Zachary Gillan
@megapolisomancy.bsky.social
Nonfiction about weird fiction at Seize the Press, Strange Horizons, Interzone, Los Angeles Review of Books, Nightmare, and Ancillary Review of Books, where I am also an editor. Also jazz, metal, leftism. he/him
https://doomsdayer.wordpress.com/writings/
https://doomsdayer.wordpress.com/writings/
Pinned
Forever in search of a vibe too unsettling for the sf crowd, not transgressive enough for the horror scene, and too avant-garde for either
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
I see little reason for "the left" to engage apart from understanding what this really is, a technology of class warfare from above, and therefore, resiting, undermining, and sabotaging any aspects of it which do not serve the interests of the majority of us not in the ruling class.
Part of the reason this is all so tiresome is that what we're calling AI is a political project combining a bunch of preexisting sociotechical processes designed to shift power from the masses to the managerial class. A non-exhaustive list in no particular order:
is there a technology that "the left" is excited about?
www.transformernews.ai/p/the-left-i...
www.transformernews.ai/p/the-left-i...
February 18, 2026 at 12:30 PM
I see little reason for "the left" to engage apart from understanding what this really is, a technology of class warfare from above, and therefore, resiting, undermining, and sabotaging any aspects of it which do not serve the interests of the majority of us not in the ruling class.
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
Profane Illuminations III: More of my thoughts on weird fiction collections! Sophia J. Unsworth’s The Silent House and Other Strange Stories! Corey Farrenkopf’s Haunted Ecologies! Ysabelle Cheung’s Patchwork Dolls! We've got fragments and grief, italics, recordings, birds, liminal houses...
Profane Illuminations III: Sophia J. Unsworth’s The Silent House and Other Strange Stories, Corey Farrenkopf’s Haunted Ecologies, and Ysabelle Cheung’s Patchwork Dolls
Zachary Gillan In 2020, following protests in Hong Kong and the beginning of the epidemic, Ysabelle Cheung wrote an essay called “What Happens to Writing When We Stop Pretending Anything Makes Sens…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
February 18, 2026 at 1:29 PM
Profane Illuminations III: More of my thoughts on weird fiction collections! Sophia J. Unsworth’s The Silent House and Other Strange Stories! Corey Farrenkopf’s Haunted Ecologies! Ysabelle Cheung’s Patchwork Dolls! We've got fragments and grief, italics, recordings, birds, liminal houses...
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
what if fantasy was not about the courtly intrigues of the wealthy and powerful, but how the flow of time and space is convoluted, allowing bros from across realities to fight buildings that are dimensional parasite-wizards, and your living sword ate the souls of your foes?
Reading more adventures of the ultimate quirked up white boy
February 18, 2026 at 11:01 AM
what if fantasy was not about the courtly intrigues of the wealthy and powerful, but how the flow of time and space is convoluted, allowing bros from across realities to fight buildings that are dimensional parasite-wizards, and your living sword ate the souls of your foes?
Toni Morrison, correctly, of course, said that “Writing to me is an advanced and slow form of reading. If you find a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” If you’re afraid of trusting your reader, you’re afraid of trusting your own writing.
If you want to write anything good, you cannot afford to be afraid of your reader.
February 18, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Toni Morrison, correctly, of course, said that “Writing to me is an advanced and slow form of reading. If you find a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” If you’re afraid of trusting your reader, you’re afraid of trusting your own writing.
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
I've been threatening for a while to start a column on collections of weird fiction, and so: Profane Illuminations, a quarterly series where I'll look at a few in tandem and see what threads I can draw out about their stories and the genre at large. Quick intro here, first full entry next week.
Profane Illuminations: An Initiation
Zachary Gillan Everyone knows that the short story is the ideal form for weird fiction. But why? What is it about the form and the genre that makes them so symbiotic? What might we learn by explori…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
June 13, 2025 at 2:42 PM
I've been threatening for a while to start a column on collections of weird fiction, and so: Profane Illuminations, a quarterly series where I'll look at a few in tandem and see what threads I can draw out about their stories and the genre at large. Quick intro here, first full entry next week.
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
Ambiguity? Subjectivity? Misinterpretation and unreliability?? In this economy?!
I’m reading a cosmic horror novel atm, and got me thinking abt how the mythos needs (a lot) more people wildly misinterpreting the great old ones. Like where are the Cthuluian arians? The shub gnostics? Hell, Buddhism has three major schools. Don’t see why the Mythos cultists would be any different.
Most religions have their central texts. For christians it's the Bible, for muslims it's the Quran, for us atheists it's Batman comic books. They are all wide open to misinterpretation.
February 17, 2026 at 7:46 PM
Ambiguity? Subjectivity? Misinterpretation and unreliability?? In this economy?!
Ambiguity? Subjectivity? Misinterpretation and unreliability?? In this economy?!
I’m reading a cosmic horror novel atm, and got me thinking abt how the mythos needs (a lot) more people wildly misinterpreting the great old ones. Like where are the Cthuluian arians? The shub gnostics? Hell, Buddhism has three major schools. Don’t see why the Mythos cultists would be any different.
Most religions have their central texts. For christians it's the Bible, for muslims it's the Quran, for us atheists it's Batman comic books. They are all wide open to misinterpretation.
February 17, 2026 at 7:46 PM
Ambiguity? Subjectivity? Misinterpretation and unreliability?? In this economy?!
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
I always say that I want emotional ambiguity in my fiction and never in my reality.
Me reading fiction: why are you explaining anything to me? Leave this open to interpretation. Less is more. Productive ambiguity. Never hold my hand.
Me reading nonfiction: where is your thesis? Structure this argument more. What is your evidence for this?! Make this connection explicit. Cite more.
Me reading nonfiction: where is your thesis? Structure this argument more. What is your evidence for this?! Make this connection explicit. Cite more.
February 17, 2026 at 1:43 PM
I always say that I want emotional ambiguity in my fiction and never in my reality.
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
*me slowly turning dial labeled passive details and looking back every second to my readers*
Me reading fiction: why are you explaining anything to me? Leave this open to interpretation. Less is more. Productive ambiguity. Never hold my hand.
Me reading nonfiction: where is your thesis? Structure this argument more. What is your evidence for this?! Make this connection explicit. Cite more.
Me reading nonfiction: where is your thesis? Structure this argument more. What is your evidence for this?! Make this connection explicit. Cite more.
February 17, 2026 at 1:24 AM
*me slowly turning dial labeled passive details and looking back every second to my readers*
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
As it should be.
Me reading fiction: why are you explaining anything to me? Leave this open to interpretation. Less is more. Productive ambiguity. Never hold my hand.
Me reading nonfiction: where is your thesis? Structure this argument more. What is your evidence for this?! Make this connection explicit. Cite more.
Me reading nonfiction: where is your thesis? Structure this argument more. What is your evidence for this?! Make this connection explicit. Cite more.
February 17, 2026 at 12:48 AM
As it should be.
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
Me reading fiction: why are you explaining anything to me? Leave this open to interpretation. Less is more. Productive ambiguity. Never hold my hand.
Me reading nonfiction: where is your thesis? Structure this argument more. What is your evidence for this?! Make this connection explicit. Cite more.
Me reading nonfiction: where is your thesis? Structure this argument more. What is your evidence for this?! Make this connection explicit. Cite more.
January 27, 2026 at 4:26 PM
Me reading fiction: why are you explaining anything to me? Leave this open to interpretation. Less is more. Productive ambiguity. Never hold my hand.
Me reading nonfiction: where is your thesis? Structure this argument more. What is your evidence for this?! Make this connection explicit. Cite more.
Me reading nonfiction: where is your thesis? Structure this argument more. What is your evidence for this?! Make this connection explicit. Cite more.
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
There's a bunch of great #SFinTranslation coming out next month:
February 16, 2026 at 3:14 PM
There's a bunch of great #SFinTranslation coming out next month:
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
Presidents’ Day 🇺🇸
📸 William Gottlieb, ca. Sept. 1946
📸 William Gottlieb, ca. Sept. 1946
February 16, 2026 at 1:59 PM
Presidents’ Day 🇺🇸
📸 William Gottlieb, ca. Sept. 1946
📸 William Gottlieb, ca. Sept. 1946
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
COME ON ALREADY
February 14, 2026 at 5:58 PM
COME ON ALREADY
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
Would someone please translate (and publish) Luis Carlos Barragán’s Parasitos Perfectos already
Parásitos perfectos - Ediciones Vestigio
Parásitos perfectos explora la relación orgánica y parasitaria que tenemos con las máquinas, un libro de biopunk latino que contempla las posibilidades de estos dispositivos para hacernos dependientes...
edicionesvestigio.com
February 14, 2026 at 3:52 PM
Would someone please translate (and publish) Luis Carlos Barragán’s Parasitos Perfectos already
A day late but I don’t care because this is one of my all-time favorite tracks all the time
February 15, 2026 at 3:01 PM
A day late but I don’t care because this is one of my all-time favorite tracks all the time
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
My new collection, The Pandemonium Waltz, will be on the loose tomorrow, Feb. 15th. 17 stories, cover and inside front and back cover art by Derek Ford, and an interview with me conducted by Kelly Link. Buy early and often. If you're so inclined, spread the word.
