NOW ENROLLING

Something Ghostly: The Supernatural Function of Literature

With Quentin S. Crisp, fiction author, essayist, poet 

October 31, 2026 @ 3 p.m. EDT

This Halloween, Weirdosphere welcomes Quentin S. Crisp to speak about the supernatural as a literary subject-matter and about literature as potentially supernatural in itself. Crisp will compare the otherworldly atmosphere of supernatural horror to the Japanese aesthetic of yuugen and address the philosophical concept of intentionality as the basis of both language and literature, showing how the literature of supernatural horror employs the normal intentionality of language to ostend things outside of normal sensory experience.

Format

The event consists of one live Zoom session, approx. 1.5 hours long, delivered as a prepared talk with slides, followed by Q&A, plus a dedicated space on Weirdosphere where the presenter and participants can post thoughts, share links, and engage in discussion before and after the event. A recording of the event will be made available after the Zoom call and will remain available in the event space for all registrants.

Schedule

The event will be held on Saturday, Oct 31, at 3 p.m. EDT / 7 p.m. GMT / 8 p.m. CET, and will take place over Zoom via the Weirdosphere learning platform. A video recording of the session will be made available to registrants after the event concludes.

Please note: This event occurs one day before Daylight Savings Time ends in the United States. However, Daylight Savings Time will have already ended in the United Kingdom and Europe on Sun, Oct 25, at 01:00 UTC.

Cost

Enrollment is $12 for people registering on Weirdosphere for the first time. Enrolling in a course or event on Weirdosphere grants membership to Weirdosphere and discounts on future offerings.

Scroll to the bottom of the page to purchase.

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BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!

Writing at the Wellspring: A Course in Daemonic Creativity

With Matt Cardin, author, educator

Starts November 1, 2026

Presented by author, educator, and friend of Weird Studies Matt Cardin, MC101: Writing at the Wellspring is based on Cardin's book A Course in Demonic Creativity, as well as his new book Writing at the Wellspring: Tapping the Source of Your Inner Genius. 

This course goes beyond the typical writing or creativity workshop. Across five self-paced modules Cardin guides students through the interconnectedness of creativity, nonduality, and the daemon muse. 

Please Note: This course debuted in Fall 2024 and is being reopened for enrollment, FOR A LIMITED TIME, in Fall 2026, as self-paced. Registrants will receive access to five modules' worth of notes and suggested readings, discussion prompts and exercises, plus video recordings of all Cardin's lectures and office hours with the course's original cohort.

Through video lectures, readings, and exercises students will:

• Delve into the concept and experience of creativity as an inner collaboration with a separate force or intelligence within the psyche

• Spark the imagination and deepen an understanding of the self, the world, and how the reality that gives rise to both can tell us what we're here to do

• Discover ways to understand and navigate the tension between the drive to create and what can sometimes feel like an opposite impulse toward total stillness and inactivity that can accompany spiritual insight

• Examine the possibility of using writing and other creative work as a "monastic option" that makes a monastery of one's life and provides purpose and meaning in a time of apocalyptic cultural transformation

• Practice effortless action or creative quietude as a way to align personal creativity with the creative current that animates the cosmos

Schedule

To capstone a period of self-directed learning, Cardin will host a live, interactive session, over Zoom, on Sunday, Dec 6, at 3 p.m. ET. The session will be recorded for those unable to attend live and will be added to the course materials for all registrants of the course.

Cost

Enrollment is $180 for people registering on Weirdosphere for the first time. Enrolling in a course or event on Weirdosphere grants membership to Weirdosphere and discounts on future offerings.

Scroll to the bottom of the page to purchase.

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On the very notion of a Weirdosphere

At a certain point, Phil Ford and J.F. Martel started to realize they weren't just two guys with a podcast (Weird Studies), but members of a community of thinkers, artists, and writers all drawn to the same chaotic, terrible, beautiful zone — the Weird. This community could be called the intellectual sphere of the weird, or, to coin a term, the intellectual Weirdosphere. 

But how could such an imaginal entity manifest on the material plane, they asked? What institution could serve as a makeshift home to the Weird? Where would J.F., Phil, and their friends be able to establish the conversations they wanted to have? 

This site to which fate has steered you—our community on Mighty Networks at Weirdosphere.mn.co—is home to all the conversations we ever wanted to have with our colleagues. And you are our colleague, even if we haven't yet met. Welcome to Weirdosphere.