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Madison McSweeney

@mmcsw13.bsky.social
476 followers 545 following 165 posts

Horror/Weird/Bizarro writer from Ottawa. Author of THE DOOM THAT CAME TO MELLONVILLE and MOST LIKELY TO SUMMON NYHILOTEPH. Mildly obsessed with pro-wrestling and martial arts movies. Non-Euclidean.

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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Ghost did the Haxan ending, I died.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Miasma at the Bytowne!
Cardboard standee for CAMP MIASMA in a movie theatre lobby, depicting a fictional slasher with a heat vent for a head. Bytowne Cinema marquee, announcing this week’s screenings of Camp Miasma.
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Little Ghosts Books @littleghostsbooks.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
We had a very happy Monster Smut reading night at Evermore Books in Ottawa! Thanks so much to the Ottawa horror writers who came to read some unhinged erotica in front of a full audience. @charleneelsby.bsky.social @mmcsw13.bsky.social @shelleylavigne.bsky.social & more! Horror x Romance forever🖤👻
Chris, Madison, Chris, Atlas, Charlene & Shelley all get silly on the evermore bookstore couchThe Friday the Flirteenth monsterotica zine in front of evermore books!Horror bookstore owner & Romance bookstore owner FLIRT?!?!
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Tip: if you go to see THE BACKROOMS while in the middle of a move, you get to go home to your own little backroom.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
“I’m something of a Backrooms purist, I preferred the original still photo.”
Screenshot of the opening paragraph of the Wikipedia page for The Backrooms, showing the original photo of an empty yellow room that inspired the meme.
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SimzArt @simzart.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Cure. 🧛
A character researching a cure for vampirism, surrounded by ghost cats. Behind the character there's a mirror a lamp and a window showing a pink late afternoon light. On the neck of the character there's a bandage and on the ground a stake.
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Little Ghosts Books @littleghostsbooks.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Thank you to @wolsakandwynn.bsky.social for inviting us SHARP WORDS Had a ton of fun seeing other small presses and spreading the word about our little horror scene! Table full of greats @jkrawczyk.bsky.social @lormaggot.ca @mmcsw13.bsky.social @brittnibrinn.bsky.social @ttmaddenwrites.bsky.social
Sharp Words Hamilton Winter Boom Fair Jan 31 2026Jay behind the table at the book fair!
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Thought it was a bit gimmicky for the theatre to give out Kleenex on the way into HAMNET - but nope, ended up sobbing through 50% of the movie. Beautiful, haunting film about the different ways people experience suffering, and the capacity of art to bridge those gaps.
Tray of individually packaged tissues outside the theatre leading into Hamnet, next to a sign that reads “You might Ham-need these”
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
It’s been a fervent wish of mine to be part of a Filthy Loot F*CKED UP STORIES anthology, and behold! And with a bunch of my favourite writers, too. Buy one for your weirdest friends this holiday season.
A pocket-sized book featuring a psychedelic illustration of a human face, skin melting to reveal half of a skull, with the title Fucked Up Stories to Read in the Daytime: More Stories to Damage Your ChildrenTable of contents for Fucked Up Stories
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Little Ghosts Books @littleghostsbooks.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
We’re at MEET THE PRESSES today, a festival of local indie publishers! Come see our smoll table of little horrors ft. @ttmaddenwrites.bsky.social @jkrawczyk.bsky.social @elijahbwilder.bsky.social @lormaggot.ca @fuckmaxbooth.bsky.social @mmcsw13.bsky.social @brittnibrinn.bsky.social & more! 🖤👻📚
A table of Little Ghosts Books Publications! Includes Anthologies: What Draws Us Near, Your Flight Has Been Cancelled, Little Guts, & Wet Screams.
Novellas: Misplaced, Modern Folklore, Most Likely to Summon Nyhiloteph, It Looks Like Dad, Student Bodies, How It Feeds.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
Pit and the Pendulum-inspired Halloween costume + Mayfair Theatre Rocky Horror night. Happy Halloween!
Halloween costume
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Wrote a piece for @divinationhollow.bsky.social about my annual Halloween movie challenge! What has everyone been watching this month? divinationhollow.com/reviews-and-...
divinationhollow.com
Halloween House Party: Around the World By Halloween — Divination Hollow Reviews
Madison shares a fun horror movie challenge for spooky season! Find out the rules and get some suggestions - and let us know if you take part!
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Little Ghosts Fest was the best time! So lovely to read some stories, hang with the @littleghostsbooks.bsky.social crew again, and see some of my fave horror authors in person. There was a quirky and diverse vendor market and a great selection of panels that were consistently packed.
