Mary Robinette Kowal Profile picture
'Mary Robinette' like 'Mary Anne.' Nebula & Hugo-awarded author, puppeteer, & narrator (she/her) https://t.co/QwZefBfb7V https://t.co/P6itDLHnSa
Charlie Helps FRSA ⚛️❣️💙🖤🤍 Profile picture Meesh Profile picture sirshannon Profile picture HappySisyphus Profile picture Rafiki Baharia. Profile picture 9 subscribed
Mar 1, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read
You are invited to a Gala commemorating the 70th Anniversary of The Meteor.

It is also a fundraiser for Ukraine.
eventbrite.com/e/70th-anniver… You might notice that I have a Ukrainian surname.

My husband's grandfather emigrated from Kyiv to escape "the troubles." We don't know any of our relatives there because he fled leaving everything behind. He changed his name to simplify it for English speakers.
Nov 1, 2021 8 tweets 3 min read
Rob and I are aboard our flight to Reykjavik and @icecon21!

Fáðu þér drykk!

To play #marygoround:
1. When my travel goes well, you drink.
2. When it goes poorly, I drink.

(Sip, don't chug. Can play with water, because hydration is important.) Oh my, hearing Icelandic spoken by the pilot makes me very happy.

Even if he is telling us that there is a problem loading the plane.

#marygoround
Oct 16, 2021 10 tweets 6 min read
Who wants to watch a rocket launch this morning?

#LucyMission is launching. It's 12-year mission, to explore strange new asteroids, to--

Wait, actually these are really old asteroids and may give us new information about how the solar system formed. Waiting with @AstroKatie, @therealfitz, and @ChristineSFF to see #LucyMission launch.

It's exciting to see how many people are up this early to see a launch. Night. 4 very excited people wait in line in front of an ill
Oct 15, 2021 5 tweets 3 min read
Ready for today's game of #marygoround? I'm headed to Cape Canaveral to watch #LucyMission launch tomorrow morning.

To play:
1. When my travel goes well, you drink.
2. When it goes poorly, I drink.
(Sip, don't chug. Can play with water because hydration is important) Image They are closing the boarding door for an on time departure. Have a drink!

#marygoround
Oct 1, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
A recent conversation with Elsie using @FluentPet buttons.

Elsie: Open
Me: The door is open, Elsie.
Elsie: Open.
Me: The door is open.
Elsie: Open. Help.
Me: I don't understand.

As I walk to her, she walks past me to the bedroom door which IS closed.

1/
When I open it she goes straight to her water bowl & drinks. It's not normally in the bedroom, but we've had construction.

It's cool that she's generalized from one door to the other.

When she finishes drinking, she walks back to the button board.

Elsie: Open. Love You.
Aug 26, 2021 9 tweets 4 min read
Time for a new game of #marygoround with @cwvinewhisperer coming with me en route to @SiliConSJ

To play:
1. When my travel goes well, you drink.
2. When it goes poorly, I drink.

(Sip, don't chug. Can play with water, because hydration is important.) Image Houston is at a ground stop due to thunderstorms. So, we will not have an on time departure...

We only had 55 minutes to change planes, so I'm going to hope that is also delayed.

#marygoround
Jul 20, 2021 37 tweets 6 min read
Who wants to watch Wally Funk go to space today with some other people?

A New Shepard engineer just used the phrase "professional astronauts" which is a fascinating new construction.

One of the things that bothers me is calling these passengers "astronauts." Spacefarers, yes. I've felt like astronaut ought to be an earned term.
Feb 1, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
@robert_zubrin I'm going to attempt to answer you in good faith, instead of with the rage your line of questioning inspires. It is a line usually used in support of white supremacy. I hope that is not your intent.

Publishing, along with most of the US, has long been discriminatory and...

1/? @robert_zubrin ...optimized for white writers. Black writers are disproportionately underrepresented in publishing and many have been driven out.

In addition, pretending that the evils of racism or the damage of colonialization are limited to slavery is disingenuous. 2/?
Jan 5, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
My parents are eligible for the COVID vaccine in Chattanooga and have gone three times to try to get it. This morning, they set their alarm at 6am because the place opened at 9am.

They were sent home around 8am, because there were more people in line than there were doses. Look... we have taxpayer info. If we lived in a world with unified healthcare, then you could give people appointments and they could go in.

Would things get off schedule? Sure.

