Snow Sleigh Tannenbaum Warm Wassail
Christmas in Moontown: Ideas for a Skull Slime Tentacle Witch War Holiday Special
A mutant with a head like a mass of holly berries who pukes sleigh bells.
SLOPP consumes Santa Claus, then their factions debate whether to distribute the toys or EAT THEM ALL.
A mutant with a head like a pinecone who pukes mittens.
Skullface as a kid, mocked and forbidden to join in any mutant games — until his getting so upset he vomits killer pink foam proves useful, somehow.
Tentaclehead’s Christmas wish part one: the mannequin.
A mutant with a face like a pointy elf shoe who pukes He-Man toys.
Oogus Boogus takes over for Santa, flies a sleigh pulled by bloated headless garbage mutants.
Black Friday at the Moontown mall where Skullface must mop up after the masses of mutant shoppers.
Tentaclehead’s Christmas wish part two: death.
A mutant with a head like a moss-crusted stump who pukes candy canes.
Skullface’s Christmas donut.
“SLOPP-y the slime man was a goopy spoopy soul…”
A mutant with a head like a knot made of antlers who pukes a new car with a big red bow on top.
Three Feral Factories follow a “star” (really one of Carla’s laser eyes) until they find Abomination! in Oogus Boogus’s shack made of hair. They are: Tinselmill, Eggnogmill, and Snowglobemill. Upon their arrival, they disgorge their respective gifts and are subsequently dismembered in a misunderstanding that results in a close-range laser incident.
A mutant with a head like a lump of cookie dough with little bulging eyeballs instead of chips who pukes strings of colored lights.
Black Friday at the dollar store where Tentaclehead works, a mutant melee over a scarce, in-demand toy.
Santa Claus delivers presents to the doomed sodachildren of the Robo-necropolis, is subsequently executed by the Automated Undead.
This holiday season, consider giving the gift of SKULL SLIME TENTACLE WITCH WAR (signed & personalized copies available directly from me — write to rick@rickclaypool.org).
THE FORAGED STRANGE
Here’s some absurdist horror-flavored media I’ve been enjoying to help me dissociate from our doomed timeline:
“The Burrow” and other strange short films by Will McDaniel. These shorts are like, what if Salad Fingers but live action and using muppets made of meat. The humor is charming and the practical creature designs are AMAZING.
Godhusk: Rebirth by Plastiboo, a sci-fi body horror follow up to the author’s Vermis books. Pure art and worldbuilding here, just exquisite imagination fuel.
Tone-Bone by Kyle Winkler, a surreal cosmic horror adventure through the cursed midwest. This is full-throttle antifascist weirdness. Loved it!
Happy Whatever Holiday(s) You Celebrate!!!
Rick
P.S. Writing my weird whatnot is part of how I protect myself from the madness of the world, which my brain is steeped in every day for my day job. If you want grim reality, you can find me talking about terrible things this path month in The Lever (about the DOJ’s gift to corporate criminals), NPR’s Marketplace (about the dangers of human-like AI), Rolling Stone (about cryptocurrency corporations exploiting Citizens United), and 404 Media (about an AI chatbot on Facebook offering deadly mushroom advice).