Made a Moroccan Fish Tagine with white fish tonight over couscous, though strictly speaking, I made it in a Dutch oven instead of a tagine. My family seemed to enjoy it more with a mild harissa rather than the hotter one. #cooking #food

It’s been fun getting back into some research over the past couple weeks. Me and my little boy, Mr. Bojangles (Bo). Some new, exciting stuff coming out soon! #dogs #academiclife #goldendoodle

Thoroughly enjoying Matt Cain’s latest novel, The Castle of Stories, from Pansy Books, a new UK-based indie #LGBTQ publisher! Gorgeous prose. Funny! In short: a gem. Check it out here: pansybooks.co.uk/books/the-ca... Available on Bookshop.org: bookshop.org/p/books/the-... #fiction #newfiction

Pleased to see my book review of Stålenhag’s Sunset at Zero Point appear in Rain Taxi! Check it out in their summer print issue. Also, meet Bojangles (Bo), who showed his support by trying to eat my contributor copy. 🤪 Check out Rain Taxi here: raintaxi.com #dogs #puppy #Stålenhag #bookreview

Meet Mr. Bojangles (Bo), our 10-week old mini Goldendoodle. 🥰 #dogs #dogsofsky #puppies #puppy

New story out in Soundings East!Alternating between past and present, the autobiographically-inflected “Rituals” tells a story of an unconventional baptism and its implications 25 years later on parenting. Grateful to the editors! www.salemstate.edu/campus-life/... (print only)

🧐 Hmmm….

Played a great new game today w/ my partner: Fog of Love! It’s a 2-player romantic comedy, relationship simulation board game! Very fun! Thanks, @floodgategames.bsky.social, for this gem we enjoyed this Valentine’s Day! Even our cat, Lyra, enjoyed the box sleeve. 😁 Looking forward to playing more!🤗

Can’t think of anything better than watching Werckmeister Harmonies by the late Hungarian filmmaker, Béla Tarr, a film based on Krasznahorkai’s stunning novel, The Melancholy of Resistance. Check out the novel here: www.ndbooks.com/book/the-mel... Film here: www.criterion.com/films/33388-... #film

SNOW DAY TOMORROW (or, to be precise, an extreme cold weather day due to living in the Anthropocene). #catsky #cats

So very saddened to learn of Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr’s death. Rest in peace. Thank you for the gift of your art, which endures.

I’m finally reading The Melancholy of Resistance by Krasznahorkai, who was recently awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature. It’s a stunning work of #literaryfiction, set in an exhausted, remote Hungarian town that confronts the unannounced arrival of a traveling circus during winter. #fiction

Happy new year! Wishing everyone a healthy 2026! May it be infinitely better than 2025z #cats #cat #catsofsky

Fixed.

When your fire shines too brightly… Sigh.

Seldom-used floor lamp converted into a reading light over the couch. Perfect. #reading #booklovers

2025 Year in Review

Chuffed to bits that my story, “Latibule,” was nominated by Midway Journal for inclusion in the 2026 Best Small Fictions Anthology! Couldn’t be more honored and grateful. 😊 Check out “Latibule” here: midwayjournal.com/latibule/ #fiction #shortstory #writersofsky #literature #authorsofsky

Super thrilled to have helped lead the launch of Cuyahoga Community College's Esports Team, serving as Head Coach. Looking forward to NJCAAE Div. III play this Spring with more Div. I & II competition next academic year! We're also in the process of creating our Tri-C Esports Center! #esports

Define #love: Coming home at 9 pm after a long day at work to find this waiting in your office. #kingofthehill

This was me this week. LOVE higher ed politics. 🙃 Need to get out of meetings and back to my writing. #bollocks #borderlands #highered

I need this. #mtg

Haven’t posted #cat pics in a while—here’s a festive one for our favorite holiday! Lyra doesn’t mind the body costume but isn’t a big fan of the hat. 🎃👻💀 Also, happy National Coming Out Day! Special shout out to my fellow Bi+ peeps! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 #lgbtq #pride #catsofbluesky #catlovers #cats #felinefriends

A lovely treat arrived from Bonny Doon Vineyards yesterday, their Grenache-based Le Cigare Volant, which I ordered after watching too many #Frasier episodes (Le Cigare Volant is the of Frasier and Niles’ favorite restaurant). Check out the wine here: www.bonnydoonvineyard.com/product/2023...

Working on a new short story, "Lawn Jesus," along with drafting an autobiographically-driven op-ed about the existential dangers of evangelical Christian nationalism. My debut novel, ROGUE BURNOUT, also addresses this theme in the context of an esports tournament: mikepiero.org/index.php/ro...

Nothing like a hot buttered rum once the weather cools down.

Finally made it to the Murakami exhibit in Cleveland! Incredible and insightful, especially with how catastrophe has shaped his art (particularly post-2011 Japan). #art #murakami #painting

Fresh from the garden and blackberry bushes for this coming week! #gardening #cleaneating #food

Thrilled to start reading Michael Jerome Plunkett’s debut novel, ZONE ROUGE! If you’re into WWI fiction, check this out and order a copy from the publisher’s site or wherever you buy your books! www.unnamedpress.com/all-books/p/... Happy reading!

The upcoming challenge for this academic year: maintaining an unyielding spring of perspective. To what degree do lies help us maintain the illusion(s) of perspective in daily life, all towards pressing on? Where does art fit in to help? Perhaps the key lies in this pic of Lyra and the sunflower.