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Reposted by Beth Gilstrap (she/her)

Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 7d

It’s been a minute since I’ve published anything so I’m super honored & grateful to have one piece from my forthcoming hybrid/flash CNF collection, There Is News Along the Ohio River (@riverriverbooks Feb’26) out today @pitheadchapel.bsky.social pitheadchapel.com/volume-14-is...

Volume 14, Issue 10

COVER ART BY NATALIE NEE FICTION ANY MAN’S BETTER THAN NO MAN AT ALL BY BIZZY COY DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG BY KATIE BURGESS HIGH DESE…

pitheadchapel.com

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Reposted by Beth Gilstrap (she/her)

Katie Burgess @katieburgess.bsky.social · 6d

And check out this beautiful & beautifully disturbing prose poem by @bettysueblue.bsky.social
in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social :
pitheadchapel.com/xi/

XI

Beth Gilstrap There is news along the Ohio River: Some days she has no idea why she moved here to live alone in a house built when her Mee-maw was still sweeping the speck of yard out front of mill…

pitheadchapel.com

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 6d

a man with a mustache is saying thank you .

Alt: Jack Black with a mustache is saying thank you .

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Beth Gilstrap (she/her)

Han VanderHart @hanvanderhart.bsky.social · 7d

“The shower floods the kitchen. Slugs come through outlets to mate on the walls and the mess of it is revelation. The voice of ancestors saying, No, love, no.”

Beth Gilstrap (@bettysueblue.bsky.social) in the new @pitheadchapel.bsky.social!

pitheadchapel.com/xi/

XI

Beth Gilstrap There is news along the Ohio River: Some days she has no idea why she moved here to live alone in a house built when her Mee-maw was still sweeping the speck of yard out front of mill…

pitheadchapel.com

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Reposted by Beth Gilstrap (she/her)

Dan Crawley @danbillyc.bsky.social · 7d

"The voice of ancestors saying, No, love, no."

I love this brilliance by @bettysueblue.bsky.social in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social 💙💙💙
pitheadchapel.com/xi/

XI

Beth Gilstrap There is news along the Ohio River: Some days she has no idea why she moved here to live alone in a house built when her Mee-maw was still sweeping the speck of yard out front of mill…

pitheadchapel.com

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 7d

Aww thanks for reading & sharing!

a brown bear is standing on its hind legs in a field and says `` thank you beary much '' .

Alt: a brown bear is standing on its hind legs in a field and says `` thank you beary much '' .

media.tenor.com

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks for sharing!

a cartoon drawing of a bear holding a heart

Alt: a cartoon drawing of a bear holding a heart

media.tenor.com

Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 7d

It’s been a minute since I’ve published anything so I’m super honored & grateful to have one piece from my forthcoming hybrid/flash CNF collection, There Is News Along the Ohio River (@riverriverbooks Feb’26) out today @pitheadchapel.bsky.social pitheadchapel.com/volume-14-is...

Volume 14, Issue 10

COVER ART BY NATALIE NEE FICTION ANY MAN’S BETTER THAN NO MAN AT ALL BY BIZZY COY DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG BY KATIE BURGESS HIGH DESE…

pitheadchapel.com

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 8d

Got notice that I don’t have to pay student loans while I’m back in school. Think I’ll just stay in school til I’m ☠️. Can’t get me then.

a man in a black and white striped suit and tie looks scary

Alt: Beetlejuice in a black and white striped suit brushes self off

media.tenor.com

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 9d

Hurricanes make the prettiest sunsets. Grateful Imelda is turning east.

a woman in a sweater says phew thats such a relief

Alt: a woman in a sweater says phew thats such a relief

media.tenor.com

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 10d

This evening was the annual lighting of Glen. Welcome, back buddy. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

An approx 2 foot tall, cartoonish, & kinda sweet looking replica of a grim reaper smokes with his scythe.

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Reposted by Beth Gilstrap (she/her)

Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 12d

Me rereading my own book for the first time in awhile to approve final edits: this is DEVASTATING who wrote it?!

a woman is crying while holding a napkin in front of a box with the letter i on it

Alt: Zooey Deschanel is sobbing & grabbing tissues

media.tenor.com

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 11d

The proof of @blacklilyzine Issue 3 has been sent out to our contributors. While we’re all making sure everything is as it should be, check out this killer TOC.

The TOC for issue 3 of Black Lily:

POETRY BY VANESA PACHECO
ART BY KATHY LOU SCHULTZ
FICTION BY CLAYTON BRADSHAW
.. POETRY BY RHY ROBIDOUX
... ART BY PIPER CORMAN
... POETRY BY DEE ALLEN
POETRY BY SHARON DENMARK
POETRY BY EVELYN BERRY ...POETRY BY RHEA MELINA
...... ART BY VICTORIA SHEN
POETRY BY MORGAN WRIGHT
POETRY BY COURT HARLER
. POETRY BY JEN KROPINAK
ART BY IRINA TALL NOVIKOVA FICTION BY MIKE MCLELLAND
.. PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATTHEW R. HUMPHREY
POETRY BY MEGAN MCDERMOTT
NONFICTION BY KRISTINE LANGLEY MAHLER
NONFICTION BY GRAYSON BUCKLEY
POETRY BY DAVID BAYLISS
POETRY BY LILYANNE KANE
FICTION BY JAMES R. GAPINSKI
... ART BY PAUL. LUIKART
. FICTION BY PAUL LUIKART POETRY BY RENEE SALMON POETRY BY CALEB EDMONDSON FICTION BY HEATHER BELL ADAMS
POETRY BY CAL FREEMAN
POETRY BY JEREMY MICHAEL REED
POETRY BY JOSHUA LILLIE
POETRY BY RONNIE JACKSON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KRISTEN HAVENS
NONFICTION BY JORDON BRIGGS
.. POETRY BY J.L. ABBOTT
POETRY BY HUNTER HODKINSON
.. ART + PHOTOGRAPHY BY KARAH TULL
.. FICTION BY DAVID BRADY
POETRY BY GENEVIEVE BETTS

