Sam Payne

Or if there are any other probation officers who fit the bill....

Mechanical Pencils | matchbook

"I’m having an affair with distance. The morning house is settled and known. I sip coffee, listen to the lonely call of the 4am freight train,...."

My lord. I love, love this piece by @dinalrelles.bsky.social so much. In @matchbooklitmag.bsky.social 💙💙💙
www.matchbooklitmag.com/mb/relles/me...

Prattlefog & Gravelrap | Matt Kendrick | Substack A monthly article series about the elements of short fiction: ideas for rocket-boosting your writing craft, reading recommendations, and other writing-related ramblings. Click to read Prattlefog & Gra...

Friends, if you have the means to, please do support @mattkendrick.bsky.social by using his (amazing) editing, mentoring or teaching skills or by tipping his kofi. He’s a gem, and he needs our support at the moment prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com?utm_campaign...

Last day for entries today. A reminder that the deadline is 3pm GMT! Don't get caught out!

Intention for this year...

Be a hand-written letter in a world full of text messages.

The Village The village with all the flash writers

Hello! The above bleat is a test post, but if you'd like to join The Village you can do so via this link. It's free and we are nice.
smokelong-quarterly.mn.co/plans/191340...

OKD is open again for free subs until we reach our cap! Learn more about us and submit your best poetry or flash fiction: buff.ly/chQ4jpz

Okay Donkey is always open for tip jar ($2.50) or expedited ($4.00) subs! Your contribution helps us pay our contributors and cover other mag-related expenses.

Lavender Girl Radio Every dimension of every thing Terrible now, makes you want to look Away. Holding our dying cat I See she won’t look at me, or can’t Cranes her neck back but I’m holding her like a baby so First she sees the wall, then the Ground. A box of tissues, a can of Cheez Whiz, little paw prints they do In-house. The Ronsard poem I Read her just before the end borrows From John 14, about preparing A place. I’m holding her like A baby, two minutes from grace.

A picture of Pumpernickel, a small tortoiseshell cat, curled up and hugging her back legs, looking at the viewer

A picture of baby Pumpernickel, one of her ears slightly flopping against the edge of the table, looking slightly away from the viewer

[JE N'AY PLUS QUE LES OS] (RONSARD) TOM SNARSKY 15th June 2020 I have nothing but bones now, am skeletonesque— Unfleshed, unnerved, unmuscled, pulpless, Struck down by Death’s unforgiving arrow. I Don’t dare look at my arms, lest they make me tremble with fear. Apollo and his son, two great masters, wouldn’t together Know how to cure me; their craft has let me down. Goodbye, amiable sun; my eyes are stopped up with oakum, My body is descending to where it all comes apart. What friend who sees me at this spoiled point Won’t return to their dwelling with sad, tearful eyes After consoling me in bed, kissing my face And wiping my eyes laid sleepward by Death? Goodbye, dear companions, goodbye my dear friends, I’m going first to prepare a place for you.

really grateful to have three poems up @havehashad.com today! the first one is in memory of our sweet cat Pumpernickel, who passed away early this year. we’ll always remember you tiny baby!! 💜

APPRAISAL by Sam Corradetti I’m the ripped jeans and dirty flip-flops type. Vaselined lips, no eye liner. Zip-up hoodies and flannels looted from my father’s closet keep me mostly covered, worn loose enough to capture the covete...

we have a very well written 200 word story by Sam Carradetti @samcorradetti.bsky.social !

it’s about the difference between what a person likes to wear (‘ripped jeans and dirty flip-flops’) & what they’re expected to wear (‘lace, sequins, tulle, fringe, satin’)

xraylitmag.com/appraisal-by...

IN ANOTHER LIFE, I AM A DIRECT DESCENDANT OF SHARKS by Bethany Cutkomp And if I do not keep moving, I will pass away. They call this ram ventilation, a shark’s way of breathing. My invisible gills demand the same method of survival. Since hatching from your womb, I have ...

FAVORITE STORIES OF 2025

In Another Life, I Am a Direct Descendent of Sharks by @bdcutkomp.bsky.social in @xraylitmag.bsky.social
xraylitmag.com/in-another-l...

SmokeLong Issue 90 cover featuring image with worn stone stairs ascending into daylight

Issue 90 cover reveal! Out on Monday. Including the winners of the SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest 2025 🏆

Against gold fabric, a stack of Solaris paperbacks by Premee Mohamed: THE SIEGE OF BURNING GRASS, BENEATH THE RISING, A BROKEN DARKNESS and THE VOID ASCENDENT. The white Solaris logo is in the bottom left corner.

Are you looking for a stack of genre-convention defying Premee-ium speculative fiction?

Look no further!

Come get @premeemohamed.com 's military Pteranodons, REALLY messed up co-dependent friendships, searingly prescient examinations of war and pacifism, eldritch cosmic horrors and SO much more!

a cartoon duck is writing in a notebook with a pencil ALT: a cartoon duck is writing in a notebook with a pencil

Submissions to our anthology (up to 500 words on the theme of BRIDGES) & our Microfiction comp (up to 100 words, no theme) are now OPEN until 15 Feb. Our anthology editors & judges are poised ready! You can read more here: www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk

The Writers' HQ Five Days of Write-mas Write your festive butt right off your body this December with the most bananas WHQ adventy writerly hoozit yet

Psst you've still got time to get in on Five Days of Writemas, starting tomorrow writershq.co.uk/the-writers-...

My accounts used to support the writing community: @writingcommunity @literarycommunity @rodmannix @literarybulletin @literaryreport @literaryhalcyon @literaryretweet

Gladly supporting the #LiteraryCommunity by reposting book publication news, great reviews, poetry readings & book signings, and new work in journals, magazines & anthologies.
Also see:
@writingcommunity.bsky.social
@rodmannix.bsky.social
@literaryreport.bsky.social
@literarybulletin.bsky.social

Design and Typography at Salt Chris Hamilton-EmeryDesigner, Salt Design as the Soul of Salt Design has always been at the heart of Salt’s publishing identity. From the outset, we’ve always understood typography to be both form and...

We’ve launched a new page on Salt’s design and typography — the craft behind every book we make. From bus timetables to Cromer, it’s been quite a journey in type.

Take a look: www.saltpublishing.com/pages/design...

#BookDesign #Typography #IndiePublishing #SaltPublishing

AND!!!

we open for submissions of fiction, essays and experimental texts for a month starting Monday* ...

*in addition to rolling subs for reviews, interviews, extracts, textos en español & more

all info here:

oleada.io/publication/...

THE WELKIN MINI. For micros up to 100 words. Free to enter. Deadline = 2nd January 2026. 1st prize = £75, 2nd prize = £40, 3rd prize = £25, HC = £10.

I may have got a little over-excited and opened entries a little early. I'm not going to start reading until Monday, but if you want to send something over the weekend, you are welcome to do so:

www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize...

Also known as the "puke draft," though I think "exploratory draft" is more to the point 😄

Royal Literary Fund to run free webinar series for writers

ICYMI: The Royal Literary Fund is launching a free four-part webinar series called ‘Making Writing Work’ next year 👇 #BookSky

Stunning 😍

Penumbra by Brent Fisk - Rattle: Poetry I remember too late and rush out the front door, stand shoeless halfway down the sidewalk.

The moon is already high and bright,
and like so many things in my life,
I have missed it.

—Brent Fisk

Morning! Last day of our 30th Award today. Are you picking up a Last Minute Club badge? The club is open now till midnight ! £1460 in prizes.Results out end of June.Do share your badge here when you get one!
Bathflashfictionaward.com/enter