LJ Pemberton

It's not that you're not talented enough! It's that the literary world is an expensive pyramid scheme!

In January, we went inside the Dilley detention center. Children shared letters describing the anguish of being ripped from their lives: propub.li/4cUHm8L

After publishing that story, we learned about Edison, a 13-year-old from Chicago detained for 2+ months. Listen to Edison in his own words 👇

BRUISER ZINE 002: Cutting Promos by Josh Shepard - BRUISER Available for preorder NOW. (For wholesale purchasing, contact us directly at bruiser.magazine@gmail.com) “Professional wrestling is many things,

you should review @joshshepard.bsky.social’s erasure poems, published by @bruisermag.com

www.bruisermag.com/zine_002

Happy pub day @joshuatrentbrown.com! All preorders and book club copies are in the mail or in mailboxes and we still have copies available!

2005 was 21 years ago

We are the consequences We, collectively, are the condition that makes their defeat inevitable.

Another striking and defiant piece by @erikhane.bsky.social writing from besieged Minneapolis.

"I have come to believe something else too: we are the consequences. We, collectively, are the condition that makes their defeat inevitable."

www.welcometohellworld.com/we-are-the-c...

lol i am stuck in work meetings but i speak from the heart

If @joeyhedger.bsky.social doesn’t post four million pictures of the @malarkeybooks.bsky.social table at AWP, I may walk over to Baltimore myself.

So pumped for everyone to have a fantastic week! Yay, books!

U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for “Armageddon,” Return of Jesus Advocacy group reports commanders giving similar messages at more than 30 installations in every branch of the military

EXCLUSIVE: At more than 30 installations, U.S. commanders told troops the war on Iran is a Christian war.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been “inundated” with more than 110 complaints.

One NCO said they were told the U.S. war is to bring about Armageddon and the return of Jesus…

2018 was 8 years ago.

This realization brought to you by math and Phoebe Bridgers ‘Stranger in the Alps.’

hello darkness my old friend

I once saw a large herd of whales in the east, all heading towards the sun, and for a moment vibrating in concert with peaked flukes.

hot

The literal worst version of it has to exist first if you're ever going to get anywhere, so you might as well embarrass yourself by writing it

Over Drinks — Ghost Parachute I used to create a miniature horse, just using the power of my thoughts. I performed the trick only when we had guests over, when the children were peeking through the stairs at our friends pouring hi...

For the evening crowd

ghostparachute.com/issue/march-...

There are no stupid questions - The Offing Micro - The Offing Magazine

“Like: to get to the other side. Or: because I said so.”

From “There are no stupid questions,” a Micro poem by Elena Zhang.

theoffingmag.com/micro/there-...

Imperialism shapes the world economically, militarily, and even culturally, and the United States for nearly a century is the primary imperialist force. Take a look at where its bases are and why. This is the key to understanding global matters, so it is worth making the effort to study it.

bsky.app/profile/ljab...

Still blows.

Update: my bad. Clarification, the editor in question had been at FSG, moved to Coffee House, and then was let go and all his acquisitions dropped. Coffee House is still independent.

Update: my bad. Clarification, the editor in question had been at FSG, moved to Coffee House, and then was let go and all his acquisitions dropped. Coffee House is still independent.

getting my first pedicure in ten years and i forgot how intense the ankle massage is

holding on for dear life

That’s what he was saying— now I gotta double check.

Caught up with a buddy of mine whose novel had been picked up by Coffee House Press (now a division of FSG). Turns out they dropped the editor and every single book he had acquired, including my buddy’s.

Big Five is a fucking slaughterhouse.

Big news! Not only is Issue 20 out today, but from here on in you can create your own account on the website, where all issues will soon be available in their entirety. Some already are. Plus digital-only subscriptions at a much, much lower price!

https://www.exactingclam.com/subscribe/

Do you think Edith Wharton knew how funny the end of Ethan Frome is?

(apologies to those whom it traumatized)

Ursula K. Le Guin — Nominate a Book for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction

It's time! Nominations are now open for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction, which will be given to a work of imaginative fiction, published in 2025, that reflects the concepts and ideas that were central to Ursula’s own work.

To be clear, many women look scrumptious as cupcakes. I, however, look like the icing is made of strychnine.

Jumpsuits and jeans for me.

I hardly ever wear dresses, but now and then one will catch my eye. Over time I’ve learned to wait and wait and wait before purchasing, and this is how I have avoided looking like a cupcake.

Posting this as an FYI for no reason at all.