Jarod K. Anderson
@jarodkanderson.bsky.social
Fiction. Poetry. Nonfiction. Memoir: Something in the Woods Loves You - Timber Press Sept 2024 New Fantasy Novel: Strange Animals - Ballantine Books Feb 2026 Poetry: The Haunted Forest Trilogy Podcast: The Cryptonaturalist https://linktr.ee/jarodkanderson
You know when you read a book and can’t stop thinking about it, even after a lot of time has elapsed? Like, for whatever reason, it just has an extra helping of staying power? For me rn, that book is Strange Animals by @jarodkanderson.bsky.social. Read it in July and it’s still regularly on my mind.
There were periods of my life when I was a shark stuck in a lawn chair. I felt doomed and totally unequipped to deal with the world. But the problem wasn’t me. The problem was that I was trapped in a context that made my strengths feel like weaknesses.
Just block AI apologists. Why would you spend actual human effort arguing with somebody who has made outsourcing their thinking/writing to a machine their central passion? Who would you really be arguing with? Might as well put sunglasses on a lamp and spend time arguing with that.
Which animals can "haunt" without dying first? Foxes? Deer? Jellyfish?
If you use AI for any part of your writing process, just go ahead and have AI simulate a reader response too. What's the difference?
Once upon a time, a small pig fell in love with a tiny castle. Some other stuff happened and that’s how armadillos entered the world. The End
You can love yourself and still desire to change. I love my garden, but I plant new things constantly. My love doesn't require immutability.
Magical creatures don’t exist, eh? Roughly 400 million years ago, before the birth of trees, there were giant mystery cones called “Prototaxites,” which grew nearly 30 feet tall. We literally have no idea what they were. Plant: no Mushroom: no Animal: no Tell me this isn’t a little bit magic
The secret to fiction is building a weird little guy who obviously needs the reader’s supervision.
Snails have everything I want in life: Free housing. A slow lifestyle. Thousands of teeth. Abundant slime.
I think facing the cenobites or the xenomorph or the Babadook would be easier if you had Scooby Doo around trying to pronounce their names.
Ah, you criticize AI on a platform that uses AI? Interesting. Ah, you criticize drunk driving while using the same roads as drunk drivers? Interesting. Ah, you’re against murder, but breathe the same air as murderers? Interesting. I am very smart and skilled at crafting relevant arguments.
I don’t feel like writing today. I’m doing it anyway, but I’m eating chocolate about it.
“You’re 45, so it’s time to get a colonoscopy.” Cold. Impersonal. Uninspiring. “Two score and five autumns have cooled your brow, so we must search your corn-maze for haunts.” Mysterious. Fun. Seasonal.
Sometimes it takes a lot of focus and intentionality to remember that I’m on social media because I like connection and community NOT because I accidentally got a demanding internship at a shitty tech company.
Anytime I see somebody saying we live in the worst possible future, I can’t help but think it must be nice to have such sturdy guardrails on your imagination.
Getting hooked on writing and poetry when I was 10 was sorta like planting mint in the garden. I didn’t know what I was starting and by the time I understood it was much too late to change my mind.
Tadpoles work hard to get big enough and strong enough to eat bugs. I try to remember their struggle so that I don’t take my own ability to eat bugs for granted. #thankful
“Hey, this river could use a hallway.” -Covered Bridges
If I peered into a knothole and found you snoozing cozy within, my eyes would light up and I would tiptoe away to protect your sleep.
Writing is like the fossil of a thought. Your intangible inner self becoming a leaf silhouette on stone. Dig down into the old stuff and face how you’ve changed.
I like how writing a book creates something smarter than I am. If I set a couple small stones in a sack each day, it won’t take long before I can no longer lift what I have collected. The small, intentional acts of our days gain a strength and life of their own. There’s a kind of magic in that.
🚨ICYMI COVER REVEAL🚨 We're bringing @jarodkanderson.bsky.social /The Cryptonaturalist 's STRANGE ANIMALS to the UK next March with this fabulous cover by Sam Gretton! The heart of TJ Klune meets the eccentricity of WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE in this wonderous urban fantasy. Preorder geni.us/StraAnimals
Pfft. Nice try tourist brochure. I know a horror movie premise when I see one.
🚨COVER REVEAL🚨 We're bringing @jarodkanderson.bsky.social / The Cryptonaturalist 's STRANGE ANIMALS to the UK next March with this fabulous cover by Sam Gretton! The heart of TJ Klune meets the eccentricity of WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE in this wonderous urban fantasy. Preorder geni.us/StraAnimals
