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Yeah, I got a lot of news this week! Some bad, some good. We’ll get to how I’m feeling about all of it in a minute, but let’s get this week’s headlines out of the way: I was laid off from my company, my last day will be October 7, 2026. My story, “Dripping”, included in the most recent edition of Weird Fiction Quarterly, is out in the world! Click here to pick up a copy of the anthology! I received word that another short story of mine has been accepted for publication by Wei

I am Tired of Remembering September 11th A clear blue sky. No traffic. No work. I remember September 11th. A missing spouse. No notice. No calls. I remember September 11th. A moment on the balcony. No planes. No noise. I remember September 11th. A tortured homecoming. No guilt. No blame. I remember September 11th. A knock at the door. No warning. No expectation. I remember September 11th. A dinner with friends. No cuisine. No laughter. I remember September 11th. A night on th

Hi! My name is Tom Witherspoon, and I am very new to the world of professional genre writing and publishing. I want to talk about my experiences attending StokerCon 2026. These experiences are a mix of session notes, observations, and some commentary. Maybe even a personal revelation or two! My partner accompanied me on this crazy trip! While I was hanging out with the Halloween People, she got to explore the city. She had a great time and can’t wait to come back with me next

An antique Ouija Board, circa 1919. I'm sure that you are all brimming with curiosity about my "work in progress" (or WIP if you wanna sound cool). Well, come here a bit of it! A few members of the Oregon Chapter of Horror Writers Association are reading from their own work! Details: Where : Memento Mori Cafe (1533 NW 24th Ave #100, Portland, OR 97210) When : Saturday, April 25, 2-3:30 PM

Dusk eases into night over Portland, Oregon. Well, here we are. The end of this interesting challenge to find something good every day for forty days. Most of the good shit I found was small and very specific, some of it was quite large and overarching. But all of it made me feel happy or content or remind me that the world is still a great place, and worth fighting for. I hope you found this journey interesting! I'll be back with some more good shit in a few days.

No Kings in America. Period. Here are a few images from today that I found inspiring or amusing. Marine Corpsman marching somewhere in America. Now THAT'S a sign! Protesters spelling out "WE KEEP US SAFE" on the Burnside Bridge. One of the better pop culture signs. One of the PDX Frogs gets a smooch under the cherry blossoms! "A republic, if you can keep it," Ben Franklin supposedly said. I'd like to keep it. I hope you do, too.

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Washington, DC Metro subway system. I personally did not ride the subway until it crossed the Potomac in 1977, but I do remember the trip my family took from the Rosslyn Station in Arlington all the way to the Smithsonian Station stop on the Mall. We all thought it was pretty cool. And I do think the Brutalist architecture of the underground stations is pretty rad. A WMATA 7000 Series train at Judiciary Square station. If

It's good to remember that art does not belong to museums alone. I am a connoisseur of "street art" and I found these examples really lovely. The artist is unknown to me, but their work can be seen along the Oaks Bottom and Springwater Corridor trails in Southeast Portland.

A 255 pound barbell. I picked this up and put it down more than a few times today. It's one hundred pounds more than the last time I deadlifted which was last month in Anaheim, CA. So, there you go. Good shit.

Sigh... so I hit a skid in these blog posts. Totally expected, not going to beat myself up. Let's just review the last six days, shall we? Cover of the Playbill for the recently closed production of "Beetlejuice Jr." at Parkrose High School. Got back to the theater for the first time in forever, and it was a high school show! A friend's kid was working this show and it was a pure delight! Nothing like the earnestness of high school theater! Brought back a treasure trove of g

Due to nearby construction, our water was cut off for the day. Kinda inconvenient, but it gave me an excuse to take the day and head to the library! But first, breakfast! A large vanilla latté from Keeper Coffee in Milwaukie, OR. Gotta give Keeper Coffee a shoutout! Their coffee AND food are very good. And I did get some writing done... A screenshot of Microsoft Word showing a selected word count of 1961 out of 48,114 total words in the draft. I think I've finally gotten ove

You know what they say about "life is what happens when you are busy making other plans..." Well, here are some items of good shit from the last three days: A poster for the movie, "Undertone". Met up with some horror writers and caught an early matinee of "Undertone". A really claustrophobic and creepy movie! I really appreciated the overall atmosphere of the movie, a slow burn instead of too many jump scares. Graffiti in PDX. A nice reminder, especially in these troubled ti

Listening to my dear friend Joe spin some Irish (or Irish-inspired) music for his Friday afternoon internet radio show. Click to listen! My friend spins every Friday at 7:00 PM EST. He has impeccable taste and I always come away with a new song or album or artist to enjoy.

Got my hair cut today and ran into this cutie pie! A gray French Bulldog named Nova! You can't see the adorable sparkly collar she had on, but it looked fab on her!

I don't often pay attention to announcements from religious organizations, much less ones from the Catholic Church. But a friend pointed this out to me and I thought is good enough to share with y'all. Sometimes the good shit is a small light amidst the pervasive darkness... Click to read.

Sweep the Strait A Minesweeper layout in the shape of the Strait of Hormuz. Look: if you win, you might get to replace Pete Hegseth!

Daylight Saving Time is a public health hazard. Despite my usual hangover from "Springing forward", I managed to get almost 1000 words of writing done. And I actually like most of those words!

The only two-tone approved beer! Spent Saturday running some errands and writing at one of my favorite downtown Milwaukie establishments, The Beer Store ! Picked up some cider for Kim and some beer for me, including the only ska-related beer I've run across. Sometimes I write something that tickles me. Silly W-Y, nursery rhymes are for kids! Sunday is International Women's Day, so I listened to some music from one of my favorite musicians who happens to be a woman. Click away

So I'm still riding a high from yesterday's news about my story, "Prompted", finally being let loose in the world. Please see my Writing page for the link to purchase the latest edition of Weird Fiction Quarterly. Also, too: if you are a fan of the legendary DC punk band, Fugazi, then you might be interested to know that the long-shelved version of their album "In On the Kill Taker" mixed by the one and only Steve Albini has also been let loose into the world! You can find i

It's here! It's here! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!! Click the image for the AI Issue of Weird Fiction Quarterly! I hope you enjoy my story, "Prompted", along with the others in this issue of WFQ. Now, if you'll excuse me. I'll be floating for the rest of the day...