Just the right blend of funny, sad and surreal, 'We Sang Water into Lemonade, on the Eve of Summer, In the Wasteland' by Robert Luke Wilkins is my pick for Best Speculative Flash Fiction, 2025! @factorfourmagazine.com
@robertlukewilkins.com
Thank you so much! :-)
Watching the Submission Grinder's acceptances pop now and then, and I must say, it's surprising how many parents had the uncanny foresight to name their children "Fuck ICE".
I don't know who needs to hear this, but cops are not allowed to shoot people just because you didn't do what they said.
That is called murder when they do that.
Some cops are working hard to convince people otherwise.
As another serialised #ShortStory is about to conclude, (I do not expect a happy ending for @robertlukewilkins.com's paranoid AI user protagonist) I am waiting in the wings, to step onto the @thedailytomorrow.bsky.social stage. Not too late to subscribe, to get your daily slice of "Dream Stealer".
My latest story, "The Guided Evolution of Chuck's Home Surveillance System", is now being serialized by @thedailytomorrow.bsky.social -- part 1 came out today, and it'll be getting published until Saturday. You can read the first part below!
dailytomorrow.substack.com/p/the-guided...
Just one of the most wonderful things I've seen, so now you can see it too -- a guy built a 2-billion frame per second camera and used it to observe the speed of light with a laser bouncing between two mirrors.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4Td...
Cow getting sucked into UFO tractor beam. "Kickstarter Countdown: T-Minus 4 DAYS Needed for Liftoff: $2,182 $17,818/$20,000 Click the link in our bio to help us fund the next year of Alex Magazine!"
Story/Excerpt Critiques E. Catherine Tobler (up to 5,000 words) Spencer Nitkey (up to 7,500 words) A.C. Wise (up to 8,000 words) Aimee Ogden (up to 6,000 words) A.V. Greene (up to 10,000 words) Ivy Grimes (up to 5,000 words) Lindz McLeod (up to 5,000 words) Risa Wolf (7,500 words) Sam Fleming (7,500 words Slush Reader Critique Cool Offerings Tarot card affirmation by Los Mei-en Kwa Marie Vibbert Tuckerization Apex Appreciation Online Workshop "World-building from the Inside Out"
New EBooks and trade paperbacks available now! Available only on the Apex Magazine Kickstarter! Shadows of Glass and Other Stories by Jamie Lackey Tiny Planet Filled with Liars by Stephen M.A. Chlorophilia by Cristina Jurado The FULL DIGITAL CATALOGUE from Jennifer R. Donahue! PLUS! Become immortalized in a short story by Science Fiction Author Marie Vibbert! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/apexpublications/apex-magazine-2026
Stickers and hoodie now available worldwide!
There's just 4 DAYS LEFT to fund Apex Magazine for 2026, and we're SO CLOSE to hitting our 20k goal!
Our full catalogue of critiques, ebooks, merch and more will all be gone on Halloween. Don't miss out on these limited edition items and donate TODAY! 💜👽🎃
www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...
ANNOUNCEMENT
1. Afterlives 2024 curated by @shereereneethomas.bsky.social has been COVER REVEALED
2. the collection will be available FOR FREE to paid patrons of @thedeadlands.com
3. join now, read The Deadlands, and receive the book magically when it is released beginning of November
go see! 👇
Whoever decided that the best way to present a best-before date on a product was to use translucent text on a transparent container should be taken out and shot.
This is important for all writers, no matter where they are in their publication journey. Your work is your work, and contracts are meant to protect it, and you, and the writing community at large. MRM is trying to normalize _very_ bad behavior.
A reminder that "But what if people on YOUR side are on the Epstein list?" is a bullshit argument, EVERYONE who was raping children needs to get into the bin right now, that's the deal here and it ain't exactly complicated
are you ready for some big news?
WE ARE OPEN
for BIPOC subs for issue 100!
and we are celebrating with a special theme: Transition, Migration, and Borders: Movement in, and of the Body
💖for those of us who find home in liminal spaces💖
find out more here:
psychopomp.com/fantasy-maga...
I had a brief moment where I mistook Martha Wells for Martha Stewart and was not quite sure what was happening in the world. Things now make more sense.
Thank you! :-)
Want to read stories like these but don't like to wait?
Try Intergalactic Rejects, a similar anthology that just came out from @calendaroffools.bsky.social
calendaroffools.com/intergalacti...
Space Unicorn!
PLEASE REPOST! WRITERS! Uncanny Magazine will be open to Short Story Submissions from August 25 to September 8! Uncanny Magazine will be open to Poetry Submissions from August 9 to August 26. WE WANT TO SEE YOUR SHINY WORDS! buff.ly/9AyStcb
(This story is likely going to hold my "longest published story title" award for a very long time, if not indefinitely.)
My new story, "We Sang Water into Lemonade, on the Eve of Summer, in the Wasteland", is in the August 2025 issue of @factorfourmagazine.com, with stories by @cornellwriter.bsky.social, @oneminutemonkey.bsky.social, and @authorthealiu.bsky.social. Give it a read!
factorfourmag.com/category/iss...
Fond memories of wandering around with a friend of mine as a teenager, and singing his songs much too loud.
(On this point alone, my fiction would definitely get me flagged as an AI)
Dreams - Su Shi (trans. Arthur Waley) Families, when a child is born Want it to be intelligent. I, through intelligence, Having wrecked my whole life, Only hope the baby will prove Ignorant and stupid. Then he will crown a tranquil life By becoming a Cabinet Minister.
Here's a poem by one of the old Chinese scholar bureaucrats that I think captures a certain Vibe very well
Thank you!
The story, "Eyes of my Brother", is suffixed by Afterlives as "(African/Indigenous Inspired Folk Horror, Body Horror, Grief, Spiritual)", proof positive that they're much better at describing my story than I am.
I'm really delighted that my story (originally published by @kaleidotrope.bsky.social) will be included in this anthology. It looks like a wonderful line-up! And I only have to wait until October to read all the other great stories keeping it company.
I. Breathing Beyond the Veil
“How To Get Away with Living” by @izom-chisom.bsky.social
“Drinking Dead Brazilians” by Lia Mulcahy
“Eyes Of My Brother” by @robertlukewilkins.bsky.social
Ugh. I wake up with a perfect sentence in mind, then by the time I sit down to write it, I've forgotten the words and can't find any half way so good. It's not the first bit of writing I've lost to poor waking memory, nor the last I expect, but they're all irritating.
In 1890, the X and Y chromosomes were discovered. It was found that the men who were tested had 46 chromosomes, including an X and a Y, while women who were tested also had 46 chromosomes, including 2 X chromosomes.
So obviously the conclusion was that the Y chromosome defined masculinity.
Always be wary of story search-and-replace changes without a full read-through after. A last-minute proof-read of a story I thought I had finished editing today revealed "a shadow-cloaked temple as large as a temple".
