Allison Wyss (But the abyss... It's still in my heart.)
@allisonwyss.bsky.social
I don’t think I’ve been lost. she/her
And a book(!): SPLENDID ANATOMIES (Shirley Jackson Award Finalist, 2022)
https://www.allisonwyss.com
And a book(!): SPLENDID ANATOMIES (Shirley Jackson Award Finalist, 2022)
https://www.allisonwyss.com
Pinned
Power and Vulnerability: A Review of Splendid Anatomies by Allison Wyss
There used to be a horror movie critic in the pink section of the San Francisco Chronicle, Joe Bob Briggs, who would end his reviews with a tally of boobs, bodies, and pints of blood spilled — more be...
bit.ly
I want to post something that I can pin, so I guess I'll share this review of my book (Splendid Anatomies) that I can only read if I want joy to fill my heart such that it overwhelms me and I fall down in intense but exquisite pain.
(But that probably won't happen to you! It's just a good read.)
(But that probably won't happen to you! It's just a good read.)
When anybody else in the world is coming to my house, and I have notice, I tidy and surface clean all the rooms I think they might enter. When my mother is coming, I deep clean some obscure area no one will see, -but she will know-, and leave the surface clutter.
November 26, 2025 at 10:26 PM
When anybody else in the world is coming to my house, and I have notice, I tidy and surface clean all the rooms I think they might enter. When my mother is coming, I deep clean some obscure area no one will see, -but she will know-, and leave the surface clutter.
Kid will teach me slang on the condition I never say it. I ask why she can and I can’t. She says, “We believe in equity, mom. Not equality.”
November 26, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Kid will teach me slang on the condition I never say it. I ask why she can and I can’t. She says, “We believe in equity, mom. Not equality.”
If you’re already _talking_ to your pretend Parson Brown, wouldn’t it follow that—within the parameters of your fantasy—Parson Brown is already in town?
November 26, 2025 at 5:13 PM
If you’re already _talking_ to your pretend Parson Brown, wouldn’t it follow that—within the parameters of your fantasy—Parson Brown is already in town?
Happy first day of season for snow boots is there a dead bird in there panic.
November 26, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Happy first day of season for snow boots is there a dead bird in there panic.
So I went on an anti-AI rant as we checked in to kid’s dentist appointment the other day. As the (mortified) child pulled me away, I called out “having strong opinions embarrasses you kid!” which, surprisingly, did not make things better.
November 26, 2025 at 1:19 PM
So I went on an anti-AI rant as we checked in to kid’s dentist appointment the other day. As the (mortified) child pulled me away, I called out “having strong opinions embarrasses you kid!” which, surprisingly, did not make things better.
The people arguing that book pirating is good are probs the same asshats who pretend you can overturn an exploitative system by personally not tipping your server at a restaurant. Not the way it works! You’re just stealing!
November 26, 2025 at 12:53 PM
The people arguing that book pirating is good are probs the same asshats who pretend you can overturn an exploitative system by personally not tipping your server at a restaurant. Not the way it works! You’re just stealing!
We love our neighbors.
November 25, 2025 at 5:26 PM
We love our neighbors.
Everything else about grade school is better now except:
Bopping a kid on the head as you walk to the drinking fountain > fretting about the brand/style of your water bottle
Bopping a kid on the head as you walk to the drinking fountain > fretting about the brand/style of your water bottle
November 24, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Everything else about grade school is better now except:
Bopping a kid on the head as you walk to the drinking fountain > fretting about the brand/style of your water bottle
Bopping a kid on the head as you walk to the drinking fountain > fretting about the brand/style of your water bottle
The only thing I ever long for from my catholic school days are the culottes. They were hideous but indestructible. You could do anything in them.
November 24, 2025 at 2:04 PM
The only thing I ever long for from my catholic school days are the culottes. They were hideous but indestructible. You could do anything in them.
Sometimes you give a person writing advice and they just do it without being all tortured about it and you read the new version and it's really good, or at least very much to your taste, but what is wrong with them, really, have they no feelings at all?
November 21, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Sometimes you give a person writing advice and they just do it without being all tortured about it and you read the new version and it's really good, or at least very much to your taste, but what is wrong with them, really, have they no feelings at all?
And every time I gnash my teeth at unsorted emails, it will only steel my resolve against the forces of evil.
November 21, 2025 at 11:04 PM
And every time I gnash my teeth at unsorted emails, it will only steel my resolve against the forces of evil.
I probably shouldn’t go into deep weird writer goblin mode just before my family travels a long way to see us, but it calls.
November 21, 2025 at 2:10 PM
I probably shouldn’t go into deep weird writer goblin mode just before my family travels a long way to see us, but it calls.
