The Writer I Could Have Been

Stephanie Hoogstad, who once had great aspirations for her career, barely made a cent off her writing while she was alive. Now, you can hardly even mention her name without someone bringing up her mind-bending science fantasy tales or heart-wrenching poetry. Yet science fantasy and poetry aren’t all that this struggling writer dabbled in. If you dig deeper into her past, you will find several fairy tale and mythological retellings, horror stories, academic essays, and even a personal article or two. Some scholars say that her sudden turn to somber poetry and alien-inspired tales later in life had to do with the sudden death of her mother in July 2025 from nonalcoholic cirrhosis. They argue that Stephanie, stricken by grief-induced stress and depression, started grasping for something greater than herself, and rather than turning to God, she embraced her grief and the idea of multiple dimensions and life among the stars—but we may never know what truly went on in her head.

Her best-known work, by far, is the satirical sci-fi drabble series Elon the Alien. Called “better than an SNL sketch” by some fans, Elon the Alien has inspired many adaptations, including a Hulu limited series by the same name. The drabble series is considered incomplete by many, leading to multiple attempts to finish it. However, even the best attempts have yet to capture the nuances of Stephanie’s voice and her ability to capture the details of plot, setting, and character development into so few words.

Stephanie’s work is not beloved by all, though. The estate of Elon Musk has tried—and failed—many times to sue Stephanie’s surviving relatives and the online distributor of Elon the Alien, Vocal, to cease the circulation of the stories. The estate calls it “blatant lies” and a “disgrace to the memory of a great man”. Fortunately, the courts see the drabbles just for what they are: political satire, not fact. They will not be going anywhere any time soon.

It is worth noting that many of Stephanie’s longer works have been left incomplete by the author. Along with Elon the Alien, there were short stories that seemed to be the beginning of longer works, such as “The Interdimensional Report” and “The Stone Circle”. Scholars and fans alike have been baffled by this pattern in the authoress’s writing. Did she lose inspiration? Did she get bored with her own writing or lose the time to work on it? Or, like with the building of her happy place, Disneyland, did she approach her work as never being finished “so long as there is imagination left in the world”?

Stephanie’s mind was indeed a maze, one which we have as much a chance of navigating as the legendary Labyrinth without a golden thread to guide us. One thing is clear: for as long as we bother to read, her writing will have a lasting effect on how we see ourselves, the world, and everything beyond it.