Matt Leibel

Episode 6 - Roulette: Take a Chance on Art

New episode just dropped!

@melaniehoopes.bsky.social talks w @rachel-kowalsky.bsky.social (“Dear Dolores”) & @mattleibel.bsky.social (“How to Buy a Snow Globe”) about work that has recently reconfigured them.

Original music by @chesterjankowski.bsky.social

open.spotify.com/episode/60GB...

Excited to share my story "How to Buy a Snowglobe" in the very cool-looking new issue of -ette. Thanks to @noramaynard.bsky.social and @bybethhahn.bsky.social for showcasing my work, and to @melaniehoopes.bsky.social for performing my story and interviewing me for her podcast!

Lit mag issue cover showing croupier at roulette wheel. List of writers and stories in issue. Laura Cronk, Jose Hernandez Diaz, Suzy Eynon, Rachel Kowalsky, Matt Leibel, Emma Raimondo

-ette Issue 6: Roulette is now live!

www.ettereview.com/fall2025/

Spin the animated wheel and check out new work by:

Laura Cronk
@josehernandezdz.bsky.social
@suzyeynon.bsky.social
@rachel-kowalsky.bsky.social
@mattleibel.bsky.social
Emma Raimondo

Thanks, Jenny!

This is brilliant and insane—love it!

“…cats weave in and out of fence posts like specters in a horror movie” great atmosphere, eerie and timely

Love the cadences here and the way the piece moves through time.

Thanks Laura!

Thanks Lisa!!

How to Skip a Rock Across the Pacific by Matt Leibel Imagine the platonic ideal of the perfect skip. It’s a dream I had the first time I ever stepped foot on a Southern California beach as a kid: a stone I could skim off the sunglossed surface, that wou...

Here's a new "how to" piece up at @lit-namjooning.bsky.social I really enjoyed reading all the pieces in this issue--a nice respite from, well, everything else that's going on.

I have two new "how-to" stories up in the excellent @doesithavepockets.bsky.social

Thanks for sharing, Dan! Look forward to checking out all of these links.

Thanks for reading, Belinda!

How to Remember Your Dreams A Dream Story by Matt Leibel

new piece up at @thirtywestph.com about dreams, which I've always been warned to avoid in my stories.

"25 for 25" — some more contributor lists some more Short Story, Long contributors share some of their lists of "best" and favorite short stories from the last 25 years

Some more Short Story, Long contributor lists (from Brittney Uecker, @mldon31.bsky.social, @mattleibel.bsky.social, @jeffchon.bsky.social, @magicmikewrites.bsky.social) of best & fave stories for the century (so far). Some really great, fun reading lists here. (A cpl of YOU even make appearances!)

- Post Road Magazine Crushedby Matt Leibel I noticed a woman walking down Market Street in a red bowler hat, and I wanted to say something. I wanted to compliment her, I wanted to say “nice hat” or “I like your hat,” but ...

Read the whole thing at:

Cover of Post Road magazine #43 abstract painting in green, yellow, orange and blue

1st page of my story "Crushed" in Post Road #43. To read in its entirety go to https://www.postroadmag.com/2025/03/03/crushed-by-matt-leibel/

Received my copy of the new issue of Post Road, including my story "Crushed". Looking forward to reading the rest of the issue...

Calvino sort of does this ("You are about to begin reading the new novel by Italo Calvino...") since narrator surely assumes multiple readers, but then the "reader" morphs into a single character. In a non-meta sense a way to pull it off might be, say, a story in the form of a commencement address.

"How to Get Elected Mayor with a Hamburger for a Head," by Matt Leibel Wake up one morning and realize that you've changed. It's not just the ravages of time and age: your cranium is now a literal beef patty, encased in a pillow of bun, slathered with onion, ketchup, spe...

It’s 4/20, and I seem to have written a kind of Mayor McCheese fan fiction. Check it out along with other funny stuff from @defenestrationmag.bsky.social

Thanks Charlotte!

Issue 31 - Gooseberry Pie Lit Magazine Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash Stories Updates The shortlist for Gooseberry’s annual writing contest has been sent to our terrific guest judge, Melissa Llanes Brownlee. She’ll be reading the submi...

I have two new micros in this issue of @gooseberrypielit.bsky.social. The whole issue is a quick read, worth checking out.

- Post Road Magazine Crushedby Matt Leibel I noticed a woman walking down Market Street in a red bowler hat, and I wanted to say something. I wanted to compliment her, I wanted to say “nice hat” or “I like your hat,” but ...

New story up at Post Road! Crushes, Bond villains, beetles, human statues, and the Hatpocalypse

Check out this wild, Cartesian historical story by my friend Sharon!

Hunger Mountain Review – VCFA Journal of the Arts Hunger Mountain is the VCFA Journal of the Arts

My story “How to Find Real Love on a Fake TV Show” is up at Hunger Mountain Review. Thanks to the editors!

Thanks, Olga!

The Wedding Photographer Photographer Matt Leibel   The wedding photographer photographer was busier than ever. Couples had decided that typical wedding shots felt too cliché; they wanted photos that merely suggested the existence of thes...

TWPP is also readable here:

Best Small Fictions 2024 102 Flash Stories by 101 Authors

This story anthology is now available in paperback--featuring 101 very short stories, including my story "The Wedding Photographer Photographer", originally published in The Florida Review! Excellent cover!

Excited to have my story “How to Become an Auctioneer” included in this. Thanks to @bestmicrofiction.bsky.social and @matchbooklitmag.bsky.social. Congrats to the other winners!

Thank you!

Thanks to @matchbooklitmag.bsky.social for nominating my story "How to Become an Auctioneer" for the Best Microfiction anthology. You can read it here: www.matchbooklitmag.com/mb/leibel/ho...