New Issue!
Words: @dallonwrites.bsky.social , @alexmiller77.bsky.social , @allisonfieldbell.bsky.social ,CHRISTOPHER NEGRI, KIMBERLY BRYANT, @liamcarnahan.bsky.social , EMMA HEATH & EVAN MURPHY, DAVID MCARTHUR, PATRICIA CASPERS, ANNE DUNCAN, SPENCER ECKART
pitheadchapel.com/2026/02/01/v...
We are beyond thrilled to share that we have three pieces selected for @bestmicrofiction.bsky.social 2026!! Congratulations to everyone on this list, and especially to @irrellavent.bsky.social , @francesorrok.bsky.social , & L. Soveiro
08.01.2026 17:32 — 👍 14 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
Our first issue of 2026 is officially live!
pitheadchapel.com/2026/01/01/v...
All my other favorite stories, in order of reading...
Four Words by @mbvalente.bsky.social in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social
pitheadchapel.com/four-words/
We are thrilled to announce our 2025 Larry Brown Short Story Contest Results! Judge @andrewporter01.bsky.social
Congratulations to all the winners:
1st: Anju Sharma
2nd: MC Schmidt
3rd: Cathy Adams
4th: Lyndsay Hall
5th: Jennifer Popa (@jenpopa.bsky.social)
“Mr. Palm Beach” may be my weirdest story yet, but it’s a good kind of weird, I promise. What do you think?
Thanks to @kimmagowan.bsky.social and everyone else at @pitheadchapel.bsky.social for giving it a great home!
#AmWriting #ShortStories #MagicalRealism
pitheadchapel.com/mr-palm-beach/
Our December issue is live! Read here: pitheadchapel.com/volume-14-is...
Words:
J. CONDRA SMITH
@rebecca-turkewitz.bsky.social
@willwilloughby.bsky.social
NICK REES GARDNER
MAX LIN
JASON FRALEY
Cover art:
DEEMS ORTEGA
We're chiming in today to announce our Best Small Fictions nominees! Congratulations and good luck everyone!
27.11.2025 17:22 — 👍 17 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 2
Please join us in congratulating our Pushcart nominees! Good luck everyone!
22.11.2025 14:05 — 👍 58 🔁 9 💬 0 📌 2
We're proud to announce our nominations for Best Microfiction 2025! Please join us in congratulating these stellar writers. Good luck everyone!
16.11.2025 19:16 — 👍 23 🔁 6 💬 2 📌 4It's an honor to make top 10 in flash fiction and in the top 100 overall! Thank you for your work, Brecht, and thank you to our amazing writers and readers who make this possible.
14.11.2025 22:17 — 👍 23 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
Our November issue is live! Read here: pitheadchapel.com/volume-14-is...
Words:
NINA Y. MORAGON
HAL WRIGHT
@meliseliz.bsky.social
RACHEL EPHRAIM
MAGGIE LEVANTOVSKAYA
@mooninabucket.bsky.social
JENNY CHU
CAROL ROSE LITTLE
Cover art:
SUSAN POLLET
Hello dear writers! Today is the last day to submit to our annual short story contest (submissions close at midnight EST). We can't wait to read your work with this year's judge
@andrewporter01.bsky.social!
pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
Writers, don't wait! Our annual short story contest closes November 1st.
pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
Good question! You're more than welcome to submit a different story to general submissions. Let us know if any more questions come up!
27.10.2025 15:00 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Time flies! Less than one week remains to send us your best short story. Details here: pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
27.10.2025 14:59 — 👍 4 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Less than two weeks remain to submit your best unpublished short story to our contest!
There are two fee-based submission options that support prizes and costs of running Pithead Chapel (and our general submissions are *always* free!).
pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
Four weeks remain to submit to our annual short story contest! Read more: pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
10.10.2025 18:51 — 👍 5 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 1
There's still plenty of time to submit to our annual short story contest!
If you're curious, submission fees support winning prizes, guest judge honorarium, and the cost of running the journal (and as always, general submissions are open and free).
See all details at pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
The October issue is live! Read here: pitheadchapel.com/volume-14-issue-10/
Words:
@bizzycoy.bsky.social
@katieburgess.bsky.social
@johnwaddy.bsky.social
JEFFREY FEINGOLD
SARAH HARLEY
ELIZABETH HASHIMURA
BETH GILSTRAP
SARP SOZDINLER
YASHASVI VACHHANI
Art:
NATALIE NEE
Six weeks remain to send us your best short story! Read all details here: pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown/
26.09.2025 21:05 — 👍 16 🔁 8 💬 0 📌 0
Please join us in congratulating our Best of the Net 2026 Nominees! Good luck everyone!
18.09.2025 13:30 — 👍 21 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 4
If you're proficient in social media and possess a love for literary writing, get involved by volunteering for Pithead Chapel!
Find application details at pitheadchapel.com/social-media-editor
Our September issue is live! Read here: pitheadchapel.com/2025/09/01/v...
Words:
@aaronburch.bsky.social
@dawnwriter.bsky.social
CHARLES GROSEL
@patrickobrienstrickland.com
@gsmithgoodin.bsky.social
ALLISON ZHANG
E. FERRELL
CHRISTOPHER NOTARNICOLA
Cover art:
AL KRATZ
Do you have a short story you're proud of and want to submit? Consider sending your piece to the Larry Brown Short Story Awards! Open now through October 31st.
-First prize is $500.
-Submission fee is $10 (or $5 for BIPOC writers)
Full guidelines here: pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
Our annual short story contest is open NOW through October 31st. Send us your best!
Find all guidelines here: pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
Congratulations to Siamak Vossoughi for his story “Orange” (from PC 13.1) making Best of the Net 2025!
bestofthenetanthology.com
Our August issue is live! Read here: pitheadchapel.com/2025/08/01/volume-14-issue-8/
Words:
THOMAS MIXON
@francesorrok.bsky.social
ROSS FEELER
@lesliepwriter.bsky.social
JOSIE BRAATEN
MARY BIDDINGER
Cover art:
ERNEST WILLIAMSON III
4. When does a piece feel finished? On some level, nothing I write ever feels truly finished, but I will say that once a piece is published in book form, whether it’s a short story in a collection or a novel, I tend to make peace with the fact that it’s done, for better or worse, that it’s out in the world now and no longer completely mine. By that point, the piece has been through enough rounds of edits and copyedits that I’m usually ready to let it go and move on.
5. What kind of stories are you hoping to read for the LBSSA? I genuinely love all sorts of stories, but I’m especially drawn toward stories that explore the human condition in ways that are unexpected, complex, and emotionally resonant. As I mentioned above, I love to be surprised by fresh situations and scenarios, by dynamics that I haven’t seen explored in quite that same way before, by the strange and fascinating things that people say and do.
ANDREW PORTER is the author of four books, including the story collections The Disappeared (Knopf) and The Theory of Light and Matter (Vintage) and the novels In Between Days (Knopf) and The Imagined Life (Knopf). A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has received a Pushcart Prize, a James Michener/Copernicus Fellowship, and the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. His work has appeared in One Story, Ploughshares, American Short Fiction, Narrative, The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, and on Public Radio’s Selected Shorts. Currently, he teaches fiction writing and directs the creative writing program at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
The 2025 Larry Brown Short Story Award will be open August 1st to October 31st. Read full guidelines at pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
28.07.2025 14:04 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0