Dave Housley

She's like an old samurai whose great battles are behind her but every once in a while she kills a man with piece of paper just to prove a point

Pete Hegseth has the same energy as this kid in my neighborhood who was always badgering everyone to play pickup football in full pads, and when we finally did, he got leveled on the first play and started crying, then went home because we were “tackling wrong” and ”didn’t know our fundamentals”

fake barrelhouse university "MFA degrees" to use as prizes at the Barrelhouse AWP conference booth

At @barrelhouse.bsky.social University we care about education, and that's why we will be conferring these MFA degrees next week to lucky wheel-spinning degree-seeking participants at Booth 1185 at the AWP Bookfair. The children are our future, even the poets.

Kind of a Big Dill reading at Pickle's Pub on Thursday March 5, from 5 to 8 pm.

Hey writer nerds there are a whole lot of readings happening next week, and I'm at one of them: the Kind of a Big Dill reading on Thursday at 5 at Pickle's Pub! Happy to be included among so many great folks, represent the mighty @masonjarpress.bsky.social, and read little bit of ALIENS ATTACK!

Limited to 500 copies! You may be able to go on a cruise one day because you own the first run print issue of TBQ that was only available at the lit con. Come grab one early if you WANT/NEED one!

Barrelhouse tshirts including Unreliable Narrator in black, Keep it Weird in green, and Fucking Poets, Man in black.

Writer nerds we have re-upped the @barrelhouse.bsky.social shirt supply for AWP, including the original, accept no substitutes FUCKING POETS MAN, the back in black UNRELIABLE NARRATOR, including kids sizes b/c kids are liars, and the foxbird/birdfox KEEP IT WEIRD. See you at Booth 1185 next week!

I think my favorite part of the movie MELANIA is when she starts that shrimp business to honor her friend who died in the war

Issue 26 cover, by Michael Bargamian. Classy couple having a nice meal in front of a wildfire. It looks very cool.

Issue 26 table of contents and I'm sorry I'm not going to type all the names here, please just click the pre-order link for a full listing of all contributors

Issue 26 is available for pre-order! We'll have it in hand *just* in time for AWP, we think, and you can get your orders in now. Look at this lineup!
www.barrelhousemag.com/shop/p/pre-o...

This graphic is my best crack at capturing the @barrelhouse.bsky.social AWP booth energy. We will have an 8 ft banner with that rainbow eye cat, our signature spinning wheel, the original accept no substitutes Fucking Poets Man shirts, aliens, mothmen, cryptids, books, the new issue, and more.

Barrelhouse table runner with Dirty Dancing "the lift" image.

Rolling out some upgrades to the @barrelhouse.bsky.social AWP booth experience this year.

Two screen captures: Dave Housley posting about the book Aliens Attack, and the US President posting about alien disclosure.

COINCIDENCE?

I have placed tremendous interest on the US President and will be directing you to know that ALIENS ATTACK is indeed still on sale and available for pre-order. Get with the times, Earthlings, while the time is right. masonjarpress.com/chapbooks-1/...

"Why is it that we understand playing the cello will require work, but we attribute writing to the magic of inspiration?"~Ann Patchett

Book: "Aliens Attack" by Dave Housley

Box of books with "Aliens Attack" Dave Housley Mason Jar Press label on outside.

A thing like that. ALIENS ATTACK! is in the house.

Applications are open for @barrelhouse.bsky.social Writer Camp, the greatest place on earth. No schedule or pressure, just writing and hanging out and movies and campfires and creek beers and hammock naps. Maybe throw in a dance party and a bus full of baby goats. www.barrelhousemag.com/writer-camp

Change your gender, become a poet, catapult yourself into the sun. There are no rules. You can do anything you want.

It's best to go through life assuming friends and family have never read a single thing you've written and never will, any more than you have engaged with what they do for a living

This story, like ALL my best stories, was a @barrelhouse.bsky.social #WriterCamp story, polished in an editorial meeting with @embfitz.bsky.social.

The Dirty Issue — Barrelhouse For this special online issue, we asked for your dirtiest work: scandalous rivalries, dirty jobs, meditations on the muck and mire of everyday life, plain old sediment, and musings on humanity’s more ...

We have a new online issue! Selected and edited by students at Temple University, under the guidance of @mikeingram.bsky.social
www.barrelhousemag.com/online-lit/t...

The Last Waltz

I don't give a fuck if you don't know what I'm talking about- this is art. When you go see a painting on the wall and it looks bugged out because you don't know what the fuck he thinking, because he ain't got no benches, no trees there, it's just a splash. The nigga that did it know what the fuck it is

This pops up every once in awhile and I always share it. Wu Tang goes in and out of popularity with the times, but there's no denying there was a Dream Team level of talent and brilliance on that roster. True artists.

Dog toy, alien, ripped to shreds

I wrote a book about aliens attacking and my dog has started the resistance.

Tacoma, by Aaron Burch

Fuck yeah book mail! Really looking forward to this one by @aaronburch.bsky.social from @autofocusbooks.bsky.social!

The DC conference always sells out by early March, so now is the time, if you're thinking about it

The Barrelhouse Conference: Conversations and Connections, Practical Advice on Writing — Barrelhouse Conversations and Connections is a one-day conference organized by Barrelhouse in person at American University in Washington, DC on April 18, 2026.

Writers! The @barrelhouse.bsky.social conference is open for registration, our final schedule is just about set, we're about half sold out already, for $95 you get the full conference, 1 book, 1 one-on-one editor workshop, more lit stuff from our partner presses. www.barrelhousemag.com/conference

I do love that TRIPPY is the vibe we've settled on for Olympic opening ceremonies and airport walkways.

Are you sick of me yet? I get it! I’M a little sick of myself, truth be told. But if you aren’t… oh man, this convo with Barrett was so fun! If you have even half as much fun reading it and we had chatting, I feel like that’d be worth your time! Love you all! (Well, those who click and read…)

Come out to @barrelhouse.bsky.social C&C and write some poems with me!

Email confirmation: "Shipped, 50 Patrick Swayze million dollar bills."

Beginning to look a lot like @barrelhouse.bsky.social AWP prep around these parts...

TACOMA paperback, by Aaron Burch (from Autofocus Books)

My book, TACOMA, is out next week!

Heard from a few people over the weekend that they got their preorders! I'm excited for people to read it! It was some of the most fun I've ever had writing. I think it is a kinda uniquely fun read. Thanks. 🧨 🎆

autofocusbooks.com

I don't watch a lot of college hockey. Is it normal for a podcast to be mentioned more than the home team, away team, any single player, the stadium they're playing in for the first time, or the sport they're playing?