Tonite at The Midnight Realm…

Only these fuckers could get me out of bed before 10 AM…

Chicago, come hang. I’m talking with James R. Gapinski about The Museum of Future Mistakes at Madison Street Books on Oct 21. Short stories. Future disasters. The poetry of screwing up. Free, weird, worth it. 1127 W Madison 7PM madstreetbooks.com/events/34263...

Tour for “The Museum of Future Mistakes” stops at Madison Street Books in Chicago on Oct. 21st. In conversation with author and Maudlin House editor Mallory Smart. More info here: madstreetbooks.com/events/34263... @madstreetbooks.bsky.social @mallorysmart.bsky.social @boa-editions.bsky.social

"Everyone has a Dave. Some version of him is trying to lodge himself in your bones as we speak." now playing: "The Joker" • Steve Miller Band (by @mallorysmart.bsky.social) www.major7mag.com/post/the-jok...

Today at The Midnight Realm…

Ben turned me into a blackout bio. Chaos confirmed…

This isn’t lounging. This is Starbuck giving up on civilization…

Tonite at The Midnight Realm…

You know you’re built different when Netflix true crime docs feel more like home videos…

Everyone watching Unknown Number reveal at the same time:

Tonite at The Midnight Realm…

Tonite at The Midnight Realm…

They gave me a mic and I used it to tell everyone they don’t matter after death. Live from Gallery Cabaret: Handbook for the Recently Deceased…

The festival had tents. We had the after-hours B-side. PRINTERS ROW: BURN AFTER READING Maudlin House x Movie Club, live from Gallery Cabaret. Hear it now on Textual Healing 🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/0ntK...

Chicago raised its own buildings, reversed a river, and then threw a lit fest that refused to stay in the tents. Printers Row Offsite was chaos, communion, and Chicago at its best. Dispatch by Lake Markham is live 🖤 open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...

Tomorrow morning on Textual Healing: the live Printer’s Row recording of Burn After Reading (Live at Gallery Cabaret). One night, one crowd, twelve readers. This is the one to tune in for…🔥

New religion just dropped: worshipping Margot Kidder’s split personality. Just cracked open De Palma’s Sisters (1972) with John Patrick Higgins. open.spotify.com/episode/1hOn...

"If you want the Chicago of it, here’s the Chicago of it. This isn’t a city that politely evolves. It rots, it burns, it comes back louder." @mallorysmart.bsky.social malsmart.substack.com/p/she-was-gi...

It felt like a bootleg album. Now it is. The live reading from Printers Row hits Textual Healing this Saturday…🎧

A bee stung me while I was on my way to grab my free birthday drink at Starbucks. Nature and capitalism finally linked up...

What do Superman, Norman Bates, and a Pisces birthday cake have in common? Find out on Friday’s That Horrorcast when I talk De Palma’s Sisters with John Patrick Higgins… 🎬

Every time the city’s written off it turns ruin into something new. A sound. A zine. A scene. Rooms that actually feel alive. Chicago has never asked permission to be a literary city. Printers Row offsite events were proof... malsmart.substack.com/p/she-was-gi...

"The Wi-Fi didn’t work. Not even the fake kind that shows up just to disappoint you." OMG love the vibe of this story by @mallorysmart.bsky.social in @tinymolecules.bsky.social Reminds me of a series of photographs I took of a terrible motel. Review pending. www.tinymolecules.com/issues/twent...

Saw The Conjuring: Last Rites last night. Thought I’d be haunted by demons but nope, haunted by Jessamyn and Vince not shutting up about pierogis all weekend at Printers Row instead. So yeah, I guess I’m making pierogis today…

Today at The Midnight Realm…

Let he who is without sin scroll back through his texts from 2012. 
-Echoes of the Fold 4:14

Survived Printers Row, now letting The Conjuring: Last Rites finish me off…

Ben Niespodziany came on Textual Healing to talk Chicago indie lit, music, and starting Piżama Press. One of those chats that reminds you why the scene exists…🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/2v0d...

Alright, Chicago. Go give Maudlin House your disco love and money.

Keeping things lit at Printers Row…📚

Just woke up. Already feel like I’ve been standing at the booth for 7 hours explaining what ‘weird lit’ means. Printers Row hasn’t even opened yet…

Fifteen readers. Ninety minutes. A+ reading marathon. Thank you @whistlerchicago.bsky.social

For listeners who like their writing feral, obsessive, and just a little cursed… 🖤 Who’s Greta Gerwig: an interview with Kat Giordano (S1E4) 🖤 Live from IKEA: D.T. Robbins, Meatballs, and Tampons (S1E8) 🖤 Two Million Hours with Zac and Giac: a show about nothing (S1E11)

Vlad Mag #6 (Part Two): “Bummer Summer,” edited by Brian Alan Ellis, is OUT NOW, featuring work by @mallorysmart.bsky.social (@maudlinhouse.bsky.social) 🦩

Thinking I’m gonna read some Final Girl shit at The Whistler tonite…

Cursed is the man who returns to his hometown unannounced. 
For the Dairy Queen knows what he did. -Book of Her 5:2

Reading at The Whistler tomorrow. 6:30. Bring your demons, I’ll bring mine…

Cats understand dialectical materialism better than people…

Is Dave a person? Or rot in the drywall. Maybe your ex texting from the grave. The static that won’t turn off. Every story just sharpens the knife. You’ll see soon enough… www.major7mag.com/post/the-jok...

Textual Healing goes Neon Pajamas mode this Saturday with Ben Niespodziany…✨

Everyone has a Dave. Mine showed up at a Speedway when The Joker played through a busted speaker. New story in Major 7th Mag…🖤 www.major7mag.com/post/the-jok...

3AM: Looking up my own family on LinkedIn like I’m researching a species I used to belong to...

Tonite at The Midnight Realm…

Gallery Cabaret doesn’t try to pull you in. It waits. Brick, tinsel, skyline mural. Another orbit in the city’s endless spin. Here’s my latest dispatch for Zona Motel: open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...

Half my short stories start in my notes app at 2am. The other half die there…

Some writers leave it all on the page. Caleb Bethea leaves it on the mic… 🖤 Off the Record With Caleb Bethea: Sad, Sad Little Shower Drain (S1E68) 🖤 Off the Record With Caleb Bethea: Nobody Exists On Purpose (S2E16) 🖤 Off the Record With Caleb Bethea: YESNOGOODBYE (S2E32)

The seventh seal was opened, and it smelled like Axe body spray and regret. 
(Rot Revelations 3:16)

Amanda Knox on Hulu then Hurricane Katrina on Netflix. Who let me do this double feature? Also, when did Amanda Knox and Monica Lewinsky become friends?

📻 Ready for Emotional Internet Party with Kevin Sampsell (S1E51) Feels like scribbling a zine while half-watching Portlandia. Collage, small press lore, and soft collapse of internet-era intimacy. open.spotify.com/episode/1UDI...