My last dive into @fictivedream.bsky.social through @smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge - 2020 this time - and it’s another gorgeous thing but deliciously askew. More stories should be about conversations with weather. And I’m gnashing with envy at that title fictivedream.com/2020/02/03/h...

Hurry

by Sheree Shatsky I sit on the couch and watch rain pelt the windows. I didn’t install the hurricane shutters this time around, my experience being any preparation guarantees the big bugger won’t s…

fictivedream.com

I’m so smart for choosing @fictivedream.bsky.social as my @smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge. So many jewels. I loved this title but the story is even better. None of the modish verbs, voice, and vibes rubbish. Real story. Restrained telling. Massive impact fictivedream.com/2024/02/23/a...

A Stupid Rubber Dinosaur

by Alison Wassell YOU ONLY HOLD my hand to cross the road when I say I’ll tell Mum if you don’t. The second your scuffed school shoe hits the opposite kerb you wriggle free and stride ahead with t-…

fictivedream.com

And BOOM another from @fictivedream.bsky.social for the @smokelong.bsky.social archive challenge. Nobody said I couldn't name my own so I have. I'm very proud of this short about the end of the world, inspired by a real Mongolian astronomer I spent a day with. fictivedream.com/2025/06/08/i...

It’s Not The End Of The World

by Jaime Gill BAYAARA PARKS THE CAR outside the observatory, leans over to his granddaughter, and zips her fur-lined coat tight around her face to protect her from the Mongolian night—a night so co…

fictivedream.com

Back on @smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge with glorious @fictivedream.bsky.social. The brilliance of this story is how many hidden fragments of other stories we catch sight of through the brilliant device of "things thrown out". In this micro, novels reside fictivedream.com/2026/07/27/m...

Microfiction #67

Things We Threw in the Dumpster by Kathleen McGookey Moldy tuxedo, Kodak slide projector and six spare carousels of slides, boxed-up love letters from his second wife, dated 1979. His falling-apart…

fictivedream.com

So after being waylaid by acute tonsilitis, I am back onto the #archivechallenge with @smokelong.bsky.social - focusing on beauts from @fictivedream.bsky.social archives. My God did I choose the right magazine if I wanted to cry. Just read this: fictivedream.com/2025/02/04/b... (more in comments)

Blackhearts

by Beth Sherman AFTER MY FATHER LEFT, my mother would wake at 3 a.m. and blast Joan Jett songs on the stereo. She’d bop around the living room like an awkward teenager, playing air guitar, swinging…

fictivedream.com

One of my favourite stories. Published in one of my favourite magazines. Nominated for one of my favourite "best of" anthologies. "I never dreamt that I would get to be The creature that I always meant to be." PSB, Being Boring. The story and song are both about AIDS and loss. I have themes, okay?

I’m not a parent. I can’t imagine the anxiety that shadows the joys, how you grow up alongside your children, the tests, the milestones & mistakes, the heartquakes & heartaches. Well I sort of can, which is one reason I am not. But if I couldnt, this sublime, vulnerable, MUST-READ story tells me

Cuyler@cuylermeade.bsky.social · 2w ago

My latest, in @stanchion.bsky.social "Today, 15, in her journal, I read that she hates me. I suppose she didn’t expect me to read it. The words sting half as much as my guilt. But she’s young. It’s how I protect her." www.stanchionzine.com/post/best-ne...

Delighted to have a story in in the unique, wonderful Panorama - a journal about ethical travel mixing reportage and fiction. Falling is about a disintegrating cross-cultural romance, ending with an army of ghosts (or are they?) from my favourite Cambodian myth. panoramajournal.org/issues/issue...

And now... back to me. I have a moment to enjoy while it lasts. The incredible @prisminternational.bsky.social have named my fever dream of a story called, um, The Fever, as one of their 9 shortlisted entrants for their Grouse Grind Prize. I dont expect to go further, but my God I'm happy to be here

Here's @fictivedream.bsky.social treat #2 for my #archivechallenge. I grabbed it at random but that's the thing with Fictive Dream, everything they publish is wonderful. I've not read Louella Lester before but will be fixing this. More on this story in comments. fictivedream.com/2026/06/22/m...

