Jeff By Joey Hedger

My guy “Jeff” is up. Come meet him. Much thanks to @completesentence.bsky.social for being the best and pubbing this one!! www.completesentencelit.com/post/_jeff

I still have an external hard drive full of mp3s I ripped from CDs and AVIs of films I ripped from DVDs or downloaded from Kazaa back in 2002. I spent so much time collecting it all in case the world fell apart and I don't what to get rid of it.

Gooseberry Pie Lit-Annual Writing Competition - Gooseberry Pie Lit Magazine Photo by Ryutaro Tsukata: pexels.com It’s almost April which means National Gooseberry Month is just around the corner. In celebration we are having our third annual writing contest with $1,100.00 in ...

Don’t forget to submit. Subs close April 22.

@gooseberrypielit.bsky.social Annual Writing Competition

$1100.00 in prize money

gooseberry-pie.com/gooseberry-p...

Just a few more days to submit to @gooseberrypielit.bsky.social Annual Writing Competition! 🎉🎉🎉

It's definitely a joke. I'm taking potshots at people who think only one county in Alabama is the the REAL South (tm) or four states are the South or only half of Florida or but definitely not AR or VA or MD. Places change and grow. Parts of the South (tm) can be diverse and change.

Also, narcissistic and sociopathic men are better at lying about who they are. I recently dated a man who said all the right things and seemed so caring, only to turn out to be doing it all so he could get me alone and hurt me. This is what we're up against.

Everyone keeps arguing about where the real actual South is, so I've entered my contribution to this fight

Short Story: The Individual published at The Dodge — LJ Pemberton I didn’t mean to have two announcements in one week, but I guess that’s a good problem to have. My short story, The Individual , was just published at The Dodge in their Spring Issue. The Dodge pub...

Got a mini newsletter going. It's not on substack so anyone can ready it (also fuck nazis).

You can subscribe on my home page. Haven't figured out how to move the subscribe button to the actual newsletter page yet, ope.

ljpemberton.com/newsletter/short-story-the-individual-published-at-the-dodge

Gonna try to make this a regular feature, too, where I share what I've been reading, listening to, and watching.

ljpemberton.com/newsletter/w...

Why "Plot" Isn't a Four-Letter Word On teaching yourself plotting and part one of an attempt to describe my "Principles of Plotting"

Wrote a little craft post on teaching yourself plotting and why plot isn't opposed to--and in fact can benefit--weird and experimental work. countercraft.substack.com/p/why-plot-i...

For this reason, I don't think it should be surprising that narcissist or sociopathic men are seen as sexy or desirable in white supremacist patriarchal capitalist society. They quite literally get shit done even if what they do is damaging and destructive.

Between incels smashing their face with hammers or Lt Govs in murder suicides, society encourages this. The only thing all men have in common is that our existence is based on so-called value and usefulness. Rejection goes directly to that. We're all afraid of being fragile, mediocre, or useless.

The internet, which at one time, many scientists were afraid of its addictive qualities. Now it's called just responsible living and, yeah, me coming on bsky to post this is apparently contributing to my own personal cognitive decline and a form of reversible brain damage.

Cars

I'm only going to McD if I have a massive hangover, so it has to be a sausage, egg, and cheese McGriddle, hashbrown, and a large OJ.

We are excited to announce the release of our Spring 2026 issue, live now on our website! It is linked in our bio, and make sure to check out the authors & artists tagged.

@toddedillard.bsky.social, @madelinparsley.bsky.social, @taylorfthiel.bsky.social, @readinstead.bsky.social

Sheldon Lee Compton Obituary April 13, 2026 - Lucas & Son Funeral Home View Sheldon Lee Compton's obituary, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

CJ is working on its own memorial for @ShelCompton as soon as we can get our heads around this major loss for the grit lit community.

His obituary has been posted and there are ways to honor him in the link.

www.lucasandsonfh.com/obituaries/s...

Opinion | Don’t Use A.I. to Do This

“Art is the business of making up stuff — go make up some stuff.” www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/o...

hell yeah brother! very well deserved!

Drift by Craig Rodgers wins Dactyl Award Nominated by Charlies Holdefer with this excellent review, Rodgers’ novel, Drift delivers what the title promises. The hero of the story is a traveling Bible salesman who is unclear about the…

Update:

Society encourages it. Would you believe that studies show that they're still not as entitled as regular dudes? There are even scientists currently trying to figure out why they're not as violent as regular guys. Their cult is just what most Americans already believe but in caricature.

Black Country, New Road - 'Happy Birthday' (Official Video) YouTube video by Black Country, New Road

The Netflix miniseries Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is very good.

Also, I got to hear Black Country, New Road for the first time (yes first listen) which was like listening Fairport Convention at a party on a Friday night after a few beers and a joint.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fOd...

It is with the heaviest of hearts that Cowboy Jamboree has learned of the passing of Sheldon Lee Compton last night. We know how many of you knew him and loved his work. He was a talent like no other. We're heartbroken for Sheldon and his kin. He was a giant. He will be missed.

In the late 00s/early 10s, everyone knocking dudes who were sad about rejection so I made a playlist titled "Fedora Squad." It had the lonely begging hits

Photo of a slim book on a table, book cover has text Terrestrial A Novella by Suzy Eynon on it. Ceramic blue cactus next to book on table.

Back cover of book Terrestrial by Suzy Eynon with blurbs, on table next to small cactus

Screen shot from The Lost Boys movie of scene between two characters in a comic book store with dialogue text "Phoenix, actually."

Terrestrial will be out next month from @malarkeybooks.bsky.social! Grateful to Joey Hedger, Emily Costa, and Drew Buxton for the generous blurbs, and to early reviewers and readers 🛸🌵

malarkeybooks.com/store/terres...

Yay!!!!

Between Van Halen, Kriss Kross, and House of Pain, they have no excuse

I like it a lot. Apparently more than the director had hoped

MFA Horror Stories I am working on a new work in process, trying to process my mixed messy feelings from my MFA years, and trying to untangle what was just my perception and experience, and what might be part of a large...

A former prof of mine, Meg Eden Kuyatt, is working on a project that is collecting stories about MFAs if you would like to share them with her. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...