John MacNeill Miller
@snarlsdickens.bsky.social
Writer and former English professor. Author of *The Ecological Plot: How Stories Gave Rise to a Science* (Virginia 2024). Death positive. Interested in animals, environments, and all things Victorian.
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
If you’re at @navsa2025.bsky.social please join us for the 🍃VCOLOGIES HAPPY HOUR🍃from 7-8 this evening!!!
We’ll be in the Marquee Bar and Lounge: complimentary beer/wine for grad students, first come, first served!
We’ll be in the Marquee Bar and Lounge: complimentary beer/wine for grad students, first come, first served!
November 15, 2025 at 8:58 PM
If you’re at @navsa2025.bsky.social please join us for the 🍃VCOLOGIES HAPPY HOUR🍃from 7-8 this evening!!!
We’ll be in the Marquee Bar and Lounge: complimentary beer/wine for grad students, first come, first served!
We’ll be in the Marquee Bar and Lounge: complimentary beer/wine for grad students, first come, first served!
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
Look at my little one, sitting coyly in the back row!!! Wish I could be there…
November 14, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Look at my little one, sitting coyly in the back row!!! Wish I could be there…
Dr Seuss: In my book The Lorax I invented the Thneed as a cautionary tale.
Apple: At long last, we have created the Thneed from the classic picture book The Lorax.
Apple: At long last, we have created the Thneed from the classic picture book The Lorax.
November 14, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Dr Seuss: In my book The Lorax I invented the Thneed as a cautionary tale.
Apple: At long last, we have created the Thneed from the classic picture book The Lorax.
Apple: At long last, we have created the Thneed from the classic picture book The Lorax.
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
Ghosts Behind Glass has been officially published by @uchicagopress.bsky.social!
If you are looking for an absolutely gorgeous book that tackles a deeply serious topic, this is a perfect choice. Would make a really thoughtful Christmas gift.
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
If you are looking for an absolutely gorgeous book that tackles a deeply serious topic, this is a perfect choice. Would make a really thoughtful Christmas gift.
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Ghosts Behind Glass
How museums display extinct species—and what these exhibits say about us. While it’s no longer possible to encounter a dodo in the wild, we can still come face-to-face with them in museums. The rema...
press.uchicago.edu
November 13, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Ghosts Behind Glass has been officially published by @uchicagopress.bsky.social!
If you are looking for an absolutely gorgeous book that tackles a deeply serious topic, this is a perfect choice. Would make a really thoughtful Christmas gift.
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
If you are looking for an absolutely gorgeous book that tackles a deeply serious topic, this is a perfect choice. Would make a really thoughtful Christmas gift.
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
Holy shit, just learned about the typewriter art of Montserrat Alberich Escardívol, a Catalan typist. Using an extra wide typewriter and 180 color ribbons, she built up elaborate images from simple characters like 'm' and '.' and ';'. Here is her typewritten painting of the Cathedral of Barcelona.
November 12, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Holy shit, just learned about the typewriter art of Montserrat Alberich Escardívol, a Catalan typist. Using an extra wide typewriter and 180 color ribbons, she built up elaborate images from simple characters like 'm' and '.' and ';'. Here is her typewritten painting of the Cathedral of Barcelona.
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
Oh hey I'm quoted in the History Channel talking about Stephen King! www.history.com/articles/ste...
November 11, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Oh hey I'm quoted in the History Channel talking about Stephen King! www.history.com/articles/ste...
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
The James Bond franchise faces a big problem: me, the viewer, has been shot at the start of the movie through the barrel of my gun, and I'm dripping blood over my own eye balls (they're in the gun)
November 11, 2025 at 7:40 PM
The James Bond franchise faces a big problem: me, the viewer, has been shot at the start of the movie through the barrel of my gun, and I'm dripping blood over my own eye balls (they're in the gun)
Ironically, pretending to be knowledgeable about books he hasn’t read is the most relatable thing Elon Musk has ever done
November 11, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Ironically, pretending to be knowledgeable about books he hasn’t read is the most relatable thing Elon Musk has ever done
James Bond exploded into pieces and you don’t know how to keep the series going? Just stitch the dude together using whatever parts you can find. Have you never read Frankenstein?! Have you never read Dog Man?!?!
November 11, 2025 at 7:34 PM
James Bond exploded into pieces and you don’t know how to keep the series going? Just stitch the dude together using whatever parts you can find. Have you never read Frankenstein?! Have you never read Dog Man?!?!
If we lose Shelley, we lose a foundational text for modern thought and a major influence in genres ranging from horror to melodrama to science fiction. But if we lose Austen, we never get the classic 90s film Clueless. In other words, it’s a toss-up
You can only pick one. I’m sorry.
Jane Austen or Mary Shelley
Jane Austen or Mary Shelley
November 11, 2025 at 2:45 PM
If we lose Shelley, we lose a foundational text for modern thought and a major influence in genres ranging from horror to melodrama to science fiction. But if we lose Austen, we never get the classic 90s film Clueless. In other words, it’s a toss-up
I like that JCO was like “this man doesn’t read books; he has never experienced love or even fellow-feeling; not even the smallest joys are available to him; he has never even bonded with a pet” and Musk’s reply was “Not true!!!! I’ve read several books!!”
history will ultimately decide this but i think joyce carol oates might have just landed the most devastating burn in human history. like the death star trench run of posting
oh my god
November 10, 2025 at 7:55 PM
I like that JCO was like “this man doesn’t read books; he has never experienced love or even fellow-feeling; not even the smallest joys are available to him; he has never even bonded with a pet” and Musk’s reply was “Not true!!!! I’ve read several books!!”
