Halfway through Calasso’s The Tablet of Destinies. It doesn’t feel like reading mythology so much as having mythology channeled through me. The story seems ancient and abstract from a distance, but once inside it’s alive, hypnotic, full of weather. (1/8)

Book rec: Inverted World – Christopher Priest Why? I grabbed the NYRB reissue last year and was floored. From concept to execution, Priest walks the line between sci-fi and literary fiction like a pro. The payoff isn’t a wtf twist—it’s an a-ha moment. Surprising, but totally earned. #nyrb #scifi

My new short story is out in The First Line: “The Department of Preemptive Apologies.” It asks: what if the government could apologize before screwing you over? Spoiler: they can. bluecubiclepress.com/TFLfall2025....

Odysseus gaslit the Phaeacians long before Nabokov, Mann, or Palahniuk picked up a pen. Here’s to 3,000 years of unreliable narrators—and to 3,000 more!

Perhaps the greatest horror novel of the 21st-century.

Throwback to Know-It-All, a dark little satire I published on BarBar back in 24. Free to read if you’re in the mood for yoga, betrayal, and very bad decisions. Odysseus may have begun the tradition of the unreliable narrator, but the second Mrs. Howard perfects it. bebarbar.com/2024/08/09/k...

The master of horror isn’t the one who invents new monsters. It’s the one who can turn a shape into pure existential nightmare fuel for hundreds of pages. Praise be, Junji Ito.

I wrote a piece for Points in Case about brain rot. Then I forgot my own title halfway through writing this post. Luckily the ants were there to pacify my sense of forgetting and alienation. @pointsincase.com #Humor #Satire #AntsKnowBest www.pointsincase.com/lists/10-sig...

Not all pictures belong to children’s books. - Kafka (The Trial) — Thomas. - Dostoyevsky (The Possessed) — Eichenberg. - Melville (Moby-Dick) — Kent. Dark, intricate, unforgettable. Bring back visuals in literature! 🎨✍️ #Illustrations4Adults #Bookworm

What do Fear & Loathing, Breakfast of Champions, and The Woman in the Dunes have in common? Stunning, unforgettable, iconic illustrations. Bring back drawings in serious fiction. #Illustrations4Adults #Bookworm

Tricksters come in pairs. Odysseus restores order with cunning; Judge Holden unravels it. Same archetype, opposite poles. Pick your poison. #Trickster #Odyssey #BloodMeridian

I finished the Odyssey this week and realized I’d already read its evil twin last summer: Blood Meridian. (1/7)

Reading Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled feels like being trapped in a dream where you’re always late, always lost, and everyone expects you to play piano at a concert you never rehearsed for. It’s Kafka rewritten by Proust after three nights without sleep. (1/6)

Kafka worked in insurance. Makes sense—who else could turn actuarial logic into existential terror?

If you’re reading Emily Wilson’s Odyssey, pair it with Atwood’s The Penelopiad. Wilson: Odysseus is flawed. Atwood: Penelope is furious. Together: marital counseling, 3,000 years overdue. (1/6)

Uppercase. Number. Special character. Change every 90 days. You’re welcome. 🔒 Now stop bitching. @pointsincase.com www.pointsincase.com/articles/as-... #Humor #Passwords #CyberSecurity

The En Dash has finally spoken. Quietly competent since Gutenberg, and tired of Em Dash’s bullshit theatrics. Read my latest for McSweeney’s here: www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-a... #Humor #Satire #WritingCommunity #GrammarHumor

Howdy, I’m Chafic. I write satire, existential horror, and kids’ lit (because why should only adults get nightmares?). Published in McSweeney’s, Points in Case, The Fiddlehead, and more. Expect jokes, new pubs, and proof that I peaked at 19. 🦴