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rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
RMJ
@rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
2.1K followers 670 following 3K posts
rachel mccarthy james. WHACK JOB: A HISTORY OF AXE MURDER out now. prev: THE MAN FROM THE TRAIN contact: rmccarthyjames at gmail
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rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
the parabola reminds me of one of my favorite houses in my town:
the Dean House - a concrete block ranch with a parabolic roof in lawrence, ks the Dean House - a concrete block ranch with a parabolic roof in lawrence, ks
January 22, 2026 at 7:49 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
Oh, this one is really unhinged: I love a movie tie-in cover.
A mass market paperback of All the President’s Men with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffmann
January 22, 2026 at 6:06 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
We took Frank, the stupidest of our three cats, to the vet today. He has already forgotten the offense but the other two are darting around suspiciously, unable to forgive the scare of the cat carrier
Our white and grey cat Frank sleeping in the crook of a dog bed placed upright on my couch
January 20, 2026 at 9:37 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
Say hello to Esther Hammerton (1711-1746). After surviving a chapel collapse at age 18, she took over as gravedigger and sexton in Kingston upon Thames. She made a habit of foiling attempted churchrobbers.
A linotype engraving of Esther Hammerton. She wears a masculine outfit and a broad hat, and carries a pickaxe. She is holding a skull.
January 15, 2026 at 5:45 AM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
Protest dawgs in a pile
A large ish black and tan dog with heterochromia. She has a sign reading RIP Renee Good. Her person has a sign reading Renee Good Killed by Selfish Ignorance A fluffy Samoyed on the sidewalk A happy little terrier in an empty flowerbed at a protest
January 11, 2026 at 8:01 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
Pretty rich that Republicans were whining last weekend that liberals won't befriend conservatives or patronize their businesses. Now it's like, if you're a woman, and you have short hair, or you're standing near a woman with short hair? We'll shoot you in the face first and figure out a reason later
Democrat. Similarly, 41 percent of Democratic college students would not support a Republican-run business, 37 percent would not be friends with a Republican, and 30 percent would not work for one. (The Republican numbers regarding Democrats were 7, 5, and 7 percent.) You probably have your own ideas
January 9, 2026 at 9:02 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
FEVER DREAM by Samanta Schweblin (translated by Megan McDowell)
Sluggo and Nancy. Sluggo holds a bucket of worms and says “they’re like Woims”
January 4, 2026 at 8:19 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
I’m figuring out a new curl cream
A picture of me in an urban setting I’m wearing makeup and a leather jacket my hair is a little curlier than usual.
January 3, 2026 at 1:55 AM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
An animation still from American Dad. It’s a rocket with an eagle head and Truck Nutz and fireworks attached. Caption USA culture pod
January 1, 2026 at 12:43 AM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
Everybody boo this dead guy
MICROFORM The fraud of feminism Ernest Belfort Bax, 1854-1926.; 1913 Check holdings anschutz library
December 31, 2025 at 1:43 AM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
Jason got me A NEW TYPEWRITER, which sounds like a joke but it’s NOT. Some may call Ms. Royal here obsolete or an oxymoron, but I don’t care! I love her!!! She’s real and she’s all mine. Please enjoy three of the sixty portrait mode photos I took of my new favorite inanimate object.
A photo of my new typewriter. It looks old and new at once. In the background are some of my old electric typewriters that I won’t be using quite so much anymore. And also a bunch of copies of my book, whack job a history of ax murder A photo of my new typewriter. It looks old and new at once. In the background are some of my old electric typewriters that I won’t be using quite so much anymore. And also a bunch of copies of my book, whack job a history of ax murder A photo of my new typewriter. It looks old and new at once. In the background are some of my old electric typewriters that I won’t be using quite so much anymore. And also a bunch of copies of my book, whack job a history of ax murder
December 26, 2025 at 9:50 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
this really frustrates me because i don't think people accepted this at all. very few people IRL actually use AI to help with simple fun tasks like touring a museum. those commercials just want you to think that a lot of people are using it to replace basic cognition. resist!
All the ChatGPT commercials are like “help me find the best path to the store” and it’s so deeply insulting to human beings and brains, but people have completely accepted that they can’t think or do simple shit on their own anymore.
December 26, 2025 at 7:07 AM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
Merry Christmas!
A selfie with my family. Me, my husband, my mom and dad, and my brothers who are laughing My mom laughing. There is a trifle in front of her and the table is Christmassy My dog Millie wearing a plaid red collar with bells My cat Frankie adorned with a red bow
December 26, 2025 at 4:56 AM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
Hosting
The frowny gingerbread man with a bite taken out
December 24, 2025 at 7:57 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
The real spirit of the holidays, as depicted by my neighbor’s tween son
A little gingerbread man with a frowny face
December 24, 2025 at 3:44 AM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
There is HarperCollins Olive, doing about a dozen reprints a year that are pretty rad. Gotta start picking these up more, obviously that McQueen cover rules
Two small books on a pink bookshelf. One is future home of the living God by Louise Erdrich with a colorful bird, and the other one is when the reckoning comes by LaTanya McQueen, which has a bloody axe on the cover
December 21, 2025 at 3:42 AM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
So real.
I was acutely aware of every list I didn’t make and every outlet in which I didn’t get coverage. Which is really messed up because I got some great coverage! It will be my life’s work to learn to be grateful for what I’ve got rather than disappointed in what I didn’t get.
December 11, 2025 at 7:43 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
I like how everyone in that AI McDonald’s commercial seems like they are about to die a very gruesome death
Screenshot of AI McDonald’s ad. A man hanging Christmas lights falls from the roof plummeting to the ground headfirst. Caption: it’s the most terrible time of the year Screenshot of AI McDonald’s ad. A woman whose coat and packages are caught in a train door panics as the train begins to depart Screenshot of AI McDonald’s ad. A man puts out a fire at a dinner party. Caption: the roast turned to charcoal Screenshot of AI McDonald’s ad. An electrical cord lights on fire. Caption: it’s the most terrible time of the year
December 9, 2025 at 2:55 AM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
The thing to worry about is that Lego and Coach are opening brand new stores at Town Center Plaza/Crossing and there’s a decently credible rumor that the Oak Park stores will close once those new locations are open. I’d also worry that Chicos and White House Black Market will not stick around much longer. Both brands are on the decline nationally, have other stores in the market, and no one is ever in their dated Oak Park Mall locations when I walk past. Their contemporaries, Evereve, Ny&Co, bebe, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, and Talbots have left the mall, partially because those brands are also in decline, but also because the wealthier women who visit the mall really leave Dillard’s and Nordstrom to go shop at the other stores. I shutter the day that JCPenney closes. That’s 6 vacant stores the metro will have to absorb in the near future, and we’ve historically had problems filling vacant department stores and so they end up getting demolished.
December 6, 2025 at 8:38 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
Someone posted a question about the decline of the once-fancy Oak Park Mall in the Overland Park (v wealthy Kansas City suburb) subreddit and I was intrigued by this comment summarizing the decline of American retail via the many familiar stores that have shuttered in the last couple decades (cont)
empires228 What do you expect them to put in there? Out of the stores that have closed since I moved here: Microsoft - closed all stores Payless - closed all stores Yankee Candle - closed a good number of their stores American Girl - closed all but like two stores The Walking Company - closed all stores The Limited - closed all stores Versona - has closed a good number of their stores Evereve - idk. They closed at the Plaza too SoftMoc - closed all USA stores New York & Company - closed all stores Subway - in a corporate level death spiral GNC - in a corporate level collapse GameStop - has closed a huge number of stores, including almost all mall-based locations Swarovski - they closed a good number of stores and just recently returned to KC with a new store on the Plaza Forever 21/XXI - Closed all stores Fossil - has closed most physical locations The Body Shop - exited KC. Has since closed all stores Icing - Claire’s went bankrupt