Kerry C. Byrne

THIRTY PAGES LEFT TO REVISE BEFORE WE ENTER REWRITE STATION

I think the heart of the post is that for a young person 10+ years ago, it was hard to find. I’m sure there was plenty a barely-20s me wasn’t aware of—it wasn’t a perfect phrasing for the feeling, as character count dooms. But I do wish this response was more generous to the intention 🙏

“Is this really the dynamic here though or just a fun line to write”

— me editing me

The loss will be loss, and it will be grieved.

But I don’t think it can be understated what an impact this mag has had on generations of writers and readers and editors.

The landscape is different because of them.

And if there’s any one reason to do this, that’s the one.

When I took my first writing workshop, On Spec was the only active SFF mag in Canada—and an inspiration when I launched Augur 3 years later.

That was 13 years ago.

They made space where there wasn’t for specfic in Canlit & set the stage for the many Canadian editors who’ve launched mags since.

Apex Magazine 2026 An award-winning digital literary magazine of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror.

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Buddy!

I have officially smacked revision notes on 70 pages of the manuscript !!

34 to go before I head into reworking the first hundred pages 🙏

Work is really trying you this week eh

Illustration of a white skull partially obscured by colorful mushrooms and plants. Different fungi sprout from and around the skull, including red mushrooms with white spots, yellow fan-shaped mushrooms, gray cluster mushrooms, and orange bulbous mushrooms, with green and purple plants filling the background. A ribbon at the bottom of the skull reads “ADMIT ONE.”

it's here, The Deadlands fundraiser 💀

buy your very 2026 coin for the ferryman and help support us

we've got signed books, deadlands issues + psychopomp book bundles, and more coming soon!

please like + RT this to help spread the word

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behold!

Realizing I have a bad habit of writing the things I don’t know about a manuscript INTO the protagonist of the manuscript 🙀😭

What a wild way for my ADHD to take the wheel (it would be too boring to stop and figure it out)

Clock me avidly looking up reviews during intermission to figure out wtf is going on (it helped a lot)

Yes !!

I have heard their Act I aesthetics are opposite!! I saw only this one though 👀 (And Sense and Sensibility)

Never 50 First Dates?!

A purple-lit circular stage with flowers and garlands

Today I witnessed the strangest interpretation of As You Like It that I think I will ever see

DYSTOPIAN As You Like It

By intermission, I was ready to walk out

By the end, I was delighted

I am confused and baffled

K-Pop Demon Hunters is legitimately the global cultural phenomenon of 2025 and honestly there are far worse things to be a cultural touchstone this year than a trio of young women fighting literal soul-sucking hegemony through the power of their art

In my 20s I was so stressed that I couldn’t imagine wanting to remember them — but the 30s are SO much better and I wanna return to all of it !!

An excellent tip

A blonde person with oversized glasses holds an immense, soft sage pillow

I hath been blessed by the softest pillow ever

HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAAAY

One would think that as an editor who has this skill for others that it would be transferable for yourself but alas alack they are different beasts

This year I’m building the writing soft skill of ✨ gratitude for the imperfect draft of work that will get you to the version you imagined all along ✨

Resisting the urge to smack an image on there is one of the deepest battles there is

I have found a hat that looks good on me

I am now a Hat Guy

🧢

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New day, new stretch goal! @othersidespec.bsky.social is only $800 away from unlocking reprints of no-longer-online or out-of-print queer stories. (No solicitations ever, $100 flat fee for reprints.) If you’re as excited about the thought of bringing back lost queer stories as we are, check it out!

Heck yeah!

Absolutely! If I didn’t believe anyone could—maybe should—start a zine, I never would have started Kaleidotrope. (I’m just this guy, y’know?) I’d like to think I’m a better editor and publisher than I was two decades earlier, but it’s an ongoing learning experience.

Sasha

Piggybacking on this thread (read the whole thing btw, lots of great points) to say how important this is. If you want to start a mag, you only need 3 things:
1) the time and spoons to give it the energy it deserves
2) the desire to support writers and the writing community
3) the audacity!

Heck yea!