Matthew Rettino

Weird #89: “Yellow and Red” by Tanith Lee (1998) In which a rational man finds himself haunted by a spirit revealed by spilled spirits

I also wrote about Tanith Lee's story "Yellow and Red." Reportedly, Gaiman stole his idea of the Endless from Lee without properly crediting her.

If you prefer to read my Lee post, you can do so here.

It's about spilled whiskey revealing disturbing creatures in black & white photographs...

#WeirdFictionChallenge I’m Matthew Rettino, a speculative fiction writer from Montreal, Canada. In my Archaeologies of Weird Fiction project, I am reviewing all 110 stories contained in Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s ma…

Today's story on my #WeirdFictionChallenge is Neil Gaiman's "Feeders and Eaters."

I treated it like any story in the anthology and wrote my thoughts, but it really sucks he turned out to be awful.

You can read my post on the story here. I save my quick take on Gaiman for the postscript.

The Lord of the Rings ys about how learninge, love, and gardeninge save the worlde.

My debut poetry chapbook Pilgrimages has been reviewed in The Miramichi Reader:

miramichireader.ca/2025/10/pilg...

Weird #94: “The Genius of Assassins” by Michael Cisco (2002) In which a boy delivers food to an elderly lady who sees things in walls coming closer to her

Deep, immersive, first person story told from the POV of psychopathic serial killers who kill with the casualness of a shrug.

Easily the most messed up story in The Weird and that includes Michael Shea's deeply unnerving story, "The Autopsy."

#WeirdFictionChallenge #serialkillers #weirdfiction

Ensemble Montréal may take the city two steps back — on housing and the climate crisis Soraya Martinez Ferrada and Ensemble Montréal may take the city two steps back — on housing and the climate crisis.

Ensemble Montréal may take the city two steps back — on housing and the climate crisis

“Bike lanes make all modes of transport more safe. This has been proven by experts so many times that politicians campaigning against bike lanes reveal themselves to simply not know what they’re talking about.”

Started reading A DARK MATTER and becoming convinced that it’s Peter Straub riffing on M John Harrison’s THE COURSE OF THE HEART — Straub collected a novella-length version under the name “The Great God Pan” in his “Poe’s Children” anthology from ‘08 — but further departures await, I’m sure.

wrt to the electric lit interview going around, here's Farnsworth Wright's take on realism:

It find it helpful when celebrities say this because it cuts through the hype for my normie friends and family in a way I, their local uncool weirdo, cannot. I've quoted Hayao Miyazaki, David Simon, Guillermo del Toro or had them quoted to me supportively in these conversations. People pay attention

In 1982, Scrivener published four original poems by Leonard Cohen. In 2025, we published them for the first time online. Read more of Cohen on our website.

scrivenerreview.com/archive/four...

"It’s almost like Kennedy joined the fight against chronic diseases, but is on the side of the diseases."

I hope something can be done about him. Sending solidarity!

Matthew Rettino's Newsletter Welcome to my monthly newsletter! Subscribe and you can download my flash story “In the Ruins of Shambhala.” Read it as an ebook or listen to Maria Avix of 600 Second Saga read it. (Just open on the l...

You can follow this series by subscribing to my Buttondown.

New subscribers can download an ebook of my short story, "In the Ruins of Shambhala"!

buttondown.com/MatthewRettino

Matthew Rettino's Newsletter Welcome to my monthly newsletter! Subscribe and you can download my flash story “In the Ruins of Shambhala.” Read it as an ebook or listen to Maria Avix of 600 Second Saga read it. (Just open on the l...

You can keep up with this series and my readings and appearances by following my newsletter!

Follow and you can download a free ebook of my short story, "In the Ruins of Shambhala"!

Weird #93: “Details” by China Miéville (2002) In which a boy delivers food to an elderly lady who sees things in walls coming closer to her

"The devil is in the details."

What if that was literally true? What if you could see faces in brick walls, people moving around in them, and you could open a door, and step into them?

"Details" by China Miéville may just be the story for you.

#WeirdFictionChallenge

Do you like stories about secret societies at war that have operated since ancient times, like the Assassins and Templars?

Michael Chabon's "The God of Dark Laughter" takes that idea in a different direction--what if an ancient order of *clowns* was sworn to murder another?

#WeirdFictionChallenge

Gautam Bhatia’s Indian SF anthology Between Worlds above Guy Gavriel Kay’s All the Seas of the World on a bookshelf.

