Francesca Leader
@mooninabucket.bsky.social
Winner of Southeast Review’s 2023 World’s Best Short-Short Story Contest, 2025 Best Small Fictions. Lapsed scholar/ Pun Perpetrator/ Montana Expat. Words in HAD, Wigleaf, Stanchion, Five South, etc.
https://mooninabucket.com
https://mooninabucket.com
Pinned
What I published in 2024 (a thread, in installments, since I don’t know how else to do it in bsky lol): 7 stories, 38 poems, 2 pieces of CNF, and 6 pieces of visual art (reprints excluded). My production this year was less than 2023, but I won a prize, and received 5 award nominations. ⬇️
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Acceptance from Trampoline Poetry! My little erotic Duck Phillips poem will appear in February 2025. Thank you so much, Justin 😊
November 23, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Acceptance from Trampoline Poetry! My little erotic Duck Phillips poem will appear in February 2025. Thank you so much, Justin 😊
@villaineralit.bsky.social is the coolest litmag I’ve discovered in a while. I was delighted when they snapped up 4 of my poems. Sharing a snippet of the first, “Goodbye, John,” which I wrote just last month. If you’d like to read more, the link is below in the comments ⬇️🤗 😎 🔪
November 22, 2025 at 4:11 PM
@villaineralit.bsky.social is the coolest litmag I’ve discovered in a while. I was delighted when they snapped up 4 of my poems. Sharing a snippet of the first, “Goodbye, John,” which I wrote just last month. If you’d like to read more, the link is below in the comments ⬇️🤗 😎 🔪
This story is so f—ng good …
My long story, “Kind Girl, Teacher, Sister, Whale” is up today at Pangyrus Literary. Got thirty minutes to spare? It was a sublime experience to inhabit this story during its composition, and maybe it will be so for you during its reading.
Kind Girl, Teacher, Sister, Whale | Pangyrus
“Let’s read this,” said Kind Girl. She sat beside Teacher at his mahogany table and plunked down the Modern Library edition of Moby Dick. The table was scra ...
www.pangyrus.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:29 AM
This story is so f—ng good …
Reposted by Francesca Leader
My long story, “Kind Girl, Teacher, Sister, Whale” is up today at Pangyrus Literary. Got thirty minutes to spare? It was a sublime experience to inhabit this story during its composition, and maybe it will be so for you during its reading.
Kind Girl, Teacher, Sister, Whale | Pangyrus
“Let’s read this,” said Kind Girl. She sat beside Teacher at his mahogany table and plunked down the Modern Library edition of Moby Dick. The table was scra ...
www.pangyrus.com
September 3, 2025 at 1:58 PM
My long story, “Kind Girl, Teacher, Sister, Whale” is up today at Pangyrus Literary. Got thirty minutes to spare? It was a sublime experience to inhabit this story during its composition, and maybe it will be so for you during its reading.
Reposted by Francesca Leader
Would you like a lovely February surprise in the mail? My book of stories, "The Divide," is available for pre-order from Cornerstone Press. 20% discount. Read more:
Purchase — Evan Morgan Williams
www.evanmorganwilliams.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Would you like a lovely February surprise in the mail? My book of stories, "The Divide," is available for pre-order from Cornerstone Press. 20% discount. Read more:
Reposted by Francesca Leader
So Gold Man Review, the “other” journal of west coast writers (I’ve had a story in Zyzzyva too), has just published my story, “Darkling,” one of my school stories. Content warnings all over the place for this one, folks, but hopeful as heck in the end.
November 18, 2025 at 10:51 PM
So Gold Man Review, the “other” journal of west coast writers (I’ve had a story in Zyzzyva too), has just published my story, “Darkling,” one of my school stories. Content warnings all over the place for this one, folks, but hopeful as heck in the end.
Reposted by Francesca Leader
Francesca Leader is (still) trying to teach her (soon-to-be-ex-) husband about two-way streets, today at Villain Era!
Four Poems by Francesca Leader
Goodbye, John Not the Jesus to my child——you were the child, I the second coming——or first, or last, depending whether we countthe wife who resented your paintings,the mother who called you golden, or neither,since I alone stayed. No number of melted-downwedding bands could heal your cracks——you were, to hold another, too broken. But when you…
villaineralit.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Francesca Leader is (still) trying to teach her (soon-to-be-ex-) husband about two-way streets, today at Villain Era!
Reposted by Francesca Leader
pet me or pay the price
November 21, 2025 at 3:40 AM
pet me or pay the price
Reposted by Francesca Leader
paint me like one of your french poodles
November 21, 2025 at 1:28 AM
paint me like one of your french poodles
Utterly blown away to be nominated for a #pushcart by a poetry journal that has, in the last year, published the likes of Kim Addonizio. 😭 🙏 All my gratitude to the editors of @oneart.bsky.social 🤗
November 21, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Utterly blown away to be nominated for a #pushcart by a poetry journal that has, in the last year, published the likes of Kim Addonizio. 😭 🙏 All my gratitude to the editors of @oneart.bsky.social 🤗
Reposted by Francesca Leader
What?! I just found out that Jeff at Stanchion nominated my little Easter Egg for Best Microfiction?! Holy carp! Thanks, Jeff!
