John Chrostek
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johnchrostek.com
John Chrostek
@johnchrostek.com
2.5K followers 1.9K following 3K posts
FEAST OF THE PALE LEVIATHAN, novel: https://shorturl.at/7A4bA
BOXCUTTERS, short stories: https://malarkeybooks.com/store/boxcutters
(IBR's "TOP BOOKS WE READ IN 2025")

Co-owner @eveninghouse.bsky.social
EIC @cold-signal.com
Buffalo, NY
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John Chrostek @johnchrostek.com · 1d
Some new testimonial graphics for my books because I put my heart + soul into them, readers enjoy 'em + they're out with small presses so I need to bang the gong twice as loud

Anti-fascist, genre-agnostic stories about regular folks + myths, demons, freaks, fools + lovers

Links at johnchrostek.com
“John Chrostek’s prose is so assured and confident that I felt immediate pleasure upon starting each story and not having a clue as to where I was about to be taken.” “acutely attuned to the dread and uncertainty that pervades 21st century life.” “Kafka meets Philip K. Dick chaos.” "“Top notch writing, I mean, wow. Wow. Wow! Thoroughly compelling, ridiculously engaging, wholly original.” “Robert Louis Stevenson by way of Lovecraft and John Carpenter… Chrostek’s ability to keep it all spinning is frequently breathtaking.” “Brimming with heart, adventure and imagination, Feast of the Pale Leviathan is the best cosmic horror epic I’ve read in quite some time.“ “This book is WILD! Feast of the Pale Leviathan feels like a lost classic from the height of the New Weird era. It's an incredibly surreal, beautifully written, and wholly original novel that reads like the fever dream of a poet left adrift on a darkening sea. It's one of those books that is like nothing else I've read.”
Reposted by John Chrostek
joelhans.com
My debut collection of speculative short stories, winner of the 2024 @mooncitypress.bsky.social Short Fiction Award, is now available for preorder and, well, I hope you'll want one when it releases this time next month.

Get it from The University of Arkansas Press:

www.uapress.com/product/bedt...
In front of an illustration of a saguaro cactus and woodpecker, the words: The Bedtime Emptying of Our Word winner of the 2024 Moon City Short Fiction Award Joel Hans Now available for preorder from the University of Arkansas Press Ships mid-February In front of an illustration of a saguaro cactus and woodpecker, the words: "The Bedtime Emptying of Our World by Joel Hans is a remarkable debut. These breathtaking stories rock the reader with “their hopes overexposed.” What an ethics, what a lyrical feat! Hans is a true storyteller in the folkloric tradition. He brings lovely new color into our world." — Kate Bernheimer, World Fantasy Award-winning editor, My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales
January 12, 2026 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
maketheroadny.bsky.social
New Yorkers from across the state are joining today’s action for #NY4All.

We’re here to demand that our leaders pass the New York for All Act to ensure our state resources are never used to disappear our neighbors. 

See how else this bill can defend immigrant communities. ⬇️
January 12, 2026 at 3:50 PM
johnchrostek.com
Some great recent reads:

1. Greek gods wager on the happy deaths of fifteen dogs given human intelligence and capacity for language. Heartbreaking, beautiful.

2. Schitzo Columbo solves a murder and falls down the rabbit hole. Raw heart and style, 100mph the whole way through
Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis Glossy Eyed, Buzzy Fly by Michael Farfel Weird Tales 100 years
January 12, 2026 at 7:43 PM
johnchrostek.com
We out here making Edgar Allen Poe money, stacks rising like the House of Usher
cethanleahy.com Cethan Leahy @cethanleahy.com · 12h
Perhaps the surest sign of AI not being super intelligent is the amount of tailored scams targeting the finances of authors, which is as rewarding as trying to mug a seagull.
January 12, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
taliabhatt.itch.io
The animating force at the heart of US conservatism currently is incandescent rage at the mere idea of women's autonomy and independence. An image of a smiling woman who looks insufficiently deferential for their tastes riles them up enough to tear up the social contract.
verybadllama.bsky.social Janel Comeau 🍁 @verybadllama.bsky.social · 1d
this is all it’s really about for them. Not domestic policy, not “economic anxiety”, just an endless desire to punish stand-ins for the Mommy who forced them take a bath, even if it tanks their own quality of life.
January 12, 2026 at 7:17 AM
johnchrostek.com
Resharing for the morning people because there is no algorithm.

