Abigail Oswald

one of my favorite documentaries!

Logo for the documentary Seeking Mavis Beacon

Cover of the Broderbund-published version 11 of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing Deluxe, featuring a headshot photo of the model who portrayed Mavis Beacon.

Friday at the #InternetArchive: a special screening of SEEKING MAVIS BEACON. The documentary on the disappearance & legacy of one of the most iconic faces in tech history. 📽️

🗓️ Aug 8
🕒 6:00 PM doors open
📍 300 Funston Ave, SF
🎟️ www.eventbrite.com/e/1558061216...
🧵

#funcheapsf #WomenInTech

Who Reads Lit Mags? Spotlight on Joyland, Short Story, Long, Does It Have Pockets, and Mag Gently "part reunion, part discovery..."

Really kind write-up here of Short Story, Long and, specifically, stories from @abigailoswald.bsky.social & @jsavrankelly.bsky.social!

As an editor, few things better than thoughtful, engaged, enthusiastic reading of and responding to stories you got to publish.

what the heck, this made my morning 😭 Jessica is the sweetest; love seeing your editorial work celebrated, Aaron!

Thinking Sideways was great for this!

my King Kong zine is just $3 + shipping, y'all; don't miss this great sale from @paranoidxtree.bsky.social!

www.paranoidtree.com/issues/p/vol...

Looking to remix your shelves? For one week only Bloomsbury are having a sale on all music books - including the 33 1/3 series! From now until midnight on Sunday August 3rd, save up to 33%.

Shop 33 1/3 books: bit.ly/4kPF1w7 🌞

k y'all, gonna be doubling down on art because it truly feels like the only path forward! gonna use this space to yell as loud as I can about the books and films and art that bring me joy! if that sounds good to you then you're invited! let's do this!

10 things that've made my 2025 (so far) - Austin Kleon Writing, travel, music, and more...

Nearly twenty years in, @austinkleon.bsky.social's newsletter continues to be one of my favourite things to land in my inbox

austinkleon.substack.com/p/10-things-...

SIGNED It Can't Rain All the Time: The Crow (16) (Pop Classics) –by Alisha Mughal(Paperback, NEW) A passionate analysis of the ill-fated 1994 film starring the late Brandon Lee and its long-lasting influence on action movies, cinematic grief, and emotional masculinity Released in 1994, The Crow fi...

2. I've edited Alisha at Roger Ebert.com and I'm always blown away by the authenticity, vulnerability and deep feeling she brings to all of her work. Her book on The Crow, one of my favorite 90s films, is equal to the movie in its ripped-from-the gut sincerity. mzs.press/SIGNED-It-Ca...

A Publisher's Marketplace book deal announcement, reading: Author of FIRST LOVE Lilly Dancyger's BALLET WILL HEAL ME, a novella-length essay about dance, chronic pain, and the mind/body connection that weaves together the author's lifelong relationship with ballet, her struggle to get treatment for unexplained debilitating pain, research into the effects of emotional trauma on the body, and the stories and histories of classical ballets, to Michael Wheaton at Autofocus Books, with Lena Crown editing, in a nice deal, for publication in February 2027 (world English).

Surprise! I'm writing a new nonfiction book!! About dance and chronic pain and the ways the body can both express, and be impacted by, emotion. Forthcoming from @autofocusbooks.bsky.social in 2027!

Radio Church Making space for little mysteries

this month's Microfascination explores the joys of analog radio, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and appreciating little mysteries 📻

abigailoswald.substack.com/p/radio-church

"This story encapsulates my feelings about the internet, today, as someone who’s experienced life both before and after the introduction of a world expanding technology. As a teenager, access to that early internet was exciting, promising; it allowed me to see beyond the stifling myopia of my suburban upbringing. But as is essentially always the case when capitalism enters the scene, what once seemed promising proved disappointing, and what once felt exciting has begun to feel routine, limiting, even oppressive. To be online in 2025 feels like being at work, and there’s often a felt obligation to *produce*, hustle, brand and rebrand. Of course, it’s true that people still discover new bands, new interests, new people and new experiences, but today that’s mostly *despite* the way the internet works, not *because* of it."

very good column about early internet nostalgia from Brad Phillips that sums up a lot of my current feelings, too—especially the idea that we're now generally making discoveries *despite* the way the internet currently works, not *because* of those innovations

www.pi.fyi/p/internet-m...

one of my favorite podcasts, THE BLACK TAPES, turns 10 this year 🥰 a journalist + a paranormal investigator attempt to unravel the mystery behind a collection of unsolved cases—great for X-Files fans, best listened to on good headphones or a late-night drive!

theblacktapespodcast.com/how-to-listen

Subscribe - Bright Wall/Dark Room Subscribe for $25 a year Subscribe now to receive immediate access to each new essay we publish, plus our entire 135+ issue archive. Bright Wall/Dark Room is 100% independent, runs no ads, and strongl...

