I'm Not Mad, I'm Just Disappointed
Hi! The new administration has been as shitty and chaotic and brutal as I expected, and Elon Musk actually managed to sink lower than my already-basement-...
Good Riddance, 2024
Hello! Once again, I’m writing this newsletter a little earlier in the month in order to take a couple of weeks off from writing. So if something terrible...
Take That, Hamlet
Hi! Lots of you wrote back in response to the special newsletter I sent out right after the election. I read all of the emails and I tried to get back to...
Let's Talk About It
Hi! I know this is billed as a free monthly newsletter, and I’m sorry to bother you a second time in one week. But I feel compelled to send out an additional...
This Email Is More Than 75 Percent Election-Free
Hello! I hope to keep it brief this month because, let’s be honest, the politics are eating our collective brain. On the Friday before Thanksgiving, I’m...
Closing the Book on Summer
Hello! I have a very special appearance coming up soon that I wanted you to know about. On Wednesday, October 9th at 7 pm, I’ll be interviewing Irish...
Against Washington
Hi! Lots of states have been updating their flags recently. Some of them are eliminating blatant racist iconography—shout out to Mississippi for going from...
The Happy Surprise of Kamala Harris
Hi! I like to think I know a little bit about politics. In the weeks after his disastrous debate performance, I had expected President Biden to eventually...
Let’s Go Shopping!
Hi! Because it’s been such a rough week in politics, I wanted to open with a quick piece of advice from my boss at Civic Ventures, Zach Silk, that has helped...
She's Written Her Own Last Chapter
Hi there! I got an email from Seattle writer Lesley Hazleton earlier this month, which was, on its own, not an especially unusual event. I had become...
Five Years of Visiting Bookstores
Hi! This month, my Neighborhood Reads column at the Seattle Times—in which I profile a different Seattle-area independent bookstore every month—officially...
The Hole in My Bumbershoot
Hi! Seattle’s Labor-Day-weekend music and arts festival, Bumbershoot, announced their arts programming earlier this month. There’s a fashion exhibit, an...
The Lying Machine
Hello! Lately, I’ve been thinking about writing comics again. After a year or so of slow going, three solid ideas have been banging around in my head,...
Following Politics Is a Good Way to Get Trampled
Hello! I used to be obsessed with following presidential campaigns. Even in 1996, probably the most boring campaign in my lifetime, I kept close track of Bob...
My Buttondown Life
Hello! If you’re reading this email, I’m happy to report that I’ve successfully migrated my email away from Substack. I looked at a number of newsletter...
Werner Herzog's AI Apocalypse
Hi there! Earlier this month, AHOY Comics published my most recent comics work in Project: Cryptid #3, a story I wrote called “The Demon in the Pines.” It’s...
The Lies That Rich People Tell
Hi! First of all, thanks so much to those of you who sent sympathetic get-well-soon notes after last issue’s account of my first bout with Covid. You were so...
In Poor Taste
Friends, Three and a half years after the beginning of the pandemic, I finally caught Covid for the first time. It was pretty rough! The fever completely...
Two Cryptids for the Price of One
Hello! I’m excited to let you know that the comic with my short story “The Demon in the Pines,” illustrated by the amazing Peter Krause, will be published...
A Post-Post World
Hello, If you’re in Seattle, I hope you’ll join me at the Elliott Bay Book Company on Tuesday, August 29th at 7 pm. I’ll be interviewing author Garth Stein...