Before we get too deep into 2025, I’d like to take a moment to remember a dear friend of this blog, Michael Murray, the publisher of the literature and art website Galaxy Brain.
Michael passed away in 2024, which shocked me — I had no idea he was ill. I only knew him through Twitter, but he consistently DM’ed me with encouragement to write more and make more glitch art, some of which he published at Galaxy Brain, thereby giving my obscure renderings a few more eyeballs on the internet. (And when I say he encouraged me, I mean he routinely messaged me with both praise and helpful coaching, 100% unsolicited, a random act of kindness.)
Some people just radiate generosity, you sense it in every interaction with them. Michael was one such guy.
Here is his bio at Galaxy Brain; I’m sad that this kind soul is gone and I’ll fondly remember his kind spirit and creativity.
Michael Murray is nothing without his wife.
Rachelle Maynard. That’s his wife.
Rachelle Maynard is the bomb.
She is the Galaxy Brain, and everything you see here is because of her.
That is the Capital T, truth.But never mind that, for Michael Murray is truly the Galaxy Brain. He has won the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest and is so good-natured that he was once mistaken for a missionary while strolling the streets of a small Cuban town. He has written for the National Post, the Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen, Hazlitt Magazine, CBC Radio, Reader’s Digest and thousands of other prestigious publications and high-flying companies that pay obscene sums of money. You should buy his book, A Van Full of Girls and throw money at Galaxy Brain.
And here is Rachelle on his passing last March.
Sending all prayer power to the Murray family and wishing them the very best.