Underbelly Press

Announcing our FINALISTS! These six stories are the very best of the best!

We are absolutely delighted to announce our 6 finalists for the Frazzled Lit Short Story Award today.

Massive congratulations and best of luck to you all!

@nualaoconnor.bsky.social can't wait to read these pieces and choose the winners!

www.frazzledlit.com/p/announcing...

Submission update August 15 to September 26 - Issue 5 I've been looking forward to sharing this and have spent a lot of time ruminating on the best way to move forward. The next submission period for Underbelly Press Issue 5 will run from August 15 to September 26. The editing period will follow through late September and October, with Issue 5 tentatively set to release in early to mid November. I’m trying something slightly different this time around, so please bear with me as I iron out the details. Things may shift a little, but this is the timeline I’m aiming for and I’ll keep you updated as things progress. Thank you all so much for your continued support. I appreciate it very much and can’t wait to see what this next issue brings! More information and reminders about the submission process will be shared soon. Text is on a black background. In the top right corner is the Underbelly Press logo.

The next submission period for Issue 5 will run from Aug 15-Sept 26!

The editing period will follow through late Sept & Oct, with Issue 5 tentatively set to release in early to mid Nov.

More info about the submission process will be shared soon. Thank you for your support 🖤

THURSDAY THROWBACK That was the day she took off her uniform and gave it to me. I feel sort of homesick for the life we had when we still liked the same stuff, when all I wanted to do was trail around after her, copying everything she did; when we didn’t know we had nothing, and when something other than anger burned inside my big sister. No More Heroes Alison Wassell Text is on a black background. In the bottom right corner is an image of a hand holding a cigarette.

No More Heroes by @alisonwassell.bsky.social

Told with tenderness & grit, it's an evocative, poignant story of sisters growing up too soon, fractured hope & the moment of realisation that heroes are only human. As one clings to rules, the other drifts further from childhood & further from reach.

Announcing the LONGLIST Here are the longlisted stories!

The LONGLIST for the Frazzled Lit @frazzledlit.bsky.social Short Story Award 2025 is out!

Congratulations to all, and watch out for the announcement of shortlisted and highly commended stories on August 3rd!

www.frazzledlit.com/p/announcing...

We are celebrating the release of the incredible Remington Platypus today!

Why not join us for a free online launch event with author Steve Nash tonight?

A hugely entertaining performer, you can find the link here: share.google/SF9JLIApZeXw...

Thank you for sharing!

“… half defeat, half elation, at knowing my worth, the clarity of his cowardice.”

Forbidden Fruit by @lisadellaporta.bsky.social in @underbellypress.bsky.social (p. 36) underbellypress.wixsite.com/home/copy-of...

This week’s Tuesday Taster brings you a stunning shot titled Coney Island by Peter Dino Bruno.

Discover more of Peter’s photography, alongside the work of other artists, in Issue 4.

Things are about to get hairy for Remington Platypus; badger, detective, definitely not a platypus.

Strange frankensteined corpses are appearing in his city, and he wants to find out who is doing it.

Order this brilliant and bonkers crime novel from Steve Nash now:
share.google/7ZiBLRtaxywT...

Sunday Snippets The outside was the only way she could live now. The water had run out, the fountain had beeped twice then stopped. But still she wanted to stay, drawn to the decay of the only life that had made sense to her. COCO Elia Rathore Text is on a black background. Picture showing a yellow silhouette of a cat sitting sideways and facing to the right in the bottom right corner.

This week’s Sunday Snippet brings you COCO by Elia Rathore.

It's a beautifully tender elegy told through the eyes of Coco, exploring abandonment, grief, and the tension between moving on and holding on.

Read it now in Issue 4.

From the beginning, Underbelly Press has been a labour of love. It’s a privilege to spend time curating each issue, and I’m so grateful for the community that continues to form around it. However, Underbelly Press has grown more than I ever anticipated. With each issue comes more submissions, and the most recent submission period brought in over 500 pieces. It was an incredible response, but a huge workload for primarily one person. To make sure I can continue giving each issue the care and attention it deserves (and avoid burnout), I’ll be shifting the publishing schedule from once every three months to roughly once every four. As the magazine grows, I’m doing my best to find a sustainable balance that allows Underbelly Press to continue flourishing, while also giving attention to other parts of life that now need more focus. This slight change also gives more space to celebrate each issue and showcase the brilliant work inside more fully before curating the next one.

What's next?
To make sure I can continue giving each issue the care and attention it deserves (and avoid burnout), I’ll be shifting the publishing schedule from once every three months to roughly once every four.

More information on the next submission period coming soon!

Our pleasure! 🖤

We're back in the bin after a superb weekend @flashficfestuk.bsky.social where we met Trash Family in the flesh! 🦝

With Trash Family in mind, as promised here are the contributors for the upcoming charity print anthology.
Twenty-seven stunning stories we can't wait to share 🤩

TUESDAY TASTERS Next up, the soccer mom orders a monster cookie and a large caramel frappe. 950 calories. She sits across from me, chunks of warm chocolate pooling on the plate. She bites into the cookie. Melting candy nuggets dot her plump lips, ensnaring a few stray, sandy crumbs. I can’t stop staring. I’m mesmerized as I swallow my shame, desire, and hunger. Zero calories. I Like to Watch Johannah Simon Text is on a black background.

Tues Taster: I Like to Watch by @johannah.bsky.social

In this sharp, voyeuristic micro, shame, desire, & hunger are explored with unsettling intimacy. What begins as a mundane moment in a café soon unravels into a disquieting reflection on control & longing.

Read it now in Issue 4.

Sunday Snippets In a world where power is seized with clenched fists, how do those with scarred and poorly mended fingers build shelters for their souls? Poorly Mended Fingers T.E. Bean Text is on a black background. In the bottom right corner is an image of a clenched fist.

This week’s Sunday Snippet brings you Poorly Mended Fingers by T.E. Bean ( @tebean.bsky.social )

In this quietly powerful poem, T.E. Bean explores masculinity, vulnerability, and the strength found not in clenched fists, but in open hands.

Read it now in Issue 4.

Happy birthday Fergus! 🖤🐾

Today, we are celebrating the release of The Art of Murder at Northodox HQ!

Check out this incredible debut novel from @annehosmwriter.bsky.social now 😍

share.google/ygz9cR78xFav...

THURSDAY THROWBACK Appetiser She was a Brave Auld Age (Wake; 9:15 am) Fruit scone; sea salted butter; tea Served on a bed of low small talk You get a quare feed at the Last Supper Sophie Thompson Text is on a black background. In the bottom right corner is an image of a yellow teapot.

This week’s Thursday Throwback serves up You get a quare feed at the Last Supper by Sophie Thompson. It's a wry, poignant meditation on grief, gossip, and tradition, told through the imaginative format of a funeral tasting menu.

Read it now in Issue 2.

Currently relishing @drewgum's latest, SALTBURN, best enjoyed in tentative licks. A surreal & salty journey through the British underbelly, filled with pathos, posterior shocks, and Drew's uniquely flavoured subversion. Get one. It's well funny... haywoodbooks.com/saltburn 🔥🦭🍦🙌

Really nice comment about Saltburn on that other place….

“Currently relishing SALTBURN, best enjoyed in tentative licks. A surreal & salty journey through the British underbelly, filled with pathos, posterior shocks, and Drew's uniquely flavoured subversion. Get one. It's well funny... 🔥🦭🍦🙌”

From our latest issue 🦝
We loved the use of structure in @lmbayley.bsky.social visceral piece - it adds tension and intensity - and the last few lines are like a gut punch that leaves you reeling.

Read and listen to Linda's story, read by her, here:
trashcatlit.com/mother-perfe...

You can wander around the old quarters and stumble across a sign saying that Christopher Columbus grew up in an apartment here. Day-to-day life continues as it has done for centuries: windows are open to fresher air while laundry hangs drying over the narrow alleyways between the buildings.

Life in the centre of European cities is openly lived and displayed, raw and unfiltered, from laundry hung over alleyways between buildings that are centuries old to the windows opened to allow the family’s rooms in ancient apartments to be aired. Genoa is an example of such an old city.

This week’s Tuesday Taster features a photograph titled 'Laundry & Open Windows – Genoa – Italy' by D. C. Nobes, paired with thoughtful commentary. It offers a candid glimpse into everyday life, capturing moments that might otherwise go unnoticed.

SUNDAY SNIPPETS it took three years for anyone to believe / the panting, clawing, cravings weren’t just hormonal / a second opinion suggested lupus I guess I have more to change / the extra nipples always sting I’m on my knees and it’s not sexy / I apologise to the stars as a ruler of spine snaps through skin / tight I’m changing again Zoë Davis Text is on a black background. In the bottom right corner is a yellow geometric outline of a wolf howling.

Through visceral, bodily imagery & raw emotion, @meanerharker.bsky.social captures what it means to feel monstrous & human all at once. A celebration of courage & resilience, this personal piece lays bare the emotional & physical toll of pain, disability & uncontrollable change.

Our pleasure!

🚨1 WEEK TO GO🚨

Next Thursday, we put out one of the more curious and intriguing titles in our catalogue...

Preorder and book details available here for the darkly brilliant The Art of Murder by Anne Woodward:
share.google/7aVX5Xb5LBjn...

THURSDAY THROWBACK I closed my eyes and imagined what it would be like to live in darkness. Maybe it was like swimming underwater. Private, closed off. After a while, you got used to the blackness and it felt normal. I sat motionless, listening to the traffic, car doors slamming, the sounds of people hurrying through another summer day. Burger Time Beth Sherman Text is on a black background. Yellow outline of a burger in the bottom right corner.

Burger Time by @bsherm36.bsky.social
Tender & introspective, this piece shows that even brief encounters can leave an impact. It offers a poignant reminder that even in the most mundane & monotonous settings, unseen struggles & small, unexpected moments of connection carry meaning.
Read in Issue 1!

We love having you! 🖤

TUESDAY TASTERS If we'd somehow known, predicted what was to come, maybe we’d have been more open, more honest. About Jeffers’ dirty clothes and how he cried sometimes and nicked tins of beans from the corner shop. About Sandy trying too hard with his dad since his mum left with a plumber called Daz and that not all attention is good. About how I was actually a total swot and wanted to do well in exams and go to college, that I didn’t fancy girls at all, not even Miss Jane. All the Crazy Shit We Did That Last Summer JP Relph Text is on a black background. In the bottom right corner is an image of a camera.

All the Crazy Shit We Did That Last Summer by @therelphian.bsky.social

What begins as a nostalgic glimpse into youthful rebellion soon unfolds into a tender, unflinching reflection on the beauty & tragedy of growing up. Brimming with grief, humour & heart, this is a raw, candid piece that lingers.

SUNDAY SNIPPETS Make me laugh so hard I cry. Teach me something new about my person. Ask me about my favorite memory. Reassure me this agony is a reminder of how much we loved each other. When There Are No Words, I Hope You’ll Still Sit With Me Ellen Williams Text is on a black background. In the bottom right corner is an image of a yellow love heart.

When There Are No Words, I Hope You’ll Still Sit With Me by Ellen Williams.

It's a raw, authentic piece, unafraid to sit with sorrow. Ellen beautifully captures the exhausting truth of trying to survive in the absence of someone you love.

Read it now in Issue 4!