Charles (Cy) Payseur
@cypayseur.bsky.social
1.7K followers 720 following 1.2K posts
https://linktr.ee/cypayseur Locus and Ignyte Award winning co-editor of We're Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction. Hugo and Ignyte Award finalist critic/fan writer. Destroyer of Science Fiction. Bisexual all day. He/Him They/Them
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Reposted by Charles (Cy) Payseur
blackamazon.bsky.social
Yeah I really need help with this . I’m gonna go hyperventilate into a bag but this has gone bad quickly
blackamazon.bsky.social
Welp it’s gotten real real if you can please help. If you can’t it’s really hard out here so share

gofund.me/a5ee0064
Reposted by Charles (Cy) Payseur
ftberner.bsky.social
A skeet review of my story. @cypayseur.bsky.social called it "a moving experience"! *happy dance*
Go read it if you haven't yet!
cypayseur.bsky.social
F.T. Berner's story is more angsty and melancholy, about ecological research, exploitation, guilt, and atonement, and it makes for a moving experience.

So a nice issue, which you can find under Diabolical Plots' fiction tag here: www.diabolicalplots.com/category/fic...
Fiction – Diabolical Plots
www.diabolicalplots.com
Reposted by Charles (Cy) Payseur
apexmag.bsky.social
WE'RE 30% FUNDED!! 🎉🎉🎉 Apex will be open to nonfiction pitches FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! ✨

Want to unlock the next chapter of Apex? Please consider backing our Kickstarter and help us keep publishing the strange, surreal, shocking, beautiful stories you love!
Apex Magazine 2026
An award-winning digital literary magazine of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror.
www.kickstarter.com
cypayseur.bsky.social
Next year I should read all the Redwall books with my husband
Reposted by Charles (Cy) Payseur
lesleyconner.bsky.social
The @apexmag.bsky.social 2026 Kickstarter is currently sitting at $6,717 of our $20K goal! That means we're a third of the way to funding four issues of Apex for next year! Can we hit 50% before the end of the week? www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...
Apex Magazine 2026
An award-winning digital literary magazine of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror.
www.kickstarter.com
cypayseur.bsky.social
Happy Friday! What're you up to on this fine autumn day?

Here's me:

Writing: Supervillain Bar Drama
Reading: Diadem from the Stars by Jo Clayton
Watching: Lynley (2025)
Playing: The Curse of Monkey Island (on Steam)

Weekend plans: Costco run and sleep
cypayseur.bsky.social
I really like the regret and fear that mix so realistically inside the narrator, in his attempt to do the right thing while avoiding doing the one thing he needs to. It's deep and it's messy and it works on a lot of levels.

Ash Huang's story is also unsettling and haunting, but with a warm heart.
cypayseur.bsky.social
Short SFF Reading Update #quicksipreviews

Nightmare #156 9/25 (3 originals) @nightmare-magazine.com

Nice mix of horror, with perhaps a focus on family, ambition, corruption, and atonement. Champ Wongsatayanont's "Autogas Ferryman" is sharp and aching, about a taxi driver who can see ghosts.
cypayseur.bsky.social
F.T. Berner's story is more angsty and melancholy, about ecological research, exploitation, guilt, and atonement, and it makes for a moving experience.

So a nice issue, which you can find under Diabolical Plots' fiction tag here: www.diabolicalplots.com/category/fic...
Fiction – Diabolical Plots
www.diabolicalplots.com
cypayseur.bsky.social
Short SFF Reading Update #quicksipreviews

Diabolical Plots #127 9/25 (2 original) @diabolicalplots.com

Two very different but quite good stories. Lisa Brideau's "The Glorious Pursuit of Nominal" manages a fun tone over some grim content, and I love the voices of the sentient bots.
cypayseur.bsky.social
It's a great issue. You can find the issue's editorial here, and from there the rest of the issue: www.apexbookcompany.com/a/blog/apex-...

They're also running their funding campaign for 2026, which you can find here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...
Apex Magazine 2026
An award-winning digital literary magazine of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror.
www.kickstarter.com
cypayseur.bsky.social
And R.J. Sterling's "Cassandra and the Changeling" is lovely, tackling growing up, identity, abuse, and possibility in a moving way. And I particularly liked digging into the layering with the title and how that complicates the story.
cypayseur.bsky.social
The focus on grim SFF is certainly felt throughout, with heavy stories throughout that center death and loss and grief. J.A. Prentice's "The Horrible Conceit of Death and Night" is a bit less sad, though, and offers a rather fun take on a grim setup.
cypayseur.bsky.social
Short SFF Reading Update #quicksipreviews

Apex #151 @apexmag.bsky.social (8 originals)

The issue starts strong with Anita Moskát's "Liecraft" (translated by Ausitn Wagner) which packs a heavy emotional punch and features some fascinating and devastating world building and character work.
Reposted by Charles (Cy) Payseur
locusmag.bsky.social
Looking for your next read? Check out our curated SFF reviews, author interviews, and upcoming releases in Locus Magazine. Start your literary adventure today! www.locusmag.com/
locus magazine cover - burning fist on black background
cypayseur.bsky.social
I would also buy the hell out of this if it were a rug.
cypayseur.bsky.social
cypayseur.bsky.social
Puzzle #12: Crazy Crop (9 missing pieces)

I can only assume the missing pieces have been spread to the far reaches of the planet to prevent the puzzle from being completed and the evil within fully unleashed upon the world again. The horror. The horror...
cypayseur.bsky.social
Puzzle #12: Crazy Crop (9 missing pieces)

I can only assume the missing pieces have been spread to the far reaches of the planet to prevent the puzzle from being completed and the evil within fully unleashed upon the world again. The horror. The horror...
Reposted by Charles (Cy) Payseur
fantasymagazine.bsky.social
Thanks so much for the reviews, @cypayseur.bsky.social 🙌

"a strong issue" means so much to us! 💖
cypayseur.bsky.social
Short SFF Reading Update #quicksipreviews

Fantasy Magazine #98 Autumn 2025 (4 originals, 2 poems)

A grim issue all told, with some lingering on death and family and justice (or a lack thereof). The poetry strikes a bit more of a defiant tone, especially Eleanor Ball's "All of Our Mothers Are Dead"
Reposted by Charles (Cy) Payseur
articulatedream.bsky.social
It's cover reveal day so I got u dis.
Snag the new cover on sale all month long using the spooky sale section of the link in my bio.
The new cover of Cinders of Yesterday is shown. Emilie (blonde, curly hair) is on the left leaning against Dani (long black wavy hair, leather jacket, holding a glowing blade). Around them a fire rages. The top reads "Jen Karner", middle text reads "Cinders of Yesterday" and at the bottom "Legacy of Shadows Book 1"
cypayseur.bsky.social
Living with the memories of those lost, and those battles lost, while trying to imagine a future that is different (an often difficult if not impossible task for those with such deep trauma). But there is help, community, compassion, and possibility. There are returns, and there is memory.
cypayseur.bsky.social
Sunwoo Jeong's "The Dragon and the Bog" is beautiful and quietly devastating, and Eleanna Castroianni's "They Return" is a sad angsty queer story that I quite liked. Both are very grim but not nihilistic—both reach for hope, recognizing that surviving in itself is often about the pain of living