Ted Morrissey
@tedmorrissey.bsky.social
Novelist, story writer, poet, scholar, translator, theorist, librarian, publisher, podcaster, educator
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An online #book club will be discussing Mrs Saville in February - I'm not sure if my new Mary Shelley book piqued their interest, or perhaps the wild popularity of Guillermo del Toro's adaptation on Netflix - As the cover says "A novel that begins where Mary Shelley's #Frankenstein ends."
December 24, 2025 at 12:44 AM
An online #book club will be discussing Mrs Saville in February - I'm not sure if my new Mary Shelley book piqued their interest, or perhaps the wild popularity of Guillermo del Toro's adaptation on Netflix - As the cover says "A novel that begins where Mary Shelley's #Frankenstein ends."
If you love #writing, #publishing, #teaching writing - treat yourself to a #podcast that organically covers all this and more - part of the fun (for us!) is finding out what we're going to talk about twelvewinters.com/a-lesson-bef...
December 23, 2025 at 5:02 PM
If you love #writing, #publishing, #teaching writing - treat yourself to a #podcast that organically covers all this and more - part of the fun (for us!) is finding out what we're going to talk about twelvewinters.com/a-lesson-bef...
With the release date of Aspiring Child fast approaching, I would love to set up some talks/readings for the coming year. I taught #Frankenstein for 25 years, and this is my third book focused on Mary Shelley. My novel Mrs Saville (a sequel to Frankenstein) won the Manhattan Book Award. Let's chat!
December 23, 2025 at 1:37 AM
With the release date of Aspiring Child fast approaching, I would love to set up some talks/readings for the coming year. I taught #Frankenstein for 25 years, and this is my third book focused on Mary Shelley. My novel Mrs Saville (a sequel to Frankenstein) won the Manhattan Book Award. Let's chat!
We had the privilege of featuring eleven short stories by eleven expert practitioners of the craft this past year. Typically the last 30 minutes of each #podcast episode was devoted to discussing the story and underlining effective narrative techniques. #writingtips #writingcommunity
December 22, 2025 at 5:01 PM
We had the privilege of featuring eleven short stories by eleven expert practitioners of the craft this past year. Typically the last 30 minutes of each #podcast episode was devoted to discussing the story and underlining effective narrative techniques. #writingtips #writingcommunity
I was pleased that two of my sonnets to Mary Shelley found a home with the journal Feminist Spaces - I suspect Mary and certainly her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, would have been advocates of the journal, and very likely contributors, if they were #writing now. #femenism #literature #poetry
December 21, 2025 at 11:56 PM
I was pleased that two of my sonnets to Mary Shelley found a home with the journal Feminist Spaces - I suspect Mary and certainly her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, would have been advocates of the journal, and very likely contributors, if they were #writing now. #femenism #literature #poetry
Just one of the interesting issues we cover in Episode 30 - sparked by Brady's collection-in-progress wherein he's responding to Hemingway's fiction and larger-than-life persona. #podcast #writing #reading #hemingway
December 21, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Just one of the interesting issues we cover in Episode 30 - sparked by Brady's collection-in-progress wherein he's responding to Hemingway's fiction and larger-than-life persona. #podcast #writing #reading #hemingway
Grant opened our discussion of Episode 30's featured #story with a brilliant analysis of the writer's artistry, paving the way for a fun and fruitful talk about "The Fog" by Roseanne Pereira, who is accomplished in the fields of #fiction, creative nonfiction, and journalism. A #writer to watch!
December 21, 2025 at 1:09 AM
It's been awhile since I've enjoyed a #book as much as this one, Alex Beam's The Feud: Vladimir #Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, and the End of a Beautiful Friendship - although it might have been titled "The Feud: Nabokov vs. Everyone." It focuses especially on Nabokov's massive translation of Pushkin.
December 20, 2025 at 1:28 PM
We've posted our 30th episode - #podcast #writinglife #publishing #readingcommunity #youtubevideo #spotify #applepodcasts
December 20, 2025 at 3:58 AM
We've posted our 30th episode - #podcast #writinglife #publishing #readingcommunity #youtubevideo #spotify #applepodcasts
As always we had a blast recording Episode 30 of the #podcast last night. Among out topics is the growing interest in other kinds of writing besides "literary" and how that trend will be reflected in the newly re-established journal Short Story. The featured story comes from an Asia-based journal.
December 19, 2025 at 2:42 PM
As always we had a blast recording Episode 30 of the #podcast last night. Among out topics is the growing interest in other kinds of writing besides "literary" and how that trend will be reflected in the newly re-established journal Short Story. The featured story comes from an Asia-based journal.
Aspiring Child: A Biography of Mary W. Shelley in Sonnets is filtering into more and more markets, including university bookstores. International markets won't be far behind. #poetry #biography #maryshelley #frankenstein
December 19, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Aspiring Child: A Biography of Mary W. Shelley in Sonnets is filtering into more and more markets, including university bookstores. International markets won't be far behind. #poetry #biography #maryshelley #frankenstein
The #podcast crew is recording our 30th episode tonight. Watch for it to drop on #YouTube, #Spotify and #Applepodcasts - anticipate 50 minutes of free-flowing conversation about #writing, #publishing, etc. & 30 minutes about the fascinating featured story #writingcommunity
December 18, 2025 at 5:45 PM
The #podcast crew is recording our 30th episode tonight. Watch for it to drop on #YouTube, #Spotify and #Applepodcasts - anticipate 50 minutes of free-flowing conversation about #writing, #publishing, etc. & 30 minutes about the fascinating featured story #writingcommunity
Several of my sonnets to Mary Shelley had the good fortune of being picked up by small journals - like this poem, "Recitation," which became Sonnet XIX. Coleridge was a friend of Mary's father and recited from his new poem, about an old mariner, in their home. #poetry #maryshelley #biography
December 17, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Several of my sonnets to Mary Shelley had the good fortune of being picked up by small journals - like this poem, "Recitation," which became Sonnet XIX. Coleridge was a friend of Mary's father and recited from his new poem, about an old mariner, in their home. #poetry #maryshelley #biography
The "best books of 2025" are really the "best-advertised books" - or maybe the "best books among the best-advertised books" - and practically all come from the few presses that have the wherewithal for mass advertising campaigns. There is nothing "best" per se about their writing. #writinglife
December 16, 2025 at 5:12 PM
The "best books of 2025" are really the "best-advertised books" - or maybe the "best books among the best-advertised books" - and practically all come from the few presses that have the wherewithal for mass advertising campaigns. There is nothing "best" per se about their writing. #writinglife
I'm happy to report that #readers are still discovering Brady Harrison's award-winning story collection The Term Between - but not nearly as many as the book deserves. His novel A Journey to Al Ramel came out this year and a new collection will be released in 2026. #fiction #shortstories
December 16, 2025 at 1:46 AM
I'm happy to report that #readers are still discovering Brady Harrison's award-winning story collection The Term Between - but not nearly as many as the book deserves. His novel A Journey to Al Ramel came out this year and a new collection will be released in 2026. #fiction #shortstories
How many times can you listen to poor Grandma get run over by that reindeer? Instead treat your brain to something both soothing and stimulating - we're recording our new episode later this week - meanwhile catch up on the classics #writinglife #writingcommunity #publishingadvice
December 15, 2025 at 12:08 AM
How many times can you listen to poor Grandma get run over by that reindeer? Instead treat your brain to something both soothing and stimulating - we're recording our new episode later this week - meanwhile catch up on the classics #writinglife #writingcommunity #publishingadvice
When I first read #Frankenstein in the mid-80s - in a lit course at University of Iowa - I of course had no clue how influential that novel and Mary Shelley herself would be on my #writing life - and I certainly never envisioned a trilogy of books inspired by her and her work ... yet here we are.
