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Brett Pribble

@brettpribble.bsky.social

360 followers 310 following 230 posts

Writer. Teacher. Founder and Editor-in-chief of Ghost Parachute literary journal. Inflatable flamingo supervisor. I knew a girl once.

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Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 13h

Thank you for sharing!

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 5d

Read "River Shoes" written by Ben Reed and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"We come to the bend in the river that I promised would look like an alien landscape and you say it looks more like the bones of a massive dinosaur, being slowly revealed by the eroding earth."

tinyurl.com/ppf2kt3p

River Shoes — Ghost Parachute

We come to the bend in the river that I promised would look like an alien landscape and you say it looks more like the bones of a massive dinosaur, being slowly revealed by the eroding earth. Somethin...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 6d

Read "The Flight" written by @swethaamit.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"What was once soft human flesh was now covered in brown and white feathers."

tinyurl.com/3y9bny3f

The Flight — Ghost Parachute

The change began subtly. At first, I noticed a strange stiffness in my joints, like the heavy, creaking doors of an old house. The mirror reflected my once-flowing cascade of dark curls, merging into ...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 6d

Read "The Funeral" written by @delgeo14.bsky.social and illustrated by @amymarques.bsky.social.

"But when they met at the funeral, Anna was not pleased as Debby rushed to her side. Didn’t the woman know anyone else there?"

tinyurl.com/2fayp7xd

The Funeral — Ghost Parachute

They’d exchanged many pretend-smile hellos, you-again waves, don’t-like-you-much nods every time they’d come across each other in the past. But when they met at the funeral, Anna was not pleased as De...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 6d

Read "True Crime Addict" written by @jamybond.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"It becomes a running joke in our house. Lock the doors so the bone crusher doesn’t get us! Soon, we aren’t just locking doors, we’re bolting them shut."

tinyurl.com/2cp4ah4h

True Crime Addict — Ghost Parachute

My mother is addicted to true crime. It can’t be fiction, she says, it must be true. She devours these tales late into the night, listens to podcasts while she’s driving, shopping, cooking. Why? We as...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 6d

Read "Be More Raccoon" written by @keithjpowell.com and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"Whittled thin by another season of flu and fire, Jacob looked to the internet and embraced its advice: Be more raccoon."

tinyurl.com/w4me8cay

Be More Raccoon — Ghost Parachute

Whittled thin by another season of flu and fire, Jacob looked to the internet and embraced its advice: Be more raccoon. Donning a domino mask scavenged from brighter times and an old cosplay costume, ...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 6d

Read "Pool Party" written by @bstephens.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"I was twenty-two, alone at my parents’ Orlando winter home, roughing it without any of our staff. My father had made it known I was not to get too comfortable..."

tinyurl.com/45n5f2xm

Pool Party — Ghost Parachute

I was twenty-two, alone at my parents’ Orlando winter home, roughing it without any of our staff. My father had made it known I was not to get too comfortable, saying, Life offered no handouts. A tren...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 6d

Read "Victorian Girl Gang" written by @saracrowley.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"That ghost girl is back, boxing me awake with her old leather gloves. I smell them just before the punch comes."

tinyurl.com/mr2aactj

Victorian Girl Gang — Ghost Parachute

That ghost girl is back, boxing me awake with her old leather gloves. I smell them just before the punch comes. I inhale their sweet earthiness and think, oh no, but never manage to wake fast enough t...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 6d

Read "Everywhere for Answers" written by @juliastrayer.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"He wears a wolf mask, and that’s okay. I’m fairly forgiving."

tinyurl.com/57w6rsde

Everywhere for Answers — Ghost Parachute

He wears a wolf mask, and that’s okay. I’m fairly forgiving. I find him standing in full sun on a patch of grass across from our hotel, watching the city unroll itself. He left our room that morning w...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 6d

Read "We Don’t Let Elephants Grow" written by @happilander.bsky.social and illustrated by @amymarques.bsky.social.

"We only grow flowers and trees and joy and all things beautiful and shiny. We open the windows, and air the room, and we chase all wrong and bad and evil out..."

tinyurl.com/pnuc4c8k

We Don’t Let Elephants Grow — Ghost Parachute

We only grow flowers and trees and joy and all things beautiful and shiny. We open the windows, and air the room, and we chase all wrong and bad and evil out, but Mom asks for the truth because she’s ...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 6d

Read "Gigging Bullfrogs in Hell" written by @kiptain.bsky.social and illustrated by @courtneyburton.bsky.social.

"I can’t say I’m all that surprised I ended up in Hell after I died, but things are really starting to look up."

tinyurl.com/4zh6mb2p

Gigging Bullfrogs in Hell — Ghost Parachute

I can’t say I’m all that surprised I ended up in Hell after I died, but things are really starting to look up. I admit that I had to fight through some pretty formidable foes with nothing more than a ...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 6d

Read "The Wait" written by @amymarques.bsky.social and illustrated by @amymarques.bsky.social.

