#nat cassidy

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Nestlings

Nat Cassidy: submitted for the approval of the midnight society, i call this the tale of the nestlings Cassidy: a young couple moves into a historic gothic new York apartment building Cassidy: but the neighbors have sinister designs on their baby Ira Levin:

Ira Levin: hey wait a minute Cassidy: i know but this time it's different Cassidy: there's vampires Stephen King: hey wait a minute

Cassidy: there's another difference too Cassidy: its about a nice Jewish couple Barker: ha ha oh i bet howard has something to say about that Lovecraft: I do, in fact! Poe: no you don't Lovecraft: but i Poe: you don't Poe: clive, don't encourage him

King: oh yeah, i heard there was a discourse about this King: about if vampires are anti-semitic King: like is dracula supposed to be jewish Bram Stoker: we've been over this before Stoker: Dracula isn't anti-semitic, it's anti-sex

Stoker: it's all about how sex is bad Stoker: unlike some vampires come lately Anne Rice: i regret nothing

Stoker: i certainly hope these vampires of yours aren't all sexy Cassidy: don't worry Cassidy: they only reproduce via a meat wall in the basement Stoker: oh good- Stoker: wait what

Lovecraft: so the vampires are jewish right? Cassidy: no! Cassidy: they're rich celebrities who secretly control the world Lovecraft: Lovecraft: so Poe: don't say it howard

Cassidy: these vampires are different Cassidy: first of all, they're a metaphor for the rich parasitically living off the poor Barker: that's all vampires Cassidy: Cassidy: ok but also they're weird bug people Barker: ok yeah that is pretty different Barker: i'll give you that one

Cassidy: as the couple is menaced by vampires, they consider and then discard multiple courses of action Cassidy: just in case you were wondering why they ultimately settled on their decision Cassidy: allow me to explain their logic in rejecting each alternative possibility Cassidy: i anticipated all your questions

Cassidy: the couple uses the door to enter their apartment Cassidy: now you might wonder, why don't they enter through the window? Cassidy: it's because they live on the top floor King: whoa! good explanation

King: you thought of everything! Cassidy: no goddamn goodreads nerd is gonna catch me in a gotcha, i'll tell you that Cassidy: now you also might be wondering Cassidy: why don't they burrow up through the floor

Cassidy: you know, i did a one man show about you, howard Lovecraft: i don't like the idea of an Irishman playing me Cassidy: oh i'm not irish Lovecraft: but then what Cassidy: Lovecraft: what are Cassidy: Lovecraft: [sweats]

[ishmaels]

9 books I want to read in 2026

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2026: July Wrap-Up.

Wow, I really did spent pretty much An Entire Month on one (1) big, loadbearing scene in my revision project (yikes), plus some typing/10%ing/query lettering side quests. I feel great about where the manuscript is going! I'm crunched under the Weight of This Deadline! And I thought For Sure I was not going to read much about it, but I forgot about tri-wielding nonfiction for a big chunk of the month, so Here We Are, ten-ish books later.

Reviews linked!:

BETWEEN DOORWAYS ★★★★ Liminal spaces horror short fiction collection, lands somewhere between THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES and I AM IN ESKEW. Delightful (awful), visceral, full of Creeping Dread.

VACATION ★★★(½?) Strange little book (I do think Weird and Strange have Slightly Different Flavor Profiles for me)(I usually go Weird.)(This one was Strange). Picked it up because the WtNV writer cited it as an inspiration. Still not totally sure how I feel about it.

WRITE THROUGH IT ★★★★ Funny! Relatable! Packed full of all sorts of publishing industry insider knowledge! Supremely helpful!

IN WRITING ★★★★ Another "Hold My Writerly Hand" type book. Lovely mix of perspectives and disciplines, I flaggied the shit out of this. We Are All The Same.

A NATURAL HISTORY OF EMPTY LOTS ★★★ I really should've loved this and it was really just mediocre :/ Everyone Is Disappointed With That :/

THE ELSEWHERE EXPRESS ★★ Sigh. It looks like it has so much promise and potential. Aesthetically charming, has the structural integrity of cotton candy, not only does not deliver on the "finding your way in life" theme but actually swings hard the opposite direction and lacks the narrative awareness to know it. Skip it.

FLOATING HOTEL ★★★★★ Delightful! Cozy! Becky Chambers + Imperial Radch + a smidge of Time War. Enough torture to hit my whump buttons (really not that much)(caveated here so you're not jumpscared)! Phenomenal ensemble cast and rotating but deep POV.

