James Parenti

A poster for the film The Bride! by Maggie Gyllenhaal. The two stars’ faces are close together and take up most of the poster. Bale’s face has suggestions of classic Creature scars, Buckley’s has a stain of black ink on one side of her mouth and cheek.

Really, really enjoyed Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! Jessie Buckley is volcanic as always, and Christian Bale shows a sweet, tender, conflicted Frank. Impressive across the board, and I’m usually pretty lukewarm on Bale. May Maggie Gyllenhaal live long and make many more strange, singular movies.

Yeah, nothing exists for me after the original S3 finale. It felt tragically cut short at the time but that final shot with “It Never Rains in Southern California” playing was perfect.

Wishing for more show after that, we had no idea how bad it could get!

Meg Elison. Caitlin Starling. Carmen Maria Machado. Tananarive Due. Gemma Files. Samanta Schweblin. Helen Oyeyemi. Mary Shelley. Shirley Jackson. Angela Carter. Anne Rice.

Just to name a few!

Oh nice, I never knew this existed! Buying my copy now!

“Show me slowly what I only know the limits of.”

“Dance me through the panic til I’m gathered safely in” is a line that just had no right to go so hard.

Leonard Cohen was a real one.

Thanks so much for sharing this. I’ve been beating myself up for not being more productive lately, so it’s nice to know I’m not the only one!

POST AN EMERGENCY CAT PIC

As someone who’s moved to Philly in the last few years, I’d like to add that the local population’s enthusiasm for fireworks cannot be overstated. I think there’s a box or two ready to go in every basement at all times. Just putting that out there!

Watching Me Fall YouTube video by The Cure - Topic

I'm on a big Cure kick lately! The whole Bloodlowers album, but especially "Watching Me Fall." It's great writing music!

Amazing, thank you!

Your guidelines say 4000-ish words max—may I ask how strict that cutoff is?

For 2026 let’s remind ourselves what really matters: weird fiction

Here’s a vote for Option 2. Finished reading Shriek earlier this year and I’m still hungry for more ways to engage with it

A black cat sits on a table with a red and black tablecloth. She has her nose buried in a bouquet of red and white roses, with a purple candle (unlit) beside her

Wednesday literally loves smelling flowers
#blackcat

There’s a newer horror mag called Remains if you haven’t tried them yet! @remainsmagazine.bsky.social

And now it's been fully deconstructed, rebuilt, polished, and sent off to my beta reader friends. After focusing on longer projects for a while now, this quicker turnaround is really refreshing. Getting excited to start subbing it hopefully early next year!

“The Mastermind” and “Sorry, Baby” were both instant classics for me!

Last Play of the Game — Vestal Review

Check it out: "Last Play of the Game," an urgent, breathless flash piece by @marioaliberto3.bsky.social that uses a single sentence to move laterally, backward, and forward in time. I love that the whole team is the protagonist rather than a single player!

www.vestalreview.net/last-play-of...

You did it, you did it! And now I hope you can find some time to rest :)

This is a great thread, and one I really needed to read today. I'm always grateful when @delilahsdawson.bsky.social shares her hard-won wisdom!

Ooh, I loved this story! So glad to see it find a wonderful home!

if you think "AI" is going to "outperform" writers at "literary fiction" we have nothing else to talk about. there is a fundamental rift in the way we see art and humanity and it's never gonna get solved, even when this AI horseshit goes away

A bunch of writer friends are noting that they have not used LLMs to write. Me either, absolutely not. I feel like we need to stop asking kids what they want to BE when they grow up and start asking them what they want to DO. Because: I am not here to BE A WRITER, I am here to WRITE.

I did some of my earliest writing when I was working as a waiter. You know those tiny moleskine notebooks the size of your hand? They fit perfectly in the server book I kept in my apron, and nobody was the wiser!

Well I just watched the first episode and I am now very excited to read your story!

Biceps!

Just ordered my copy—really excited to read this one!

An I Voter sticker on my mustard-colored sweater. You can see the lower half of my face, too.

Out here representing in PA. Hoping for good news from NYC.

Wait, I loved Billy Wong so much! What’s going on with him these days?