Arthur Robert Tracy IV
@arttracy.bsky.social
Editor and writer. Burned-out educator. Just here because the kids said it was cool.
The charm of this story is obvious. What I find particularly noteworthy, though, is how effortlessly it builds a world and characters, using a blend of familiar stock bits and efficient exposition. This is not the sort of story one usually looks at for craft, but the craft is there.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 2w agoToday from Hell Itself, a lighthearted take on working together: "No Pie" by Floyd Largent. hellitself.com/no-pie/
Not surprisingly, I get a lot of submissions about hell. The ones I publish need to be extraordinary. This one stood out immediately for making straight-up terrible people so much fun.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 4w agoNew from Hell Itself, when the gates of Hell opened, some people got new coworkers. "Hell is Open for Business" by Sarah Skinner:
I was drawn to this piece for the worldbuilding. Creating a rich secondary world in a short story is no small feat, and I found myself loving Vari's world as much as I loved Vari herself. Definitely take the time to enjoy this one.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · last mo.New, from Hell Itself, @zacharytbranch.bsky.social brings us a sweeping tale of "Kamistones and Keeps"
To be clear, my family's involvement in law enforcement goes back to the time of St. Thomas à Becket, when my ancestor helped rid Henry II of that troublesome priest.
What I loved about this particular piece is the tremendous amount of emotion it conveys without ever coming out and telling us how to feel. From the very beginning it was, well, a requiem. I hope you're as moved as I was.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 2mo agoToday from Hell Itself, a story about memories from @freemanwrites.bsky.social
There was a settlement (which worked out to a pittance per author). The issue is, almost no one was asked if they agreed and were just told, "this is the settlement, take it or leave it." That's not a mutual agreement. It would absolutely depend on the specific terms and if authors agreed or not.
Seán@wizardhill.bsky.social · 2mo agoI have a question, sorry if it comes off as leading or aggressive. Let's say hypothetically there was some massive series of settlements to artists on all levels who had their work stolen, and full transparency in future training. Do you think you'd find yourself more amenable to generated content?
To be clear, I don't advocate "buy whatever and blame the writer" either. We no-AI editors must still be doing our best to NOT buy AI-written stories. If it smells like AI, don't buy it. But going on a witch hunt against already disheartened writers isn't the answer.
ByteSignal@bytesignal.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe fraud framing is the right lens—it shifts accountability back to the submitter rather than making detection your burden.
In light of all that's going on, I feel like I need to make a statement. Short version: 1) I don't accept stories written by or with LLM tools 2) I don't use AI detectors 3) It's possible I could be fooled by AI. All that proves is that the author committed fraud by misrepresenting their product.
I'm honestly not sure if this story is lit-fic that borrows a spec-fic trope or a spec-fic story told as lit-fic, and I don't think it matters. The result is an emotional resonance that made it the story I didn't know I needed until I read it. I hope you love it as much as I do.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 2mo agoToday, from Hell Itself, @helenfrench.bsky.social with an unusual take on a common theme: "The Space Between the Dust Motes."
I was taken with the elegant simplicity of this piece. Couple that with my intense hatred of daylight savings time, and it seemed an obvious choice for the magazine.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 3mo agoNew from Hell Itself, @pbarmby.bsky.social brings us a story of good intentions in "Daylight Savings Time.' hellitself.com/daylight-sav...
I'm afraid I got a little behind on the slush, but I sent a wave of responses today, everything older than June 11. Please query if you didn't get a response. I have a couple of resubmits that are older than that, but I'm trying to get through the new subs first.
I could say many things about Patricia Court's stories, but "they lack complex characters" will never be one of them. This heartbreaking piece is, I think, a magnificent character piece, and it makes me long for the never-published anthology it was written for.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 3mo agoNew, from Hell Itself, "Sentinels" by Patricia Court
The rate of submissions to Hell Itself has picked up significantly in the past couple of weeks, and I'm trying desperately to read the entire Hugo packet. Response times may be a little slower than usual.
A great many people dismiss origin stories, but secondary-world stories about how something came about truly highlight the differences between that world and ours, which makes us reconsider our own. Whether they're connected to a franchise or standalone, I love them when done well. And this one is.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 4mo agoNew, from Hell Itself, @danielausema.bsky.social brings us an origin story in "Grey Eytel and His Band of Birds." hellitself.com/grey-eytel-a...