REST STOP ★★★ Library'd! Very quick horror novella. Some good dread, a fuckton of gore and bugs and snakes and googly eyes, mostly just Fine.

CIGARETTES UNTIL TOMORROW ★★★★ Romanian poetry! Contemporary, solid mix of styles, I Had Favorites.

ANNA AKHMATOVA - 235/942 pages read. Made it through "White Flock"! I think that's the longest individual volume in the collection so far. I filled three (3) sheets in my little poetry quest notebook about it. Good stuff.

I'm about *checks whiteboard**nudges conspiracy theory string out of the way* twelve (12) plot cards, or 35k/125 pages, from getting through this revision, and I'm about a month and a half out from my deadline (with two traveling weeks nested in there). I keep altering my goals trajectory slightly, and now I'm at "I'd love to be done with the Actual Hard Part Of The Work by the time the writing retreat cruise is over" (the Hard Part being: make it all the way to The End in hardcopy revisions, but don't worry about having 1. input all of said revisions or 2. 10% Solution'd all of it)--not because it's life or death in the grand scheme of the universe or anything, but because WOW I really was looking forward to a Hard Finish Line™. I Need An Off-Ramp, And I Cannot Drag This Book Into Another Year Or I Will Simply Perish. I think I can do it, but if you hear extreme writerly engine revving happening somewhere in Ohio, don't worry about it, I'm sure it will All Be Fine.

Under the Cut: How I Conceptualize ~*★Stars★*~

★ - This was Bad. I would actively recommend that you do NOT read this one, no redeeming qualities whatsoever, not worth the slog. Save Yourself, It's Too Late For Me. Book goes in the garbage (donate bin).

★★ - This was Not Good. I would not recommend it, but it wasn't a total waste or wash--something in here held my interest/kept my attention/sparked some joy. I will not be rereading this ever. Save Yourself (Or Join Me In Suffering, That Seems Like A Cool Bonding Activity).

★★★ - This was Good/Fine/Okay/Meh. I don't care about this enough to recommend it one way or another. Perfectly serviceable book, held my interest, I probably enjoyed myself (or at least didn't actively loathe the reading). I don't have especially strong feelings. You probably don't need to save yourself from this one--if it sounds like your jam, give it a shot! Just didn't resonate with me particularly powerfully. I probably won't reread this unless I'm after something in particular.

★★★½ - I liked this! I'll probably recommend it if I know it matches someone's vibes or specific requests, but I didn't commit to a star rating on Goodreads. More likely to reread, but not guaranteed.

★★★★ - I really enjoyed this!! I would recommend it (sometimes with caveats about content warnings or such--I like weird fucked up funny shit). Not a perfect book for me by any means, but Very Good. This is something I would reread! Join me!!

★★★★★ - I LOVED THE SHIT OUT OF THIS, IT REWIRED MY BRAIN, WILL RECOMMEND TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE AT THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION (content warning caveats still apply--see 4-star disclaimer). Excellent book, I'll reread it regularly, I'll buy copies for all my friends, I'll try to convince all of Booklr to read it, PLEASE join me!!

[untalented-but-opinionated]

Books I Loved in 2025: When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy

Love is a shape-shifting monster, she thinks, dizzy and horrified and exhausted and devastated. A werewolf with a bottomless stomach.

[writing-challenges-and-prompts]

Writing Prompt: Dialogue

“You sure you wanna do this? Once she realizes what you’ve been keeping from her she might hate you for it.”

“There are no other options. Let [——] hate me, as long as she’s still alive to do so.”

[surfeit-of-stoats]

I forget where I first heard this phrase, but memory is like a mansion. Full of rooms and hallways and closets. I can even picture my own memory mansion: a giant, boxy house high up in a hill. Painted yellow, with black gables. Don’t know why it’s yellow, it just is. Anyway. My memory mansion has a lot of burned-out bulbs. Or maybe I stopped paying the electricity bill for too long. It’s mostly all dark inside. That’s fine. Life is simpler that way, I think. But in this one little room, it seems as though a light has flickered on.

— Mary, Nat Cassidy

[yourfavouritebookseller]

When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy Book 32 of 2026

[whatcha-reading-today]

When the Wolf Comes Home | Nat Cassidy

This reads like someone studied the craft of 80s horror and then said let's up the intense dad trauma.

There's a lot to like here; if you're a slasher fan or a werewolf fan and like stories that move quickly and weirdly this could be for you. I read this physically and would recommend that medium as the book has font and/or color choices that I think fit the vibes of the book quite well.

Read in: August 2025

Format: Physical copy