over the summer. New owners decided to liquidate the entirety of Icing Lady Foot Locker - Foot Locker has been phasing out the brand. Very few stores still exist under the Lady and Kids branding Footaction USA - Foot Locker liquidated the entire chain Brookstone - liquidated all stores Disney - shut down all stores not in outlet malls or Times Square Justice - all stores liquidated in bankruptcy Vanity: store was built out, but never opened because the chain liquidated before it opened. Space became Vans. Crocs: they closed a good chunk of their stores, but have made a comeback in popularity. They just came back to KC with a small store at the Legends. Going back to just before I moved here: RadioShack - gone except for a few franchised stores Banana Republic - has closed most stores Wet Seal - liquidated in bankruptcy Body Central - liquidated in bankruptcy Ann Taylor - closed all 3 KC stores. Has closed most stores nationwide Foundry - brand phased out by JCPenney Teavana - chain purchased and liquidated by Starbucks Art of Shaving - entire chain liquidated L'Occitane en Provence - closed both KC stores. Has closed a good chunk of their stores in the USA Crabtree & Evelyn - liquidated all stores Crabtree & Evelyn - liquidated all stores Rainforest Cafe - was not allowed to renew lease bebe - liquidated all stores Lacoste: has closed most stores. Brand is currently making a big attempt at mounting a comeback Tommy Hilfiger - closed all stores Johnny Rockets - poorly placed. Has since closed most locations GAP - this one actually happened like 20 years ago now. GAP wanted to consolidate their brands into one larger space. Copaken wouldn’t work with them. GAP closed. Mall was sold to CBL soon after Talbots - brand had been on a decline for years and has closed a fair number of stores. KC used to have quite a few. Now just one remains Jos. A Banks - has closed a ton of stores. Sister brand Men’s Wearhousr has a larger store in the mall area. We used to have several stores in KC. Only one remains Soma - I actually don’t know. I think it’s hilarious that Mini So took forever to open and didn’t even touch the facade. This store died off at the mall so fast that it’s amazing the store’s facade is even still intact You also have to remember that some of these stores were able to break their leases because they were tired to the presence of Nordstrom and Nordstrom was supposed to build a new replacement store at the Plaza, which is what cost us a few of the higher end stores.
December 6, 2025 at 8:37 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
Listen, if you want a book about madmen with axes, you can do much better than American Canto. Try WHACK JOB: A History of Axe Murder, available at your local bookseller now.
“I knew the second that I poked my head up from my exile, I was probably going to be met by some madman charging at me with an ax,” Olivia Nuzzi said in an interview. “I didn’t know which madman it was going to be.”
December 4, 2025 at 11:14 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
Completely obsessed with this game, and not just because one of the stories assigned has a period-appropriate axe murder headline. It is a perfect menu game
A screenshot from the Game news tower it’s a headline reading a horrific ax murders is a small town is played by a series of terrifying murder Another Screenshot from the game, news tower Which reads horrific ax murders residents live in constant fear of the unknown assailant
December 2, 2025 at 10:20 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
sorry to post tweets over here but i laughed for a full minute at this @tanya.bsky.social
the suicide butler is to be used for plagiarism ONLY Quote PC Gamer @pcgamer · Nov 26 OpenAI says teen's 'misuse' of ChatGPT is to blame for his suicide, because he broke the TOU: 'users must comply with OpenAI's Usage Policies, which prohibit the use of ChatGPT for suicide or self-harm' https://pcgamer.com/software/ai/openai-says-teens-misuse-of-chatgpt-is-to-blame-for-his-suicide-because-he-broke-the-tou-users-must-comply-with-openais-usage-policies-which-prohibit-the-use-of-chatgpt-for-suicide-or-self-harm
November 28, 2025 at 9:33 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
Lmao yeah that makes perfect sense actually
A screenshot from Ryan Lizza’s wiki, showing that he worked at the New Republic from 1998-2007
November 27, 2025 at 6:02 PM
rmccarthyjames.bsky.social
Interesting to think about the design choices in 1939 vs 2025... in 1939, the crew and the audience both would surely have first-person experience with an axe like that held by Jack Haley - heavy, primarily for actually chopping wood. By 2025 we're long removed from such practical realities
Haley as the Tin Man in the MGM feature film The Wizard of Oz, 1939 film.
November 24, 2025 at 3:39 AM