September MicroVerse roundup is out!

“My blood has opened a conduit to an elsewhere, importing emissaries of shell, feather, fur, and hoof to remind me that boundaries leak, that absence is merely another geometry of presence.” Strange and beautiful story—so unexpectedly emotional. I love everything @mizukiyamagen.bsky.social writes!

@katehorsleywriter.bsky.social “The manual described the Olivetti’s body parts – space bar, ribbon spool, paper table, platen knob, ribbon vibrator – and I read you out the last two, tangled naked with you in our hotel sheets, and you laughed at me,” gooseberry-pie.com/red-olivetti/

@katehorsleywriter.bsky.social “When Papa’s safely gone, I climb on Mama and wrap my arms tight around her and snuggle my face in her flower-smelling neck, whispering, you’re mine, all and always mine,” gooseberry-pie.com/peanut/

@katehorsleywriter.bsky.social “Four years of separation are duly mourned in sleeves of interlocking puzzle pieces inked in orange and green, while blackwork notes freckle tender inner thighs every time a lover tries to read their bodies,” gooseberry-pie.com/needles/

Over 150 calls for literary competitions & submissions including poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, art, photography, & more - contests, literary journals, residencies, bursaries etc - open or with deadlines in September 2025. Please share & best of luck! www.thisiswordbox.com/wordbox-blog...

Read new issue of Gooseberry Pie Beth Konkoski Chad Foret @charhamrick.bsky.social Jane Yager @jennystalter.bsky.social Elizabeth Meyer Gonzalez @katehorsleywriter.bsky.social @kathrynsilverhajo.bsky.social @happilander.bsky.social @patiencemackarness.bsky.social gooseberry-pie.com/issue-35/

Thrilled to have three micros up in @gooseberrypielit.bsky.social ❤️ gooseberry-pie.com/issue-35/ Shoutout to @smokelong.bsky.social where these pieces all began! x

Smeagol will swear on the Precious

Our first print anthology is coming at the end of the month! 🦝 27 amazing short fictions that celebrate the theme of treasure in unexpected places. Proceeds of sale go to @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social Updates here: trashcatlit.com/what-comes-t... We can't wait to share What Comes to Light 💜

The Joy of Flash Fiction - "I am out with lanterns, looking for myself." ~Emily Dickinson. Hope you'll enjoy my latest newsletter. 💙https://open.substack.com/pub/artofflashfiction/p/the-joy-of-flash-fiction?r=4e5y2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

Interested in novellas-in-flash? This is such a great book club run by the lovely @laurabesley.bsky.social - fun, informative and friendly

This little jam by @katehorsleywriter.bsky.social in @mrbullbull.bsky.social made my morning. mrbullbull.com/newbull/flas...

Publication day for this darkly comic little piece I think many readers can relate to. Thanks to @defenestrationmag.bsky.social for getting it up on your site. 🙂 www.defenestrationmag.net/2025/08/book... #amwriting #flashfiction #shortstory

"Dad’s personality traits are gatherer, unstable, nurturing, handy, and insane. He wants to fix things and that’s what he’s good at, but he has these random mood swings where he runs after you wielding a garden gnome or pruning shears." - Kate Horsley mrbullbull.com/newbull/flas...

Thanks @trashcatlit.bsky.social for including my story in this 😍 and cngrats to all the other contributors 🥳🥳🥳

We're back in the bin after a superb weekend @flashficfestuk.bsky.social where we met Trash Family in the flesh! 🦝 With Trash Family in mind, as promised here are the contributors for the upcoming charity print anthology. Twenty-seven stunning stories we can't wait to share 🤩

@joycebingham.bsky.social @thejokelark.bsky.social @lozzawriting.bsky.social @lucimcummings.bsky.social @matgost.bsky.social @bronwengriffiths.bsky.social @terryholland.bsky.social @katehorsleywriter.bsky.social @youcanandyouwill.bsky.social @leighloveday.bsky.social @mrallanmiller.bsky.social 1/2

2/2 Our Trash Family Stuffs this month come from newbies who'll be in our upcoming anthology. Go get to know them and their writing... @joycebingham.bsky.social @katehorsleywriter.bsky.social @myquirkywriting.swifties.social

Well, well, well, if it isn't my creativity's mortal nemesis, a slight change in vibes I can't explain

@petermcallister.bsky.social will be leading a discussion with Jackie Taylor, Rob Magnuson Smith, @amarkle.bsky.social & @emmatimpany.bsky.social at Penzance Litfest, & they’ll be reading from our Holyer an Gof Publishers' Awards-shortlisted anthology, Cornwall In Short! Book here: buff.ly/H8AWToG

The #anthology of short stories I co-published with @katehorsleywriter.bsky.social has been shortlisted in the Holyer an Gof awards this year!! #booksky #award #shortlist #shortlisted #literaryfiction

We were incredibly excited to learn that Cornwall In Short has been shortlisted in the Holyer an Gof Publishers’ Awards 2025! Congratulations to all our amazing authors! The award ceremony will be held on Saturday July 5th. buff.ly/OQcmmtv

Excited to see my first peer-reviewed paper published today. It's an investigation into the murky area that 'divides' short-story collections and novels and questions whether it's time to re-frame the idea of the death of the novel. www.swdtp.ac.uk/wp-content/u... #amwriting #academia

I’m leading a discussion with four fantastic authors about their work and what #Cornwall means to them at the Penzance Litfest this year. They’ll each be reading a section of a story @inkfishmagazine.bsky.social published in the anthology ‘Cornwall In Short’. More details below:

Upcoming event at Penzance Litfest - details below Please come along for readings from the wonderful Cornwall In Short #shortstory #anthology & a discussion about what #Cornwall means to us @petermcallister.bsky.social @inkfishmagazine.bsky.social theacornpenzance.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/...

