Inkfish Magazine

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"Books Books Books," by Peter McAllister Leila's front wheel wobbles when she cycles over a crack in the tarmac. A car behind blares its horn as she struggles to steady the books in her basket and keep her summer dress from flaring up. 'You...

Publication day for this darkly comic little piece I think many readers can relate to. Thanks to @defenestrationmag.bsky.social for getting it up on your site. 🙂

www.defenestrationmag.net/2025/08/book...

#amwriting #flashfiction #shortstory

"Dad’s personality traits are gatherer, unstable, nurturing, handy, and insane. He wants to fix things and that’s what he’s good at, but he has these random mood swings where he runs after you wielding a garden gnome or pruning shears." - Kate Horsley mrbullbull.com/newbull/flas...

"So we – us two – have chosen love. And celibacy. We may be different species; but we are both as old as dinosaurs and we are in love. We’ll take whatever time we have."

Daily reads: Nell Carroll Turner in @inkfishmagazine.bsky.social ❤️

Interview with Jackie Taylor Inkfish Interviews

'I like to write early in the morning with my dream-head still in touching distance. My writing space is at the top of the garden, with a view across the sea from Rame Head to Looe Island.' Kate Horsley interviews Jackie Taylor

'Dylan Red Claw' by Nell Carroll Turner Short Story

Ma says she’s coming all the way to the port with me but she leaves halfway. I see her carapace swimming backwards; her eyes locked on mine. My heart starts screaming' Read 'Dylan Red Claw', a short story by Nell Carroll Turner

'The Red Kite' by Ambika Bates Prose poetry/Flash Fiction Hybrid

'When I stopped emailing, I thought to myself, now it’s really the end of the known world. Now I really won’t sleep. Winter rolled, a slow wagon, upon which I was not having a good time.'
Read 'The Red Kite', a Prose Poetry/Flash Fiction Hybrid by Ambika Bates

'The Riverbank' by Amirah Walters Short Story

'It had been her brother who taught her how to tie a rope secure enough to swing on. It was him who had shown her how to swing from it into the river. According to her, Logan had always been in love with being alive.'
Read 'The Riverbank', a short story by Amirah Walters

'My laboratory is on the basement level with soundproofing and no windows, so it’s only once I leave work that I can see and hear the birds without mediation.'
Read 'What the birds are saying', flash fiction by Fiona Mossman

"What other plants and creatures were here with them?
What abundance of clean water and shellfish?
What clam gardens?
What cold rivers and salmon?
What relatives?"

Daily reads: Susan Kostick in @inkfishmagazine.bsky.social ❤️

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Happy friday! Here’s a few mags whose names start with a vowel that you should go check out:
@anmlymag.bsky.social
@afterdinnerconversation.com
@inkfishmagazine.bsky.social
@okaydonkey.bsky.social
@identitytheory.bsky.social
@eunoiareview.bsky.social
@underbellypress.bsky.social

'She hears rather than feels her legs snap out on instinct and away from the warmth of the old horse rugs, up the creaky metal stairs and into the bower at the top of the barn, where she can hear the mice shifting and hiding...'
Read 'Hunting Season', a short story by India Fishburn buff.ly/91bXBiS

"Yvonne Battle-Felton’s Curdle Creek is a fever-dream odyssey that begins in an all-Black town governed by nightmarish traditions and spirals into something far more expansive and terrifying." Read our Review of Curdle Creek by Yvonne Battle-Felton @whyiwrite.bsky.social buff.ly/TpVNzQu

'Snowshoeing' & 'Newfoundland Buffalo' by Logan Ropson Poetry

'North of Frog Pond
a path is beaten
into the snow so worn
that it can bear your weight
without rackets.'
Read 'Snowshoeing' & 'Newfoundland Buffalo' by Logan Ropson

'Fungi' and other poems by Susan Kostick Poetry

'These fungi grow together
but are not communal–
like us,
walking together,
keeping our own counsel.'
Read 'Fungi' and other poems by Susan Kostick

