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STEPHAN LOY

STEPHAN LOY

@stephanloy.bsky.social

210 followers 220 following 1.4K posts

Artist of paintings and photos, writer of novels and short stories, enjoyer of retirement, and eater of donuts. Visit my website: smloy.net

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STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · May 6

GUARDIANS AT THE GATE, a dark satire on the plight of public education in America, is right there, ready for you to buy, read, and gawk at. ebook formats and print. If you're a teacher, know a teacher, or ever had a teacher, this novel will blow you away. books2read.com/u/4A09QJ

Cover art for Guardians at the Gate. A colored line drawing with a male teacher in shirt and tie, his sleeves rolled up, physically defending the entrance to a school building. He clutches tracts entitled A Critique of Pure Reason and some of them are scattered at his feet. The school door is plastered with a notice that says: "CONDEMNED due to LOW Standardized TEST SCORES!" A woman stands behind the man. She wears a blue track suit and blue sunglasses and looks on the man with a sense of amusement.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 12h

So, I only have to live to May of 2031 to geet a decent look at Mars.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 2d

Americans! Provisionally good news! You can move to Svalbard, just pack up and go today! As long as you have a means to support yourself, own a good, heavy coat, a really big gun for fending off bears, and you're practiced at performing vital medical procedures on yourself.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 2d

🎵It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for neighbors...🎵

Morning in the suburbs, the vibrant sunlight soaking into the walls of houses and the leaves of fall-color trees.

Pink and gray-blue clouds over the neighborhood

Fiery orange clouds with blue-gray shadows ash dawn breaks over working class houses.

A weird pink-orange glow to the blue-gray cloud cover over working class suburban houses.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 2d

I beg to differ. Don't Worry, Be Happy.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 3d

The first serious thing I wrote was a short story for a creative writing seminar in 1973 when I was 16. I loved the story so much that I kept at it way after the class, turning it into a novel, working it, and finally publishing it in 2013.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 3d

What can I say? I'm old. Also, bought it in vinyl, new, for $3.50.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 3d

Life is just there. It just as well might not have been. As the great philosopher Homer Simpson once said, "That isn't a story, it's just a bunch of stuff that happened."

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 3d

Consider:
John Carpenter's The Fog is a sequel to Halloween. Poor Laurie, traumatized by the horror of her experience in Haddonfield, IL, runs away, changes her name, and hitchhikes to California only to stumble into boat hooks and bludgeons out of the night.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 3d

Wow, and they don't even have cruise control and it's hard to fish those shotguns out of that bed.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 3d

It occurs to me that the Fantastic Four, with private spaceships, their own skyscraper living quarters, and their Future Foundation, are one percenters and everyone's begging them to protect us.
So what does that say about Marvel and Disney?

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 4d

The wisdom is that you can't kill the dog. If you kill the dog, everyone will reject your art.
The folks who came up with this ludicrous writing rtule never saw The Thing from Another World or John Carpenter's The Thing.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 4d

It doesn't make the movie less terrifying, but the second the howitzer and the M1 tank showed up in Cloverfield, that monster realistically would have had about one minute left to live. Physics is a bitch that way.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 5d

Ooh, one of those twenty-pound heater cats. What luxury!

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 5d

The monster movie madness has not subsided. I've The Fog, John Carpenter's The Thing, Cloverfield, the original King Kong, and a few others that escape me at the moment. Still have some Halloween candy and cookies left, too.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 5d

We just polished off Halloween by watching The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) and packing down a metric ton of Reese's Pumpkins, Milky Way Midnights, Mounds, and homemade cookies.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 5d

a yellow minion wearing goggles and a blue shirt is making a surprised face .

Alt: a yellow minion wearing goggles and a blue shirt is making an awestruck face .

media.tenor.com

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 5d

Movies I've watched the last few weeks, including today: The Thing from Another World, Forbidden Planet, original Dracula, When Worlds Collide, The Valley of Gwangi, Mysterious Island (1961), Gorgo, Earth VS the Flying Saucers, THEM, Creature from the Black Lagoon, 20 Million Miles to Earth

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 6d

The Thing

a man with long hair and a beard is smoking a cigarette .

Alt: Curt Russell as RJ McReady in John Carpenter's The Thing. He's here, exhausted, at the end of the movie, the remains of his Antarctic base burning around him. He's just sitting there, leaning against some rubble, frozen breath puffing from his mouth. Soon he'll freeze to death when the fires go out, maybe before.

media.tenor.com

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 10d

Yes. That!

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 11d

The problem I see is that only one of those things matter. The others we've willingly imbued with importance, and for no good reason at all.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 11d

I think I heard recently another idea that there was never any big bang. The thing we perceive as a big bang was just our reality's entry into a black hole, that our whole universe is just the interior of that black hole.🧐

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 13d

Well, I guess nobody's going there anymore.😢 I don't know why being emotional about this would be cringe. I've NEVER been to the East Wing, and seeing those first photos felt like a kick in the gut.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 14d

Things that make me stop listening immediately:
-People complaining about the high cost of gas while standing next to their 10-mpg giant SUV
-People complaining about the high cost of food as they walk out of Trader Joe's with multiple grocery bags

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 14d

I kinda doubt michael is Michael.

STEPHAN LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 14d

And THEY may be entitled to YOU leaving them the hell alone!😀