John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 16/05/2026New post up about narrative attention, disjointed description, and how much I love Joy Williams. Also fish. "Men like fish." jdlarson.substack.com/p/gently-der...jdlarson.substack.comGently DerangedJoy Williams and the Logic of Attention 000
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 11/05/2026Being well adjusted implies having undergone quite a lot of adjustment. 000
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 03/05/2026Awful part of writing horror: I will look up skin diseases and eye stuff and (some) accidents to people. NP. But today I had to read about horses breaking their legs and I swear I did it through my fingers. On my second screen so I could face forward and only look at it peripherally. Shuddering. 🐎🥀 010
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 03/05/2026I came late to Slowdive. Why did nobody tell me about listening to them with a breeze on your face? 000
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 27/12/2025I understand that, used responsibly, Elden Ring has been safely enjoyed by millions. But we must admit the harm that it has caused to shoulders and lower backs: tense yet also slouched for hours, the posture requiree to seek the Elden Throne is grueling. 010
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 20/09/2025I've resolved, apparently, to not even be embarrassed about Halloween creep this year. It's not even October and I've had only pumpkin-colored beverages for weeks now. 010
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 21/08/2025New post-WorldCon entry ambivalenting about genre! jdlarson.substack.com/p/genre-trou...jdlarson.substack.comGenre TroubleOr: the Limits of Vampires 000
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 21/07/2025Dentist: Just be still; the x-ray will only take about ten seconds. Me: *realizes I have never spent ten sustained seconds not vibrating wildly* 010
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 14/07/2025In this entry of my newsletter, I meander around the motion of killing one's darlings purely as an excuse to quote Raymond Chandler's prose a bunch: jdlarson.substack.com/p/the-simple...jdlarson.substack.comThe Simple Art of Murdering DarlingsRaymond Chandler, Style, and Revision’s Strange Sins 000
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 08/07/2025Me: Nobody notices or thinks about you as much as your anxiety believes. My barista, just now: I know the face of every person that walks into this cafe and orders *tea*. 000
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 21/06/2025Them: What a cute mug! I'd love my coffee in that. Me: Ye-es. You can have your coffee in... in my favorite mug. Them: Mmm. Thank you! This is delicious. Do you have cream, though? Me: No you're doing it wrong. Stop that. She doesn't like her handle touched. 010
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 14/06/2025My partner: don't forget to wear sunscreen and write the name of your emergency contact inside your arm! Me: Okay, MOM. Calm down, I'll be fine. Me, later: shit i forgot sunscreen 020
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 12/06/2025I've just finished Alan Wake 2. What twisty self-referential video game/FMV experiment should i play next? *scans horizon* Hellooooooo...? 000
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 17/05/2025In which I argue with the me of two weeks ago. jdlarson.substack.com/p/why-force-itjdlarson.substack.comWhy Force It?Very Well, I Contradict Myself 010
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 15/05/2025My new life's ambition is to acquire and listen constantly to Genesis's 1986 album Invisible Touch. i have not heard it since ca. 1990 i wonder if it holds up. 131
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 15/05/2025I began the process of revising my novel by driving to Astoria and reviewing it at Sleeper Coffee. I'm excited and optimistic! I suspect this is because any activity at Sleeper Coffee becomes thrilling and positive. 110
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 08/05/2025I think my cat might be struggling with anxiety and also projecting his neurosis onto anyone nearby. 120
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 04/05/2025AI writing alt-universe fanfic. The steaming chemistry between Jess and Nigel on that show is legendary. The way she was flighty but lovable and he was stoic and drank various teas from delicate china. Stiffens my upper lip to think about it. 000
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 04/05/2025Today's post considers how we want to feel while writing, and whether that feeling has value, then incorrectly concludes that it does not. Shit, I gave away the end. 010
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 03/05/2025Remember: spring is the second season of folk horror. The "horror" comes from October, but the "folk" comes from May. And by "May" I mean "pole season" and by "pole" I mean go watch Wicker Man and I'll explain when you're older. 000
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 02/05/2025Current mood: an entire box of Honey Bunches of Oats poured into a large bowl with chocolate milk. 000
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 29/04/2025Looking forward to getting through peak hay fever season and into summer, where I can look forward to rocky mountain spotted fever and Eli Roth's cabin fever. 000
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 28/04/2025Relocated box turtles will try to return their home range. If they cannot find it, they may spend the remainder of their lives wandering aimlessly, trying to find their home. Box turtles can live over 50 years. 000
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 27/04/2025Friends, I hope you greet tomorrow like a medieval painting of a lion that looks like a smiling housecat, not a medieval painting of a lion that looks like a dyspeptic greyhound. Or a medieval painting of a lion with a horse body whose lush mane surrounds a child's features. Never that. 000
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 25/04/2025I hesitate to admit this -- particularly on a public forum like there, where I'll be subject to the judgment of my peers and even strangers -- but lately I've been marginally less into Cotswold cheese. 130
John Larson @johndlarson.bsky.social · 25/04/2025My recent entry on 90s representations of gender (in smut and literary... smut--but classy!) is a bit more personal than my usual post. But I obviously have to share it because I like the accompanying photo.open.substack.comVelvet and Leather and Lesbians Oh MySarah Waters’s Tipping the Velvet and Carol Queen’s The Leather Daddy and the Femme 020
