I for one am terrified of inquisitors

Otherworldly fiction today from @milesklee.bsky.social, if you were raised Catholic it might scare you a bit (!) glorious illustration by @joemacleod666.bsky.social flaminghydra.com/issue-503/

NEW SHORT STORY FROM ME, about a Medieval priest haunted by a talking greyhound that may or may not be the devil. Available only if you subscribe to @flaminghydra.com, so if you ain’t a member yet, here’s your sign from god:

TODAY: Spooky short fiction from @milesklee.bsky.social. “I froze like the mountains that lined the edge of the visible world. This was, I am convinced, my first recognition of a devil.” flaminghydra.com/saint-guinef...

Follow the wonderful photographer Didi Turley at @di-squared.bsky.social I love this piece.

Found an outlet for my Star Wars Fever at @flaminghydra.com Writing something really fucking good Stay tuned

Hi, subscribe to @flaminghydra.com before Monday to read @milesklee.bsky.social's short story that I can't stop thinking about. Cradle Catholics in particular will bug out over this thing. flaminghydra.com/subscribe flaminghydra.com/free (try some unlocked stuff first!)

Nathan Munn reflects on the personal impulse to violence in young men p.s. best wishes to the brown hoodie kid flaminghydra.com/issue-502/

TODAY: Nathan Munn considers men, violence, and power. "I wasn’t a fighter by any stretch, and not much of a crook either, but my hometown was a cauldron of violence populated by young men who rivaled LaMotta in their bloodthirst." flaminghydra.com/issue-502/#r...

Hi please read this and subscribe! to @flaminghydra.com, where we like to look back with you at the things that happened more than 24 hours ago

Very sobering just now, on the eve of Mardi Gras 2026. New at @flaminghydra.com.

I just published a thing on a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans that I had to sit on for years to wait out the statute of limitations. 😬 flaminghydra.com/r/48d9cc1b?m...

This is very good and very sad

I know some folks on #NOLAsky / #NOLATwitter remember the night Eris was attacked in the Marigny.

In the original rough and tumble draft of Virginia Giuffre's book, we learn of the deal Epstein tried to make with her to have his baby. Read more about Giuffre, who has maybe saved us all, in the 500th issue of @flaminghydra.com flaminghydra.com/issue-500/

TODAY: @todseelie.bsky.social on a New Orleans parade devoted to--and sometimes devolving into--chaos. "What I thought was extraordinary at Eris has sadly become commonplace." flaminghydra.com/r/48d9cc1b?m...

Did I mention that $5 million will protect freedom of the press and digital ownership rights, fund library protections, and restore a ton of sustainable journalism jobs at @flaminghydra.com?

Much much less money than this can improve society immediately, and meaningfully. For example $5 million will protect freedom of the press and digital ownership rights, fund library protections, and restore a ton of sustainable journalism jobs at @flaminghydra.com

That's right, $5 million will protect freedom of the press and digital ownership rights, fund library protections, and restore a ton of sustainable journalism jobs at @flaminghydra.com

A clarion call: @felipedlh.bsky.social defends having a taste for good menswear from the barbarians of the far right. With wonderful photos of the author flaminghydra.com/issue-500/

Virginia Giuffre's original draft (in the Epstein files) is way more engaging than the book that was eventually published. She is a hugely significant figure in U.S. history and I hope will be remembered with care and accuracy. flaminghydra.com/issue-500/

TODAY: @felipedlh.bsky.social on the life of a dandy, and those just imitating fashion. "What I find both amusing and irksome is that traditional menswear is an ostensible point of propriety for these wannabe authoritarians and they don’t even care about it at all." flaminghydra.com/r/883cbc3f?m...

Watching the Super Bowl in a bar full of non-music-lovers who turned the sound down for Bad Bunny, turned up Kid Rock, and yelled at the TV, by @joemacleod666.bsky.social Free (and riveting) to read, at @flaminghydra.com flaminghydra.com/halftime-in-...

Joe had the wildest sounding Superbowl half-time show experience of any I heard about. Mesmerizing tale A *free post* from @flaminghydra.com flaminghydra.com/isssue-499/

TODAY: @joemacleod666.bsky.social experiences a version of the Super Bowl. “I was sad about how much hate seemed to be in the room, but it wasn’t my room, and I was free to leave and never come back.” flaminghydra.com/halftime-in-...

