Kris McCracken
@krismccracken.bsky.social
I fall down a lot.
Things I like: running, reading, photography, hiking, travel, music, history.
Things I like: running, reading, photography, hiking, travel, music, history.
Wrote a short story on Saturday morning, one of those rare sessions where the words didn’t fight back. I just chased the feeling and let the bloke in Stanley complain about quoll-shaped eco-lodges.
It’s fiction, but close enough. If you like small-town ghosts and mild existential rot.
It’s fiction, but close enough. If you like small-town ghosts and mild existential rot.
The Nut Remembers Everything
A fictional account from a slightly crooked reality
open.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Wrote a short story on Saturday morning, one of those rare sessions where the words didn’t fight back. I just chased the feeling and let the bloke in Stanley complain about quoll-shaped eco-lodges.
It’s fiction, but close enough. If you like small-town ghosts and mild existential rot.
It’s fiction, but close enough. If you like small-town ghosts and mild existential rot.
Wrote this when Charlie Kirk was shot and let it sit. It’s about how hate turned into a business and how “civility” gets used to protect the people cashing in on it. Time’s proved the point. Nothing’s changed, except the stakes.
Hate, But Make It Marketable
Where “civility” is demanded, sewage rises, and spiders fatten.
open.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Wrote this when Charlie Kirk was shot and let it sit. It’s about how hate turned into a business and how “civility” gets used to protect the people cashing in on it. Time’s proved the point. Nothing’s changed, except the stakes.
Safe writing is a corpse in good lighting. Fourth drafts are meant to hurt.
I flayed mine and wrote about it.
I flayed mine and wrote about it.
Safe is Death on the Page
Fourth drafts aren’t about polish. They’re about wrecking your own work until the lies fall out.
open.substack.com
September 30, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Safe writing is a corpse in good lighting. Fourth drafts are meant to hurt.
I flayed mine and wrote about it.
I flayed mine and wrote about it.
Six photos, one front yard. Proof you don’t need Iceland to feel like an artist, just a stubborn refusal to let gum trees and powerlines look ordinary. The cure for dull vision? Bully your own eyes into waking up.
The Discipline of Noticing
Six photos, one front yard, and a reminder that familiarity is the enemy of vision.
open.substack.com
September 23, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Six photos, one front yard. Proof you don’t need Iceland to feel like an artist, just a stubborn refusal to let gum trees and powerlines look ordinary. The cure for dull vision? Bully your own eyes into waking up.
New piece up: on rereading Atonement and realising McEwan plays god, jury and executioner all at once - while the rest of us just keep fiddling with our drafts like Briony with a guilt complex.
If a book’s ever flattened you and made you grateful for the bruises, this one’s for you.
If a book’s ever flattened you and made you grateful for the bruises, this one’s for you.
The Wreck That Leaves You Grateful
What Atonement taught me about craft, control, and letting the story misbehave
open.substack.com
September 9, 2025 at 12:20 AM
New piece up: on rereading Atonement and realising McEwan plays god, jury and executioner all at once - while the rest of us just keep fiddling with our drafts like Briony with a guilt complex.
If a book’s ever flattened you and made you grateful for the bruises, this one’s for you.
If a book’s ever flattened you and made you grateful for the bruises, this one’s for you.
We all judge strangers - by their Muppet, mustard, or water bottle. My new Substack, The Art of Misjudging Strangers, laughs at the binaries we secretly love while pretending we are above them. Read it here:
The Art of Misjudging Strangers
The binaries we live by, break, and secretly love.
open.substack.com
September 2, 2025 at 1:00 AM
We all judge strangers - by their Muppet, mustard, or water bottle. My new Substack, The Art of Misjudging Strangers, laughs at the binaries we secretly love while pretending we are above them. Read it here:
Big crowd in Hobart today.
Which side of history do you want to be on? You can’t call yourself decent while turning a blind eye to the murder of women and children. Comfort is complicity. If you’re not standing up, you’re standing with the killers. Palestine needs justice, not your excuses.
Which side of history do you want to be on? You can’t call yourself decent while turning a blind eye to the murder of women and children. Comfort is complicity. If you’re not standing up, you’re standing with the killers. Palestine needs justice, not your excuses.
August 24, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Big crowd in Hobart today.
Which side of history do you want to be on? You can’t call yourself decent while turning a blind eye to the murder of women and children. Comfort is complicity. If you’re not standing up, you’re standing with the killers. Palestine needs justice, not your excuses.
Which side of history do you want to be on? You can’t call yourself decent while turning a blind eye to the murder of women and children. Comfort is complicity. If you’re not standing up, you’re standing with the killers. Palestine needs justice, not your excuses.
Well, I know that I like to deliver such transcendent performances that the only real aftercare required is a medal ceremony and a standing ovation.
Why sexual 'aftercare' is so important
While we may not always have time for a relaxed wind-down with our sexual partner or partners post-sex, "aftercare" can be as simple as asking someone how they are feeling.
www.abc.net.au
August 23, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Well, I know that I like to deliver such transcendent performances that the only real aftercare required is a medal ceremony and a standing ovation.
What Royal Dutch Shell wanted with a Marxist from Burnie.
A story about sliding doors, sellouts, and why not every betrayal looks like failure.
A story about sliding doors, sellouts, and why not every betrayal looks like failure.
Reverse Darwinism
What Royal Dutch Shell wanted with a Marxist from Burnie
open.substack.com
July 25, 2025 at 12:57 AM
What Royal Dutch Shell wanted with a Marxist from Burnie.
A story about sliding doors, sellouts, and why not every betrayal looks like failure.
A story about sliding doors, sellouts, and why not every betrayal looks like failure.
I accidentally wrote a novel. Then accidentally rewrote it. Now it’s 196,000 words long, emotionally inconvenient, and structurally sound enough to haunt me in daylight.
Likes appreciated. Silence will be taken personally.
Likes appreciated. Silence will be taken personally.
Turns Out It Was Never Just the Vibes
Moving from catharsis to craft without losing your mind or your narrator.
open.substack.com
July 22, 2025 at 2:22 AM
I accidentally wrote a novel. Then accidentally rewrote it. Now it’s 196,000 words long, emotionally inconvenient, and structurally sound enough to haunt me in daylight.
Likes appreciated. Silence will be taken personally.
Likes appreciated. Silence will be taken personally.
They’re still killing poets. Not metaphorically. Bombed, buried, silenced. I wrote about Gaza, grief, and why silence helps it happen. Read if you still believe such things matter.
They’re Still Killing Poets
What we owe the dead - and the living - when history repeats in real time.
open.substack.com
July 18, 2025 at 1:53 AM
They’re still killing poets. Not metaphorically. Bombed, buried, silenced. I wrote about Gaza, grief, and why silence helps it happen. Read if you still believe such things matter.
Wrote about what happens after you hit “Post.”
Loneliness, sincerity, and the ache of being clapped for the wrong line.
Not chasing likes, chasing proof.
Read it, if you like that sort of thing.
Then say something. Anything.
👇
Loneliness, sincerity, and the ache of being clapped for the wrong line.
Not chasing likes, chasing proof.
Read it, if you like that sort of thing.
Then say something. Anything.
👇
What Happens After You Hit “Post”
On loneliness, sincerity and what writers actually want from you
open.substack.com
July 15, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Wrote about what happens after you hit “Post.”
Loneliness, sincerity, and the ache of being clapped for the wrong line.
Not chasing likes, chasing proof.
Read it, if you like that sort of thing.
Then say something. Anything.
👇
Loneliness, sincerity, and the ache of being clapped for the wrong line.
Not chasing likes, chasing proof.
Read it, if you like that sort of thing.
Then say something. Anything.
👇
I was told to write shorter posts.
So I wrote a 700-word essay about that.
Includes:
✅ Bullet points
✅ Jokes (sort of)
✅ No niche anarchist references (growth!)
Read it. Skim it. Pretend to.
Either way, I’ll assume you’re on board.
👇👇👇
So I wrote a 700-word essay about that.