Microfiction #62

Closer Than He Thinks by Louella Lester I sway back and forth as the bus pulls to a stop, my pointer finger holding its place in the novel on my lap, and gaze out at the cosy shops lining the stree…

fictivedream.com

I'm doing @smokelong.bsky.social's #archivechallenge so I'll be deep mining a publication I love & sharing gems I hack out. I've chosen my adored @fictivedream.bsky.social: first, @emilyrinkema.bsky.social's Murder Hotel. Why should you read it? Check first comment fictivedream.com/2025/01/24/m...

Murder Hotel

by Emily Rinkema IT’S MIDNIGHT WHEN we get back to the hotel, the only place with a room available when Steve booked it a week before our niece’s wedding. We’re laughing so hard when we get t…

fictivedream.com

I have a few favourite words but today let’s say SCALPEL. Not quite onomatopoeic but that “s”and hard “c”!sounds like slicing and the soft but guttural “pel” sounds like flesh being parted. Or maybe it’s AIR? Maybe air’s the perfect word? Yes actually it is. Ah well, I’ll stick with my first answer

Matt Kendrick@mattkendrick.bsky.social · last mo.

For the early morning / Eastern hemisphere crowd 👇 Chance to win a FREE spot on my Glorious Words course ✨

Rewatching random episodes of Game of Thrones and though the final seasons have problems, Danaerys breaking bad isn’t one of them. They couldnt possibly have done more to foreshadow it. She threatens to burn cities in every other episode!

Two people tried to enter a screening of The Odyssey without buying tickets after hiding inside a miniature model of the Trojan Horse. 😂😂😂

Get ready to be bombarded. I've been busy & sick & have a backlog of news. Starting with Superlative - a rare UK based purveyor of excellent but accessible writing - making my story their winner of their inaugural quarterly micro contest. Read right here www.superlativelitjournal.com/quarterly-mi...

I've 4 stories in this Smokelong celebration, which I'm happy about. SL workshops are often springboards to stories I love, acting much the same as prompted contests - tasks with deadlines, limitations sparking creativity. Though I also write prompted by the weirdest taskmaster of all, my brain.

SmokeLong Quarterly@smokelong.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Our current and previous workshop participants have recently reported almost 30 publications! Help us celebrate them. They're talented AND adorable. www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...

“Brilliantly crafted, this thought-provoking story lingers, revealing new layers with repeated readings.” Honoured (and shocked!) my 100-word frozen moment story has come #1 out of 800 in the @newwritersuk.bsky.social contest. (The end may not be what you think) newwriters.org.uk/100-word-202...

RFK says I’ll never write a poem but check this out There once was an old man named Kennedy Who had the most unsettling energy He worked out in jeans While he ate raccoon spleens And had a brainworm as a frenemy

Heartfelt story about why it means so much that Masters Review published Obedience. I love the story but also… 3 years ago MR saved me from quitting writing. Follow me from sickly child to precocious poet to ruinous alcoholic to -finally- writer. (Thank you for editing @coleameyer.bsky.social!)

The day I almost quit writing (and how Masters Review saved me)

My queer historical story, "Obedience," is at Masters Review - a publication which saved my lifelong dream of becoming a writer. I'm sharing that dream here, so this one's personal.

open.substack.com

I'm delighted for Liz and her new chapbook so I hate to undo all her good work at getting it out into the world, but regrettably I will be one of the readers at the launch.

Liz Rosen@thewritelifeliz.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Mark your calendars! You are cordially invited to the Zoom reading for my chapbook Survival Skills on July 2nd. There will be some kickass writers reading for it. Info 👇 www.sandandgravelpress.com/liz-rosen-ch...

My historical story Obedience is out in Masters Review, my attempt to capture the climate of fear, oppression & brutality in New York’s gay bars before the Stonewall uprising. I love Jack, my MC, I’m proud of the story and very grateful to MR for giving it a home mastersreview.com/new-voices-o...

