Stockton Smith
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stocktonsmith.bsky.social
Stockton Smith
@stocktonsmith.bsky.social
210 followers 820 following 160 posts
Mystery writer. joirnalost? Permanent research phase. Wrote The Hollow Oak and Benoni's Defense. https://stocktonsmithbooks.com/
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stocktonsmith.bsky.social
richard brautigan's writing being evaluated in a psych ward and used as evidence against him. "very little literary merit", "had the delusion that he was a writer of great ability" This is from Jubilee Hitchhiker by william hjortsberg.
Highlighted text, reading "When Dick Brautigan spoke of his writing as being “great literature,” the doctors referred to the police report describing his work as “obscene” and having “very little literary merit.” Brautigan’s commitment papers stated that the patient “had the delusion that he was a writer of great ability. He had various former teachers and other people read some of his writings, and they were without question some of the most weird and lewd material they had ever read.” Brautigan himself admitted that much of his work “was variations on sexual themes that would make Erskine Caldwell look like Elsie Dinsmore.”"
January 1, 2026 at 12:51 AM
stocktonsmith.bsky.social
no notes
December 24, 2025 at 2:54 AM
stocktonsmith.bsky.social
Can I start putting verbiage from all these scam emails about how great my book is in editorial reviews? 🤔
screenshot from a scam email that says "Benoni’s Defense stands out as a thought-provoking and compelling read a story layered with intellect, emotion, and a deep understanding of human nature. It’s the kind of book that stays with readers long after the last page, making it perfect for broader visibility and engagement."
November 6, 2025 at 3:36 PM
stocktonsmith.bsky.social
Benoni's Defense: a psychedelic noir thriller!

Available as ebook or paperback. Get it before the sequel comes out! Only $3.99!

www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9VZ75YD
psychedelic imagery. Text says "A case that tests the limits of reality... He's out to solve a murder. She wants to find the truth." Image of book cover for Benoni's Defense by Stockton Smith. A frightened woman looks at something terrifying outside the cover of the book.
September 12, 2025 at 11:49 PM
stocktonsmith.bsky.social
This is from a completed 1st draft of The Hollow Oak. I'll be working on it again in a few weeks. Cass and Artie own a detective business but have been having trouble finding cases. They find a flier about a local cult's event on Cass's windshield.

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
Screenshot of a pdf that reads: "...This isn't a case. Cases are paid. That's called labor. If we're not getting paid, and we're all broke, that's exploitation. To be avoided at all costs. You get me?" Sutano and I nodded. "Then again," Cass continued. "If we set the wheels in motion, there's a chance the universe will grant us access." "Car!" Cass turned to face the road and swerved reflexively back into her lane. "Relax, grandma!" I couldn't relax. Believe me, I wanted to. "Now where was I..." Sultano chimed in. "You were explaining how if we put out some initial energy, maybe a case will manifest... I think." "Exactly. Exactly. You took the words right out of my mouth." She turned around again, looking directly at me. I tensed. "Artie. This is probably our big break. There's a reason this paper arrived when it did. It's an incitement to action!"
May 31, 2025 at 1:55 PM
stocktonsmith.bsky.social
Love when that happens. This exchange cracked me up in editing. Kinda forgot about it until my first edit actually. The narrator, Artie, has just found a lighter in his pocket that came from the crime scene and shows it to his private detective, Cass:
Image of text from pdf that says "She held up the lighter in front of her face. "...Who brought you there?" We both waited a beat, as if it would answer. "Is it normal for you to steal things from your clients?" Another screenshot of text from a pdf that reads: She held up the lighter in front of her face. "...Who brought you there?" We both waited a beat, as if it would answer. "Is it normal for you to steal things from clients?" The question blindsided me. She plowed ahead before I could respond. "...This some sick shit like serial killers? Taking a little trophy? Do you like, take little trophies to remember your clients?" "No, of course not! I used it to light candles during his vigil and must have unconsciously slipped it into my pocket..." This is definitely what happened. But retelling it with her framing made it sound like the pathetic excuse of a thief caught in the act. It also revealed that I hadn't washed those pants for over a week. "...I was preoccupied with looking for the matches. I forgot to pack them, and Reginald was about to pass. At the moment of death, you only have one chance to get things right." She held up her hand to silence me. "Look, I'm sure you're great at what you do and all, but way to make this guy's death all about you..." My face contorted as a response to this baffling statement began accreting, but Cass had moved on before it fully formed.
May 31, 2025 at 1:31 PM
stocktonsmith.bsky.social
Amazing reporting. It's been public knowledge for several YEARS now that this mf is on ketamine all the time and his drug use is out of control. Great to see it in NYT on his official final day as a special advisor to the president
Text from article that says "It is unclear whether Mr. Musk, 53, was taking drugs when he became a fixture at the white house this year and was handed the power to slash the federal bureaucracy. But he has exhibited erratic behavior, insulting cabinet members, gesturing like a Nazi and garbling his answers in a staged interview."
May 30, 2025 at 1:19 PM
stocktonsmith.bsky.social
The WIP differs in style, but if you like this, check out Benoni's Defense, my humorous mystery available through kindle and kindle unlimited: a.co/d/aXDrCVf
Screenshot of text that reads: And yet we still leaned on the machines lethargically, daydreaming when we could but altogether always inhabiting a dreamlike atmosphere watching endless cycling machines, waiting for the telltale sign that something had broken in a machine so we could stop it quickly to minimize damage, but that tells you all you need to know about what the job was, you see, it really amounted to starting and stopping things, listening and watching, and waiting, which meant the mind was free to go where it wanted as long as communication lines to the real world stayed open. We all did it. We were all daydreaming the whole day long and waking up to go home.
May 27, 2025 at 11:18 AM
stocktonsmith.bsky.social
I know this one's for yesterday, but I saw it today...
#WIPSnips
Screenshot of text from work in progress that reads: As I walked again I'd see corners here and there that beckoned to me, streets I'd not turned down yet or maybe had some other night without remembering now, as I wouldn't remember the ones I turned down tonight, the alcohol stopping my new memories from forming but still smashing and carving them somewhere deep inside to be recalled when the conditions were right, like a manchurian candidate spurred to action by the moldy-mildew oranges of the hallway, suddenly and without warning transported back into memory at a far off location, unmappable and bound within the borders as much as they'd been formed, but otherwise open to invention and speculation, waiting to be filled with the demands of somethingness, the unshakable feeling that something must be there, that the borders and the unarticulable presence meant there was something to find.
May 25, 2025 at 1:05 PM