Without further ado, here are my favorite stories of 2025, to give you something to read today. Other than my two favorites, these are in chronological order. My FAVORITE story of 2025 was this one by @keersteemack.bsky.social in @xraylitmag.bsky.social xraylitmag.com/portrait-of-...

"What was your biggest impact on the Internet?" I drew the original of this. (I storyboarded and assistant directed on this episode.) (Fry, "Shut up and take my money")

www.cleavermagazine.com/ghost-roofer... Ooh, love this one by @claudiamonpere.bsky.social in Cleaver Mag. “The foreman’s movements are all violin: the strong rhythm of portato; the slow, smooth movement of legato; spicatto when he moves quickly across the roof.”

My resolution for 2026 is to finally reach my childhood dream of becoming a werewolf, and then use these newfound powers to crush junior varsity kids at sports and get cashiers to sell me beer. Also, maybe write a few more stories and lose weight. But mostly the werewolf thing.

Please enjoy the whole of @toddedillard.bsky.social's remarkably moving, Pushcart-nominated poem, "What the Husband Keeps," from Issue 20 of Stanchion Magazine. www.stanchionzine.com/post/what-th...

Thank you to editors Kate, Daniel, and Joe @hexliterary.bsky.social for publishing my flash "Innocence."

I'm offering a Narrative Poetry Workshop through @smokelong.bsky.social on January 24th! We'll explore prose poetry that calls dreams, clouds, and gods down to earth, before crafting our own.✨⛅

What a year! From a publishing deal to published essays, from podcasts to book clubs, from reviews to roundups. I’m so thankful for the year of my memoir’s birthday, And I’m so excited to see what 2026 will bring! Can’t wait to test my 2026 word of the year: POSSIBILITY.

2025’s TOP 10 Best Flash Fiction: And why I love them Flash fiction is evolving as writers experiment with new forms and subjects that align with today’s realities. In our fast-paced digital world, social media and online magazines encourage stories that are shorter, bolder, and more interactive,…

"Norman Rockwell was antifa," his granddaughter says. (Fact check: literally true.) www.thebulwark.com/p/norman-roc...

This mad, modern moment is exhausting. Things are so broken and we just keep streaming stuff and unsubscribing from infinite emails while Louise XLVII cocks up the world and AI competes with racism to see who can ruin things the fastest. Not storming the Bastille takes up virtually all my energy.

Who's up for a little NSFW flash today? Ok, so maybe not quite NSFW but, a little risque, or maybe risky. Check out "Sweet Stuff" by @claudiamonpere.bsky.social to see what I mean! And then read her other 2 flash, all waiting for you in issue 92! www.roifaineantpress.com/post/why-sex...

Only 3 days left on this Kindle deal! www.amazon.com/This-Violent...

I have three micros from my @riverriverbooks forthcoming hybrid/CNF collection over @cleavermagazine if you’re interested. www.cleavermagazine.com/three-micros...

i wrote this piece long ago + @matchbooklitmag.bsky.social was kind enough to give it new life, which somehow suits all this year-end wistfulness. grateful to anyone who spends time with it 🤍

Well, well, well... the donkey has sprouted a tail fin and jumped right into spot #8 on Charlie Fish's 2026 FISH List of lively independent literary magazines. We're so excited that we might just perform some water tricks alongside the donkey! See the full list at buff.ly/G8FaEQK.

Dear AHC family, we are so happy to announce that we will be returning from our year long hiatus in the New Year! We are currently running a fundraiser to help facilitate our return and hope you'll consider donating or sharing with your network. Much love! donate.stripe.com/bJe3cw7H99v1...

I feel like my short-lived unexpected 40’s hotness might be over. But, boy, was it a weird, wild time when people were strangely attracted to me and I did relatively nothing to capitalize on it except awkwardly saying “thank you” to those who expressed interest in me. Woah. What. A. Ride.

Tbf, if a rat crawled under my hat and started controlling me, I wouldn’t even care. Take the wheel, rat daddy

I worked for many weeks on this story, playing with the present continuous tense which, I think, locked my sad narrator into a particular time and place in a way that pleased my ear. Sharing it here, along with the gorgeous illustration by Kaylan Stedman Friedman. ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...

I’m seeing a lot of “but it makes a billion dollars!” defenses of AVATAR, having a “cultural impact” and I think there’s a lack of nuance here. Avatar makes 💰💰💰But its themes and characters have not really become a topic of cultural conversation, nor has it sparked a shift in filmmaking.

