Bryon Quertermous
@bryonquertermous.com
NYT Bestselling Author. Detroit(ish). He/Him. ADHD Survivor.
http://bryonquertermous.com/links
http://bryonquertermous.com/links
Reposted by Bryon Quertermous
Beyond the (fun!) magazine-trend-piece headline, this is a wise and thoughtful and timely consideration of parenting and living and being human in a world increasingly designed to obliterate boredom and frustration and friction and risk
www.thecut.com/article/broo...
www.thecut.com/article/broo...
In 2026, We Are Friction-Maxxing
In the face of technologies that sell us escapism at every turn, we need to build up tolerance for “inconvenience.”
www.thecut.com
January 5, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Beyond the (fun!) magazine-trend-piece headline, this is a wise and thoughtful and timely consideration of parenting and living and being human in a world increasingly designed to obliterate boredom and frustration and friction and risk
www.thecut.com/article/broo...
www.thecut.com/article/broo...
Reposted by Bryon Quertermous
If you're looking to follow the short essays here about writing, power, failure, survival, and why stories are worth telling at all, I've rounded them up at ye olde blogge
www.kameronhurley.com/blog/
(HOW RETRO IS THAT???)
www.kameronhurley.com/blog/
(HOW RETRO IS THAT???)
January 4, 2026 at 6:11 PM
If you're looking to follow the short essays here about writing, power, failure, survival, and why stories are worth telling at all, I've rounded them up at ye olde blogge
www.kameronhurley.com/blog/
(HOW RETRO IS THAT???)
www.kameronhurley.com/blog/
(HOW RETRO IS THAT???)
Seems like today was a good day to stay offline and play Dungeons and Dragons all day…
January 3, 2026 at 11:14 PM
Seems like today was a good day to stay offline and play Dungeons and Dragons all day…
Reposted by Bryon Quertermous
With that kind of ambition, your chances of perfection are basically nil. But oh, the reach! How many people never even try because they know they don't quite have the talent to pull it off? The older I get, the more impressed I am at people doing imperfect work but doing it w/everything they've got
January 3, 2026 at 1:04 AM
With that kind of ambition, your chances of perfection are basically nil. But oh, the reach! How many people never even try because they know they don't quite have the talent to pull it off? The older I get, the more impressed I am at people doing imperfect work but doing it w/everything they've got
Inspired by @jordanharper.bsky.social I want to get back to reading plays this year and was just wondering what my first should be. I’m woefully under read in Christopher Durant and The Marriage of Bette and Boo seems like a great place to start.
January 2, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Inspired by @jordanharper.bsky.social I want to get back to reading plays this year and was just wondering what my first should be. I’m woefully under read in Christopher Durant and The Marriage of Bette and Boo seems like a great place to start.
I just had a natural peanut butter sandwich with natural strawberry preserves on whole grain bread and that might be the most satisfying sandwich I’ve ever had.
January 1, 2026 at 5:19 PM
I just had a natural peanut butter sandwich with natural strawberry preserves on whole grain bread and that might be the most satisfying sandwich I’ve ever had.
When in doubt, do as @meganabbott.bsky.social says and always make the weird choice, and like @jordanharper.bsky.social says, in a world of AI be stranger, weirder, and hornier.
I've been on the struggle bus with female MC in this new book. I keep trying to make her less monstrous than other Hurley heroines, and is it any wonder that's been a struggle? 😂 At this point in my life, I really need to stop fighting my urge to "differentiate" and just go full Hurley from onset
January 1, 2026 at 4:44 PM
When in doubt, do as @meganabbott.bsky.social says and always make the weird choice, and like @jordanharper.bsky.social says, in a world of AI be stranger, weirder, and hornier.
Winding down a shitty year in my favorite place in the world: a movie theater. And every theater is *packed* for STRANGER THINGS, which is so cool to see.
January 1, 2026 at 12:59 AM
Winding down a shitty year in my favorite place in the world: a movie theater. And every theater is *packed* for STRANGER THINGS, which is so cool to see.
It’s cold and snowy and miserable here to end the year, but I’m seeing Stranger Things in a theater tonight and until then I have this very delightful book from Deborah Levinson that’s giving off major Janet Evanovich and Finley Donovan energy.
December 31, 2025 at 6:10 PM
It’s cold and snowy and miserable here to end the year, but I’m seeing Stranger Things in a theater tonight and until then I have this very delightful book from Deborah Levinson that’s giving off major Janet Evanovich and Finley Donovan energy.
