Allison Pottern
@apottern.bsky.social
Writer, reader, marketing coach, tea drinker | SFWA | VP '23 | Forthcoming fiction in @strangehorizons.bsky.social & @havenspec.bsky.social | Digging: green tea, dragons, puzzles | she/her #specfic #sff
pottern.com | pottern.substack.com
pottern.com | pottern.substack.com
Pinned
The world is rough and I've got a withering cold but I want to share some joy:
I have TWO stories coming out next month: a novelette about Wendy Darling, motherhood, & mankeeping from @strangehorizons.bsky.social and a short story I affectionately call "murder jeans" from @havenspec.bsky.social 🧵
I have TWO stories coming out next month: a novelette about Wendy Darling, motherhood, & mankeeping from @strangehorizons.bsky.social and a short story I affectionately call "murder jeans" from @havenspec.bsky.social 🧵
Reposted by Allison Pottern
And if you must read stories, you must. This one in particular.
New story by yours truly, coming very soon from @havenspec.bsky.social.
New story by yours truly, coming very soon from @havenspec.bsky.social.
👀January 2026 Fiction👀
"And If You Must Be Wicked, You Must" is a short story by @keychild.bsky.social about being forced to outsource your anger. Read this one for its refusal of the patriarchy and its embracing of all the right kinds of wicked.
Subscribers get it Monday!
"And If You Must Be Wicked, You Must" is a short story by @keychild.bsky.social about being forced to outsource your anger. Read this one for its refusal of the patriarchy and its embracing of all the right kinds of wicked.
Subscribers get it Monday!
![An excerpt of the short story "And If You Must Be Wicked, You Must" by Elou Carroll, in Issue 21 of Haven Spec Magazine (January 2026). The text reads:
You are looking right at her when it happens. When your hands clench around his throat—his skin bright and warm beneath your fingers.
It should be her with her nails sharp and her knuckles paling. She is behind him with her mouth hanging open. She cannot hold your stare—she looks away and bites her lip. For the first time, you are reversed, as if you were born in the mirror all along. She hunches her shoulders and squeezes her eyes shut.
Then, she looks up. She watches. She must.
[...]
The background is the issue's cover art, titled Pile, by Aimee Cozza. It shows a figure with blood around their mouth and on their neck and chest, cuddling a pack of wolves.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4ueitqarm32pz3ap6ckphdzu/bafkreif3vqoojahrn6wzycmwv66hpgyjm7sfnere24c3avcyej2s2po74e@jpeg)
January 23, 2026 at 6:36 PM
And if you must read stories, you must. This one in particular.
New story by yours truly, coming very soon from @havenspec.bsky.social.
New story by yours truly, coming very soon from @havenspec.bsky.social.
Reposted by Allison Pottern
A friend asked me to share Queer Romance Book Fests or Queer Book Fests, for people who may want to attend events catered to LGBTQIA+ stories. I'll list a few I know. If you know others, please add.
ReadOUT. February 2026. Gulfport, FL
outartsculture.org/readout2026
#BookSky #QueerBookSky
ReadOUT. February 2026. Gulfport, FL
outartsculture.org/readout2026
#BookSky #QueerBookSky
OUT Arts & Culture - LGBTQ+ Arts and Humanities
Pinellas County's only LGBTQ+ focused arts and humanities non-profit. Educating, celebrating and inspiring our community.
outartsculture.org
January 23, 2026 at 2:40 PM
A wild update: these two stories are releasing *on the same day.* Stay tuned on 2/2 for two very different, feminist tales.
The world is rough and I've got a withering cold but I want to share some joy:
I have TWO stories coming out next month: a novelette about Wendy Darling, motherhood, & mankeeping from @strangehorizons.bsky.social and a short story I affectionately call "murder jeans" from @havenspec.bsky.social 🧵
I have TWO stories coming out next month: a novelette about Wendy Darling, motherhood, & mankeeping from @strangehorizons.bsky.social and a short story I affectionately call "murder jeans" from @havenspec.bsky.social 🧵
January 23, 2026 at 3:41 PM
A wild update: these two stories are releasing *on the same day.* Stay tuned on 2/2 for two very different, feminist tales.
Reposted by Allison Pottern
Hey, fellow art makers, the world needs you now more than ever. You provide a refuge and a balm. It sucks to have to produce under these circumstances because it feels so inadequate. It’s not. It is being one of those helpers Mister Rogers talked about. Breathe. Brace. Help. It matters.
