Black-and-white title card. Top: stylized word “BAFFLING,” with feathered wing shapes integrated into the letters. Beneath it in small caps: “SPECULATIVE FLASH FICTION WITH A QUEER BENT.” Centered main title: “Marianne in an Unlit Bar on the Outer Curve of Human Space.” Bottom: “Apr 15.”

My flash piece, "Marianne in an Unlit Bar on the Outer Curve of Human Space," is out in @neonhemlock.bsky.social's Baffling Magazine!

It's one of my favorite recent stories and they did an amazing job with it!

www.bafflingmag.com/issue-twenty...

Brooklyn Books & Booze @ Barrow's Intense - Randee Dawn Brooklyn Books & Booze at Barrow's Intense Ginger Tasting room: come hear authors every third Tuesday of the month, and enjoy tasty drinks!

Excited to do a reading of THE IRON BELOW REMEMBERS at @bklynbooksbooze.bsky.social on May 19th!

Come taste ginger beer while I listening to me go on about saucy superheroes & reverse-colonialism!

Special thanks to @randeedawn.com for organizing!

randeedawn.com/bonus/brookl...
(Free event!)

today at 2!!!

Editing Services My goal as an editor is to help bring forth the best version of your book, not to impose my own ideas or preferences on your story. I edit nearly every speculative fiction genre and am intimately f…

I'm offering developmental and copy editing services! If you or someone you know wants far better editing than AI can provide, hit me up either here or through my website: whatsmacksaid.com/services/

And because I'm starting out, if you mention this post I'd be happy to cut the price in *half.*

Screencap from Instagram of Cover Love showing the slivers of five book covers

Cover Love web page

Mystery of the Bitten Peach

Wow! The cover of my upcoming book from Neon Hemlock , Mystery of the Bitten Peach, is featured in Cover Love this month from NetGalley! (And currently in the lead for favorite!) Art by Jenn So! Netgalley members can vote at bookish.netgalley.com/

The new issue of @bafflingmag.bsky.social has arrived! 🪶

www.bafflingmag.com/issue-twenty...

Over a teal background with abstract bubbles and circles, the words, "Clarion West News: Clarion West alumni are honored as Locus Award finalists. Horror Novels - The Possession of Alba Diaz, Isabel Canas (CW'18) (Berkley; Solaris UK). First Novels - Sour Cherry, Natalia Theodoridou (CW'18) (Tin House; Wildfire UK) [F]. Novelette - "We Begin Where Infinity Ends," Somto Ihezue (CW'24) (Clarkesworld 2/25). Collection - Call and Response, Christopher Caldwell (CW'07) (Neon Hemlock). Nonfiction - Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling, Henry Lien (CW'12) (Norton)."

Congratulations to our amazing Clarion West alumni who are finalists for @locusmag.bsky.social Awards, plus too many instructors to name. Full list: locusmag.com/2026/04/2026.... @isabelcanas.bsky.social @nassos.bsky.social @somtoihezue.bsky.social @seraph76.bsky.social @henrylienauthor.bsky.social

Poster for Sharang's activities: Sharang Biswas'12 Queer Smorgasbord Monday April 27th - The Iron Below Remembers Book Talk: One Wheelock, 7-9pm | Free books available! Tuesday, April 28th - Queered Questions & Alumnus Answers: Triangle House, 12:30-2pm | Lunch Will Be Provided. The Iron Below Remembers Table-Top Role-Playing Game: The Fourth Place, 6-9pm | Rsvp Required!

The cover of the novella THE IRON BELOW REMEMBERS

It's super cool to be invited back to my alma mater as one of the speakers for Dartmouth Pride!

