Rick Hollon

@mimulus

Genderqueer SFF writer & poet. They/them. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Rhysling & Elgin nom’d author of TIME TRAVEL IS EASY (2025). Words in F&SF, NESS, Strange Horizons, Analog, OTHERSIDE, Kaleidotrope, ALOCASIA. mimulus.weebly.com

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Rick Hollon@mimulus· 29m

Finally went under the escarpment at John Boyd Thacher State Park with @craftyrowan.bsky.social. 1. One of the falls. 2. Red newt eft. 3. Jewelweed along the trail. 4. View from the escarpment.

Photograph of a gauzy waterfall falling from a limestone cliff. A trail goes behind the waterfall and under the overhanging rock.

Photograph of an orange salamander, the eft stage of the eastern red newt.

Photograph of a footpath, with two hikers, skirting a large green mass of jewelweed beneath a limestone cliff.

Photograph of a view from partway up the cliffs, looking out over a forested slope toward lowlands and blue sky beyond.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· 1d

Whoa, iPhone night mode kinda sucks now. Still, we saw some meteors and the Milky Way.

Photograph of the night sky spattered with stars and camera processing artifacts.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· 4d

There are always friends in the woods, even when you’ve been away too long. 1. Orange jewelweed. 2. Ghost pipe. 3. Squirrel. 4. Garter snake.

Photograph of the trumpet shaped flower of orange jewelweed catching a beam of sun in the late summer woods.

Photograph of the pallid white flowers of ghost pipe, a subterranean parasitic plant.

Photograph of a squirrel sitting on a mossy log.

Photograph of a garter snake coiled on the forest floor.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· 16d

Me: Breakup grief sucks. Maybe a book will make me feel better. Book: Hey, wanna bawl your eyes out with a weirdly perceptive and relevant passage? (From THE DAY AND NIGHT BOOKS OF MARDOU FOX by Nisi Shawl.)

Picture of a book page that reads:

We continued on. Eventually, we reached my building. I had my keys. But I didn't want to go in—not really; that would end our walk. Which you'd think I wanted to do. End it in bed. I mean, isn't the point of everything? To fuck?

Picture of a book page that reads:

No, it's not. The point is to make it, and by make it, I mean mesh: minds, bodies, pasts, futures, fears, hopes, dreams.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· 16d

My copy of the 2026 Rhysling Anthology, containing my long-form finalist poem “Toward a Cladistic Analysis of Hauntings,” arrived today!

Photograph of a hand holding up a copy of the 2026 Rhysling Anthology. The cover depicts a vast skeletal figure riding a horse over a city.

Photograph of the book held open to the first page of my poem, featuring its title and the first couple stanzas.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· 19d

1. Escarpment. 2. Path in the forest. 3. Woodland sunflower. 4. Queen Anne’s lace.

Landscape photograph of a forested escarpment dropping down from a plateau toward a valley under hazy summer sky.

Photograph of a broad footpath dappled in forest shade between the trees.

Photograph of several small yellow woodland sunflowers growing in a patch of shade.

Selfie of a middle-aged nonbinary individual with a flower of Queen Anne’s lace tucked behind their ear.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· 29d

A brief reprieve from the end of the world. A smokeless day outside. 1. Orange jewelweed. 2. Locust canopy. 3. Fern geometry. 4. Sketchy Boardwalk.

Photograph of an orange jewelweed flower, a bright orange flower shaped something like a cone.

Photograph looking up at a forest canopy of locust trees. Blue sky is visible in the gaps of crown shyness between the trees.

Up close photograph detailing a fern frond.

Photograph of a dilapidated wooden boardwalk trail traversing a wetland. Forest rises beyond the open space.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· Jul 11

It was “only” a 250 ft climb from the road, but I summited Whiteface Mountain today with @craftyrowan.bsky.social and my teenager, which was big for us. 1. The view toward Lake Placid. 2. Greenland stitchwort, an alpine flower. 3. The view down the trail. 4. Weather station at the summit.

Mountainous landscape looking down from high up a slope. A forested mountainside broken up by rocky patches slopes down to a U-shaped lake.

Tiny white flowers grow from a small green patch tucked beneath a rock.

Photograph looking down a steel concrete and rock stairway, a vertiginous height above rolling forested hills under blue sky.

Photograph of a rocky summit outcrop dotted with hikers. A circular tower supports weather instruments in the middle ground.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· Jul 7

Cloudy day in Vermont. 1. Rolling fields. 2. Deer. 3. Tall meadow-rue. 4. Old buildings along the rail trail.

Landscape photograph of green fields in a valley under a ridge of hills and overcast sky.

Photograph of a deer standing in the midst of vegetation in a field.

Photograph of clusters of small white flowers of tall meadow-rue.

Photograph of a tall old building, partially screened by young trees.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· Jun 30

Squeezing in one last walk before it gets too hot to move. 1. St. John’s Wort. 2. Yarrow. 3. Common milkweed. 4. Teionontatátie / Mohawk River.

Photograph of several yellow flowers with five petals and extravagant stamens, overlooking a rocky river out of focus in the background.