'The supernatural elements and fairytales I grew up with are either Hawaiian or Japanese. I [was] terrified of Japanese Obake when I was a kid, and to this day when I drive over the Pali highway in Honolulu, I keep an eye out for hitchhikers. ' Interview with Dawn Tasaka Steffler buff.ly/cUBlvVY

Today is the day of my poetry chapbook release of "Aphasia." I'm very psyched! I'm so grateful to @inkfishmagazine.bsky.social I'd be really honored if you picked up a copy of "Aphasia." inkfishpress.co.uk/aphasia bit.ly/4ll4Epx pic.x.com/Imt6LQqE2M

This short piece “What I know about parenting a trans teenager” from Hugh at @turnandwork is important and vulnerable and joyful. Hugh is such a champion of short lit & it’s a pleasure to experience his own beautiful writing. Please take a minute to read & share. www.turnandwork.com/blog-post/wh...

This month's #Mondettes picked by @chriscottom.bsky.social ⚡️Ten wonderful flash fictions 🔍Ten splashes of analysis as to why Chris made these brilliant picks 🪴Three fantastic prompts to get you writing mondettes.substack.com/p/june-2025

Includes links to pieces from @nffr.bsky.social @cincinnatireview.bsky.social @mcarphil.bsky.social @matchbooklitmag.bsky.social @sfreligh.bsky.social @bathflashaward.bsky.social @mynachang.bsky.social @bendinggenres.bsky.social @katehorsleywriter.bsky.social @freeflashfiction.bsky.social

I bet there's a ton of journals who'd love to see subs from those of you who didn't make it in! (and/or those who end up getting rejected.) let's create a little thread of cool, good journals open to subs who'd love to see ~290 word single paragraph prose submissions?

2025 Festival of Flash 🌏 Panel Discussion: Storytelling as a Resistance @katehorsleywriter.bsky.social @eraldo.bsky.social

I have dreamed of being in @gonelawn.bsky.social for a long time—so excited to share “Five Stages of Doug.” gonelawn.net/journal/issu...

So excited for this panel event for National Flash Fiction Day NZ, tomorrow at 10:30 pm BST, with Anton Blank, Síle Mannion, @eraldo.bsky.social, Afua Awo Twumwaah and Viktoriia Vozhrenko www.youtube.com/channel/UCRf...

So excited for this panel event for National Flash Fiction Day NZ, tomorrow at 10:30 pm BST www.youtube.com/channel/UCRf...

Our NATURE EDITION is here! Spilling over with lost forests, wild seas, wily animals, lunar yearnings, magic menageries, mischievous moths and, as always, plenty of superb poetry and flash fiction buff.ly/d5eaihT #shortstories #flashfiction #poetry #writing #nature #climate #ecofiction

Happy to have three poems in @inkfishmagazine.bsky.social’s nature edition! inkfishmag.com/chitin-cradl...

I have a new speculative, climate story and interview in @inkfishmagazine.bsky.social. I hope you check it out! As always, thank you also to @smokelong.bsky.social for being my ride-or-die. And thank you to @lunchontuesday.bsky.social who discombobulated my brain enough to shake this story loose!

"Moon has been dreaming about Theia, careening through deep space like a spectacle." Wow, this extraordinary story (and that last paragraph!) by @dawnsteffler.bsky.social in @inkfishmagazine.bsky.social 💙💙💙

'If a poem doesn’t try to make you feel or to question or to challenge something in you, then the poetry isn’t doing its job.' Kate Horsley interviews Katrina Naomi

Delighted to have 2 vispo in the new nature edition of @inkfishmagazine.bsky.social alongside fiction & poetry from the likes of @katrinanaomipoet.bsky.social, @zoebrigley.bsky.social & more! Thanks to eds @katehorsleywriter.bsky.social & @petermcallister.bsky.social inkfishmag.com/natural-habi...

'If a poem doesn’t try to make you feel or to question or to challenge something in you, then the poetry isn’t doing its job.' I'm interviewed in @inkfishmagazine.bsky.social by @katehorsleywriter.bsky.social inkfishmag.com/interview-wi... #poetry #batteryrocks #interview @serenbooks.bsky.social

Today from #MicroMonday we're thrilled to bring you two superb micros: Forever Teaching Lessons by Peter McAllister @petermcallister.bsky.social and Insufficient Grounding by Katie Strine #microfiction. Please follow the link and enjoy fictivedream.com/2025/06/09/m...

“Home Remedy” by Kate Horsley is today’s 75-word #story on Paragraph Planet www.paragraphplanet.com #amwriting #flashfiction

'Field Observations Made During an Alien Abduction' by Kate Horsley / @katehorsleywriter.bsky.social is not what it seems. A piercing metaphor for trauma, control, and survival. Read now! inksweatandtears.co.uk/kate-horsley/ #InkSweatandTears #Submission #FlashFiction

#SubmissionCall #LitMag accepting #poetry, #fiction, #nonfiction, #flashfiction, #art. They nominate #writers for the #Pushcart Prize and #BestOfTheNet awards. DEADLINE: May 15th Link 👇 🔗 authorspublish.com/inkfish-now-...

For a critter themed follow Friday #followfriday Check out these guys 🦝 @okaydonkey.bsky.social @duckduckmongoose.bsky.social @cateyepress.bsky.social @twinbirdreview.bsky.social @mosspuppymag.bsky.social @fraidycatpress.bsky.social @inkfishmagazine.bsky.social @stingingfly.bsky.social

The Northern Publishers' Fair returns this Saturday! 📚📣 📍Manchester Central Library 📅Sat, April 26th 🕚Starts 11am 🎟️FREE FOR ALL! RSVP at: fly-on-the-wall-press.eventcube.io/events/71509...