Boxcutters: You get wax mannequins, package theft, memory drugs, dog demons, Jesus in HR, wig possessions

Feast: You get a rivertube ride into the guts of Hobbes' Leviathan straight through to the island of Atlantis + the Jersey Shore
johnchrostek.com John Chrostek @johnchrostek.com · 1d
Some new testimonial graphics for my books because I put my heart + soul into them, readers enjoy 'em + they're out with small presses so I need to bang the gong twice as loud

Anti-fascist, genre-agnostic stories about regular folks + myths, demons, freaks, fools + lovers

Links at johnchrostek.com
“John Chrostek’s prose is so assured and confident that I felt immediate pleasure upon starting each story and not having a clue as to where I was about to be taken.” “acutely attuned to the dread and uncertainty that pervades 21st century life.” “Kafka meets Philip K. Dick chaos.” "“Top notch writing, I mean, wow. Wow. Wow! Thoroughly compelling, ridiculously engaging, wholly original.” “Robert Louis Stevenson by way of Lovecraft and John Carpenter… Chrostek’s ability to keep it all spinning is frequently breathtaking.” “Brimming with heart, adventure and imagination, Feast of the Pale Leviathan is the best cosmic horror epic I’ve read in quite some time.“ “This book is WILD! Feast of the Pale Leviathan feels like a lost classic from the height of the New Weird era. It's an incredibly surreal, beautifully written, and wholly original novel that reads like the fever dream of a poet left adrift on a darkening sea. It's one of those books that is like nothing else I've read.”
January 12, 2026 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
catgirlfingies.quest
David Lynch saying You're all together on this planet trying to live a life, you know, a good life. Why would you torture people?
January 11, 2026 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
philmcandrew.bsky.social
Trying not to repost every video I see of ice agents eating shit (there are many such videos because every single ice agent is the stupidest person anyone has ever met), but I can't resist this one. I'm gonna watch this 3000 times
January 11, 2026 at 8:22 PM
johnchrostek.com
Some new testimonial graphics for my books because I put my heart + soul into them, readers enjoy 'em + they're out with small presses so I need to bang the gong twice as loud

Anti-fascist, genre-agnostic stories about regular folks + myths, demons, freaks, fools + lovers

Links at johnchrostek.com
“John Chrostek’s prose is so assured and confident that I felt immediate pleasure upon starting each story and not having a clue as to where I was about to be taken.” “acutely attuned to the dread and uncertainty that pervades 21st century life.” “Kafka meets Philip K. Dick chaos.” "“Top notch writing, I mean, wow. Wow. Wow! Thoroughly compelling, ridiculously engaging, wholly original.” “Robert Louis Stevenson by way of Lovecraft and John Carpenter… Chrostek’s ability to keep it all spinning is frequently breathtaking.” “Brimming with heart, adventure and imagination, Feast of the Pale Leviathan is the best cosmic horror epic I’ve read in quite some time.“ “This book is WILD! Feast of the Pale Leviathan feels like a lost classic from the height of the New Weird era. It's an incredibly surreal, beautifully written, and wholly original novel that reads like the fever dream of a poet left adrift on a darkening sea. It's one of those books that is like nothing else I've read.”
January 11, 2026 at 7:38 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
gabino.bsky.social
You know what? I encourage you to write today.
gabinoiglesias.substack.com/p/i-encourag...
I encourage you to write today
I do.
gabinoiglesias.substack.com
January 11, 2026 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
malarkeybooks.bsky.social
We have a few tote bags hanging around and will make you this deal: order The Barre Incidents, Hair Shirt, Boxcutters, and My Ardent Love for the Pencil and we’ll send a free tote bag. $76 for four books and a quality tote. Will delete if we run out.