Little Ghosts Books table, featuring a bedsheet ghost in a beanie hat, and a colourful display of horror books and merch Madison McSweeney in a floor-length black dress reading from Most Likely to Summon Nyhiloteph, seated next to other authors in a room drenched in purple lights Packed convention hall at Little Ghosts Fest, disco ball throwing constellation-like patterns on the ceiling Collection of merch from Little Ghosts Fest, including a black shirt featuring a cartoon of the Grim Reaper reading a novel, with the caption “A Good Story Will Haunt You.”
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
2. Brides of Dracula (UK, 1960) Deviating from its source material, this Hammer Dracula sequel is nimbler and more shocking than its predecessor. Fischer delivers twists with aplomb, as vampire ladies chew scenery; Cushing’s clinical performance plays up the central dissonance of his Van Helsing.
Blood red letters spell out “A Hammer Horror production” against the black-and-white backdrop of a castle. Next to the television screen, a green lava lamp and orange jack o lantern glow eerily.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
1. Kwaidan (Japan, 1964) Human folly collides with an unknowable and unforgiving spirit world in this elegant and eerie anthology, which adapts four folk tales compiled by Lafcadio Hearn. At times the film feels like a stage play; surrealistic touches place it firmly in the realm of nightmare.
The film Kwaidan is queued to play on a TV in a darkened living room, flanked by the eerie green glare of a lava lamp and a glowing pumpkin on a bookshelf.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Open invitation to join me in my annual Halloween month movie challenge! Goal: 10 horror movies from 10 different countries by October 31st. I’ll be posting my progress here - feel free to send recs or tell me what you’re watching! #AroundTheWorldByHalloween
Graphic titled “Around the World by Halloween” featuring the a digital image of a spiderweb surrounded by 10 international horror movie posters (top to bottom: A Chinese Ghost Story from Hong Kong, Kwaidan from Japan, Satan’s Slaves 2: Communion from Indonesia, Sister Midnight from India, Brides of Dracula from England, Haxan from Sweden, The Vourdalak from France, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus from the U.S., Ginger Snaps 2 from Canada, and Thirst from South Korea.). Each movie’s country of origin is listed above or below each poster.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Fun fact: the title story of my new horror collection KAYFABE pays tribute to Queen Charlotte Flair and style icon Alexa Bliss. I wrote it like 4 years ago, so I thought was it a good omen when they both returned at the Royal Rumble this year. #wrestlingcommunity
My new book Kayfabe, flanked by a wooden figurine of pro-wrestler Charlotte Flair on the left and a silvery Mecha Godzilla action figure on the right. The book’s cover art is a collage featuring a Japanese illustration of a sumo wrestler fighting a frog-headed man, a floating rooster perched atop a bright red engine, and several ghoulish figures, with the title in bright red at the bottom. The book Kayfabe is held open to display a few paragraphs from the short story (also titled “Kayfabe”) in which the protagonist watches a fictional Monday Night RAW match pitting Charlotte Flair against Alexa Bliss. In the background of the photo, a blurred television screen playing a Friday Night SmackDown woman’s match can be seen.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
The ByTowne Cinema in Ottawa has been screening Hong Kong action movies and PEKING OPERA BLUES was the best yet. Perfect ratio of screwball comedy and spy drama, with a high-flying show-stopping climax. The theme song’s a bop, too. Fantastic.
Movie poster for Peking Opera Blues, depicting a Peking Opera performer brandishing a sword, as the central figure between two facial profiles (an actor in masculine clothes and female performer in elaborate make-up).
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
Finished this @weirdpunkbooks.bsky.social novella this weekend - MUTANT CIRCUIT by Mark Jaskowski. A high-octane cosmic/body horror conspiracy thriller that reminded me of FEVER HOUSE.
Book cover - a smoky, abstract face in grey scale with the title Mutant Circuit in bright yellow, the author name Mark Jaskowski below in white
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🪱💀mindy💀🪱 [exorcism bondage era] @garbagesauce.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
new & restocked horror now available at b&n sioux falls!
an assortment of horror books on a carpeted floor
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
First review of KAYFABE! “This is 100% weird girl literature and I’m so here for it.” -Christina Pfeiffer www.uncomfortablydark.com/post/8-24-25...
uncomfortablydark.com
8-24-25 — Christina Critiques
Happy Sunday, friends! I have five absolute must reads this week. Let’s get into them.WE ALL DIE EVENTUALLYBy: Terry MillerRelease: 9/4/23Page count: 94KU: No        Hoopla: NoSynopsis: A combination ...
