Consolidating my Platform Shutting down Horror × Hope and narrowing my focus for 2026.

For 2026, I'm consolidating my online presence to fewer platforms. This account will go dormant; follow @joshsutphin.com instead!

Details here: joshsutphin.com/blog/consoli...

Ghost 6.0 - Grow faster. Connect to the world's largest open publishing network, understand your audience with native analytics, and build a sustainable publishing business.

Any followers running your own newsletter/site/whatever using Ghost? ghost.org/6/

I'd love to make more connections within the Ghost network. Drop your links and recommendations here!

#ghost #socialweb

He knows the pit of Hell awaits his soul.
He knows they cannot take him while he rules.
He’ll lie, and cheat, and steal, to keep his throne.

He fears justice.
He fears irrelevance.
He fears oblivion.

…but no king can live forever.

But still, he feels eternally maligned.
No satisfaction ever to be found;
no art, no love, no awe of the divine.

He performs charisma.
He performs authority.
He performs humanity.

His emptiness will never be fulfilled.

We know the Gilded King has secret ties.
We know the Shadow King pulls at his strings.
We know his vile deeds, his threats and lies.

But the politicians are complicit,
and the oligarchs are complicit,
and the media are complicit,

and justice can’t be served if no one acts.

The Gilded King makes sure we all can see
the men, the jets, the nukes at his command
Why else would every power bend the knee?

So money is traded,
and influence is traded,
and people are traded,

and no one wants to bite the hand that feeds.

He’s never known the hollow throb of need:
born to a gilded cradle; set for life.
Still, nothing ever satiates his greed.

His rule is his birthright.
Our fealty is his birthright.
The girls’ bodies are his birthright.

He knows that good things come to those who take.

The Gilded King upon his gilded throne:
a modern Midas, heedless of the tale.
No pleasure can surpass the sheen of gold.

There is nothing better than gold.
He paves over history with gold.
He drowns his kingdom in gold.

What better, then, than making deals for more?

THE GILDED KING, a poem 🧵

The winter solstice is upon us! May we all emerge from the longest night stronger than when we entered it.

Year in Review: 2025 It all gets better from here... right?

I did a year-in-review post, because that’s what we do now, right?

I talk about the upcoming winter solstice, the two ventures I started — this and @shirakipress — plus fiction I wrote this year, favorite reads, and goals for 2026.

www.horrorxhope.com/year-in-revi...

#writing #writingcommunity

Did you know Horror × Hope is also on the Fediverse (aka the social web)?

You can follow @hxh@horrorxhope.com from any Fediverse-enabled, ActivityPub-compliant account or app, including Mastodon, Misskey, Pleroma, Friendica, Lemmy, Ghost, WriteFreely, and more.

#fediverse #activitypub #socialweb

Writing—all creativity—is a message trying to be brought into the world.

The artist is a vessel. The message may or may not be important, but you can't know its impact until it's communicated.

You have a responsibility to deliver the message anyway.

#writing #writingcommunity

Writing—all creativity—is a message trying to be brought into the world.

The artist is a vessel. The message may or may not be important, but you can't know its impact until it's communicated.

You have a responsibility to deliver the message anyway.

#writing #writingcommunity

This is a massive overreach by Amazon and I eagerly await the inevitable lawsuit.

In the meantime, we need serious collective action at scale to punish this kind of behavior and prevent it from recurring.

Fuck generative AI.

#ai #amazon #kindle

writerbeware.blog/2025/12/12/k...

This is a massive overreach by Amazon and I eagerly await the inevitable lawsuit.

In the meantime, we need serious collective action at scale to punish this kind of behavior and prevent it from recurring.

Fuck generative AI.

#ai #amazon #kindle

writerbeware.blog/2025/12/12/k...

The Gilded King upon his gilded throne: a modern Midas, heedless of the tale. No pleasure can surpass the sheen of gold. There is nothing better than gold. He paves over history with gold. He drowns his kingdom in gold. What better, then, than making deals for more?

Here is the opening of my latest piece: THE GILDED KING.

Read the full poem here: www.horrorxhope.com/the-gilded-k...

#poetry #writing #writingcommunity

My new poem THE GILDED KING is up on Horror × Hope: www.horrorxhope.com/the-gilded-k...

I’ve never considered myself a poetry-enjoyer, but then this just… fell out of me, and now I have to rethink everything. 🤔

#PoliticalHorrorPoetry

I've got new fiction coming tomorrow, and this time it... rhymes?! 🤯

ICYMI, I wrote about my fledgling social media strategy for Horror × Hope: what I've been doing, how it's going so far, and what's coming next. www.horrorxhope.com/building-a-s...

I'd love to hear from y'all about your own experiences, too! What's working, and what do you wish you could do more of?

Wrapped: November 2025 Everything notable on Horror × Hope in November.

ICYMI: I published a rundown of all things Horror × Hope that happened in November, including two new horror stories, three new book reviews, and several pieces of recommended reading: www.horrorxhope.com/wrapped-nove...

#writing #writingcommunity

I'm starting to build a social media strategy for Horror × Hope. I wrote about what I've been doing, how it's going so far, and what's coming next. www.horrorxhope.com/building-a-s...

Q: What's the scariest story you've read? What's the most hopeful? #booksky

PARABLE OF THE SOWER planted a deep dread I can't shake. It's terrifying how current events arc toward this future.

THE FIFTH SACRED THING showed me how an intentional community might survive that future, and even thrive.

This excerpt from my new horror story, WE ARE ALL TERRORISTS NOW, brings us to the threshold of an explosion of violence both political and supernatural.

www.horrorxhope.com/we-are-all-t...

#horror #ShortFiction #booksky

In the afterword of my recent political horror story WE ARE ALL TERRORISTS NOW, I asked how long until the administration weaponizes its declaration of antifa as "violent extremists".

Turns out, they were already doing it: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

This, 100% ❤️

In the afterword of my recent political horror story WE ARE ALL TERRORISTS NOW, I asked how long until the administration weaponizes its declaration of antifa as "violent extremists".

Turns out, they were already doing it: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

This excerpt from my new horror story, WE ARE ALL TERRORISTS NOW, brings us to the threshold of an explosion of violence both political and supernatural.

www.horrorxhope.com/we-are-all-t...

#horror #ShortFiction #booksky

The opening line of my new horror story, WE ARE ALL TERRORISTS NOW, sets the stage for a political nightmare that feels all too close at hand.

www.horrorxhope.com/we-are-all-t...

#horror #ShortFiction #booksky

you should tell your story until you no longer need to tell it