Once again, @reggiekwok.bsky.social delivers a captivating story that no one else would publish. One of the things we're supposed to try to do with our magazines is define what we publish, and this is a story that is very hard to classify. Silly, dark, adult, accessible, weird… I can't define it.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 4mo agoNow from Hell Itself, "A Tennis Match with a Queen Ant" by @reggiekwok.bsky.social
I have made a couple of changes to the @hellitself.bsky.social guidelines. First, I've decided to set a minimum word count of 1,000 words. Second, I've created a two-tier minimum number of rejections so longer stories require fewer to be eligible.
I have a love-hate relationship with flash. When it's done well, as this one is, I'm amazed at the worlds a writer can bring to life in very few worlds. I worry that they're too short to be satisfying, so I think long and hard before accepting one. Hopefully you will love this one as much as I do.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 5mo agoNow, from Hell Itself, @chasej.xyz brings us a story of dinosaurs and mass extinction events, "Thalassophobia in the Late Cretaceous"
Some unsolicited advice from an editor: In short fiction, especially on the internet, you've only got a couple of sentences to convince a reader to keep reading. Those first sentences are what the theorists call "the promise to the reader," letting them know if this is a story they want to read.
It's important, at least occasionally, to publish stories that are, first and foremost, fun.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 5mo agoToday from Hell Itself: What happens when the wrong people travel and the right people stay at home. "Pearl Anniversary" by Deneffew Gordon
I love old pulp literature, despite it being problematic. It really is, on the whole, a mess of racism, sexism, colonialism, and most any other -ism you can think of. You can't (and shouldn't) ignore that, but if you can understand it in the context of the culture of the time, it can be fun.
Hell Itself is going to be shifting to a new schedule. We will be posting one story every two weeks following our March 27 post. The rate of submissions has slowed down, and we want to keep the quality of the stories high. We'll pick it back up again if we find ourselves with another backlog.
I was not aware that he was going to be announced as a finalist when I decided to run the story on Friday. That decision was made purely because I'm behind schedule and it was ready to go. Congratulations, @davidanaxagoras.com!
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 6mo agoCongratulations to all the @sfwa.org Nebula Award finalists, and a particular shout-out to @davidanaxagoras.com, whose most recent story, "Gumba Cuddles" is this week's Hell Itself story. hellitself.com/gumba-cuddles/
There are some stories that, when you ask me what it's about or to describe it, I pause and then say, "You know what, just read it." When this one came in, I knew it was one of those. Just read it. You'll be glad you did.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 6mo agoToday from Hell Itself, @davidanaxagoras.com brings us Gumba Cuddles.
One advantage to having a publication dedicated to one thing—say weird westerns or dark fantasy—is that readers who like whatever that niche is will find it. One of the challenges of stories that blur the lines is they don't really fit in any of those magazines. Even when the story is beautiful.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 6mo agoToday from Hell Itself, a dark Western fantasy from D. Thomas Minton, "Shadows of Bitterwood" hellitself.com/shadows-of-b...
It should come as no surprise by now that I enjoy @reggiekwok.bsky.social's work. There has to be a place in the genre for stories that are quirky and fun (and not A.I. slop), and Reggie consistently delivers. I'm happy to bring you another piece he wrote.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 6mo agoNew from Hell Itself, @reggiekwok.bsky.social brings us "Dragon Runs on Coffee."
When this story first landed in front of me, I was struck by the strength of the imagery in it. It's not much like anything @hellitself.bsky.social has published before, but to say our tastes are eclectic would be an understatement. I enjoyed this one, and I hope you do, too.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 7mo agoThis week from Hell Itself, @dvewlsh.com brings us a story of mistakes that span generations:
When I was a young man, Asimov's published "The Last of the Winnebagos" by Connie Willis. I remember reading it, and immediately calling up my best friend who was also a subscriber wanting to discuss it because, as I said at the time, "I feel like I missed at least as much as I got."
One of the things I love about SF/F is how it echoes our reality, changing it in ways that let us examine the real world from a different perspective. This story struck me right away as both topical and timeless.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 7mo agoToday from Hell Itself, @chasej.xyz brings us magic, scandal, and technological changes in "OPINION: Ragnar Is a Disgrace to the Wizarding Community, but He Was Right by Frederico the Frozen"
This is another one that isn't what I usually go for as a reader or an editor, but I remember being taken in by the great character work. It's a short piece, but one I think you'll remember.
Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 7mo agoToday from Hell Itself, when you're not as young as you used to be, but those banks aren't going to rob themselves, it can get harder and harder to get past the wards and curses... "Transition Period" by S. L. Johnson: hellitself.com/transition-p...