Photograph of feathery white flowers of yarrow, overlooking a bluff-top trail and a bend in a river out of focus in the background.

Photograph of the round flowering bundles of common milkweed in flower with an old steel bridge out of focus in the background.

Photograph from the top of a bluff overlooking the broad Mohawk River, with an old steepled factory building on the far bank.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· Jun 28

The one and only appearance of “magic” in TLR. #LGBTQWriteAThon

Screenshot from a document that reads:

Samuel sighed, and collapsed onto the couch next to Marc. For once, Marc seemed too glum to make a crack at him.

Ada pulled the printouts from her backpack, but as he always did, Justin jumped in to take the floor before anyone else could.

“There’s been another dinosaur sighting,” he announced. He stood in the center of the room, looking from one to the other of them, but the mood was all wrong, and no one reacted the way he wanted. “It was even in the newspaper. Here. Look.”

He pulled a Castleton Telegraph from under the Parcheesi board as if it were a magic trick. He waited for a reaction, got none, then handed the folded paper to Samuel.

“‘Giant Boar Shot Near Bellevue,’” he read, then squinted more closely at the grainy photograph. His lips moved as he skimmed through the article. He sat up straighter, excitement (or possibly concern) building.

“It’s not a boar.” There was pride in Justin’s voice, as if he’d shot the creature personally. “It’s twice as big as that man.”

“It’s no dinosaur, either,” Samuel said.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· Jun 27

Went on a quiet pond-side ramble with @craftyrowan.bsky.social this morning. 1. Pond view. 2. Tiny mushroom. 3. Bigger mushroom. 4. Moss.

Photograph of a pond seen through forest. An inlet of the pond forms the foreground, reflecting blue sky and summer clouds. The far shore of the pond is a green line of forest.

Photograph of a small parasol-shaped mushroom growing from a mossy surface in the woods. The mushroom has prominent gills.

Mushroom of a larger gilled mushroom growing from leaf litter on the forest floor. The ragged edge of the mushroom catches sunlight.

Photograph of sunlight playing across green moss. Out of focus pond reelections are visible through trees in the background.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· Jun 20

Newts and fungus in the woods with @craftyrowan.bsky.social today. 1. Eastern red newt eft. 2. Reishi mushrooms. 3. Possibly hoof mushrooms? 4. Yellow fly agaric.

Photograph of an orange newt, the eft (juvenile) stage of the eastern red newt.

Photograph of some kind of reishi mushroom, with brilliant concentric bands of maroon, burnt umber, orange, and white.

Photograph of what I believe are hoof mushrooms, thick gray mushrooms growing out of an old mossy log.

Up-close photograph of a young yellow fly agaric mushroom growing near a rock on the forest floor.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· Jun 16

Perfect June day up on the Escarpment. 1. Views. 2. Bearcorn. 3. Northern bush honeysuckle, one of our few native honeysuckles. 4. Gray dogwood.

Photograph looking across a wooded valley at a forested slope beneath a rocky escarpment under cloud-dotted blue sky.

Photograph of a yellow stalk of bearcorn, a non-photosynthesizing plant, bearing its small flowers above the leaf litter on the forest floor.

Photograph of the small green-yellow flowers of northern bush honeysuckle.

Photograph of bunches of small white flowers of gray dogwood.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· Jun 15

Open windows, back at last.

Photograph of a tuxedo cat enjoying the smells and sounds from an open window, his shoulder propped against the sill.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· Jun 14

A quiet bonding moment between our two leads, Samuel and Russ, catching their breath after a tumultuous day in the Late Cretaceous. #LGBTQWriteAThon

Screenshot of a document that reads:

The night rose to fill the silence. Rain drummed on the leaves, soaking through to patter across the platform. Samuel lifted the sleeping bag over the two of them, settling shoulder to shoulder in the close warm space beneath it. Russ’s breath was hot against his neck.

“My dad,” Samuel began, “he left us a little while ago. Me and my mom had to move to a trailer because he’s fighting her about child support. He says she took me from him, even though he was the one who left.”

Dads are assholes, he wanted to say, but maybe that would be presumptuous of him. (He barely knew the boy.)

“You live with your mom?” Russ’s voice held a hint of wonderment, as if he hadn’t considered such a thing could be possible.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· Jun 13

June morning in the north woods, on the edge of the Adirondacks. 1. Reflections in the pond. 2. @craftyrowan.bsky.social on the boardwalk. 3. Bunchberry flower. 4. Northern blue flag irises.

Photograph of a marshy pond under blue sky. Light clouds are reflected in the pond, which is packed with floating water plants.

My partner R walks across a wooden boardwalk trail across a narrow part of the wetlands.

A four-petaled flower grows low to the ground. A relative of dogwood, the bunchberry flower has a similar shape.

Photograph of a clump of blue flag iris flowers growing at the edge of the pond.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· Jun 2

My POTS was most unkind to me on my walk today, but it was lovely. 1. Beaver lodge at the edge of the pond. 2. Red columbine. 3. Hobomok skipper. 4. Canadian mayflower.

Photograph of a pond under rolling green hills and blue sky. A beaver lodge, a mound of sticks and earth, sits against the bank in the foreground.

