Zachary Gillan
@megapolisomancy.bsky.social
Nonfiction about weird fiction at Seize the Press, Strange Horizons, Interzone, Los Angeles Review of Books, Nightmare, and Ancillary Review of Books, where I am also an editor. Also jazz, metal, leftism. he/him
https://doomsdayer.wordpress.com/writings/
https://doomsdayer.wordpress.com/writings/
Pinned
Forever in search of a vibe too unsettling for the sf crowd, not transgressive enough for the horror scene, and too avant-garde for either
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
The Ancillary Review of Books anti-billionaire promise:
February 4, 2026 at 3:45 PM
The Ancillary Review of Books anti-billionaire promise:
Traveling to the continent and finding that after leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, the Danube enters a region of singular loneliness and desolation, where its waters spread away on all sides regardless of a main channel, and the country becomes a swamp for miles upon miles,
What "core British values" has "the left" not defended? Can someone ask this sentient fucking saucepan what he means?
Keir Starmer attacks the racism of Reform and Matt Goodwin but then adds that "Britain has also been let down by a mindset on the left of politics that is too slow to defend core British values"
February 5, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Traveling to the continent and finding that after leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, the Danube enters a region of singular loneliness and desolation, where its waters spread away on all sides regardless of a main channel, and the country becomes a swamp for miles upon miles,
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
subscribe to short spec fic magazines and read short story collections 🌠
i know the answer but am keeping this gate so well rn. no one is gonna figure this out.
February 5, 2026 at 2:54 AM
subscribe to short spec fic magazines and read short story collections 🌠
Ushangvagush!!!
February 4, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Ushangvagush!!!
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
Read the essay that made someone on the internet say “My goodness is that long and wordy”
For the @strangehorizons.bsky.social 2026 Criticism Special, I wrote about weird fiction being constituted by weird reading, vis a vis Sederholm and Woofter’s The Weird and @undertow.bsky.social’s The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, Vol. 1., in tribute to Maureen Kincaid Speller. It’s a long one.
The Brackish Pool: Towards a Critical Practice of Reading Weird Fiction
The ideal reader of the weird has to embrace a kind of wilful suspension of foreknowledge or generic expectation.
strangehorizons.com
February 4, 2026 at 1:17 AM
Read the essay that made someone on the internet say “My goodness is that long and wordy”
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
Whew ok here we go: their name was Juno and the album was "This Is The Way It Goes And Goes And Goes" and it was from 1999 and they were from the Pennsylvania city of... Seattle
February 4, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Whew ok here we go: their name was Juno and the album was "This Is The Way It Goes And Goes And Goes" and it was from 1999 and they were from the Pennsylvania city of... Seattle
The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up klaxons are sounding
February 4, 2026 at 7:13 PM
The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up klaxons are sounding
Someone who likes weird stuff should do this
Hello, looks like independent publishers should beef up our books coverage.
If you're into the idea of joining the @flaminghydra.com collective and writing a book review each month (800-2000 word range), please send us your ideas and some clips to [email protected]
If you're into the idea of joining the @flaminghydra.com collective and writing a book review each month (800-2000 word range), please send us your ideas and some clips to [email protected]
February 4, 2026 at 6:46 PM
Someone who likes weird stuff should do this
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
this rules (and dates me like the most specific radioactive element)
Whew ok here we go: their name was Juno and the album was "This Is The Way It Goes And Goes And Goes" and it was from 1999 and they were from the Pennsylvania city of... Seattle
February 4, 2026 at 6:01 PM
this rules (and dates me like the most specific radioactive element)
Whew ok here we go: their name was Juno and the album was "This Is The Way It Goes And Goes And Goes" and it was from 1999 and they were from the Pennsylvania city of... Seattle
February 4, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Whew ok here we go: their name was Juno and the album was "This Is The Way It Goes And Goes And Goes" and it was from 1999 and they were from the Pennsylvania city of... Seattle
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
Need to adapt this to explain why I do not listen to nsbm and other fascist bands.
Obsessed with this, from @curtisdozier.bsky.social’s excellent new book on the misuse of Greek and Roman antiquity by white nationalists
February 4, 2026 at 5:08 PM
Need to adapt this to explain why I do not listen to nsbm and other fascist bands.