Includes:
✅ Bullet points
✅ Jokes (sort of)
✅ No niche anarchist references (growth!)
Read it. Skim it. Pretend to.
Either way, I’ll assume you’re on board.
👇👇👇
🔥 TL;DR: I Have Been Asked to Write Shorter Posts, So Here Is a 700-Word Essay About That 🔥
Less depth, more reach. Let’s go viral.
open.substack.com
July 10, 2025 at 12:53 AM
I was told to write shorter posts.
So I wrote a 700-word essay about that.
Includes:
✅ Bullet points
✅ Jokes (sort of)
✅ No niche anarchist references (growth!)
Read it. Skim it. Pretend to.
Either way, I’ll assume you’re on board.
👇👇👇
So I wrote a 700-word essay about that.
Includes:
✅ Bullet points
✅ Jokes (sort of)
✅ No niche anarchist references (growth!)
Read it. Skim it. Pretend to.
Either way, I’ll assume you’re on board.
👇👇👇
Jesus wept. The Church bought lawyers. I don’t believe in God, but I believe in moral clarity - and this piece is a reckoning. Not with Jesus (he’s alright), but with the gutless bastards who hijacked him.
Not a sermon. A curse. A eulogy. A click worth your conscience.
Not a sermon. A curse. A eulogy. A click worth your conscience.
Jesus Wept. The Rest of You Should Be Ashamed.
An atheist reflects on the man, the myth, and the moral catastrophe.
open.substack.com
July 8, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Jesus wept. The Church bought lawyers. I don’t believe in God, but I believe in moral clarity - and this piece is a reckoning. Not with Jesus (he’s alright), but with the gutless bastards who hijacked him.
Not a sermon. A curse. A eulogy. A click worth your conscience.
Not a sermon. A curse. A eulogy. A click worth your conscience.
Wrote something personal for NAIDOC Week: on silence, treaty, and truth-telling in lutruwita.
Just my view – shaped by this place, and the people who taught me what wasn’t in the textbooks. Read it if you can.
Just my view – shaped by this place, and the people who taught me what wasn’t in the textbooks. Read it if you can.
A Gesture, Half-Made
On silence, survival, and why treaty still matters in Tasmania and beyond
open.substack.com
July 3, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Wrote something personal for NAIDOC Week: on silence, treaty, and truth-telling in lutruwita.
Just my view – shaped by this place, and the people who taught me what wasn’t in the textbooks. Read it if you can.
Just my view – shaped by this place, and the people who taught me what wasn’t in the textbooks. Read it if you can.
Just dropped my 54th unread Substack post into the void.
No niche. No growth. Just raw, weekly despair in blog form.
My wife doesn’t read it. My mum refuses to subscribe. Be the hero I don’t deserve.
No niche. No growth. Just raw, weekly despair in blog form.
My wife doesn’t read it. My mum refuses to subscribe. Be the hero I don’t deserve.
Zero Strategy. No Niche. Minimal Readers. This Is My Growth Story.
Experts said optimise. I chose anguish.
open.substack.com
July 1, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Just dropped my 54th unread Substack post into the void.
No niche. No growth. Just raw, weekly despair in blog form.
My wife doesn’t read it. My mum refuses to subscribe. Be the hero I don’t deserve.
No niche. No growth. Just raw, weekly despair in blog form.
My wife doesn’t read it. My mum refuses to subscribe. Be the hero I don’t deserve.
The unhinged attacks on Greta aren’t are not not critique, it’s projection by people who can’t imagine a moral stance that isn’t transactional. I wrote about this parasitic cynicism back in March.
If decency looks like performance to you, that’s a confession, not an argument.
If decency looks like performance to you, that’s a confession, not an argument.
June 11, 2025 at 2:51 AM
The unhinged attacks on Greta aren’t are not not critique, it’s projection by people who can’t imagine a moral stance that isn’t transactional. I wrote about this parasitic cynicism back in March.
If decency looks like performance to you, that’s a confession, not an argument.
If decency looks like performance to you, that’s a confession, not an argument.
