@seanmdillon.bsky.social
Fond of theater-making, improv, horror, books, cats, dinosaurs, and houseboats.
Latest read. This one was okay. Neither the prose nor the plot was especially head-turning, but it did get more interesting toward the end.
25.09.2025 14:18 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Latest read… and 50th of the year!
It was fine. Supernatural escape room(house) revenge horror. Seemed like it was maybe going to say something interesting about perspective/memory/gaslighting/wholiveswhodieswhotellsyourstory… then didn’t.
Latest read.
A truly original and horrific take on the Christian mythos, against the backdrop of plague-era France. Gets kind wild in its late chapters, but never totally loses the thread.
Latest read. Honestly not sure what to think of this one. Feels like I’m reading it outside its cultural context. Saw it described as Kafkaesque, and that’s probably about right. Not especially a feel good read, though at least it is relatively short.
31.08.2025 02:29 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Latest read. A pretty good contemp folk horror book. As so often in witch horror, a witch isn’t actually the problem.
30.08.2025 17:39 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Latest read.
Started strong, with an examination of the mechanisms of habit… though short on practical guidance. But then goes downhill, positively presenting the darks arts of retail manipulation and social religious indocrination, and treating addiction dismissively as just another habit. Ugh.
Latest read. Enjoyed very much. A satisfying fantasy revenge fantasy set in the witch trial era. Decidedly more feminist than — say — The Crucible.
23.08.2025 15:29 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Latest read.
Despite being set largely in the Twin Cities and NY in the early 2000s —very relatable — and the quality of the writing, the whole thing was a slog. Probably because there wasn’t a single likable character… generally a dealbreaker for me.
Like Ward’s “Last House on Needless Street,” I suspect I might have had a different reaction under different circumstances.
The first twist had me “Hell yes,” the second, “Oh, cool, “ the third, “Oh!The remainder… felt arbitrary and performative.
I would still give it 4/5.
Latest read. TBH, this was a "because it is available from the library RIGHT NOW" pick. Wildly exceeded my expectations. Won me over with a lot of specificity, heart, and twistiness.
08.08.2025 01:11 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Just... gonna set this down here...
minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/f...
Opening Thursday.
minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/f...
Latest read. It was fine. It just wasn’t the B-movie slasher the cover had me expecting. Mostly a sibling drama, and I didn’t like any of the siblings. Mileage may vary.
28.07.2025 21:34 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Latest read. Dark magical realism stories embedded in a dark magical realism framing story. Not honestly sure what I think of this one. The frame implies some sort of unifying… something… but it wasn’t there for me. Might have liked it better as a straight-up short story collection.
27.07.2025 13:45 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Latest read. Strong shades of Poltergeist and It Follows. Narrated by an 8 year old, who reads more like she’s 4-5. Still, that device - though initially grating - ends up central to the unsettling horror of the book. Hope that won’t get lost in the movie version that is inevitably already coming.
22.07.2025 13:42 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Latest read. Very much enjoyed. Very reminiscent of The Martian, unsurprisingly. Often genuinely tense, though a few times I did think “oh my god could he just not have any more problems right now?!”
20.07.2025 15:02 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Note of appreciation to folks who have sent me job listings you think I might be good for. REALLY appreciate your thoughtful kindness. Still looking, please don't stop. My job history and career goals are WEIRD as far as the job machine is concerned, so finding the right place is a fun challenge.
15.07.2025 20:56 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Latest read, off the “really oughta” pile.
TBH, about halfway through, I was ready to ditch it. Then the plot turns a HARD corner, and I came to understand why it is a Great Work Of 20th Century Lit.
Happy 4th.
04.07.2025 23:47 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Latest read.
I love a lot of things about this book: the prose, the world-building and myth-making, the ambition, the precedent-inspired originality. Big thing I don’t: the hero, an omni-competent 15-year old who excels at EVERYTHING. Like he rolled his D&D stats in private, and huh… gee… all 18s.
Latest read.
Exactly what it says on the label: dark, bleakly hilarious, strangely satisfying, batshit crazy.
Latest read. Is there such a thing as “cozy horror”? It was fine… not quite my thing. Though it did have a handful of deeply original and evocative images.
20.06.2025 18:02 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Latest read, a book gifted to me by @octoberdandy.bsky.social. Thanks Jen! Really loved it! I’m often shy away from what I think of as “blatant fantasy,” in which magic is just a given fact of the world. But this one really makes it work, somehow. Strong characters do a lot of the heavy lifting.
12.06.2025 14:03 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Photo by @evelynvocu.bsky.social
07.06.2025 00:22 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
How I spend my Thursday nights.
(Improv Movement Project @ the Twin Cities Improv Festival)
I cannot gd wait.
07.06.2025 00:05 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Latest read.
Liked this one a lot. A pretty original ghost story with outstanding character development, interlaced with biting [sic] commentary on the Chinese-American experience in the US (NYC in particular) in the age of COVID.
Here it is. It has happened.
We have the perfect social media post.
Seems like a big deal to me
03.06.2025 23:16 — 👍 19 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0Elizabeth in a jar:
1c ea:
apple
rhubarb
strawberry
raspberry
sugar/equivalent
1/2tsp cinnamon
Mix, boil, cool, refrigerate.
Top on yogurt, toast, oatmeal, crepes, ice cream topping, or other sweet applications.
Thank me later.
