stjohnstarling

[stjohnstarling]

It can be tough to love a man who keeps trying to dissect you.

The doctor's devoted assistant knows his master isn’t dead, because he brought him back with his own hands — but he can't say that to the police...

🧪 Witness a man transformed against his will in a manner both monstrous and sublime.

🧪 Accompany a lost soul as his search for the object of his obsessive devotion leads him into a labyrinthine network of conspiracy and murder.

🧪 Revel in villainous excess as they conduct unethical yet homoerotic experiments on each other.

A COMPANION IN VICE is a gothic-noir hybrid novel about hazardously toxic queer romance and mad science — a chapter per week, sent (for free!) directly to your inbox — beginning SUMMER/FALL of 2025!

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[stjohnstarling]

Today is the birthday of Ambrose Bierce, so I’m encouraging you to read Haita the Shepherd. It’s a short story that has stuck with me, and is notably where the name Hastur was lifted from by Robert Chambers for The King in Yellow.

[stjohnstarling]

They need to make a rubbing-your-hands-together emoji to express evil scheming and wicked glee.

[stjohnstarling]

Today on Patreon: your weekly update regarding my progress on A Companion in Vice (hideous and unbearable June heatwave edition! ☀️)

Pay No Worship to the Garish Sun →

[stjohnstarling]

In the opening number of Boop! The Musical, Ms. Boop claims that “Wherever there’s injustice, I will stand my ground and fight.” Yet earlier in the song, she describes “flying biplanes somewhere east of Bombay/On a secret mission for the good old U.S. of A.” Boop’s hypocrisy is evident; she is an imperialist running dog, and is rewarded for her devotion to the imperialist machine with the medals power confers on its faithful servants. Death to Boop

[stjohnstarling]

*world where freud is astrology* oh im an anal sadist moon

[stjohnstarling]

Readers won’t care about your characters just as a matter of course. You have to put in the work to MAKE them care.

[stjohnstarling]

this quote is going around again and it's funny every time.

[stjohnstarling]

[stjohnstarling]

This is only a passing thought but - everyone knows that fame makes people crazy. Could it be that some of that is simply to do with the size of the social space famous people are in (unusually large), and that the internet has created a similar situation for everyone on earth? Maybe a lot of people are simply not equipped to be in a social space of millions.

[stjohnstarling]

Henry Darger,  Cat Headed Blengiglomenean Gasook, or the Thunderer

[stjohnstarling]

Can’t even get one win. Hell on earth.

If Tumblr goes down we should all move to Gander.

[stjohnstarling]

They should make this a feature on Tumblr. We should be able to Canada-lock our posts.

If Tumblr goes down we should all move to Gander.

[stjohnstarling]

If Tumblr goes down we should all move to Gander.

[stjohnstarling]

not enough people are sending me nudes specifically so that I can use them for art reference purposes

[stjohnstarling]

In a biting mood today your beastliness?

you should stick your fingers between the bars of my cage for no particular reason

[stjohnstarling]

Never forget that much of the greatest art of all time was made by people with lofty aspirations who were forced by the necessity of earning money to learn to entertain. That’s where you get Orson Welles, that’s where you get jazz music, that’s where you get Shakespeare. Not because desire for money results in good art, but when have serious artistic ambitions and you're dependent on other people for your survival, it forces you to figure out how to balance their needs and desires alongside your own. That protects you from getting tangled up in your own ego or lost in your emotions. It keeps you artistically humble, you know?