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Hilary Ayshford

@hilary55

Writer of fiction, teller of tales, collector of words, lover of nature, insatiably curious, possessor of miscellaneous knowledge, devotee of all things dark and deliciously wonderful.

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04.09.2023
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Latest posts by Hilary Ayshford @hilary55

Preview
a happy women 's day card with two women holding hands ALT: a happy women 's day card with two women holding hands

Happy #InternationalWomensDay to the lionesses of The Pride Roars
@delgeo14.bsky.social
@mlmcguinness.bsky.social
@sugarpigblog.bsky.social
@ninamiller.bsky.social
@fionamckay.bsky.social
@hilary55.bsky.social
@joycebingham.bsky.social
@pleomorphic2.bsky.social

08.03.2026 18:50 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0

So looking forward to being part of one of my favourite lit mags.

07.03.2026 11:45 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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We’re delighted to welcome Hilary Ayshford @hilary55.bsky.social & Joyce Bingham @joycebingham.bsky.social to the team ❀

Find out more: rawlit.weebly.com/masthead.html

07.03.2026 09:58 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 1

>The Pride Roars - Flash Competition 2026<--
@theprideroars.bsky.social

-Free to enter
-Open to all women writers
-1000 words max
-Submissions via google form 14/2-28/2 or until we reach our cap.

theprideroars.blogspot.com/p/flash-comp...

01.02.2026 06:17 πŸ‘ 16 πŸ” 12 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2
Something exciting is brewing at the Pride Roars headquarters, keep your eyes peeled for news coming soon πŸ‘€

Something exciting is brewing at the Pride Roars headquarters, keep your eyes peeled for news coming soon πŸ‘€

πŸ‘€ Something interesting this way comes!!

@theprideroars.bsky.social

21.01.2026 18:19 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Congratulations, Jack!

06.01.2026 19:53 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Matt does a ton to support the flash community, he’s always out here sharing work, offering encouragement: www.mattkendrick.co.uk/resources

04.01.2026 12:24 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
'It's not a peace offering,' she adds, in case God gets the wrong idea. I’ve not forgiven you for taking him.'

'It's not a peace offering,' she adds, in case God gets the wrong idea. I’ve not forgiven you for taking him.'

A beautiful story of grief, connection and release by @hilary55.bsky.social
templeinacity.com/flash-fictio...

18.12.2025 15:51 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Temple in a City literary journal Letter, Constance, Regarding the Sculpture of Constance Lloyd Wilde Holland at the Oscar Wilde Memorial Statue in Central Dublin] by author Jay Parr. Published in Temple in a City literary journal.

Constance. Read about Constance. Cover her with the warm blanket of your compassion. Let
@crankypacifist.bsky.social show you.
templeinacity.com/ekphrastic-j...

18.12.2025 15:58 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Striking it lucky at the Wind Creek Casino A Flash Fiction by Cole Beauchamp

*New story* featuring a last-minute present that keeps on giving...

"After a feast that has us full as ticks, Pa’s liquored up and cracking his knuckles like he’s still in charge. That man thinks the sun comes out just to hear him crow."
westword.substack.com/p/striking-i...

14.12.2025 11:56 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 2
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A Few Stones Out of Place A Short Story by Joyce Bingham

A short story published in WestWord. Originally written in Flash Face Off in @writershq.bsky.social and brought into being in Amanda Saint's Slow Story workshop. westword.substack.com/p/a-few-ston...

04.12.2025 14:14 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Aw! Thanks again, Temple in a City @templeinacity.bsky.social!

You're one of my very favorite lit mags and if we were in the same physical space we'd have to get blueberry pancakes and just hang😎

#BookSky #WriterSky #LitSky

11.12.2025 22:31 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

pleased to have a dark little flash in the Imprint issue, alongside work from @iamchrisscott.bsky.social @hilary55.bsky.social @crankypacifist.bsky.social @joannatheiss.com @robm67.bsky.social @chriscottom.bsky.social @sagreene1.bsky.social & others

09.12.2025 12:51 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Imprint, Temple in a City issue 3 Temple in a City literary journal of flash fiction, poetry, art and letters

Hello. Please meet our latest issue, Imprint. It’s unruly but good at heart. It has geese and god and Brian Wilson, yin-yang rats, crazy blue, absentia, a screaming need to yell β€˜RUN!’, cyanide rum, praying mantis, plural, a swallowed mirror, island breeze…
templeinacity.com/explore-the-...

08.12.2025 22:36 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 3

Love this…and of course he does!

08.12.2025 20:14 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
The cover wrap for Silent Screams, An Anthology of Quiet Horrors - featuring a striking, surreal illustration by Eric Brenner, depicting a screaming face with far too many eyes. The book blurb states:
The most terrifying horror stories don't churn your stomach. They creep like shadows, chilling with a touch. They build dread through atmosphere and emotion, rather than splatter and gore.

Welcome to Silent Screams, an anthology of quiet horror stories.

Within these pages, you will face strange and twisted scenes, dark and demonic characters, nightmares great and small, written by a host of talented authors from around the world.

These are shattering tales of grief and loss, visitations from strange folk, troubled dreams, and cursed artefacts.

These are whispers to make your skin crawl and your toes curl. Words to catch your breath and smother screams.

The cover wrap for Silent Screams, An Anthology of Quiet Horrors - featuring a striking, surreal illustration by Eric Brenner, depicting a screaming face with far too many eyes. The book blurb states: The most terrifying horror stories don't churn your stomach. They creep like shadows, chilling with a touch. They build dread through atmosphere and emotion, rather than splatter and gore. Welcome to Silent Screams, an anthology of quiet horror stories. Within these pages, you will face strange and twisted scenes, dark and demonic characters, nightmares great and small, written by a host of talented authors from around the world. These are shattering tales of grief and loss, visitations from strange folk, troubled dreams, and cursed artefacts. These are whispers to make your skin crawl and your toes curl. Words to catch your breath and smother screams.

