Still time to sign up for next Thursday's session if you want to read and discuss some fab flashes by @timcraig.bsky.social with us! #BtesizedBookClub #FlashFiction

The next block of the #BitesizedBookClub is open for bookings! We'll be meeting on the following Thursdays, 19:15-20:30 (UK time): 25 Sept - Stories by Tim Craig 23 Oct - Fairy Tale/Myth Retellings 27 Nov - Ekphrastic Stories Link to book: theleadedwindow.blogspot.com/p/bite-sized... #FlashFiction

August read (just the one!) 💙📚: 1. It Felt Like Everything by K.S. Dyal (novella-in-flash) #books #reading #amreading #booklover #novellainflash #2025reads

Come and read lovely NiFs with us! 📚 (I'm in the Sunday group)

Free online attendance at The Fantasy Summer School 2025, organised by the University of Oxford, and Bloomsbury Publishing, that brings together the expertise of scholars, publishers working with fantasy authors. Link here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/oxford-blo... Please share :)

"Kathy, Ich am lost," Ich seyde, thogh methoughte she was sleepinge, "Ich am hollowe and hurtinge and knowe not wherfor" Countinge the cars on the Newe Jersey Turnpyke Thei have all come to looke for America

My NIF ‘William Prichard & Co’ is a year old today! To celebrate I am giving away a free copy. To be in with a chance of winning, please retweet & DM me with your name. I will pick a name out of the hat on Wed 20th. Sorry, UK only.

I'm so glad WHQ retreats have restarted in a place I can easily attend (Leeds) - they are the MOST productive days! ⭐️

July reads 💙📚: 1. Aerth by Deborah Tomkins (novella-in-flash) 2. Mrs Caliban by Rachel Ingalls (novella) #books #reading #amreading #booklover #novella #novellainflash #2025reads

A cartoon for @theguardian.com books.

Catching up on the latest winning stories from @flash500.bsky.social and they're all great - well worth a read!

The next #BitesizedBookClub session is coming up in a couple of weeks, on Thursday 28 August, and you can still book to come and read some teeny-tiny micro fiction with us! More info and booking details here: theleadedwindow.blogspot.com/p/bite-sized... #flashfiction #microfiction #reading

I did read (& largely enjoy) a lot of 'classic/canon' SF as a teen in the 90s, trawling through my parents' bookcases, & even then, naïve little me saw some of the dated/problematic aspects. But I also read a lot of more recent/contemporary SFF that was just as influential to me, if not more so!

Want some nice news for a Friday? This is your early warning that the Welkin Writing Prize WILL BE BACK! A long way to go until entries open in December, but I'm committing now so there's no backing out later in the year 😀 Bigger prize fund too!! 🥳 www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize...

If you missed this discussion on Tuesday night & would like to catch up with all the wisdom shared by @mynachang.bsky.social & @sharontelfer.bsky.social about historical & speculative fiction, the recorded version is now available for the bargain price of £4: www.mattkendrick.co.uk/workshop-rec...

Currently musing on the possibility of teaching some more writing workshops... the ones I've done so far have been well received, but all delivered through an established provider/organiser. I'm not sure I have the reach/clout to strike out on my own without that - worried no-one would sign up!

As a fantasy nerd with an MA in Landscape Archaeology, I found this a fascinating read!

Last chance to help @uncannymagazine.bsky.social hit their stretch goals for this year! If you like speculative fiction, and don't already read/support them, you definitely should!

Really looking forward to this!

In Somerset they know fairies have to be treated with extreme care, at least

KEEP REPOSTING, SPACE UNICORNS! The Uncanny Magazine Year 12: Fly Forever, Space Unicorns! Kickstarter is 90% funded with ONLY 6 DAYS TO GO!! We just need $4544 to have a 12th year of amazing stories, poetry, essays, interviews, podcasts, and art! buff.ly/HPEcU9t

​An overnight walk from Kirk Sandall to Goole, via the River Don Navigation, the New Junction Canal, the Aire and Calder Navigation and the Dutch River, 6.30pm Friday 25 July to 5.30am Saturday 26 July. An improvised, illustrated thread of uncertain length, part reflection, part reconstruction. 1/

Excellent new resource from the ever-wonderful @mattkendrick.bsky.social, with a list of upcoming courses, workshops, and events (including my #BitesizedBookClub 😊) fromthecoursesmouth.substack.com/p/from-the-c...

Just a couple of weeks until I'll be chatting with @mynachang.bsky.social & @sharontelfer.bsky.social all about historical & speculative fiction. We'll be discussing stuff like world-building, genre fusion, possibilities, pitfalls & voice. 5th Aug at 7pm BST. www.mattkendrick.co.uk/live-worksho...

My story 'Poison', shortlisted in the WestWord Folktale Flash competition @retreatwest.bsky.social, is now available to read! 🍎 westword.substack.com/p/poison Congratulations to the winners and to my fellow shortlistees 🎉 #flashfiction

Thoroughly entertaining #BitesizedBookClub session last night, chatting about some funny flash fiction (or at least stories I thought were funny, and thankfully no-one completely slated my sense of humour! 😄) Check out the stories we read on the archive: theleadedwindow.blogspot.com/p/bite-sized...