I ordered my copy here in Montreal.

I’ve got Katie Perry’s new hit “I Kissed Trudeau and I liked it” as an earworm right now.

A gorgeous anthology of Canadian works from last year, and
I'm very lucky to have my bittersweet prose poem "Light of My Life" (originally published by @astrolabe.ooo) included alongside this incredible lineup of Canadian writers

If 22 Minutes didn't already exist they would have to invent it just for this.

YouTube video by 22 Minutes Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry are on a boat! | This Hour Has 22 Minutes

The unholy laughter that just came out of me watching this scared a cat.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYBl...

The destruction of Gaza’s heritage sites threatens to erase symbols of Palestinian identity Many relics of the people who have passed through the land over thousands of years are gone or in danger of disappearing

Between the Louvre business and the East Wing, it’s been a rotten week for tangible cultural history.* This on the heels of the Globe report on Gaza’s razing.💔 tinyurl.com/3e5takjf

*You can take the girl outta UNESCO but you can’t take UNESCO outta the girl, even ones who hate monarchies/fascists.

Pilgrimages @ Can*Con 2025 Last weekend I brought Pilgrimages to Can*Con, and it was a success! I travelled to Ottawa with my best pal, Jerome Ramcharitar, who came to absorb the...

I just wrote about my Can*Con 2025 experience:
buttondown.com/MatthewRetti...

The STM worker strike is set to begin overnight from October 31st to November 1st.

When the veil between worlds is thinnest.

Coincidence? 👻

Plans to reopen Tolkien and Lewis pub in Oxford approved Planning permission and listed building consent is granted to restore The Eagle and Child in Oxford.

Good news for Tolkien enthusiasts! (the obviously AI “photo” within the article is decidedly creepy, but still)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Over the last decade, technology companies have quietly trained us to outsource both judgment and action to frictionless algorithms. Meta, Amazon, Google, and TikTok have built environments where we act on impulse, follow prompts, and accept suggestions before we've even asked what we truly desire. Apple Pay, Klarna, and Venmo remove the pause that once made us consider value, turning our pocket machines into spending devices powered by a swipe, a tap, and a blur. The result is the steady erosion of our agency and autonomy. In these systems, we are consumers on autopilot: fed a diet of convenience and stimulation, primed for purchase, and kept just distracted enough to forget we ever had a choice. When you step out of the cycle, you begin to see it for what it is. But you need distance to do so. The culture of immediacy and entertainment has a way of making us comfortable while leaving deeper questions aside. That's why distance is our best friend. A weekend without a phone and a reading list, or shutting down the device at 6 p.m. to engage with family, can remind you of what autonomy feels like. It is choosing a world shaped by your priorities instead of theirs.

This is a good reminder of an article, and I’d especially like to remember this part.

josebriones.substack.com/p/escaping-d...

Katy Perry Releases New Single About Superiority Of Canadian Manufacturing MONTECITO, CA—Signaling a new chapter in her career, pop star Katy Perry released a new single Monday about the superiority of Canadian manufacturing. “When I learned about the strength of Canadian au...

The Onion is writing This Hour Has 22 Minutes sketches.

theonion.com/katy-perry-r...

Wish I could be there but glad we could connect over the weekend! Hope the event is a blast.

Poster for the launch of The First Thousand Trees. Perfect Books, 258A Elgin Street, Ottawa. Author Premee Mohamed in conversation with Kate Heartfield. Monday Oct. 20, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Hey book readers! If you're in Ottawa tonight, come on by Perfect Books at 7 p.m. for the launch of Premee's latest book, The First Thousand Trees, which is excellent. I'll be her wingman and we'll have a good time. Hope to see you there.

My book Pilgrimages on the corner of the Bakka-Phoenix sales table at Can*Con.

Me at my signing desk earlier this morning. I have copies as well as bookmarks and QR codes to one of my stories.

Walking through the forest at the conservation park surrounded by yellow leaves.

My book’s still on consignment at Bakka-Phoenix at the Can-Con dealer’s room if you want to read poems about the Second Sight and Highland clearances and some cool archaeological sites in the Outer Hebrides.

I took a break to walk at the conservation park near the hotel in Kanata.

I’ll be at the signing table at Can*Con with copies of my chapbook at 10am tomorrow!