Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 02/06/2026Exactly right! The one so wild I'm recounting it in such detail that I realize, too late, it would've taken less time for my friend/sister/partner to just read it themselves. A story sticky enough that you disappear into it. 120
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 02/06/2026I just KNOW these women have blistering tea on the comings and goings of that rakish young viscount 010
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 02/06/2026And I can't forget to mention The Umbrella Academy whose character Allison changes reality through lies when she says "I heard a rumor…" That's the kind of energy I'd love to see in these stories. Gossip and rumor changing the fabric of reality in ways big and small, metaphorical or not-so-much 031
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 02/06/2026I think of Easy A, the Emma Stone film from 2010 which subverts the Scarlet Letter. Of course, The Crucible. Unexpectedly, I think of the Song of Ice & Fire series which does interesting things with how current events are interpolated into rumor by the lower classes who are further away from it 111
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 02/06/2026Also, big cosign on the pettiness front: Submitters, don't be high-minded for our sake! Give us shitty, petty protags alongside virtuous ones. For me, the best stories for this call will be the ones I immediately call my sister about, saying, "Do you have a minute, 'cause I just read this story…" 241
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 02/06/2026I'd love to see people going absolutely bonkers with the theme. Is gossip a virus? Are we seeing witch trials? AI hallucinations run amok? What's more important: the gossip or the person(s) telling it? Does it destroy communities? Protect them? Does the whisper network spell the end of an abuser? 131
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 01/06/2026gossip is a little communicable thrill, a method of social insulation, aunties sitting around a table with black tea and hushed voices, it's a hypothesis in want of hard evidence, and, of course, it's best served piping hot. 141
Reposted by Bendi BarrettNeon Hemlock @neonhemlock.bsky.social · 01/06/2026hey @bendibarrett.bsky.social 🎙️ what does “gossip” mean to you? 1117
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 17/05/2026Pssst have you heard? @bafflingmag.bsky.social is doing a Gossip issue? Mmhmm. That's right. Well, you didn't hear it from me, but if you submit, you should put a little piece of harmless gossip in your cover letter. No names, of course. Again,you didn't hear this from me. I'd never say a word. 0116
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 31/12/2025We weren't fucking around with this one, y'all 0132
Reposted by Bendi BarrettKelly @khooliha.bsky.social · 28/07/2025Book 92: really enjoyed this novella! Sex magic AND a ravenous manifestation of a thing living in a sun showing up and bothering somebody?! I'd read more of this world and story, but sometimes it's the purpose of a novella to leave you hungry. 153
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 30/07/2025No no you're cooking! There's definitely Gideon in there. It'd be hard to write queer space opera with horror undertones without touching on Gideon, I think. There's also a soupçon of Warhammer, a sprinkle of Gundam Wing, and a generous dash of Ninefox Gambit. Standing on the shoulders of giants. 020
Reposted by Bendi BarrettLadz ❄️🖤🩸 @ladzwriting.bsky.social · 28/07/2025my FUCKING GOD I was going to take my time with this roll-out, however, a bitch needs to go to urgent care !! in place of itch, we have two new store fronts to support me directly: digital works: payhip.com/ladz signed copies (US only for now): ladz-merch.square.site/shop/books/I... 1099107
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 28/07/2025It's like a morality play in which a marionette is lowered from the ceiling and we all learn a valuable lesson. 110
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 27/07/2025My loves, if the market you're submitting to caps word count, please don't submit something that's twice as long. We'll both end up heartbroken. 🥺 1120
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 03/06/2025I acknowledge and keenly feel how scary it is right now for queer folks. But I'm not gonna flinch from a dollar store bigot in prefrosh drag. Grow up. 050
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 03/06/2025Shoutout to the guy on the street corner raving "you're an abomination" at the intersection of the queer health clinic... in boot cut jeans with a 2006 blink-182 haircut. Glass houses, bro. 160
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 03/06/2025Any day that someone mentions me in the same breath as the effortlessly formidable @haileypiperfights.bsky.social it's a good day. 172
Reposted by Bendi BarrettJoanne Merriam @joannemerriam.bsky.social · 03/06/20251/7 daily(ish) #Pride #SmallPress #books: The Crawling Moon edited by @davering.bsky.social (@neonhemlock.bsky.social) #DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky 🌈📚 #PrideMonth 🏳️🌈📚 23413
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 03/06/2025This anthology has so many of my favorite people in it. Thanks for highlighting it, Joanne! 💚 110
Reposted by Bendi BarrettElias Eells- Bar Cart Bookshelf @eliaseells.bsky.social · 02/06/2025A vital and necessary anthology! AMPLITUDES is timely, at moments painfully so, rooted in persistent determination, and powerful in its hard-won perseverance. We have always been here and we will always be here, come flood and famine, beyond the atmosphere and in the heart of memory. A must read. 36120
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 03/06/2025Help us punch (also smooch, maybe????) some giant monsters! 0106
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 03/06/2025Ahhh getting a shoutout among such a stacked cast gives me the warm and fuzzies. Thanks, Elias! 💚 010
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 20/05/2025Stoked about all the metallic fisticuffs and nuclear breath weapons we're about to read. 043
Reposted by Bendi BarrettBaffling Magazine @bafflingmag.bsky.social · 19/05/2025We'll be open soon for submissions of queer speculative SFF. Stand by for some thoughts on the Mecha vs. Kaiju call by Associate Editor D. A. Vorobyov, who'll be editing this particular theme issue. More info: www.bafflingmag.com/submissions 18856
Reposted by Bendi BarrettMarty Cahill @mcflycahill90.bsky.social · 06/05/2025Tagging contributors to spread the word! 💜 @sentencebender.bsky.social @sarahgailey.bsky.social @bendibarrett.bsky.social @domsdickey.bsky.social @margaret.bsky.social @mayadeane.bsky.social @dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social @megelison.bsky.social @katharineduckett.bsky.social @itsneonyang.bsky.social! 0229
Reposted by Bendi BarrettMarty Cahill @mcflycahill90.bsky.social · 27/03/2025ICYMI! I wrote a @criticalrole.bsky.social book with some pretty amazing people, and I can't wait for you all to enjoy it!!! 262
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 13/03/2025Congratulations on the nom!!! Incredible! Brilliant! Baller! 110
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 13/03/2025Omggggggggggg incredible!!!!! I just came here to scream praise at you!!! 110
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 05/03/2025Imagine here that I didn't write "comparatively easy compared to..." like a noob. I hate editing on my phone (grumble, grumble) 000
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 05/03/2025Learning the mechanics of writing is comparatively easy compared to learning the importance (and practice!) of creative momentum. Writing classes force you to keep moving, which is tremendously helpful, but it's not the only path to a muscular creativity. 100
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 05/03/2025Ideas are wind, you can harness them for power, but you can't keep 'em. Years ago my mom got stuck lamenting a fragment of a story she lost in a computer crash; it derailed her creative practice. I was in high school and by then, I'd already wrote & discarded two half novels. (awful novels) 110
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 05/03/2025The best training I ever got was doing writing sprints with my mentor in high school. He'd assign me a prompt and time me; I'd just write. It became second nature to be limber enough to live in a new idea on the fly. And it broke me out of the habit of being precious about ideas. 110
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 03/03/2025Dom/sub is OVER. Start writing sub/sub. Or are you a spineless coward?? 130
Reposted by Bendi BarrettKerstin Hall @kerstinhall.bsky.social · 22/02/2025Stories are allowed to resolve with failure. Characters are allowed to do wrong. Bad consequences are better than convenient ones. 36412
Reposted by Bendi BarrettNeon Hemlock @neonhemlock.bsky.social · 05/02/2025Lovely to see EMPIRE OF THE FEAST by @bendibarrett.bsky.social on this rad list (alongside a few other favs ✨) (cheers to @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social for the rec) reactormag.com/backlist-bon...reactormag.comBacklist Bonanza: 5 Underrated Black Speculative Books - ReactorHere are a few titles that deserve to be on your TBR 02313
Reposted by Bendi BarrettTrung Le Nguyen @trungles.com · 14/01/2025Need to make some fucked up art so I can at least filter out the people who think they can divine morality through somebody's creative output 353499
Reposted by Bendi BarrettDNTLZ @dntlz.bsky.social · 01/01/2025I hope this cover art by yours truly may be the last piece of art you see this year 🍆🐙 384
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 01/01/2025Some real all-stars in this one, folks! Auspiciously, it was the first issue I read for. Destiny! 063
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 24/12/2024Make jiggle physics for fat stomachs too, you fucking cowards. 020
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 21/12/2024Sentences you never imagine yourself saying until you say them: "Oh my God, these fucking baseboards. What the fuck is happening here, dude?" 020
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 19/12/2024Random quotes from my partner: "... I wish Daft Punk had a Christmas album." 170
Bendi Barrett @bendibarrett.bsky.social · 05/12/2024Hailey Piper on the runaway train to complete horror dominance! Congrats! 110