Photograph of chandelier-shaped red columbine flowers in sunshine.

Photograph of an orange and brown butterfly sitting on a leaf in sunshine.

Photograph of the tiny flower stalks of Canadian mayflower growing from their shiny leaves, low to the mossy forest floor.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· May 31

Climbed (most of) a fire tower in Ferncliff Forest today with @craftyrowan.bsky.social and my teenager. 1-2. Fire tower. 3. View across the Hudson. 4. Solomon’s plume.

Photograph looking down a metal fire tower staircase at my partner R poised on the landing where the stairs switch back.

Photograph looking up the stairs of a metal fire tower at a teenager nearing the top cab of the structure.

Photograph looking outward from the upper reaches of the fire tower. Green forest rolls toward the Hudson River in the middle distance. On the horizon rises the uneven line of the Catskill Mountains.

Photograph of a spray of tiny white flowers from a plant called Solomon’s plume.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· May 31

No accounts. No logins. No color screen. No day-one patch. No battle map. No road pass. We didn't realize how good we had it.

Photograph of an old Schilling “Baseball Game” pinball toy, a plastic handheld toy with a tiny silver ball and spring shooter that cheaply imitates a pinball experience for us 1980s poor kids.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· May 29

Thank you! Like… homemade dinosaurs?

Screenshot from Jurassic Park. Evil entrepreneur John Hammond looks contemplatively at the head of his cane, which is a bulb of amber enclosing a mosquito.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· May 23

This goober doesn’t get affectionate with me, but from time to time I catch him just happening to sit in my vicinity.

Selfie of a white nonbinary individual with long brown hair, resting their head on a sleepy tuxedo cat on the arm of a green couch.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· May 21

Wildflowers in the Saratoga Sand Plains today. 1. Pink lady-slippers. 2. Canada mayflowers. 3. Northern starflower. 4. Sundial lupines.

Photograph of three pink lady-slipper flowers growing together on the forest floor. The pink, sack-shaped orchids grow on skinny stalks rising from broad leaves.

Photograph of Canada mayflowers growing on the forest floor. Tiny white flowers radiate from central stalks rising from shiny green leaves.

Photograph of two northern starflowers, seven-petaled white flowers growing low to the forest floor.

Photograph of a stand of sundial lupine flowers. Strings of blue-white flowers grow from central stalks in open, sandy habitats.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· May 19

Hot day up at the Escarpment. 1. Views. 2. Views, but from the top of a waterfall. 3. Red columbine. 4. Views, but with tree.

Photograph of the view from the top of the Helderberg Escarpment in John Boyd Thacher State Park, New York. Bright green forest falls away on steep slopes down to the Mohawk Valley.

Similar escarpment view. This time, a limestone ledge in the foreground forms the upper lip of an otherwise unseen waterfall.

Up-close photograph of the dangling chandelier-shaped flowers of red columbine.

Photograph of the cliffs of Thacher Park, with a half-leafed-out tree catching sunlight in the foreground.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· May 18

Went to Maine for the weekend.

Photograph of a rocky coast, looking toward the Portland Head lighthouse perched on a headland.

Photograph of the ruins of the Goddard mansion rising in the shade of newly green trees.

Photograph of an ocean wave crashing on shelves of bedrock.

Photograph of a sandy beach dotted with people under blue sky. Green islands and peninsulas border the sheltered water behind the beach.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· May 15

Finally lupine season in the pine bush. 1-2. Sundial lupines. 3. Canada mayflowers. 4. Felt cute.

Photograph of a stand of sundial lupines in flower. White and bluish flowers grow up a central stalk from radiating leaves.

Photograph of small green-white flowers of Canada mayflower growing from the forest floor. A fallen branch curves across the frame in the middle distance.

Selfie. A white nonbinary individual with long dark hair, a yellow shirt, and glasses with a blue frame.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· May 10

Managed to get outside with @craftyrowan.bsky.social this morning. 1. View from the Escarpment. 2. Waterfall through the trees. 3. Foamflower. 4. Cascade.

Photograph of a forested landscape falling away from cliffs. In the foreground, a trickling creek disappears off the lip of a waterfall down the cliff.

Photograph of a small, multi-tired waterfall falling down stairstep bedrock, seen through leafy branches of the surrounding forest.

Photograph of the flowering stalk of foamflower, culminating in a burst of small white flowers.

Photograph of a small cascade falling down a ledge of limestone bedrock in a forested ravine.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· May 5

Spring ephemeral wildflowers today. 1. Jack-in-the-pulpit. 2. Red trillium. 3. Large white trillium. 4. Marsh marigold.

Photograph of two flowering bodies of jack-in-the-pulpit, striped cases enveloping a thin flowering stalk.

Up-close photograph of a red trillium flower, its three maroon petals beginning to fade.

Photograph of a large white trillium flower with its three white petals.

Photograph of a row of bright yellow marsh marigold flowers.

Rick Hollon@mimulus· May 2

Spring ephemeral season is almost done in southern Vermont, but still worth the trip with @craftyrowan.bsky.social. 1. Trillium and mossy roots. 2. Trillium. 3. Squirrel corn. 4. Green Mountains.