Identity Theory

I’m Sorry, I Know My Well-Being Is Bad for the Planet I should’ve been compost, in and out, no strain on this world I can’t seem to love any more nobly than a pig-loving bacon-eater.

I was due to be born August 1st, but my mom got toxemia, so they cut me out, jaundiced yellow, on June 12th. Hence the line “Ordained Leo, but born Gemini,” in my @identitytheory.bsky.social prose poem from last April, if you’d like to read it 😉 👯 🦁 🙏

www.identitytheory.com/im-sorry-pla...

Identity Theory turned 25 this week.

We've been on a long semi-hiatus, behind on many things.

We're now trying to put out a 25th anniversary issue with lots of new things.

Toy Collector by Rebecca Winterer - Identity Theory She doesn’t let herself consider that this happiness is another of her tricks.

"Erosion here is constant, and people often need rescuing from the collapsing edges."

This story by Rebecca Winterer in @identitytheory.bsky.social tenderly combs through memories washed up on the shores.

Last day of @smokelong.bsky.social #ArchiveChallenge

www.identitytheory.com/toy-collector/

Group of small TVs watching large TV. Caption: TV Evangelist.

This week's cartoon from @ampydoo.bsky.social

Drawing of blue circles with caption "Why choreographer vacation by the sea"

This week's cartoon from @ampydoo.bsky.social

Lullaby to the Old World Order - Identity Theory Wires loosed, arch bar removed, time served, the neat fences of white-picket teeth no longer held her tongue.

Here, have a speculative micro recently pubbed by @identitytheory.bsky.social

Tic-Tac-Toe in the year 2049

This week's @ampydoo.bsky.social

Drawing of vending machine called Therapy Snacks with options to buy milk, tears, wine, oil, dad, mom, sad soups, mixed nuts, stale nuts, etc.

We've got snacks. This week's cartoon from @ampydoo.bsky.social

I've had this bookmarked for a bit, and thought I'd pop it open on Father's Day. @mikemwilson.bsky.social originally said "It's kind of grim," and DAMN he was right. But it's the best kind of grim, the kind that makes you think about yourself and the people around you in a deeper way.

This micro is in my forthcoming chap "Hospice." Thanks to @identitytheory.bsky.social and @vicnogaywrites.bsky.social for giving it a home first 💕 Preorder ➡️ www.finishinglinepress.com/product/hosp...

Cold Comfort: What The Austin Yogurt Shop Murders Mean to Me At age 15, I couldn’t lose my innocence fast enough.

It's a double CNF day! Read "Cold Comfort" by @sarahorman.bsky.social

The Last Vacation by Brittney Uecker - Identity Theory The last vacation happened during the summer when it all fell apart—the summer when I had sex with someone else for the first time in ten years.

"We’d pretend we were a family and we would do this for the memory, to create one final lasting picture in our children’s minds of what we had the potential to be."

New CNF by Brittney Uecker

Drawing of headless person holding a head in each hand. Caption: The Headless Horseman got two presents

This week's cartoon from @ampydoo.bsky.social

Really great, powerful, stunner of a story from @mikemwilson.bsky.social

"If this is true he’s doing a cool thing for my wife. His wife. Our wife. It can’t be easy to come over here and tell the dying ex that she doesn’t want to see him anymore, to help us break up all over again."

Handbook for the Living - Identity Theory People stare at me when I leave the house.

"Our daughter had blood cancer, the type 80% of people who get it survive. The thing about that is it’s a hopeful number, that eighty percent. Gives you a false sense of hope. Just about anyone would place a bet on eight out of ten odds. But there’s a whole other twenty percent."

-Mike Wilson

Sometimes you're a snail and your soul mate turns out to be a bird and they eat you and you die

This week's cartoon from @ampydoo.bsky.social

The Best Small Fictions Overview and guidelines for the Best Small Fictions annual series, published by Alternating Current Press.

Congrats to Tara Isabel Zambrano on making Best Small Fictions 2025 for her Identity Theory story "Nascent"!

Ampydoo Cartoon #171: Fridgey Searches - Identity Theory A fridge cartoon from Alan Michael Parker.

This week's cartoon from @ampydoo.bsky.social

Thrilled to have found favor with @vicnogaywrites.bsky.social to land this micro in @identitytheory.bsky.social ongoing series. True pros offering excellent feedback to make this sing.

Nascent by Tara Isabel Zambrano - Identity Theory My mother has said that she cannot stay in one body. It suffocates her.

a huge well-deserved congratulations to Tara Isabel Zambrano for her inclusion in BSF 2025 with this @identitytheory.bsky.social Micro Monday piece!!!

www.identitytheory.com/nascent/

Absolutely thrilled to be in this year's @bestmicrofiction.bsky.social with my @identitytheory.bsky.social micro!

Best Microfiction comes out July 7th! Pre-oder a copy to see what all the fuss is about!
best-microfiction.square.site/.../best.../...

A green/pink/purple banner that says: bestmicrofiction2025winner Jenny Wong “Fish Soup” (Identity Theory) I am given the one with the least bones. Auntie knows that the fish from my childhood were mostly fleshy bits breaded into sticks or compacted into the roundness of a can. I never learned to watch what I chewed. Available at www.bestmicrofiction.com Pelekinesis Meg Pokrass and Gary Fincke, series editors, Dawn Raffel, guest editor

So happy to be a part of 2025’s @bestmicrofiction.bsky.social with a little piece in @identitytheory.bsky.social (thank you!!!). 🐟🍜

Pre-orders here! best-microfiction.square.site/product/best...

The End by Thad Devassie - Identity Theory If it were offered, we would take back the lakes...

The End by @thaddevassie.bsky.social in @identitytheory.bsky.social

www.identitytheory.com/the-end-deva...

Last Request by Julian Day - Identity Theory Then take what’s left of me and past the fires keep going.

Last Request by @julianday.ca in @identitytheory.bsky.social

www.identitytheory.com/last-request/

Delighted to have my micro poem "Last Request" up today at @identitytheory.bsky.social - thanks so much @vicnogaywrites.bsky.social for selecting it.

"a drugstore toothbrush, for the few teeth left, gray tombstones in his gummy mouth"

Wonderful use of form and such depth of character and emotion in this flash from @mrsfanster.bsky.social

7 different scribbles. Caption: Which cloud do we feel like today, Maggie?

Which cloud do we feel like today? This week's cartoon from @ampydoo.bsky.social

Whoa, look at what FOUR lines of poetry can do. Powerful.

ICYMMM (in case you missed micro monday!)

we published one micro prose piece by @mrsfanster.bsky.social and one micro poetry piece by @mollyakin.bsky.social

they go so, so well together.

both pieces are linked in the comments. thanks for reading and sharing!

@identitytheory.bsky.social

Executor of tangible goods: A Micro Poem by Molly Akin we invent our hauntings

A small grief poem in @identitytheory.bsky.social this week. A million thanks to @vicnogaywrites.bsky.social for picking it up. www.identitytheory.com/executor-tan...