Saw Backrooms at the cinema. Surreal horror based on an internet meme about an endless series of creepy corridors that exist just past the bounds of reality. The Backrooms themselves were the highlight - the eerie feeling of liminal spaces was well captured. But the story felt a little episodic.

I read The Right to Sex by Amia Srinivasan. Fascinating insights and analysis into the evolution of feminism, the intersection of sexual and racial politics, the moral numbing effect of porn, the pliability of desire and how patriarchal strictures constrain it, etc.

Exciting news!! It is no small thing to receive an acceptance from Fiction On the Web🥰 Thanks @charliefish.bsky.social !! #writingcommunity

Fiction on the Web just accepted a short story set at Vanderbilt in Nashville, where I worked for so many years, about grief and caregiving and aliens being inconvenient. It'll come out on 3 July! #fiction #amwriting @charliefish.bsky.social

Hey, y'all. So my first short story was finally published today. This was originally drafted in like 2017 or 18, but I didn't quite have the chops to deliver. And thanks to @charliefish.bsky.social for the opportunity. #writers #writing #shortstories www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/06/165-...

Aaron F. Schnore's story about cats is honestly one of my favourites I've published so far this year. Reader comments: "A genuinely beautiful story." "The humorous tone didn't prepare me for the poignancy to come." "Wow, found myself in tears at the end." www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/05/stan...

Reader comments on Ajayy Pattanshetty's story: "That was beautiful, straddling the line between the supernatural and the speculative so well." "A short story that touched my heart." "A rare kind of storytelling… a feast for the senses and the soul." www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/05/time...

What did readers think of Brian Clark's wacky comedy about refugee socks? "Brilliant and charming tale." "Awwwwwwww! So much humor and yet a lot of heart!" "Absurdist humor of the best kind." www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/05/some...

Saw Obsession at the cinema. Brilliantly horrifying take on entitlement and desire. Left me wrung out at the end. The best horror movie of the 2020s so far? This and The Backrooms feel like a revolution: native YouTubers are blasting into Hollywood, and there's no going back.

With these accolades, why *wouldn't* you submit your short story to Fiction on the Web? www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/p/submission...

Just posted my monthly Fiction on the Web newsletter for Patreon members, including an audiobook, a list of literary magazines that provide feedback on every submission, and a discussion of lit mag policies around generative AI. You can join here: www.patreon.com/charliefish

The FISH list of lively independent literary magazines allows you to filter by magazines that always provide feedback. Here are 10 of them: Fiction on the Web Flash Fiction Magazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies BULL After Dinner Conversation Milk Candy Review The Colored Lens Rat Bag Lit The Woolf TQR

My daughter is studying for her mock GCSE and I love this mnemonic for compelling writing/speech: WE ARE STARS. It stands for We/you (direct address), Exaggeration/hyperbole, Alliteration, Rhetorical questions, Emotive language, Simile/metaphor, Triplets, Anecdotes, Repetition, Statistics.

In Wednesday's story, a lonely young man has a condition that is causing him to gradually disappear. Reader comments: "This is brilliant. Funny, deep and clever." "It feels like a metaphor. It’s very well written." www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/05/my-e...

Watched Colossus: The Forbin Project on DVD. The US government divests its military capability to an artificial intelligence, which then goes rogue. Could not be more relevant in 2026, but this was released in 1970! A decent sci-fi.

Rewatched You Only Live Twice. Bond movie written by Roald Dahl starring Sean Connery. My kids watched it fully braced for the misogyny and casual racism, but it still grated. The actual plot is fun - I imagined Dahl writing these wacky scenes thinking, "Ha! They'll never film THIS!"

David considers a radical image overhaul at Hologram Sam's, in John McAuliffe's comic sci-fi short story. "This was wild." "This was brilliant! Laughed a lot through it but also felt for the main character. The message is relevant for the age we live in." www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/05/holo...

Readers loved Philip Graubart's short story about a rabbi preparing her skeptical daughter for bat mitzvah. "It’s a beautiful story." "A very pretty, well-conceived and well-written story." "Rabbi Judith is a compelling, credible narrator." www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/05/rise...

