The book, his second release, was highly anticipated, with Publishers Weekly, Bustle, The A.V. The Merry Spinster Ī short story collection, The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror ( Henry Holt, 2018), appeared in 2018. Lavery's first comic one-shot, entitled Rick and Morty Presents: Krombopulos Michael, was published by Oni Press on June 20, 2018, following the Rick and Morty character of the same name. Rick and Morty Presents: Krombopulos Michael This prompted him to imagine how Scarlett O'Hara might have used a cell phone. The premise was inspired by a comments section thread on a piece Cliffe had written for The Awl on Cliffe's review of Gone With the Wind, a commenter wrote that their experience in the South was nearly identical to the novel 'except everybody has cellphones'. The book was based on a column he wrote first at The Hairpin, then continued at The Toast, which imagines well-known literary characters exchanging text messages. Lavery's first book, Texts from Jane Eyre, was released in November 2014 and became a New York Times bestseller. On May 19, 2021, Lavery accepted a Substack Pro deal and shortened the newsletter's name to The Chatner.

In 2017, he launched Shatner Chatner, a paid e-mail newsletter on Substack. He stopped writing the column in May 2021. On November 9, 2015, Slate announced he would take over the magazine's ' Dear Prudence' advice column from Emily Yoffe. He was included in the 2015 Forbes '30 under 30' list in the media category. Through this work he met Nicole Cliffe, with whom he operated The Toast, a feminist general interest web site, from July 2013 to July 2016. Lavery has credited the work of Shirley Jackson and her novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, in particular, and John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress as influential. While a student, Lavery appeared on Jeopardy!, Show #5816 of Monday, December 21, 2009, and finished in third place. He attended Azusa Pacific University, a private, evangelical Christian university in California. Early life īorn Mallory Ortberg, Lavery grew up in northern Illinois and then San Francisco, one of three children of the evangelical Christian author and former Menlo Church pastor John Ortberg and Nancy Ortberg, who is also a pastor and the CEO of Transforming the Bay with Christ. In 2017, he started a paid e-mail newsletter on Substack titled Shatner Chatner, renamed to The Chatner in 2021. As of 2022, he hosts a podcast on Slate titled Big Mood, Little Mood. He wrote Slate's ' Dear Prudence' advice column from 2016 to 2021. He is known for having co-founded the website The Toast, and written the books Texts from Jane Eyre (2014), The Merry Spinster (2018), and Something That May Shock and Discredit You (2020). Lavery (born Mallory Ortberg, November 28, 1986) is an American author and editor. Something That May Shock and Discredit Youĭaniel M.

The Merry Spinster by Daniel M. Lavery