Up to Issue 86 now :) We tried to find everyone we’ve published who’s on Bluesky; let us know if we’ve missed you out!

I talked to the Black residents of Altadena who say they’ve lost everything but hope. “When you escape tragedy, you say, ‘it could have got me.’ It didn’t. So I’m going to keep on going,” said 83-year-old Walt Butler.

RIP Nikki Giovanni 🙏🏼💜 #poetry #poem #poems

Beautiful poem by Todd Clay Stuart. ♥️

Credit: Nathan W. Pyle

Here is a captivating movie showing Earth's rotation relative to the Milky Way. The timelapse was recorded using an equatorial tracking mount over a period of around 3 hours. Video source➡️ www.instagram.com/p/BYykYUSDaAu/ Credit: Aryeh Nirenberg #SciArt 🧪 #milkyway #astro

In my Biology 2 lab exercises I had students go out to collect headstone data from three time periods. After 1950, honestly, there were very very few deaths recorded for anyone under age 10. It was very stark. 🧪 🌍 🌿 #iNat

California wildfires have begun. Malibu. Climate change at the beach.

I wailed at the cosmos today, & then Google-stumbled across this: "Tolstoy is believed to have written at least seven drafts of "War & Peace," with some sources suggesting he may have revised the manuscript up to twenty-one times." Friends, this crappy first draft shall not be the end of me.

A little fabulation from the wonderful Abhishek Sengupta.

Saw WICKED tonight with my daughters. Just WOW! Casting is phenomenal, but Cynthia Erivo, my heart is pounding—UTTERLY BRILLIANT! I’m a fan girl! 🤩

To those of you who are Austenites, Happy Netherfield Ball Day!

I feel like this was the greatest celebrity post of all time because you initially want to make fun of it because we’re all irony poisoned jerks but the sheer scale of human compassion overwhelms it and you end up going yes Vincent I also want to help a pig see the stars for the first time

A good day to revisit this lovely.

HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY! We're giving $100 to help boost your writing in 2024—workshop, comp/submission fees, membership, critiques, books, pens—anything you find helpful, anywhere. Like & share to enter. We'll also give $100 to one of the organisations we support—winner to choose. Ends midnight NYC Dec 23

Love this story by the wonderful Ani King @aniking.bsky.social ! “I fall in love with women who, unbelievably, want to forgive me for fitting my life into one backpack at the first sign of trouble as if leaving a crime scene, not a relationship.” Check it out! www.smokelong.com/stories/unfi...

Doing the Happy Dance! — My story "Passing" is up @Smokelong.bsky.social Special thanks to the wonderful Smokelong editors for seeing something sparkle in this story, & extra shout out to @MCzyzniejewski.bsky.social for the deep-dive interview. So excited! www.smokelong.com/stories/pass...

Check out this really great story by @dhyanna.bsky.social Dhyanna Raffi-David in the new issue of @smokelong.bsky.social. My interview with her in the comments. www.smokelong.com/stories/pass...

New SmokeLong Quarterly! Great new flash prose by @dhyanna.bsky.social, @sarahillswrites.bsky.social, Ani King, Barbara Diggs, Emily Rinkema, Madeline Anthes, @kiklodge.bsky.social, Joy Castro, @maureenlangloss.bsky.social, Amy Bobeda, Mara Aguilar-Erdman, Natalie Warther, and E.A. Aymar. Enjoy!

Another quirky-fun-tragic one from the master, @jjlofflin.bsky.social at cult mag! www.cultmag.net/blog-1/its-n...

Publication in @smokelong.bsky.social is a crazy-happy-heart dream for me! I’m thrilled & grateful to be a #Mikey finalist & to be recognized alongside such amazing authors. My deepest thanks to SmokeLong & Lunch Ticket for their support! Congrats to all who placed! www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...

Please share - New Prize for non-fiction for black women writers, amplifying us as knowledge-makers and critical thinkers. Global scope with a $20,000 award for exceptional work by black cis, trans and genderqueer women. Details here. Judged by Bernadine Evaristo.

Can you all share this? It's a series by the BBC of great actors reading abridged versions of books such as Ken and The Lonely Londoners. It's so well done and a gift for anyone who struggles or doesn't like book in hand reading. Check it out and reskeet or whatever it's called. Cheers.

Wow! I’m over the moon! 🌙 shortlisted! Yay! www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...

Very excited to be included on this list! ❤️

Happy Thanksgiving!

An introvert’s Thanksgiving lament: There are so very many people in this house. And they are all speaking at once. Does the dog need to be walked again? I think he needs another walk.

My annual posting of, perhaps, the most important things I've ever said about science. [Video: 4 min]. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MqT...

Jane Mead…

Today is my birthday, I'd love if people would share my art 🥰🖤

Another great one by @glennorgias.bsky.social “Our love was always slipping away and then returning in a rush, we’d remember it and forget it …” What ambulance?

I love this story by @glennorgias.bsky.social about love and Tom Petty’s FREE FALLIN’!

Just read an interview at One Story with Stanley Delgado (I'm such a fan!) & I loved this: OS: What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? SD: “Everything is a craft problem.” (cont in comments) one-story.com/product/came...

I enjoyed this too.

i have gotten a lot of cool bookish and writer shirts from this site... got my eyes on a few more... site owned and operated by a dope Black author... #bvm www.theshopbynicolefalls.com

"Tides within tides," I love it.

This is a cool cause to donate to. Or support a low income school in your area. ❤️

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This. My kids loved these so much.

Great Esquire interview with @joshthelibromancer.bsky.social ! Love this discourse cuz such questions live in me as a writer: “Is this book a book that makes the world a better place? Is this book a book that also supports my values? Is this a book that’s going to add more to the community?“

Dodger Stadium today.

OMG hurricane AND earthquake! We’re really rockin’ it in CA! 🫨🌎

This morning's walk, you'd never know Hilary is lurking beyond the horizon...I went to the store on the way home, the panic shopping had already begun, aisles mobbed, long lines, people buying batteries, paper towels, water...we don't really know how to do hurricanes in CA!

Love this: “And the judges are everyone you have ever and will ever meet.” Great picture too! Nice work @sagetyrtle.bsky.social and @barrelhouse.bsky.social ! ❤️