Just a small note today. I’ve spoken a lot in big and small rooms in the last few years and almost always I say the same thing…that kindness and decency and empathy still exist…that there are people fighting quietly for you but it can be hard to see them because the loud people are trying to distract you…that there are more of us than them…that it is worth it to keep hoping and keep fighting. I’m not sure how much the results of last night will be able to change things in the long run, but I will always remember this moment and how incredible it feels to know that the average Texan I pass on the street was not taken in by the horrifyingly bigoted advertising we’ve been flooded with here, and instead said, “Enough of that. Give us back our books. Give us back our hope. Give us back our friends and family in detention centers. Give us back the potential to be who we can be.”
Just a quick post to tell you what I’ve been reading and picking for my book clubs for October and November because there were some very good new releases you might want to fall into. (Get it? “Fall”? Because it’s Fall? Sorry. I’ll stop.)
In October we sent members of the Fantastic Strangelings Book Club (JOIN US) copies of Solace House by Will MacLean and I cannot even tell what genre it is because it was weird as hell in a good way. Locked rooms, hidden relics, secret passages. And next month we’re sending you The Killing of a Chestnut Tree by Oliver K. Langmead, which sucked me in with the tagline…BE GAY, SOLVE CRIMES! So good, so fun. Also, it’s the start of a series but it has a very solid ending without a cliffhanger so don’t worry about that. I WOULD NOT DO THAT TO YOU, FRIEND.
Then for our Nightmares from Nowhere horror club (GET IN HERE, WEIRDO) we sent It Looks Like You in the Dark by Mathilda Zeller, a propulsive Indigenous horror debut focusing on Alaskan Native folklore. Utterly engrossing. And in November we’ll be sending out MILKTEETH by Caitlin Starling, which is a vampire story unlike any I’ve read before. Like, picture Interview with a Vampire but focused on motherhood and female rage and queer longing and a hefty amount of body horror.
And if you need more to quell your thirst, here are a few other new fall releases I loved:
Death of An Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry – This book was so good I considered picking it for the book club but it made me cry so much I got dehydrated and I wasn’t sure if everyone was ready for that. BUT IT IS SO GOOD. A memoir on death and grief that is honest and uplifting and beautiful.
When the Night Comes Knocking by Katherine Daniel – Appalachian horror that had me HOOKED. Also, spoiler: the dog lives. Sorry, but I hate opening a horror book and not knowing if a pet survives and I suspect I’m not alone.
There Are No Giant Crabs in This Novel: A Novel of Giant Crabs by Jason Pargin. Smart, funny, satirical, brutal. This book is part of the John Dies at the End universe but you don’t have to have read the previous books to understand it. I’ve only read two of them and forgot both of them but still really loved it even though I’m sure I missed a lot of inside jokes. A bit gory, fyi, if you’re sensitive to that.
The Velvet Knife by Maureen Johnson – This is part of the Truly Devious series and Maureen Johnson is on my automatic buy list for a reason.
Behind the Gate by Amparo Dávila – Gothic creepy stories to read in bed from one of Mexico’s great writers.
Sidekick by Naomi Shihab Nye -Poetry drawing on her family’s deep roots in Palestine, written with love and heartbreak. Direct, challenging and important.
Cloud Runner: Poems by Joy Harjo – Three-term U.S. Poet Laureate writes of the grief and pain of losing her daughter, and how art can transform suffering. I made my heart hurt, but in a good way. (I recommend you read it in pieces because it’s heavy.)
As always, thank you for supporting Nowhere Bookshop and Indie bookshops everywhere!
I had a list on my phone about things I needed to tell you but I can’t find it and now I’m just going from memory, which is not good for anyone.
So first of all, I’m back from 48 hours in Iceland and I want to write all about it but I need to find my notes which I also lost. SOMEONE HELP ME.
Here are the things I can remember…if you live in Idaho, I am coming to you! On November 5th I’ll be at the Osher Institute in Boise for a reading/discussion/signing and on November 6th I’m doing a keynote for the NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Boise Conference. Tickets are available to both at the links but the first one is cheaper if you’re not already a member of NAMI.
What next? Oh! I’m also speaking and signing books at the Texas Book Festival in Austin on Sunday, November 15th! It’s an incredible 2 day schedule and it’s free for everyone, but you can get early access to some sessions and signings if you want to buy a Festival Friend Pass.
What else…? Oh! Go vote! And double check your ballot before you turn it in because there are reports of democratic votes turning into republican ones. (BIG SIGH.)
Today starts the Nowhere Halloween Book Fair, so come by if you’re in town this weekend.
Purrsy and Professor Midnight are continuing their love affair and refuse to be more than 2 feet from each other. Purrsy has turned from an unhinged menace to a complete snugglepuss and I can only assume that Professor Midnight is made out of xanax. Purrsy lost a baby tooth and I’m keeping it and I can’t tell if that makes me a good mother or a weird one.
“CAN WE HELP YOU?”
I know I’m forgetting like 8 other things. More later…
I am finally coming out of this massive depression and I just had a week where I felt like an actual human with real human energy and it was such a relief that I was saying yes to everything because I’ve been saying no for so long and Victor immediately took advantage of that to say, “What if we go to Iceland?” because he knows that seeing the Northern Lights is #1 on my bucket list and I was like, “I kind of want to say yes but also what if I fall back into the darkness or it’s too tiring?” and he was like, “TOO LATE, I BOOKED IT WHEN I HEARD YES” and so that is why we’re leaving for Iceland less than 12 hours. And I pointed out that I wasn’t sure if I had the stamina for a real trip and he was like, “That’s fine because I just booked it for 48 hours” and that sounds nuts but honestly, it works for us. I’m not entirely sure what is on the agenda but I will be on Björk alert the entire time because I love her, but also I would be way too anxious to say hello to her and so instead if I see her I will just capture the moment in my brain, like I am birdwatching and she is a giant shoebill. Or a puffin. Which apparently live in Iceland and I would be equally excited to see one because when you turn 50 you immediately become a bird-nerd.
Our house sitter will be watching the babies (SORRY, BURGLARS) and I would worry that they would miss us except that Dorothy Barker just wants to nap, and Purrsy and Professor Midnight have become utterly besotted with each other. I’m not sure if they’re long lost brothers or if “they were roommates” but they will not leave each other’s side.
THEY’RE HOLDING HANDS. MY HEART EXPLODED.
There are literally 50 softer places for them to sleep and so many cat beds. Nope. They just want to spoon on my chair.
This isn’t even their water bowl. It’s Dottie’s. They have 3 larger bowls in the house but if one cat is checking something out the other has to be doing it at the exact same time.
“Can we help you, ma’am?”
Also, yes, that is a cat playpen and I realize that’s a weird thing to have for teenage cats but Purrsy used it as a refuge when he was a baby and wanted to get away from Dottie and now Purrsy and the Professor both carry all their toys and drop them inside the playpen like it’s their dragon horde and so now I guess we’re the house with a cat playpen? I don’t know, y’all. I just live here.
Everyone who said Purrsy needed a friend was right.
So last week Victor and Hailey and I went to socialize feral shelter kittens and the kittens were all like, “fuck you guys” and hid but there was this lanky, black teenage cat who was like, “PICK ME UP. LOVE ME. LET ME CRAWL INSIDE YOUR CARDIGAN.” I’ve never had a black cat before so I’m not sure if this is typical black cat behavior, but he insisted that we not leave and then literally jumped into an adoption box by himself and stared at us, like “What is taking you so long? PITTER PATTER LET’S GET AT ‘ER.”
We immediately took him to the vet and then he immediately broke several things in the vets office and then he was ours. Purrsy and Dorothy Barker are tentatively welcoming. The black cat is so laid back and doofy he didn’t even seem to notice there were other animals in the house. Or maybe he’s just used to lots of animals in the shelter? He is the definition of nonchalant.
I cannot take a good picture of him because he is a void and my camera insists it needs more light.
Why is his leg out like that? No one knows. But he’s purring like a motherfucker and has made himself at home.
And so now we have a new cat (HOW DID THIS HAPPEN) and we need a name. We haven’t entirely decided on one yet, but below is our most recent conversation:
me: Should we do pun name so he matches Purrsy Bysshe Shelley?
Victor: He looks like a Jinx. Because he’s full of hijinks.
Hailey: How about Midnight?
Victor: Too plain.
me: Johnny Cash!
Hailey: How is that a pun?
me: Because he’s “the man in black.”
Victor: That’s a very long way to go for a joke. How about…Azreal?
me: Oh, I like that.
Hailey: Who?
me: The black cat that Gargamel had on the Smurfs?
Hailey: Azreal was orange.
me and Victor: Absolutely not.
Hailey: Yeah he was. Look him up.
Victor: Wtf? Is this a Mandela Effect thing?
me: It has to be.
