Melissa Ann Singer

@masinger

freelance book editor specializing in genre fiction, former Senior Editor at Tor; loves theater & art; basically a nerd. has a cat she/her demi/ace Jewish NYC, HCHS, SMC (cover image: "59th Street Bridge" by Jeffrey is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)

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Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· 12d

My daughter is quite fond of a big annual arts festival in Tasmania; she's gone twice now. Here's my favorite pic she sent me from last year's, of a person-sized frog person statue.

Photo of a large, naked, humanoid frog statue

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· 12d

Scored at the Brooklyn Museum. Was there to see Iris van Herpen which is hands down one of the best fashion exhibits I have seen. And you could touch stuff (in 1 area)! Fashion & tech & upcycling & recycling & gorgeous.

Photo of a magnet which reads MUSEUM NERD in big, multicolored text against a black background

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· 18d

The classic male gaze vs. female gaze Hugh Jackmain pairing:

color photos of a person's hand holding a magazine. on the left, "Muscle & Fitness, showing a ripped & flexed, shirtless, Hugh Jackman with Wolverine's claws. on the right, "Good Housekeeping," showing clean-shaven, neatly-coiffed Hugh Jackman in a v-neck shirt, hands on his hips

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Jun 23

I am very boring about this. Peri Peripoo Baby/my baby/baby cat Little kitty My little girl My little puss-puss Sweetie

I have like a million photos of Peri lying across my bosom like this. It is her favorite spot. In many of the pix, her head is titled up because she wants me to kiss the top of her noggin. In hot weather she plasters herself along my thigh instead, all furry and purring, on her side so I can ruffle her belly fluff.

She is a brown&black mackerel tabby with blue-green eyes, about 8 years old. I am an older white woman wearing eyeglasses. I am not smiling bc I am trying not to drop my phone.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Jun 20

Here's mom's (I'm visiting today). Between the bend in the handle and the shaped blade, I cannot use it "right"/to her standards.

A photo of a butterknife with a shaped blade laying on a faux marble countertop

Side view of butterknife showing the bend in the hanlde

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Jun 7

Spotted in a classroom at my HS: the school edition of NEUROMANCER. My brain glitched when I saw it, I swear. When I was in school, Orwell was as SF as we got. Flanking it are THE STARS MY DESTINATION and DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?

A photograpgh of 3 books, Alfred Bester's THE STARS MY DESTINATION, William Gibson's NEUROMANCER, and Philip K. Dick's DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, lying face-up on a table. The Bester and Dick are only partly visible; the Gibson and Dick are in school bindings.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· May 24

Current weirdo, who has squeezed herself between my hip and my laptop. She's not fat; she has that loose skin thing that some cats have, plus she's kinda bunched up here. She must be close to me at virtually all times.

Photo: a view from kinda above of a black&brown mackerel tabby who has squeezed herself into a space where she has room to stretch out but this way her tush is jammed firmly against her person. If left alone, she will lower her head to the computer and attempt a nap, but this is unlikely to happen today as I have work to do.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· May 20

Peri has been sleeping on the smooth sheets of my unmade bed the last few days, because it's hot. She generally wakes up when I draw near (to ask for affection), but I managed to get a photo of her not on me for once by offering a hand for sniffing and pets.

Photo: A sleepy brown and black tabby cat sniffs a woman's finger. The cat and woman are both relaxed and love each other.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· May 12

My HS reunion is coming up fast, so I offer my yearbook photo, taken shortly after my 16th birthday. My smile is weird because about 2 months earlier I knocked my top 2 front teeth out in a fall. My hair hasn't changed much, except for the color. 😉

A b&w photo of a young white woman's face. She is looking directly into the camera with a calm, neutral expression.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· May 12

Trade ya.

A bad selfie of a fat woman with short purple-pink hair and a generally displeased expression. She is not actually displeased; she is trying to focus the phone canera.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Apr 12

Finally took a shower after my not-the-right-color dye job last week (popped a fever the next day, sigh, better now, yay). So this is plum, a redder purple than my usual violet. I don't hate it! How it fades will be the acid test.

Photo of a woman's head taken at an angle to mostly show her short hair, which is plum-coloed.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Apr 11

I have developed a sudden case of feline paralysis. Peri _demanded_ access to my bosom, shoving at my arm with her skull, then spread herself across my torso and hooked her front claws lightly into my t-shirt. She's purring loudly and is entirely relaxed.

Photo of a tabby cat spread horizontally across a woman's upper chest. The woman looks disgruntled but really is just trying to hold the camera steady.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Apr 11

Most of my pictures of my cat also have me in them, since if she is awake she tends to Velcro herself to me in some way. But in honor of #NationalPetDay and #Caturday, here's Peri, who is 7.

Photo mostly focused on the face of a very relaxed tabby cat.

Photo of the head and shoulders of a tabby cat lying on one side. A person's hand can be seen ruffling the tummy fluff of said cat, who is completely relaxed and thinks life is wonderful right now.

A photo from soon after Peri came to live with me, showing her gorgeous tabby cat face with its prominent M above her eyes as well as those expressive eyes themselves, which have 2 rings of color around the pupils. The inner bands are turquoise and the outer bands are yellow-green.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Mar 26

Only to discover her sitting in the carrier, paws folded, looking up as if to say, "let's get this show on the road." 6.5 years later she still wants pets first thing in the morning. And frequent cuddles and kisses.

Photo: A black and brown tabby with a white chin tilts her head back so the human she's lying on can kiss her between her ears. Only the upper parts of the human's face is visible--most of the nose, then glasses, eyes, abd forehead--because she is in fact kissing the cat

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Mar 15

A shot of a Tumblr post (I think it's Tumblr; I found it elseweb)

Is-sni-ovg:

In Romeo and Juliet's William Shakespeare

Coffeeandpaper:

I've been up for too long I didn't realize what what wrong with this

Yulinkuang:

AU where Romeo and Juliet are a bickering writing duo and William Shakespeare is their debut play they are trying to put on after college. Forsooth, hijinks ensue.

Ai-firestarter:

Hamlet is their emo friend who keeps complaining about his step-dad. Othello is their friend who got married too young and had their friend group's first ugly divorce over supposed infidelity. Macbeth is their politician friend whose ambitious girlfriend pushed him to cheat at a student union election, despite the fact that nobody actually noticed or cared. William Shakespeare is a parody of writers who use their friends as material for amped-up melodramas, and they colloquially refer to their play as Mmm Whatcha Say because their protagonist is obsessed with k$lying off all his characters.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Mar 14

Same cat, a minute later, still glaring and purring, now squeezed in between my thigh and my laptop.

The face of a glaring but purring tabby, with whiskers sticking out and up.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Feb 23

I keep screens on my windows year-round, which means under the right conditions, this happens:

A photo looking straight through a window at a wire screen. The tight mesh of the screen is covered in little clumps of snow, ranging from a few flakes up to several inches in length. The top of a window guard intrudes into the bottom of the image. Part of a brick building can be seen through and beyond the clumps of snow. It's chilly but pretty.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Feb 8

Anyway, you'll have to make do with yet another shot of Peri in my arms, this time close enough that you mostly see her pretty face and just a fringe of my purple hair sticking out behind her.

Slightly blurred close-in photo of the face of a contented tabby cat.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Feb 8

A few days ago I got this, in which it looks for all the world like she is giving me serious side-eye, but she is about to lift her head to ask for pets.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Jan 26

A white-sheet ghost with small arms and tiny black dots for eyes flexes its tiny arms in a hugging motion. The caption reads, "ghost hug! You can't feel it, but it's there!"

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Jan 19

My talented friend, Jacquelyn Reingold, is offering 1-on-1 TV script consultations. She is, well, see here:

a promo sheet for Jacquelyn Reingold, offering 1-on-1 TV script Consultations. Reingold is a TV writer, Executive Producer, and playwright, and has taught at NYU. her face is featured, along with thumbnails of shows she's worked on: "The Good Fight," "East New York," "In Treatment," and "Grace and Frankie"

quotes on the image: "Her rigorous approach to analyzing and constructing story is invaluable."--Nina Braddock, "Mankind," "The Sinner"; "I still rely on Jackie for her resources and wisdom."--Davon Briggs, "Law & Order OC," "Snowfall"; "If you want to learn to write television, Jackie's where you need to go."--Molly Smith Metzler, "Maid," "Sirens"; "Jackie showed me what was possible and how to achieve it."--Julia Brownell, "This is Us," "Parenthood"; "The best screenwriting teacher I had!"--David Scherker, "The Traitors," "The Vow"

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Dec 17

Went to @hillarymonahan.bsky.social & @peculiarityshop.bsky.social & said, basically, "I need 6-pointed stars & have a short neck, can you help?" Now I have these & they are perfect:

A pair of dark silver-gray metal 6-pointed star earrings, textured surfaces surrounding small purple stones (amethyst), mounted on a black card, in a clear plastic envelope.

One of the earrings, looking shiner and lighter than in the other photo, dangling from the stubby earlobe of a very pale white woman's ear. The woman's hair and the amethyst in the earring are almost the same color.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Dec 17

I'm like, a present! Thank you! And we part, wishing each other happy holidays. I assume, from the size of the object--about the size of my palm--and because it is hard, that it is fancy soap. It is not fancy soap. Anyone know if this stuff is scented?

A 2.53 Oz container of Dove "body love" beauty cream.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Dec 17

Niece is an actor. We talk about theater. We are walking together during this. We reach the corner, where we must part. She says, wait, I have something for you. (I am now slightly anticipating something religious.) She says, I do this every day in Decmber, and hands me this:

A small round object wrapped in green tissue paper with a gift tag that reads, Joy

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Dec 6

I mean, this is literally me right now

A tabby cat leans her head back for a kiss from the woman she is cuddling with

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Dec 6

I had decided to adopt Peri after seeing her photo but our vist was kinda "eh." But when I went to pick her up, she packed herself into the cat carrier while I & her foster searched high & low for her. Gave me a look like, "I'm ready, what's the holdup?" Now we are this, every day for 6 years.

A tabby cat snuggles, completely relaxed, in a woman's arms.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Dec 3

I am 2 months in on a dye job, with a different dye than usual as Pravana discontinued my color. Looks good enough that 4 separate people complimented me on it today!

A photo of part of the top of a woman's head, showing that her hair is mostly purple, with an inch or so of dark brown and silver roots.

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Nov 14

Wow, that was scary! I'm satisfied with my result.

a horizontal bar graph showing Slate News Quiz results

OP answered 8 out of 12 questions for 365 points and is marked "Winner!"

Slate staffer got 127 points

Average score was 343 points

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Nov 6

It was both a wonderful and terrible place to work. But we loved her, creaky and drafty though she was. The summer before we moved out, I got this:

A woman's forearm with a tattoo of the Flatiron building

Melissa Ann Singer@masinger· Nov 2

the message is vague about exactly what functionality is impaired, but yesterday my shelf would not synch at all, though I was able to return a book. I haven't opened the app today. here's the official status report: