Ryan T. Pozzi
@ryantpozzi.bsky.social
Author of The Mess That Made Them (forthcoming from Bloomsbury) | Historian of cultural myth, fraud, and lost stories | BOTN Nominee | Rep: Anderson Literary Agency | www.ryantpozzi.com | Socials are first draft energy
Reason #112 to join Life on the Midlist:
You don't want to be surprised all the time like I was.
"I'm supposed to wait how long? Okay. Then what happens? Wait, what does that even mean?" www.ryantpozzi.com/midlist
You don't want to be surprised all the time like I was.
"I'm supposed to wait how long? Okay. Then what happens? Wait, what does that even mean?" www.ryantpozzi.com/midlist
November 10, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reason #112 to join Life on the Midlist:
You don't want to be surprised all the time like I was.
"I'm supposed to wait how long? Okay. Then what happens? Wait, what does that even mean?" www.ryantpozzi.com/midlist
You don't want to be surprised all the time like I was.
"I'm supposed to wait how long? Okay. Then what happens? Wait, what does that even mean?" www.ryantpozzi.com/midlist
Apropos of nothing, I can't stop thinking about how we built a Jim Henson Tribute dinner in 2013 - puppets, songs, dinner of frog legs, pork belly, and Swedish meatballs for something like $25 - and a lady called my office to see if Jim Henson would be there.
"Uhhh, no ma'am. He died 23 years ago."
"Uhhh, no ma'am. He died 23 years ago."
November 6, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Apropos of nothing, I can't stop thinking about how we built a Jim Henson Tribute dinner in 2013 - puppets, songs, dinner of frog legs, pork belly, and Swedish meatballs for something like $25 - and a lady called my office to see if Jim Henson would be there.
"Uhhh, no ma'am. He died 23 years ago."
"Uhhh, no ma'am. He died 23 years ago."
On This Day in History: October 26, 1977
In Somalia, health workers confirmed the world’s last naturally occurring case of smallpox. Three years later the WHO certified eradication, only possible because of a global vaccination campaign. But sure, tell me again about the dangers of vaccines.
In Somalia, health workers confirmed the world’s last naturally occurring case of smallpox. Three years later the WHO certified eradication, only possible because of a global vaccination campaign. But sure, tell me again about the dangers of vaccines.
October 26, 2025 at 3:08 PM
On This Day in History: October 26, 1977
In Somalia, health workers confirmed the world’s last naturally occurring case of smallpox. Three years later the WHO certified eradication, only possible because of a global vaccination campaign. But sure, tell me again about the dangers of vaccines.
In Somalia, health workers confirmed the world’s last naturally occurring case of smallpox. Three years later the WHO certified eradication, only possible because of a global vaccination campaign. But sure, tell me again about the dangers of vaccines.
On This Day in History: October 26, 1916
Police arrested Margaret Sanger for “obscenity” after she opened a birth control clinic in Brooklyn and shared information women needed to control their lives. The law called contraception obscene.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Police arrested Margaret Sanger for “obscenity” after she opened a birth control clinic in Brooklyn and shared information women needed to control their lives. The law called contraception obscene.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
October 26, 2025 at 2:41 PM
On This Day in History: October 26, 1916
Police arrested Margaret Sanger for “obscenity” after she opened a birth control clinic in Brooklyn and shared information women needed to control their lives. The law called contraception obscene.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Police arrested Margaret Sanger for “obscenity” after she opened a birth control clinic in Brooklyn and shared information women needed to control their lives. The law called contraception obscene.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
On This Day in History: October 25, 2022
New Zealand’s Parliament became majority women when Soraya Peke-Mason was sworn in, tipping the House to 60 women and 59 men. The first country to grant women the vote in 1893, then a female majority in 2022? Those Kiwis are out here leading by example.
New Zealand’s Parliament became majority women when Soraya Peke-Mason was sworn in, tipping the House to 60 women and 59 men. The first country to grant women the vote in 1893, then a female majority in 2022? Those Kiwis are out here leading by example.
October 25, 2025 at 10:25 PM
On This Day in History: October 25, 2022
New Zealand’s Parliament became majority women when Soraya Peke-Mason was sworn in, tipping the House to 60 women and 59 men. The first country to grant women the vote in 1893, then a female majority in 2022? Those Kiwis are out here leading by example.
New Zealand’s Parliament became majority women when Soraya Peke-Mason was sworn in, tipping the House to 60 women and 59 men. The first country to grant women the vote in 1893, then a female majority in 2022? Those Kiwis are out here leading by example.
On This Day in History: October 25, 2016
Paul Beatty won the Man Booker Prize for The Sellout, the first American winner after the prize opened to U.S. authors in 2014. A ruthless, funny novel about race and memory that made people squirm and still took the crown.
Paul Beatty won the Man Booker Prize for The Sellout, the first American winner after the prize opened to U.S. authors in 2014. A ruthless, funny novel about race and memory that made people squirm and still took the crown.
October 25, 2025 at 9:56 PM
On This Day in History: October 25, 2016
Paul Beatty won the Man Booker Prize for The Sellout, the first American winner after the prize opened to U.S. authors in 2014. A ruthless, funny novel about race and memory that made people squirm and still took the crown.
Paul Beatty won the Man Booker Prize for The Sellout, the first American winner after the prize opened to U.S. authors in 2014. A ruthless, funny novel about race and memory that made people squirm and still took the crown.
On This Day in History: October 25, 1978
John Carpenter’s Halloween opened, with Donald Pleasence and a debuting Jamie Lee Curtis anchoring a shoestring indie that rewrote horror’s playbook. It's all about the blank mask, the quiet suburb, and that relentless synth score. 'Tis the season!
John Carpenter’s Halloween opened, with Donald Pleasence and a debuting Jamie Lee Curtis anchoring a shoestring indie that rewrote horror’s playbook. It's all about the blank mask, the quiet suburb, and that relentless synth score. 'Tis the season!
October 25, 2025 at 6:39 PM
On This Day in History: October 25, 1978
John Carpenter’s Halloween opened, with Donald Pleasence and a debuting Jamie Lee Curtis anchoring a shoestring indie that rewrote horror’s playbook. It's all about the blank mask, the quiet suburb, and that relentless synth score. 'Tis the season!
John Carpenter’s Halloween opened, with Donald Pleasence and a debuting Jamie Lee Curtis anchoring a shoestring indie that rewrote horror’s playbook. It's all about the blank mask, the quiet suburb, and that relentless synth score. 'Tis the season!
On This Day in History: October 25, 1962
John Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize in Literature. He put migrant workers and small towns at the center of American letters; the fight over whether that counts as capital L literature says more about the judges than the work.
John Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize in Literature. He put migrant workers and small towns at the center of American letters; the fight over whether that counts as capital L literature says more about the judges than the work.
October 25, 2025 at 3:04 PM
On This Day in History: October 25, 1962
John Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize in Literature. He put migrant workers and small towns at the center of American letters; the fight over whether that counts as capital L literature says more about the judges than the work.
John Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize in Literature. He put migrant workers and small towns at the center of American letters; the fight over whether that counts as capital L literature says more about the judges than the work.
On This Day in History: October 25, 1938
Here's one from my home state; not quite a hotbed of progressive thinking. Archbishop Francis J. L. Beckman of Dubuque, IA denounced swing as a “degenerated musical system” that would gnaw the moral fiber of youth and lead them down a “primrose path to hell.”
Here's one from my home state; not quite a hotbed of progressive thinking. Archbishop Francis J. L. Beckman of Dubuque, IA denounced swing as a “degenerated musical system” that would gnaw the moral fiber of youth and lead them down a “primrose path to hell.”
October 25, 2025 at 2:41 PM
On This Day in History: October 25, 1938
Here's one from my home state; not quite a hotbed of progressive thinking. Archbishop Francis J. L. Beckman of Dubuque, IA denounced swing as a “degenerated musical system” that would gnaw the moral fiber of youth and lead them down a “primrose path to hell.”
Here's one from my home state; not quite a hotbed of progressive thinking. Archbishop Francis J. L. Beckman of Dubuque, IA denounced swing as a “degenerated musical system” that would gnaw the moral fiber of youth and lead them down a “primrose path to hell.”
Genius is Complicated
Mary Shelley made a monster and the world turned her into a muse. She edited Percy to preserve him and was paid back with erasure and “authorship” debates dressed up as criticism. Read “The Last Man” to see the writer the myth tried to hide.
#GeniusIsComplicated #BookSky
Mary Shelley made a monster and the world turned her into a muse. She edited Percy to preserve him and was paid back with erasure and “authorship” debates dressed up as criticism. Read “The Last Man” to see the writer the myth tried to hide.
#GeniusIsComplicated #BookSky
October 25, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Genius is Complicated
Mary Shelley made a monster and the world turned her into a muse. She edited Percy to preserve him and was paid back with erasure and “authorship” debates dressed up as criticism. Read “The Last Man” to see the writer the myth tried to hide.
#GeniusIsComplicated #BookSky
Mary Shelley made a monster and the world turned her into a muse. She edited Percy to preserve him and was paid back with erasure and “authorship” debates dressed up as criticism. Read “The Last Man” to see the writer the myth tried to hide.
#GeniusIsComplicated #BookSky
I call this one:
When You Get Married, Your Friends Have One of Two Reactions
When You Get Married, Your Friends Have One of Two Reactions
October 24, 2025 at 8:26 PM
I call this one:
When You Get Married, Your Friends Have One of Two Reactions
When You Get Married, Your Friends Have One of Two Reactions
On This Day in History: October 24, 1818
Felix Mendelssohn, age 9, gave his first public concert in Berlin. He would write the Octet at sixteen and the Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture at seventeen; remember his sister Fanny, equally brilliant, by some accounts moreso, was told to stay in the salon.
Felix Mendelssohn, age 9, gave his first public concert in Berlin. He would write the Octet at sixteen and the Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture at seventeen; remember his sister Fanny, equally brilliant, by some accounts moreso, was told to stay in the salon.
October 24, 2025 at 2:37 PM
On This Day in History: October 24, 1818
Felix Mendelssohn, age 9, gave his first public concert in Berlin. He would write the Octet at sixteen and the Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture at seventeen; remember his sister Fanny, equally brilliant, by some accounts moreso, was told to stay in the salon.
Felix Mendelssohn, age 9, gave his first public concert in Berlin. He would write the Octet at sixteen and the Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture at seventeen; remember his sister Fanny, equally brilliant, by some accounts moreso, was told to stay in the salon.
On This Day in History: October 23, 1844
Robert Bridges was born. He became Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930 and wrote The Testament of Beauty, but his lasting gift was editing and publishing the poems of his friend Gerard Manley Hopkins in 1918. If you love the poem God’s Grandeur, thank Bridges.
Robert Bridges was born. He became Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930 and wrote The Testament of Beauty, but his lasting gift was editing and publishing the poems of his friend Gerard Manley Hopkins in 1918. If you love the poem God’s Grandeur, thank Bridges.
October 23, 2025 at 4:33 PM
On This Day in History: October 23, 1844
Robert Bridges was born. He became Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930 and wrote The Testament of Beauty, but his lasting gift was editing and publishing the poems of his friend Gerard Manley Hopkins in 1918. If you love the poem God’s Grandeur, thank Bridges.
Robert Bridges was born. He became Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930 and wrote The Testament of Beauty, but his lasting gift was editing and publishing the poems of his friend Gerard Manley Hopkins in 1918. If you love the poem God’s Grandeur, thank Bridges.
On This Day in History: October 23, 1731
A fire at Ashburnham House gutted Sir Robert Cotton’s manuscript library. Asser’s Life of King Alfred was destroyed, and one of the only two copies of the 1215 Magna Carta exemplifications was burned into near-illegibility, melting its seal. #BookSky
A fire at Ashburnham House gutted Sir Robert Cotton’s manuscript library. Asser’s Life of King Alfred was destroyed, and one of the only two copies of the 1215 Magna Carta exemplifications was burned into near-illegibility, melting its seal. #BookSky
October 23, 2025 at 3:11 PM
On This Day in History: October 23, 1731
A fire at Ashburnham House gutted Sir Robert Cotton’s manuscript library. Asser’s Life of King Alfred was destroyed, and one of the only two copies of the 1215 Magna Carta exemplifications was burned into near-illegibility, melting its seal. #BookSky
A fire at Ashburnham House gutted Sir Robert Cotton’s manuscript library. Asser’s Life of King Alfred was destroyed, and one of the only two copies of the 1215 Magna Carta exemplifications was burned into near-illegibility, melting its seal. #BookSky
Messy Genius Spotlight
English novelist
Mary Shelley (1797–1851)
At eighteen, grieving her dead infant and cut off from her family, she wrote Frankenstein, a reckoning with creation and abandonment. She kept writing through loss, with titles like The Last Man, refusing to be anyone’s muse. #BookSky
English novelist
Mary Shelley (1797–1851)
At eighteen, grieving her dead infant and cut off from her family, she wrote Frankenstein, a reckoning with creation and abandonment. She kept writing through loss, with titles like The Last Man, refusing to be anyone’s muse. #BookSky
October 23, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Messy Genius Spotlight
English novelist
Mary Shelley (1797–1851)
At eighteen, grieving her dead infant and cut off from her family, she wrote Frankenstein, a reckoning with creation and abandonment. She kept writing through loss, with titles like The Last Man, refusing to be anyone’s muse. #BookSky
English novelist
Mary Shelley (1797–1851)
At eighteen, grieving her dead infant and cut off from her family, she wrote Frankenstein, a reckoning with creation and abandonment. She kept writing through loss, with titles like The Last Man, refusing to be anyone’s muse. #BookSky
Happy Wins-day!
On October 23, 2025, Bloomsbury launches eleven dyslexia-friendly editions with research-backed design: clear sans serif, generous spacing, ragged-right, cream paper, reduced-contrast blue text, bold not italics.
Anything that makes books more accessible to folks is a BIG WIN!
On October 23, 2025, Bloomsbury launches eleven dyslexia-friendly editions with research-backed design: clear sans serif, generous spacing, ragged-right, cream paper, reduced-contrast blue text, bold not italics.
Anything that makes books more accessible to folks is a BIG WIN!
October 22, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Happy Wins-day!
On October 23, 2025, Bloomsbury launches eleven dyslexia-friendly editions with research-backed design: clear sans serif, generous spacing, ragged-right, cream paper, reduced-contrast blue text, bold not italics.
Anything that makes books more accessible to folks is a BIG WIN!
On October 23, 2025, Bloomsbury launches eleven dyslexia-friendly editions with research-backed design: clear sans serif, generous spacing, ragged-right, cream paper, reduced-contrast blue text, bold not italics.
Anything that makes books more accessible to folks is a BIG WIN!
On This Day in History: October 21, 2024
London’s Neal’s Yard Dairy reported a sophisticated fraud to police: about 22 tons, roughly 950 wheels, of award-winning clothbound Cheddar vanished, worth more than £300,000, after a buyer posed as a French distributor. Who doesn’t like a good cheese caper?
London’s Neal’s Yard Dairy reported a sophisticated fraud to police: about 22 tons, roughly 950 wheels, of award-winning clothbound Cheddar vanished, worth more than £300,000, after a buyer posed as a French distributor. Who doesn’t like a good cheese caper?
October 22, 2025 at 2:28 AM
On This Day in History: October 21, 2024
London’s Neal’s Yard Dairy reported a sophisticated fraud to police: about 22 tons, roughly 950 wheels, of award-winning clothbound Cheddar vanished, worth more than £300,000, after a buyer posed as a French distributor. Who doesn’t like a good cheese caper?
London’s Neal’s Yard Dairy reported a sophisticated fraud to police: about 22 tons, roughly 950 wheels, of award-winning clothbound Cheddar vanished, worth more than £300,000, after a buyer posed as a French distributor. Who doesn’t like a good cheese caper?
On This Day in History: October 21, 1949
Aldous Huxley wrote to George Orwell to congratulate him on Nineteen Eighty-Four and argued the future would look more like Brave New World, with consent engineered by pleasure and habit more than fear. He was right. Orwell was, too.
Aldous Huxley wrote to George Orwell to congratulate him on Nineteen Eighty-Four and argued the future would look more like Brave New World, with consent engineered by pleasure and habit more than fear. He was right. Orwell was, too.
October 21, 2025 at 11:18 PM
On This Day in History: October 21, 1949
Aldous Huxley wrote to George Orwell to congratulate him on Nineteen Eighty-Four and argued the future would look more like Brave New World, with consent engineered by pleasure and habit more than fear. He was right. Orwell was, too.
Aldous Huxley wrote to George Orwell to congratulate him on Nineteen Eighty-Four and argued the future would look more like Brave New World, with consent engineered by pleasure and habit more than fear. He was right. Orwell was, too.
Final call for this week’s free edition of Life on the Midlist, Giving the Waiting a Job. It goes out just in time to read during your lunch break.
Get it here:
www.ryantpozzi.com/midlist
Get it here:
www.ryantpozzi.com/midlist
October 21, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Final call for this week’s free edition of Life on the Midlist, Giving the Waiting a Job. It goes out just in time to read during your lunch break.
Get it here:
www.ryantpozzi.com/midlist
Get it here:
www.ryantpozzi.com/midlist
On This Day in History: October 20, 1998
Richard Pryor received the first Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The clubs knew it first; the marble halls took longer. If you're ranking American stand-up, start with Pryor and argue the rest.
Richard Pryor received the first Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The clubs knew it first; the marble halls took longer. If you're ranking American stand-up, start with Pryor and argue the rest.
October 20, 2025 at 9:56 PM
On This Day in History: October 20, 1998
Richard Pryor received the first Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The clubs knew it first; the marble halls took longer. If you're ranking American stand-up, start with Pryor and argue the rest.
