Hi there—my name is Mike, and I am the creator and founder of Sad Appetizers. I write under the pen name Michael C.P. A few things about me: I was born on the summer solstice, I’m left-handed, and I write short stories and autofiction that explore the emotional turmoil of characters navigating isolating, confusing, yet often hilarious and deeply human situations. Most days, my favorite color is green.
My first writing project was called Psychic City, hosted on Substack, where I published personal essays and cultural analysis that gradually evolved into the type of writing now found on this site. I launched Sad Appetizers in 2023—first as a zine made with friends, then as the next phase of my Substack, and now as this website. In 2025, I formally closed the Substack and moved all my work here, where it lives as a lo-fi literary journal or a personal blog from 2005.
I was born and raised in South Plainfield, New Jersey, went to college in Boston, and have lived in Southern California and Brooklyn.
The name Sad Appetizers comes from a memory of sitting in a suburban Friendly’s eating a plate of sad appetizers with friends I had grown distant from. In the years since, that greasy, lukewarm onion ring under fluorescent lighting became a recurring symbol for feeling stuck. I imagine the onion ring’s tragic journey: tossed into a dumpster, eaten by a raccoon, pooped out on a front porch, stepped in by a grumpy old man on his way to work, his brand-new shoes ruined. In a frazzled rage, he rushes to the store for shoe shine and rear-ends my car—suddenly we both have bigger problems.
Finally, I have a beautiful, fluffy cat named Fiona, in honor of Fiona Apple. We live together in Brooklyn.
If you’d like to get in contact with me you can email me here or find me on Instagram @sad_appetizers