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Hit up the Capital Pride market today, lots of rad books and art! Brought home some K-POP DEMON HUNTERS prints by @vanderbander.bsky.social, a gothic poetry zine by Parker A.M. Johnston, and @stephanneauthor.bsky.social’s new book MODERN HAUNTINGS.
Florist’s colourful display of dried multicolour flowers, fluffy-haired plushies, candy, and a Salvador Dali-style melting clock, atop a Pride Flag “Who wore it better?” donation jars paired with prints of K-Pop Demon Hunters characters, specifically the cat and the birdZine entitled “I Fell for Another Cannibal” by Parker A.M. Johnston
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
Behold! My debut collection of short stories, KAYFABE, is available for pre-order from @filthyloot.bsky.social. 6 tales of wrestlers, kaiju, pageant queens and bodybuilders facing off against the sublime and surreal. Kitsch horror! (Pre-order link in reply)
Stack of Kayfabe by Madison McSweeney; cover art features a Japanese ukiyo-e image of a frog-headed man battling a fighter, while other strange creatures frolic in the background
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
No matter how many times I’ve seen the play, it always gets me when the horrible witch says “Something wicked this way comes” and it turns out she’s talking about Macbeth.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 02/08/2025
Spotted: GIVE UNTO US by @justinlutz.bsky.social at BMV Books in Toronto
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
www.reuters.com/business/med...
reuters.com
Venezuelan makeup artist returns home, describes torture during El Salvador detention
A makeup artist who became the face of more than 250 Venezuelan migrants deported by the U.S. to El Salvador's most notorious prison arrived home to his family on Wednesday after what he described as "an encounter with torture and death."
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Popped by @littleghostsbooks.bsky.social to pick up their newest original (STUDENT BODIES by @ttmaddenwrites.bsky.social which seems right up my alley) and a spooky Paperback From Hell. Psst…there may be some signed copies of MOST LIKELY TO SUMMON NYHILOTEPH in store now.
Book display featuring Little Ghosts originals - Little Guts, Most Likely to Summon Nyhiloteph, It Looks Like Dad, Roots Run Deep, The Dillo, Misplaced, Student Bodies, Your Flight Has Been Cancelled and What Draws Us Near Two paperback books: 1 - The Legacy by Jere Cunningham, cover art depicting a fearsome raven watching a woman through a window, red Paperbacks from Hell logo in top right corner; 2 - Student Bodies by TT Madden, cover art depicting a warped human face with many eyes winding its way through the jaw of a rodent skullBookshelf displaying Paperbacks from Hell collection Window display treating a plastic skeleton seated next to an old TV surrounded by stacks of horror VHS tapes
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
I was the exact target audience for The Weeknd’s HURRY UP TOMORROW (so much so that I went to see it on my birthday). Read what I thought of it at Divination Hollow Reviews:
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Ozzy Osbourne never stopped creating diabolical, emotional music as haunting as it was heavy. (Listen to 2020’s ORDINARY MAN if you haven’t). Personal demons blending with his Prince of Darkness persona, blasting an Ozzy song on a bad day felt like having a seasoned guide along a dark road. RIP.
CD booklet for Ozzy Osbourne’s Ordinary Man album posed next to a lute-playing ceramic gargoyle and a red-stoned ring
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
Loved RIP IT UP by Kou Machida. Surreal, mean-spirited narrative told in a linguistically playful stream-of-consciousness style. An enjoyable whirl.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER by @sgj.bsky.social is one of the best books of the year so far. A darkly funny and deeply tragic horror western that plays with voice and language in an interesting way. Introduces an ingenious vampire-slaying method to the canon.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Happy Canada Day! Celebrate with some maple-flavoured terror
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Made a trip to visit the tire crow (“Where the Rubber Meets the Road”) on its last day on display by Pimisi Station. Got to meet the artist, Gerald Beaulieu, as he was loading it into a U-Haul. I’ll miss this beautiful bird.
“Where the Rubber Meets the Road” public art installation - a massive dead crow constructed entirely of recycled tires.Side profile view of “Where the Rubber Meets the Road” public art installation. Someone has laid a bouquet of yellow wildflowers next to the rubber crow sculpture.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Made a trip to visit the tire crow (“Where the Rubber Meets the Road”) on its last day on display by Pimisi Station. Got to meet the artist, Gerald Beaulieu, as he was loading it into a U-Haul. I’ll miss this beautiful bird.
