Christopher Rowe

@christopherrowe.bsky.social

1351 Followers 364 Following

Writer, reader, cyclist, cook, traveller. THE NAVIGATING FOX, starred review in Publishers Weekly, out now from Tordotcom Publishing.

Text reading: “You’re lucky to be here, then,” I said. It had been an inauspicious start to Hannibal’s campaign, but I couldn’t say that to his face. He’d kept both legs, and I wasn’t about to ask where he lost the eye. He fixed me with the one that remained. “My point: sieges are costly. And boring.” A joke came to mind about sapping, undermining. In the sense of boring . . . under a wall. [ellipsis in original] However, since I had already established that Hannibal had no sense of humor, I kept it to myself.
Text reading: A Reading from the Commonplace Book With Tantor, the elephant, he made friends. How? Ask not. —Edgar Rice Burroughs —Tarzan of the Apes
A large radish.
A photograph of the White House in Washington DC, taken in late May, 2026, shows the mansion behind the ongoing construction of a mixed martial arts "fighting cage" stadium. Superimposed over the photo is text reading as follows: ….that same crowd in a moment would have hailed
Their new Augustus. They shed their sense of responsibility Long ago, when they lost their votes, and the bribes; the mob
That used to grant power, high office, the legions, everything, Curtails its desires, and reveals its anxiety for two things only,
Bread and circuses… Juvenal Satire X 2nd Century BC (translation by A.S. Kline, copyright 2011)
One kitten napping and one stalking in the sun drenched straw of a hutch, with four hen eggs in the foreground.
A man in farming clothes (me) stands in an early spring garden holding an open notebook in one hand and gesturing with the other.
A topographical map of Kentucky, with its many counties outlined, has three labels. Label #1: High Points of Kentucky’s
120 Counties Label #2: https://kgs.uky.edu/kyhighpts/ Label #3: From the Kentucky Geological Survey website: Kentucky writer and cyclist Christopher Rowe was using the 1978 KGS report “Topography of Kentucky” to find high points in each county with the idea of bicycling to as many as possible. When we learned about his efforts, we immediately realized we could use the statewide LiDAR DEM to determine each county’s highest point far more accurately than could be done with old topographic maps. So, we did that, calculated the distance from each high point the nearest road, and are sharing the results via this interactive map. 
Text reads: Homemakers homemade homemade yeah yeah I signed up on Tuesday for the pay plan and what both days OK I’ll signed up for the pen on Tuesday and the flag of the flower on Wednesday. Well, we put it on there to see which one we got if we get one or the other one might not get either one OK what else did you do for this one? Are we gonna do the supporting the breast-feeding? Well, you know it’s like that. Oh that’s great. That’s great color of the mountains. That’s dies natural dies I did sign up for that and it did say pay for your first choice. If there’s a fee well that one has a fee and then the block party it’s it is recording what I’m saying look at that.
A Reading from the Commonplace Book The way I figure it, every man’s entitled to a door he can close against the world. —Ed McBain —Lady, Lady, I Did It!
A list of texts in the format of an MLA works cited page reads: Chabon, Michael. “Chapter 4: The Cloud Factory.” The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, William Morrow & Co, New York, 1988, pp. 37–45. Lahiri, Jhumpa. “Interpreter of Maladies.” Interpreter of Maladies: Stories, Houghton Mifflin Co, Boston, pp. 35–51. Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street.” I Would Prefer Not To: Essential Stories, Pushkin Press, London, 2021, pp. 6–51. Roanhorse, Rebecca. “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian ExperienceTM.” The New Voices of Science Fiction, Tachyon, San Francisco, 2019, pp. 239–259. Robinson, Kim Stanley. “Part 3: The Crucible.” Red Mars, Bantam Spectra, New York, 1992, pp. 134–161. Slezak, Ellen. “If You Treat Things Right.” Last Year’s Jesus, Hyperion, New York, 2002, pp. 167–183.
