Allison Pottern

Really enjoyed this, thanks for the rec!

If I can plug the anthology I’m in, it’s a great intro to some authors you’ll be seeing a lot more from soon…
linktr.ee/newyearnewyo...

Hello Writing Community! We are delighted to announce our Second Official Bluesky *** #MSWL Day *** February 26, 2026. 🎉🎉🎉

Agents + editors can post what they ✨wish✨ they had in their inboxes; writers can find their next best fit for querying.

Learn more: manuscriptwishlist.com/2025/01/the-...

Maybe this is elsewhere in your mentions but the Vandermeers’ Big Book of Science Fiction is wonderfully comprehensive

other cities have terrible drivers but the key to Boston driving is that you have no choice because it’s all one way streets built on goat paths so if you miss your turn you are capital-f Fucked and good luck ever get back where you were going

you must cut people off to survive

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

all talent really is? It's one thing that you have a knack for right away. That's all it is. it is a single pea buried in the mattresses of practice. You don't even have to have that one thing.

Harping on talent is how they keep you from trusting you can do it. it's a grift.

FICTION Quote From the window of the nursery, Wendy saw Jane wobbling her way down Kensington Park Road on a borrowed bicycle, hair unbraided and wild like she’d been flying. Wendy’s throat seized with fear. Was that gold glittering in the girl’s hair? Had the neighbors seen? Was that his laughter that rang out from Kensington Park across the way? end Quote Mother, Darling  by Allison Pottern 2 February 2026 Strange Horizons

Mother, Darling
by Allison Pottern @apottern.bsky.social

"Was that gold glittering in the girl’s hair? Had the neighbors seen? Was that his laughter that rang out from Kensington Park across the way?"

Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...

#shortstories #fiction #fantasy

Better get started then! 💪

omg hats off @apottern.bsky.social this 100% had me crying in the coffee shop 🫠

Y'all, I hit 1k followers! How should I celebrate?

a) 10 pushups
b) A second cupcake
c) Scream into the void and see if it screams back
d) Shouldn't you be working on your novel?
e) All of the above

Ahhhhh you were so eloquent and the book is beautiful and it was an honor to celebrate you!

Big thanks to @brooklinebooksmith.bsky.social @kipwilsonwrites.bsky.social and wonderful friends like @kslivensky.bsky.social and @apottern.bsky.social who came out to celebrate WINTER WHITE! One of the great things about writing stories is that it connects you with so many lovely people.

I feel this may be my best horrifying horror-y pieces. I feel pretty proud of this line: "billionaire sounds like bilious air full of nothing"

Hope you enjoy my deer-parasite wasp-cryptid!

Can't wait for you to read them! Can't believe they're both finally out 🤩

"You've been cleaning up after bad men all your life. What's one more?"

Add. To. Your. TBR. NOW. I got to read the opening pages of this in draft form and was already hooked. Also look at that gorgeous cover!

Thank you! I may have cried writing it... 😭

Submissions are opening on the 14th... We hope you're getting some writing time in.

What are you CRAVING?

We need to know. We're craving your art, poems, and stories!

Mother, Darling Wendy knew it wouldn’t be long now before her daughter was taken. She had put the idea from her mind as long as she could, but now Jane was days away from turning thirteen.

This is a good story:

strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...

Thank you! So glad it resonated.

This is a good time. I'm always a sucker for stories in conversation with other stories and this is a really good example of one.

Just a girl, doing her best, with far too many tabs open.

We have decided the world needs short fiction clubs instead of just book clubs. All those people who don’t finish a book in time and fumble their way through the meet-up can switch over and live a shame free life. Selfishly I recommend picking your material from a plucky, small press magazine.

A collage of spooky things on the left, including a pair of jeans with a bloody skull, sunglasses in front of flames, a lit match, a basket of breadsticks, and some goodwill tags, with the words "Bootcut" by Allison Pottern, Haven Spec, Jan 2026 across the middle. On the right are the opening words of the story (you get bonus sentences I couldn't fit on the graphic): Running your hand along the clothing rack, your finger catches on a Goodwill miracle: a pair of jeans that actually fits. They have no tag—no name brand—just a questionable stain below the left front pocket, no big deal. It’s like maybe these jeans have lived a more exciting life than you have. Maybe if you put them on, a bit of that excitement could rub off on you. The flared, dark-washed jeans look like once upon a time they were very expensive. Now that they’re in your broke hands, they’re merely “vintage.” But in the claustrophobic changing room mirror, they make your ass look like a million bucks. And (can you believe it?) they only cost you $6.66 plus tax. The cashier even offers you a band-aid for your finger, which is welling with ruby droplets of blood. You hadn’t noticed. You hope you didn’t get any stains on the denim. (Don’t worry, with a little ice water, blood washes right out.)

If you need a little feminist revenge story to fight the misogyny of the headlines right now, have I got the pair of jeans for you:

"Bootcut" @havenspec.bsky.social
havenspec.com/fiction/boot...
(tw: sexual assault)

ONLY 24 DAYS LEFT! Submissions are OPEN for Year's Best Canadian F&SF: Volume 4 (the best of 2025). Send me your SFF published in 2025--details in the link below. Subs close Feb 28, 2026. Pls share WIDELY.

(And why 24 day? Well, because I forgot to post this on a day that is a multiple of 5!)

Mother, Darling Wendy knew it wouldn’t be long now before her daughter was taken. She had put the idea from her mind as long as she could, but now Jane was days away from turning thirteen.

Did I mention that I have not one, but TWO stories releasing today on 2/2? Yeah, it's weird. And wonderful.

My novelette "Mother, Darling" is now live @strangehorizons.bsky.social

“Oh, Wendybird... you’ve finally come back to see what a little shit Pan is.”

strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...

A Tree is not a Home, Haven Spec Magazine "A Tree is not a Home" by Diana Dima

👀January 2026 Fiction👀

ICYMI, "A Tree is not a Home" is a short story by @dianadima.com about seeking refuge wherever you might find it. Read it for the quiet grief and pain embodied by its birch tree narrator.

havenspec.com/fiction/a-tr...

A collage of spooky things on the left, including a pair of jeans with a bloody skull, sunglasses in front of flames, a lit match, a basket of breadsticks, and some goodwill tags, with the words "Bootcut" by Allison Pottern, Haven Spec, Jan 2026 across the middle. On the right are the opening words of the story (you get bonus sentences I couldn't fit on the graphic): Running your hand along the clothing rack, your finger catches on a Goodwill miracle: a pair of jeans that actually fits. They have no tag—no name brand—just a questionable stain below the left front pocket, no big deal. It’s like maybe these jeans have lived a more exciting life than you have. Maybe if you put them on, a bit of that excitement could rub off on you. The flared, dark-washed jeans look like once upon a time they were very expensive. Now that they’re in your broke hands, they’re merely “vintage.” But in the claustrophobic changing room mirror, they make your ass look like a million bucks. And (can you believe it?) they only cost you $6.66 plus tax. The cashier even offers you a band-aid for your finger, which is welling with ruby droplets of blood. You hadn’t noticed. You hope you didn’t get any stains on the denim. (Don’t worry, with a little ice water, blood washes right out.)

If you need a little feminist revenge story to fight the misogyny of the headlines right now, have I got the pair of jeans for you:

"Bootcut" @havenspec.bsky.social
havenspec.com/fiction/boot...
(tw: sexual assault)

Hey MA: ICE is in Worcester outside the courthouse today. I don't have numbers but LUCE has been called by the observers there.