New piece up: a love letter to the tragic, doomed sincerity of Charlie Brown, Ed Miliband and anyone who’s ever failed while the bastards prospered. Features Bono, Fourier, and heartbreak. It’s funny. It hurts. Read it, you beautiful fools.
👇
👇
How Can We Fail When We’re So Sincere?
An illustrated guide to failing earnestly while bastards prosper with applause
open.substack.com
June 10, 2025 at 12:28 AM
New piece up: a love letter to the tragic, doomed sincerity of Charlie Brown, Ed Miliband and anyone who’s ever failed while the bastards prospered. Features Bono, Fourier, and heartbreak. It’s funny. It hurts. Read it, you beautiful fools.
👇
👇
Just posted: one idiot’s linguistic and gastrointestinal journey through Latin America, featuring bad grammar, worse buses, and a ceiling fan from the Eisenhower era.
Travel = failing in style.
Travel = failing in style.
Lo Siento, My Spanish Is Very Evil
From arepas to existential crises via the wrong side of a Bogotá exchange rate, one idiot’s journey through four countries, three tenses, and an unrelenting street party in Taganga.
open.substack.com
June 3, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Just posted: one idiot’s linguistic and gastrointestinal journey through Latin America, featuring bad grammar, worse buses, and a ceiling fan from the Eisenhower era.
Travel = failing in style.
Travel = failing in style.
Just dropped a piece on the fine art of pretending to know what you’re doing. It’s about policy, ambiguity, and why bullshit often wins. For anyone who's ever sat through a "strategic alignment" meeting and left dumber.
The Hardest Part of Any Job
On the fine art of not knowing what the hell to do
open.substack.com
May 27, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Just dropped a piece on the fine art of pretending to know what you’re doing. It’s about policy, ambiguity, and why bullshit often wins. For anyone who's ever sat through a "strategic alignment" meeting and left dumber.
Honestly?
If it keeps the Incels indoors cooing at their AI bestie instead of filming manifesto vlogs or starting crypto scams, I’m all for it.
Call it digital pacification.
If it keeps the Incels indoors cooing at their AI bestie instead of filming manifesto vlogs or starting crypto scams, I’m all for it.
Call it digital pacification.
lithium. water. now.
bruh
May 25, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Honestly?
If it keeps the Incels indoors cooing at their AI bestie instead of filming manifesto vlogs or starting crypto scams, I’m all for it.
Call it digital pacification.
If it keeps the Incels indoors cooing at their AI bestie instead of filming manifesto vlogs or starting crypto scams, I’m all for it.
Call it digital pacification.
New Substack post: a florid defence of big weird words, lexical flexing, and fucking with the algorithm. For anyone who’s ever called their inbox “egregious” or said “tenebrous” just to see who flinches.
Let’s Get Sesquipedalian: Why I Use Big, Obscure Words (and Why You Should Too)
A splendiferous defence of diaphanous syntax and petty lexical violence
open.substack.com
May 20, 2025 at 12:20 AM
New Substack post: a florid defence of big weird words, lexical flexing, and fucking with the algorithm. For anyone who’s ever called their inbox “egregious” or said “tenebrous” just to see who flinches.
He gets my vote.
Oh yeah nice one kid hook that hope for humanity right into my veins
May 10, 2025 at 10:18 AM
He gets my vote.
Charlie Brown never kicks the football. That’s the joke. That’s life. Peanuts isn’t nostalgia - it’s the bleakest, funniest work of American philosophy ever made. I wrote about it.
The Futility of Hope: How Peanuts Became the Greatest Work of American Philosophy
A half-century of failure, capitalism and quiet existential horror in four panels
open.substack.com
May 6, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Charlie Brown never kicks the football. That’s the joke. That’s life. Peanuts isn’t nostalgia - it’s the bleakest, funniest work of American philosophy ever made. I wrote about it.
On the joys of travel.
Tales from the Road: Cracked Open by Chaos
Or why true travel starts the moment you stop pretending you know what the fuck you’re doing.
open.substack.com
April 27, 2025 at 12:39 PM
On the joys of travel.