A screenshot of a blog post titled "2026 Valley of the Sun Stage Race Preview and Start List." A colorful logo features a stylized cyclist in silhouette against sun-drenched mountains and a banner reading "Valley of the Sun Sun Stage Race - John Earley Memorial." The first pagragraph of the preview is also visible, and reads: "The 34th running of the Valley of the Sun Stage Race, also known as the John Earely Memorial, is set to take place from Friday, 13th February through Sunday, 15th February, with riders taking on the traditional time trial, road race, and criterium as stages raced for cumulative time. This year’s pro fields are significantly smaller than last year’s, with just 48 women and 77 men registered to start Friday’s time trial, down from 66 and 115 last year."
A reading from the Commonplace Book …wordmills had just come in, they were all the rage, people were sick of writers, they loved the wordmill product, there was no time for a publisher to think of anything else and no point in him doing so. —Fritz Leiber —“The Silver Eggheads” 1959
A screen cap shows US President Donald J. Trump addressing a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 21, 2026. An accompanying CNN headline reads: "Trump renews demand for Greenland in Davos speech, but says he 'won't use force'
Screen shot of a "Search Assist" result at duckduckgo, generated in response to the search string: republican response to trump message to norwegian prime minister The given response is: "Sorry, no relevant information was found in our search."
If poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world, then librarians are the unacknowledged foot soldiers. daybook entry Christopher Rowe 20th Jan 2026
A yellow broadside shows the following text in umber ink: Ballad of Birmingham BY Dudley Randall (On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963) “Mother dear, may I go downtown Instead of out to play, And march the streets of Birmingham In a Freedom March today?” “No, baby, no, you may not go, For the dogs are fierce and wild, And clubs and hoses, guns and jails Aren’t good for a little child.” “But, mother, I won’t be alone. Other children will go with me, And march the streets of Birmingham To make our country free.” “No, baby, no, you may not go, For I fear those guns will fire. But you may go to church instead And sing in the children’s choir.” She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair, And bathed rose petal sweet, And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands, And white shoes on her feet. The mother smiled to know her child Was in the sacred place, But that smile was the last smile To come upon her face. For when she heard the explosion, Her eyes grew wet and wild. She raced through the streets of Birmingham Calling for her child. She clawed through bits of glass and brick, Then lifted out a shoe. “O, here’s the shoe my baby wore, But, baby, where are you?” © Copyright 1963 and 1965 Melody Trails, Inc., New York, N.Y. Also available in the song, BALLAD OF BIRMINGHAM, Words by Dudley Randall; Music by Jerry Moore. This is the definitive version of the poem, extensively revised by the author. BROADSIDE No. 1, September, 1965 Broadside Press 12651 Old Mill Place Detroit, Michigan 48238 35 Cents
A screenshot of a phone’s email inbox shows an unopened message. The sender is New York Magazine. The subject line reads, “Want to Play Seth Rogan’s Favorite Game?”
A lists of texts, formatted as an MLA styled Works Cited page, reads: Bailey, Dale and Christopher Rowe. Text correspondence. 7 Jan. 2026. Bisson, Terry. “Bears Discover Fire.” Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories, Orb, New York, 1994, pp. 4–17. ---. “The Two Janets.” Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories, Orb, New York, 1994, pp. 18–27. Delany, Samuel R. “Some Notes for the Intermediate and Advanced Creative Writing Student.” About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, and Five Interviews, Wesleyan UP, Middletown, CT, 2005, pp. 117–148. Gibson, William. “Chapter One.” Neuromancer, Ace, New York, 1984, pp. 3–25. Le Guin, Ursula K. “Unquestioned Assumptions.” The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination, Shambhala, Boston, 2004, pp. 240–249. Lorenzo, Angelo. “Noise Is Life.” Stories on the Move: Voices of the Unhoused, special issue of International Human Rights Art Movement Literary Magazine, Fall 2025, pp. 19–22. Miler, Mary. “Soldiers.” Oxford American, no. 130, Fall 2025, pp. 79–84. Miller, Denise. “The Work of Hands.” Callaloo, vol. 43, no. 2, Spring 2025, pp. 105–109. Roy, Arundhati. “Chapter 1: Paradise Pickles & Preserves.” The God of Small Things, Random House, New York, 1997, pp. 3–33. Shapiro, Lila. “Gluttons for Punishment.” Vulture, New York Magazine, 7 Jan. 2026, www.vulture.com/article/justin-mcdaniel-existential-despair-course.html. Winick, Judd, and Joshua Middleton. Superman/Shazam! First Thunder, DC Comics, Burbank, CA, 2018, pp. 122–125.
