Billy Joe Stratton
@billyjstratton.bsky.social
prof, writer, cultural critic
horror | native/indigenous lit | southern gothic | posthumanism
spikes, leather, dark stompy beats
horror | native/indigenous lit | southern gothic | posthumanism
spikes, leather, dark stompy beats
Hmm, sure, call it a cult. But as far as I know Pynchon's books have a body count of zero.
My Gravity's Rainbow undergrad class was among the best I've ever taught. The students loved it, too—or so the letter I received through the W.A.S.T.E. postal system assured me.
#KeepCoolButCare
My Gravity's Rainbow undergrad class was among the best I've ever taught. The students loved it, too—or so the letter I received through the W.A.S.T.E. postal system assured me.
#KeepCoolButCare
Inside the cult of the elusive Thomas Pynchon
As the legendary American author releases his long-awaited new novel, Martin Chilton explores Pynchon’s reputation as one of the most ‘reclusive’ writers working right now
www.the-independent.com
October 8, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Hmm, sure, call it a cult. But as far as I know Pynchon's books have a body count of zero.
My Gravity's Rainbow undergrad class was among the best I've ever taught. The students loved it, too—or so the letter I received through the W.A.S.T.E. postal system assured me.
#KeepCoolButCare
My Gravity's Rainbow undergrad class was among the best I've ever taught. The students loved it, too—or so the letter I received through the W.A.S.T.E. postal system assured me.
#KeepCoolButCare
In the name of Michael's devil eyes--the FINAL "Slasher Nation" column from the master himself, @sgj.bsky.social just arrived from @fangoria.bsky.social! While all wicked things must come to an end, can't wait for what thrills & chills he'll be conjuring in his next bloody chapter!
#Horror #Slasher
#Horror #Slasher
October 4, 2025 at 8:00 PM
In the name of Michael's devil eyes--the FINAL "Slasher Nation" column from the master himself, @sgj.bsky.social just arrived from @fangoria.bsky.social! While all wicked things must come to an end, can't wait for what thrills & chills he'll be conjuring in his next bloody chapter!
#Horror #Slasher
#Horror #Slasher
Last night's @nin.com show was a brutal history lesson. We were the kids in Doc Martens raging against the machine's surveillance state; all that's changed is now we pay a monthly subscription. Reznor's still feeding the perfect drug for our downward spiral.
hollywoodprogressive.com/literature/r...
hollywoodprogressive.com/literature/r...
Reading Fight Club in America’s New Society of the Spectacle
The political right's nostalgic indulgence in its own mythic portrayals of America’s past throws Fight Club’s cultural ironies into even sharper relief.
hollywoodprogressive.com
August 16, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Last night's @nin.com show was a brutal history lesson. We were the kids in Doc Martens raging against the machine's surveillance state; all that's changed is now we pay a monthly subscription. Reznor's still feeding the perfect drug for our downward spiral.
hollywoodprogressive.com/literature/r...
hollywoodprogressive.com/literature/r...
Stoked to see words from my first piece w/ @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social on @sgj.bsky.social's Mapping the Interior blurbed on the back of the new @torbooks.bsky.social 🔥ed!
Just as cool-seeing his previous indie classics getting their own swanky new skins #horror
lareviewofbooks.org/article/in-t...
Just as cool-seeing his previous indie classics getting their own swanky new skins #horror
lareviewofbooks.org/article/in-t...
In the Habitations of Specters: On Stephen Graham Jones’s “Mapping the Interior” | Los Angeles Review of Books
Readers can feel confident following Stephen Graham Jones into the dark and obscure landscapes of his fiction.
lareviewofbooks.org
July 18, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Stoked to see words from my first piece w/ @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social on @sgj.bsky.social's Mapping the Interior blurbed on the back of the new @torbooks.bsky.social 🔥ed!
Just as cool-seeing his previous indie classics getting their own swanky new skins #horror
lareviewofbooks.org/article/in-t...
Just as cool-seeing his previous indie classics getting their own swanky new skins #horror
lareviewofbooks.org/article/in-t...