(CN: severe harm to a child)
@stanchion.bsky.social
@bestmicrofiction.bsky.social
www.stanchionzine.com/post/the-eas...
(CN: severe harm to a child)
@stanchion.bsky.social
@bestmicrofiction.bsky.social
www.stanchionzine.com/post/the-eas...
The Easter Egg by Jay Parr
The Easter Eggby Jay Parr I seen her reach in for it, but hell, I ain't think much of it, figured it was a egg washid in there. We’d got a pack of them plastic eggs and a bag of jellybeans up the dol...
www.stanchionzine.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:52 PM
What?! I just found out that Jeff at Stanchion nominated my little Easter Egg for Best Microfiction?! Holy carp! Thanks, Jeff!
(CN: severe harm to a child)
@stanchion.bsky.social
@bestmicrofiction.bsky.social
www.stanchionzine.com/post/the-eas...
(CN: severe harm to a child)
@stanchion.bsky.social
@bestmicrofiction.bsky.social
www.stanchionzine.com/post/the-eas...
The 2025 #BSF anthology is available for pre-order, and I’m in it 😳 😃 My story “Cowboy,” originally published in @southeastreview.bsky.social, somehow landed a spot in this selection of dynamite stories by flash and micro authors from around the world. Pre-order link below 👇 🙏 🤗
November 16, 2025 at 2:09 PM
The 2025 #BSF anthology is available for pre-order, and I’m in it 😳 😃 My story “Cowboy,” originally published in @southeastreview.bsky.social, somehow landed a spot in this selection of dynamite stories by flash and micro authors from around the world. Pre-order link below 👇 🙏 🤗
Such a beautiful thing to have three poems up in @bloodhoneylit.bsky.social - one very new, one sort of new, and one that wandered for years in the wilderness until someone (the lovely @davidestringel.bsky.social ) was kind enough to adopt it 🤗 Link to the full pieces below👇
November 14, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Such a beautiful thing to have three poems up in @bloodhoneylit.bsky.social - one very new, one sort of new, and one that wandered for years in the wilderness until someone (the lovely @davidestringel.bsky.social ) was kind enough to adopt it 🤗 Link to the full pieces below👇
Finally got around to claiming mooninabucket.com and moving my author page into that space. I’m by no means a Wordpress whiz - I’ve just sort of FAFO’d my way through it, so the page is still a bit janky, but I’d love if you’d take a look. Link below ⬇️ 🙏
November 12, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Finally got around to claiming mooninabucket.com and moving my author page into that space. I’m by no means a Wordpress whiz - I’ve just sort of FAFO’d my way through it, so the page is still a bit janky, but I’d love if you’d take a look. Link below ⬇️ 🙏
Throwback to last fall in the wonderfully eclectic litmag @harpyhybrid.bsky.social 🍁 🍂
November 10, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Throwback to last fall in the wonderfully eclectic litmag @harpyhybrid.bsky.social 🍁 🍂
Reposted by Francesca Leader
The Shortlist for November 7, 2025:
Some of the best short writing I've come across this week.
Featuring nonfiction from:
Francesca Leader @mooninabucket.bsky.social in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Rachel Dorn in @anmlymag.bsky.social
Some of the best short writing I've come across this week.
Featuring nonfiction from:
Francesca Leader @mooninabucket.bsky.social in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Rachel Dorn in @anmlymag.bsky.social
The Shortlist for November 7, 2025 - Turn & Work
This week: nonfiction by blog faves Francesca Leader and Rachel Dorn, and fiction from Kim Weldin, Pamela Painter, and Hal Wright
www.turnandwork.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:02 PM
The Shortlist for November 7, 2025:
Some of the best short writing I've come across this week.
Featuring nonfiction from:
Francesca Leader @mooninabucket.bsky.social in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Rachel Dorn in @anmlymag.bsky.social
Some of the best short writing I've come across this week.
Featuring nonfiction from:
Francesca Leader @mooninabucket.bsky.social in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Rachel Dorn in @anmlymag.bsky.social
Wow, I’ve got almost a cool million left in dental benefits? Can I use that to pay off my mortgage and send a couple kids to college??🤣 #phishingfails #fridayfunnies
November 7, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Wow, I’ve got almost a cool million left in dental benefits? Can I use that to pay off my mortgage and send a couple kids to college??🤣 #phishingfails #fridayfunnies
Reposted by Francesca Leader
Wooohooo! My poem "Pomogranates" (from Down the Bermuday Highway) is included in The Alien Buddha's Best of 2025! Thanks, @alienbuddhapress.bsky.social!
November 5, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Wooohooo! My poem "Pomogranates" (from Down the Bermuday Highway) is included in The Alien Buddha's Best of 2025! Thanks, @alienbuddhapress.bsky.social!
What a beautiful piece of mail I received this afternoon, all the way from Dublin, Ireland 🇮🇪 💕 📖 🍀 Grateful to the editors of The Storms Journal for treating my weird little poem so well, and for paying a ridiculous sum to post me a copy of their gorgeous publication. 🥰 🙏
November 5, 2025 at 7:51 PM
What a beautiful piece of mail I received this afternoon, all the way from Dublin, Ireland 🇮🇪 💕 📖 🍀 Grateful to the editors of The Storms Journal for treating my weird little poem so well, and for paying a ridiculous sum to post me a copy of their gorgeous publication. 🥰 🙏
Reposted by Francesca Leader
"I watch the EMTs strap my daughter to a stretcher. She tells me she loves me; I tell her I love her, too. I brush her dimpled hand in parting, hoping it never loses that babylike softness."
Y'all! This piece by @mooninabucket.bsky.social is brilliant and heartbreaking.
Y'all! This piece by @mooninabucket.bsky.social is brilliant and heartbreaking.
When My Daughter Says She Cut Herself at School
Francesca Leader I hear her say she didn’t mean to cut so deep. That her father left his razor out (though I begged him to be careful), so she took it, just in case. She tells me the blade’s sharpn…
pitheadchapel.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:05 PM
"I watch the EMTs strap my daughter to a stretcher. She tells me she loves me; I tell her I love her, too. I brush her dimpled hand in parting, hoping it never loses that babylike softness."
Y'all! This piece by @mooninabucket.bsky.social is brilliant and heartbreaking.
Y'all! This piece by @mooninabucket.bsky.social is brilliant and heartbreaking.
Wow, guys - thanks for helping land me spot among the top ten most read poets of October 2025 in @OneArtPoetry1 🥹🥹!! There are certain joys a print-only litmag cannot confer, and this is one 🥰 ICYMI & wanna see what all the fuss is about (jk), the link is below👇 😉
November 2, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Wow, guys - thanks for helping land me spot among the top ten most read poets of October 2025 in @OneArtPoetry1 🥹🥹!! There are certain joys a print-only litmag cannot confer, and this is one 🥰 ICYMI & wanna see what all the fuss is about (jk), the link is below👇 😉
Up with the sun this Saturday, and so is the new issue of @pitheadchapel.bsky.social, including a CNF piece that flowed unbidden into my notes app on a long night at the hospital, but felt so painful to revisit that it took years—YEARS—to revise to its final form. Link in comments ⬇️ 🩵 🙏
November 1, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Up with the sun this Saturday, and so is the new issue of @pitheadchapel.bsky.social, including a CNF piece that flowed unbidden into my notes app on a long night at the hospital, but felt so painful to revisit that it took years—YEARS—to revise to its final form. Link in comments ⬇️ 🩵 🙏
Can’t wait to share my new work with you all in November!
@pitheadchapel.bsky.social - flash CNF
@bloodhoneylit.bsky.social - 3 poems
@villaineralit.bsky.social - 4 poems
Storms Jrnl - 1 poem
(*Sorry if updates get annoying, just so excited after the publication drought I’ve had this year 😉)
@pitheadchapel.bsky.social - flash CNF
@bloodhoneylit.bsky.social - 3 poems
@villaineralit.bsky.social - 4 poems
Storms Jrnl - 1 poem
(*Sorry if updates get annoying, just so excited after the publication drought I’ve had this year 😉)
October 28, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Can’t wait to share my new work with you all in November!
@pitheadchapel.bsky.social - flash CNF
@bloodhoneylit.bsky.social - 3 poems
@villaineralit.bsky.social - 4 poems
Storms Jrnl - 1 poem
(*Sorry if updates get annoying, just so excited after the publication drought I’ve had this year 😉)
@pitheadchapel.bsky.social - flash CNF
@bloodhoneylit.bsky.social - 3 poems
@villaineralit.bsky.social - 4 poems
Storms Jrnl - 1 poem
(*Sorry if updates get annoying, just so excited after the publication drought I’ve had this year 😉)
Our Lady of FunLand
October 17, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Our Lady of FunLand
You guys, I’m in @oneart.bsky.social !! 😃 🤗 Link to the full poem, “Weights & Measures,” in the comments ⬇️ 🙏
October 9, 2025 at 2:01 PM
You guys, I’m in @oneart.bsky.social !! 😃 🤗 Link to the full poem, “Weights & Measures,” in the comments ⬇️ 🙏