Thrilled to have had a story accepted into the Flash Flood and to get a chance to be part of this festival of compressed creativity. I have some very talented neighbours on either side of me like @finnwritesstuff.bsky.social and @christyhartman.bsky.social - what an honour to be placed near them.

National Flash Fiction Day@natflashfictionday.bsky.social · 3mo ago

FlashFlood: 'A Dance Of Dark And Light' by Jaime Gill #nffd2026

Very honoured and grateful to @underreviewlit.bsky.social for nominating me for a Pushcart Prize 2026. I love Everyone Has A Plan, my story about love & kickboxing. It's also the story that landed me my first hring as a screenwriter, so I'm even more grateful. www.underreviewlit.com/issue-11-win...

Everyone Has A Plan — The Under Review

“Heng! What are you thinking about?” I open my eyes to find Socheat looming over the sofa where I’m lying, trying to calm and ready myself. There’s always an electric feeling in my chest on fight day...

underreviewlit.com

If you have ever emailed a writer to let them know you enjoyed something they wrote, you are among the noblest and best and most saintly in this entire world, and I hope you sleep really well tonight.

I'm very proud to have two of my stories in this gorgeous book full of rich, beautiful fiction - 'Wet Brain' and 'Full Circle, Perfect Square'. If you love thoughtful, beautifully written, story-driven, and very short stories, consider getting a copy. The book is modestly priced and beautiful.

Oxford Flash Fiction Prize@oxfordflashfiction.bsky.social · 3mo ago

We are delighted to announce the publication of Dugout! An anthology that digs deep into the human condition: uncovering buried histories, private reckonings, moments of fracture and survival, and unexpected acts of beauty and connection. Find out more: oxfordflashfictionprize.com/anthology/

A thought—like an ember that bends truth towards it. Perhaps. If literary magazines valued stories. Characters. People doing things. Not empty metaphors, like ghosts hiding in the hollows of peach pits. Not verbs and vibes voluminous. Perhaps. Perhaps. They wouldn’t keep publishing empty AI bullshit

So grateful FFF is again reprinting a slightly older story of mine - Notes For A Eulogy - especially as the ed had to recode his website to make the experimental formatting work! A short version of this came second in the Bridport Prize for flash, but I think it has twice the impact at 500 words.

Free Flash Fiction@freeflashfiction.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Notes For A Eulogy by Jaime Gill @jaimegill.bsky.social www.jaimegill.com #FlashFiction #writingcommunity #flashfiction #shortfiction #fiction #writing #writerslift #microfiction freeflashfiction.com/fiction/note...

Thank you Pithead Chapel, for publishing NO OBITS, inspired by a 1998 headline from the Bay Area Reporter to mark the first week since 1981 without new AIDS deaths. The new meds WORKED. Not a cure, but a reprieve. I try to capture that bittersweet moment in this tiny story bsky.app/profile/baya...

Pithead Chapel@pitheadchapel.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Our May Issue is live!!! pitheadchapel.com/2026/05/01/v... cover art DEEMS ORTEGA fiction REBECCA TIGER JAIME GILL SOPHIA HYLAND-WOLZAK MICHAEL ANTHONY RANFONE nonfiction HOLLIE WARREN prose poetry AMANDA CHIADO

I almost felt sorry for conservative folks who were five seconds ago commenting on every Facebook post "uh I don't see any kings here you lib idiots what are you even protesting" just to have the White House tweet this but then I remembered wait no they already forgot they said it they'll be fine.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4mo ago

when you're not reading the room

Ah Cuyler that’s so lovely and I’m grateful you made it through one of my longest stories. It’s one of my favourites, Thank you for sharing, I appreciate it

Cuyler@cuylermeade.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This story, by my friend and writing idol @jaimegill.bsky.social, knocked my socks into space and back again. Along with many other recommending factors, one of the more impressive examples of character arc in a short story I've ever seen. www.oysterriverpages.com/black-sky-bl...