Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Do you need something satisfying to read that will take you away from this hellhole for about 3 perfect minutes? Here is my recommendation, courtesy of @danchaon.bsky.social and @wigleaf.bsky.social:

wigleaf.com/201302him.htm

Chaon: 'That's Him! That's the Guy!'

Fiction by Dan Chaon

wigleaf.com

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Reposted by Elise Blackwell

Maureen Langloss @maureenlangloss.bsky.social · 14d

Oh my heart this story by @wendyoleson.bsky.social ! The contrast between the child’s gentle, innocent perspective and the violence/danger in the story works so well. Very powerful piece. I don’t want to give too much away. But read it!

Wigleaf @wigleaf.bsky.social · 20d

new new: 2nd of season! "The Boy Waits," by Wendy Oleson: wigleaf.com

w i g l e a f : (very) short fiction

An online journal of very short fictions -- under 1000 words.

wigleaf.com

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Elise Blackwell @eliseblackwell.bsky.social · 13d

That compliment is extra lovely coming from someone whose work I so respect and admire. Thank you, Susan.

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Elise Blackwell @eliseblackwell.bsky.social · 13d

“Suspense is know only to mortals, and its agent and messenger is time.” —Eudora Welty, Some Notes on Time

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Elise Blackwell @eliseblackwell.bsky.social · 14d

Happy birthday!

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Reposted by Elise Blackwell

Karen Palmer @karenpalmer.bsky.social · 15d

If you are interested in a signed copy of She's Under Here, please consider ordering from Diesel Bookstore (@dieselbookstore). They were so wonderful to me at the reading—as they are to all authors, and to readers—and it would be great to support them.

dieselbookstore.com/book/9781643...

She's Under Here: A Memoir (Signed)

dieselbookstore.com

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Reposted by Elise Blackwell

Dorothy, a publishing project @dorothyproject.bsky.social · 16d

It's pub day! We couldn't be happier about helping to put these two beauties into the world. Please help us spread the word!

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF H. LAN THAO LAM by Lana Lin
THE ENDLESS WEEK by Laura Vazquez, trans. by Alex Niemi

The front covers of The Endless Week and The Autobiography of H. Lan Thao Lam held up side by side in front of a tree whose leaves are beginning to turn from green to brown.

This picture shows the spines for The Endless Week and The Autobiography of H. Lan Thao Lam stacked on top of each other and held up in front of a small tree on a sunny day.

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Elise Blackwell @eliseblackwell.bsky.social · 17d

And here's an older one: fracturedlit.com/necrotic/

Necrotic | Fractured

“You’re an alchemist,” he said, “turning mud to gold.”

fracturedlit.com

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Elise Blackwell @eliseblackwell.bsky.social · 17d

In the fissures of novel writing, I've been writing small stories set on the Gulf Coast, each tenuously linked to a Neruda love sonnet. Here's one just published: monkeybicycle.net/tender-fire/

Tender Fire

monkeybicycle.net

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Reposted by Elise Blackwell

Elise Blackwell @eliseblackwell.bsky.social · 19d

Thanks, Monkeybicycle, for giving this small fiction a perfect home: monkeybicycle.net/tender-fire/

Tender Fire

monkeybicycle.net

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Elise Blackwell @eliseblackwell.bsky.social · 19d

This art is free.

Photo of box with cards and small objects behind glass reflecting a yellow house. A pink handwritten note reads, “Take a piece, leave a piece! This art is free!’

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Reposted by Elise Blackwell

Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 21d

Family of detained journalist Mario Guevara calls for his release after deportation order

"His place is with his family and his community, not behind bars or facing deportation," Katherine Guevara, Mario's daughter, said.

#FREEMARIO NOW!

Family of detained journalist Mario Guevara calls for his release after deportation order

The future of an El Salvadorian journalist arrested in Georgia remains uncertain as he waits for a ruling on his deportation.

www.cbsnews.com

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Elise Blackwell @eliseblackwell.bsky.social · 19d

Thanks, Monkeybicycle, for giving this small fiction a perfect home: monkeybicycle.net/tender-fire/

Tender Fire

monkeybicycle.net

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Reposted by Elise Blackwell

The Walrus @thewalrus.ca · 20d

Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye sold just 2,000 copies in its first year. Today, it’s a number many authors can’t recover from. Writer @tajjaisen.bsky.social examines how the publishing industry’s sales track can make or break careers before they even begin: thewalrus.ca/the-publishing-i...

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Elise Blackwell @eliseblackwell.bsky.social · 20d

Might be time to fill your water containers and find your candles, if you live near me. (I just wrote a postcard for Wigleaf about hurricane--and other kinds--of preparedness, September being September.)

Amy Hayes @tangentsafari.bsky.social · 20d

Mike down in Florida is not an official source, but I have not seen him be very wrong. He’s is often the first to warn.

Spaghetti tracks for Invest 94, soon to be named Imelda. Some of the lines go right over York County, SC.

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Reposted by Elise Blackwell

Dan Chaon @danchaon.bsky.social · 23d

New Novel releases TOMORROW!
See me this week in Cleveland, Chicago,
Detroit and Kansas City~~! Watch me sign
a book just for you with my own hands!

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Reposted by Elise Blackwell

Necessary Fiction @necessaryfiction.com · 24d

THE SUMMER HOUSE by Masashi Matsuie, translated by Margaret Mitsutani (Other Press). Reviewed by Mia Carroll. necessaryfiction.com/reviews/the-...

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Reposted by Elise Blackwell

Nicola Griffith @nicolaz.bsky.social · 25d

This is a nifty write up of both sets of novels—go read GENERATION LOSS!—plus an interview with me about why Aud, with her “slivers of strangeness” is a “unique character who could enliven a book in any genre”. Quite right!

The badass return of crime novels by Nicola Griffith and Elizabeth Hand

Griffith’s Aud Torvingen novels and Hand’s Cass Neary series are back in new editions and they’re terrific.

www.dailybulletin.com

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Reposted by Elise Blackwell

Elise Blackwell @eliseblackwell.bsky.social · 29d

Kaveh Akbar reads at University of South Carolina Thursday, 6 pm. Details here: sc.edu/about/office...

Join us for the Fall Literary Festival 2025

Great writers, readers and friends will gather for two author visits in September for the University of South Carolina Fall Literary Festival.

sc.edu

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