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 11d

I've returned to the mountains since and the trauma is still visible & felt around every corner. My heart goes out to every soul lost—human, animal, plant—and everyone touched by the trauma, & the survivors most of all.

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 11d

I don't think most people in this country understand that Helene was WNC's Katrina. No one who's ever lived anywhere close or visited this area ever expected a fucking hurricane to hit the mountains like this.

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 12d

Hurricane snacks, extra water, wine & full tank of gas acquired in case Imelda happens but dear universe, how bout giving us N & S Carolinians a break this time?!

a little girl in a red and purple dress is holding a comb and saying stay away

Alt: a little girl in a red and purple dress is shaking a brush in a fit of rage and saying stay away

media.tenor.com

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 12d

Me rereading my own book for the first time in awhile to approve final edits: this is DEVASTATING who wrote it?!

a woman is crying while holding a napkin in front of a box with the letter i on it

Alt: Zooey Deschanel is sobbing & grabbing tissues

media.tenor.com

1 1 4

Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 12d

It’s blurb request time for There Is News Along the Ohio River, a hybrid flash CNF collection forthcoming from @riverriverbooks in February. It’s a quick & I hope, impactful read about my life & life in general at the Kentucky/Indiana border/ Louisville from 2020-2022. Details below. HMU.

An image of a typewriter w a paper in it w “typed” note that reads: “Hey y'all-the time has come for me to seek blurbs for my forthcoming hybrid flash/CNF collection. I'll be
sending emails this weekend but hey if anyone out there is interested for real, please reach out be that makes it much less mortifying
Cheers,
Beth”

A screenshot w book description that reads, “There Is News Along the Ohio River is a paean to careful attention and riverwalks. Beth Gilstrap locates the trauma and grief and gratitude of everyday life in the landscape and history of the Ohio River where it separates Louisville, Kentucky, and Jeffersonville, Indiana. This book offers readers the experience of taking a daily walk along the same path - on the surface, each day is much the same; yet if one looks closely enough, each day also holds new beauty, unexpected strangeness. Written in vignettes that exist somewhere between micro-essays and prose poems, Gilstrap explores personal loss and how it intersects with the world one inhabits: the flora and fauna and human-wrought damage at the space between the urban and the natural, the personal and the profound.”

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 13d

@blacklilyzine.bsky.social Issue 3 update & coming soon, I swear!

A handwritten note in fuchsia sharpie reads: Finished Week 6 of Pastry School. Finals next week. On to the actual baking Classes next.
I'll miss the crew from Culinary 101.
Theres just something about cooking w/ people that creates quick & strong connections, I swear.
Not unlike writing tbh.Now... time to proofread Proofs for Black Lily. I know it’s taken awhile. Life &Stuff, ya know. But we should be ready to print soon! <3, B

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Reposted by Beth Gilstrap (she/her)

River River Books @riverriverbooks.bsky.social · 15d

Happiest of joint publication days to FIELD NOTES by E.G. Cunningham and ENCOUNTERS FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD by Jameela F. Dallis! 🎉🎉🎉

We could not be prouder of our fall titles and their authors. Congratulations, Liz and Jameela!

riverriverbooks.org/store

@egcunningham.bsky.social

Liz Cunningham holding a copy of Field Notes in a soft pastel light

Jameela Dallis sitting at a desk, shelves behind her, in a pink and silver dress, Encounters propped in the foreground

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 16d

I’m not sure Chef knows he’s opened a can of worms in asking me to write 1,000 words on Anthony Bourdain. I’ve never mentioned him in class. Maybe it’s the semicolon tattoo on my wrist. 1,300 words later, I suspect I’m at the start of a much longer personal essay I’ve been avoiding since his death.

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 18d

Three more pieces from There Is News Along the Ohio River (forthcoming Feb ‘26 from @riverriverbooks.bsky.social) got picked up! The world is terrible but this week the things I’ve made (both word and food-related) have gotten some love.

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Reposted by Beth Gilstrap (she/her)

Anonymous @youranoncentral.bsky.social · 18d

Since there have been too many documented instances of ICE murdering people in the street or illegally grabbing or beating US citizens the Trump regime has an innovative solution; you can no longer film ICE and fuck your first amendment, buddy.

DHS says stop filming out crimes or else

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 19d

Seeing FT/TT jobs I’m more than qualified for & reminding myself that academia didn’t want me and that process is terrible for my mental health.

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Beth Gilstrap (she/her) @bettysueblue.bsky.social · 20d

Today in culinary school I got to punch a big bowl of cabbage for fermenting and it was a good day for said task. As is every day. On account of my rage.

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