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
I got this useful bon mot from a middle school teacher recently.
In response to, “I DONT UNDERSTAND,” he calmly said, “okay what steps have you taken to understand?”
And that’s when I realized that a lot of folks have no steps.
In response to, “I DONT UNDERSTAND,” he calmly said, “okay what steps have you taken to understand?”
And that’s when I realized that a lot of folks have no steps.
November 10, 2025 at 6:05 PM
I got this useful bon mot from a middle school teacher recently.
In response to, “I DONT UNDERSTAND,” he calmly said, “okay what steps have you taken to understand?”
And that’s when I realized that a lot of folks have no steps.
In response to, “I DONT UNDERSTAND,” he calmly said, “okay what steps have you taken to understand?”
And that’s when I realized that a lot of folks have no steps.
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
Okay, here are some first reflections on Watson.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
November 8, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Okay, here are some first reflections on Watson.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
Stochastic Book Fair
November 7, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Stochastic Book Fair
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
Bookplate illustration for @cadaverformosus.bsky.social with a special thanks to @colindickey.com.
November 7, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Bookplate illustration for @cadaverformosus.bsky.social with a special thanks to @colindickey.com.
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
you hear about how Ithaca is gorges, but less about all the _caves_ at Cornell.
November 7, 2025 at 5:57 PM
you hear about how Ithaca is gorges, but less about all the _caves_ at Cornell.
Thrilled to learn about this review in Choice! “The Ecological Plot serves as a model for interdisciplinary writing. Miller's prose is clear and highly engaging…This book (Miller's first) represents a highly important contribution to the environmental humanities. Summing Up: Highly recommended.”
November 7, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Thrilled to learn about this review in Choice! “The Ecological Plot serves as a model for interdisciplinary writing. Miller's prose is clear and highly engaging…This book (Miller's first) represents a highly important contribution to the environmental humanities. Summing Up: Highly recommended.”
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
An ongoing thread of short story collections coming in 2026, of work weird/surreal/dark/uncanny/unsettling/ghostly/ghastly, across genres, so that they're all in one place that I can refer back to when I inevitably forget what books I was meaning to request review copies of:
October 10, 2025 at 3:52 PM
An ongoing thread of short story collections coming in 2026, of work weird/surreal/dark/uncanny/unsettling/ghostly/ghastly, across genres, so that they're all in one place that I can refer back to when I inevitably forget what books I was meaning to request review copies of:
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
I’m trying to write and suffering a terrible case of essayist incontinence (“we”-ing all over the place)
November 4, 2025 at 6:43 PM
I’m trying to write and suffering a terrible case of essayist incontinence (“we”-ing all over the place)
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
Now I understand 67. This morning the clock said 6 and my body knew it was 7.
November 2, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Now I understand 67. This morning the clock said 6 and my body knew it was 7.
Reposted by John MacNeill Miller
[stomp stomp clap
stomp stomp clap
stomp stomp clap
stomp stomp clap]
Ozy you're a boy, makin' big works
Visage in the sand, gonna be a big MANdias
A cold sneer on your face
shattered remains
Nothin' but sand all 'round the decay
singin'
LEGS OF
LEGS OF
ROCK HEWN
LEGS OF
LEGS OF
ROCK HEWN
stomp stomp clap
stomp stomp clap
stomp stomp clap]
Ozy you're a boy, makin' big works
Visage in the sand, gonna be a big MANdias
A cold sneer on your face
shattered remains
Nothin' but sand all 'round the decay
singin'
LEGS OF
LEGS OF
ROCK HEWN
LEGS OF
LEGS OF
ROCK HEWN
Me and my boys went to a strange LAND
The sun beat down on the desert SAND
My man Ad-rock turned to us and said
Yo, you two see that BIG-ASS HEAD?
We approached this ancient, beat up MASS
We learned his name was OZYMANDIAS
A sign said take a look AND DESPAIR
But we saw no works, nothing was THERE
The sun beat down on the desert SAND
My man Ad-rock turned to us and said
Yo, you two see that BIG-ASS HEAD?
We approached this ancient, beat up MASS
We learned his name was OZYMANDIAS
A sign said take a look AND DESPAIR
But we saw no works, nothing was THERE
Ozyman, Ozyman-
dias does what no mortal can
and his works? are they there?
no, but maybe still despair
dias does what no mortal can
and his works? are they there?
no, but maybe still despair
October 30, 2025 at 11:39 PM
[stomp stomp clap
stomp stomp clap
stomp stomp clap
stomp stomp clap]
Ozy you're a boy, makin' big works
Visage in the sand, gonna be a big MANdias
A cold sneer on your face
shattered remains
Nothin' but sand all 'round the decay
singin'
LEGS OF
LEGS OF
ROCK HEWN
LEGS OF
LEGS OF
ROCK HEWN
stomp stomp clap
stomp stomp clap
stomp stomp clap]
Ozy you're a boy, makin' big works
Visage in the sand, gonna be a big MANdias
A cold sneer on your face
shattered remains
Nothin' but sand all 'round the decay
singin'
LEGS OF
LEGS OF
ROCK HEWN
LEGS OF
LEGS OF
ROCK HEWN