Richard Pryor received the first Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The clubs knew it first; the marble halls took longer. If you're ranking American stand-up, start with Pryor and argue the rest.
Mutual Monday
Meet @ajwestauthor.bsky.social. Sunday Times bestseller with The Betrayal of Thomas True. HWA Debut Crown winner for The Spirit Engineer. Former BBC journalist from Buckinghamshire, regular TV and radio voice. If Hardy, M. R. James, and E. F. Benson are your lane, you'll feel at home.
Meet @ajwestauthor.bsky.social. Sunday Times bestseller with The Betrayal of Thomas True. HWA Debut Crown winner for The Spirit Engineer. Former BBC journalist from Buckinghamshire, regular TV and radio voice. If Hardy, M. R. James, and E. F. Benson are your lane, you'll feel at home.
October 20, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Mutual Monday
Meet @ajwestauthor.bsky.social. Sunday Times bestseller with The Betrayal of Thomas True. HWA Debut Crown winner for The Spirit Engineer. Former BBC journalist from Buckinghamshire, regular TV and radio voice. If Hardy, M. R. James, and E. F. Benson are your lane, you'll feel at home.
Meet @ajwestauthor.bsky.social. Sunday Times bestseller with The Betrayal of Thomas True. HWA Debut Crown winner for The Spirit Engineer. Former BBC journalist from Buckinghamshire, regular TV and radio voice. If Hardy, M. R. James, and E. F. Benson are your lane, you'll feel at home.
Happy Wins-Day!
This week, selfishly, is about me reengaging with the outside world. I recently met with @chrispoore.bsky.social to talk about the Nebraska Writers Guild, founded in 1925 by Willa Cather & cronies.
It was fun to brainstorm about what we can do together to support "flyover" writers.
This week, selfishly, is about me reengaging with the outside world. I recently met with @chrispoore.bsky.social to talk about the Nebraska Writers Guild, founded in 1925 by Willa Cather & cronies.
It was fun to brainstorm about what we can do together to support "flyover" writers.
October 16, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Happy Wins-Day!
This week, selfishly, is about me reengaging with the outside world. I recently met with @chrispoore.bsky.social to talk about the Nebraska Writers Guild, founded in 1925 by Willa Cather & cronies.
It was fun to brainstorm about what we can do together to support "flyover" writers.
This week, selfishly, is about me reengaging with the outside world. I recently met with @chrispoore.bsky.social to talk about the Nebraska Writers Guild, founded in 1925 by Willa Cather & cronies.
It was fun to brainstorm about what we can do together to support "flyover" writers.
On This Day in History: October 14, 1986
Elie Wiesel, author of 57 books, including Night, which is based on his experiences in concentration camps, received the Nobel Peace Prize for bearing witness to the Holocaust and pressing the world to resist indifference.
Elie Wiesel, author of 57 books, including Night, which is based on his experiences in concentration camps, received the Nobel Peace Prize for bearing witness to the Holocaust and pressing the world to resist indifference.
October 15, 2025 at 2:28 AM
On This Day in History: October 14, 1986
Elie Wiesel, author of 57 books, including Night, which is based on his experiences in concentration camps, received the Nobel Peace Prize for bearing witness to the Holocaust and pressing the world to resist indifference.
Elie Wiesel, author of 57 books, including Night, which is based on his experiences in concentration camps, received the Nobel Peace Prize for bearing witness to the Holocaust and pressing the world to resist indifference.
On This Day in History: October 14, 1926
A. A. Milne released Winnie-the-Pooh, with E. H. Shepard’s drawings, gathering the Hundred Acre Wood and its friendships into a single volume. A gentle book about loyalty and play that proves the everlasting value of small kindnesses.
A. A. Milne released Winnie-the-Pooh, with E. H. Shepard’s drawings, gathering the Hundred Acre Wood and its friendships into a single volume. A gentle book about loyalty and play that proves the everlasting value of small kindnesses.
October 14, 2025 at 11:18 PM
On This Day in History: October 14, 1926
A. A. Milne released Winnie-the-Pooh, with E. H. Shepard’s drawings, gathering the Hundred Acre Wood and its friendships into a single volume. A gentle book about loyalty and play that proves the everlasting value of small kindnesses.
A. A. Milne released Winnie-the-Pooh, with E. H. Shepard’s drawings, gathering the Hundred Acre Wood and its friendships into a single volume. A gentle book about loyalty and play that proves the everlasting value of small kindnesses.