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Tom McAllister

@tmcallister.bsky.social

3K followers 350 following 3.3K posts

Author of novels HOW TO BE SAFE and THE YOUNG WIDOWER'S HANDBOOK. New book of essays IT ALL FELT IMPOSSIBLE coming from Rose Metal Press in May 2025. Co-host of Book Fight! podcast. @Barrelhouse.bsky.social NF Editor. South Jersey. Tom.mcallister.ws

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Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · May 14

My book, IT ALL FELT IMPOSSIBLE, in which I wrote a short essay for each year of my life, is officially out today (paperback & ebook). I think it's the best writing I've ever done, the most I've ever sounded like myself on the page.
Full details, reviews, etc: rosemetalpress.com/books/it-all...

Beautiful book cover, art by Corey Neale, design by Heather Butterfield

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Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 1h

I was never a believer that we live in a true meritocracy, but I really did think that merit would have *something* to do with one's success. Not anymore

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Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 1h

among other things, a real bummer that podcasts have largely been homogenized into a worse version of daytime TV, just longform video featuring people who know nothing, talking about nothing, for way too long, but also they're ugly and the staging is boring

Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy.bsky.social · 15h

Some scoops in here: Adam O'Neal is telling people he will helm The WaPo's flagship opinion podcast, spending upwards of four hours a day on it. He's also indicated, per a source, that he plans to remain in his current job for decades. www.status.news/p/washington...

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Reposted by Tom McAllister

Mike Ingram @mikeingram.bsky.social · 2h

My editing & publishing class at Temple will be opening soon for submissions for a special online issue of Barrelhouse, with the theme "The Dirty Issue." Fiction & nonfiction up to 2,500 words, and up to 5 poems. Usual @barrelhouse.bsky.social contract & payment.

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Reposted by Tom McAllister

Lincoln Michel @thelincoln.bsky.social · 4h

Bookshop.org (the best Amazon alternative) is having an anti-prime sale today. Free shipping on books including mine :P bookshop.org/a/88357/9781...

The Anti-Prime Sale at bookshop.org. 17 more hours.

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Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 4h

I'm going to mangle this quote but I remember being so struck by his despair at her sum total thoughts on winning the US Open being something like "immediately I knew what I had done. I had won the US Open."

Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 4h

David Foster Wallace has an all timer essay on this (with way less of the self indulgent DFW-ness that bothers a lot of people). Essentially a review of a tennis player's autobiography but mourning how little insight she has into her own life
www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7BY...

David Foster Wallace - How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart

YouTube video by Pipers Thompson

www.youtube.com

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Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 19h

a student is on a project to read bestselling books of the early 2000s for some reason and today they asked me if I've ever heard of a guy named Tucker Max. "His book is kind of gross," she said. And then I tried to explain popular early aughts internet writing to a room full of 20 year olds

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Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 1d

you really dropped the ball, buddy

Reposted by Tom McAllister

Barrelhouse @barrelhouse.bsky.social · 1d

Registration is open now!

Dave Housley @housleydave.bsky.social · 2d

The @barrelhouse.bsky.social conference is coming back to DC on April 18, 2026, and we're open for registration! It's $95, and that includes the one-day conference, 1 book, 1 meeting w an editor, and your choice of literary stuff from our partner presses. www.barrelhousemag.com/conference

The Barrelhouse conference, Conversations and Connections, is coming back to DC on April 18, 2026.

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Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 1d

every morning I get an email from the Chronicle of Higher Ed with an opinion piece by some tenured academic incapable of understanding the actual world we live in

Headline: Trump's imperfect compact is a perfect opportunity,
by Danielle Allen

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Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 1d

I thought the crowd was really good until it became clear it was going to be uncompetitive again

Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 1d

I love to feel nauseous and agitated for 3 straight hours because of baseball

Reposted by Tom McAllister

Isaac! At the Butler! @isaacbutler.bsky.social · 2d

I finally got a chance to write one of my dream assignments, an in depth evaluation of Daniel Day-Lewis, an actor whose achievements and methods cast a long shadow over the field, and whose work is often misunderstood.

slate.com/culture/2025...

Only One Performer Has Won Three Best Actor Oscars. Is It Fair That He’s Also a Joke?

He might be the greatest actor of all time—and the most misunderstood.

slate.com

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Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 2d

I supposed I'm fortunate to have avoided it for this long

Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 2d

This isn't an example of one of the good ones

Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 2d

Had a dream that I was teaching a class and trying to illustrate some minor point by pulling up one of my own funny bluseky posts and kept accidentally pulling up bad posts, becoming increasingly agitated and sweaty as I insisted to the students that I have, in fact, posted well in the past

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🔪🔪🔪bryan 🔪 🔪 🔪 @murderxbryan.bsky.social · 2d

Getting this bad boy in the mail tomorrow

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Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 2d

every fan they showed in the stands looked like the most sunburned man in America

Reposted by Tom McAllister

Dave Housley @housleydave.bsky.social · 2d

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Avi Wolfman-Arent @avi-wa.bsky.social · 2d

I call this one:

“South Philly Trash Day (Portrait of a Loss)”

A small tree covered in trash bags and Angelo’s pizza boxes.

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Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 2d

I hope so. I don't know anything about Julian, but I assume that as the son of a billionaire he can't be trusted with anything

Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 2d

minor quibble in that I think there are some subtle hints from the beats that Jeffrey is closer to handing the reins to Julian than any of us may like him to be

Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 3d

That part I can get behind

Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 3d

Last night was very frustrating but I think this is simultaneously way too harsh on Bryce and way too kind to Embiid

Tom McAllister @tmcallister.bsky.social · 3d

Trea at least had one hard hit out right into a guy's glove. Kyle and Bryce were barely in the game