February 14, 2026 at 8:33 PM
My new collection, The Pandemonium Waltz, will be on the loose tomorrow, Feb. 15th. 17 stories, cover and inside front and back cover art by Derek Ford, and an interview with me conducted by Kelly Link. Buy early and often. If you're so inclined, spread the word.
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
There isn’t much I hate more than a piece with a lack of confidence in the reader. I’m here to put the work in, that’s the point.
I know exactly what you mean.
That and then the over-explaining/lack of confidence in the reader on the prose level are the two things that I run into with contemporary SFF (including/esp. romantasy) that bug me the most because they are eminently fixable with good editing.
That and then the over-explaining/lack of confidence in the reader on the prose level are the two things that I run into with contemporary SFF (including/esp. romantasy) that bug me the most because they are eminently fixable with good editing.
February 14, 2026 at 3:56 PM
There isn’t much I hate more than a piece with a lack of confidence in the reader. I’m here to put the work in, that’s the point.
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
(people i don't know at a party)
GIRL: right? all these fuckin creepy old white men
GUY: like a broken record, it's this shit over and over every day
ME (pretty sure this is a conversation about Dark City): yeah plus who they bald asses tryna fool with those hats?? you know the homeboy psychic
GIRL: right? all these fuckin creepy old white men
GUY: like a broken record, it's this shit over and over every day
ME (pretty sure this is a conversation about Dark City): yeah plus who they bald asses tryna fool with those hats?? you know the homeboy psychic
February 14, 2026 at 4:02 PM
(people i don't know at a party)
GIRL: right? all these fuckin creepy old white men
GUY: like a broken record, it's this shit over and over every day
ME (pretty sure this is a conversation about Dark City): yeah plus who they bald asses tryna fool with those hats?? you know the homeboy psychic
GIRL: right? all these fuckin creepy old white men
GUY: like a broken record, it's this shit over and over every day
ME (pretty sure this is a conversation about Dark City): yeah plus who they bald asses tryna fool with those hats?? you know the homeboy psychic
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
was literally kvetching about this, yesterday.
if a writer will not trust the reader then the reader should not trust the writer.
if a writer will not trust the reader then the reader should not trust the writer.
February 14, 2026 at 3:58 PM
was literally kvetching about this, yesterday.
if a writer will not trust the reader then the reader should not trust the writer.
if a writer will not trust the reader then the reader should not trust the writer.
There isn’t much I hate more than a piece with a lack of confidence in the reader. I’m here to put the work in, that’s the point.
I know exactly what you mean.
That and then the over-explaining/lack of confidence in the reader on the prose level are the two things that I run into with contemporary SFF (including/esp. romantasy) that bug me the most because they are eminently fixable with good editing.
That and then the over-explaining/lack of confidence in the reader on the prose level are the two things that I run into with contemporary SFF (including/esp. romantasy) that bug me the most because they are eminently fixable with good editing.
February 14, 2026 at 3:56 PM
There isn’t much I hate more than a piece with a lack of confidence in the reader. I’m here to put the work in, that’s the point.
Would someone please translate (and publish) Luis Carlos Barragán’s Parasitos Perfectos already
Parásitos perfectos - Ediciones Vestigio
Parásitos perfectos explora la relación orgánica y parasitaria que tenemos con las máquinas, un libro de biopunk latino que contempla las posibilidades de estos dispositivos para hacernos dependientes...
edicionesvestigio.com
February 14, 2026 at 3:52 PM
Would someone please translate (and publish) Luis Carlos Barragán’s Parasitos Perfectos already
Reposted by Zachary Gillan
We have Best of American SFF, Best of Canadian SFF, Best of British SFF. I wish so badly that editors take up the task of editing an yearly Best of Latin American SFF as well. It would be great!
February 14, 2026 at 12:59 PM
We have Best of American SFF, Best of Canadian SFF, Best of British SFF. I wish so badly that editors take up the task of editing an yearly Best of Latin American SFF as well. It would be great!