I'll be talking about THE IRON BELOW REMEMBERS (from @neonhemlock.bsky.social), running a game set in the world of the book at a FLGS, & more!

students.dartmouth.edu/opal/communi...

poster for the reading; the images have an Elizabethan vibe, featuring a tilted, full-cheeked sun & an eyebrow-cocked moon above a Ye Old English-type city. Between the sun and moon sits the text: Proxima Arcanum - Current Space - April 16th; music by Bloody Crying Twinks; words by Malik Thompson, KC Mead-Brewer, Dom Dickey, & Christopher Luis-Jorge; tarot by Soleil; vending by Andy Lowrie, The House Handcrafted, & Neon Hemlock

friends! enemies! if you're in Baltimore this Thursday night, come check out Proxima Arcanum's reading at The Current Space! it's a terrific venue w/ cool folks & great vibes

(fun fact: I'm one of the readers!)

A watercolor painting in moody grey-greens, rich indigo, and magenta. It depicts a fae hunting party riding through a smoky moonlit forest towards an eerie red lake. The hunters ride deer-like creatures, and are accompanied by stark white hounds with red heads and long ears. A host of small green glowing pixies trail along

A watercolor painting featuring an anthropomorphic rooster captain at the helm of a ship. Beyond him is a map and a little inset seascape

The extended cover illustration for WE'RE HERE: THE BEST QUEER SPECULATIVE FICTION 2024. An illustration (in watercolor) of an earth-toned wild hunt tapestry with muted rainbow-y accents being looked at by a trio of rad queer people in a museum-esque framing

A selection of items from Crow & Crown's Aquarium DnD5e supplement. Watercolor illustrations of a boar-shaped horn, a frosty sword, a bog iron amulet, a potion and a lump of ore with embedded crystals.

Hey #PortfolioDay!
I'm Matt, a queer illustrator/watercolor wrangler from Michigan .

I love painting historical clothing, horses, objects with stories, and pictures within pictures.

Please get in touch with Book, Tarot, and TTRPPG work!

🍂 www.mspencerdraws.com
🏹 mspencerillustration@gmail.com

Everythint is everything all the time but look! Neon Hemlock has another anthology up for pre-order! Look at that cover! Check out the lineup! I'm in it, along with some really cool people!! Maybe get a yourself a copy?

www.neonhemlock.com/books/shatte...

info/contact — neon hemlock

Gosh I love portfolio day.

If you are an artist who might wanna work with us, I'd love it if you filled out the form over here:

www.neonhemlock.com/info

Dofresh is the cover artist for #Cyberscion from @neonhemlock.bsky.social

🚀 Delighted to see CALL AND RESPONSE by @seraph76.bsky.social on the finalist list, along with editor dave ring and the press itself. ✨

i do love to sidle

I think I'd be...sort of okay in this one with @neonhemlock.bsky.social

ha all good

yes perfect, exactly this.

HAD was on the tip of my tongue. i feel like some of the folks who used to publish in cotton xenomorph publish there now.

ooh i thought this was gone but it’s back up!

ways you can use this zoom:
🔮 tarot reading
📱 agony ~aunt
🫂 submissions hell venting
📂 rank all our fav cons
🤐 gossip
✏️ craft discussion
📚 bookshelf tour

this kind of list is exactly what i’m thinking.

(i’m trying to rec places for newish writers to keep an eye out for, but all the ones i used to like have closed down)

Oh sorry I’m looking for litfic mags, I know the SFF ones :)

(Also please admire the rad cover illustration by @jennosaur.bsky.social)

If you haven’t already backed it through our Novella Series, you can pre-order it here:

www.neonhemlock.com/books/bitten...

three copies of the mystery of the bitten peach by Cecilia Tan on a pretty green floral scarf

THE MYSTERY OF THE BITTEN PEACH by @ceciliatan.com comes out at the end of this month!

If you’re a reviewer that would like one of these arcs, sign up for our reviewer list via our website and I’ll share a call for them early next week

any ideas? i feel like smokelong quarterly takes some. not sure what else.

What are your fav litmags that are also into SFF?

what a bonkers sounding book, can't wait to have it in my paws

that is a very good green

nice!!

abomination