I was jealous! I said let me know what is covered in the talk."

1/4

#Kindness #Parenting #Author

Today in Labor History January 25, 1926: 16,000 textile workers went on strike in Passaic, N.J. The United Front Committee of the Workers (Communist) Party launched the strike. It was the first Communist-led strike in the U.S. At the time, men earned less than $1,200 per year in Passaic mills, while women were lucky to earn $1,000. Yet it cost $1,400 per year to live there. The IWW had attempted to organize the mills in 1912. Most of the workers were immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. The United Front appealed to the American Federation of Labor for help. However, the AFL refused, saying they’d have nothing to do with Communists. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (IWW organizer) and Mary Heaton Vorse both helped support the strikers. In August, 1926, the United Front relinquished control of the strike to the AFL-affiliated United Textile Workers, who eventually settled with the mill owners on March 1, 1927. Vorse was a journalist and novelist who reported on, while simultaneously participating in, many strikes of the era. She also wrote the novel, “Strike!” about the 1929 Gastonia Textile Strike.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #strike #children #women #novel #communism #journalism #ElizabethGurleyFlynn #IWW #immigrant #union #novel #fiction #books #author #writer #MaryHeatonVorse @bookstadon

Today in Labor History January 25, 1926: 16,000 textile workers went on strike in Passaic, N.J. The United Front Committee of the Workers (Communist) Party launched the strike. It was the first Communist-led strike in the U.S. At the time, men earned less than $1,200 per year in Passaic mills, while women were lucky to earn $1,000. Yet it cost $1,400 per year to live there. The IWW had attempted to organize the mills in 1912. Most of the workers were immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. The United Front appealed to the American Federation of Labor for help. However, the AFL refused, saying they’d have nothing to do with Communists. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (IWW organizer) and Mary Heaton Vorse both helped support the strikers. In August, 1926, the United Front relinquished control of the strike to the AFL-affiliated United Textile Workers, who eventually settled with the mill owners on March 1, 1927. Vorse was a journalist and novelist who reported on, while simultaneously participating in, many strikes of the era. She also wrote the novel, “Strike!” about the 1929 Gastonia Textile Strike.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #strike #children #women #novel #communism #journalism #ElizabethGurleyFlynn #IWW #immigrant #union #novel #fiction #books #author #writer #MaryHeatonVorse @bookstadon

#WordWeavers 2026.01.21 — If in the middle of the book your MC discovered a foundling, what would they do with it?

Bolt works for the mob. A primary motivator for how she deals with the civilians trying to enter her life is not letting them get hurt by her employers. Discovering a child needing care, but whom has no parents she can find, would send her into a tail spin (figuratively only, since she's a day angel that can fly). Becoming attached would be catastrophic for her and the kid. There are few things she would go to the constabulary to deal with, but she'd risk the coppers for the sake of a child. No way is she keeping it; no way would she walk away, leaving it on the pavement either.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WordWeavers 2026.01.21 — If in the middle of the book your MC discovered a foundling, what would they do with it?

Bolt works for the mob. A primary motivator for how she deals with the civilians trying to enter her life is not letting them get hurt by her employers. Discovering a child needing care, but whom has no parents she can find, would send her into a tail spin (figuratively only, since she's a day angel that can fly). Becoming attached would be catastrophic for her and the kid. There are few things she would go to the constabulary to deal with, but she'd risk the coppers for the sake of a child. No way is she keeping it; no way would she walk away, leaving it on the pavement either.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

Glad to see people are writing to me about this interview I had with @buttondown https://buttondown.com/blog/robert-kingett #Email #Author #Authors

Glad to see people are writing to me about this interview I had with @buttondown https://buttondown.com/blog/robert-kingett #Email #Author #Authors

Oh, there's something like #portfolioDay ! Okay, so, I'm an #author, #podcast host and data privacy expert with a strong focus on #ITsecurity awareness. I write #nonfiction, crime and #scifi in German and English. The last two years I mainly spent with making #books and podcasts for others, like the lovely Eltville #WeinSchreibereien anthology and podcast.

https://www.zotzmann-koch.com/

a few years ago i mentioned that i wrote a book about the exciting, awkward and embarrassing experiences of growing up with computers and video games in the 80s and 90s.

i wanted to remember what it felt like being the only dorky computer kid at school. or what it was like to hear my first modem handshake sound. or starting the first flamewar on the school's national FirstClass BBS in the macintosh lab over the lunch-hour

it was originally something i wrote only for my family and friends who were there at the time.