malarkeybooks.com/store
Bookstore — Malarkey
You can order signed books through this website. Feel free to request a signature and a friendly note.
malarkeybooks.com
January 11, 2026 at 4:36 PM
johnchrostek.com
Little moment to say if we’re pals, if we talk about writing or books or video games or something, I wish you the best, I’m glad to know you, and I’m sorry we’re all in this shit
January 10, 2026 at 2:09 AM
johnchrostek.com
These sick nihilist bastards
chadbourn.bsky.social Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 3d
The US Department of Agriculture suspends all federal funding to Minnesota, effective immediately.
January 9, 2026 THE HONORABLE TIM WALZ Governor of Minesota 130 State Capitol 75 Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Bivd. St. Paul, MN 55155 THE HONORABLE JACOB FREY Mayor of the City of Minneapolis City Hail 350S. Fifth St., Room 330 Minneapolis, MN 55415 Dear Governor Walz and Mayor Frey, It is my responsibility as Secretary of Agriculture to ensure sound stewardship of taxpayer dollars by climinating fraud, waste and abuse in all programs funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The widespread and systemic fraud associated with federal benefit programs in the State of Minnesota and the City of Minneapolis demonstrate an inability to handle federal resources without additional oversight and accountability measures in place. During your tenures as Governor of Minnesota and Mayor of Minneapolis, numerous non-profits and businesses have defrauded the federal government in what a federal prosecutor in Minnesota called "a staggering, industrial-scale fraud".! Most notably, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit— Feeding Our Future defrauded U.S. taxpayers of nearly $250 million in federal funds given to them by the Minnesota Department of Education.? This fraud scheme involved USDA funding provided to the State of Minnesota to feed hungry children under the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). As of late November, 78 defendants had been charged in what the Department of Justice characterized as the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country? Other recent examples of'alleged fraud in Minnesota include exploitation of the Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program", a scheme to defraud the Housing Stabilization 1-Whut te know about Minnesoca' "industrial-scale fraad" scandal, as more charges are fled and Trump weighs in, "CES Nows (Dic. 19, 3025) available at ht:/www.cbsnews.com/news/atas-do-know-alonesota-frawf-candal were-changes-fled- tump-water. /Federal Jury Finds Feeding Our Future Masternind and Co-D… Services Program", and alleged fraud in daycare centers*, Your Administrations have refused additional accountability and oversight, claiming that criticism of rampant fraud and abuse is "racist." While the full extent of fraud in Minnesota is not yet known, it is clear that, under your leadership- or lack thereof fraudsters can take advantage of federal funds and the American taxpayer with impunity. This necessitates federal action to protect taxpayer dollars until adequate safeguards can be established. Despite a staggering, wide-reaching fraud scandal, your Administrations refuse to provide basic information or take common sense mcasures to stop fraud. In fact, rather than conlin your SNAP rolls are accurate to prevent continuing fraud, you asked the courts to block USDA's directive to recertify the State's SNAP recipients. Recent news reports also emerged that the Minnesota Department of Human Services repeatedly reported incorrect information about SNAP to the federal government.? The Trump administration refuses to allow such fraud to continuc. Therefore, because of your failed Icadership and abysmal financial management oversight, 1 am notifying you that, effective immediately, I am suspending payments on all active awards and any future awards from USDA to the State of Minnesota and the City of Minneapolis, currently totaling over $129.18 million. Within 30 days, you shall provide USDA with payment justifications for all federal dollar expenditures from January 20, 2025, to the present. Going forward, all transactions on awards to the State of Minnesota or the City of Minneapolis will require such payment justification. If those payment justifications are not received, awards will remain suspended. While your Administrations have turned a blind eye to documented fraud, the Trump Administration has made clear that fraud, waste, and abuse are unacceptable. The American people deserve to know that their taxpayer dollars are helping those in need-not criminals. …
January 10, 2026 at 1:54 AM
Reposted by John Chrostek
erinvachon.bsky.social
I thought the first video was horrible, but the new one, with Good's smiling, open face before the ICE thug murders her and mutters, "Fuckin' bitch"–it's just brutal. Nauseating.
January 9, 2026 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
eveninghouse.bsky.social
One of the most important tasks of literature is the demonstration of life. It doesn't matter whether the action is possible, what matters is what the imagery and characters inspire, what is communicated beyond barriers.

Read from around the world, read the real and unreal, grow your soul and mind
January 9, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
kellydmcc.bsky.social
This is as true for the absurdist or the writer of cozies as it is for someone penning demi-documentary grimdark stories about an imaginary apocalypse or someone whose gig is cute cat videos. The job is to help people breathe, and it matters even on the days it feels like you’re covered in lead. 2/2
January 9, 2026 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
kellydmcc.bsky.social
If you let them, the horrors will devour you whole. Making space to live and smile is an act of resistance. So is helping others to do the same. If you’re an artist in this time, remember that what you’re doing is part of the emotional support infrastructure. They want you silent. 1/2
January 9, 2026 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
malarkeybooks.bsky.social
So happy to share the cover for @suzyeynon.bsky.social’s forthcoming novella, Terrestrial (May 2026, preorders open now and copies will be signed by the author). As ever, @angeelio.bsky.social gave us something special.

malarkeybooks.com/store/terres...
Front cover features, in the top 2/3 of the space, a close up of a foil eclipse viewer with the pinhole as a focal point. Bottom of the screen features the text: Terrestrial, Suzy Eynon, a novella.
January 9, 2026 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
internethippo.bsky.social
Time to consult the Declaration again
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
January 8, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
angelaliu.bsky.social
Two that have really stuck with me:

“The Gratitude of Mice” by @yumewrites.bsky.social
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...

“Inclement Weather” @johnchrostek.com
hexliterary.com?p=2870 (almost everything in @hexliterary.bsky.social is great for everyday surreal/weird flash!)
The Gratitude of Mice
After a moment of hesitation, I inhaled deeply and reached out and stroked the walls and imagined them trembling with the movement of little furry bodies.
strangehorizons.com
January 8, 2026 at 10:39 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
ljabouttown.bsky.social
good books that came out in 2025
ljabouttown.bsky.social LJ Pemberton @ljabouttown.bsky.social · 4d
I loved Plum by Andy Anderegg (Hub City) and Sweetener by Marissa Higgins (Catapult). Also Boxcutters by John Chrostek (Malarkey Books) and Hair Shirt by Adrian Sobol (Malarkey Books).
January 8, 2026 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by John Chrostek
buffaloresearch.com
Happening now, 250 Delaware at Chippewa, protest on front of the #Buffalo ICE office.
January 8, 2026 at 9:36 PM