“Where the Rubber Meets the Road” public art installation - a massive dead crow constructed entirely of recycled tires.Side profile view of “Where the Rubber Meets the Road” public art installation. Someone has laid a bouquet of yellow wildflowers next to the rubber crow sculpture.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
Some of my favourites from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts:
Three Noh theatre masks (depicting a young man, a demonic horned woman, and a tengu demon) alongside other Japanese artifacts Evoking a “cabinet of curiosities” aesthetic, an collection of intense still life paintings (including several featuring skulls alongside other objects) framed and mounted against a black wall, next to shelves of various eclectic artifacts including religious icons, an hourglass, and decor from ancient Egypt Action Painting II by Mark Tansey; depicts a group of amateur painters with easels at the edge of a river, in the act of capturing a rocket launch on the other side of the water Nasca pottery; bottle depicting a black and grey spotted cat with tongue sticking out
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
On World Goth Day, I help answer the age old question, “What kind of goth am I?” All I ask in return is that you buy a book from me.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
As a noted THE IDOL enthusiast, I don’t believe the Weeknd’s horror movie could possibly be bad. The man hasn’t missed once.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
Love that the Canadian Tulip Festival is hosting a WALL-E/Paths of Glory double feature.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Good time at the House of TARG Spring Market! Then popped across the street for a David Lynch film.
Display table featuring House of TARG shirts alongside a plastic skull and various wizard and cat ceramics. The basement bar filled with various local vendors selling oddities, jewellery, and vintage clothing. Display of window-shaped necklaces by Worn By Warriors, arrayed in front of various terrariums of artfully arranged animal bones. Plate of perogies
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
New DARK SIDE tonight! Excited.
Title card for the Dark Side of the Ring Episode - Mick Foley: Hell in a Cell
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Pleased to report MICKEY 17 was another Bong Joon Ho foray into the “big weird animal” genre. Lots of dark humour and odd beats, anchored by an excellent Robert Pattinson performance that imbues our dim-witted hero with unexpected pathos. Delightful.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Excited for the Bong Joon Ho / Robert Pattinson collab.
Mickey 17 movie ticket
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
C*4 Wrestling’s all-women’s night at Algonquin College! Great matches and crowd work, lots of energy. Glad we got a few chairs into the mix.
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d h @deeholloway.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
...and a heavy metal-themed reading list, ft. the likes of @weirdpunkbooks.bsky.social @castaignepub.bsky.social another @tenebrouspress.bsky.social and more recs old & new: www.dis-member.com/dead-leaves-...
dis-member.com
[DEAD LEAVES] CRACKE THE SPINE • DIS/MEMBER
DIS/MEMBER surveys recent entries and old favorites in the heavy metal-horror literary canon.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Thanks Dawn Colclasure Wilson for this wonderful review! “Filled with teen angst, hilarity, tender moments and suspense, this novel is an intriguing tale of one teen ghost’s quest to set things right after the friends she leaves behind make everything go wrong.” (Link in replies)
Screenshot of article heading - “The Posthumous Award: Most Likely to Summon Nyhiloteph captured the angst and tragedy of a life cut short, with a good side for demonic reanimation!”
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
INGLORIOUS BASTERDS at the Mayfair. Haven’t seen this one in years, glad to catch it on the big screen.
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
My 2025 Oscars rankings (minus the handful I haven’t seen yet):
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
I don’t think I know any Travis Scott songs, but he’s been involved with so many of my favourite things (first Ozzy Osbourne music, now wrestling) that I like him by association. #WWEChamber
Spoiler for WWE Elimination Chamber - rapper Travis Scott stands in the middle of a wrestling ring next to The Rock and John Cena over a battered Cody Rhodes. Screenshot of the music video for Post Malone’s “Take What You Want remix” featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott
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Madison McSweeney @mmcsw13.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
10+ years later, I still remember what a thrill it was whenever Georgina Sparks showed up in an episode of Gossip Girl. Michelle Trachtenberg stole every scene she was in; even when the show started to go stale, she could revive it almost single-handedly. Such a talent. RIP.
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Weirdpunk Books @weirdpunkbooks.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
We've got a little over 2 weeks until the SubClub closes. This has been the slowest year for subscribers since I first started it. And that makes a lot of sense given everything that's happening around us. It's a strain on our year too. This is our call for help. (Picture: last year's SubClub)
2024's SubClub offerings. A big Weirdpunk Sticker, both sides of the Exclusive Bookmark, 2 Exclusive Member Zines, an Exclusive Shirt with art my late-wife made that says "Weirdpunk Books Join Us in the Darkness," Red of Tooth & Claw by Matthew Mitchell and Sam Richard zine, and the following books: Infinity Mathing at the Shore & Other Disruptions by M. Lopes da Silva, Profane Altars: Weird Sword & Sorcery edited by Sam Richard, Love Skull by Emma Alice Johnson, and The Still Beating Heart of a Dead God by Sam RIchard.
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