iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

If you've hit a wall with your writing, it's time to get back to basics! I'm excited to announce I am teaching a 7-week fiction course that begins Sunday, Oct. 18th. Enrollment for "Think and Speak Like a Writer" is now open! What questions do you have? writeyourstorynow.org/classes-work...

writeyourstorynow.org

Think and Speak Like a Writer - San Diego Writers, Ink

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Reposted by Chris Santantasio

Split Lip Magazine @splitlipthemag.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Our JUNE ISSUE drops soon, so we hope you enjoyed our MAY ISSUE 💕 All the love and thanks to our May contributors 💕 WORDS by: E.P. Tuazon, Renny Gong, Mary Liza Hartong, & Despy Boutris ART by: Christopher Dunlap PLUS: @crsantastic.bsky.social interviewed Kate Broad

A dizzying painting: crooked, tessellating cubes in red, orange, yellow, olive, sky blue, and lavender — a bold red imprimatura energizing every surface. The cubes’ white faces recede and flatten at once, the canvas pulsing with geometric tension.

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Maureen Langloss @maureenlangloss.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

This is a really unusual author interview because it has a tight focus on the writing residency experience. I think those considering doing a residency would find Marjee's perspective interesting!

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Wise words from debut novelist Kate Broad! Read the rest of our interview at the incredible @splitlipthemag.bsky.social !

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

My @splitlipthemag.bsky.social interview with Kate Broad made the rounds, so here's a 2025 debut author chat! For @therumpus.net, I spoke with @egreenberg.bsky.social about her collection "Alterative Facts!" We talk voice and how to fictionalize "real" figures. therumpus.net/2025/01/27/e...

therumpus.net

From Alternative Facts to Political Fictions: A Conversation with Emily Greenberg - The Rumpus

We’re always imposing our own subjectivity. Perfect empathy is unattainable.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

I was Kate’s editor at @therumpus.net , and speaking to her about her debut was enlightening! Short story authors making the leap to novel writing should seriously engage with her insights.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Check out this amazing issue including my interview with debut novelist Kate Broad! We discuss building characters, writing social critique, the retrospective narrator, and much more.

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Split Lip Magazine @splitlipthemag.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Our MAY ISSUE is finally here. 🌼 WORDS by: E.P. Tuazon, Renny Gong, Mary Liza Hartong, & Despy Boutris. ART by: Christopher Dunlap. PLUS: @crsantastic.bsky.social interviews Kate Broad. ✨️ Enjoy it all right here: buff.ly/pUBKe7b

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Congrats to @zyzzyvamag.bsky.social on a beautiful, standing room-only issue launch event last evening at @citylightsbooks.bsky.social in SF! It was great to meet the editors and hear some lovely excerpts. Can’t wait to dig in!

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

I recently had a piece accepted at a journal that I have been submitting to (and getting rejected from) for 10 years. Tenacity > Talent. This is how I know I will meet all my literary goals. Eventually!

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

My short essay on J.A. Baker's The Peregrine appears in the Spring 2026 issue of Boulevard. Print only, and you can order a copy here: www.boulevardmagazine.org/print-subscr...

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

At least once every few days, I think about what we all lost when Jim Croce died in that plane crash. The man was 30 and had already written more enduring music than many of the greats that came after.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

This is not an @nplusonemag.com stan account, but I do love this publication. I’ve been reading it for years and the quality of the work is still so high. One of the few magazines that can still expand my vocabulary

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

One of the more formally inventive entries in the autofiction canon, this 2023 release from @fencebooks.bsky.social challenged and delighted me. If you like reading oddball fiction about the art world, this is for you.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Finally got around to reading this 2025 title from @nplusonemag.com that I picked up at AWP this year. An incredible follow up to Lomasko’s Other Russias, which I love and recommend to literally everyone. This book took me places I’ve never been.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Got some new pubs coming out soon so it’s a good time to get back to posting…

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Breaking my 4 month posting hiatus to say my form rejection arrived in the mail yesterday. Seemed newsworthy

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

“The autumn sun steams the long grass, broken and brown and sweet to smell. Tim settles down in its coarse strands, the better to point up the silkiness of his caramel/colored flanks.” RIP Edmund While, celebrant of male beauty, glorifier of the homosexual gaze. When I write, his voice hovers near.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Today at @therumpus.net is a story both sharp and tender, vulnerable and bold. It is the kind of story I aspire to write. Characters that bleed life's fullness, ideas that challenge my priors, and a narrative that expands perception. "Casserole" by @mckatie.bsky.social is one hell of a bake.

therumpus.net

Rumpus Original Fiction: Casserole - The Rumpus

He trusted her. He loved her. He was waiting for her to provide.

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Katie McIvor @mckatie.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

It's Casserole time!! Huge thanks to the fiction team at The Rumpus for giving my weird little story a home ❤️ Actually a bit nervous about people seeing this one so pls let me know your thoughts if you read it ahaha 🫣 😬 link below:

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

This book was delectable. Sexy, funny, and reflective of July’s combo of artistic vigor and intellectual humility. This is the kind of text I aspire to write.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Literary magazines have been a part of my life for the past decade+ and I am still “finding” great ones. Enjoyed my first issue of Santa Monica Review!

