Slime & Tentacles: Rick's 2023 in Review
Slime & Tentacles: Rick's 2023 in Review
With 2023 finally on its last legs, I figured some reflection is in order. Here’s what I’ve been up to.
Stories
My primary focus in 2023 was finishing my second novel, SKULL SLIME TENTACLE WITCH WAR, which Anxiety Press is releasing in 2024. (Subscribe for future details!)
With help from brilliant illustrator Sarah Allen Reed, I re-published Tentacle Head, my not-for-children children’s book that went out of print after its publisher, Bear Creek Press, shut down.
I published two short stories. The first, The Mushroom Inspector, marks my first HAD skull. The second, Giant Eagle, appeared in Malarkey Books’ second annual Hellarkey Halloween zine.
Two more are forthcoming in Back Patio Press and Bull, and a few more are in various stages of being submitted and written.
I’ve also started working on my next book. I won’t jinx it by saying too much just yet. What I can disclose is that it’s a weird sword and sorcery fantasy adventure partly inspired by Vermis, one of my favorite books from the past year.
Takes & Readings
On the If This Goes On (Don’t Panic!) podcast, I weighed in on what seemed at the time like an imminent A.I. apocalypse for authors. My take was that A.I. tools will never generate fiction anywhere close as good as what small press authors write. So far, I think it’s aged well.
In June, I participated in Stokercon in Pittsburgh on two panels (one on weird fiction, one on fungal horror) alongside lovely folks like Andrew Sullivan, Nicole Cushing, Danger Slater, Charlene Elsby, Garrett Cook, and Gordon White.
In October, I read an excerpt from an unpublished story about having one’s mind hacked by an A.I. therapy banana at the book launch Lovecraft Arts & Sciences in Providence hosted for Matthew M. Bartlett’s brilliantly and blisteringly strange new horror novella, The Obsecration.
Nonfiction / Work
I hesitate to mingle my work life with my creative life, but on the off chance my nonfiction efforts are of interest, here are a few highlights. The American Prospect covered a report I wrote on corporate crime. The report’s findings were cited in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the subject. I also wrote a report broadly considering the risks associated with unregulated generative A.I. (see Common Dreams story) and a narrower report focused on risks associated with generative A.I. that employs anthropomorphic design (see Politico story).
Also, I helped edit a book Public Citizen released this year. It’s titled The Corporate Sabotage of America’s Future. It’s a succinct read that details many ways corporate power is screwing us over – and it offers smart policy solutions to address the outsized influence of Big Business.
Outdoor Observations
I saw some wild fungi, lichen and slime molds this year I’d never seen before.
This bright orange slime mold I’m pretty sure is ligydium muscorum might be my favorite.
Some other cool ones were pink earth lichen, earth tongues, and inocybe tahquamenonesis. (I document my observations with photos posted here.)
Though of course the most exciting find was the billie’s bolete my son discovered along the East Bay Bike Path. It was the first time this species was ever observed in Rhode Island. A local news program did a nice segment on it:
That’s It!
2023 is dead. Long live 2024.
I hope you find some hope and fun in this world of agony and dread.
Happy whatnots,
Rick
P.S. If you’re looking for a cause to support against some of the awfulness out there, consider If Not Now, a Jewish grassroots organization that’s been leading calls within the U.S. for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war. Another group I’m excited about is Climate Defiance, who disrupted a ceremony giving an Exxon CEO a climate award with banners telling the CEO to “EAT SHIT,” which I believe is what everyone constantly should be telling fossil fuel executives. Every year, I try to contribute to Just Harvest, a grassroots anti-hunger organization in Pittsburgh that advocates for economic justice and helps poor people access government assistance programs like food stamps. And, of course, you could always contribute to my employer, Public Citizen. We do great work challenging corporate power, if I do say so myself.