Eric Notaro

@ericnotaro.bsky.social

85 Followers 126 Following

Occasionally published fiction writer. Avid reader. Long time D&D nerd.

A statue of Bowser at the Nintendo NYC store appearing like he is bursting through bricks in the wall. His arm is raised and palm is up in a perfect high-five pose. A sign next to him warns not to touch or sit on Bowser.
Milhouse explaining before a convoluted chalkboard drawing explaining how the Rand Corporation, the saucer people, under the supervision of the reverse vampires, are working together to make parents go to bed early in a fiendish plot to end the meal of dinner.
A gif of the Simpsons receiving a Jimmy Carter statue hasitily repurposed to look like Marge with a tall hairdo and a crudely redone pedestal plaque. Flash forward to Bart and Lisa using it as an anchor for a tetherball game. Bart hits the ball hard enough causing it to wrap around the statue and hit its face.
Still from Garth Marenghi: "I know writers who use subtext, and they're all cowards."
Grandpa Simpson: "The story won a literary award with a longstanding journal." Chester Lampwick: "That story was lousy." Grandpa Simpson: "Concede AI's capabilities!" Chester Lampwick: "Make me."
Professor Farnsworth from Futurama: "My God, this is an outrage. I W was going to eat that mummy!"
Fist of the North Star: "You are already dead."
Screenshot from the article: "You know those “FBI—Female Body Inspector” shirts they sell at the worst store in the mall? Patel is what happens when a guy who owns one of those becomes the head of the actual FBI."
Brindle mutt sprawled across a couch. His head on my lap. My hand scratching his neck.
Grandpa Simpson saying: "A little from column "a," a little from column "b.""
South 85: An Online Literary Journal, Surprise Us / Unthemed Issue. Spring/Summer 2026 Issue. Cover image is a residential sidewalk in front of two brick houses. A large mound of snow is piled in front of them. On top of the brown slush, a traffic cone and a plastic figurine of Jesus stand side by side.
Father Brown
Scene from Venture Brothers with Dr. Henry Killinger's head projected into the sky, quoting from Shakespeare. The general from the episode responding "And you can read more about it in the Bible."
Mel Brooks as Torquemada mid-song-and-dance routine in the Spanish Inquisition skit of "History of the World: Part 1"
Page 624 of Moby Dick: "savage beneath, in his death-gasp, kept his hammer frozen there; and so the bird of heaven, with archangelic shrieks, and his imperial beak thrust upwards, and his whole captive form folded in the flag of Ahab, went down with his ship, which, like Satan, would not sink to hell till she had dragged a living part of heaven along with her, and helmeted herself with it. Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago."
A brindle mutt with a white muzzle laying on the couch, facing the viewer. A green wool blanket draped over his head like a hooded cloak.
The puppet Gabbo on the phone. A caption of Krusty the Clown's dialogue: "What the..? If this is anyone but Steve Allen you're stealing my bit."
Marge Simpson taking toilet seats out of the dishwasher and handing one to Lisa. Caption: "Lisa, quick, screw these back on."
Raven in a snowy tree.
The original post here with the Moby Dick Quote page below it: "Seldom have I known any profound being that had anything to say to this world"
Simpsons screengrab showing a hand holding a business card for "Lionel Hutz, Esq." The words: "Works on contingency" and "No money down" have been altered by a red pen to read "Works on contingency? No, money down!"
Caleb had balked at the superfluous designs of the World. Decoration that took a great deal of time yet served no purpose. These flaws, Caleb learned were more a demand by his customers than a flaw of the man who crafted it. Those with the money to pay him commissioned desks with ornate braces, swooping legs to support them, time consuming ornate work that added nothing to their function even detracting from it at times. Caleb had taken for granted so much of what the Shakers had taught him to be simple wisdom. As Caleb carved wood and imagined the baffling and impractical forms that the world's people rested on, broke their bread atop, or scrawled their records upon, the more he saw how much thev lacked in that quality. Even as he brooded over his work, he felt a joy in the act of carving, of sawing, attaching the components to make whole. In time, he saw beauty in his designs, not for love of the ornamentation, but because it had been shaped by his hand. Caleb soon found himself making furniture with simple flourishes. He had taken pleasure in this design work. Where Brother Samuel had once weaved the pattern of the Shaker universe in the fabric tape of the seat, Caleb had found some solace in a swirls and loops demanded by their customers He had grown to like the ornate chaos in the grain of the wood where once there had been plain order. If the universe were governed by cycles, as Brother Samuel had taught, they were harder to glean, blurrier in their barriers, subtle in their turns.