Amen. Hallelujah. Etc. Publishers need to stop looking for shortcuts and get back to building audiences and careers the sustainable way, through time, experimentation, and trust. Stop being an industry that lives and dies by homeruns, be an industry that thrives on strings of singles and doubles.
Honestly, a lot of people are reading -- more than pre-pandemic -- and maybe publishing houses should stop panicking and just be allowed to focus on cultivating authors AND readers, feeding and growing that audience. Wild concept, I know.
December 31, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Amen. Hallelujah. Etc. Publishers need to stop looking for shortcuts and get back to building audiences and careers the sustainable way, through time, experimentation, and trust. Stop being an industry that lives and dies by homeruns, be an industry that thrives on strings of singles and doubles.
Watched WAKE UP DEAD MAN again last night and enjoyed it even more than the first time. I think it’s the most rewatchable of the trilogy so far. I love how angry the movie is at bullshit anger and manipulation. It doesn’t rage against religion as much as people who use religion for power and money.
December 30, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Watched WAKE UP DEAD MAN again last night and enjoyed it even more than the first time. I think it’s the most rewatchable of the trilogy so far. I love how angry the movie is at bullshit anger and manipulation. It doesn’t rage against religion as much as people who use religion for power and money.
Thinking about films in 2025 and I still can't reconcile the facts that 1) there was an adaptation of Donald Westlake's Parker series written and directed by Shane Black and 2) it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen.
December 29, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Thinking about films in 2025 and I still can't reconcile the facts that 1) there was an adaptation of Donald Westlake's Parker series written and directed by Shane Black and 2) it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen.
I always love how @jimchines.com does an annual post about his writing income. Following the posts through the years give a pretty realistic and interesting perspective on the industry. Here is his latest post with links to all of the previous posts as well.
www.patreon.com/posts/2024-w...
www.patreon.com/posts/2024-w...
December 29, 2025 at 7:01 PM
I always love how @jimchines.com does an annual post about his writing income. Following the posts through the years give a pretty realistic and interesting perspective on the industry. Here is his latest post with links to all of the previous posts as well.
www.patreon.com/posts/2024-w...
www.patreon.com/posts/2024-w...
My last newsletter of the year is bursting with fun stuff including my favorite reads of the year from @maris.bsky.social @jordanharper.bsky.social @loriraderday.bsky.social @greenwell.bsky.social and others!
My Favorite (Not Best) Books of 2025, a Bluesky thread, and a 2026 Tarot Spread
2025 joins an uncomfortably large group of years recently that I am happy to punt into the sun, but it wasn’t all misery and depression.
open.substack.com
December 29, 2025 at 4:50 PM
My last newsletter of the year is bursting with fun stuff including my favorite reads of the year from @maris.bsky.social @jordanharper.bsky.social @loriraderday.bsky.social @greenwell.bsky.social and others!
Reposted by Bryon Quertermous
Good morning, Baltimore.
Over at Oldster, I’m back on my other bullshit, working through the endless list of things I don’t know. This time, I’m trying to figure out why I’m happier than I’ve ever been despite the state of the world, etc.
open.substack.com/pub/oldster/...
Over at Oldster, I’m back on my other bullshit, working through the endless list of things I don’t know. This time, I’m trying to figure out why I’m happier than I’ve ever been despite the state of the world, etc.
open.substack.com/pub/oldster/...
December 29, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Good morning, Baltimore.
Over at Oldster, I’m back on my other bullshit, working through the endless list of things I don’t know. This time, I’m trying to figure out why I’m happier than I’ve ever been despite the state of the world, etc.
open.substack.com/pub/oldster/...
Over at Oldster, I’m back on my other bullshit, working through the endless list of things I don’t know. This time, I’m trying to figure out why I’m happier than I’ve ever been despite the state of the world, etc.
open.substack.com/pub/oldster/...
One of the things I’ve been working with my therapist on is letting myself enjoy achieving the majority of a goal. Writing every day and hard deadlines are great in theory, but useless when life intervenes and I lose all motivation.
Some of you are grinding or suffering anxiety because you're not going to make your self-imposed New Years deadline on your manuscript.
Stop. Take a deep breath.
Targets motivate you to get the words out, but the minute that motivation feels bad is when it poisons the well. Finish when you finish.
Stop. Take a deep breath.
Targets motivate you to get the words out, but the minute that motivation feels bad is when it poisons the well. Finish when you finish.
December 27, 2025 at 7:38 PM
One of the things I’ve been working with my therapist on is letting myself enjoy achieving the majority of a goal. Writing every day and hard deadlines are great in theory, but useless when life intervenes and I lose all motivation.
