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# Sam Kriss: Drug Aficionado and Master Essayist
- URL: https://thedailyeudemon.com/sam-kriss-drug-afficionado-and-master-essayist/
- Published: 2024-04-16T12:34:03.000Z
- Updated: 2024-04-16T12:34:03.000Z
- Author: Eric Scheske
- Tags: Writing, Briefly

I don't know whether I'm impressed or appalled, and I can't tell if the writer is confessing or bragging. 

But boy, Sam Kriss, a "British writer and dilettante," has written the most enjoyable essay of the year. The agnostic Kriss ("\[m\]y girlfriend believes in the Christian God and I’m agnostic about the Jewish one") published it in that most enjoyable of all journals, *The Lamp*. 

The essay has everything: humor ([two samples](https://thedailyeudemon.com/excerpts-from-sam-kriss-essay-about-drugs-in-the-lent-issue-of-the-lamp/)), stories, self-reflection autobiography, relevant observations. 

And great style. 

When I find myself grumbling that more people aren't worshipping my prose, I think about essays like this and realize how far I have to go. Compared to the schlock at Medium.com? Yes, I'm not afraid to assert that I'm a master stylist, but compared to Kriss? I'm afraid my superiority at Medium parallels my superiority when wrestling toddlers. 

Unfortunately, you'll need a subscription to read Kriss' fascinating and funny drug-fueled travelogue of the post-Soviet Iron Curtain region, but I'll say again: *The Lamp's* $10-per-issue price tag is worth it. With [one exception](https://thelampmagazine.com/issues/issue-12?ref=thedailyeudemon.com), every issue has stunned me with its level of literary accomplishment. It's obviously a very well-funded enterprise, but such things need the public's support . . . or at least the Catholic public's support, though, quite frankly, I'm not sure why anyone who likes fine reading wouldn't subscribe. 

---

### Kriss at Substack

Kriss, btw, appears to write almost exclusively on Substack, which is where, I believe, the talent goes. Medium is mostly for writers with training wheels: a site of sophomoric prose, high school ideological rants, and the left-hemispheric dogmatist beliefs that you'd find on most college campuses these days. Substack is where real literature is being written. 

And yes, I say that as a guy who still publishes on Medium. I have my toe in the water at Substack but I won't jump in until I can devote serious time and effort to it. 

[Numb at the Lodge | Sam Kriss | SubstackThese heavy sands are language tide and wind have silted here. Click to read Numb at the Lodge, by Sam Kriss, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53cf7d04-ae95-43b9-8c0c-7a4a290c872b%2Fapple-touch-icon-180x180.png)SubstackSam Kriss![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:best,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsamkriss.substack.com%2Ftwitter%2Fsubscribe-card.jpg%3Fv%3D-374356608%26version%3D9)](https://samkriss.substack.com/)