Chris Cusack
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fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Chris Cusack
@fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
670 followers 1.1K following 480 posts
Reader | writer | teacher. Been there, done that, got the T. rex.🦖 Researching death, famine, and apocalypse. Irish Studies and beyond. Reviews books. Also writing about Moomins, because why not. Asst Prof at Radboud University, NL. He/him
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fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Marina Hyde just doesn’t miss.
Quote from Marina Hyde’s new column in The Guardian: “It doesn't matter that Mars is an obvious shithole that looks like the least appealing disused quarry on Earth - a place so bleak and empty that if they found one single fossilised flower it would be celebrated like the holy grail, even though the impossible majesty of the Amazon rainforest is right here. But of course, the point of Mars is that it would be the place of Elon, Teslamandias, king of kings. And you know, I feel more confident than ever that we could all look upon his works and despair.”
May 30, 2025 at 11:10 AM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Made myself a new friend.
Photo of a crocheted ginger cat on a bookshelf wearing a light green scarf. The aesthetic is quite DIY. This is partly intentional, but mostly because I’m not a particularly proficient crocheter.
May 29, 2025 at 10:10 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Aww yes, been looking forward to @griffski.bsky.social’s new novel for years! And thank you to @kennysbookshop.bsky.social for the excellent service, as usual.
The cover of Sarah Maria Griffin’s new novel Eat the Ones You Love. Against a dark red background, a carnivorous plants which two traps with eyeballs in them. One of the two, moreover, looks snakelike.
May 28, 2025 at 5:53 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Dag @volkskrant.nl, “begrafenis” is met een f.
Screenshot van website met kop “begravenis paus”.
April 26, 2025 at 8:41 AM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
My local indie accidentally shipped @profdanhicks.bsky.social’s book a few days before the actual release date (1 May). Excellent stuff, so far.
The fairly Spartan cover of Dan Hicks’s Every Monument Will Fall: A Story of Remembering and Forgetting.
April 26, 2025 at 12:38 AM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
On Thursday, I’m giving a talk for our study association’s “Research Night”. I’m using the occasion to finally give shape to my argument about apocalypse and queerness in Tove Jansson’s Moomin books, and what this means for how we conceptualise queer temporalities. Really looking forward to this!
An image showing some of the key characters from the Moomin series, including the Moomin family (who look a bit like hippos), Snufkin (wearing a hat with various flowers), the Snorkmaiden (like the Moomins, but with a fringe), Little My, Thingumy and Bob (who love each other very much), etc. etc.
April 20, 2025 at 10:06 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Hmmm.
Screenshot of Google Translate, which offers “we find deer” for “sinne fianna fáil”, rather than “we soldiers of destiny”.
April 5, 2025 at 12:27 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Had a lovely time visiting relatives and cathedrals in England. Also bought one or two books.
Photo of a stack of books, including titles by Frank Kermode, Richard Scott, Patricia Lockwood, Jacqueline Rose, Declan Ryan, Eliza Clark, Joy Williams, Sylvia Plath, Selina Nwulu, Sinéad Gleeson, Anthony Joseph, Paul Muldoon, William Empson, Anthony Vahni Capildeo, Jahan Ramazani, and Lynne Broughton.
March 28, 2025 at 9:55 AM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Draw me like one of your French girls
Photo of a tomb with a statue of a man lying on his side, propped up on one elbow.
March 26, 2025 at 5:40 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Visited Ely Cathedral today and did the Octagon/roof tour and it was bloody brilliant.
Photo of a man (me) leaving the cathedral through a tiny gate cut out of a very large and imposing wooden door. Photo of stained glass windows and paintings of angels up in the cathedral’s Octagon tower. View of the cathedral’s nave from above.
March 25, 2025 at 10:42 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Is this what the men of 1916 died for?
Photo of a “Valera” brand hairdryer in a hotel.
March 25, 2025 at 10:33 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
OH FUCK OFFFF
Screenshot of welcome screen of what was formerly Microsoft Office 365 and has apparently been replaced with their new AI app Copilot.
February 19, 2025 at 5:46 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
That’s some clown car they have!
Text: “Audrey and Nick reconcile, before the adult Godzilla, having survived, emerges from the Garden's ruins. Enraged by the deaths of its brood, it takes its rage out on the four, chasing them across Manhattan in a taxi.”