Reposted by Bryon Quertermous
The immediate threat has always been not that it would take jobs, but that some dipshit exec would spend a billion dollars integrating it into the business, drive everything off the cliff, and 5-8 years later the rest of us are left picking up the pieces.
The exec that said "we thought it was farther along then it was" is absolutely the greatest issue right now. Not only is it not capable of doing any of these things on a broad scale, it will do them significantly worse than any employee. Going all in on something to boost stock value that fails.
Honestly im shocked
Well
Not that shocked
Well
Not that shocked
December 26, 2025 at 12:17 AM
The immediate threat has always been not that it would take jobs, but that some dipshit exec would spend a billion dollars integrating it into the business, drive everything off the cliff, and 5-8 years later the rest of us are left picking up the pieces.
Second annual solo Christmas movie outing for MARTY SUPREME after a nice meal of Chinese food. Time with family at the holidays is nice, but don’t underestimate the joy of holiday time by yourself.
December 25, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Second annual solo Christmas movie outing for MARTY SUPREME after a nice meal of Chinese food. Time with family at the holidays is nice, but don’t underestimate the joy of holiday time by yourself.
Taking a break from Agatha Christie movies for my favorite Christmas movie of all time.
December 24, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Taking a break from Agatha Christie movies for my favorite Christmas movie of all time.
Reposted by Bryon Quertermous
For @rollingstone.com, I wrote about the making of the myth of sheriff Buford Pusser, and how recent revelations that he was likely responsible for the 1967 murder of his wife, Pauline, undercuts that myth -- and begs for a new narrative about intimate partner violence and family trauma.
He Was a Legendary Sheriff Who Inspired a Movie. Did He Also Murder His Wife?
When Buford Pusser’s wife was killed, his grief turned into the movie ‘Walking Tall.’ But a new report from investigators suggests it was all a lie.
www.rollingstone.com
December 23, 2025 at 2:59 PM
For @rollingstone.com, I wrote about the making of the myth of sheriff Buford Pusser, and how recent revelations that he was likely responsible for the 1967 murder of his wife, Pauline, undercuts that myth -- and begs for a new narrative about intimate partner violence and family trauma.
Christmas always feels like Agatha Christie season to me, and I’m starting this week with one I’m shocked I’ve missed for this long: Evil Under the Sun. Star-studded cast and screenplay by Anthony Shaffer. What’s not to love? Will probably follow up with the companion Death on the Nile.
December 22, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Christmas always feels like Agatha Christie season to me, and I’m starting this week with one I’m shocked I’ve missed for this long: Evil Under the Sun. Star-studded cast and screenplay by Anthony Shaffer. What’s not to love? Will probably follow up with the companion Death on the Nile.
Something something own your own domain and website also something something blog revival.
I'm not you, and I've never used TikTok, but it might be a good time to get off it and start building social infrastructure elsewhere. Which sucks. I know. But.
TikTok is going to be the video version of X in a couple months.......
December 19, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Something something own your own domain and website also something something blog revival.
Reposted by Bryon Quertermous
The entire Internet economy is fake and propped up by the same six rich people handing each other the same bag of money.
December 17, 2025 at 12:03 AM
The entire Internet economy is fake and propped up by the same six rich people handing each other the same bag of money.
Stop sharing the fucking post. Jesus Christ. Let it die in silence and darkness like it deserves.
December 15, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Stop sharing the fucking post. Jesus Christ. Let it die in silence and darkness like it deserves.
For sheer fun AVENGERS: END GAME opening night with a full crowd. Quieter memories are APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX at the Lowe’s Astor Place the night before I left NYC and moved back home, then walking through a blizzard downtown Ann Arbor and taking refuge in the State Theater to see SIDEWAYS.
Raising the always fun question: What are your most memorable theater-going experiences?
Mine also include The Matrix, Blair Witch, and being way too stoned in Belgium when Fellowship of the Ring was sold out so we sat in the back row for Mulholland Drive instead.
Mine also include The Matrix, Blair Witch, and being way too stoned in Belgium when Fellowship of the Ring was sold out so we sat in the back row for Mulholland Drive instead.
It was hands-down one of the most memorable theater-going experiences I can remember, a collective 30-minute butt-clench/armrest-grab for the final climb. And we knew he lived! Wild.
December 13, 2025 at 5:08 PM
For sheer fun AVENGERS: END GAME opening night with a full crowd. Quieter memories are APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX at the Lowe’s Astor Place the night before I left NYC and moved back home, then walking through a blizzard downtown Ann Arbor and taking refuge in the State Theater to see SIDEWAYS.