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Christian Hogue (IG), by Erez Sabag (IG)

Original post here.

My dad wrote:

"Our lives were never the same once you entered them, and they'll never be the same now that you're gone."

It was for my brother's obituary. My mom loved the words; we all did. That sentence is etched on the back of Mike's headstone.

My brother's been gone for 24 years, as of today. When he died, he was five months shy of his 24th birthday.

That numerical oddity put me in mind of "the day," back in January 1994: the first day that I was ever older than my older brother.

No parent should ever have to bury their child, true, but everyone knows that. There are support groups for them, whole shelves of books.

No little brother should ever have to become an only child, either, but I don't think people think about that. It was hard to go from "following in the footsteps" to "blazing the trail," with no notice, with no one noticing.

Mike was already there when I showed up; I came into his life, not the other way around. So I don't know about the first half of what Dad wrote.

But the second half of those words Mom loved so much? Those, I can promise you, were the truest words I've ever read in my life.

RIP, big bro. I still miss you.

Here is the cover to Unexpected issue #162. The final cover is in the middle. Around the frame in the corners are the results from each of the separate color plates.

By Sandra (IG, FB)

Larry Weiss is, perhaps, the greatest living American:

He invented both Underoos and Fruity Pebbles.

And Cocoa Pebbles, and Hungry Jack pancake mix, and the automated postage service machine, and...

December 19th is the anniversary of the publication of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” in 1843.

December 15th is the anniversary of that time Neil Gaiman dressed up like Dickens (whom he already looks a lot like) and gave a public reading / performance of the story at the New York Public Library, in 2013.

That day, Gaiman read from Dickens’ original, hand-edited ”prompt” copy of the book; the one he used in his public performances, starting in 1853.

You can read how it all came about, here.

Photo by H. Dan Harkins November 11th, 2025