Texts “Paradise Pickles and Preserves,” chapter one of the novel God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, 1997 “Bears Discover Fire,” short story by Terry Bisson from the collection Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories, 1994 “Soldiers,” short story by Mary Miller from The Oxford American, Fall 2025 “Noise is Life,” short story by Angelo Lorenzon from Ihram Press Literary Magazine, Quarter 4, 2025 “The Work of Hands,” short story by Denise Miller from Callaloo, vol 43, no 2, Spring 2025 Neuromancer (chapter one), novel by William Gibson, 1984 Ephemera “The Two Janets,” short story by Terry Bisson from the collection Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories, 1994 “Who did this to you?” four-page extract from Superman/Shazam! First Thunder, graphic novel script by Judd Winick, art by Joshual Middleton, 2018
An enormous antique oak desk is burdened by a three-screens sophisticated-for-an-English-major tech set up, two open notebooks, and three or four teetering stacks of books, the titles of most of which are illegible.
An envelope with a German postmark, addressed to Christopher Rowe in Columbia, Kentucky, USA, is covered with illegible scrawling.
A green box with text reading: Dress Code Any student wearing a t-shirt featuring imagery from or inspired by the covers of Sticky Fingers or The Dark Side of the Moon will be required to recite the lyrics of one track, chosen by me, from the given album. I will not be choosing “Brown Sugar,” “Wild Horses,” “Time,” or “Money.”
A list, headed "afternoon," written in cursive in blue ink on line notebook paper. The four items listed read: post syllabus, sack up feed left in bins 1 and 3, work a little on book, and kitty litter.
A Reading from the Commonplace Book Those evil-natured robots They’re programmed to destroy us —The Flaming Lips —“Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots”
An image of actors Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, and Austin Butler in character makeup as the Harkonnens in Denis Villeneuve's film, Dune: Part Two (2024) superimposed with text reading, "President Trump, flanked by sons Donald, Jr. and Eric, reacts to news from Minneapolis."
A Doonesbury comic strip written and drawn by Gary Trudeau, published in 1980, shows a young man filling out his selective service paperwork. Told that he'd neglected to answer a question on the back of the form, he reads it aloud: "If called upon by your country, would you be willing to give your life to protect the interests of U.S. oil companies?" His indignant question, "Oil companies?" is answered: "It's only hypothetical. We're just trying to get a head count."
New Year’s Resolutions, 2026 This year, I will attend a middle school choral performance And admire how a middle-aged woman trusts her secret ferocity To the voices of children still short of theirs. I will learn to say, “I am glad you are here,” in Spanish. I will say it, una y otra vez. This year, I will love you. I will not shrug off your fear and hatred, but I will love you. I will love myself, I will try to shake off my fear hatred, and I will love myself. I will pray. I will say, “I am sorry I was late, I was praying.” I will say, “Let’s pray.” Books. This year, I will, again, dance with my cat, just the two of us. Me on the one and three, him on the two and four. He’s a cat. I will, again, fall sometimes when I’m dancing alone. I will, again, fall sometimes when I’m dancing with you. This year, you will, again, catch me. This year I’ll try to notice less when I cross the county line, Because I do not know who drew it, but I know why. I’ll try to notice more. That’s it, just more. This year, I will listen to children sing. I will dance and pray and read and fall. I will cross and know and fail. This year, I will attend a middle school choral performance And admire how children voice ferocity they don’t understand But know is there. They know it’s there. This year, I will say, Me alegra que estés aquí. Me alegra que estés aquí. Me alegra que estés aquí. —Christopher Rowe
Middle aged white guy with a closely trimmed white beard wearing glasses and a red shirt. He has forgotten to take out his earbuds. One of the books in the crowded shelves behind him is Being Gardner Dozois, by Michael Swanwick. He’s not a bad looking guy!
