Daniel J Nickolas

@danieljnickolas.bsky.social

265 Followers 199 Following

Bipedal primate of the genus (and orientation) Homo. Mad scientist at heart, who writes and reads books. Trans people are valid. Eppur Si Muove.

Copies of the autobiographies of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass, titled ‘Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,’ and ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass’ respectively.
Cover of “The Originalism Trap” by Madiba K. Dennie. The cover features two orange feathers in an “X” shape, laid over the text of the Constitution. Subtitle: How extremists stole the Constitution and how we the people can take it back.
Photograph of Anne Frank, writing at a desk.
Image of a tweet from “The Hill,” posted October 18th, 2024, of Kamala Harris warning, in a speech that, quote, Trump will send the army after you, end quote. The Hill headline for the image reads, Kamala’s newest lie.
Cover of the Folger Shakespeare Library edition of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ Cover is marbled green with the the title written in a flowing cursive.
Split image, with a photograph of author Frances E. W. Harper on the left, and an image of her novel, ‘Iola Leroy’ on the right. The cover of the book features a building with a sign that reads “Auction and Negro Sales.”
Screenshot of the White House proclamation for Black History Month, 2025, highlighting how the writer intentionally did not capitalize the word “black” in the phrase “Black Americans.”
Copy of Leo Tolstoy’s novel, Anna Karenina, the Pevear / Volokhonsky translation. Image features a close-up of flowers held on someone’s lap.
Copy of James Baldwin’s 1962 non-fiction book, The Fire Next Time. Cover features a black and white photograph of Baldwin, by Sophie Bassouls. Baldwin looks thoughtfully, but with concern, into the distance.
Centennial Edition of John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel, ‘East of Eden’. A seemingly dead tree sprawls across the top of the cover. Farm scenes are visible through the branches.
Cover of Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel, Beloved. The book is solid red, with the title in gold, and Morrison’s name in white.
Cover of Tara Westover’s 2018, ‘Educated.’ Image features the silhouette of a woman standing on a mountain top. The image is cropped to appear in the shape of a pencil top.
Cover of Elie Wiesel’s ‘Night Trilogy’, single volume. The orangish line on the bottom third is a silhouette of barbed wire.
Cover of David Crystal’s 2004 biography of the English language, The Stories of English. Image features cartoonish illustrations of Victorian Era English men sitting around a table, seemingly drunk, spouting English phrases. Image is part of the larger “The Feast of Reason, and the Flow of the Soul” by James Gillary.
Cover of the Barnes and Noble Classic’s edition of ‘On the Origin of Species’ by Charles Darwin. Cover image is the painting, Orchids and Hummingbirds, by Martin Johnson Heade, which features a small hummingbird resting on a sprawling orchid plant.
Cover of ‘The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating’ Image features a realistic illustration of a snail on top of the word “Wild”. Snail looks as if it may be moving toward the word “Eating” beneath.
Harriet Jacobs’s 1861 autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Barnes and Noble Classics edition. Cover features the 1853 painting “A Slave Market, Richmond, Virginia” by Eyre Crowe.
Cover of the 1977 novel, Petals of Blood, by Kenyan author Ngugi Wa Thiong’o. Penguin Classics Edition.
Photo of Martin Luther King Jr.
Main bookshelf in my bedroom, featuring my two plants.
Cover of Resident Evil: City of the Dead. Image features uncanny renders of Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. Three iconic monsters can be seen above the two heroes: The Licker, The Red Tank-Top Zombie, and mutated William Birkin.
Cover of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s edition of King Lear, by William Shakespeare
Cover of S.F. Said’s 2003 book, Varjak Paw. Illustration by Dave McKean
Siddhartha Mukherjee’s 2016 book, The Gene: An Intimate History
Cover of John Rechy’s 1963 novel, City of Night
Martin Duberman’s 1993 book, Stonewall, about the LGBTQ Rights movement in the United States.
Cover of Edith Wharton’s 1920 novel, The Age of Innocence.
Cover of Metamorphoses by Ovid, translation by Charles Martin.
Cover of Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1974 novel, The Dispossessed.
Cover of Morrison’s 1997 novel, Paradise.