"The man returned to town. He shouldered his bag and stepped out of the station and past the shuttered hotel, towards the big house on the side street."

tinyurl.com/y9hrkwj6

The Wait — Ghost Parachute

The man returned to town. He shouldered his bag and stepped out of the station and past the shuttered hotel, towards the big house on the side street. Then for a time he stood in the rain, in the stre...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 6d

Read "The Year I Forgot What I Like" written by @megpokrass.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"First, I forgot how to play. When there is so much shouting I have to think like an equal at home."

tinyurl.com/af9sa4d4

The Year I Forgot What I Like — Ghost Parachute

First, I forgot how to play. When there is so much shouting I have to think like an equal at home. There’s Mom in the bedroom sleeping and a recovering dog on the couch and I forget in the morning how...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 6d

Read "Late summer. August." written by Court Harler and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"When Sam entered the restaurant, Julie’s keen eyes flashed, then just as swiftly dulled."

tinyurl.com/85rewxbf

Late summer. August. — Ghost Parachute

When Sam entered the restaurant, Julie’s keen eyes flashed, then just as swiftly dulled. She firmed her lips and turned back toward me: “When did you say you’d go to Paris?” Her pale cheeks flushed a ...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 6d

Read "Man Staring, 2025 Oil on Canvas" written by @mamiewilloughby.bsky.social and illustrated by @amymarques.bsky.social.

"You are an eight-foot painting in a gallery in Mallorca. Your stomach is swollen with creatures inside."

tinyurl.com/9xrxhz5j

Man Staring, 2025 Oil on Canvas — Ghost Parachute

You are an eight-foot painting in a gallery in Mallorca. Your stomach is swollen with creatures inside. Animals with gnashing teeth and eyes big like Muppets. Something you’d see under the microscope....

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 7d

Read "The Untranslatable German Word for a Gate Slamming Shut" written by @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social and illustrated by @damicandrea.bsky.social.

"My only friend, Little Hansel, smells like closet."

tinyurl.com/2wrmbd8m

The Untranslatable German Word for a Gate Slamming Shut — Ghost Parachute

My only friend, Little Hansel, smells like closet. That’s what my mother said the one time she met the four-year-old. I was babysitting him for my weed dealers, a pair of comfy old dykes. My mother sn...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 7d

Read "In the Back Row of the Nostalgia Group, We Talked about Death" written by @tommydeanwriter.bsky.social and illustrated by @damicandrea.bsky.social.

"So we agreed on lying in our beds, the sun just razoring through the blinds, soft shadows that often welcomed us..."

tinyurl.com/4v5sum4h

In the Back Row of the Nostalgia Group, We Talked about Death — Ghost Parachute

How we all wanted it to come in our sleep, if we had a choice, and since we were allowed, in this group setting, to talk freely about our desires, though we were sure that some of us, Gregory and Mars...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 7d

Read "The HOA rules don’t apply" written by @amygcb.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"To the zebra who wanders loose in our suburban neighborhood. It ambles up and down the streets like he belongs among their English countryside names."

tinyurl.com/mw27m3hn

The HOA rules don’t apply — Ghost Parachute

To the zebra who wanders loose in our suburban neighborhood. It ambles up and down the streets like he belongs among their English countryside names. He’s not intimidated by Northumberland or Buckingh...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 7d

Read "Clone of the Lost Astronaut" written by @avitusbcarle.bsky.social and illustrated by @amymarques.bsky.social.

"There’s a hurricane teasing the leftover bits of Massachusetts. A snow storm masking Chicago. Mission control wants to keep things concrete."

tinyurl.com/26e9nnen

Clone of the Lost Astronaut — Ghost Parachute

There’s a hurricane teasing the leftover bits of Massachusetts. A snow storm masking Chicago. Mission control wants to keep things concrete. Be specific they say, since this is the final call. “Are yo...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 7d

Read "My Husband, My Ex-Boyfriend, and the Love of My Life Walk into a Bar" written by @kimmagowan.bsky.social and illustrated by @amymarques.bsky.social.

"Though really, in this dream, it’s more a saloon than a bar, with swinging doors that slap the walls."

tinyurl.com/3ep2nhhb

My Husband, My Ex-Boyfriend, and the Love of My Life Walk into a Bar — Ghost Parachute

Though really, in this dream, it’s more a saloon than a bar, with swinging doors that slap the walls. I’m behind the bar, so I assume I’m the bartender. We’re all in old-timey clothes. I’m wearing a l...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 7d

Read "One Day, Pele Decides She Wants to Visit Us" written by @lumchanmfa.bsky.social and illustrated by @damicandrea.bsky.social.

"her lava coursing down our streets into our houses, like liquid gelatin, as we eat our cereal and go to school, swimming through her."

tinyurl.com/y8jmem3w

One Day, Pele Decides She Wants to Visit Us — Ghost Parachute

her lava coursing down our streets into our houses, like liquid gelatin, as we eat our cereal and go to school, swimming through her. We learn to breathe, to talk, to sing in her. Our mothers, our aun...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks for the great story!

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 7d

Read "Fish Commercial" written by @mczyzniejewski.bsky.social and illustrated by @courtneyburton.bsky.social.

"I was sitting on the bed in my hotel in Amsterdam when the fish commercial came on. Geena was in the bathroom. I had the TV on because I was nervous..."

tinyurl.com/2zamtwkw

Fish Commercial — Ghost Parachute

I was sitting on the bed in my hotel in Amsterdam when the fish commercial came on. Geena was in the bathroom. I had the TV on because I was nervous—she’d only been in there a minute, but it felt like...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 7d

Read "The Way the Cookie Crumbles" written by @sfreligh.bsky.social and illustrated by @damicandrea.bsky.social.

"Sometimes Rita pretends to be sick so she can stay home from school."

tinyurl.com/4cekduun

The Way the Cookie Crumbles — Ghost Parachute

Sometimes Rita pretends to be sick so she can stay home from school. She and her mom watch television in the morning, talk shows where the hosts interview celebrities about their workout routines or t...

Brett Pribble @brettpribble.bsky.social · 7d

It's a great story!