Can someone watch the second series of BEEF for me please and tell me if it is outstanding or just good. Anything less than outstanding and I will boycott it as I don’t want to soil the memory of the first one - one of my favourite works of art of all time.
The victory of the opposition in Hungary yesterday, like the Polish election in 2023, is a victory for democracy, not just in Europe but around the world.
Thank you Hungarians. The surgical removal of Orban - a local cancer that has metastised globally - has made me very very happy.
It has also made Donald Trump, Elon Musk, JD Vance and Tucker Carlson very very unhappy.
DOUBLE JOY.
Please read this remarkable story.
The Commuter is like a magical cat that delivers its night’s kills to me every morning. Sometimes pretty but dead bunnies. Sometimes snakes, still alive. Sometimes alien beasts that are impossible to classify.
This time it’s a cat friend. A haunted night cat.
This you must read. MUST. READ. I had the honour of being in on this from the brainstorming stage then watching it become this gorgeously written melancholy wonder.
@electricliterature.com have impeccable standards, as this proves. But one day they’ll slip up and I WILL sneak a story in, BY GOD.
2025 was a calamitous year for me and NYCM. Let's see if I can turn it around in 2026
So it's OUT. The tenth anniversary edition of the @bmthwritingfest.bsky.social writing prize, with mine & @unmutualcharlie.bsky.social third-placed story Almost Extinct in it. Available on print on demand on Amazon or on Kindle at a good price if you're curious
www.amazon.co.uk/Bournemouth-...
This forlorn little story - and its main character — has a special place in my heart. I’m deeply grateful to. @freeflashfiction.bsky.social for reprinting it (and NFFR for doing so first). Does this make me a grizzled old writing veteran?
That last paragraph may be my favourite thing I’ve written.
Both of Marco Rubio’s parents were born in Cuba. Marco Rubio was born in Miami in 1971, before they became US citizens. He is a US citizen because he was born in the US under birthright citizenship. #Hypocrites
This story has a special place in my heart, one I can’t quite explain. I feel a strong sense of identification with the protagonist even though there are multiple biological reasons I could never be in her position. The last para may be my favourite I’ve written. Thank you for giving it a new home
I'm 99.9% sure this isn't an April's Fool given they contacted me a week ago. I'M SO INSANELY EXCITED. I compiled a collection of my 20th century gay histories into a chapbook (mini-book if you don't know) and the lovely @purpleinkpress.bsky.social have made it a finalist for their Cat's Eye Prize.
For the record I think I maybe made a suggestion on one single word and I'm not even sure about that, but I would like to claim the 20 per cent of the credit this post suggests.
Amazing work @chriscottom.bsky.social - this is one of your finest, and your finest is very very fine indeed.
It’s ages since I’ve been a music journalist (that’s mine below) and I’ve lost touch with the consensus but PRESUME it’s now accepted fact that Muse’s Black Holes and Revelations has the best opening 3 songs of the 21st century?
If anyone says otherwise, which album?
www.bbc.co.uk/music/review...
Was honoured to be one of (many) fiction readers for Best of the Net 2026. Thrilled one story I voted yes to won & another was a finalist. But I read many INCREDIBLE stories that didn’t make it… the talent out there awes me.
Actually it would help my writing career if you’d all take it down a notch
Thrilled FFF published this, forming a "northern alcoholic trilogy" with the preceding Wet Brain and Impossible Summer (all illustrated by my gifted friend, Khy). The near-drowning happened exactly as described, near the end of a relationship. The rest, luckily, did not.
THANK YOU FFF and Kerri.
A writing dream has come true: one of my stories has been turned into an audio production on a podcast. This is Manchester, England, 1956, later expanded into All These Things I've Never Done. Huge thanks to Sam James for the PERFECT reading & Chris Fulwell, podcast supremo:
rss.com/podcasts/one...
Did you guys read this story I recommended. If not, please comment with your explanation for why you don't want to take 15 minutes out of your day to experience delight.
Who was it who said that they would have written a short letter but didn't have the time? Can't remember, but it's a good one. I absolutely hate writing 100 word length stories. But fine. Let's try again...
nycmidnight.com/100
Full disclosure. I'm active in writing groups and Mike's in one of them. I saw an early draft, but the characters of Hiro (my beloved Hiro!) and Juan leapt off the page and into my heart instantly. I know I would be recommending this just as vigorously if I'd not known who the hell Mike Dunn was.
This is probably my favourite short story of the last year, starring two of my favourite characters. Bursting with voice, heart and humour, so charming and moving. There's something in its warmth and idiosyncrasy that reminds me of John Irving. Give yourself a gift and read it.
‘until at the end he begs her to get off the living room floor and – please please please – sleep in her bed tonight).’
Don’t miss this powerful, heartbreaking story by @jaimegill.bsky.social in @trashcatlit.bsky.social
#writingcommunity
I’m so glad to see this story by @jaimegill.bsky.social back in the world. It’s so good. The concept is so unique, but not at the expense of the narrative.
A pretty amazing 50th birthday present. One of my favourite, most personal and experimental stories - This Is Not A Horror Film - chosen by Trash Cat for their selection of previously published gems. There’s a Q&A if you want to hear me banging on. Thank you TC & Trampset for first publishing it.
Always lovely when someone takes the time to comment on a story. Thank you, Lillie. I do like how First Date turned out, the way the ugliness creeps up, inch by inch... hngrmtn.org/issues/hngr-...
They can’t take it back now, its been officially announced with my picture and everything. I’m a finalist for a Tennessee Williams Prize!
Teenage me, who devoured Tennessee’s oh so queer plays, would cry at this honour. Maybe today me too.
Results soon but finalist is already wild dream territory
Remember that Hunger Games book where all the competitors were people who had already won Hunger Games? The new Trash Cat is that but with stories.
Every story here has already won glory in another magazine and stood out enough that Trash Cat is giving them another day in the sun. Dive in!
Submissions for the Mini Bin are now OPEN.
Send us your best micros before 8pm (UK Time) on the 10th March.
Make 'em short, make 'em sharp, make 'em story.
50-175 words, any genre.
trashcatlit.com/microfiction...
Ah thank you. I wasn’t trying to create a twist, more a growing sense of not-rightness that finally reveals its full ugly face
Ah thank you. I wasn’t trying to create a twist, more a growing sense of not-rightness that finally reveals its full ugly face