I read @aaronburch.bsky.social's TACOMA cover to cover today, and it's so funny and smart and heartfelt. I told him it's "a blow to the idea that great art should come from tragedy! Tacoma is my favorite thing you’ve written and it came out of one of the happiest summers of your life." So good!

Cheerleading & Euphoria in one flash piece?!?! This one is pure 🔥 ...take a minute and give it a read.

Cheerleading & Euphoria in one flash piece?!?! This one is pure 🔥 ...take a minute and give it a read.

Pool Party's reading tonight got a shoutout in Portland Monthly!!! Tonight at 6pm at Grand Gesture Books! Hope to see you all there 🔥🔥🔥

Thrilled to announce that HORSE GIRL FEVER is a finalist for the Oregon Book Award - Ken Kesey Award for Fiction!!! 🔥🔥🔥

Thrilled to announce that HORSE GIRL FEVER is a finalist for the Oregon Book Award - Ken Kesey Award for Fiction!!! 🔥🔥🔥

Using generative AI to “write” a book and calling yourself a writer is like looking out the window of an airplane flying over Mt. Everest and telling everyone you climbed it.

Just finished TACOMA yesterday and holy shit!!! Immediately one of my favorite indie books of all time. Wild and fun and free. Haven’t felt this way about a book since Nagel’s DUPLEX. Soooooooooooo good 📚🔥🧨

"Even the storm clouds that hover above grayscale despots & dumpster divers have cheery little smiles drawn around their gritty cherubic faces" New poetry from RJ Equality Ingram 🔥🔥🔥 poolpartymag.com/three-poems-2/

LOOK MA, WE MADE IT ON TV!!! Watch our little segment on AM EXTRA where we talk all things POOL PARTY, including our upcoming reading on Feb 10 / 6pm @ Grand Gesture Books feat: Chelsea Bieker Jon Raymond Luke Goebel Camille McDaniel Adam Deutsch & Lauren Lavín

LOOK MA, WE MADE IT ON TV!!! Watch our little segment on AM EXTRA where we talk all things POOL PARTY, including our upcoming reading on Feb 10 / 6pm @ Grand Gesture Books feat: Chelsea Bieker Jon Raymond Luke Goebel Camille McDaniel Adam Deutsch & Lauren Lavín

Portland, OR in 2020 felt angry and chaotic Portland, OR in 2026 feels angry and organized The world is scary as hell, but I've never seen anything like what is happening in my community. I imagine it's like... 10x more organized in MN. Feels like really BIG change is possible.

This edition exists because the text could take it. shop.maudlinhouse.net#winesburg-ohio

BREAKING: Bernie Sanders is introducing an amendment to cut ICE’s $75 billion funding increase, and to use those funds to restore the federal cuts to health care.

Come see Luke Goebel read at our upcoming Pool Party event. Feb 10 at 6pm at Grand Gesture Books 🔥🔥🔥

Come see Luke Goebel read at our upcoming Pool Party event. Feb 10 at 6pm at Grand Gesture Books 🔥🔥🔥

Random question for grammar nerds: do you need a comma after the state name in the following sentence? "I moved to Portland, Oregon, in the fall of 2007." ??? Or no comma?

On top of being very funny (surprise!), I think this story, more than his others, will wind up being the key to understanding what mushrooms are a metaphor for in Kevin's writing.

We return with two great pieces this Saturday, but before then, stop what you are doing and give The Bulb Region writer Kevin Maloney’s (@kevinmaloney.net) banger in HAD (@havehashad.com) a read! www.havehashad.com/hadposts/bab...

This is a first for Pool Party!!! A new story "Cotton Candy" from acclaimed Hungarian author, Miklós Vámos, translated by Portland's own @agiborimottern.bsky.social 🍭🍭🍭 Hits all our fav notes of nostalgia and childhood while also hinting at a deeper message. Hope you enjoy!!!

Does anyone ever feel like they’ve got their shit together, everything fine? Most of my life feels like I'm Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times where I'm frantically running around just trying to keep everything from falling apart, always falling a little more behind.

This is a first for Pool Party!!! A new story "Cotton Candy" from acclaimed Hungarian author, Miklós Vámos, translated by Portland's own @agiborimottern.bsky.social 🍭🍭🍭 Hits all our fav notes of nostalgia and childhood while also hinting at a deeper message. Hope you enjoy!!!

Kevin and Aaron doing the same moment in their respective autofictional mains' lives (see ORCAS, or LIFE & ART & MAGIC & BEAUTY by in @xraylitmag.bsky.social) reminds me of when Westlake's Parker met Gore's Dan Kearney in each of their books and it's the most fun thing to happen to indie lit.