Black text in a white background reads, “7-11, no cap”
A Reading from the Commonplace Book Words, words. They’re all we have to go on. —Tom Stoppard —Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
“100 per cent of these documents are being delivered.” President Donald J. Trump 22 April 2025 “There are tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children, or child porn, and there are hundreds of victims.” US Attorney-General Pam Bondi 7 May 2025 “I know the Attorney-General has committed to releasing those files. I would defer you to the Department of Justice on her timeline. But when she has made a promise in the past, she has kept it, and I’m certain that she will in this case as well.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt 9 May 2025 “No further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.” Unsigned United States Department of Justice memo 7 July 2025 “Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit’ hook, line and sinker.” President Donald J. Trump 16 July 2025 “May every day be another beautiful secret.” President Donald J. Trump 17 July 2025
A short poem reads: A Reading from the Commonplace Book Remember, remember, On second November, To dutifully set back your clock. I see no reason, For changing by season, But nobody asked what I thought. —Christopher Rowe
A screen shot from the Weightless Books webpage that reads, in part: "New subscriptions to F&SF at Weightless have been placed on a temporary hold at the request of the publisher."
Text on a yellowed page reading: Nude With a Dagger By John Flanders The old moneylender bumped into a weird problem that all his hardness could not penetrate
The striking cover of the first publication (in book form) of Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel, A Princess of Mars. The illustrator was Frank E. Schoonover.
A farmer leaning against a large black steer’s rump.
A mysterious old tool.
While people in the background flee tear gas, an older man strides purposefully forward through the flags, carrying a large American flag on a pole, with a smaller one in his back pocket. An abandoned protest sign on the ground, partially obscured by the gas, reads, "Every Ice Agent Will be Held to Account."
The Principal Surveyor of the Land for the Commonwealth of Virginia's Land-Office Military Warrant No. 3985, dated October 21, 1785, granting William Rowe 100 acres of land in consideration for his services for three years as a soldier on the Virginia Continental Line.
A view down over a large, mostly empty pasture. At rear, a very large barn stands before a wooded horizon. In the foreground, left to right, a farmer walks from his parked pickup truck toward a tiny black smudge just barely discernible as a baby calf. To the right, the calf’s anxious mother looks on.
An aged document reads: Land-Office Military Warrant, No. 3985 To the principal SURVEYOR of the Land, set apart for Officers and Soldiers of the Commonwealth of Virginia. This shall be your WARRANT to survey and lay off in one or more surveys, for William Rowe, his Heirs or Assigns; the Quantity of One hundred Acres of Land, due unto the said William Rowe in consideration for his Services for the three years as a Soldier in the Virginia Commonwealth Line agreeably to a Certificate from the Governor and Council, which is received into the Land-Office, GIVEN under my Hand, and Seal of the said Office, this 21st Day of October in the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and 85.
A reading from the Commonplace Book Don’t hide the madness. —Allen Ginsberg —“On Burroughs’ Work”
A list of fourteen things. They are: - [ ] Buck Owens harmonizing with Dangerous Don Rich - [ ] The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont - [ ] Tim Minchin’s Judas in the 2012 productions of Jesus Christ Superstar - [ ] The shifts of focus among characters in Mrs Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf - [ ] Patty Loveless’ cover of “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” - [ ] “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota,” by James Wright - [ ] The last paragraph of “The Dead,” by James Joyce - [ ] “Jolene,” by Dolly Parton - [ ] The Beatitudes - [ ] “There Is A Time,” by the Dillards, performing as The Darlings on The Andy Griffith Show - [ ] Lucy Lawless mocking Kevin Sorbo on social media - [ ] The cover of The Flash #123, September 1961, drawn by Carmine Infantino and inked by Murphy Anderson - [ ] “View of Delft,” by Johannes Vermeer - [ ] “I’ll Fly Away” as performed by the Singing Riches (any iteration)
The cover of the August 2025 issue of Lightspeed Science Fiction & Fantasy. The illustration is very dynamic, showing a swordsman atop a giant they have apparently just felled.
A, erm, quite plump gray cat with white mittens lies belly up, a sunbeam falling across his precious little face.