I think you should quit
I think you should quit. I do. Quit writing the book. Quit drawing and cartooning. Quit painting. Quit designing. There's dignity in quitting while you're...
This Is (Not) A Ghost Story
I don't put much stock in dreams. When it comes to things like that, I'm kind of an agnostic. There are things that have happened in my life that feel like...
We Wander the Newmaker Plane
I talk about the uneasy nostalgia of 90s games and internet horror that still unsettles me today. Also, I finally talk about Petscop.
I Grieve in Stereo
I grieve in stereoThe stereo sounds strangeYou know that if it hidesIt doesn't go awayWhen I get out of bedYou’ll see me standingAll alone, horrifiedOn the...
Where We Go When We Go
The middle of the year snuck up on me in a way that I didn't expect. That's on me. One moment, it was March and I was just beginning to warm up after a...
We Have to Talk About Jotaro Kujo
Let's get one thing clear right away: Jotaro Kujo is not the best JoJo, but he is the best character in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the long-running manga by...
Fires Burning All the Time
When you move through life with an undiagnosed, untreated panic disorder, you curate a rather nasty collection of fears. Some of them were rather vague, like...
I Buried My Love at Toluca Lake
I'm going to make two very normal statements that the non-gamer contingent of my subscribers may not understand. Rest assured, they are very normal. Widely...
Three Stories Living Rent-free in My Head
There is a single panel of Junji Ito's manga Tomie that continues to haunt me. It isn't particularly memorable among the series’ chapters, no more eerie than...
Let It Be Unnamed
Time moves in one direction, memory another. We are that strange species that constructs artifacts intended to counter the natural flow of forgetting.William...
This Story Is (Not) Yours
The sun sets so early in December November 2023 marks a full decade since my first book came out. That's strange to think about. I don't really believe in...
We Happy Sisyphus
"Already at that time [2001], I began to think that if I didn't develop Evangelion as content, there would be no future for anime. If that's the case, I...
This Is (Not) A Dollhouse
When I was eleven, I once stood in the KB Toys store located at the Outlets at Hillsboro in Hillsboro, Texas, and saw the most beautiful doll in the world....
Drowning in Halcyon
Galerians concept artwork by Shou Tajima There is a boy waking in a hospital, a girl hiding in a hotel, and a goddess reigning from her tower. These are...
The Obligatory Writer Newsletter
Through numerous deliberate acts of self-sabotage over the last decade that I have been writing and publishing, I have not nor have I ever been known for my...
The Last Book in The Library of Babel
The library will endure; it is the universe The first time I read The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges, I was in my sun-warmed hostel in San Diego,...
Homecomings and Nevergoings
Stop, 'Cause You're Killing Me Sometime in 2021, I think, my youngest brother, who I have since been fighting with, made a post on his now deleted Instagram....
Navigating the Fearful Romantique
An important thing you need to know about me is that I love love stories, but I don't think I like romances. Or rather, I don't think that romances like me....
Thieves in the Temple
AI is here and, as someone who does stuff on the internet for a living, it's annoying me on a daily basis. The content scraping revolution has taken my...
Jet Black New Year
It's 2023. We meet again. Or perhaps we're meeting for the first time. It depends on when you got here, I guess. I wanted to start this year off with...
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and the Generosity of Storytelling
All six JoJos celebrating the tenth anniversary of the David Production anime adaptation. Left to right: Jolyne Cujoh, Giorno Giovanna, Josuke Higashikata,...
An Empire State of Mind
Let’s Hear it for New York People write about Twitter like they write about New York City. That's what I hear, anyway. Warm, poetic contemplation on what the...
My Year in the Swedish House Mafia
Give Me a Taste of Spotify Pie I don't usually put a lot of stock in Spotify related…things. Yet if I see some new trendy app or widget or doodad that will...
Something Wicked This Way Comes
It seems that fall is here, following summer's hasty retreat like a man who owes me twenty dollars and doesn't want to see me socially again. Fall feels...
A Coffin For Sparrows: Prologue
The life Camilo Durand created for himself and his family in the 15th arrondissement was as quiet as a funeral. It was marked by the same tasteful white...
The Day the Hunters Came to the Pendleton Bros. Traveling Faire
The sun rose the same way for Cal Jeanneton because the sun always looked the same over the Pendleton Bros. Traveling Faire. Patchy pink sky and pale-yellow...
On Wearing Our Influences
Notes on Synthesis I frequently joke about writing thinly veiled fanfiction. It's kind of a funny thing to say about creative influences when you wear them...
Stories, Like Houses, Grow
There's an excellent chance that if you ever asked me what the most important story in the world is-- The most important story to me is, the most relevant,...
Have you ever inspired someone?
So, I really like Prince. That isn't controversial to say about one of the most innovative and influential artists of the 20th (and if you were keeping up,...
Futurepast Summer 2022
It’s now over the halfway mark of 2022 and into the depths of summer. Well, the kind of summers we have now, I suppose. Summers have always been both my...
Becoming Unmarketable & Other Writing Philosophies
It looks like it's time to talk again. How's tricks? How's your life? Is that shirt new? For this month's newsletter, I decided to step back from media...
Made with Human Hands: The Rebuild of Evangelion
Part 1.0: A human work ”Eva" is a story that repeats. It is a story where the main character witnesses many horrors with his own eyes, but still tries to...
Orville Peck, Bronco, and Where We Find Connection
Orville Peck by Julia Johnson. I bought Orville Peck's debut album Pony in 2019, where it has remained the only CD in my car to this very day in 2022....
I’ll See You at the Seance
Talking About Talking About Art Hello, hi, it’s good to see you again. I hope February is treating you well. I have returned to shamelessly plug myself...
A Bloody Little Valentine
Coming Valentine’s Day Romance is alive and well in Devereux this Valentine’s Day. …Sort of. “So, when you say you’ll let me do whatever I want, you mean...
The Monstrous Merch Shop
New year, new merch. January 2022 marks the oft-discussed return of Magen Cubed's Monstrous Merch Shop, including brand new stickers and T-shirt designs. Are...
A Southern Gothic Holiday Special
Now available where ebooks are sold YOUR FAVORITE MONSTER HUNTERS ARE ON THE NAUGHTY LIST THIS YEAR… After a rough few months on the job, Cash decides to...
Notes on Monstrosity #6
Notes on TV: Goodbye, All of Hannibal Lecter As of writing this, it’s November 2021, and I’ve had a complex relationship with the American psychological...
New Monstrous Romances
Available Now: Found Among Wolves A human who wants to be hunted. A strange forest in a new town. A werewolf pack that meets by moonlight. An erotic romance...
A Southern Gothic Short Story: Heatwave
The summer heat is winding down and autumn is well on its way, bringing a much-needed change in weather. So, to close out the season, have a Southern Gothic...
In the Bedroom of Medusa
Coming September 30th An ancient monster in the modern-day. A gilded castle with whispered secrets. A peculiar sapphic romance. When Evelyn agrees to become...
Notes on Monstrosity #5
Notes on Film: Islands So, June raced past me in a blur of illness and bad vibes. Before I knew it, it was July. I was sick, my girlfriend had a multiple...
Notes on Monstrosity #4
This is an essay about The Umbrella Academy. That’s what I told myself, anyway. *** It’s 2008, perhaps 2009. I’m either 22 or 23 years old. I don’t have very...
Notes on Monstrosity #3
I may not look like it, but I’m actually very interested in video games. Perhaps not so much playing them or writing about them, because I don’t really play...
Leather and Lace Is Available Now
Leather and Lace: Book One of the Southern Gothic Series is now loose in the world. The book arrived on Tuesday, February 16th, and is available on Amazon,...
Notes on Monstrosity #2
Notes on Writing: The Public and The Private A strange thing happens when you put stories out into the world. I’m sure most of you are familiar with how I...
Notes on Monstrosity #1
Notes on Media: The Partisan by Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen is something of a ghost to me. Long before he died in 2016, his lyrical style had a habit of...
Notes on Monstrosity
Welcome to Notes On Monstrosity by Magen Cubed. This is a place to share original writing, thoughts, observations, and personal essays at the intersection of...