There was a late 90s(?) band from Pennsylvania(?) who did a post-hardcore not-quite-shoegaze Hum kind of thing, and ruled, and had an album was maybe called "And so it goes", which is the title of one million albums, and I can't remember their name, and it's been driving me crazy for years
February 4, 2026 at 4:31 PM
There was a late 90s(?) band from Pennsylvania(?) who did a post-hardcore not-quite-shoegaze Hum kind of thing, and ruled, and had an album was maybe called "And so it goes", which is the title of one million albums, and I can't remember their name, and it's been driving me crazy for years
The Ancillary Review of Books anti-billionaire promise:
February 4, 2026 at 3:45 PM
The Ancillary Review of Books anti-billionaire promise:
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
"The Cruelty is the Point" - for the latest Small Press Dispatch, @chloroformtea.bsky.social looks at tyranny, rebellion, and language in Ben Peek's RED LABYRINTH (@snugglybooks.bsky.social):
Small Press Dispatch: The Cruelty is the Point
Roseanna Pendlebury The Red Labyrinth is where people are sent when they break the Red King’s laws. Zoja Rose’s crime was learning to read, compounded by her use of this knowledge to learn more abo…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
February 4, 2026 at 1:43 PM
"The Cruelty is the Point" - for the latest Small Press Dispatch, @chloroformtea.bsky.social looks at tyranny, rebellion, and language in Ben Peek's RED LABYRINTH (@snugglybooks.bsky.social):
Long Song Titles Aren’t Cool Anymore Because the Rest of You Fuckers Are No Good At It (Crime in Stereo)
Deleted a post about “what’s your least favorite song” because the vibes are bad enough already.
Instead: what’s your favorite song that has a long title, say at least 6 words long?
Mine: “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” (Pearl Jam)
Instead: what’s your favorite song that has a long title, say at least 6 words long?
Mine: “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” (Pearl Jam)
February 4, 2026 at 3:34 AM
Long Song Titles Aren’t Cool Anymore Because the Rest of You Fuckers Are No Good At It (Crime in Stereo)
My god, are books allowed to be this long?!?
February 4, 2026 at 2:00 AM
My god, are books allowed to be this long?!?
Read the essay that made someone on the internet say “My goodness is that long and wordy”
For the @strangehorizons.bsky.social 2026 Criticism Special, I wrote about weird fiction being constituted by weird reading, vis a vis Sederholm and Woofter’s The Weird and @undertow.bsky.social’s The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, Vol. 1., in tribute to Maureen Kincaid Speller. It’s a long one.
The Brackish Pool: Towards a Critical Practice of Reading Weird Fiction
The ideal reader of the weird has to embrace a kind of wilful suspension of foreknowledge or generic expectation.
strangehorizons.com
February 4, 2026 at 1:17 AM
Read the essay that made someone on the internet say “My goodness is that long and wordy”
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
Every day Mamdani comes out and is like "hey guys, I turned off the orphan-crushing machine. Literally just had to flip a switch. Took less than 5 minutes."
After decades of dem leadership pissing and moaning and fundraising about how complex an issue it is and how difficult the process is etc
After decades of dem leadership pissing and moaning and fundraising about how complex an issue it is and how difficult the process is etc
February 3, 2026 at 3:58 AM
Every day Mamdani comes out and is like "hey guys, I turned off the orphan-crushing machine. Literally just had to flip a switch. Took less than 5 minutes."
After decades of dem leadership pissing and moaning and fundraising about how complex an issue it is and how difficult the process is etc
After decades of dem leadership pissing and moaning and fundraising about how complex an issue it is and how difficult the process is etc
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
Fusion foods are good and we should say they’re good
February 3, 2026 at 3:43 AM
Fusion foods are good and we should say they’re good
Fusion foods are good and we should say they’re good
February 3, 2026 at 3:43 AM
Fusion foods are good and we should say they’re good
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
"Reject productivity!" I said to myself and the Internet, while worrying incessantly about the fact that I've accomplished so little in life.
February 2, 2026 at 11:20 PM
"Reject productivity!" I said to myself and the Internet, while worrying incessantly about the fact that I've accomplished so little in life.
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
your first draft isn't perfect? what? that's weird. i've never heard of that happening before. maybe you should give up
February 2, 2026 at 9:44 PM
your first draft isn't perfect? what? that's weird. i've never heard of that happening before. maybe you should give up
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
This intersects some not only w/ Delany's "reading conventions"/"reading protocols" but also Stanley Fish's "How to Recognize a Poem When You See One". Genre as interpretive community. The limit is only the meaning for the reading community & the productivity of the interpretation.
February 2, 2026 at 4:17 PM
This intersects some not only w/ Delany's "reading conventions"/"reading protocols" but also Stanley Fish's "How to Recognize a Poem When You See One". Genre as interpretive community. The limit is only the meaning for the reading community & the productivity of the interpretation.