Silent Screams is out now.
It's the first anthology I've edited and I love every single story inside it.
If you prefer your #Halloween scares quiet and filled with creeping dread, then this is the book for you.
eBook and paperback:
mybook.to/SilentScream...
#Horror #ShortStories #WritingCommunity

06.10.2025 07:24 πŸ‘ 31 πŸ” 15 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 4

Can’t wait to read the rest of the stories. Mine is one of my all-time favourites. Such fun to write.

20.09.2025 18:57 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It’s awesome, isn’t it!

19.09.2025 17:14 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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19.09.2025 16:49 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Amazon.com

If you prefer your horror creepy and subtle, this book’s for you. Launching on October 1st, it’s available for preorder for Kindle now, with the paperback version coming soon.

mybook.to/SilentScream...

19.09.2025 16:48 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Issue 5 Bingham/Extreme Picnicking for the Discerning β€” Neither Fish Nor Foul

The first story I accepted for this issue. Classic cake, unexpected setting and a delicacy of touch at one with the lightness of a Victoria Sponge. Dare you not to be moved.

@joycebingham.bsky.social

neitherfishnorfoul.com/issue-5-bingham-extreme-picnicking-for-the-discerning

13.09.2025 17:50 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 3
Preview
WBTL Live Workshops

I've got lots of exciting workshops coming up before the end of the year. "I Hear Voices" next week. Then, my autumn workshop series which is "Story Shapes", "Emotional Depths" & "Funny Bones." Really enjoying teaching/facilitating these live sessions.

www.mattkendrick.co.uk/live-workshops

26.08.2025 16:04 πŸ‘ 26 πŸ” 16 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1
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Congratulations to our lionesses @hilary55.bsky.social @mlmcguinness.bsky.social @pleomorphic2.bsky.social and @amymarques.bsky.social on their Best of the Net nominations!

Read these pieces and more at theprideroars.blogspot.com

24.07.2025 12:36 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2
'Home is the Sailor' by Hilary Ayshford Each day at slack water she scours the tideline. Some days the sea gifts her glass – blue, green, brown or white – milky and opaque like the eyes of the sailors claimed by the ocean. Sometimes she finds bleached, knobbly finger bones of coral, and shells as small and pink as babies' thumbnails or convoluted like a man's ear. Each day she examines her treasures for signs of her lover, breathes a sigh of relief, and takes the pieces back to her shack among the dunes where she caches them carefully in an ebony chest. Today the sea honours her with a piece of driftwood, knotted and gnarled like the skeleton of some ancient sea creature, burred and burnished by salt and sand. On the horizon beneath scudding clouds, ships' sails billow, waiting for the high tide to carry her lover back to her. At the shack she takes out her treasures, washes each one with her tears for the sweethearts whose men inhabit the kelp forests beneath the waves, then suspends each frosted stone, polished pebble and pearly shell by a silver thread from the sea-sculpted branch. She hangs the makeshift chandelier on the veranda, where it twists in the wind, casting shards of refracted moonlight across the dunes, a beacon to guide her lover home. She takes him to her bed, and after, when he is sleeping like the dead, she removes the heart from his chest and hangs it from the driftwood, ruby droplets phosphorescent in the night. Surf thunders onto the beach, pounds the sand in frustration, but he is hers for eternity; the sea can never claim him now. Β  --- Hilary Ayshford is based in rural Kent in the UK. She writes flash fiction and short stories and is currently working on her first novel. She prefers music in a minor key and has a penchant for the darker side of human nature.

FlashFlood: 'Home is the Sailor' by Hilary Ayshford #nffd2025

14.06.2025 11:23 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 4
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The Monetary Value of Fish

Thrilled to see my story about The Monetary Value of Fish in the fantastic Bending Genres. Huge thanks to @bendinggenres.bsky.social and of course to my writing besties for their help @hilary55.bsky.social @ekmacdonald.bsky.social and @appleshapedwriter.bsky.social
bendinggenres.com/the-monetary...

10.06.2025 19:06 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
Current Issue Current Issue

Delighted to have my dark flash fiction 'The Hot-Headed Lad' in the current Meniscus Literary Journal. This piece started life in @mattkendrick.bsky.social's Lyrical Writing course - Highly Recommended as are all of Matt's excellent courses!

03.06.2025 16:47 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

"Up close, though, I can detect the artifice of lip liner and false lashes, see the cunningly concealed cracks beneath the dark foundation." Read the wickedly delightful Narcissus Undone by @hilary55.bsky.social on page 21 www.meniscus.org.au/_files/ugd/7...

03.06.2025 16:19 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Still Life Pain-ting β€” Ghost Parachute It swallowed her. The pain engulfed Marie whole, like a triskelion of emotional, physical, spiritual agony. She had stopped asking questions. There were no answers to be had. There was no why, and no ...

"She would never get frightened by the storm, an earthquake, or the dog’s bark, would never enjoy the birds’ song as they welcomed dawn, or fall asleep to a lullaby"

Read "Still Life Pain-ting by @delgeo14.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute

ghostparachute.com/issue/june-2...

01.06.2025 18:02 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 2

Brilliant!

28.05.2025 18:58 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

It’s not an either/or - there are degrees of aphantasia from mild to absolute.

23.05.2025 19:33 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0