Winesburg, Ohio is not cozy small-town fiction. It’s about repression passing as normal. shop.maudlinhouse.net#winesburg-ohio

This story collection is SOOOOO FUCKIN GOOD. Like Denis Johnson level writing. Best book I read last year period. I can't believe we're lucky enough to publish it via Pool Party Books. I can't wait for you all to read this one. It's gonna blow your minds. 🤯📚✨

My technique for writing novels involves writing random scenes out of order... fragments of dialogue, description of an open window, etc... totally disconnected from each other. I delete most of the fragments. The few left become the seeds that slowly expand outward until a book starts to form.

Today's sneak peek comes from Aaron Burch's (@aaronburch.bsky.social) "Big Things Small Town," a short prose detour through Casey, Illinois—home of the World’s Largest everything? Make sure you don't miss this roadside wonder on The Bulb Region's opening day come January 13. bulbregion.com

Excited for this new journal, The Bulb Region, edited by HAD & SSL fave, @sarpsozdinler.bsky.social, launching on the 13th! Excited to be included, excited to be among this list of writers! bulbregion.com

First read of 2026

I feel like humans have completely forgotten that we have a choice with A.I. As a culture, we don’t have to jump off this cliff just because we find ourselves at the edge of a cliff. We could pause and ask ourselves: “Will this make our lives better or worse?“

this is live this morning! ivygrimes.substack.com/p/interview-...

It's becoming increasingly clear to me that the most important, political, & revolutionary thing any of us can do in 2026 is retaking control of our own brains. Which, to me, means: unplugging from the algorithm as much as possible. Instead: read books, go to a museum, think for yourself, be still.

I’ve done a pretty good job recently of cutting my cell usage to bare minimum & spending more time taking walks, long baths, & reading. Saw a trick in the NYT today recommending switching your phone to grayscale since color causes dopamine reaction in the brain, so I’m livin in grayscale mode now 🔥

Sort of mystified by Murakami. I feel like he’s not a particularly good writer, much of his books feel similar, and he’s not doing anything particularly interesting stylistically, but I always deeply enjoy reading his books. Like… more than almost any other writer. It doesn’t make sense 🤷

Find out what my top five reads of the year were, along with Managing Editor @femmeintheory.bsky.social and Poetry Editor @brianstephenellis.bsky.social!!! 📚✨

It's hard to overstate how much I hate social media, since I think it's a time suck & addictive & bad for the human brain & no matter how smart your "content" you're still making billionaires richer, but I do miss the online community that was on old pre-Elon Twitter. It feels like that community...

HORSE GIRL FEVER picked as a “Best of 2025” book by @winnipegfreepress.com! Thanks @badguybirnie.bsky.social!!! 🔥🔥🔥

“While the volume is slim enough to ingest in one sitting, microdosing Maloney is also rather enjoyable.” Wrote up @kevinrmaloney.bsky.social Horse Girl Fever for best of 2025

Tried reading Infinite Jest about 15 years ago and thought the central plot device, "the Entertainment" (a film is so compelling that its viewers lose all interest in anything other than repeatedly viewing it, and thus eventually die), was far-fetched and stupid…

I will never knowingly publish with a lit mag or press that uses AI art. While AI has some beautiful uses in medicine and accessibility, it has no place in art/writing. At least not in its current form. It is a plagiarism tool. Fuck AI.

Had pretty much the same ideals since I was 18 or so: 1) your job is something you do to live, not the other way around, 2) TV/internet is a time suck, read the classics, especially the Russians 3) listen to jazz 4) make art without worrying about whether anyone likes it or not

December vibes

Scrolling through photos from my summer in Tacoma, looking for a possible author pic for TACOMA, and found this photo of me & @kevinrmaloney.bsky.social & Mt. Rainier in the background, reminding me of this page from TACOMA more or less about that day...

love this @sarpsozdinler.bsky.social short on @poolpartymag.com! poolpartymag.com/the-hideaway/

Hey Portland!!! This is tonight!!! Pool Party EOY BASH. Cash bar! Flash open mic! Goofy raffle! Refugee gift drive!!! Hope to see you! 7pm @ Coffee Beer 4142 SE 42nd Ave. Portland, OR 97214

Hey Portland!!! This is tonight!!! Pool Party EOY BASH. Cash bar! Flash open mic! Goofy raffle! Refugee gift drive!!! Hope to see you! 7pm @ Coffee Beer 4142 SE 42nd Ave. Portland, OR 97214

Dmitry Samarov revived the original Midwest rot. Winesburg, Ohio is back with an intro by Kevin Maloney. Preorder now. 🖤 shop.maudlinhouse.net#winesburg-ohio

Blood oaths, divorce, and not-so-secret drug deals. These childhood milestones and so much more to feel nostalgic over in Sozdinler’s new story 🩸

Blood oaths, divorce, and not-so-secret drug deals. These childhood milestones and so much more to feel nostalgic over in Sozdinler’s new story 🩸

The only writing advice I've ever found particularly useful is this passage from the Bhagavad Gita

hey how neat ourculturemag.com/2025/12/02/t...

