I'm Still Alive — Take Two

I’m still alive — and not yet on Substack. The previous post announcing my non-expiration was true, but I did not return to full volume. No one wants full volume, especially in this loud era.

Quick hits: Since the last post, I made my feature film debut in indie horror pic, Happy Ending, written and directed (in Portland, Oregon) by my friend Jennifer Wolfe. I appeared and am credited as “Street Drunk.” It was a non-speaking role, but I do make an affirmative gesture. You can find it streaming.

A story of mine, “Repossession,” appeared in the rare magazine, Desert Detective, which was published in conjunction with NoirCon 2025. (Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend.) The story was something of an out-of-character departure for me. I would call it literary horror — or perhaps an over-the-top neo-gothic fable. There are no supernatural elements, but there are glimmers of the spiritual and surreal — sort of Flannery O’Connor, angry and on meth. It will be available to a wider readership in my posthumous (and post-humorous) story collection. (Joking!)

Reading: I stopped writing Goodreads reviews, partially out of the desire not to be critical. To be fair, I’ve read a bunch of good books over the last few years that warrant recognition. Probably the (lesser-known) author I’ve been recommending the most is Benjamin Labatut — a polyglot Chilean writer who wrote two “non-fiction novels” about real physicists and mathematicians (e.g., von Neumann and Heisenberg) in the books, The MANIAC (it’s an acronym) and When We Cease to Understand the World. They are not for the faint of heart. I don’t say this lightly: If he writes a couple more books of similar scope, he deserves the Nobel.

Okay, I’ll be back again — I hope without letting nearly three years pass. I have a lot to say, but it might not be worth saying.