FLASH SALE: Through the weekend, get $6 off your first year with coupon code DEMME25.

Full access to our entire site for just $19 for the first year! And since we're about to raise prices for new subscribers to $29/year, this is a great deal!

Coming from a Place: Community in the Films of Hayao Miyazaki Community isn’t just for comfort in Miyazaki’s world; it's a hallmark of interdependence, a vital theme in almost every one of his films.

“Community isn’t just for comfort in Miyazaki’s world—it serves an important function as a hallmark of interdependence, a vital theme in most of his films. Miyazaki is deeply concerned with how humans, animals, spirits, & the natural world can live in balance with one another, or at least strive to.

great interview, Hannah! Zach is so supportive of small press authors; this is awesome news

btw did you know you can subscribe to PBS for only like $5/mo or a $60 one-time for a year donation, and get access to their Passport streaming service? They mail you a little live programming guide and everything, too. The 40-something seasons of NOVA alone are worth it.

(2/2) It's time to join our community of supporters. Please donate today — not just for yourself, but for the millions who benefit from this trusted public service.

Every dollar helps. Donate to public media here: n.pr/458sOhq

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Puts 490,000 High-Res Images Online & Makes Them Free to Use Update: The Metropolitan Museum of Art has put online 492,000 high-resolution images of artistic works. Even better, the museum has placed the vast majority of these images into the public domain, mea...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Puts 490,000 High-Res Images Online & Makes Them Free to Use

Rachel Getting Married: Yesterday Is Gone & Tomorrow Is Not Here So much of Jonathan Demme's 2008 film Rachel Getting Married is about needle-fine moments of grace and clemency.

for @bwdr.bsky.social’s jonathan demme issue i wrote about rachel getting married, a movie that is very special to me for reasons vulnerable to admit but that i put into words anyway.

thank you to @ohhhaeee.bsky.social for the gorgeous art and @carriecourogen.bsky.social for her brilliant edits!

thanks so much! me too 😭

my essay about Angela Carter's mysterious unfinished Jane Eyre sequel is featured in this anthology! so happy to be in the company of so many writers I admire ☺️ happy pub day to everyone, and thank you as always to @autofocusbooks.bsky.social!

YouTube video by NBC Chicago Andrea Gibson recites 'Love Letter From the Afterlife' in final TV interview

Andrea Gibson, who passed yesterday, reading their "Love Letter From the Afterlife" www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmZH...

You are cordially invited to our Anti-Prime Sale, where every purchase will financially support bookstores, NOT billionaires 🥳

A movie poster for The Descent depicts mostly darkness, with a small shaft of light illuminating creepy faces and finally a woman's face at the bottom of the image. Tagline: Face your deepest fear.

A movie poster for The Descent depicts the bodies of women contorted to form the shape of a skull

my favorite cave horror movie is TWENTY years old this month 🥲 I had a blast writing about The Descent (in the form of a search history!) for @bwdr.bsky.social last year:

www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2024/05/28/t...

OPEN FOR NOVEL & NOVELLA SUBMISSIONS! July 1 through September 1, send them via splitlippress.submittable.com

It's that magic time, novelists + novella-ists! You've got 2mos to send our beloved + well-practiced novel/novella reading team your >100pg books: call it a novella, call it a novel, but we hope you call it READY TO SEND before Sept 1 because we want to read it!
splitlippress.submittable.com/submit

So peeps, we're looking for nominations of 90s sad songs for our longlist. Particularly interested in pop/R&B/hip hop/country, but anything's welcome.

30 Ideas About Writing Nonfiction – The Creative Independent The poet, essayist, and critic Elisa Gabbert offers 30 ideas around making your nonfiction interesting.

The poet, essayist, and critic Elisa Gabbert offers 30 ideas around making your nonfiction interesting.

"...find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful." - To Theo Van Gogh, London, January 1874

I did my best to find magic in the everyday in this month's Microfascination, with a little help from Georges Perec and the Impressionists ☺️

abigailoswald.substack.com/p/an-attempt...