John Scott Ridgway — Author Biography
John Scott Ridgway is an American novelist, blogger, and literary performer whose work blends satire, spiritual inquiry, surrealism, and myth‑driven social commentary. Over more than twenty‑five years of continuous writing, he has produced well over a million words across books, blogs, serialized fiction, and early social‑media platforms, establishing a distinctive voice marked by emotional intensity, philosophical reach, and darkly comic imagination.
Ridgway is the author of The Collected Writing of John Scott Ridgway, One War, Waking Up Jesus, The Religious Psycho Killer’s Shit List—a cult‑favorite satire praised in blurbs by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert—and numerous short stories published in the small press and on Vocal, including the acclaimed Fuentes’ Last Hit. His long‑running blogs — Shattered Present, Waking Up Jesus, Elves Attic, Jesus Talks, The Reluctant Spy Talks, 380789 Years From Earth, and Sermons for the End of the World — have cultivated a dedicated readership drawn to his blend of satire, metaphysics, political reflection, and raw personal narrative. His writing has appeared across Blogger, Facebook, X, and other platforms, where he has maintained a continuous, evolving literary presence for decades.
A lifelong Democratic Socialist, Ridgway became an influential voice during the era often referred to as the “Blog Wars,” a period of intense online activism that helped reshape the national political conversation. His essays, commentary, and digital organizing circulated widely, contributing to a new wave of grassroots engagement that defined early political blogging.
Ridgway has also been a central figure in Chicago’s live‑literature community. He founded and hosted The Elves Attic, an intimate reading series that began at It’s A Secret Bar in Roscoe Village and later continued at The Big Star Café. The series became known for its mix of storytelling, improvisation, and emotional candor, offering a quieter, more literary alternative to the city’s slam‑poetry scene.
His performance work extends into audio and improvisation. In 2006 he created Peace and Pipedreams, one of the early proto‑podcasts — a Chicago improv radio comedy in which he played more than fourteen characters. The show grew out of his improv training with one of the founders of Chicago’s improvisational theater movement, where Ridgway developed a weekly practice of inventing new personas. His stoner character, Moobong Haze, became a breakout favorite, and at one point Ridgway was approached with potential film offers connected to these performances, though the projects ultimately did not materialize.
Ridgway studied poetry at the University of Toledo, fiction writing at Columbia College Chicago, and anthropology, sociology, history, and philosophy at Northeastern Illinois University. He also trained extensively in improvisational theater, a discipline that continues to shape the spontaneity and character‑driven energy of his literary work.
Across all mediums, Ridgway’s work is defined by a commitment to artistic freedom, political engagement, and the belief that storytelling remains one of the most powerful tools for cultural transformation.
