The Huánghé (黄河), or the Yellow River as we know it in the West, carries rich cultural significance in China. The sixth-longest river in the world, the second-longest in China, it's traditionally considered the cradle of Chinese civilization. Given its cultural relevance, it's no surprise to find it as a subject in historical Chinese cartography. That river, and the Grand Canal…

I was laid off last week. A few months shy of thirteen years. Totally unexpected. Still processing it. If you told me when I started that I’d have so much fun designing enterprise software for nearly thirteen years, I wouldn’t have believed you. My experience over that time was shaped by the amazing people I was lucky enough to work alongside.

Hey, Happy New Year! We made it through 2025. As always, thanks for hanging out with me, reading this blog, and taking an interest in the work I share here. I had big plans for 2025, and somewhere along the line, it got away from me. While we got a lot of home projects done, I left 2025 feeling less creatively fulfilled than I had hoped at the start of the year.

Last year was a bit of a low point for me in terms of novels finished. This year was a slight improvement, and I managed to read some ponderous tomes. Any improvement is good, and overall, I had a good year, reading-wise, but I still feel I'm falling short of where I'd like to be. I'm at my best when I'm reading regularly.

Since 2013, I've shared my reading list at the end of every year on this blog. Tomorrow I'll continue that tradition and do just that. But today I am starting something new: this year, I started tracking all the media I consumed over the twelve months of 2025, not just books but also movies, television, albums, and video games. And like my reading list, I thought it'd be fun to share what I consumed and pick a few standout favorites.

In many ways, 2025 was a reset year for us. After the chaos of last year, with cancer and a fairly stressful move (among other things), taking a year to refocus felt necessary. That doesn't mean we rested. In true Alexander fashion, we took on a bunch of projects and spent time learning about our new island community. Thankfully, this year wasn't as disruptive as 2024.

After way too long, my office buildout is complete, and my store is finally back. You can browse the goods over at store.kmalexander.com. If you ever wanted to get signed paperback copies of my books, merch mugs, or selected stickers, now is your chance. Hit the link above and get buying! Please note that for now, I am only shipping to the US.

I am elated to introduce the tenth edition of my List of Lists for 2023. Just as in times of yore, together we shall unearth an abundance of accoutrement and a plethora of paraphernalia for the weird-fiction fanatic, cosmic-horror connoisseur, or mythos maniac in your life. But I have not toiled in isolation during this season of malediction. This year I have enlisted your help!

If you’re an author, or honestly if you just happen to be standing near an author these days, then you have probably seen a flood of emails in the past couple of months promising you that who…

For a recent scary story night, I decided to explore a setting that had been rattling around in my head for a while. REM State is unrelated to The Bell Forging Cycle, but it shares a similar DNA. I like massive cities and weird creatures, what can I say? I don't write short stories all that often, but instead of filing this one away and forgetting about it, I figured it'd be fun to release it.

For Kari-Lise Alexander, her artistic practice enriches her role as a gallery director, and vice versa.

“And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the American eagle put its talons on any other land.” Mark Twain