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M. Belanger

@sethanikeem.bsky.social

6.4K followers 1.4K following 8.9K posts

writer of books - wrangler of cats - creator of #TTRPGs - #intersex, introverted & feral (you’ve probably seen me on TV) - Posting a cat picture a day thru #CatBreak because, cats! 🐈‍⬛💙

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 1d

Just in case the inevitable happens to this platform -

Places you can find me & my stuff

#Zines & #TTRPGs

xoshdarkheart.itch.io

Darkheart Games

xoshdarkheart.itch.io

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 9h

Enjoy this truly wild dream I had about a new David Bowie album:

M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 21h

Let me preface this with a reminder that I often have incredibly vivid, detailed dreams

The dream I woke up from today is no exception

David Bowie was recording a new concept album (yes, he knew he was dead & that wasn’t going to stop him from rising to this moment)

The album title:

LACRIM/OS/A

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 9h

Champion snugglers

M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 9h

Taylor Swift, best known for her role as teen Haley in CSI S9 episode 16, “Turn, Turn, Turn.”

Still from CSI season 9 episode 16. A young Taylor Swift sits outside of a cheap hotel on yellowish metal patio furniture. She has an open laptop. George Eads’ character Nick stands opposite her.

M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 9h

Hard to believe they looked like this back in March:

Two kittens, one black and one gray, share space in a small gray cat bed attached to a cat tree.

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 9h

Another obstacle to me getting any writing done in this moment (two obstacles, to be exact)

Watson and Lestrade:

Two cats, one black and one gray, snooze on the lap of their favorite human. The gray cat rests his head on the human’s outstretched hand. The cat rests his paw protectively against a closed journal set aside. The black cat is cuddled up in a midnight blue blanket that covers the lower half of the human. Photo is taken from the perspective of the human covered in cats.

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 10h

Been struggling to write fiction because my preferred genre is horror, and it is incredibly difficult to surpass in any fictional vision the real world horror of this moment

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Reposted by M. Belanger

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 15h

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 10h

Can confirm from personal experience. Yes.

M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 12h

They could try looking here?

Bones on remote Pacific island were likely Amelia Earhart's

Forensic analysis may have solved mystery of pilot’s disappearance

www.science.org

M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 14h

Could only be more clear if he’d called them catamites

M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 15h

The look I just gave my phone

a man in a suit and tie is talking to a woman .

Alt: a man in a suit and tie chewing in an exaggerated fashion. He stares at someone across from him. He looks utterly non-plussed.

media.tenor.com

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 15h

I like to think that either

A) the ancestors really are looking out for us

or

B) in the same way that Carl Jung’s animus took the form of an old man with heron wings named Philemon, mine just happens to be the Platonic ideal of David Bowie

M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 16h

Exactly so

Beyond my skill level … For now

M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 16h

I was thinking about doing something like this, then realized it was beyond my skill. Love this one.

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 16h

Day 7 of #hARToween25

Prompt: Bats in the Belfry

A rough sketch in shimmery ink against black paper. A bell tower outlined in silver with a peaked roof of rough shingles is infested with bats, each drawn in vibrant magenta. A fingernail moon hangs above the scene. Written at the top of the paper is #hARToween25 - Oct. 7 - bats in the belfry

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 17h

His voice was incredibly clear

M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 17h

Hey guys, is this normal in a free country?

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 17h

I fear if things don’t change right now, this image is going to come back to haunt us

Laura Rodriguez, on Twitter:

A federal agent points a weapon at a woman who was recording them.

Jess, a U.S. citizen and member of a neighborhood patrol team that documents and shares ICE activity across the city, was filming when the incident occurred earlier today in the Berwyn area.

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 17h

I don’t think I have the skill

And my voice has only ever been good for opera, show tunes, or goth/metal. Totally wrong vibe.

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 17h

I am kind of low-key hoping this 22-year-old ingenue actually exists somewhere and right now is tapping into the same well of inspiration that birthed this dream

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 17h

PS if for some completely inane reason you are inspired to try to create this album using generative AI in order to impress me, I promise that I will do everything in my power to ensure that you learn firsthand what a Dream Eater is

M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 18h

My bitterness for the lost opportunities of the past is -almost- eclipsed by my joy for the vast increase in access in this moment in time

M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 18h

But boy, howdy have they been gatekeepers through the decades

I remember trying to get anything queer, Goth, or punk to even be considered by them back in the 90s

They’ve gotten a little better about working with small presses, but they were absolute shit back then

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 18h

Do not be surprised when alt-Bowie’s LACRIM/OS/A makes an appearance in some novel or short fiction of mine in the near future

Way too good (and detailed) a concept to leave solely to the dreamspace

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 18h

Remember when we were conjecturing that this is what would happen to that apartment building in Chicago?

That there were dealings behind the scenes and it would end up with the ICE raid being a very convenient alternative to eviction?

Here are the receipts:

Dr Paul M @drpaulm.bsky.social · 22h

To close a Wells Fargo A/C, you must have a zero balance and no pending transactions. You can call customer service at 1-800-869-3557, visit a branch with valid ID, or by mail a completed Account Closure Request form if you are outside the U.S. Wells Fargo does not allow account closures online.

flipinidaho @flipinidaho.bsky.social · 1d

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

The building is in a 27 million dollar foreclosure filed by Wells Fargo. The next day, Wells Fargo filed an emergency motion for receivership. The fascist regime kindly emptied the building for donor Wells Fargo.

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M. Belanger @sethanikeem.bsky.social · 18h

This ALT-universe is completely plausible

Journalism was a path I considered, but wasn’t easily accessible to someone so openly queer, Goth & kinky as myself back when I first knocked on its gates