Down to the wire & just finished the final interview w/ @sgj.bsky.social bsky.social for my book on his horror canon. Some stories have teeth. This one bites back. Can't wait to share the blood, sweat & fears behind a life shaped by monsters. @fangoria.bsky.social
@sagapressbooks.bsky.social
@sagapressbooks.bsky.social
June 28, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Down to the wire & just finished the final interview w/ @sgj.bsky.social bsky.social for my book on his horror canon. Some stories have teeth. This one bites back. Can't wait to share the blood, sweat & fears behind a life shaped by monsters. @fangoria.bsky.social
@sagapressbooks.bsky.social
@sagapressbooks.bsky.social
My review of @sgj.bsky.social's 'The Buffalo Hunter Hunter,' is up at @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social. It confronts the haunting specter of American genocide through the vampire tale, charting the depths of trauma & vengeance in the wake of the Marias Massacre.
lareviewofbooks.org/article/how-...
lareviewofbooks.org/article/how-...
How Can You Stop a Country from Happening? | Los Angeles Review of Books
Billy J. Stratton examines Stephen Graham Jones’s “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.”
lareviewofbooks.org
June 15, 2025 at 6:20 PM
My review of @sgj.bsky.social's 'The Buffalo Hunter Hunter,' is up at @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social. It confronts the haunting specter of American genocide through the vampire tale, charting the depths of trauma & vengeance in the wake of the Marias Massacre.
lareviewofbooks.org/article/how-...
lareviewofbooks.org/article/how-...
And talking about not talking about fight club . . . More are breaking those rules as I'm honored to be on @sgj.bsky.social latest "Best Reads" list at his official website via my article on Fight Club! It's a treasure trove, check it out at WWW.DemonTheory.net.
www.demontheory.net/best-reads-f...
www.demontheory.net/best-reads-f...
Stephen Graham Jones – writer dude
WWW.DemonTheory.net
May 30, 2025 at 7:28 PM
And talking about not talking about fight club . . . More are breaking those rules as I'm honored to be on @sgj.bsky.social latest "Best Reads" list at his official website via my article on Fight Club! It's a treasure trove, check it out at WWW.DemonTheory.net.
www.demontheory.net/best-reads-f...
www.demontheory.net/best-reads-f...
I def broke the first rule of fight club in this one!
@chuckpalahniuk.bsky.social's critique of consumerism is hitting hard in 2025! My latest examines its enduring relevance within our new "Society of the Spectacle."
hollywoodprogressive.com/literature/r...
#FightClub #SocietyOfTheSpectacle #NIN
@chuckpalahniuk.bsky.social's critique of consumerism is hitting hard in 2025! My latest examines its enduring relevance within our new "Society of the Spectacle."
hollywoodprogressive.com/literature/r...
#FightClub #SocietyOfTheSpectacle #NIN
Reading Fight Club in America’s New Society of the Spectacle
The political right's nostalgic indulgence in its own mythic portrayals of America’s past throws Fight Club’s cultural ironies into even sharper relief.
hollywoodprogressive.com
May 10, 2025 at 10:41 PM
I def broke the first rule of fight club in this one!
@chuckpalahniuk.bsky.social's critique of consumerism is hitting hard in 2025! My latest examines its enduring relevance within our new "Society of the Spectacle."
hollywoodprogressive.com/literature/r...
#FightClub #SocietyOfTheSpectacle #NIN
@chuckpalahniuk.bsky.social's critique of consumerism is hitting hard in 2025! My latest examines its enduring relevance within our new "Society of the Spectacle."
hollywoodprogressive.com/literature/r...
#FightClub #SocietyOfTheSpectacle #NIN
@greatdismal.bsky.social Neuromancer predicted our AI reality decades ago—the problem is not sentient machines, but human exploitation of tech. My latest article considers why our fear is better directed at the corporate powers controlling AI, rather than the tech itself. #AI #cyberpunk #posthuman
AI isn’t what we should be worried about – it’s the humans controlling it
The dread that AI evokes seems a distraction from the more disquieting scrutiny of humanity’s own dark nature.
theconversation.com
April 8, 2025 at 2:36 AM
@greatdismal.bsky.social Neuromancer predicted our AI reality decades ago—the problem is not sentient machines, but human exploitation of tech. My latest article considers why our fear is better directed at the corporate powers controlling AI, rather than the tech itself. #AI #cyberpunk #posthuman
Saw this wild self-own circulating around the matrix today, which is also an excellent example of the absence of irony. 🥸
April 6, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Saw this wild self-own circulating around the matrix today, which is also an excellent example of the absence of irony. 🥸
Lovin' the latest SlasherNation column by @sgj.bsky.social in @fangoria.com! The question Jones asks is not an easy one: "If not exactly justice, though, then what is it slashers are after? Jason, Leatherface, Jigsaw, Freddy & of course, Billy, they're all there, but you'll have to read to find out.
