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Always Crashing

@alwayscrashing.bsky.social
1.8K followers 752 following 473 posts

A magazine of fiction, poetry, & nameless things around and in-between. // alwayscrashing.com // alwayscrashingmagazine.substack.com

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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Updating our submissions page... www.alwayscrashing.com/submissions
We remain open to newsletter submissions from or about former Always Crashing contributors: interviews, book reviews, playlists, recipes, literary news reports—anything that doesn’t quite fit in the journal. David Markson (allegedly) referred to innovative literature as the "research and development wing of culture." Our only rule is that you keep it interesting. Send pitches or completed submissions to editors@alwayscrashing.com with the subject line “NEWSLETTER SUBMISSION.” Newsletter submissions that do not follow these guidelines will be deleted unread.
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Prepping our Best of the Net nominations
J I Daniels / Written
followed by a lot of code
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
...and on Saturday join AC / @maudlinhouse.bsky.social / Long Day Press for Devils in the White City: Readings and Performances at Elastic Arts!
Saturday, September 12 at Elastic Arts (3429 W. Diversey Ave. #208), Doors at 7p, Readings at 8p
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Hey Chicago friends ~ this Friday join us (and a murder of other Chicago indie presses) at the Whistler for a Printers Row Offsite hosted by the indefatigable @neonpajamas.bsky.social:
Printers Row Lit Fest Offsite Reading Marathon, Friday, September 11 at The Whistler (2421 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Doors at 6p, readings from 6:15p-8:00p)
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Now at AC // www.alwayscrashing.com/current
Tobin reaches into the darkness beneath him to pull out a second trotter and hands it, dripping blood and sinew, over to Jakob, who knows now that he’ll never reenter the house in which his family and his life as a man in a small town, an artist at some remove from the city who, like so many others, spent his ten or twenty years there doing his best, climbing as high as he could before the vertigo forced him to beg for mercy, either is or is not preparing to go on without him. The house where the figures of his wife and son would have turned out to be live people or dolls or dead bodies is, all at once, far behind him, or off to the side, a tertiary exhibit never to be explored, or to be explored by someone else, the next Jakob to come along, so much earlier in the journey that this Jakob now senses is nearing its end.
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Considering BotN nominations, and damn, our archive is absolutely stacked www.alwayscrashing.com/archive
screenshot of https://www.alwayscrashing.com/archive
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Now at AC // www.alwayscrashing.com/current
The first recorded poodle death related to aberrant behavior was noted as early as 9:30 p.m. (GMT), with the so-called Kikipoo Incident. According to reports, a toy poodle on a personal jet flight from Miami, Florida, to Atlanta, Georgia, became quite agitated. The owner, a middle-aged American woman, is quoted as saying: “Kikipoo spilled my martini, lapped it up and began running in circles.”[2] Kikipoo’s frenetic barking (described by the sole crew member working in the cabin as “loathsome, something between a growl and a prolonged bark”) led the pilot to make an emergency landing in Tallahassee, where, witnesses say, the poodle escaped the confines of her owner’s arms and ran on the tarmac directly under the wheels of a luggage carrier. The event concluded by 10:30 p.m. (GMT), when the worldwide poodle decimation is generally acknowledged to have begun.
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Always Crashing Reading & Performance Series Tomorrow / 7pm Chicago / Comfort Station / 2579 N Milwaukee
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Always Crashing Reading & Performance Series 18 July 2026 / 7pm Chicago / Comfort Station / 2579 N Milwaukee
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
"Lover" by William Lessard / a memory, several memories, a voyeuristic digital striptease / New today at AC www.alwayscrashing.com/current/2026...
It’s Thursday. The day we see each other. Our ritual began in August. With a postcard from Spain. On one side of the postcard, people in bathing suits running toward the ocean. On the other, looping green script, it said we should get together for coffee. 

Big moments are preceded by small moments. Often the small moments are so small we can’t see them. When she asked for my address; was one. When we she took a step close to me during an oral exam, that was another. 

In the theater, between kisses in the last row, words slide from her tongue to mine. “When I heard your voice that day on the phone, that’s when I knew.” She’s older, older by a decade and a half. And married. Last week, she kept brushing against me as we walked along the river. First her arm. Then her hip. Then her breast. Her breast arrived in a slow swipe.
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Now at AC // www.alwayscrashing.com/current
Tautology

It is possible to see another, not 
the body of another

as a field, a wilderness upon which 
any breach might come 

to define what is flesh and what is not flesh. 
This flesh, and that: a vacancy
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
⚠️ www.alwayscrashing.com/submissions ⚠️
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
www.alwayscrashing.com/submissions
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Now reading for our online edition www.alwayscrashing.com/submissions
Always Crashing is open for submissions of fiction, poetry, collage text, visual collage, video, labyrinths, manifestos, the generically transgressive, and nonfiction (though we prefer not to be told if it’s nonfiction)

alwayscrashing.com/submissions
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Parking Lots Nos. 2, 3, 5, & 6 by J. D. Schraffenberger (@jdschraff.bsky.social) featuring slowness, atmospheric noise, final words New today at Always Crashing www.alwayscrashing.com/current/2026...
Still from Parking Lot #3
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Now at AC // www.alwayscrashing.com/current
His teeth are too wet. His teeth are too sharp.