and then i met all of you folks when i started my first masto instance 4 years ago. i had no idea there were so many hardcore retrocomputing and gaming nerds out there; unix and mac and ms-dos folks alike.

so i mentioned it casually. i was surprised by the interest in the book.

so i spent the better part of the past 3 years rewriting the book for *you* fellow mastodon dorkus malorkuses. the book is a celebration of all of the best (and worst) parts of a kid growing up in the digital age.

we're all busy old tired stressed folks now. so every memory and cringetacular story is short enough to read on a 5 minute bus/metro/toilet ride. they're weaved together into an arc that starts at my family's first Tandy TRS-80 and ends at my school's Mac LC II and building my first Pentium 133.

it's finally published, and i'm super proud of what it became thanks to everyone here nerding out for years.

enjoy the book. i wrote it just for you. ❤️

paperback edition: https://mybook.to/EDuUf

DRM-free ebook (EPUB format) and chapter samples here:
https://tomotama.itch.io/mages-modems

#books #indiePublisher #bookstodon #author #macintosh #vintageApple #vintageComputing #msdos #dosGaming #yeg #canada #alberta #bbs #smolWeb #indieWeb

Anniversaries have a way of sneaking up on me, and this one is no different. My debut novel, By the Pact, the first in epic fantasy series was released exactly 5 years (and 1 day) ago. Since then, I finished this series, published another one, and added a standalone to the list.
It's been a wild ride at times, and I'm still stunned by the response to this book, readers' kind words and excitement they share with me, author friends I made and opportunities I participated in.
And if you've read this one or any other of my books, thank you for giving this author a chance!
To celebrate, I'll try to share some fun tidbits about By the Pact and the series in the upcoming days, so stay tuned!

And if you want to grab book 1, it's free!
https://bf.authorjm.com/ByThePact

#books #bookstodon #fantasy #fantasybooks #author #authorlife

Anniversaries have a way of sneaking up on me, and this one is no different. My debut novel, By the Pact, the first in epic fantasy series was released exactly 5 years (and 1 day) ago. Since then, I finished this series, published another one, and added a standalone to the list.
It's been a wild ride at times, and I'm still stunned by the response to this book, readers' kind words and excitement they share with me, author friends I made and opportunities I participated in.
And if you've read this one or any other of my books, thank you for giving this author a chance!
To celebrate, I'll try to share some fun tidbits about By the Pact and the series in the upcoming days, so stay tuned!

And if you want to grab book 1, it's free!
https://bf.authorjm.com/ByThePact

#books #bookstodon #fantasy #fantasybooks #author #authorlife

@kristiedegaris @castaway Sadly, this problem is an open secret in publishing https://www.alcs.co.uk/news/why-writers-are-at-a-loss-for-words/: “The past 15 years have seen a sustained fall in professional writers’ real terms income from writing; this decline of around 60% has pushed median earnings down to minimum wage levels.”

If you haven’t done so already, register your works to earn extra income with https://www.alcs.co.uk and https://plr.bl.uk/

As well as the systemic and structural issues, part of the problem is that publishing is a numbers game: the number of people wanting to be published authors is more than the number that publishers and their markets need, so authors without a track record of success have a weak bargaining position and have little power to improve poor terms and conditions. (But it does sound like you have done relatively well with your publisher, did you have a literary agent?)

Also, a few big winners make up for the long tail of low-selling books, and editors *need* new untested authors and their books in the hope of finding their next bestselling author.

As others have said, some authors make more money from speaking engagements than their books, and use their books for credibility and to raise their profile.

#writing #book #author #enshittification #bookstodon #business

Sigh. I just saw two posts here pushing the "real authors don't use em dashes, that's an AI thing" myth and I am tired. 😣

Hi. Hello. "Real author" here. I have never used AI in any part of my writing or process, ever. I use em dashes all the time. So do other real authors. In fact, there'd be a fight to the death if you tried to take our em dashes away from us. Sometimes, a semicolon just won't do, and you *need* that em dash. Other times, you *must* use an em dash (when a character gets interrupted mid-sentence or mid-word, for example).

The *reason* you see em dashes in AI slop is because those LLMs were literally built on the stolen works of real authors. Who use em dashes. All the time.

#author #writing #writingCommunity #amwriting