Remember the 1920s when nobody was left-handed

Only one author gives you perfect holiday covers with festive red and green! And there’s religion in all of them, too. I promise. Perfect holiday reading. Trust me.

Me: Well I won a Locus award in 2025 Me: And two Aurora awards Me: And the Prix Julia Verlanger Me: And handed in two novels Me: And had two books published Me: Me: Me: Maybe in 2026 I'll actually learn how to write tho

You want my top ten favorite books I read this year? How about my top ten movies? Top ten games? You got it. Made all three lists and made one giant rack of positivity for your solstice pleasure. Come celebrate great art with me. johnwiswell.substack.com/p/the-best-p...

Shocked, thrilled, all the things to find my book of stories on this long list. 😳

I have always said it, I will continue to say it, we are limiting the productive potential of millions of freaks by demanding they earn a wage to survive instead of enabling them to do whatever thing their brain is broken for

I am still getting over this. Have been a P&W reader for over 30 years! Anyway, long live flash fiction! @smokelong.bsky.social @fracturedlit.bsky.social @flashfrog.bsky.social @brettpribble.bsky.social @cowboyjamboree.bsky.social

"With vivid, biting images and telling details, Bidar gestures at the deeper currents guiding her characters' lives." Lovely article @pw.org Literary MagNet about terrific writer @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social & 5 lit mags she's in. Can't wait to receive my copy of her book Pardon Me For Moonwalking.

✨ Exciting news: Our friends over at @splitlippress.com have been longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection! 🔥 buff.ly/WT75zX9

I don’t mean to sound extreme, but I don’t think we should have torture camps for people with criminal records either.

Mary Shelley: “Definitely not a real goth. SMDH.” Ralph Ellison: “Oh god, not them again—quick, hide!” Jack Kerouac: “Even I think this guy is a bit much.”

How wonderful to have one last publication of the year. This piece features [pictorials] and [stomach] [bubbles] and [dinosaur] [hourglasses]. Enjoy (I'm not sure that's the right word 😬) citronreview.com/2025/12/22/e...

The U.S. is giving dying mall vibes. I can't explain it, but you know I'm right.

I deserve a heartfelt apology from every editor and professor who ever told me an antagonist was too simplistic or lacked development. My exactly two-facet villain, Rapey McGreeds, was, in retrospect, incredibly ahead of his time.

White Christian Nationalism is just a toxic fandom for existence.

I have not stared at nearly as many mysterious portraits in castles by candlelight as I hope.

When you are chronically ill, it’s sometimes strangely nice to get sick with a “normal” illness, because you get to act like you aren’t okay. It’s an excuse—something different other than the same old illness you push through every day because you can’t just be sick ALL the time—to be unwell.

cool, cool cool

The White House has been caught. The administration inserted a photo of Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, and Diana Ross into the Epstein files and falsely implied it showed them with victims. In reality, it’s a publicly available fundraiser photo featuring Jackson and Ross’s own children.

My entire family is sick with COMPULSIVE vomiting except for me. EVEN THE DOG. I know it is coming. God in heaven, I know it is coming. This must be what bitten people in zombie shows feel like.

I never want to hear another American make fun of North Korea ever again.

Never has a society so close to ruin been so preoccupied with the wrong issues. Our economy is teetering, autocracy is calling from inside the house, our planet has stage IV fuckery poisoning, and we’re OBSESSED with which bathroom people use, gold-plating, robo art, and renaming shit to sound kewl.

Funny animal videos no longer being trustworthy just fucking sucks all around. I love the wonder of animal behavior and what it says about the experience of being alive. It's because it happened in reality that it's so fun. It's not fun if it was just made up. There's no wonder there.

I love that crypto guys are setting up these little barbarian camps all over. little annoying civilization-style NPCs that pop out a bunch of resources when you conquer them. piñata nations

Hoping to see more submissions from under-repped groups in my submissions—don't self-reject, it's easier to send me a story about death. We're open until 12/31 (midnight eastern). psychopomp.com/the-deadland...

Congratulations to @jonathanin2k.bsky.social. His book, THE LOWEST BASIN: ARIZONA STORIES from Cowboy Jamboree Press, has been LONGLISTED for the @penamerica.bsky.social Robert W. Bingham Award for Debut Short Story Collection. Give Jonathan a hand y'all. pen.org/announcing-t...

This is extraordinary, heartbreaking, and a red alert warning sign for our democracy. These people are about to be federal judges, and they refuse to answer whether the U.S. Capitol was attacked on January 6. They say they can't comment because it's "a political controversy".

I’m at the combination Pizza Hut and Kennedy Center.