December 14, 2025 at 5:03 PM
When I first read #Frankenstein in the mid-80s - in a lit course at University of Iowa - I of course had no clue how influential that novel and Mary Shelley herself would be on my #writing life - and I certainly never envisioned a trilogy of books inspired by her and her work ... yet here we are.
Just a couple of weeks until the release of Aspiring Child - the #book is appearing at more and more sites for presale - if you prefer, check your fav indie bookstore's website #reading #poetry #biography tedmorrissey.com/aspiring-chi...
December 14, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Just a couple of weeks until the release of Aspiring Child - the #book is appearing at more and more sites for presale - if you prefer, check your fav indie bookstore's website #reading #poetry #biography tedmorrissey.com/aspiring-chi...
Many thanks to the speculative fiction journal Hell Itself for publishing "The Unbearable Sweetness" and also nominating it for a #PushcartPrize - as you can see from the content warning it may not be everyone's cup of tea. hellitself.com/the-unbearab...
December 13, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Many thanks to the speculative fiction journal Hell Itself for publishing "The Unbearable Sweetness" and also nominating it for a #PushcartPrize - as you can see from the content warning it may not be everyone's cup of tea. hellitself.com/the-unbearab...
Masterclass this morning with legendary medievalist Stephen Pollington. It's gonna be great!
December 13, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Masterclass this morning with legendary medievalist Stephen Pollington. It's gonna be great!
Reposted by Ted Morrissey
New from Hell Itself, a haunting dystopia by @tedmorrissey.bsky.social, "The Unbearable Sweetness"
hellitself.com/the-unbearab...
hellitself.com/the-unbearab...
The Unbearable Sweetness – Hell Itself
hellitself.com
December 12, 2025 at 6:15 PM
New from Hell Itself, a haunting dystopia by @tedmorrissey.bsky.social, "The Unbearable Sweetness"
hellitself.com/the-unbearab...
hellitself.com/the-unbearab...
What precisely is Grendel in #Beowulf? Just as modern filmmakers of horror will leave the threat somewhat out of focus, the Beowulf poet uses a variety of nouns and adjectives to refer to Grendel: ogre, troll, giant ... and his mother is described as a wolf.
December 12, 2025 at 1:51 PM
What precisely is Grendel in #Beowulf? Just as modern filmmakers of horror will leave the threat somewhat out of focus, the Beowulf poet uses a variety of nouns and adjectives to refer to Grendel: ogre, troll, giant ... and his mother is described as a wolf.
I was delighted to accept the invitation to sit on the advisory board of the newly re-established literary journal Short Story. My primary job is to promote the journal and its newly re-established "The Short Story Prize." Here, dear reader, is my inaugural promotion. scholarworks.uni.edu/shortstory
December 12, 2025 at 1:10 AM
I was delighted to accept the invitation to sit on the advisory board of the newly re-established literary journal Short Story. My primary job is to promote the journal and its newly re-established "The Short Story Prize." Here, dear reader, is my inaugural promotion. scholarworks.uni.edu/shortstory
What an honor. Thank you Poetries in English Magazine for publishing this odd story - written in both English and Spanish - and for the unexpected nomination.
December 11, 2025 at 4:40 PM
What an honor. Thank you Poetries in English Magazine for publishing this odd story - written in both English and Spanish - and for the unexpected nomination.
If you can relate to this quote, you're a #writer - it's why nearly all of us (99.999%) keep writing even in the absence of more than a handful of #readers: the act of writing itself makes the effort worthwhile. The joy is in the writing, not in the being read. #writingcommunity
December 11, 2025 at 4:37 PM
If you can relate to this quote, you're a #writer - it's why nearly all of us (99.999%) keep writing even in the absence of more than a handful of #readers: the act of writing itself makes the effort worthwhile. The joy is in the writing, not in the being read. #writingcommunity