Victor: Weren’t you going to make me a shirt with Gargamel on the front and “Everyday I’m Wizarding” on on the back?
me: Ran into copyright issues. How about Noche?
Victor: They’re delicious.
me: Not gnocchi. “Noche”…like the Spanish word for night.
Victor: That’s not even close to how you pronounce that word.
me: Walter Walnuts!
Hailey: What?
me: It’s just fun to say. “Walter Walnuts.”
Victor: That’s a ridiculous name. You might as well call him “The Jonas Brothers.”
me: How about…Moonshadow?
Victor: I don’t hate it.
me: AND Moonshadow was a song by Cat Stevens. Get it? CAT Stevens?
Victor: So why don’t we just call him Cat Stevens?
me: So his first name is “Cat”? Absolutely not.
Hailey: Didn’t you want to name a cat “Mr. President”?
me: 12 years ago I did. It’s since lost its charm.
Hailey: Are you naming him Moonshadow after the cat in the Warrior Cat books? Feels very millennial-coded.
me: Oh, I forgot about those books.
Victor: I think we need to figure out what kind of cat he is to name him. Like, is he a menace, a familiar, a superhero?
me: How about Professor Midnight.”
Hailey: Hmm.
me: Because that sounds like a detective or a villain or a spooky friend…it’s very open-ended and mysterious.
Victor: I like it. Professor Midnight. He’s an academic. Not a medical doctor.
I was just checking the mail and I heard a woman yell, “PUT YOUR POOPOO IN YOUR POCKET” and I kind of just froze because I don’t even know how to respond to that? It seems like an insult or a threat but turns out it was an elderly woman from my neighborhood who was taking a walk and (I guess?) giving advice to a man who was walking his dog and was carrying a little plastic bag of (presumably) dog poo, and he sort of stutter-stopped and looked at her like, “Pardon?” and she was like, “Yeah, just put your poopoo in your pocket! Then you don’t have to hold it!” And then she grinned helpfully like it was the most reasonable life hack ever. Then she mimed stuffing shit in your pocket. He didn’t put it in his pocket but he did smile and wave and I can’t tell if this is a sign that I live in a very kind neighborhood or a very weird neighborhood. Also, now I can’t stop yelling, “PUT YOUR POOPOO IN YOUR POCKET” because it is very catchy.
Today is Victor’s birthday. Happy birthday, Victor! PUT YOUR POOPOO IN YOUR POCKET. (See…catchy.)
Yesterday I shared a new doodle on my art substack and it’s not very pretty but I really like it.
Today I shared my collection of antique photos of ACTUAL GHOSTS on mytime-travel substack.
(that one is not a ghost. But it is a little unsettling.)
You can subscribe to either of them for free if you like, and you’ll get them in email each week. They’re different from the blog but still me. 🙂
The Mack Files: Digesting life in bite-sized pieces through the lens of clichés, quotes & “truisms”. Often irreverent, always honest.
Wonder and Joy for the Wired and Tired: Feeling wired, tired, and stretched too thin? You’re not alone. Re-ignite your sense of childlike wonder, joy, and well-being with this enlightening and entertaining book by Dr. Pam Stephens Lehenbauer, well-being thought leader and author of the blog, Mother Nature’s Apprentice.
Stuff and Thangs from Xanaru: A mostly funny stuff about my quest for happiness through stories, art, friendship, Great Danes, one naked weirdo alien cat and indiscriminate swearing.
How the Hell Did I Not Know That?: Humorist Lucie Frost shares daily Instagram reels with learnings of the day—words, music, whatever–with plenty of laughs and all the curse words.
Beautiful Writers book: Writers! This coming-of-career memoir (w/ the BEST advice from celeb authors, real shit you haven’t heard) is life. A page-turning beach read doubling as how-to. #Magic
Sunday Comics With Cooper and Fitz: A light-hearted comic strip about two sibling felines and their life with their adopted family: their relationship is complicated but hilarious, and navigating life with humans adds to the fun.
Guilded Monocle: Hand-assembled writing kits to lure your muse back from its side quest. Two paths always included: one structured, one wandering. Every pairs with a prompt if you’re in the mood — if not, be as feral as you wanna be. No yoga voice here, just a judgy mutt named Rory.
The Museum of Regrettable Spreadsheets: Somewhere in your organization is a spreadsheet where the colors mean something and nobody remembers what. The Museum of Regrettable Spreadsheets would like it for the collection. P.S. The Curator also does web hosting and data cleanup. Restoration is available. Exhibition is not mandatory.
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