Mallory Smart
@mallorysmart.bsky.social
Neurotic Chicago-based writer, editor-in-chief of Maudlin House, podcaster, and doer of many odd things.
https://mallorysmart.com/
https://mallorysmart.com/
My cat sleeping under the covers like she pays rent…
February 2, 2026 at 6:47 PM
My cat sleeping under the covers like she pays rent…
Being a woman in the lit scene means every message comes with a second draft in your head titled “Does this sound bitchy or just honest.”
January 31, 2026 at 1:55 AM
Being a woman in the lit scene means every message comes with a second draft in your head titled “Does this sound bitchy or just honest.”
Starbuck kept me up all night because she randomly decided it was playtime.
Coffee is my personality until further notice...
Coffee is my personality until further notice...
January 30, 2026 at 6:27 PM
Starbuck kept me up all night because she randomly decided it was playtime.
Coffee is my personality until further notice...
Coffee is my personality until further notice...
ICYMI: I published a short story yesterday about Bates Motel, talking to someone who isn’t there, and pretending the TV is a kind of love.
It's up at @bulbregion.bsky.social
Reader discretion: Mother has opinions.
bulbregion.com/We-All-Go-a-...
It's up at @bulbregion.bsky.social
Reader discretion: Mother has opinions.
bulbregion.com/We-All-Go-a-...
January 28, 2026 at 8:35 PM
ICYMI: I published a short story yesterday about Bates Motel, talking to someone who isn’t there, and pretending the TV is a kind of love.
It's up at @bulbregion.bsky.social
Reader discretion: Mother has opinions.
bulbregion.com/We-All-Go-a-...
It's up at @bulbregion.bsky.social
Reader discretion: Mother has opinions.
bulbregion.com/We-All-Go-a-...
I’ve been rewatching Bates Motel for months.
Somewhere along the way my intrusive thoughts started answering to “Mother.”
Apparently this is how some of us cope...
-new prose, @bulbregion.bsky.social
bulbregion.com/We-All-Go-a-...
Somewhere along the way my intrusive thoughts started answering to “Mother.”
Apparently this is how some of us cope...
-new prose, @bulbregion.bsky.social
bulbregion.com/We-All-Go-a-...
We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes, by Mallory Smart — The Bulb Region
We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes — Mallory Smart I’VE BEEN REWATCHING Bates Motel...
bulbregion.com
January 27, 2026 at 5:05 PM
I’ve been rewatching Bates Motel for months.
Somewhere along the way my intrusive thoughts started answering to “Mother.”
Apparently this is how some of us cope...
-new prose, @bulbregion.bsky.social
bulbregion.com/We-All-Go-a-...
Somewhere along the way my intrusive thoughts started answering to “Mother.”
Apparently this is how some of us cope...
-new prose, @bulbregion.bsky.social
bulbregion.com/We-All-Go-a-...
Reposted by Mallory Smart
“Somewhere along the way my worst intrusive thoughts, the barnacle ones, started answering to Mother. Not as a joke. Not as a metaphor.”
Mallory Smart (@mallorysmart.bsky.social) stirs the Bates Motel-Psycho pot with her stupendous prose in The Bulb Region today.
bulbregion.com/We-All-Go-a-...
Mallory Smart (@mallorysmart.bsky.social) stirs the Bates Motel-Psycho pot with her stupendous prose in The Bulb Region today.
bulbregion.com/We-All-Go-a-...
We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes, by Mallory Smart — The Bulb Region
We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes — Mallory Smart I’VE BEEN REWATCHING Bates Motel...
bulbregion.com
January 27, 2026 at 3:56 PM
“Somewhere along the way my worst intrusive thoughts, the barnacle ones, started answering to Mother. Not as a joke. Not as a metaphor.”
Mallory Smart (@mallorysmart.bsky.social) stirs the Bates Motel-Psycho pot with her stupendous prose in The Bulb Region today.
bulbregion.com/We-All-Go-a-...
Mallory Smart (@mallorysmart.bsky.social) stirs the Bates Motel-Psycho pot with her stupendous prose in The Bulb Region today.
bulbregion.com/We-All-Go-a-...
Something new has been unlocked from Hipster Poetry Vault.
2016 was a choice...
malsmart.substack.com/p/existentia...
2016 was a choice...
malsmart.substack.com/p/existentia...
January 27, 2026 at 5:11 AM
Something new has been unlocked from Hipster Poetry Vault.
2016 was a choice...
malsmart.substack.com/p/existentia...
2016 was a choice...
malsmart.substack.com/p/existentia...
It’s offensively cold out and I’m expected to participate in society…
January 26, 2026 at 8:03 PM
It’s offensively cold out and I’m expected to participate in society…
Therapy quote of the whatever…
January 26, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Therapy quote of the whatever…
Tonight at The Midnight Realm…
January 24, 2026 at 12:05 AM
Tonight at The Midnight Realm…
So this is “when hell freezes over.”
January 23, 2026 at 7:43 AM
So this is “when hell freezes over.”
January 22, 2026 at 5:41 AM
I’m in my “do the work and log off” era…
January 22, 2026 at 1:49 AM
I’m in my “do the work and log off” era…
If you’re wondering whether it’s acceptable to get bubble tea when it’s 15 degrees out: Yes. This is the Midwest…
January 20, 2026 at 7:27 PM
If you’re wondering whether it’s acceptable to get bubble tea when it’s 15 degrees out: Yes. This is the Midwest…
January 17, 2026 at 9:20 PM
Poetry behind a curtain at a neighborhood bar. Tarot by the fireplace. A room built for listening.
I wrote about it…
open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
I wrote about it…
open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
January 17, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Poetry behind a curtain at a neighborhood bar. Tarot by the fireplace. A room built for listening.
I wrote about it…
open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
I wrote about it…
open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
Tonite at The Midnight Realm…
January 17, 2026 at 1:21 AM
Tonite at The Midnight Realm…
Early internet writing was messy. That was the point.
January 15, 2026 at 2:43 AM
Early internet writing was messy. That was the point.
Reposted by Mallory Smart
RAGE is shared. RAGE is thankful. In a world where algorithms and egos push and pull people like the wind, I’m happy to express gratitude and thanks to the people who inspired me, encouraged me to write, and the journals that published my work.
January 14, 2026 at 6:50 PM
RAGE is shared. RAGE is thankful. In a world where algorithms and egos push and pull people like the wind, I’m happy to express gratitude and thanks to the people who inspired me, encouraged me to write, and the journals that published my work.
Season 4 finale.
Alexandra Naughton on fear, growth, internet eras, and why writing is still how we make sense of being alive.
Sometimes that’s enough. 🖤
Alexandra Naughton on fear, growth, internet eras, and why writing is still how we make sense of being alive.
Sometimes that’s enough. 🖤
January 13, 2026 at 4:39 AM
Season 4 finale.
Alexandra Naughton on fear, growth, internet eras, and why writing is still how we make sense of being alive.
Sometimes that’s enough. 🖤
Alexandra Naughton on fear, growth, internet eras, and why writing is still how we make sense of being alive.
Sometimes that’s enough. 🖤
Woke up to Starbuck staring at me like I owe her money and an explanation for capitalism…
January 12, 2026 at 4:17 PM
Woke up to Starbuck staring at me like I owe her money and an explanation for capitalism…
Reposted by Mallory Smart
Wish I could write about my complicated relationship with my home with as much razored precision as Mal does. Nobody is a keener observer of the Midwest. Her essays are absolutely worth your time.
I’ve written a lot about Midwest rot as a feeling. This piece is about where that feeling came from.
open.substack.com/pub/malsmart...
open.substack.com/pub/malsmart...
January 12, 2026 at 1:29 PM
Wish I could write about my complicated relationship with my home with as much razored precision as Mal does. Nobody is a keener observer of the Midwest. Her essays are absolutely worth your time.
Tarot reading today. The Tower. Apparently it’s collapse season…
January 11, 2026 at 11:50 PM
Tarot reading today. The Tower. Apparently it’s collapse season…
Reposted by Mallory Smart
The Italian edition of my novel The Swallows of Lunetto, translated by Angela D'Ambra, has arrived. Thanks to my US fiction publisher, @maudlinhouse.bsky.social, for first seeing this book about the real hearts that make the thing we call history. And thank you to my Italian publisher, iQdB.
January 11, 2026 at 5:04 PM
The Italian edition of my novel The Swallows of Lunetto, translated by Angela D'Ambra, has arrived. Thanks to my US fiction publisher, @maudlinhouse.bsky.social, for first seeing this book about the real hearts that make the thing we call history. And thank you to my Italian publisher, iQdB.
Tonite at The Midnight Realm…
January 11, 2026 at 1:43 AM
Tonite at The Midnight Realm…