April 5, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Lovin' the latest SlasherNation column by @sgj.bsky.social in @fangoria.com! The question Jones asks is not an easy one: "If not exactly justice, though, then what is it slashers are after? Jason, Leatherface, Jigsaw, Freddy & of course, Billy, they're all there, but you'll have to read to find out.
As @sgj.bsky.social's tour for @sagapressbooks.bsky.social #TheBuffaloHunterHunter kicks into high gear w/ books flying off the shelves, it seems time to add a song to the soundtrack in honor of Good Stab's success. After all, the future seems very bright indeed!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrr...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrr...
Timbuk 3 - The Future's So Bright
YouTube video by Timbuk3VEVO
www.youtube.com
March 27, 2025 at 12:07 AM
As @sgj.bsky.social's tour for @sagapressbooks.bsky.social #TheBuffaloHunterHunter kicks into high gear w/ books flying off the shelves, it seems time to add a song to the soundtrack in honor of Good Stab's success. After all, the future seems very bright indeed!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrr...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrr...
From this day onward, March 18th will forevermore be known as Buffalo Hunter Hunter day!
@sgj.bsky.social's latest offers a powerful & haunting tale of loss & survival, the entanglements of memory, history & truth. At the same time, it's a reminder that books & stories never exist in isolation!
@sgj.bsky.social's latest offers a powerful & haunting tale of loss & survival, the entanglements of memory, history & truth. At the same time, it's a reminder that books & stories never exist in isolation!
March 18, 2025 at 9:24 PM
From this day onward, March 18th will forevermore be known as Buffalo Hunter Hunter day!
@sgj.bsky.social's latest offers a powerful & haunting tale of loss & survival, the entanglements of memory, history & truth. At the same time, it's a reminder that books & stories never exist in isolation!
@sgj.bsky.social's latest offers a powerful & haunting tale of loss & survival, the entanglements of memory, history & truth. At the same time, it's a reminder that books & stories never exist in isolation!
Oh, and the hits just keep coming...
March 18, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Oh, and the hits just keep coming...
@sgj.bsky.social shared some cool insights w/ @paperbackbish.bsky.social at The Buffalo Hunter Hunter launch. Jones at his best: taut dialogue & brooding descriptions of the land, to heart-wrenching details of colonial violence, w/ an avenging vampire roaming Blackfeet territory to settle scores.
March 17, 2025 at 3:25 AM
@sgj.bsky.social shared some cool insights w/ @paperbackbish.bsky.social at The Buffalo Hunter Hunter launch. Jones at his best: taut dialogue & brooding descriptions of the land, to heart-wrenching details of colonial violence, w/ an avenging vampire roaming Blackfeet territory to settle scores.
When the world seems to be burning around us, stories remind us that there's always a tomorrow. @sgj.bsky.social's The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, which lies after but also in & between Ledfeather & Good Indians, is confirmation in the best of ways. Such an honor to be there in the acknowledgements, too!
March 5, 2025 at 7:27 AM
When the world seems to be burning around us, stories remind us that there's always a tomorrow. @sgj.bsky.social's The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, which lies after but also in & between Ledfeather & Good Indians, is confirmation in the best of ways. Such an honor to be there in the acknowledgements, too!
Wow, @sstpublications.bsky.social does it again with this amazing signed and numbered Special Edition of @sgj.bsky.social's reinvention of the slasher story, I Was a Teenage Slasher! #schting!
March 5, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Wow, @sstpublications.bsky.social does it again with this amazing signed and numbered Special Edition of @sgj.bsky.social's reinvention of the slasher story, I Was a Teenage Slasher! #schting!
Excellent food and even better company, plus saw a real live copy of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter coming to bookstores across the universe on March 18! This one goes to 11, it's nothing short of epic!
two dudes in horror shirts, in the parking lot of the restaurant they just occupied a table in for better than a two-hour lunch. @billyjstratton.bsky.social
March 1, 2025 at 1:49 AM
Excellent food and even better company, plus saw a real live copy of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter coming to bookstores across the universe on March 18! This one goes to 11, it's nothing short of epic!
When Spike Jonze made 'Her,' we thought AI romance was sci-fi. Now we're all basically dating our apps 🤖💕
My piece on 'Her' addresses our AI situationship-and why we should think twice before giving ChatGPT our hearts (and data)
#AI #DigitalPrivacy #FilmCrit
hollywoodprogressive.com/film/tradema...
My piece on 'Her' addresses our AI situationship-and why we should think twice before giving ChatGPT our hearts (and data)
#AI #DigitalPrivacy #FilmCrit
hollywoodprogressive.com/film/tradema...