Tropes like 'country kid off to the big city' impose real limitations on identity. @jidesalawu.bsky.social on how that works in postcolonial African literature. It's real good And for dessert, @camoot.bsky.social's uh theories about the best/worst days of 2025 flaminghydra.com/p/c21dbf3d-6...

TODAY: @jidesalawu.bsky.social considers rural Nigeria. “It goes without saying that many of the afflictions of postcolonial Africa today, whether social, political, or economic, affect rural populations even more deeply than they do those in the city.” flaminghydra.com/nigeria-and-...

All the real ones are thinking about this. Exceptional essay in @flaminghydra.com on this exact subject from @supremenothing.myatproto.social ✊

flaminghydra.com/issue-497/ super amazing

essay i mentioned previously on how independent music gives you the basic tools for organizing even if you didn’t realize you were building those skills, and how great it’s been to watch people hit the ground running

Today at @flaminghydra.com the mighty @lauriewoolever.bsky.social talks with two leftists in Mexico City who were pretty surprised to receive a Michelin Star Super absorbing great talk flaminghydra.com/issue-497/#f...

one of the things that ai art can’t do is replicate the joy of doing art with yr friends, in community with others. i wrote a bit about how flexing this muscle doesn’t just rule but also builds essential organizing skills in an essay that will be up today on @flaminghydra.com

TODAY: @supremenothing.myatproto.social shares the good news from indie music: "People from all over, regardless of scene or genre, are really showing up. This isn’t just a punk thing; this isn’t about protest songs, or music that’s always been explicitly political." flaminghydra.com/issue-497/?a...

We have about 70 contributors so far at @flaminghydra.com Try some free posts at flaminghydra.com/free If you love it, subscribe from $3/month!

I've been really loving the Flaming Hydra subscription for this reason.

@parkermolloy.com wrote a truly excellent piece on the magic and mayhem of our glorious 2025 Chicago Bears give it a read, and Flaming Hydra a sub :)

It IS

Even if you don't know sports at all @parkermolloy.com has valuable perspectives to help you rise above these chaotic times, plus reflections on the Chicago Bears flaminghydra.com/issue-496/

TODAY: @parkermolloy.com watches the Bears. “Every game required you to believe, against all available evidence, that the outcome you were watching unfold was somehow going to reverse itself in the final minutes.” flaminghydra.com/taking-what-...

My favourite Mourinho anecdote is when he said there’s no racism in football

I was trying to buy happiness with the power of cold hard cash and just really getting my ass handed to me. A total bloodbath. @flaminghydra.com flaminghydra.com/what-it-has-...

Correct. Subscribe to @flaminghydra.com to support and strengthen this model. It's working!! Slowly, but it's working. Just by sharing the subscription money, publishing good work, and attracting enough subscribers, eventually it will add up to a whole salary for each member.

I have zero income and am happy to spend what I have on @flaminghydra.com and @defector.com along with The Paris Review and individual writers like @lukeoneil47.bsky.social and @lioneltrolling.bsky.social

I’m always saying this

Zito Madu on football's José Mourinho. "His abrasiveness and showmanship made him divisive but also exciting. You tuned in and paid attention, even if you might be rooting to see him fail." flaminghydra.com/issue-495/

TODAY: @zeets.bsky.social on legendary Benfica manager José Mourinho. "Only a handful of managers can compete with him in terms of trophies, and fewer still in terms of drama." flaminghydra.com/issue-495/#m...

Hello, looks like independent publishers should beef up our books coverage. If you're into the idea of joining the @flaminghydra.com collective and writing a book review each month (800-2000 word range), please send us your ideas and some clips to [email protected]

contractually obligated to share all good things written about and related to schenectady—the city that lights and hauls the world, baby!

Inspired by @flaminghydra.com I am finally reading Moby-Dick and I am so so so stoked to get to the cetology chapter

YES. One reason why human-made publications like @flaminghydra.com are super important: we publish writers you likely already know from pre-2023, when AI really started messing things up. It's a community of trust, looking out for readers, and for each other, and creating our own digital archives.