Ok but procrastinating on writing the hard parts of a story actually works?
November 20, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Ok but procrastinating on writing the hard parts of a story actually works?
Rich people pump a bunch of weird chemicals into their bodies to dissuade us from eating them, but look at what else we eat, I just don't think it's gonna work.
November 20, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Rich people pump a bunch of weird chemicals into their bodies to dissuade us from eating them, but look at what else we eat, I just don't think it's gonna work.
I now live in a place with pretty strong take-off-your-shoes-inside culture, and it all seems wise to me. But growing up, we weren't allowed to walk around the house in socks. Barefoot was ok, shoes were preferred. My mom said it was to keep our socks clean(!?), but I wonder if it was sensory stuff.
November 20, 2025 at 3:33 PM
I now live in a place with pretty strong take-off-your-shoes-inside culture, and it all seems wise to me. But growing up, we weren't allowed to walk around the house in socks. Barefoot was ok, shoes were preferred. My mom said it was to keep our socks clean(!?), but I wonder if it was sensory stuff.
Imagine a culture so twisted that calling something a “benefit” is a way to stigmatize it.
November 20, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Imagine a culture so twisted that calling something a “benefit” is a way to stigmatize it.
It feels like name dropping if I tell a class that I know a writer when I teach their story or essay, but it also feels like I ought to freaking warn them not to say anything mean about my friend.
November 19, 2025 at 9:10 PM
It feels like name dropping if I tell a class that I know a writer when I teach their story or essay, but it also feels like I ought to freaking warn them not to say anything mean about my friend.
Back when I was querying agents, my pitch used the word "attached," which was such an obstacle, because it meant gmail made me rethink every single send when it asked if I forgot to attach a file. If I'd re-written that damn thing, I'd probably have sent triple the queries.
November 19, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Back when I was querying agents, my pitch used the word "attached," which was such an obstacle, because it meant gmail made me rethink every single send when it asked if I forgot to attach a file. If I'd re-written that damn thing, I'd probably have sent triple the queries.
I can read the whole internet which contains all of the facts, all of the wisdom, and a whole lot of fun bullshit too. But maybe you’d prefer I jumble those things together to create a new mix of bullshit that kinda sorta sounds like facts.
November 18, 2025 at 6:23 PM
I can read the whole internet which contains all of the facts, all of the wisdom, and a whole lot of fun bullshit too. But maybe you’d prefer I jumble those things together to create a new mix of bullshit that kinda sorta sounds like facts.
I know what it means and that people generally seem to understand it, but "trafficked" seems like an unforgivably euphemistic term for the actual thing.
November 18, 2025 at 5:31 PM
I know what it means and that people generally seem to understand it, but "trafficked" seems like an unforgivably euphemistic term for the actual thing.
For a little bit on twitter, you could see if a tweet had led anybody to your profile and mine never did, except once I posted about a crooked tooth and got zero likes and a hundred jerks I'm sure trying to zoom in to see my picture.
November 17, 2025 at 5:37 PM
For a little bit on twitter, you could see if a tweet had led anybody to your profile and mine never did, except once I posted about a crooked tooth and got zero likes and a hundred jerks I'm sure trying to zoom in to see my picture.
I’m making two pizzas, one with just cheese and one making-sure-my-kid’s-friends-stick-to-their-plain-one.
November 16, 2025 at 11:28 PM
I’m making two pizzas, one with just cheese and one making-sure-my-kid’s-friends-stick-to-their-plain-one.
When I walk past a barking dog, I always say good job buddy, I was about to invade that house but you scared me off, and none of you better ever tell that dog different.
November 16, 2025 at 8:25 PM
When I walk past a barking dog, I always say good job buddy, I was about to invade that house but you scared me off, and none of you better ever tell that dog different.
Thinking of actual and beautiful and authentic ways that I keep my grandparents alive. I have recipes, written in my grandma's handwriting, that I make with my kid, eat with my kid. I have quilts with her fingers in the stitches. I have books that my grandpa loved and I can read the same words.
November 15, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Thinking of actual and beautiful and authentic ways that I keep my grandparents alive. I have recipes, written in my grandma's handwriting, that I make with my kid, eat with my kid. I have quilts with her fingers in the stitches. I have books that my grandpa loved and I can read the same words.
I just realized a racist screed I heard while door knocking conflated two meanings of “constitution.” 1. that really important document about our rights and such 2. the makeup of something, as in the racial makeup of the population. Was this guy befuddled or is that a thing they do on purpose?
November 14, 2025 at 2:25 PM
I just realized a racist screed I heard while door knocking conflated two meanings of “constitution.” 1. that really important document about our rights and such 2. the makeup of something, as in the racial makeup of the population. Was this guy befuddled or is that a thing they do on purpose?