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Zach Kocanda

@zacharykocanda.bsky.social

240 followers 200 following 100 posts

Illinois’s favorite son. zacharykocanda.com

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Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · May 22

New fiction in @mrbullbull.bsky.social today! I’ve been a fan of the journal for years, so it’s an honor to have a story here. Adlai the Last returns for a new gig—with a special guest?

MrBullBull @mrbullbull.bsky.social · May 22

"Cal suggested that his children should meet a 'true American hero,' and maybe John Hinckley Jr. would gift them a guitar pick they could bring to show-and-tell." - Zachary Kocanda mrbullbull.com/newbull/fict...

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Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · 8h

Tonight!
Doors 👉 6
Words 👉 6:30
Jazz 👉 9

Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · 2d

🎃 Test lineup for October! 🎃

whistlerchicago.com/events/test-...

Test Literary Series
Next show 10/8
The Whistler
2421 N Milwaukee Ave
Doors at 6, words at 6:30

Featuring:
Amina Kayani
JK Anowe
Nina Li Coomes
LJ

Reposted by Zach Kocanda

Malarkey @malarkeybooks.bsky.social · 1d

Most of our books are available through Bookshop, and you can also support your local bookstore with your order! bookshop.org/shop/malarke...

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Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · 2d

🎃 Test lineup for October! 🎃

whistlerchicago.com/events/test-...

Reposted by Zach Kocanda

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪 @neonpajamas.bsky.social · 3d

Neon Night Mic is BACK on Nov. 5!

We hope to see you there 📚🍸

🎤 Sam Berman
🎤 Suzanne Buffam
🎤 Jacob Saenz
🎤 Sara Matson
🎤 Ruben Quesada
🎤 Christy Prahl

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Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · 4d

I’m reading at The Mill, a new literary variety show hosted by the journal Millstone at Burlington Bar on Thursday, October 16—there’s also an open mic! Free ticket link below.

The Mill | Poetry Variety Show & all-genres open mic

Literary variety show & open mic for the freaks & the geeks. Merging literature with other kinds of performance art. Come watch & perform!

www.eventbrite.com

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Reposted by Zach Kocanda

Rural Indexing Project @ruralindexing.bsky.social · 7d

Concrete block construction
Fillmore, IL

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Reposted by Zach Kocanda

Rural Indexing Project @ruralindexing.bsky.social · 6d

City hall
Ohio, IL

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Reposted by Zach Kocanda

old roadside pics @roadside.xor.blue · 5d

dinosaur village rv mobile home park, dinosaur statue head detail, route 40, jensen, utah, 1991

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Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · 5d

The poem’s called “Goodtime Jesus” because he was having a good time playing the guitar.

Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · 6d

Three things in life are certain: death, taxes, and the billboard on I-80 for the Bill Engvall show in Shipshewana, Indiana, on October 26, 2018.

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Reposted by Zach Kocanda

Lauren Bolger @renbolger.bsky.social · 7d

Today, The Barre Incidents is officially released upon the world. A Horror book about grieving the “easy” parent (who is undead), falling for your best friend, learning cryptids are real, and banished, embittered gods. Happy born day TBI! You can order here! malarkeybooks.com/store/barre-...

Cover for The Barre Incidents by me (Lauren Bolger). A statue’s face with a graveyard superimposed behind it. Cover art is by Matt Revert!

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Reposted by Zach Kocanda

are you not infotained @alopex-ii.bsky.social · 10d

This is one of the seven artifacts staking Illinois to this dimension

jamie @lmaonadestand.bsky.social · 21d

four score and seven years ago i drew 2 cards from my deck

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Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · 11d

Can’t wait to read it! Omg you remembered the werewolf story! 😆 It’s time to dust it off and get working…

Reposted by Zach Kocanda

Lauren Bolger @renbolger.bsky.social · 12d

TBI has arrived at the Kocanda abode 💀😈

Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · 12d

Giant skeletons are showing up in my neighbors’ yards and @renbolger.bsky.social’s new novel has arrived—I’m ready for Halloween! 😱📘 @malarkeybooks.bsky.social

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Reposted by Zach Kocanda

old roadside pics @roadside.xor.blue · 12d

superman statue at massac county courthouse, horizontal view, metropolis, illinois, 1993

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Reposted by Zach Kocanda

John Chrostek @johnchrostek.com · 12d

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION!!!
for literary awards, reviews, readership & general good vibes:
my 2025 books!

promo graphic for my books

text says:
"for your consideration in the categories of literary awards, reviews, readership & general good vibes:

up and coming underground artist and general societal burden John Chrostek's 2025 releases, offering never-before-seen literary adventures of the strange and sincere variety"

all in retro 70's font, then the covers of boxcutters and feast of the pale leviathan

boxcutters
malarkey books

for those adventurous souls who enjoy the variety of short stories, Boxcutters promises a diverse set of tales, spanning the shocking, sad, hilarious and odd.

find tales of cosmic horror, dystopic science fiction and mythic fantasy tied together with simpler tales of small town fight clubs, a possessed Richard Nixon and much more. Boxcutters is there to help cut through the boundaries and get you to the open air."

available at evening house books, asterism, malarkey books, Powell's, and at your local library and indie bookstore if you ask nicely

FEAST OF THE PALE LEVIATHAN
Deep Overstock Books

A man falls asleep on a river
raft tube and drifts out to sea,
where he is found & devoured
by a titan of unbelievable size.
But rather than death, what Owen
finds inside is a community of
fellow survivors carving out a life
amidst the flotsam and flesh
of the impossible Leviathan.

There seems to be no hope of escape
until a chain of events reveals to
the survivors that their damnable
fates are tied to a mysterious cult
that lives in deathless splendor
in the ivory halls of New Atlantis.

So begins a war between dimensions, culminating in the awakening of the Leviathan and its march to the shore...

available at evening house books, little ghost books, bookshop.org, powell's and at your local library & indie bookstore if you ask nicely

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Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · 12d

Giant skeletons are showing up in my neighbors’ yards and @renbolger.bsky.social’s new novel has arrived—I’m ready for Halloween! 😱📘 @malarkeybooks.bsky.social

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Reposted by Zach Kocanda

Rural Indexing Project @ruralindexing.bsky.social · 19d

Whit’s End
Macon, IL

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Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · 14d

Read a new story at Sleeping Village last night—excited to do some editing and send it out soon!

Reposted by Zach Kocanda

Brandon @bedubble.bsky.social · 15d

bow to your king 🎃

Top pumpkin producing states where Illinois is number 1

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Reposted by Zach Kocanda

Lauren Bolger @renbolger.bsky.social · 16d

Ten days until release. A little while ago we shared chapter one on the Malarkey site but it’s been a while so I’m posting it again. There’s a preorder link on that page at the top!

(CW - parent death/grief/and beyond)

malarkeybooks.com/free-samples...

Death Comes to Barre, Lauren Bolger — Malarkey

For Kara, the answer to the question, “where will I go,” would always be home, or wherever Alec was.

malarkeybooks.com

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Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · 15d

Tonight at Sleeping Village! Doors at 6.

Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · 16d

Tuesday!

Reposted by Zach Kocanda

Jeff Nichols @backwardsriver.bsky.social · 16d

Tune from 1917

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Zach Kocanda @zacharykocanda.bsky.social · 16d

Tuesday!