A cat sitting on the top of steps in front of a New England farmhouse turned restaurant. Snow is piled high around the walkway and entrance.
A cartoon panel of JD Vance dressed as a bellhop speaking with Trump in the oval office. Vance: "Sir, the lesser billionares are here to pay fealty! Trump: "Bearded guy! I forgot all about you! What is it you do, again?" Vance: "Er, I'm the Vice President of the United States, sir." Trump: "Ha ha, sure! If you say so. Send them in!"
Finn, my brindle mutt, tangled in my legs as I recline on the couch. His head is on my foot, propped on the armrest.
An old copy of Herman Melville's novel "Pierre or the Ambiguities" on top of a leatherbound journal filled with my sloppy cursive writing.
A Magic: The Gathering card
Movie poster for The Devil's Advocate with Keanue Reeves and Al Pachino
Finn (brindle chesie-hound mix) lies across the couch stares intently.
A row of 16 homemade everything and garlic bagels lined out on a cooling rack.
Rusty Venture, looking annoyed saying "waaaait, you guys are nazis" to a group of men giving a Hitler salute.
Principal Skinner appearing from behind Reverend Lovejoy: "I WAS ONLY IN THERE TO GET DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO GET AWAY FROM THERE."
A brindle dog laying across the couch with his big head nestled into my side and lap.
A brown and black brindle mutt lying on a bench couch, his head propped up on the wooden armrest and looking off to the side with a wistful look.
Brown brindle mutt with floppy ears, his head resting on a wooden armrest, wistfully.
Reverend Lovejoy prounouncing: "GOD HAS SENT THIS FIERY KILL-ROCK TO SHOW US HIS LOVE."
A cursed monkey paw's finger curls as the wish is made.
A black and white photo of FW Evans.
A brindle mutt lying down on the couch, his big pittie-hound head is on top of my hand and part of my arm.
A little toad amidst some plants
The Voices of Adrianna by Elvira Navarro
Cover of Nightshining: A Memoir in Four Floods by Jennifer Kabat. A green mountainous landscape bisected by a torrent of cool colors with a pointilistic pattern.
Boston, October 3, 1845. For the words "Why did you not kill the scoundrel Sir." "These words of yours show that you are utterly regardless human life. That you love human blood. That uou are a villain in fact and an open enemy to the rights of man. Your charge to the twelve Enemies of our common race shows you to be a brutal monster. I the writer have information which I would not dare to be let known. I tell you plainly that their is an association of 7 that have sworn by the hearth stones of their fithers that his rotten Patroon carcase shall disapear from amongst men. Your Blood when you think not, we have 3 ways to do it, we will accomplish tlie job. MOLLY MAGUIRE & REBCKA.
Toad leading Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi down a corridor in the stage setup of an N64 Mario Party game.
Homer Simpson, after accidently listening to a tape on vocabulary improvement instead of weight loss: "Disingenuous mountebanks with their subliminal chicanery--a pox on them!"
Gif of Sideshow Bob laughing in a crazed and maniacal way after winning the mayoral election. Caption of TV anchor Kent Brockman reads "And just look at how happy he is."
Bill Dauterieve from King of the Hill in a dress
A brindled mutt with retriever and hound features with his paws outstretched on the carpet, a toy between them. His head is perked up and cocked inquisitively.
Principal Skinner contemplating whether he is out of touch or if it is the children who are wrong.
Gif of Commander Ransom and Lt. Kayshon from Star Trek: Lower Decks. Ransom, his arm around Kayshon, saying "We aren't exactly dealing the the Tal Shiar here."
A stack of seven books. From top to bottom: On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar Foucalt's Pendulum by Umberto Eco King Philip's War by Eric B. Schultz & Michael J. Douglas The Muqaddimah by Ibn Khaldun (translated by Rosenthal Dawood) Mina's Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa
The front entrance of Toadstool Books in Peterborough, NH
A panel from an SMBC comics where a smiling man with heavily dilated pupils brings a pill to his mouth. A thought bubble above his head reads "Thanks, amphetamines!"
Portrait painting of Osman Steele. A red-haired man in his thirties with 19th century cravat and coat.
19th century black and white photo of Ira Harris
Black and brown brindle dog laying in a Panasonic chair next to a shelf full of books.
Simpsons meme: Two gen-X concert goers. One wears a MAGA hat. Caption: "Oh, There stock market is tanking. That's cool."
Finn, a brindle dog with floppy ears and a bit of white muzzle looks inquisitively at the camera.
The Wax Paper, a literary journal that publishes with a newsprint broadsheet.