Fav non-interview literary podcast? Love interviews but looking for something a little different while I’m driving around running errands

I love Patrick and I love this book and you should all buy it right now, and if nothing else, read our discussion for my incredible interview technique, i.e.: "As a Gen Xer, I feel like I need to ask the grunge question…"

May have just read this book and... um... HOLY SHIT IT'S SO FUCKING GOOD 💀⚰️🔥 autofocusbooks.com/store/p/the-...

Honest question... where do you all stay in touch w/ lit journals / discussions these days? Like... what are the main platforms you use? BlueSky? IG? X? Substack? Email newsletter subscriptions? Something else? Ever since Twitter died (RIP), I feel like I don't understand the new media landscape

I love Patrick and I love this book and you should all buy it right now, and if nothing else, read our discussion for my incredible interview technique, i.e.: "As a Gen Xer, I feel like I need to ask the grunge question…"

Nothing makes me more excited to reread Winesburg, OH for the first time in decades than knowing that Kevin will be framing it up in one of his lovely little Pergolas of Context

We're thrilled to announce that @brianstephenellis.bsky.social has joined Pool Party as our poetry editor! We know Brian is going to bring their sharp eye & community spirit to Pool Party 🔥🔥🔥 Submit to them at [email protected] (after reading our subs page!)

"At twenty-four, I fucked wherever I could while my boyfriend did the same, an impossible competition." Love this new essay by Alicia Gee, "I MAY LEAVE," up today at Pool Party. 🔥

cover! synopsis! preorder! out in feb!! "Blending autofiction with fantasy, meta with magic, and earnestness with absurdity, 𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘢 presents a recognizable but also magical world where we ask, if nothing is real, then why not have as much fun as possible?" autofocusbooks.com/store/p/tacoma

"At twenty-four, I fucked wherever I could while my boyfriend did the same, an impossible competition." Love this new essay by Alicia Gee, "I MAY LEAVE," up today at Pool Party. 🔥

Was really stoked to write the introduction for this new @maudlinhouse.bsky.social edition of WINESBURG, OHIO w/ AMAZING illustrations by Dmitry Samarov 🔥🔥🔥

Hey Portland!!! If you’re going to the @literary-arts.org Portland Book Festival this weekend, I’ll be doing a pop-up reading at the Portland Art Museum Sat 11/8 @ 2pm in front of The Little Harpist. Hope to see you there!!! #PDFBookFest #portlandbookfestival

Metal albums? Childhood nostalgia? Christian/Satanic cult vibes? Guy Cramer's "The Pool Pit" checks ALL the boxes 🔥

Metal albums? Childhood nostalgia? Christian/Satanic cult vibes? Guy Cramer's "The Pool Pit" checks ALL the boxes 🔥

This @kevinrmaloney.bsky.social story is 11 (!!) years old now, and I still remember immediately loving it, accepting it, and hyping it probably almost every Halloween since... www.hobartpulp.com/web_features...

"The big religions feel like Costco and McDonalds, and the little indigenous religions and spiritual stuff feels like mom-and-pop stores. I stan a mom-and-pop store, and that’s what I want to be affiliated with." This interview between cousins @jaimefountaine.bsky.social and Soso Capaldi is 🔥🔥🔥

Thanks to @thedodgemag.bsky.social and @addisonzeller.bsky.social for sharing my story "Two Dreams," rejected two different times explicitly for having talking animals. Like, literally, one of them was a just form and "no talking animals." In wonderful company: www.thedodgemag.com/derrickmarti...

"The big religions feel like Costco and McDonalds, and the little indigenous religions and spiritual stuff feels like mom-and-pop stores. I stan a mom-and-pop store, and that’s what I want to be affiliated with." This interview between cousins @jaimefountaine.bsky.social and Soso Capaldi is 🔥🔥🔥

They settled on 2,500 words b/c we read @kevinrmaloney.bsky.social's story "Ghost" and they decided that was a length they liked--"kinda long, but without feeling long," so someone copy/pasted the text into Word to get an exact count, then rounded up. Editing!

🚨🚨🚨NEW POOL PARTY POEM ALERT🚨🚨🚨

Is this ANTIFA?

War Report #3: the Horrors of Powell’s Books #ThePortlandWars2025