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

I was at my bf’s parents’ house in Dayton, OH (2019) when I first read “Fugato,” the second story in this collection. I think I was depressed, as I typically was back then, and I’d never read a more convincing portrayal of a psychotic break. It’s just as good as I remember it.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

My first Danielle Dutton book. I loved it! Thanks to the folks at the @coffeehousepress.bsky.social AWP booth for the recommendation! I’m already feeling more unfettered, genre-wise.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

This stunning and gorgeous stunner just arrived in my mail slot. Yes!

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

It’s been a while, but I’m back with a book rec for anyone who’s into fiction about the environment, the super-rich, and/or the gap between intent and impact. Eleanor Catton’s BIRNAM WOOD is a literary thriller that places richly textured characters against the lush New Zealand countryside.

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Emily Greenberg @egreenberg.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

@crsantastic.bsky.social in the latest issue of Story, just picked up from AWP

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

James is every bit as good as the critics say. I was skeptical, but damn is this book affecting in the best possible way. I’m glad I reread Huck Finn prior to, though. I don’t think it would hit the same otherwise.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Read this on my flight home after being away from my partner for almost two weeks. Bawling. Tears streaming down my face. Incredible. Garth at the height of his powers. My favorite of his work so far.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Actually loved this one. In 700+ pages there are just a handful of memorable scenes and a few virtuosic passages of description. But that’s life, right? Mann perfectly captures the weight of generations and its bearing on progeny.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Ghostly and impressionistic, Yu Miri’s Tokyo Ueno Station is brief but emotionally dense. I had to read it slowly in short bursts. As a fan of Kawabata and Tanizaki, I found much to relish in this one.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

The only thing I can say about When We Cease to Understand the World is that it totally lived up to the hype. A thrilling level of idea density, yet written with utmost clarity. The conclusion took me by complete suprise. Looking forward to rereading soon. #books #booksky

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Another memorable book I read in 2024 was the new edition of Edmund White's Nocturnes for the King of Naples, with a great intro by Garth Greenwell. I learned so much from how White draws on the character and form of the musical nocturne to shape his narratives. #books #booksky

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

I read all 6 volumes of Knausgaard's My Struggle in 2023 and was so taken by it that I started learning Norwegian and seeking out other Norwegian works in translation. This is how I found Per Petterson's Men in My Situation. It has a hypnotic quality that still preoccupies me. #books

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

Here’s another one that blew me away in 2024, Paul Yoon’s collection “The Hive and the Honey.” Quiet stories about geographic and generational displacement. The kind of stories I love to write. The kind of stories that are hard to publish these days. Magic.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

For Detroit-based writers and artists, the Kresge Foundation is open for fellowship applications. Learn more here: kresge.org/grants-socia...

kresge.org

Current Funding Opportunities - Kresge Foundation

The Kresge Foundation's current grant and social investment funding opportunities.

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

I'm a slow reader with high aspirations--so I've never hit my reading annual reading goal. In the spirit of valuing quality over quantity, I'm going to spotlight a few of my favorites starting with Barbar Eisenberg's 2018 collection YOUR DUCK IS MY DUCK 1/2 #books

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

My last post described my writing output in 2023. I didn't publish a lot, but I did produce many new words! In September, I finished a novel draft, a goal I'd held since 2009 when I started writing in earnest. I did my first writing residency and published one short piece. A 🧵

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Before picking back up with my writing journey, here's a recap: -2012: collab with my undergrad writing mentor results in a peer-reviewed article -2015: My first short story publication + the One Story Summer Workshop -2017: My first personal essay is published + MFA enrollment... 1/4

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Hello #writingcommunity ! ICYMI, @therumpus.net is holding our first ever contest! Submissions for the Rumpus Prize for Poetry, Fiction, & Nonfiction are now open! More information here: therumpus.net/the-rumpus-p...

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Let's talk #writingcontests. Entry fees add up, but you have to be in it to win it, or, in my case, to be shortlisted for it. This has happened to me a lot, and it does get old. To consistently feel like you're just a hair's breath from glory is exhausting. A🧵:

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

For me, being part of a #writingcommunity in 2020 was about bearing witness. I experienced the optimism of the movement for racial justice and a violent backlash. Returning to the page, I recognzied I needed to connect with others, but also strengthen ties across social boundaries. A🧵

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

2020 wasn't a great year for my writing, and I'm at peace with this now. I spent less time at my laptop and more time in my community. Columbus, OH convulsed in the months after George Floyd was killed, and my efforts as a writer couldn't meet the urgency of the moment. 1/5 #writingtips

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

After my story "Persistence" was published by One Story in November of 2018, I was full of hope. Two literary agencies reached out and wanted to see more of my work. In 2019, "Persistence" was listed as a distinguished story in Best American. I had reached a new stage in my #writing career 1/5

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Hayden's Ferry Review @haydensferryreview.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Hayden's Ferry Review is open for submissions of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, translation, and hybrid work until the end of the year. Visit our website to read our guidelines and then send your work to be considered for our upcoming web or print issue: haydensferryreview.com/submit

haydensferryreview.com

HFR-submit

SUBMISSIONS

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Chris Santantasio @crsantastic.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

This is wonderful, the kind of work that I don't think we would have without the internet. A glimpse coterminous with an exhale, the fundamentals shivering through. It has a stumbled-upon quality, a gift from the fiber optic flea market where we spend our days. I recommend!

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