“I WENT TO TACOMA TO VISIT my buddy Aaron, who was on sabbatical from his professor job at the University of Michigan…” Check out my new story THE BROKENHEARTED WHALEMEN’S CLUB up today at @bulbregion.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥

My oscillations between “oh god this is terrible, what am I doing?” to “holy shit this might be the best thing ever written in the English language” when I am working on a new novel are reliably dramatic

“Mountain’s out,” said Aaron, which was Pacific Northwest code for “We hate California.” I nodded and said, “Yeah, it’s glorious,” which was Pacific Northwest code for “Can you imagine living in L.A.? I’d rather be dead.”

I really loved this one and think you will, too. Plus, it features “Aaron” ( @aaronburch.bsky.social ) 🔥

New @kevinmaloney.net! New @bulbregion.bsky.social! New... "TACOMA 'bonus material'"?? 🐋🧨🔥

“I WENT TO TACOMA TO VISIT my buddy Aaron, who was on sabbatical from his professor job at the University of Michigan…” Check out my new story THE BROKENHEARTED WHALEMEN’S CLUB up today at @bulbregion.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥

Word on the street has it one other particular The Bulb Region writer might (or might not) be making a cameo in Kevin Maloney’s (@kevinmaloney.net) hearty and brainy story “The Brokenhearted Whalemen’s Club.” 👀 Out today in The Bulb Region. bulbregion.com/The-Brokenhe...

I've got a box of advance copies of TACOMA. Would love to give a couple away. Maybe let's do this... Tell me/rave about a fave piece on @havehashad.com. I'll RT them from HAD and randomly select 2 or 3 tomorrow morning to send a copy to.

Two pages in and holy shit… 🔥

“We spend the evening watching VH1 Pop-Up Videos and reading bible verses before turning on Ghost…” Our managing editor @femmeintheory.bsky.social has an amazing piece up at @bulbregion.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥 bulbregion.com/Booby-Traps-...

“We spend the evening watching VH1 Pop-Up Videos and reading bible verses before turning on Ghost…” Check out this amazing piece by my wildly talented wife @femmeintheory.bsky.social on the incredible new journal @bulbregion.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥 bulbregion.com/Booby-Traps-...

Our new iteration goes live today with Ryan-Ashley Anderson’s (@femmeintheory.bsky.social) incredible gut-punch of a story, “Booby Traps.” It’s honest, it’s brutal — make sure you don’t miss this one: bulbregion.com/Booby-Traps-...

finally having a quiet moment to dig into @bulbregion.bsky.social... and there's two new stories! started with this @femmeintheory.bsky.social stunner. so good! "If we don’t have a name for it, we can’t be punished, right? Can you be punished for breaking a rule you didn’t know?"

"I am often trying to push toward what feels most natural, what feels most like I’m just telling a story to friends. With this, I was really wanting to keep it as loose and fun as possible." www.vol1brooklyn.com/2026/01/15/a...

Huge thanks to mesmerizing Franklin Park Reading Series 2026 Launch stars @justintaylor.bsky.social, @knguyen.bsky.social, @ellomelissa.bsky.social, Heather McCalden & Ali Kriegsman & ❤️ to our amazing audience! And we were honored to kick off the paperback tour for Justin's incredible novel Reboot!

If you missed it yesterday, I've got this new story, on the beautiful new journal, @bulbregion.bsky.social. It's real short. But with big heart! Thanks. bulbregion.com/Big-Things-S...

Sometimes when I write a really good line, I have to make sure I didn’t accidentally steal it from Denis Johnson or @misternagel.bsky.social

THE BULB REGION is now online! 🚀🚀🚀 Make sure to read our four inaugural pieces at: www.bulbregion.com —

This book is so fucking good. Can’t recommend highly enough 🔥

Three new bangin' poems from @adamdeutsch.com over at Pool Party!!! 🔥 He also happens to be one of my fav people in the lit scene. Check out his new work, then come see him live on Feb 10 at our next reading in PDX! 🎤✨

Three new bangin' poems from @adamdeutsch.com over at Pool Party!!! 🔥 He also happens to be one of my fav people in the lit scene. Check out his new work, then come see him live on Feb 10 at our next reading in PDX! 🎤✨

Something I’ve learned over the last decade or so: I used to think I had to obsessively read every news article when some horrible event occurs (which lately is every day). I mistook obsessing for activism. I also thought activism had to look like: protesting in the streets or posting political…

my most anticipated books of 2026 list: