'Art is a biased contract in which the creator always knows something the interpreter does not.' Always lifts my heart when I see a new story by @ricketywhite.bsky.social. Boy this feller can write...

Don't forget--there are 2 ways to listen to Sherry's Shorts on Friday: via the Listen Anytime link ⬇️ & *live* at 12 noon UK time on hhr.scot. Catch the tense 'Mountain Sunrise' by @ruthabrandt.bsky.social & the stunning 'Stupid Lovely Confidence' by Nazifa Islam + 2 more gems by Highland writers! 😁

A week tonight - join us at the Saul Hay gallery for the launch of Maya Sharp's debut novel, The Garden. Maya will discuss the novel and her interest in folklore with the writer and publisher Nicholas Royle. 7.30 p.m. - 9.00 p.m. Free entry/wine/juice but RSVP: www.confingopublishing.uk/event-list

“We might not raze like young lovers now but the pulse, oh lord, the pulse enthuses.” From Palmer by R.M. Francis vpresspoetry.blogspot.com/p/palmer.html

I would like Caroline Shaw or the Kronos Quarter (or both) to set this to music please

New Musings Kicking the Kitsch of Adulation open.substack.com/pub/literary...

I'm absolutely delighted that my piece, 'These days you're kinda okay', has found such a loving home with @lit-namjooning.bsky.social 💜 Many thanks to editors, Hema, Lakshmi & Melissa. #amwriting #writingcommunity #fiction #flashfiction literarynamjooning.wixsite.com/litnam/post/...

I'm very much looking forward to being on this panel and discussing Developing Short Story Craft. There are still tickets available, some with discounts, so follow the link below for details! @farhanashaikh.bsky.social #shortstorysept #shortstories #festival #amwriting #writingcommunity

Really enjoying this valuable and engrossing interview with @ailsacox.bsky.social. Such a balanced and insightful perspective on the short story.

Huge thanks to the wonderful @amantineb.bsky.social for the chance to talk stories in her From the Heart series. Thanks too for her quiet, sensitive reading of an extract from my collection Things Grown Distant, published by @confingopublishing.bsky.social www.amantinebrodeur.com/post/taking-...

Only just found out that my my radio comedy series The Circle has had another airing, but there's still a chance to hear it from the first episode. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Enjoying prepping for a new talk I'll be giving next week 'Hacked Off: A Life Asking Questions' on my career as a journalist. #publicspeaker #freelance #journalist #author #talks #presentations

I'm very happy that this anthology has taken its name from my story. Buy the book and you can read good stories AND help save UK wildlife and wild places Why wouldn't you?https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/

New episode! Meet @ailsacox.bsky.social, short story writer and Professor Emerita at Edge Hill University (UK). In this episode, we discuss famous claims about short fiction and short story writing… are they facts or fiction? Listen here to find out: www.spreaker.com/episode/the-...

(Many of these essays appeared first in Exacting Clam)

A great question from Anna here. I don't have any useful answers, I'm afraid. Perhaps someone out there does?

Another favourite sentence: In a winning moment of self-analysis, he once observed, 'I am not completely crazy, but I am a psychopath.' Julian Barnes on Lucien Freud.

Honoured to return to @fictivedream.bsky.social today with The Shape of Moments, a twin of an earlier story, Backgrounds. Very grateful to Laura, also to @kerryhp.bskyb.social and @[email protected] for encouragement to explore these characters further.

Got my first full MS request yesterday after six years of writing. Very grateful, whatever happens next! #writingcommunity

Big news. Book deal! My debut novel, INFINITE NIGHT EYES, will be published by Black Spring Press (UK) and available via Simon & Schuster (USA, Canada). Coming to a bookstore near you in autumn 2026 💥 #infinitenighteyes #bookdeal #publishersmarketplace #literaryscifi

It's a pleasure to welcome back Mike Fox with his #shortstory The Shape of Moments, out tomorrow @polyscribe70.bsky.social #fiction #writingcommunity

This looks interesting. Niche, but interesting.

“Morning before birth, almost-parents circling mud paths of Green Pool.” From Palmer by R.M. Francis vpresspoetry.blogspot.com/p/palmer.html #poetry #books

"This is no place for such as you are now." Fiction by Gregory Feeley, online and in print. Exacting Clam 18. Subscribe for full access. https://exactingclam.com/issues/no-18-autumn-2025/petraglyphe/

My #CraftArticle for September is on how we can use mimicking to learn about the craft of writing and how the AI method is really the human method. Includes a (hopefully) fun exercise to have a go at to hone your writing muscles: prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com/p/the-ai-met...

‘It’s difficult to tell them apart by colour and Philippe wants to know what he’s picking up’ – The Tunnel, from Paris Fantastique, the final volume in Nicholas Royle's city-based story collections. Publication 6 November. Pre-order for £9.50 + p&p: www.confingopublishing.uk/shop

Submissions for Issue #6's holiday themed-page "Ghosts" are now OPEN!!!! Send us your poetry, fiction, CNF, and digital art between now and November 30, 2025 by 11:59 PM CST! Check out the submission guidelines for "Ghosts" and start submitting!!! www.theargylelitmag.com/submissions-1

'The bay was a chalice filled with the wine of the sea.' Gorgeous, memorable story from @grahammort.bsky.social. A few minutes of perfection on a Sunday morning.

Join us at the Saul Hay gallery on 24 September for the launch of Maya Sharp's debut novel, The Garden. Maya will discuss the novel and her fascination with folklore with the writer and publisher Nicholas Royle. 7.30 p.m. - 9.00 p.m. Free entry but RSVP: www.confingopublishing.uk/event-list

I’m signing paperback copies of ‘Made in Manchester’ at the wonderful Waterstones Oldham. Four customers so far. Here until 2pm.

This made my day! Thank you so much @thewritelifeliz.bsky.social 💙💙💙

Now in stock & available to pre-order – Palmer by R.M. Francis – a poetry chapbook that is very wandering and very wondering! vpresspoetry.blogspot.com/p/palmer.html

Today in celebration of the #FlashFictionFamily I'm shouting out @laurabesley.bsky.social who's been such a support to me over the past few years and is the loveliest human being. Everyone should be following her on here and reading her work (because she's brilliant)!!!

My brief essay 'On Annoyance' in the latest issue of Exacting Clam (@exactingclam.bsky.social). Also featured in my new essay collection 'In Extremis', published 9th September. www.exactingclam.com/issues/no-18...

Did you know 'Sherry's Shorts' has its own show page on Highland Hospital Radio, making it easy to Listen Again to any show you missed. Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend catching up on all the excellent flash fiction & short stories on Sherry's Shorts!😊 www.hhr.scot/show/hhr-sho...

I'm so thrilled to be included in Literary Namjooning's Issue 2 with a story that is very close to my heart. Thank you to the editors and readers for selecting my piece 💜 #writingcommunity #amwriting #namjooning #namjooningbutliterary

Manchester’s magnetic story: Brian Groom’s book reveals the city’s soul. Interview from a few months ago. ilovemanchester.com/manchester-b...

It's a pleasure to welcome Chris Farrington with his #shortstory The Jigsaw Ferry, out tomorrow #fiction #writingcommunity

Hooray! It’s Friday! Which means there are 2 ways to listen to Sherry’s Shorts today: live at 12 noon UK time on HHR.scot or use the Listen Again anytime link below for brilliant stories from @fionajanemack.bsky.social @Lindy biller & me.

Still thinking about this, tender, dark story by @carcionejay.bsky.social. Jason is a master of detail and atmosphere.

Her illustrations for "A Penny for the Guy," a book I had as a child, left a lasting impression. 📚🎨 (📷via Right Way Up Books, UK) #DodProcter #ClareCollas

Did you know Sarah Hall has a new book out? I didn't

What is it that most says 'Autumn's on its way' to you? A chill in the air? Birds gathering on telephone wires to fly south? School uniforms in shop window displays? Or me putting a call out for contributors to A Personal Anthology when it returns in September? Love short stories? Prove it!

The remains of a ruby tailed wasp. A very small and beautiful parasitic wasp.

#PoemsAbout #Ceasefire #poemsaboutpeace ​Huge thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk ​and @thebrokenspine.co.uk We write peace into the silence.

Rare in my experience to find two biographies so in accord. Both sympathetic, both insightful. A fascinating and unusual life (a story is on the way...).

'Theatres, I realised, carry the sensation of all the unwilling bodies, of the bitter reluctance of those invited to attend events they couldn’t care less about.' Love this wry gem by @kerryhp.bsky.social. Kerry's characters inhabit a wonderfully perverse world.

And if you need more, here's (ahem) something from me - not from this summer, but I did my best to squeeze all the essence of summer into it - don't know how much longer it'll be available, so do listen if you get the chance 😉 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Long hot days are perfect for listening to short stories - I've been enjoying some of this summer's best from BBC Radio 4 - starting with a very affecting piece from KM Elkes ( @kmelkes.bsky.social ) set in the Arizona snowbird community - www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

'A brilliant book. Cannot recommend 'Made in Manchester' highly enough.' 'Extremely informative, and enlightened me on a shed load of stuff about Manchester.' 'Absolutely loved this book.' 'A damn good read.'