J. D. Hellen
@jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
73 followers 140 following 40 posts
🖋️✨🕷️ Speculative fiction writer near Philadelphia, PA, USA. Setting this up to follow writers, lit mags, and podcasts. https://linktr.ee/Jdhellen
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jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
Just one #tweak, and it's approved.
#7syllablesentence
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
He turned his wrist, listening to the last of the liquid swirling around inside the can. He promised to try harder, to #sublimate his incessant craving with healthy distractions—walking the dog, getting around to chores.

But the soda was already in the house. And he wasn't a wasteful man.
#vss365
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
If you never #bend, you'll break.
#7syllablesentence
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
I #wave and hope to forget.
#7syllablesentence
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
“That's it?” I want to bite my tongue, but I'm tired of the disappointment. “Nothing good. It's always #scrutiny with you.”

Mom's lips are tight, wordless. It's her eyes that speak. But before I can make sense of them, she looks away, at the door.

This will never be good enough for her. #vss365
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
"Kerfuffle" is a fun word to use in everyday conversation. 😉 You're welcome.
Reposted by J. D. Hellen
pseudopod.org
“My neighbors smile when they burn.”

Chattering Spines, by Mike Wyant Jr

Narrator: Dave Robison
Host: Alasdair Stuart
Audio: Chelsea Davis

This is a PseudoPod original

C/W immolation, guns, animal harm

pseudopod.org/2025/09/05/p...
PseudoPod 992: Chattering Spines
My neighbors smile when they burn. The flames melt the flesh from their bones, revealing the full six inches of sharp spines that brought them here. I swear they sigh in relief. Hell, I would…
pseudopod.org
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
Something super fun came in the mail! Grateful for Margot Atwell starting the Kickstarter and all the backers getting this project out there! Looking forward to reading these pieces. It's always RHPS season in my book, but it's especially fun this time of year. 👄👠🕸️
Mailing envelope with a lip stamp ABSOLUTE PLEASURE: QUEER PERSPECTIVES ON ROCKY HORROR edited by Margot Atwell, foreword by Carmen Maria Machado
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
Holy crap. If you want a read that tears into you, check this out.
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
My husband's drink for tonight. It's amazing outside. 🐙🍋‍🟩 #InverteFest
Can of Dogfish Head SEAQUENCH ALE. Art shows a cephalopod with a lime.
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
Check out that silk work. 🕷️🕸️ #InverteFest
Intricate spider web
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
Honestly, I kind of get it.
poolpartymag.com
"When I told people about this fear, they’d laugh and I’d laugh and I’d say, “I know, I know” and I’d do this ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and we’d move on."

We're FUCKING THRILLED to publish "Megalohydrothalassophobia, or Something" by the wildly talented @aubrirose.bsky.social 🗿🌊😱

poolpartymag.com/megalohydrot...
Megalohydrothalassophobia, or Something by Aubri Kaufman
I can’t pinpoint the onset of my giant underwater statue phobia, but I suspect it crystallized ten years ago, around the first time I saw a photo of a massive Jesus submerged somewhere in Key Largo. C...
poolpartymag.com
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
This was hard to capture. What's going on here? #InverteFest
Two black ants of different sizes. A smaller ant is dragging a larger ant (on its back) across asphalt. Image is close up.
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
Labor Day Weekend plans 🐛🪲🐙
franzanth.bsky.social
Activities for this season of #InverteFest:

Community science
www.inaturalist.org/projects/inv...

Art book submission form
docs.google.com/forms/d/1jHk...

Writer/artist collab anthology
bsky.app/profile/saim...
Reposted by J. D. Hellen
cursedmorsels.bsky.social
If you like your #ghost stories dark, scary, and full of sharp social commentary, read our Shirley Jackson Award-winning anthology Why Didn't You Just Leave. This weekend, we're offering the ebook for free. It's best to read it right before bed. #booksky 👻

dl.bookfunnel.com/tg9np8e7ap
The ghosts that haunt us ... and the reasons we stay with them.
It's the question asked of any story about a haunting: why didn't you just leave? But if accounts of people who have stayed in haunted houses are any indication … it's never that simple.In this book, ...
dl.bookfunnel.com
Reposted by J. D. Hellen
lindsaykingmiller.bsky.social
Suddenly, Seymour is standing beside you. A moment ago you were alone in the room. His eyes are black and depthless. The lights go out.
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
This actually made my jaw drop.
electricliterature.com
“The little Angus heifer was lying in the shade of a black oak in the south pasture, legs tucked beneath her and her head a half foot off the ground.”
Whatever's Killing the Cattle Is Killing Him Too - Electric Literature
“The Cattleman” by Aaron Gwyn, recommended by Wynter K Miller for Electric Literature
buff.ly
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
Something exciting came in the mail today—a bunch of zines from @cursedmorsels.bsky.social! If you've read them, do you have a favorite?
A fanned stack of zines from CURSED MORSELS. TECH BRO TERRORS is on top of the stack.
jdhellenwrites.bsky.social
Enjoyed this!
xraylitmag.bsky.social
we have an amazing story by Anna Koltes !!

as an apartment rental lease application gets filled out, a story is told. we are surrounded by all kinds of 'literary forms' outside the traditional story, & i like when writers apply their imagination to them.

xraylitmag.com/rental-lease...
RENTAL LEASE APPLICATION by Anna Koltes
Name: You almost write his surname in place of your own, a knee jerk response. You slap the mosquito that has landed on the back of your neck to feed. Upon assuming his name, you forgot your own. You ...
xraylitmag.com