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This special Thursday edition of The Lazy Reader is supported by the Premium Ghostwriting Academy!

Really stoked to have their support. I did some ghostwriting in a previous life—it’s a great way to supplement your income and sharpen your writing skills. Back then, though, I didn’t know about the Premium Ghostwriting Academy yet, so I got things done through trial-and-error. Mostly error.

I made so many mistakes, guys. It’s pretty embarrassing to think about it now.

If you’re looking to earn a little bit on the side, consider ghostwriting. And if you do, definitely check out this newsletter’s sponsor! You’re going to save yourself so much time by avoiding all the flopping I did.

Show them (and me) some love by clicking on the ad below. It’s free and super quick and a really effective way of supporting the newsletter! 🙏

To celebrate the support from the Premium Ghostwriting Academy, here’s a quick reading list about ghosts in its different forms—supernatural spirits, haunted houses, cursed ships, and Tinder matches that suddenly won’t return your messages.

(It was a fun and easy word-play, okay. It’s good to enjoy some shallow humor once in a while).

Happy reading! 🤓

Writers making less than $5,000 per month:

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Ghosts: The Paranormal, Vanished, Unseen and… No Longer Interested?

The Murder House | Medium (by Jeff Maysh), $

I read this one years ago and it’s always just been swimming in my mind ever since. Jeff Maysh is a force of nature and he has this really, really enviable ability of sniffing out the most fascinating stories—and flesh out even juicier angles.

In this story (which very shockingly was not picked up by any of the outlets Jeff pitched it to, hence being published on Medium), he digs through the history of a house that, based on my understanding, has just been kind of standing there. In plain sight. That’s another shocker about this story—that this house hasn’t yet been milked dry of its mysteries.

But I guess the ability to see narrative gems in supposedly boring, everyday things is its own unique journalistic skill.

Anyway, this specific entry on the list is for those of us who enjoy the thrill of demystifying the mystical. The house on Glendower has long attracted horror buffs, many of whom have taken its imposing presence sort of as a challenge. The house has also cultivated a reputation of being cursed: It can’t seem to keep tenants, and previous owners have reported spectral sounds and appearances.

Now, I’m not saying that the house is actually haunted, but in rooting through its history, Jeff finds something of a genesis for the alleged curse.

This story is equal parts tragic and creepy, and, like all good longform pieces, it digs deep into human nature to find answers to the arcane. Definitely worth spending an hour ish of your day on.

Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here's What Happened | WIRED, $

In such a hyperconnected age that we live in today, is it even possible to just up and disappear?

Evan Ratliff—who, if you were also a follower of the Longform podcast or Longform.org, will be familiar—tried to pull this exact thing off. After months of what I can only guess is intensive preparation, Evan finally set his plan into motion, leaving almost no trace of himself, save for a couple of prepaid phones that his partner and parents could use to get in touch with him in case of emergencies.

But there was an additional wrinkle: Evan (and WIRED) put a bounty on himself. He issued a public challenge on Twitter, giving internet sleuths and privacy enthusiasts a month to find him. The prize was $5,000.

(Spoilers ahead so I encourage you to read the piece first then come back here)

There are a lot of interesting things to pick up from this story. But what stands out most to me is how Evan almost succeeded. He was like days away. Which makes me think that it is possible to just vanish like a ghost and start a completely new life someplace else. It’s not easy, of course, but it is, at the very least, doable.

I imagine that if Evan had fled abroad, or if he had put in more work into creating a new identity (with paperwork and what have you), he could have easily stayed hidden for more than a month.

On a more procedural note: I adore this type of experimental, experiential reportage. It’s a creative spin on the usual pavement-pounding that reporters usually do, and it makes for much more interesting stories, in my opinion.

The Cloud Under the Sea | The Verge, Free

For how central the Internet is to modern life—and for how top-of-mind it seems to be for everyone—there’s a bit of beautiful irony that our global connectivity is kept alive by a ghost industry.

And okay: I’ve always known that Internet cables ran on the seafloor, but I never really stopped to consider how extensive the underwater network was, or how vulnerable it was to the forces of nature. I also never gave much thought to who repairs these cables and how.

Apparently, so many other people were with me in this ignorance, and The Verge took advantage of this to such a fascinating end.

The Verge delivered what is probably the most up-close and intimate account of the Japanese techinicians and engineers and sailors-at-heart who literally brave stormy seas just to make sure that our instant messages are sent… well… instantly.

There’s so much risk involved in this line of work that I sort of started feeling bad about how unseen and unappreciated these seamen go. But I think they made it clear that there is also a certain understated and peaceful joy with keeping their industry quiet. Some derive satisfaction from being invisible.