'The taproot of the Sycamore' by Vanessa Gebbie Concrete poetry

'The taproot of the Sycamore/is a strong old sod, no/manners, never says/please, pushes past/shoulders aside/boulders, animal/bones, burials'. Read 'The taproot of the Sycamore', concrete poetry by Vanessa Gebbie buff.ly/A14D7uY

Smiling woman performing at a poetry festival with hands raised

Copy of Isabelle Baafi's 'Chaotic Good' poetry collection with an orange flower

July's 'short & sweet' poetry newsletter, recommending Isabelle Baafi's 'Chaotic Good' @faberbooks.bsky.social & feat @serenbooks.bsky.social @vervepoetrypress.bsky.social @inkfishmagazine.bsky.social @arvonfoundation.bsky.social @poetrysociety.bsky.social mailchi.mp/315fe9108e32...
#poetry

'Gutted' & 'Here is my haul' by Vivienne Tregenza Poetry

'That was the year/of seared flesh and fishbones,/the year I was landed/gasping for breath, gulping/thin air, jerking and juddering/on the slimy ground/as a knife eased my body/from its backbone .' Read ''Gutted' and 'Here is my haul', poems by Vivienne Tregenza

'A Thrice Tilled Field' by Tim Moder Poetry

'June bug, kettle-moraine, delta, heather, black ice, prairie, witches-halo,
feathered aerie, vernal pools, will-o-the-wisp, darkling beetle, cuckoo.' Read 'A Thrice Tilled Field', concrete poems by Tim Moder

@petermcallister.bsky.social will be leading a discussion with Jackie Taylor, Rob Magnuson Smith, @amarkle.bsky.social & @emmatimpany.bsky.social at Penzance Litfest, & they’ll be reading from our Holyer an Gof Publishers' Awards-shortlisted anthology, Cornwall In Short! Book here: buff.ly/H8AWToG

The #anthology of short stories I co-published with @katehorsleywriter.bsky.social has been shortlisted in the Holyer an Gof awards this year!!

#booksky #award #shortlist #shortlisted #literaryfiction

Interview with Sravya Raju Inkfish Interviews

'I’ve got limited floor space, and a little production line going for wrapping which I do cross-legged on the rug, hemmed in by a box of envelopes and boxes of Aspier issues. And there’s always music playing.' Kate Horsley interviews Sravya Raju, editor of Aspier Magazine

We were incredibly excited to learn that Cornwall In Short has been shortlisted in the Holyer an Gof Publishers’ Awards 2025!
Congratulations to all our amazing authors!
The award ceremony will be held on Saturday July 5th.
buff.ly/OQcmmtv

‘Lepidopterists' by Graham Mort Short Story

'We guessed their sudden advent was something to do with global warming. And insects were scarce, weren’t they? So, it had to be a good thing. A manifestation of nature. Beautiful in its way.' Read 'Lepidopterists', a short story by Graham Mort

Congratulations! Looks so good!!! 🤩🎉

Excited to see my first peer-reviewed paper published today. It's an investigation into the murky area that 'divides' short-story collections and novels and questions whether it's time to re-frame the idea of the death of the novel. www.swdtp.ac.uk/wp-content/u...
#amwriting #academia

'The Last Two’ by V. Kate Hutchings [vc_row parallax="content-moving"][vc_column offset="vc_col-md-offset-1 vc_col-md-10"][vc_empty_space height="10px"][kraft_heading heading="The Last Two" font_size="font-size-custom" font_weight="5...

'And so it comes to pass that the whale and I are the last two souls on this good Earth. She looks at me with that eye of hers, round and blue and human. I don’t know what kind of whale she is, and neither does she.' Read 'The Last Two', Flash Fiction by V. Kate Hutchings

'The Odd Man and the Sea’ by Oleg Daugovish Short Story

'Should I follow the whales, who bring their kids from Mexico to Alaska, hoping that no unstoppable tanker will ram them on the way... Do they dream of ...endless summer days?' Read 'The Odd Man and the Sea', a short story by Oleg Daugovish

I’m leading a discussion with four fantastic authors about their work and what #Cornwall means to them at the Penzance Litfest this year. They’ll each be reading a section of a story @inkfishmagazine.bsky.social published in the anthology ‘Cornwall In Short’. More details below: