Conte Cruel October #6: Blessed Life Wellness’ Annual Retreat
Conte Cruel October continues but I’m suddenly overwhelmed with ideas that are getting progressively longer. Not a bad problem in the long run, just a little disruptive.
Conte Cruel October #5: How May I Assist You?
Conte Cruel October #5: When should you stop listening to the ghost in the machine?
Conte Cruel October #4: The Man Who Caught Them All
Conte Cruel October continues with a little tale about profit.
Conte Cruel October #3: Digital Halo
Every day in October I plan to post a brief short story in what I’m calling Conte Cruel October. This is the the third installment called Digital Halo.
Conte Cruel October #2: I’ll Be Anything You Need
I set a challenge for myself to write a Conte Cruel (cruel tale) every day in October. This is day 2!
Conte Cruel October #1 Rotten Ice
I set a challenge for myself to write a Conte Cruel (cruel tale) every day in October. Some might be shit, others might be great. The goal is writing a 100 word (or there about) story every day.
Death and Inspiration: Thoughts on the Passing of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry
Death comes for us all, but knowing that never stops the intense pain following the passing of people we care about or respect. Dolly Parton and Tim Curry passing in the same 24 hour window is profoundly sad but their legacies are integral to how we continue to fight for what we want from life. Read on for one weepy trans guy’s take on how important Dolly and Curry are to him and possibly the world.
The Vegan Option is Cauliflower: A Quest to Rate Every Vegan Entree I Find, The Beginning
Are you vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free? Chances are you’ve noticed the agonizing trend at restaurants where there’s a single option on a menu trying to cater to all difficult diets a chef can think of. Whenever that happens, Cauliflower is usually present.
The Vegan Option is Cauliflower is a long-term review series I plan to do where I break down how effective a restaurant’s vegan offerings are and how reliant they are on one of the cheapest, blandest veggies this side of potatoes.
We’re Living in Dungeon Crawler Carl
Not since the late ‘90s have I seen a series capture such a diverse swath of humanity to the degree Dungeon Crawler Carl has. Matt Dinniman self-published the first book in 2020 and now in the latter half of 2026 you cannot avoid the alluring neon color schemes and cheeky embossed hardcovers of the Ace Books. We’ve seen this meteoric rise before in literature but what’s behind DCC’s rise speaks to what nearly all people on Earth are suffering under right now.
Like Chilly Mountain Graves
A reflection on loss and the power of self-curation.
Neo-Decadence: 12 Manifestos - The Destruction of a Neo-Passéist Reality
The Neo-Decadent rails against this tired, monotonous existence not through concerning themself with direct rebellion but through the audacity to live in uninhibited kaleidoscopic joy. There's little reason to operate within a system that is fundamentally antagonistic to work that isn't designed for it, and the Neo-Decadent should take, repurpose, destroy, and reanimate with reckless abandon.
Emeraldis - A Story In 100 Words 8/14
This story in 100 words explores the idea of what might happen if you covered your girlfriend’s corpse with jewels. Normal, everyday fiction here.
Dead Weight: How an Early Columbo Episode Tackled Gaslighting and Hero Worship
Way back in 1971 Columbo taught us to resist gaslighting and not be completely trustful of war heroes just because they’re war heroes. Here’s how the episode Dead Weight can help us in these trying times.