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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest,

@megapolisomancy.bsky.social

2.8K followers 1.8K following 4.4K posts

Nonfiction about weird fiction at Seize the Press, Strange Horizons, Interzone, Los Angeles Review of Books, Nightmare, and Ancillary Review of Books, where I am also an editor. Also jazz, metal, leftism. he/him https://doomsdayer.wordpress.com/writings/

doomsdayer.wordpress.com

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · Jun 13

I've been threatening for a while to start a column on collections of weird fiction, and so: Profane Illuminations, a quarterly series where I'll look at a few in tandem and see what threads I can draw out about their stories and the genre at large. Quick intro here, first full entry next week.

Profane Illuminations: An Initiation

Zachary Gillan Everyone knows that the short story is the ideal form for weird fiction. But why? What is it about the form and the genre that makes them so symbiotic? What might we learn by explori…

ancillaryreviewofbooks.org

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 5h

Ken Vaughan - This is the Table Where We Wash Our Dead (also @lethepress.bsky.social , which seems set to have a banner year in 2026)

Reposted by After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest,

After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 1d

An ongoing thread of short story collections coming in 2026, of work weird/surreal/dark/uncanny/unsettling/ghostly/ghastly, across genres, so that they're all in one place that I can refer back to when I inevitably forget what books I was meaning to request review copies of:

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Tyler, from the Internet @tylerfromtheinternet.com · Aug 30

It's never a bad time to bring up that we

a b s o l u t e l y

have the resources and ability to provide housing, food, clothing, healthcare, and education to everyone at no direct cost to the individual; and we just choose not to do it.

Tyler, from the Internet @tylerfromtheinternet.com · Aug 30

People should just get paid six thousand dollars a month to exist. You may have counterpoints and things to consider about this idea but let me just get ahead of them: shut up

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 23h

The physicality of the bass sound at a Bell Witch show is essentially a religious experience

After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 1d

On a real Stygian Bough listening loop since they announced the new album is finally on the way. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPU4...

STYGIAN BOUGH - Live Tacoma, WA @ Real Art Tacoma FULL SET (07.30.2022)

YouTube video by Profound Lore Records

www.youtube.com

After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, he’s been the standout in a lot of anthologies I’ve read over the years. I don’t have a link, he mentioned it on here (as did Lethe, I could have sworn…) but no pages or announcements anywhere else yet

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 1d

I’ve been meaning to do a deep dive on his collections for a while; this might be just the nudge I need (to do that and stop rereading the Well-Built City repeatedly)

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Cursed Morsels @cursedmorsels.bsky.social · 1d

If you're an active horror/Weird fiction reviewer, we'd love to send you ARCs of our upcoming books! Some folks on our reviewer list no longer review books, so we're wanting to connect with more folks. Sign up here for future Cursed Morsels ARCs!
forms.gle/bMbKCWCWPkYe...

Cursed Morsels Press ARC sign-up

forms.gle

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 1d

R. J. Joseph - My Monsters Ain't Like Yours (Quill and Crow)
Dan Coxon - Come Sing for the Harrowing (Clash)

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 1d

Senaa Ahmad's The Age of Calamities I already have us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

The Age of Calamities

Written by an inimitable new voice, The Age of Calamities is a genre-defying, mind-bending collection of absurdist, funny, and speculative short stories. In ...

us.macmillan.com

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 1d

Samir Sirk Morato - Gore Poetics (Cursed Morsels)
Jeffrey Ford - The Pandemonium Waltz (Lethe)
Rory Say - ??? (Lethe)
Stephanie Feldman - The Night Parade (Fairwood)
Jill Rosenberg - Now I’m Photogenic and Other Stories I Tell Myself (Black Lawrence)
Katherine Conner - The Hanged Man(Black Lawrence)

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 1d

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 1d

Also they hate fascists!

Timothy™️ @posttim.bsky.social · 1d

Y’all, if you like modern black metal, you gotta check this out from Hæresis, released today through Vendetta. Absolutely epic mood on here (disso-atmo-melodic variety, with some post-metal bits).

Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum, by Hæresis

4 track album

haeresis.bandcamp.com

Reposted by After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest,

So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · 1d

I'm a committed small press author & editor. Small presses are the seed-heads of the books world & they are scorched. Pls read and share this excellent letter on the situation & what's needed in @thebookseller.com, signatories inc Peninsula Press, @cipherpress.bsky.social @silver-press.bsky.social

Open letter on the future of small press publishing in the UK

The industry must work together to ensure the longevity of the UK’s independent presses.

www.thebookseller.com

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 1d

On a real Stygian Bough listening loop since they announced the new album is finally on the way. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPU4...

STYGIAN BOUGH - Live Tacoma, WA @ Real Art Tacoma FULL SET (07.30.2022)

YouTube video by Profound Lore Records

www.youtube.com

Reposted by After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest,

Joost Vervoort (portal goblin) @joostvervoort.bsky.social · 1d

ITS HERE LET'S FUCKING GO!!! FURY AND GRIEF AND DISAPPOINTMENT AT ALL OF THE FUCKING COWARDLY UGLINESS OF THIS CURSED TIME, IN A TORRENT OF BLACK METAL. GET TO IT!

Terzij de Horde - the only black metal on bluesky @terzijdehorde.bsky.social · 1d

OUR BREATH IS NOT OURS ALONE is here! We have poured everything into this album. The world is so profoundly fucked that this could not have been anything but a torrent of fury and grief. There is such an urgent need for people to wake up. album.link/s/3DAFXkSP8R...

Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone by Terzij de Horde

Listen now on your favorite streaming service. Powered by Songlink/Odesli, an on-demand, customizable smart link service to help you share songs, albums, podcasts and more.

album.link

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 2d

Say the line, Bart! three panel meme but it’s SAY THE LINE, ZACH and then then I HAVE A COPY OF THAT BUT HAVEN’T GOTTEN AROUND TO READING IT YET and then the cheering

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 1d

Write shorter stories with harder words and less mass appeal

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 1d

So hop to it!

After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 1d

Write shorter stories with harder words and less mass appeal

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Reposted by After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest,

Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 2d

For people who love weird short stories—Did you know the incredible Lackington's archive is still online? You should read it now while we still have an internet lackingtons.com

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Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 2d

This includes a short review of Thomas Ha's 'Uncertain Sons';a round up of blog posts by both Real Life Ray and Work Ray; notes on wandering in London; and a reminder that you can buy my books directly from me.

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 2d

BLOG POST: Reading, thinking, doing October 2025.

precastreinforced.co.uk/2025/10/09/r...

Reading, thinking, doing October 2025

I’ve been reading about the end of the world, walking from Kings Cross to Wapping, and making zines. This blog is what I do instead of starting yet another Substack newsletter. You can subscribe to…

precastreinforced.co.uk

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Angry Robot Books @angryrobotbooks.bsky.social · 2d

We are all Zach.

After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 2d

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After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, @megapolisomancy.bsky.social · 2d

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Thomas Ha @thomasha.bsky.social · 2d

"Uncertain Sons is sure to be a collection that reverberates through the horror scene, and if you haven’t read Ha’s work before, you need to remedy that ASAP."

Many thanks to @lmanusos.bsky.social for the inclusion w/ some great recent collections. Yes, if you need to remedy ASAP, links below! Ty!

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Reposted by After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest,

Electric Sheep @electricsheepsf.bsky.social · 5d

This week's guest is Helen McClory!

First up is "The Companion" in Wigleaf!

"At this time of day, the risk of attack was minimal, and all she had was that noise, that taste, the treachery beneath, and the cold air around."

@helenmcclory.bsky.social @wigleaf.bsky.social

McClory: 'The Companion'

Fiction by Helen McClory

wigleaf.com

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