Archive • Spurious Reality Obligingly Fed • Buttondown

December 2, 2025

Hey there! Yesterday was “Cyber Monday” or whatever, so I decided What the Hay and dropped the ebook price of THE FAILURE EXPERIMENT down to 99 cents. That...

063: The Electric Version is Slimier

November 6, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. Making plans to head back to Chicago. I can't say I'm thrilled about returning to my neighborhood as it's crawling with jack-booted thugs...

062: It's Designed to Break Your Heart

October 20, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. Work-wise I've made a bit of a breakthrough for the 22 CARDS project, as in what the non-CARDS parts will be. I've gotten a few pages done...

061: Developments

October 6, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. Big news! Like actual big news! Big enough that I'm crossposting this bit here between both the newsletter and the Patreon (if you're on one...

060: Two words - sh*t sandwich

September 23, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. Lots going on right now. It's a shit world out there. Two things in that regard: Friend of the program Dextra Hoffman has gotten to the...

059: Something in the Air (Tonight?)

September 1, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. I am finally writing from a place that I had envisioned doing so almost four years ago: the bay-shaped sunroom of our Chicago apartment....

058: My Name is Ricki and I Only Eat Convenience Food

July 29, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. That title is a true story in more ways than one. One of the things that happened since we last talked, and probably the biggest, is that...

057: Hit the Pace Car

July 11, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. First and probably most important from a "Ricki claims to be a professional writer" standpoint is that THE FAILURE EXPERIMENT is available...

056: The Noise, Noise, Noise, NOISE!

June 18, 2025

First, Tha NEWS.I have no idea what they’re doing downstairs, but it sounds like they’re clattering and sawing and generally being violent with the radiator...

055: A Wriggling Grunion in Your Slipstream

May 14, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. First, if you’re a person reading this that is somehow unaware that I have a Patreon, I’m gonna plug that real quick. I am currently halfway...

054: 70 Feet is 21.336 Meters

April 30, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. They finally made a Fantastic Four film with Galactus's goofy hat. Normally I'd put that in the CONSUMPTION section, but this is genuinely...

053: Nice and Smooth

April 21, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. On an whim, I decided to blow up my entire web hosting experience. For the last six-ish years I've been using WordPress.com for my domain...

052: Finally, a Relevant Title! Wait I'm running out of r

April 9, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. Going off the cuff straight into the ol’ editor today instead of my usual plaintext > copy/paste with no corrections > send workflow....

051: Meanwhile, Back at the Farm

March 31, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. Week 2 of THE FAILURE EXPERIMENT is rolling along. Sales have been trickling in, and the more I get early on, the better Amazon sees it and...

050: THE FAILURE EXPERIMENT

March 24, 2025

It's live! It's live! It's live! THE FAILURE EXPERIMENT IS NOW AVAILABLE IN PRINT! My book is out! Get it here! Elle's accompanying art collection is...

049a: Missing Interlude!

March 11, 2025

Whoops! Pretend this was in the last one: Baseball Predictions, April 1, 1964 National League PhilidelphiaLos AngelesHoustonSan FranciscoMilwaukeeSt....

049: Mayhem? I Don't Know, CANhem?

March 11, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. It's that time: the clocks have changed, the snow is starting to melt, it's time for Persephone to make her way north for planting season....

048: ....pation! A BOOK RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT!

February 21, 2025

Breaking from format today because it is a momentous day here at Muppet Labs. I am officially releasing THE FAILURE EXPERIMENT on March 21st! You wanna see...

047: Give Me Back My Phone

January 21, 2025

First, Tha NEWS. In an attempt to stay sane, I'm going to just... go to work, I guess. In a manner of speaking. David Lynch died. To say he was an influence...

046: Drawing His Finger's Light Across Our Blood

December 27, 2024

First, Tha NEWS. Back on format today. It's that week in the US, I've heard it called "Liminal Week," where everything seems a little off. Between Christmas...