February 7, 2025 at 7:16 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Publishing today: the excellent monograph Periodical Famines, by my wonderful friend Lindsay Janssen! iupress.org/978025307191... #irishstudies #famine
The cover of Lindsay Janssen's monograph Periodical Famines: Irish Memories in Transatlantic News Media, 1845-1919. The cover image is a black and white engraving of people in nineteenth-century clothing huddled around a public notice board trying to read the news.
February 4, 2025 at 11:18 AM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
My excellent friend Lindsay Janssen will be giving the @ssnci.bsky.social annual lecture, 28 February at @nlireland.bsky.social. It's based on her groundbreaking new monograph Periodical Famines, out next month from Indiana University Press.
www.nli.ie/exhibitions-...
The cover of Lindsay Janssen's monograph Periodical Famines: Irish Memories in Transatlantic News Media, 1845-1919. The cover image is a black and white engraving of people in nineteenth-century clothing huddled around a public notice board trying to read the news.
January 23, 2025 at 1:34 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
It’s a well-known fact, of course, that people with autism often accidentally pop fascist salutes at public gatherings.
Screenshot: “What was the reaction to Musk’s gesture? Stroppa later posted that the gesture was “simply Elon, who has autism, expressing his feelings by saying ‘I want to give my heart to you’.””
January 22, 2025 at 10:48 AM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Something tells me the owner of this hotel may in fact be a coyote.
An “Acme” brand coffee cup
January 13, 2025 at 8:03 AM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
This is the famous Dutch children’s author who wrote three books inspired by a story I told her when I was six. The first one
came out when I was 7. My life’s been downhill ever since.
Photo of three books. Translated ties: “Brave Chris and the Creepy Forest”, “Brave Chris and the Creepy Attic”, and “Brave Chris and the Creepy Circus”.
January 12, 2025 at 1:34 AM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
A few years ago over at the other place I did a thing where once a month I would buy someone a book I really liked. Let's do that again this year. This month, I'd like to buy somebody a copy of Moominland Midwinter, which I just re-read for an article I'm writing. Let me know if you're interested!
A cover of Moominland Midwinter, showing Moomintroll standing by a bridge and looking up at the character Too-ticky, who's sitting on the railing. Too-ticky is wearing a striped red-and-white jumper and a hat with a red pompom.
January 8, 2025 at 3:32 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Finalising the syllabus for my course on apocalypse. Featuring an updated note on GenAI, partly based on a similar text by @jshelat1.bsky.social.
Screenshot of text: "7. A note on Generative AI There are numerous ethical as well as academic reasons never to use GenAI, including the fact that its use may negatively impact the development of critical skills (see e.g. here), AI generation uses up scarce resources and has a devastating impact on the environment (see e.g. here), and companies such as OpenAI rely on terrible labour practices (see e.g. here). Due to their underlying principles, Large Language Models (LLMs) are moreover often unreliable, producing what some scholars define, quite simply, as “bullshit.” In academic work, this tends to manifest as absurdly incorrect arguments, references to non-existent sources, hollow phrasing, circular reasoning, etc. Any use of GenAI tools such as ChatGPT for outlining, writing, or editing the content of your assignments for these course is not permitted. Following faculty guidelines, you may use such tools for the purpose of initial research or for proofing your text, but you must reference the tool correctly if you do so. That said, I strongly advise against such use, for the reasons outlined above. Illegitimate use of AI constitutes fraud, and suspected cases will be referred to the examination board. For more information, see the faculty’s policy on GenAI."
January 8, 2025 at 1:21 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Reminds me of that time my brother was catsitting and found out after he’d baked a lovely cake for his birthday that the cat’s owner had accidentally swapped the sugar and salt labels (actual footage).
January 4, 2025 at 10:11 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
It appears this publisher forgot to update the info sheet before sending out advance reading copies. Unrelatedly, many thanks to @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social for sending me an ARC of the UK edition of Diane Seuss’ new collection Modern Poetry, out in February.
Photo of info sheet, which reads: ‘Quote’ —Name McName, Title
December 29, 2024 at 2:53 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
It appears I’ve become someone who enjoys big books about evangelical apocalypticism.
Photo of the spines of two books by Donald Harman Akenson: Discovering the End of Time and The Americanization of Apocalypse.
December 23, 2024 at 1:14 PM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
brb gotta go present my philosophy talkshow on german tv
Selfie of me looking serious in a turtleneck sweater and a tweed jacket
December 23, 2024 at 11:41 AM
fearfuljoycuit.bsky.social
Look at this Moomin a student made me!
A crocheted Moomin standing in front of a computer screen. Moomins are white creatures that look like hippos, though technically they are trolls!
December 20, 2024 at 2:25 PM