Last Wednesday's short story Emile by Philip Cesario got a great reaction from readers: "A short but impactful story about ageing, the human condition, the immigrant experience, a love of books." "A quiet, tender story. Well done." "A beautiful story!" www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/05/emil...

The Albion Inn in Savannah teems with ghosts, but they don't bother the innkeeper Jesse Hawthorne, until a TV crew comes to investigate. "This was a great read!" Read short story The Albion Inn by Alyx Barter here: www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/05/the-...

Rewatched Jam (free on YouTube). Transgressive sketch show from 2000 that managed to make me laugh about the most taboo subjects. Presented with Lynchian surrealism, it ruthlessly satirises power dynamics and social norms. Watch if you enjoy horrified discomfort, and giggling at inappropriate times.

A simple-minded young woman is sold by her impoverished mother to a brutish circus performer. A gentle tragedy. Great performance from the two leads. A strange balance of realism and artifice. Fun fact: I have only 2 degrees of separation with Federico Fellini.

Watched Jacques Tati's Playtime. Presented as farce, but farce usually disguises how carefully choreographed it is until the chaos builds to a climax. Conversely, this movie was conspicuous about the clockwork precision of its set pieces, but then didn’t really build towards anything.

Sean is bitten by a dangerous woman's dog, and engages a hapless lawyer to sue her. Comments on V.S. Kemanis's story: "This story did the impossible: made me feel sympathy for a shyster attorney." "It moved along, and I enjoyed the cast of characters." www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/05/teet...

Watched Baraka and Samsara with my daughter. Wordless images of Earth and human culture. Compelling, and mostly beautiful, although both movies touched on darker material too. Samsara felt more colourful, which we enjoyed, and felt more pointedly edited, to which we had a more mixed reaction.

Saw The Sheep Detectives at the cinema). Cozy murder mystery solved by a flock of sheep. Best feel-good talking animal movie since Babe. I solved the mystery halfway through, and felt smart for getting it right, but the real magic of this story was its humour and heart. Recommended.

I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, about life in a Soviet labour camp. Reminiscent of Holocaust concentration camps, but the risk of being randomly killed is replaced with the knowledge that you have wasted ten years here and will waste ten more.

Rewatched Gremlins. Kids' movie about a weird pet that's super-cute unless you break one of the ominous rules about caring for it. This movie was a PG when I watched it as a child, and now it's a 15?! Full of references to old films, which was fun. Holds up well.

Reader comments on Femi Salami's story about a child going missing in a West African village: "Short, sweet, and with some striking imagery and choice use of language." "We need more writing that engages in this space of fairytale / folklore writing." www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/05/the-...

Rewatched Inside Man. For me, it's one of the best heist movies - top-three easily. It dives straight into the action, and gradually ratchets up the tension. The plot is clever; the ending is satisfying. Great.

I'm submitting! Let the rejections flow...

Rewatched The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 version). An insufferable millionaire steals art for fun until a lawless insurance investigator catches him. Yeuch. Paper-thin characters. The celebration of conspicuous wealth feels tasteless. Looking forward to the 2027 Michael B. Jordan remake, though.

George gets in a pickle at work when his date Mia's punny pranks get out of hand. Reader comments on Monday's humorous short story by Stephen Mirabito: "Great escalating comedy." "Unexpected and entertaining." www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/05/the-...

A man recalls a memorable work trip to Kerala's beautiful Vembanad Lake. Reader comments: "Poetic." "An excellent short fiction about happenstance? Coincidence? Fate? All equally apply." "Simple, evocative, and deeply human." www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/05/the-...

I read Tau Zero by Poul Anderson. When an interstellar colony ship is damaged and no longer able to decelerate, its crew faces the consequences of approaching light speed. Hard sci-fi that made me feel an astonishing sense of awe - as in, both wonder and existential dread. Excellent.

Last Wednesday's story got good reader comments: "What a hauntingly anxious tale! Well written, compelling, and deeply philosophical!" "Great homage to "Button, Button," by Matheson, brought to the modern age. Well done." www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2026/04/the-...