Retired Professor,

Unretired Writer

John Van Rys 2021 Headshot

Welcome! Thanks for stopping by. Here, you’ll find stuff and nonsense about me and my writing life. For 35 years (until July 1, 2025), I was an English professor. Now retired, my passion is writing short stories and novels (and poetry occasionally). Feel free to explore my work and how you might get your hands on it. I’d be happy, too, if you’d follow me on social media and subscribe to my Substack blog, ODD (Old Dog Dumps): Dispatches from a Journeyman Writer. It’s totally free and always will be. The links you need are below.

Full Bio

Coming Soon!

My Debut Novel, Milksop

Coming May 23, 2026

This spring, my first novel, Milksop, will be published by Chicken House press. Check out the acquisition announcement! To learn more, check out my Substack post, “Today’s ODDity: I’m Publishing My Debut Novel. I’m 64.”

Pre-ordering is now widely available. For more on Milksop and how you can order a print or ebook copy, click the tab at the top of this page or this link.

Milksop is Evan Mulder’s coming-of-age story, both funny and sad, kind of like him. I think you’ll enjoy it.

The Latest from My Substack, Old Dog Dumps (ODD): Dispatches from a Journeyman Writer

In my latest Old Dog Dumps post, “Small Dreams and Minor Miracles: That’s ODD,” I reflect on both writing and reading fiction as forms of dreaming—and the minor miracle that my debut novel Milksop will be released in less than a week.

Here’s a taste: “It’s a noisy world filled with words, isn’t it? A world of shortened attention spans for reading those words. A world of tweets by twits, rage-bait posts, and content designed to keep us doomscrolling. It’s a minor miracle that the novel exists in this environment.”

Have a read, and if the spirit moves you, subscribe to ODD: it’s all free, all the time.