HeyJaredWelcome to Garbagetown
Bestselling Science Fiction Author Cat Valente's Blatherings on the State of the World: Politics, Internet Culture, History, and Art
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 5
- Latest publication
- Sep 21, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 7, 2026
Latest issues
Grand Theft Automaton: Ur A Slave 4 Me (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Note: the way this Substack works is that every public piece has a follow-up piece for paid subscribers only containing all the screams I restrained, either to make the free one come in under the character limit, or keep it nice and civilized enough to not have to argue reality with sea lions in the comments. This is the follow-up to All You Need Is Us.Subscribe nowAnd I’ll be honest, th
All You Need Is Us (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Note: Hi! I’m back! Frozen in horror at the state of all things! My absence was unavoidable and now over. You will be seeing more of me here now, and have my apologies.The way this Substack works is that every public piece has a follow-up piece for paid subscribers only containing all the screams I restrained, either to make the free one come in under the character limit, or nice and civilized enough to not have to argue reality with sea lions in the comments. The follow-up to this essay will go
Worldcon Schedule (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Hello everyone! It’s been an insanely busy month as summer (and thus all summer childcare options) dwindles down toward the waiting maw of the school year--and I’m about to depart for Worldcon in Los Angeles and the Hugo Awards.I’ll be posting a new essay soon I swear, but in the meantime, I wanted to put up my schedule here in case anyone will be attending. (Once all this is over I’ll be settled back in with a normal work schedule once more and will be much less neglectful.)<p class
Obligatory Freelance Author I Am Up For An Award Post (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Greetings from the other side, Garbagetowners!I have been quiet, I know, but only because I was finishing a book, and had to give all my energy to that, leaving little for the trashfire world in which we all burn as one.Turns out it’s still on fire, so I didn’t miss much. But will be back posting again next week.In the meantime…I have to do a word from our sponsors thing, except in this case our sponsors is my actual job and doing stuff for it.Now, words cannot begin to express how much I hate m
It's The Hope That Kills You (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Welp.I was wrong.I specifically waited to write those pieces to make sure nothing that came out concerning Platner was sexual assault, and that’s no longer the case.I’ll talk about it at more length when I get past my current deadline, but when I’m wrong, I’m wrong. I believe the accusation, which is probably only in the singular for now. The story is harrowing. I feel terrible for his ex, and terrible for his poor wi
Publishing over time
Last 90 days. Choose a month to open its work.
Recurring subjects
Named in the text we hold. One piece can cover several.
Audience
No verified audience measurement yet.
About this data
Counts cover the work we have indexed. Tone needs enough text and a confident classification. Excerpts and episode notes are not full articles or transcripts.
Identity or attribution wrong? Suggest a correction.