Hope everyone going to the @flashficfestuk.bsky.social has a brilliant time! I have FOMO, but I'm at a larp event this weekend instead... one day I'll manage to go to the Festival again!

Reminder that the July & August #BitesizedBookClub sessions are still open for bookings! The July session is next Thursday when we'll be reading some funny #flashfiction (and finding out whether anyone else agrees with my sense of humour! 😄) theleadedwindow.blogspot.com/p/bite-sized...

I love Hookland, and this one is particularly good!

We will open to short story submissions as soon as we fund! The sooner, the better!!!

There are 2 days left in our Fund Drive. We're getting closer to Fungi in SFF 🍄 We also really want to celebrate our 25th year with our second stretch goal: ✨an anniversary edition✨ You still have time to donate! And if you already have, we hope you can still help us spread the word!

Fun with etymology!

@smokelong.bsky.social #ArchiveChallenge (Bonus) Day 15! I only posted one story per day and per year of the FlashFlood, so here are a few more that caught my attention as I was reading though but didn't end up being the one I actually shared! (1/5)

'She has jars filled with spices and small-town secrets.' Day 14: We're up to date - from just last month, I love the voice in 'A Diner Full of Nothin'' by @kathyhoyle.bsky.social flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2025/06/a-di... @smokelong.bsky.social #ArchiveChallenge

Since I offered some free query edits recently, I figured I should take a moment and talk about what I suggest and why! "I'm delighted to present you with my novel [TITLE], a [WORD COUNT] [GENRE] which will appeal to fans of [BOOK ONE] for [THESE REASONS] and [BOOK TWO] for [THESE REASONS]."

'We sniffed the air and tasted mischief.' Day 13: This gorgeous piece from 2024 - 'We Blame The Blackthorn, Follow the Wolves' by @kateaxeford.bsky.social flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2024/06/we-b... @smokelong.bsky.social #ArchiveChallenge

June reads 💙📚: 1. A Dress for Kathleen by Heather Richardson (novella-in-flash/hybrid) 2. Cold Toast by Kathryn Aldridge-Morris (flash fiction collection) 3. Murder at Mount Fuji by Shizuko Natsuki, trans. Robert B Rohmer (novel) #books #amreading #novel #novellainflash #flashfiction #2025reads

'Summer has been trapped inside, behind the closed windows, the locked doors.' Day 12: Tightly conveyed emotion, in 2023's 'It’s Complicated' by @fionamckay.bsky.social flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2023/06/its-... @smokelong.bsky.social #ArchiveChallenge

I spent months on this investigation and gathered docs from the UK courts, Land Registry and a French local authority, to show that Raynor and Moth Winn's story is not as they claim. @tortoisemedia.bsky.social @observeruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

'“Listen to your body,” the acupuncturist had said, so I did.' An absolute stunner from @chelseastickle.bsky.social!

Describe your WIP in the worst way possible. People are terrible and there are lots of trees.

'You could fold them into your pocket like a handkerchief.' Day 11: Beautiful and sad - 'Senescence' by @cardewjcardew.bsky.social from 2022 flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2022/06/sene... @smokelong.bsky.social #ArchiveChallenge

'But she is bold on a highlighted page.' Day 10: From 2021, I love the imagery and language in 'The New Scarf' by @hanakhalique.bsky.social @smokelong.bsky.social #ArchiveChallenge

Today's #FolkloreThursday theme is travel, journeys & holidays. The Wayfaring tree (Vibernum lantana) often grows alongside paths & is associated with protection for travellers, preventing them from getting lost & guiding them home. (Illustration by Jan Kops, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

'Latecomers will have their dreams extracted and sealed in manila envelopes' Day 9: Revisiting one I remember reading 5 years ago - 'Miss Quinn's instructions to class 8Q' by Angelita Bradney, from 2020 flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2020/06/miss... @smokelong.bsky.social #ArchiveChallenge

One for my fellow folklore-loving Northern-England-dwelling writers! I'll definitely be aiming to submit something.

This is 40! And to celebrate my continuing existence, I'd like to offer ten free query edits to anyone planning to dive into the trenches. RT and like to enter, and I'll pick ten people tomorrow. Tell your friends! (and yes, my impersonations of art are unrivaled)

'baby, honey, that lady there is nothing but a knife in a silk dress, can’t you see it? Can’t you see she’s meant for cutting things open?' Oh wow, this is INCREDIBLE! Well worth the read!

Thinkinge of askinge Chat GPT a questioun about your plannes, thoughtes, ideas? Trye a tarot deck ynstead. Cheaper, bettir for the environment, bettir resultes, not evil.

'Their mistress is all bone and cannot weep for lack of wet.' Day 8: From 2019, 'The Bone Queen' by @donnalgreenwood.bsky.social is exactly my kind of spooky! flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-... @smokelong.bsky.social #ArchiveChallenge