gwendolyn hicks

@prioryruins.bsky.social

they/them 🧄 sorry for being a bride married to amazement. as if it’s my fault words in The Future Fire, Small Wonders, Uncanny, Kaleidotrope... 🌐 prioryruins.carrd.co

i have time to kill today and i miss drawing, so whipping out ye olde activity: reply with a scene or a line of dialogue and i’ll draw a mini-comic! :)

gwendolyn hicks@prioryruins.bsky.social · 3w ago

i have a very gay novelette out in @thefuturefire.bsky.social 🌧️ a goatherd travels to the edge of the world as she knows it, searching for missing rain, but what she comes upon instead is a lonesome woman in a lighthouse. i hope you enjoy “A Word, and Its Keeping”: futurefire.net/2026.77/fict...

i have time to kill today and i miss drawing, so whipping out ye olde activity: reply with a scene or a line of dialogue and i’ll draw a mini-comic! :)

gwendolyn hicks@prioryruins.bsky.social · 3w ago

i have a very gay novelette out in @thefuturefire.bsky.social 🌧️ a goatherd travels to the edge of the world as she knows it, searching for missing rain, but what she comes upon instead is a lonesome woman in a lighthouse. i hope you enjoy “A Word, and Its Keeping”: futurefire.net/2026.77/fict...

Publishers and Editors! I'm taking subs for Vol. 3 of the award-nominated "Best Weird Fiction of the Year" til end of the year. Writers! You'll get a chance to submit your 2026 stories in January. bestspecfic(at)gmail.com



Esteemed Editors and Publishers,

I am now taking submissions of original 2026 short fiction projects — magazines, anthologies, single-author collections — for consideration in The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, Vol. 3. (Publishing Sept. 2027). Vol. 1 is a World fantasy Award Finalist.

I am seeking material first published this year, in 2026. To be clear, only weird fiction FIRST published in 2026 is eligible for inclusion in this volume. I will accept translated work as long as the first English-language publication was 2026.

Stories should be between 500 and 17,499 words. Audio only stories are also ineligible, unless they also appeared as text.

Publishers and editors are encouraged to send electronic or digital copies, via the email address below. (I am not accepting hard copy submissions.) ePubs are preferred, but I will also accept text files (Word), Mobi, or PDF. Please do not cherry-pick selections. Send the entire book, journal, or magazine to:


bestspecfic@gmail.com


Thank you for your time and kind consideration.


Warm Wishes,

Michael
-- 

Michael Kelly / Publisher / Editor-in-Chief
undertowbooks@gmail.com

Undertow Publications
https://undertowpublications.com/

When I visited France, I had to go to Provence to see if the lavender fields there were as beautiful as I had heard. They were, indeed! I was immediately captivated by the rolling plains of purple lavender rows. Hills of Provence by Erin Hanson, 2026 Oil on canvas 28 x 36 in #art #impressionism

When I visited France to visit the locales the impressionists had painted, I had to stop by Provence to see if the lavender fields there were as beautiful as I had heard. When I drove up onto the high and windy plateaus of Provence, with the Swiss Alps far in the distance, I was immediately captivated by the rolling plains of purple lavender rows. This painting captures the feeling of being in Provence, surrounded by beauty in every direction.

Hills of Provence
by Erin Hanson, 2026
Oil on canvas
28 x 36 in

This story made me cry (complimentary)!!! It doesn't shy away from the painful, messy consequences of loneliness and hurt and understandable mistrust, and I so appreciated seeing that explicitly explored on the page. ❤️‍🩹

gwendolyn hicks@prioryruins.bsky.social · 3w ago

i have a very gay novelette out in @thefuturefire.bsky.social 🌧️ a goatherd travels to the edge of the world as she knows it, searching for missing rain, but what she comes upon instead is a lonesome woman in a lighthouse. i hope you enjoy “A Word, and Its Keeping”: futurefire.net/2026.77/fict...

Very talented friend has very excellent story. Take a break from this world and spend some time in Gwen’s!

gwendolyn hicks@prioryruins.bsky.social · 3w ago

i have a very gay novelette out in @thefuturefire.bsky.social 🌧️ a goatherd travels to the edge of the world as she knows it, searching for missing rain, but what she comes upon instead is a lonesome woman in a lighthouse. i hope you enjoy “A Word, and Its Keeping”: futurefire.net/2026.77/fict...

So lovely to see this story finally published! Congrats to my friend & fellow Clarion Ghost @prioryruins.bsky.social Everyone read this

gwendolyn hicks@prioryruins.bsky.social · 3w ago

i have a very gay novelette out in @thefuturefire.bsky.social 🌧️ a goatherd travels to the edge of the world as she knows it, searching for missing rain, but what she comes upon instead is a lonesome woman in a lighthouse. i hope you enjoy “A Word, and Its Keeping”: futurefire.net/2026.77/fict...