I can't believe I ever used to talk about perfume on the internet. I mean, literally put my face in front of a camera and talk. Who was that person? I love perfume, sure, but I am not sure how I ever loved it enough to do that. www.tiktok.com/@midnightsti...

I told myself this is the year I am going from merely observing and writing about art (sort of kidding with “merely”; observing and writing about art are awesome things) to actually trying to do art. I have gone from zero art to a small art attempt every day for the last 169 days.

Today's perfume review is inspired by the surreal brilliance of Richard Powers vintage sci-fi cover art.

This is the sort of thing I think about a lot 🖤

On the Unquiet Things blog today, a draft I’ve had hanging around since 2023, book covers from the dark side of groovy, from the cosmos to the charnel house, the surreal visions of Richard Powers. (Thanks to @70sscifiart.bsky.social for the inspo!) unquietthings.com/strange-eons...

Here’s everything listed in my Pango shop right now…and it’s all 20% off!

baby steps & banana peppers

The gang, as they say, is all here. Or, as fast, furious, fevered poet of the heart, Dominic Toretto, might offer (after driving his nitrous-fueled hotrod over the moon): “Welcome to the family.”

I was showing my sister some photos of the new (to us) headboard that we got as a hand-me-down, and she pointed out the little glowing turquoise orb floating around in the pictures. Free headboard AND free ghost!

For this month's Stinker Spotlight, I bugged my Best Good Friend to tell me about their perfume collection. It's a free read over on Midnight Stinks today! www.patreon.com/midnightstin...

made a janky little finger-typed graphic about this using my human words and art made by a real person

See that, reddit? I am actually an author of published books, believe it or not 🤣

OH MY GLOB I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this about my own book, but I’m gonna say it anyway, I think this is the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen.

Pssst…..! Every Pango purchase comes with a mystery postcard!

Do you like bats? And plants? And art? And sex? And horror? Man, you are in luck. I have all of that in my Pango book shop! pangobooks.com/bookstore/gh...

Why have I never thought to use sourdough discard for okinomiyaki?? This was so good.

Shared a handful of first impressions over at Midnight Stnks today...can you guess my favorite? www.patreon.com/midnightstin...

Oh yeah here’s the book, that’s important too amzn.to/3Q3vc4B

I assembled a companion playlist to my new book, a sonic curation for: worlds beneath our skin & the lightless bottom of the ocean, beyond the final named star & the glittering edge of heaven, between the infinite & the unbearably intimate shadow & the soul. open.spotify.com/playlist/2AH...

I got a little watercolor workbook and it is so much fun.

The only thing I love more than dark, eerie, mysterious art is weird, silly joyful art! And my mailbox was brimming with it today! I’m just a tiny li’l idiot print from Abigail Penner and little trinkets and stickers and such from Olivia Bucholtz. Please be patient! My cat is a new driver!

Last year, I was featured on eaulalabygenevieve's Shelfie Sunday, and I was delighted to share a bit about my collection. This June, I was invited back to reflect upon what may have changed over the past year! You can see it over on Instagram today www.instagram.com/p/DZSRv5hjpu...

Scent of the day: Cor Serpentis. Get it, Lavinia Whateley.

yesterday’s art things

friday night moon melodies & angst

I sampled a fragrance and had too many thoughts for the bluesky character limit:

a somewhat related layering

current perfume lineup looks like a goth girl gang

agreeing with this so vehemently, so violently

My June perfume marinade tray, full of the most egregiously summery clichés! ...or is it??? Read more here www.patreon.com/posts/159939...

My very favorite art writer and genre enthusiast is writing a new book about sci-fi art!!!

I have been ritually complaining about summer on my blog for well over a decade now. I have a whole archive of summer misery posts! This year's got away from me. unquietthings.com/this-was-gon...

behold: the first harvest

Here are my musings on five fragrances I sampled this past May…! unquietthings.com/may-perfume-...

May's Trinkets & Treasures newsletter is, fittingly enough, the 50th installment of my chatty little monthly missive (which I mention because I myself turned 50 this month!) Check your inboxes or subscribe via the link below so you don't miss the next one! unquietthings.myflodesk.com/unquietthings

Scent of the day: Heretic Queen Of Night. Honeyed blooms, a pale luminous vanilla against absolute black, sweet and strange and fleeting the way a face emerges from darkness before the darkness rushes in. Vetiver, dusky and gritty, the black sand of dreams. The mortuary scent of jasmine—

mostly in that I will leave a lot of hair clogging your drains and blame it on paranormal activity

A few more!

A few years ago I created a cheeky little blog post I called “Bargain Bin Romance Covers,” where I captioned some vintage romance novels with silly alternative titles. Today I made some janky graphics for them, AND I have added to the collection! I think I misspelled “dissociate” in one of them.

Anyone else read this one? A brutal. extraordinary story. (Also, at my 50th book read this year, I am halfway to my 2026 reading goal!)

this little flower drawing guide is the best gift I ever got myself

Found the best poke bowl of my life in a little restaurant that had a sad Christmas tree (in May) as its only decor and an eerily-lit empty parking lot like a liminal spaces Tumblr or maybe a /nosleep subreddit situation. 10/10 surreal deliciousness, gonna have weird dreams about it for sure.

Who is Richard Bober, you ask? unquietthings.com/nightmare-fu...

Ývan surprised me with the biggest of all surprises for my birthday! This morning we drove to an Old Navy parking lot to pick up our newest art acquisition: this fancy orc guy, an original painting by none other than the late Richard Bober (he of mystery artist Wrinkle in Time infamy!)

Some extra thoughts…

I recently wrote about building a personal curriculum to 1) better understand the idea of "hauntology," and 2) wrap my head around Julia Kristeva's writings. But it occurred to me that I'd be terribly remiss if I didn't mention my own books in terms of creating some courses for self-learning!

Do you like graphic novels? I’ve listed at least 50 of them for sale today in my Pango shop! They’re all in pretty great condition except that one volume of Rachel Rising which really egregiously ruins the aesthetic of the stack 😅 pangobooks.com/bookstore/gh...

For @ruemorguemag.bsky.social no. 230 (May/June 2026), I dedicated an entire column to obsessing about TEETH, those wily fuckers. Read the full column (available now at newsstands). rue-morgue.com/product/rue-...

where I post from

A smattering of artful tidbits from the chapters of my forthcoming book, The Art of the Unknown: A Visual Treasury of the Esoteric, Uncanny and Unexplained