The real problem, of course, is that if there’s not enough awareness about this line of work, then how are young people supposed to come onto the industry? With how rapidly the Internet (and related industries) is growing, the world can’t just rely on misfits stumbling their way into this line of work.

Maybe this story can help drum up some attention. But just enough, of course. Not too much.

Chinatown’s Ghost Scam | The New Yorker, $

At the risk of offending: There is a very notable element of superstition underpinning all religions (or at least, all religions that I know of).

I don’t think that undermines faith and belief.

I do think, however, that that facet of religion is easy to exploit. This story demonstrates that perfectly, and adds on another cultural layer: In Chinese (and I guess Asian more broadly) communities, shame is such a strong social force that it can keep victims of these types of scams quiet.

The need to keep up appearances is too strong that victims would rather sustain thousands of dollars in losses than cry for help.

(I’m sure other cultures have something similar, too, but I’m not sure I want to speak for them.)

The reporting here is incredible, especially given all that I just said about shame. Granted, the writer, Jiayang Fan, is of Chinese descent, but she still ran up against quite a formidable language barrier, being knowledgeable only in Mandarin. The degree of vulnerability that she was able to draw out of the victim was impressive.

Equally impressive was the writing. The prose was sharp but kind, honestly detailing out the scheme—its obvious pitfalls and hooks—without shaming the main character. Scams are designed, after all, to interfere with rational thinking. Exploiting belief by banking on the outlandishness of its more supernatural elements only made the entire thing more believable. Anyone could have fallen for it.

A Ghost Ship’s Doomed Journey Through the Gate of Tears | WIRED, $

I have to admit: This one isn’t necessarily a favorite of mine, mostly because there’s not a lot of story there, per se. Instead, I think that the article loses itself too much in the details of the titular Ghost Ship’s movement.

But I’ve re-read it a couple of times since it was published and I think I’ve started to realize that that precisely is its strength.

There’s something to be said about the breathless minute-by-minute account of the final moments of the ship. Digging into records and satellite images and analysis documents, and then supplementing these with interviews, to reconstruct the chain of events with granular detail—that’s its own special brand of impressive reportage.

I just wish that WIRED did more with it. Maybe find a human story at the center of it all? Or the complete opposite: Zoom out so far and identify the larger factors at play here and the broader ramifications of the ship’s sinking. I feel like telling such a hyperfocused story is only half the battle.

A Mini Tinder Time Capsule: A Decade of Ghosting, Emojis, and Urban Legends. | The Cut, Free

Just a disclaimer upfront: This one is actually a collection of a few shorter essays, all of them about Tinder and the era of online dating that it ushered in.

Most interesting to me here was the essay about ghosting, which makes it perfect for this list, don’t ya think?

As someone who, like the writer, languished for years on The Apps as they’re called (this is something I’m decidedly not proud of, btw), I know first-hand the slow erosion of heart and soul and self-esteem that ghosting inflicts on you. I particularly enjoyed the writer’s POV on this—it made me feel seen and validated in my own experiences.

Clearly, I’m not the only one left so inexplicably devastated by a random boy ghosting me after a great first date.

But I’m not completely innocent of it, either. I’ve left my fair share of boys on read or delivered after I found them to be too enthusiastic or not engaaged enough, too weird or not interesting enough, too built or not msucled enough. A bunch of equally inexplicable standards.

I wish I could take it back, though. I’d like to think that I’ve grown more mature over the years, and that I now better understand the value of honest communication.

In any case, the other essays in this collection are also good reads, particularly the one about the serial poo-sniffer.

Hey there! 👋

This is a sponsored edition of The Lazy Reader, but it’s also somewhat of a dry run of something that I’ve been cooking up—weeky themed reading lists.

Basically, it’ll be about five or so reading recommendations about a specific subject (say, the money matters behind our medicines or the crisis in journalism). Plus I’ll be flexing my writing muscle a bit more, too: The longform list will be headlined by a short essay-type intro to ease you into the recommendations.

The idea is to eventually make this a weekly thing, sent out on Thursdays to supplement our Monday reading lists. But of course, since The Lazy Reader is a one-man show, that’s going to be impossible right off the bat, especially since I’m also running a freelance business full-time. So we’ll start with putting it out every other week, then build up the cadence to eventually hit a weekly pattern.

How’s that sound?

No, really. Please let me know what you think 🙏

I want your feedback on this before I roll it out. Is that something that you guys would even enjoy? What types of themes would you want to see? Let me know in the form below, or reply your feedback to this email.

Oh and just to clarify: The launch date for this is still TBD, but it’s going to be in the near future. I’m excited!

Until next time! 👋