But my 82-year-old parents wouldn't be talking about camping out to get a vaccine.
Jan 5, 2021 6 tweets 3 min read
I know you think the #Bridgerton costumes are over the top.

The reality is so, so much...extra.

When young ladies were presented at court, they had to wear a court dress. Queen Charlotte still insisted on hoops.

But fashion had shifted to a high waist. Regency woman oppressed by ostrich plumes on her head and we Imagine panniers, which were already awkward, but now tie them directly below your breasts.

These dresses were worn at court and literally nowhere else. A modest blue top attached to an asymetric yellow and white
Dec 7, 2020 45 tweets 9 min read
Inspired by this wonderful thread...

Join me for a Very Special Pemberly Forest Story in which a young forest animal of quality attends her first ball. Who should be the main character of my Very Special Pemberly Forest Story?
Aug 1, 2020 15 tweets 3 min read
I have a fairly ferocious temper that I've spent most of my life learning to channel. Anger is an energy and I can let it consume me, or I can redirect it into change.

As a result, my frequent reaction now to things is "how can I fix it." I am having a difficult time this go around because all of the steps that I can think of are things that we actually did.

The Nebula Awards team spent three hours teaching the Hugo team everything we had learned. They handed over all of the documentation.
Aug 1, 2020 9 tweets 2 min read
As an audiobook narrator, I frequently have to pronounce names that are unfamiliar to me. Here are some steps I take to make sure that I'm getting them right.

1. I ask the author for a pronunciation guide. Ideally it is print and recorded. 2. If the author is unavailable, I use tools like forvo.com or YouTube to look for interviews in which the name is used by the author.

It takes longer, but is better than having to return to rerecord parts of an audiobook to fix the mistake later.
Jul 1, 2020 29 tweets 4 min read
Who wants to watch two male astronauts do a spacewalk with me? Every time they open a bag and have to dig out a cable, it looks like they are fighting a living tentacled thing.

As annoying as it is to pull out an extension cord from a box of them at home, you don't realize how much gravity was helping with that process.
May 30, 2020 24 tweets 4 min read
It's time to watch people try to go to space again today! When you see the water tower in the screen with the rocket, know that it is Not Close to the rocket and is misleading about scale.

The crew cabin is comparable to being on the 23rd floor of a building.
May 27, 2020 34 tweets 5 min read
If you aren't watching, astronauts are heading to the launch pad right now. Astronaut taking "nature break." Ha!

In Russia, they'd stop and pee on the tire of the van.
Mar 11, 2020 11 tweets 3 min read
I've spent the past couple of days talking to experts ranging from epidemiologists to lawyers to event organizers and there are some things that I think are helpful to understand about why some events are being canceled and why some aren't.

sfwa.org/2020/03/11/a-m… It'll take another month of data before we start to have a solid picture of how bad COVID-19 really is. Anything that's within the next three weeks, and in person, should probably cancel to be prudent.

So why are some still going ahead?
Mar 8, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
For those having difficulty replacing handshakes with other forms of greeting, might I offer a suggestion.

I present a gentle reminder that society already has a form of greeting that eschews contact and we need not invent something as ungainly as elbow bumping. Likewise, social distancing need not be looked upon as something to be feared, but rather an opportunity to smolder at some remove.
Mar 5, 2020 12 tweets 2 min read
I often describe my husband as the love child of Mr. Darcy and Eeyore. As such, he eschews notice and publicity, however, Mr. Kowal has granted permission to acknowledge that he is having hip replacement surgery today.

I shall endeavor to give updates in an appropriate manner. In the Hundred Acre Wood, Mr. Kowal finds himself deep in slumber under the attentions of his surgeon. That honorable person has informed us that he shall be occupied with his labors for some two hours yet.

I further believe that they will protect him from Woozles.
Feb 26, 2020 6 tweets 1 min read
0-[pcvxf The previous tweet has been a message from your feline overlords.
Feb 21, 2020 6 tweets 3 min read
Today's game of #MaryGoRound takes me back home to Nashville.

To play:
1. When my travel goes well, you drink.
2. When it goes poorly, I drink.

(Sip, don't chug. Does not need to be alcohol to play.) Today's travel crochet is on its way to being a sweater.

Pattern: Rhythmite Pullover
Yarn: custom dyed @whyknotfibers Sultry (silk, camel, merino)