January 22, 2026 at 3:21 AM
Hey, fellow art makers, the world needs you now more than ever. You provide a refuge and a balm. It sucks to have to produce under these circumstances because it feels so inadequate. It’s not. It is being one of those helpers Mister Rogers talked about. Breathe. Brace. Help. It matters.
Support indies, support authors, support a woman’s right to cast poetry magic. @dragons.bsky.social
January 22, 2026 at 8:44 PM
Support indies, support authors, support a woman’s right to cast poetry magic. @dragons.bsky.social
Reposted by Allison Pottern
This is what happens when I write about my experiences with sleep paralysis. Maybe it’s that no one appreciates what she’s trying to do? 😈
Thank you @havenspec.bsky.social for giving my demon a home 🖤
Thank you @havenspec.bsky.social for giving my demon a home 🖤
👀January 2026 Fiction👀
"Demon In Repose" is a short story by @jawmccarthy.bsky.social about the demon projectionist guiding your dreams and nightmare. Read this one for its sleep paralysis and its nightmare vibes.
Subscribers get it Monday!
"Demon In Repose" is a short story by @jawmccarthy.bsky.social about the demon projectionist guiding your dreams and nightmare. Read this one for its sleep paralysis and its nightmare vibes.
Subscribers get it Monday!
January 22, 2026 at 6:45 PM
This is what happens when I write about my experiences with sleep paralysis. Maybe it’s that no one appreciates what she’s trying to do? 😈
Thank you @havenspec.bsky.social for giving my demon a home 🖤
Thank you @havenspec.bsky.social for giving my demon a home 🖤
Reposted by Allison Pottern
Someone said to me, "I'm sorry but I got your book from a library." Nobody should ever apologise for that. You read my book! That's brilliant! I grew up hanging out in libraries and the idea of a world without them fills me with dread. Without libraries, authors, like readers, will only suffer.
January 20, 2026 at 9:31 AM
Someone said to me, "I'm sorry but I got your book from a library." Nobody should ever apologise for that. You read my book! That's brilliant! I grew up hanging out in libraries and the idea of a world without them fills me with dread. Without libraries, authors, like readers, will only suffer.
For whatever reason I didn't crow it to the skies yesterday, so let me do so today. Happiest of all (belated) book birthdays to this beautiful book and author @dragons.bsky.social. Poetry magic, court intrigue, Chinese myth, a gorgeous & devastating debut. Also: that cover! It's out now! Go get it!
My debut is officially out today!!! (I can’t believe I get to say that)
Thank you to my publishing team, my writing friends, and all the wonderful ARC readers!! Thank you for taking a chance on a debut author!!
#booksky
Thank you to my publishing team, my writing friends, and all the wonderful ARC readers!! Thank you for taking a chance on a debut author!!
#booksky
January 21, 2026 at 3:23 PM
For whatever reason I didn't crow it to the skies yesterday, so let me do so today. Happiest of all (belated) book birthdays to this beautiful book and author @dragons.bsky.social. Poetry magic, court intrigue, Chinese myth, a gorgeous & devastating debut. Also: that cover! It's out now! Go get it!
Reposted by Allison Pottern
"A writing career is one of those wilderness survival challenges where they dump you in the woods without a map or a compass or food and whoever finds their way out wins. Except the only thing you “win” is that you don’t have to go to law school."
How to Become a Professional Writer
Do you enjoy writing? Do you like the idea of taking the thing you love doing the most in the world and turning it into work? So that your access t...
www.mcsweeneys.net
January 21, 2026 at 2:51 AM
"A writing career is one of those wilderness survival challenges where they dump you in the woods without a map or a compass or food and whoever finds their way out wins. Except the only thing you “win” is that you don’t have to go to law school."
Reposted by Allison Pottern
In exactly one week, Ballad of the Bone Road will officially be out in the world! If you're in the Philly area, stop by Main Point Books on 1/27 to celebrate with signature cocktails, cupcakes, and conversation!
www.eventbrite.com/e/ac-wise-an...
www.eventbrite.com/e/ac-wise-an...
A.C. Wise - An Evening of Cocktails and Dark Fantasy!
Main Point gleefully welcomes back A.C. Wise and guest Stefanie Feldman
www.eventbrite.com
January 20, 2026 at 5:58 PM
In exactly one week, Ballad of the Bone Road will officially be out in the world! If you're in the Philly area, stop by Main Point Books on 1/27 to celebrate with signature cocktails, cupcakes, and conversation!
www.eventbrite.com/e/ac-wise-an...
www.eventbrite.com/e/ac-wise-an...
Reposted by Allison Pottern
Please, never be shy telling an author you loved their books.
It’s seriously what gets us through.
It’s seriously what gets us through.
January 18, 2026 at 1:41 AM
Please, never be shy telling an author you loved their books.
It’s seriously what gets us through.
It’s seriously what gets us through.
Reposted by Allison Pottern
Fiction submissions are open now!
The window will be open until January 21st 2026 at 3 p.m. UTC.
For additional information about submitting including our Moksha link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/submit/ficti...
The window will be open until January 21st 2026 at 3 p.m. UTC.
For additional information about submitting including our Moksha link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/submit/ficti...
January 19, 2026 at 3:31 PM
Fiction submissions are open now!
The window will be open until January 21st 2026 at 3 p.m. UTC.
For additional information about submitting including our Moksha link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/submit/ficti...
The window will be open until January 21st 2026 at 3 p.m. UTC.
For additional information about submitting including our Moksha link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/submit/ficti...
Reposted by Allison Pottern
Our 10-year-old journal of creative writing on environmental justice will reopen to submissions, including poetry, creative nonfiction, art, short stories AND novella-length fiction, on February 1st.
January 19, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Our 10-year-old journal of creative writing on environmental justice will reopen to submissions, including poetry, creative nonfiction, art, short stories AND novella-length fiction, on February 1st.
share a television show that raised you.
January 19, 2026 at 10:16 PM
share a television show that raised you.
Look at this killer cover and TOC!
If you can't wait another minute for "Bootcut" aka a sartorial feminist-revenge narrative aka the sisterhood of the traveling murder pants, subscribe to @havenspec.bsky.social's Patreon to get it in ONE WEEK. Otherwise you gotta wait til Feb 2nd 😱
If you can't wait another minute for "Bootcut" aka a sartorial feminist-revenge narrative aka the sisterhood of the traveling murder pants, subscribe to @havenspec.bsky.social's Patreon to get it in ONE WEEK. Otherwise you gotta wait til Feb 2nd 😱
Our ✨January 2026 issue✨ is ready at last!
Subscribers will get it January 26th, and everyone else can read it February 2nd!
It's taken a long time to get the issue ready, but take a look at that 😍TOC😍! The wait was well worth it!
Subscribe through Patreon:
www.patreon.com/c/HavenSpecM...
Subscribers will get it January 26th, and everyone else can read it February 2nd!
It's taken a long time to get the issue ready, but take a look at that 😍TOC😍! The wait was well worth it!
Subscribe through Patreon:
www.patreon.com/c/HavenSpecM...
January 19, 2026 at 9:39 PM
Look at this killer cover and TOC!
If you can't wait another minute for "Bootcut" aka a sartorial feminist-revenge narrative aka the sisterhood of the traveling murder pants, subscribe to @havenspec.bsky.social's Patreon to get it in ONE WEEK. Otherwise you gotta wait til Feb 2nd 😱
If you can't wait another minute for "Bootcut" aka a sartorial feminist-revenge narrative aka the sisterhood of the traveling murder pants, subscribe to @havenspec.bsky.social's Patreon to get it in ONE WEEK. Otherwise you gotta wait til Feb 2nd 😱
Reposted by Allison Pottern
One of my favorite quotes...
January 17, 2026 at 3:38 PM
One of my favorite quotes...
Reposted by Allison Pottern
two weeks to get your application in!
kithbooks.com/crit
kithbooks.com/crit
January 16, 2026 at 4:13 PM
two weeks to get your application in!
kithbooks.com/crit
kithbooks.com/crit
Reposted by Allison Pottern
Had an intriguing editorial discussion recently: how did people in the past talk about 'minutes' when they didn't have watches or standardised times? How does that affect your thinking?
Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me.
1/
Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me.
1/
January 17, 2026 at 10:34 AM
Had an intriguing editorial discussion recently: how did people in the past talk about 'minutes' when they didn't have watches or standardised times? How does that affect your thinking?
Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me.
1/
Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me.
1/
No new pictures.
Where are you at mentally?
Where are you at mentally?
January 17, 2026 at 2:32 PM
No new pictures.
Where are you at mentally?
Where are you at mentally?
Reposted by Allison Pottern
oh no, are publishers getting squeamish about buying queer books right now for some impossible-to-guess reason??
sounds like our books need to get even more queer, relentlessly queer, battle-axe queer, cackling queer
sounds like our books need to get even more queer, relentlessly queer, battle-axe queer, cackling queer
January 16, 2026 at 5:01 PM
oh no, are publishers getting squeamish about buying queer books right now for some impossible-to-guess reason??
sounds like our books need to get even more queer, relentlessly queer, battle-axe queer, cackling queer
sounds like our books need to get even more queer, relentlessly queer, battle-axe queer, cackling queer
The world is rough and I've got a withering cold but I want to share some joy:
I have TWO stories coming out next month: a novelette about Wendy Darling, motherhood, & mankeeping from @strangehorizons.bsky.social and a short story I affectionately call "murder jeans" from @havenspec.bsky.social 🧵
I have TWO stories coming out next month: a novelette about Wendy Darling, motherhood, & mankeeping from @strangehorizons.bsky.social and a short story I affectionately call "murder jeans" from @havenspec.bsky.social 🧵
January 16, 2026 at 4:33 PM
The world is rough and I've got a withering cold but I want to share some joy:
I have TWO stories coming out next month: a novelette about Wendy Darling, motherhood, & mankeeping from @strangehorizons.bsky.social and a short story I affectionately call "murder jeans" from @havenspec.bsky.social 🧵
I have TWO stories coming out next month: a novelette about Wendy Darling, motherhood, & mankeeping from @strangehorizons.bsky.social and a short story I affectionately call "murder jeans" from @havenspec.bsky.social 🧵
Reposted by Allison Pottern
We'll be reading stories for ✨ What Elegant Stars: Queer Tales of Impossible Style ✨ from January 15th to April 15th.
Give us stories of satellites and sewists, terminals and tailors, dandies and dying stars.
<6k words. 8¢/word. simsub ☑️. multiple submissions 🚫.
www.neonhemlock.com/submissions
Give us stories of satellites and sewists, terminals and tailors, dandies and dying stars.
<6k words. 8¢/word. simsub ☑️. multiple submissions 🚫.
www.neonhemlock.com/submissions
December 20, 2025 at 2:18 AM
We'll be reading stories for ✨ What Elegant Stars: Queer Tales of Impossible Style ✨ from January 15th to April 15th.
Give us stories of satellites and sewists, terminals and tailors, dandies and dying stars.
<6k words. 8¢/word. simsub ☑️. multiple submissions 🚫.
www.neonhemlock.com/submissions
Give us stories of satellites and sewists, terminals and tailors, dandies and dying stars.
<6k words. 8¢/word. simsub ☑️. multiple submissions 🚫.
www.neonhemlock.com/submissions
Reposted by Allison Pottern
Believe it or not, the first Mo*Con was in 2006 making this year its 20th Anniversary! We can’t let that achievement go uncelebrated, so we’re bringing back some old friends and welcoming some new ones! Mo*Con 2026 runs April 30th (coincidentally my birthday) through May 2nd.
January 14, 2026 at 1:56 AM
Believe it or not, the first Mo*Con was in 2006 making this year its 20th Anniversary! We can’t let that achievement go uncelebrated, so we’re bringing back some old friends and welcoming some new ones! Mo*Con 2026 runs April 30th (coincidentally my birthday) through May 2nd.
Reposted by Allison Pottern
My review of the October issue of @clarkesworldmagazine.com for @locusmag.bsky.social is now available to read online!
locusmag.com/review/clark...
locusmag.com/review/clark...
Clarkesworld: Review by A.C. Wise
Clarkesworld 10/25 Isabel J. Kim’s “Wire Mother” starts the October issue of Clarkesworld off on a high note with a brief, brutal, and effective story set in a world where a good portion of the pop…
locusmag.com
January 16, 2026 at 3:25 PM
My review of the October issue of @clarkesworldmagazine.com for @locusmag.bsky.social is now available to read online!
locusmag.com/review/clark...
locusmag.com/review/clark...
Do you have a book coming out this year and feel totally paralyzed by the idea of marketing it or prepping for launch? I got you (and a couple of openings in late Jan/ early Feb!)
Just booked a writing retreat, so, er, I'd love to fit in a couple more clients/workshops for fall to help offset the cost!
I'm a writer, editor, & marketing coach. My sweet spot is helping authors w forthcoming titles navigate the book marketing engine + plan for launch. (pottern.com) 🧵
I'm a writer, editor, & marketing coach. My sweet spot is helping authors w forthcoming titles navigate the book marketing engine + plan for launch. (pottern.com) 🧵
January 14, 2026 at 6:15 PM
Do you have a book coming out this year and feel totally paralyzed by the idea of marketing it or prepping for launch? I got you (and a couple of openings in late Jan/ early Feb!)