Autumn is a carcass, rotting.

And with one sudden twist, you jerk out of his grasp, barge open the gate and sprint down the path into the house. Mum won’t be home for another two hours. You lock the front door and cower in the bathroom.
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Announcing the next iteration of the AC Reading & Performance Series 7/18/26 - Chicago - Comfort Station - 2579 N Milwaukee - 7pm Readings by @andrew-farkas.bsky.social / @klooky.bsky.social / David Welch Performances by Jack Langdon / Erica Miller / Janna Lee
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Ending the night with eHpH
Man with mohawk singing into microphone, another man playing keyboard, picture of woman's face on a projector screen behind themMan with mohawk singing, lit by the light of the projector; man in background playing keyboard
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
"'There is another language,' he said, 'lying within this one.... One must dig into the language to find its true heart'"
Samuel M. Moss
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
"Tornadoes, tame beasts. Treat yourself."
Glenn Shaheen
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Terence Hannum
Seated person playing electronic instruments, mysterious glowing green box in backgroundCloseup of hands playing keyboardMysterious green box overlaid on performer
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
"So you get to be the world behind the two way glass, the one that gets watched but can't watch back... No, not God, just a pale lavender light grooving on its own vivosity."
Gina Abelkop
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
"The conception that there would be an identifiable point within this clusterfuck is reassuring"
John Trefry
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Tonight! AC Reading and Performance Series - Online Edition / 7pm Central, 8pm Eastern Featuring @perfidiousscript.bsky.social / @incastellated.bsky.social / Gina Abelkop / Glenn Shaheen Music by Terence Hannum and eHpH tinyurl.com/273z7ubk ID: 975 4131 3220 PC: 116657
Flyer for the AC Reading and Performance Series, Online Edition, May 6 - Details in post
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Tomorrow / 7pm Central, 8pm Eastern tinyurl.com/273z7ubk ID: 975 4131 3220 PC: 116657
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Wednesday / 7pm Central, 8pm Eastern AC Reading and Performance Series - Online Edition Featuring @perfidiousscript.bsky.social / @incastellated.bsky.social / Gina Abelkop / Glenn Shaheen Music by Terence Hannum and eHpH tinyurl.com/273z7ubk ID: 975 4131 3220 PC: 116657
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Next Wednesday / AC Reading and Performance Series - Online Edition / 7pm Central, 8pm Eastern Featuring @perfidiousscript.bsky.social / @incastellated.bsky.social / Gina Abelkop / Glenn Shaheen Music by Terence Hannum and eHpH tinyurl.com/273z7ubk ID: 975 4131 3220 PC: 116657
Flyer for the AC Reading and Performance Series, Online Edition, May 6
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Now at AC: "Written," a labyrinthine interactive writing/failure simulator by JI Daniels www.alwayscrashing.com/current
Keep going?

Yes, please
Oh god no. I couldn't write another sentence. Please let this stop.
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
"Written" by JI Daniels (@narrativelies.bsky.social) / New today at AC www.alwayscrashing.com/current
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Now at AC // www.alwayscrashing.com/current
The stain made me feel uneasy, it made me feel chased. I saw faces in there I thought I’d forgotten. My heart flipped like a shuffle of poker cards. I took out my cellphone and took shots of the stain. I put it on the tabletop, against the glass of the coffee table. I switched angles snapping shots and I documented it. I posted it live to watch on the stream of media, I wrote in the caption, The Stain. The next night I posted The Devil. In a few minutes someone commented, It looks like you. How so, I typed back in the chat. 

You wrote them.

Are you kidding me??! I replied. 

Only the devil can write his own name…

Lol!
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Now at AC // www.alwayscrashing.com/current
The film is 176 minutes long. The subject, her name known world wide, and the filmmaker, anonymous.
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Last day in Baltimore! T869, grab an issue, come say hi
AC editor Meghan Lamb standing behind the Always Crashing AWP table"Saturday Sale: 1 Issue = $7, 2 Issues = $12, 4 Issues = $20, Shirts = $25"
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
We'll be at AWP next week at table T869 w/copies of our print issues, stickers, some extremely good shirts, and AS-YET UNANNOUNCED NEWS ABOUT OUR NEXT PRINT ISSUE Plus we're throwing a fantastic off-site with @barrelhouse.bsky.social, @meeklingpress.bsky.social, & the band Luna Honey See you there
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Design by AC editor Jessica Berger (who is Not On Here)
A man wearing a long sleeved black shirt. On the back is a large white wall of text
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Now at AC // www.alwayscrashing.com/current
'Poem in the shape of a wresting ring. In the center, the words: "the bell rings & echoes throughout the crowd. everyone counts: once, ten times--all of it sounds like the beginning & the end."'
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Baltimore / Saturday, March 7th / 5-7pm Metro Gallery / 1700 N Charles St. Always Crashing / @meeklingpress.bsky.social / @barrelhouse.bsky.social
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Now at AC // www.alwayscrashing.com/current
Portion of a collage; text beginning: 
Cyclops: 1.0.1 To miss. Or. Or. Or. Or. Or. Or.
   Or. 111111.111.0000.00.0.00.0000.111.111111
   Stapes. Steppe (Or. Or. Or.) - ...23, 24, 25, 26, 27,
   28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34... 44.4.1.4.0.4.1.4.44  
   Window (Or.) 1.1.1.1.1.0.1.1.1.1.1 Next (36) and
   three steps. Mill. Injector. Miller. 6 more colors. Next  
   (35). On relinquishing his August’s rest, he makes me, after everyone else. I’m used as his substitute for someone else. He doesn’t think about me in particular
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
From "6 Hexes," now at AC // www.alwayscrashing.com/current
When’s the mail coming? He’s expecting a thousand model ICBM missiles. He’s expecting his nephew taped into a shoebox. He’s expecting a coffee table edition of a book they assembled from someone’s tweets. He’s expecting an IPV-themed concept album made using Gameboy sounds. He’s expecting a mail order autistic woman.
     Where’s the sound coming from?
     Next, the sea of showers, the sea of cold, the sea of serenity, the sea of islands, the sea of moisture, the sea of clouds, the sea of Muscovy, the sea that has become known.
     Next, the return of the sitcom, like the resuscitation of a dead language.
     Next, the commercial, like the talk show monologue, gets its due, freezing the devil into frame like a jet of arctic spit, and I, too, have my man.'A digital collage using the words "days," and "maces"; a crucifixion; the sea is black.'text like clouds, or some kind of chant; red punctuation; cloud emoji and sky-blue chains
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
~preview~
a de-exposed photograph of a wall, an image of a woman bathing in blood, an art nouveau brocade, and three pigs
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Now at AC // www.alwayscrashing.com/current
I saw it happen. 

I knew right away. 

They just kept coming at him time and time again. 

It seemed to go on and on. 

It just ended up in a terrible frenzy. 

* 

She pulled it out of a bag. 

She was screaming and she was waving something in her right hand. I don’t know why, but I thought that it was a wig. She was waving this. 

It was as if she was drawing wild shapes in the air with it. As she passed us, I could see that it wasn’t a wig.
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Image from AWP Conference site, showing Always Crashing's table number, T869
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
New work arriving for the new year at the site tomorrow / which means today's an excellent time to read or re-read Kolby Harvey's 3 Python scripts, up now www.alwayscrashing.com/current/2025...
sunday_afternoon()

["Or was it braver to?", [
    "Whenever I’m deeply uncomfortable, I smile uncontrollably.", 
    "Truly off-putting shit."
        ],
    ["Know what I did when I saw that man again?", 
    "I fucking smiled.", 
    "Walked up,",
    "gave him a hug,",
    "said ‘good to see you.’", 
    "He looked gobsmacked.",
    "I'm still ashamed of that."
        ],
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCpX...
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Continuing to stand by our self-description as "Not Paris Review, but close enough"
Vibe: Top-tier stuff. Not Paris Review, but close enough
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Anne K. YoderTwilight Furniture
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Moni GarciaMeghan LambWolf3000
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Chicago / Logan Square / 13 Dec 2025
Benjamin NiespodzianyJacob Stovall
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Not 100% sure what's going on with this list but we are apparently just behind The Drift, which is itself a couple spots behind Bare Back Magazine, and we're absolutely murdering the Christian Science Monitor
Screenshot from the Fish List (?), showing us absolutely murking the Christian Science Monitor. Not shown: We are also straight up destroying the Saturday Evening Post. Eat it, Norman Rockwell
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Look, I don't know what to tell you, sometimes layout just gets nasty
Screenshot showing code: "<p>G O S M S A H H HH HH H H A S M S O G<br>
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          ☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️
          ⛓☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️⛓
          ☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️⛓☁️"
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Always Crashing @alwayscrashing.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
now at AC // www.alwayscrashing.com/current
Missouri Pastoral 05: Minibar  

I show up already stoned in my unstimulated plaid dress. I come draped in the scarf I just finished knitting; alpaca, lilac, soft, my ends, unweaved, swinging as I slide into the booth. My momentum only feels stifled by my husband and his refusal to let me ride in the bed of his truck.  

I had tightly fantasized my entrance into the bar as I knit the last stitches: purl, I would wear my plaid dress, knit, cotton with the drop waist, purl, navy and lilac, knit, spread and battered by highway speed, purl, tossed in the cold metal of his red truck, knit, smoking a joint, purl, mystically touched by midwest wind, knit, perfectly tousled and spat before people I wanted to impress, purl, knit, purl, knit, purl.
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