Only Connect

Tumblr blog of Darrell Z. Grizzle, author of “I Never Meant to Start a Murder Cult.” Queer Bear. Poet. EpiscoBuddhist. Deadhead. Writer of Horror, Dark Fantasy, and Crime Fiction. I'm a fan of cats, coffee, books, DragonCon, comics, Godzilla, dark academia, queer academia, absinthe, the Bloomsbury writers and artists (especially E.M. Forster, and especially his novel Maurice), Beat writers, romantic poets, folk horror, Gothic literature, Flannery O’Connor, Tolkien and the Inklings, and Haruki Murakami & Salman Rushdie. My horror blog is @eldritch-macabre 🌈 🐻 📚☕️

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New Pinned Post: Here is my Linktree for all my links: https://linktr.ee/dzgrizzle

Photos 1 & 2: Michael Varnum and I are very happy to announce that we were married on Saturday, April 11th, 2026, on the beach on Tybee Island! Here’s a pic of us getting married, with my brother Jason officiating and 19 friends and loved ones as witnesses; and a pic of us the next day on Chippewa Square, our favorite of the beautiful historic squares in Savannah.

Photo 3: My first-ever author reading at DragonCon (2024). I shared the hour with Jessi Ann York and Jessica Nettles. We each read from our spooky fiction and the audience was very receptive and welcoming. I was surrounded by awesome friends including Lisa & Ruby Moore, Adam Volle, Daniel Lyman, and my partner Michael Varnum.

Photo 4: My tattoo on my left inner forearm: “only connect,” the epigraph of Howards End by my favorite writer E.M. Forster, and really the theme of all his works (including Maurice, my favorite novel). Typewriter font. Inked by James Tuck.

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“You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life.”

— Krishnamurti

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Vase with Flowers, Coffeepot and Fruit (1887) by Vincent van Gogh

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Deer in the backyard this morning (again)

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Michael C. Hall (Dexter) and Uma Thurman (Charley) filming Dexter: Resurrection, season 2

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Althea the Vampire Princess is very curious about what I am reading.

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I especially like how it’s “hand cranked and twisted.”

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“A book takes the time that it needs, and you don’t have a choice about it. But don’t worry, novels grow in the dark.” ~ J.D. Salinger

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Texas Representative James Talarico challenged a foundational pillar of the American religious right, asserting that the equation of Christian faith with opposition to abortion and LGBTQ rights has no solid historical, theological, or biblical foundation. Talarico's statement is supported by the Southern Baptist Convention's own record: the denomination passed a pro-abortion resolution in 1971, praised the Roe v. Wade decision through its own press service in 1973, and did not adopt a firmly anti-abortion position until a conservative faction seized control in the 1980s.

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Queer Books and Authors are at a Breaking Point

Authors, agents, publishers: every part of the industry is seeing the strain of five years of escalating anti-LGBTQ censorship.

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if you'd like to show support, here are some upcoming queer books:

When Life Gives You Corpses is a brilliant YA about a cursed praying mantis who falls for a young witch. Yield Under Great Persuasion is a raunchy, but surprisingly sweet story about two men repairing their relationship. Fabulous Bodies is a horror story about a queer rockstar rising from the dead.

This is Where the Future Bleeds is a fantasy set in a vividly imagined land, where two women (who happen to kiss) are the key to healing the broken sky. You're No Better is a story about a teen struggling in the shadow of his murderous parent. Oil on Canvas is about a woman who finds disturbing paintings in the home of her dead mother.

and then here's a list of 26 queer books by Black authors set to publish this year, and a 10 upcoming books by trans authors. if you want to fight back against queer censorship, use your wallet! or (if that's not an option) you can contact your local library and ask them to stock a copy.

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Lester Young

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Working at home today. In addition to the deer in the yard, I've also seen three of the neighborhood cats come to the catfood and water bowls on the front porch: the one I call Dorian, because he is Gray; the black cat I call Phantom, because he appears and disappears as if by magic (Phantom will peer in the window if the food bowl is empty); and the orange cat I call Leaf Bringer (or Leaf), because he sometimes leaves a leaf or twig behind as payment beside the bowls. I've seen him walking across the yard with a leaf in his mouth on his way to the catfood bowl.

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You may recall “Testify to Love,” as a bubbly, infectious CCM hit from 1997 by the pop quartet Avalon. Originally a cheery anthem to God’s love, Ty Herndon and former Avalon singer Michael Passons have re-released the song with an added layer: LGBTQ+ affirmation.

For Passons, the re-recording of his CCM hit was a moment for the song to come full circle. The Nashville-based artist left Avalon in 2003, at the time saying it was to pursue a solo career. In 2020, he revealed to Billboard that he’d been fired by the band because he is a gay man.

Gift Link to Sojourners article:

A ’90s Christian Hit Song Is Now Blooming as a Queer Anthem

“Testify to Love” means more to former Avalon singer Michael Passons now that he can sing it as “someone who has embraced my identity.”

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Give it time Go ahead and give it hell Give it all you've got Or give it up for something else It's a revelation It's a hallelujah It's the nature of the spirit running through ya