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The Ghost of Halloween Past

@jxilon

All My Best Skeets Has Typos. Just keeping the same thing as other places, probably should be updated: Dad wearing a lot of odd-job hats. Writer. Photographer. No longer a teacher. he/him

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Latest posts by The Ghost of Halloween Past @jxilon

I mean, it's not actually a surprise that they think this; it's been pretty obvious for a while.

It is a surprise that they're stupid enough to say it out loud.

12.03.2026 22:13 πŸ‘ 837 πŸ” 233 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 3

It's always worth it to support the Ignyte Awards (and FIYAH) whenever possible. Check it out. And if you aren't aware of them, check out past Ignyte Awards winners! I promise you will find incredible works and writers and magazines and more in the lists of winners.

12.03.2026 14:46 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
A close up picture of a black and white cat laying on blankets looking at the camera with his tongue sticking out.

A close up picture of a black and white cat laying on blankets looking at the camera with his tongue sticking out.

Everyone should have one lovable gentle doofus in their life.

07.03.2026 16:02 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Ok. I have had this cold for a week and I am *beyond* sick of it. Sick of being sick.

07.03.2026 15:46 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
a four-panel stick-figure cartoon

panel one:
three standing figures. from left to right, a guy wearing a necktie looking at his phone, an angry MAGA guy yelling FUCK YOUR FUCKIN POST FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU, and a rando just standing there like an NPC. 

panel two:
the guy looking at his phone shows MAGA guy his hand, causing MAGA to vanish. the word Block hangs in the air where fuckface once was. a green-bordered in-game message appears, reading "+2 Mental Health." now the rando is suddenly interested.

panel three:
as our man continues doom-scrolling, a sly grin on his face, the rando on the right puts on a punch-me face and snarls: "Typical lefty, blocking everyone who disagrees with-"

panel four
phone guy shows the hand to punch-me face, causing the rando to vanish. the word Block hangs in the air where that dickhead was. a green-bordered in-game message appears again, reading "+2 Mental Health."

a four-panel stick-figure cartoon panel one: three standing figures. from left to right, a guy wearing a necktie looking at his phone, an angry MAGA guy yelling FUCK YOUR FUCKIN POST FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU, and a rando just standing there like an NPC. panel two: the guy looking at his phone shows MAGA guy his hand, causing MAGA to vanish. the word Block hangs in the air where fuckface once was. a green-bordered in-game message appears, reading "+2 Mental Health." now the rando is suddenly interested. panel three: as our man continues doom-scrolling, a sly grin on his face, the rando on the right puts on a punch-me face and snarls: "Typical lefty, blocking everyone who disagrees with-" panel four phone guy shows the hand to punch-me face, causing the rando to vanish. the word Block hangs in the air where that dickhead was. a green-bordered in-game message appears again, reading "+2 Mental Health."

07.03.2026 02:45 πŸ‘ 7297 πŸ” 2274 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 94

That’s a hell of a rec cause damn do I love Killjoys. (And yes loved Firefly at the time.)

06.03.2026 19:41 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I'm stealing that

06.03.2026 04:23 πŸ‘ 212 πŸ” 15 πŸ’¬ 11 πŸ“Œ 1
Cover for March issue of Locus, with a shadowy landscape with strange trees wreathed in mist under a sky with a huge satellite  or other planet.

Cover for March issue of Locus, with a shadowy landscape with strange trees wreathed in mist under a sky with a huge satellite or other planet.

My latest short fiction review column is in the March issue of Locus Magazine: subscribers.locusmag.com/content/buy-...

05.03.2026 18:43 πŸ‘ 18 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I’ve just got a cold and the cough myself. I don’t know why ear infections seemed to have stopped for me in the last 15 to 20 years, but my god the bad ones I had before used to be some of the most painful shit of my life.

05.03.2026 15:40 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Sorry dude. As a longstanding suffer of those up until my 30s (for some reason) I know there can be few things worse. I add my wishes for it to be over for you to yours.

05.03.2026 14:31 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

That is fantastic. Also. Now I am earwormed.

03.03.2026 18:53 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
transcript of a NYT podcast ad: This is A.G. Sulzberger. I’m the publisher of The New York Times. I oversee our news operations and our business. But I’m also a former reporter who has watched with a lot of alarm as our profession has shrunk and shrunk in recent years. Normally, in these ads, we talk about the importance of subscribing to the Times. I’m here today with a different message. I’m encouraging you to support any news organization that’s dedicated to original reporting. If that’s your local newspaper, terrific β€” local newspapers in particular need your support. If that’s another national newspaper, that’s great too.

transcript of a NYT podcast ad: This is A.G. Sulzberger. I’m the publisher of The New York Times. I oversee our news operations and our business. But I’m also a former reporter who has watched with a lot of alarm as our profession has shrunk and shrunk in recent years. Normally, in these ads, we talk about the importance of subscribing to the Times. I’m here today with a different message. I’m encouraging you to support any news organization that’s dedicated to original reporting. If that’s your local newspaper, terrific β€” local newspapers in particular need your support. If that’s another national newspaper, that’s great too.

the publisher of the new york times wants you to subscribe to the handbasket

www.thehandbasket.co/subscribe

03.03.2026 04:46 πŸ‘ 1412 πŸ” 184 πŸ’¬ 27 πŸ“Œ 11

Do I always agree with Jamelle? No. Do I always know that he cares about the world being better? Yes. Do I always know he’s thinking deeply and reading widely? Yes. Can that be said of any of these childish critics? No

02.03.2026 23:33 πŸ‘ 743 πŸ” 32 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Jamelle Bouie clearly and quite publicly works very hard to be informed and even-handed and anyone talking about him as if he’s not doing either of those things should shut the fuck up and definitely be widely ignored

02.03.2026 23:31 πŸ‘ 3561 πŸ” 278 πŸ’¬ 22 πŸ“Œ 19

So I have only ever known of Hyperion and it’s author as β€œone of those bjg SF books that shows up in every sale and that I guess I should check our eventually”. If like me you knew nothing else this might be some important info for you!

02.03.2026 20:00 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Personal rule: if I see someone acting kind of ridiculous on here and then see their bio is full of hashtags I’m 95% of the time just blocking and moving on without engaging in any way. This rule is 100% of the time if the hashtags + manner of ridiculous reads as β€œbutthurt tech bro”

02.03.2026 19:57 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Dang! I did not know about #TenMinuteMerlin but I will so be joining this just as soon as the ice age ends and at least half of this snow and ice everywhere is gone.

02.03.2026 17:16 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

It's too bad the hockey players who say "we're just athletes" and "everything isn't political" and the like don't understand this.

02.03.2026 17:03 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Danger zone
Disable all
All notifications for your subscriptions are off.

Delete all notes
Delete notes
Permanently delete your notes and restacks.

Delete your account
Delete account
Permanently delete your account and information

Danger zone Disable all All notifications for your subscriptions are off. Delete all notes Delete notes Permanently delete your notes and restacks. Delete your account Delete account Permanently delete your account and information

At the bottom of the Substack settings page, under "Danger Zone," you can turn off all subscriptions at once.

Apologies to all my friends on Substack. I'd gritted my teeth and supported you because I love your work. But Substack's partnership with Polymarket is the last straw for me.

02.03.2026 14:42 πŸ‘ 1432 πŸ” 408 πŸ’¬ 32 πŸ“Œ 50

Fuck. I’m so sorry. And no. No we don’t do enough as a society. And it is infuriating.

01.03.2026 01:19 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

No more fucking coddling bad parents. No more "well no one should tell someone how to parent". Nah. Bad parents need to stop being tolerated. No one should have a right to be a bad parent. (I don't mean a screw up parent, we will all fucking screw up, I mean a bad parent.)

20.02.2026 19:06 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I also think that this is a belief people need to be more willing to embrace. That to be an anti-trans parent or to be the kind of parent who *would be* an anti-trans parent if their kids were trans is to *be a bad parent*. Putting yourself and your comfort first is being a bad parent, full stop.

20.02.2026 19:03 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

And I mean it, those kinds of people should not be parents. If you see your relationship with your children as one of control and comfort for *you* then you are 100% a bad parent.

20.02.2026 18:58 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

The thing about anti-trans parents is that they are, universally, the exact kind of people who should *never* be parents, because what they really want are children who never have an unapproved thought, belief, idea or freedom to grow beyond whatever their parents believe and understand.

20.02.2026 18:58 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Afterlives 2025: Reprint Call - PSYCHOPOMP.COM You may have read about Psychopomp’s recent reorg, but we are still doing Afterlives 2025: The Year’s Best Death Stories!

A reminder that we are gathering stories for AFTERLIVES 2025, curated by @mariahaskins.com. psychopomp.com/afterlives-2...

09.02.2026 18:04 πŸ‘ 16 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

So I might have cancelled a whole whack of muted words on here, just for today, just for reasons. :)

20.02.2026 18:34 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Well that’s awesome. And I’m glad.

19.02.2026 19:15 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Gotta love accelerationists always being wrong.

19.02.2026 17:10 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

As someone who as been following you since well before the cancer (we’ve interacted occasionally in the past) just wanted to take this moment to say how great it is that you are still here, still reupping those 6 months. Very glad for it.

19.02.2026 17:08 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Reminder to all - Canadians did not vote *for* a minority government nor have they ever voted *for* a majority government, cause that's not how our electoral system works, despite what elected officials and biased talking heads like to often claim when it sounds like good rhetoric for their agenda.

19.02.2026 15:32 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0