Her, Artificial Intelligence and the Trademark Desolation of Our Era
Jonze’s film professes in its tagline to be a “love story,” signaling a focus on the complexity of relationships and intimacy in a world of broadening social isolation and loneliness rather than the dangers of AI.
hollywoodprogressive.com
February 8, 2025 at 9:11 AM
When Spike Jonze made 'Her,' we thought AI romance was sci-fi. Now we're all basically dating our apps 🤖💕
My piece on 'Her' addresses our AI situationship-and why we should think twice before giving ChatGPT our hearts (and data)
#AI #DigitalPrivacy #FilmCrit
hollywoodprogressive.com/film/tradema...
My piece on 'Her' addresses our AI situationship-and why we should think twice before giving ChatGPT our hearts (and data)
#AI #DigitalPrivacy #FilmCrit
hollywoodprogressive.com/film/tradema...
Based on 2 decades of experience in Higher Ed, this article really hits the nail on the head. My response to the elitist instructor the article leads with:
If, as a teacher, you can't convey the material in a clear enough way so that your best students get As, YOU are the one who failed, not them!
If, as a teacher, you can't convey the material in a clear enough way so that your best students get As, YOU are the one who failed, not them!
The Lesson Higher Education Needs To Learn
Likely, it would also become a self-fulfilling prophecy among students who received the message and concluded: "Why even try for an A?"
www.forbes.com
February 3, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Based on 2 decades of experience in Higher Ed, this article really hits the nail on the head. My response to the elitist instructor the article leads with:
If, as a teacher, you can't convey the material in a clear enough way so that your best students get As, YOU are the one who failed, not them!
If, as a teacher, you can't convey the material in a clear enough way so that your best students get As, YOU are the one who failed, not them!
Reposted by Billy Joe Stratton
Hey, it’s live. My first time to be in a tin-type! Such a complicated process. But fun. And, few people quoted in here— @paultremblay.bsky.social’s one. @todgoldberg.bsky.social’s another.
February 3, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Hey, it’s live. My first time to be in a tin-type! Such a complicated process. But fun. And, few people quoted in here— @paultremblay.bsky.social’s one. @todgoldberg.bsky.social’s another.
Reposted by Billy Joe Stratton
More slasher talk from @etchfilm.bsky.social and this dude—talking slasher stuff is less about asking me questions, more about just turning the camera on me when I’m standing alone in a corner:
Stephen Graham Jones & The Slashers - Part Two
... Nancy vs. Jason? Ripley vs. Freddy? Laurie vs. the Xenomorph? Sydney vs. Michael Myers?
etchstudio.substack.com
January 20, 2025 at 11:34 PM
More slasher talk from @etchfilm.bsky.social and this dude—talking slasher stuff is less about asking me questions, more about just turning the camera on me when I’m standing alone in a corner:
On oligarchies and working people, Matewan and American history.
John Sayles Matewan
As a cinematic exposition on the devastation wrought by corporate power, Matewan, offers a particularly incisive vision.
hollywoodprogressive.com
January 21, 2025 at 4:59 AM
On oligarchies and working people, Matewan and American history.
Another on Lynch, this one on the surreal Mulholland Drive. Def one of my favs to writer, diving into the glitz, glamour and shattered dreams of Hollywood, with Day of the Locust and the wider implications of nepotism!
From The Day of the Locust to Mulholland Drive
On the Chronicles of Nepotism and Corruption in Hollywood
hollywoodprogressive.com
January 20, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Another on Lynch, this one on the surreal Mulholland Drive. Def one of my favs to writer, diving into the glitz, glamour and shattered dreams of Hollywood, with Day of the Locust and the wider implications of nepotism!
I wrote some words, updated from a previous piece, reflecting on David Lynch's enduring influence. No writer or filmmaker has impacted me more, and I know that is true for so, so many of us weirdos and misfits. Long live the profoundly honest, terrifying, sublime and twisted stories he gave us...
David Lynch exposed the rot at the heart of American culture
When Lynch’s films were first released, they seemed to be funhouse-mirror reflections of society. Not so anymore.
theconversation.com
January 20, 2025 at 2:44 AM
I wrote some words, updated from a previous piece, reflecting on David Lynch's enduring influence. No writer or filmmaker has impacted me more, and I know that is true for so, so many of us weirdos and misfits. Long live the profoundly honest, terrifying, sublime and twisted stories he gave us...