Some news! I’m delighted to announce that my weird Munchausen’s-by-demon (??) story will be included in Malarkey’s annual “Hellarkey” Halloween zine. Check out the table of contents here and get stoked (there’s also a pre-order code, HELLARKEYISREAL, which you can use to get the 10 stories in this zine for a mere $5. Outrageous value!!). The print edition of The Mythic Circle volume 47 is out, which includes my constellation-myth story “Desire Path.” Finally, I talked about The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World for Ancillary Review of Books; if you have inclinations toward reviewing, I recommend trying your hand with ARB, as they have a wide-ranging appetite for speculative work and a great editorial stable (not to mention high tolerance for goofy essay titles).

And now for a few less egocentric links:

• yes, it’s true, another person telling you to listen to the new Faetooth singles. “Fairy doom” is what it sounds like in the part of my soul that was a tween Francesca Lia Block enthusiast.

• on a similar note, who’s excited for Thief of Night finally dropping next month? Talk to me about Holly Black! Any Holly Black, but especially Charlie and Vince!! Adjacently, please also talk to me about the Raven Boys graphic novel adaptation.

• friend of the ‘letter No Limit On the Words had a great interview with Dazzling Killmen recently, just in time for their re-mastered edition of Dig Out the Switch (and a local show for us lucky Capital denizens).

• recently Lauren Bolger posted about the difficulty of, in prose, skillfully managing “a little suggestion of later Horrors,” which prompted me to revisit this Bright Wall/Dark Room essay on ghost stories and narrative control. I don’t agree with all its assertions, but it’s great food for thought. There are many auteurs I love, and all of them have in common (if nothing else) an interest in frames, containers, and the subjective eye. This is so core to film-making, and story-writing, that maybe it should go without saying. But in the era of tech dipshits expecting me to be impressed because an algorithm predicted what lies beyond the frame of the Mona Lisa, and of lore-rotted finger-waggers unable to bear not knowing Every Last Detail, basic intentionality feels fresh.

• and on that note, two hands reaching out to shake:

  • “we know each other by our lines” (Fake Like Me, Barbara Bourland)

  • “you can change a line without touching it” (The Recognitions, William Gaddis)

That’s all from me! What’s good on your Internet this month?