iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

So much wonder in one sentence!! What a fabulous piece. #FlashInTheFeed #microfiction today from @fictivedream.bsky.social

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Great big shoutout to the editors and team at @doesithavepockets.bsky.social! They are so kind, even when declining my work. Go read their mag and/or send them some stories!

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

I know there are things I wouldn't want my family to read, but I write about them anyway. Maybe the trick is to keep it all in a burn box or a folder marked DELETE. But I don't think it's healthy not to write the things we need to write. Thanks for sharing this essay, @thorntonforreal.bsky.social !

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Interesting that the essayist's mother didn't want to be written about. Before he died, my dad gave me permission to write anything I wanted/needed to. This writing has been instrumental to my growth as a human, and has helped me love him better and forgive him for his failings.

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

After my mom died, I found some erotic poetry she'd written, and letters from a man besotted with her. They were uncomfortable to read - she was my mother, for God's sake! But they also showed me that she had a real life outside of motherhood, and that made me so happy. I think I'd rather know.

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Read my ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review of Amy Goldmacher's memoir Terms & Conditions, available now through @stanchion.bsky.social ! www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

The cover of Amy Goldmacher's memoir Terms & Conditions shows an image of a skull made out of flowers and feathers, with two large flowers where the eyes would be.

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

With me as the 4th! I watched the video of Jack Black doing Mr. Crowley last year so many times...

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Knocked on my butt this morning by this section of Amy Goldmacher's memoir Terms & Conditions, available now through @stanchion.bsky.social

HAM RADIO: Your father's favorite hobby. Pre-internet and pre-cell phone, a user needed to pass a licensing test proving knowledge of radio technologies, operating principles, and Morse code. He had a portable wallet-talkie unit for his car, but serious equipment was in his study. He put a 40-foot steel tower in your backyard to increase the reach of communication. Sunday mornings, he would close himself in his room, and you could hear the squawks, squeals, and squelches as he searched for connection as far away as the Black Forest in Germany, while you and your brother tried not to disturb him.

The cover of Amy Goldmacher's memoir Terms & Conditions shows flowers and feathers in the shape of a skull, with two large flowers where the eyes would be.

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I love that when you post Ghost Parachute stories, you also give the artist credit. And I love that it's not all super-slick art: every line made with the artist's hand, made with love and craft, not with AI.

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Congratulations on the nomination, Emily!!!

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Congratulations on the nomination, Liz!!

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I realize my post was a little vague. What I was trying to say is, the authors on this list are among my favourites, and I am so happy to see them nominated for Best Small Fictions! These stories from @turnandwork.com really deserve those nominations. Congratulations everyone!

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

"You can be in the right place in your life and not even know it; you don’t need the nostalgic shit to tell you that." #FlashInTheFeed by @hughbehmsteinberg.bsky.social in @turnandwork.com www.turnandwork.com/guest-post/l... Of all the flash I've read this year, this is one of my favourites.

turnandwork.com

Let it Bleed by Hugh Behm-Steinberg - Turn & Work

What plays in your mind during moments of silence?

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

"all you are, and ever were, and ever will be, contracted in that moment into an awareness of that fist, hovering, waiting, and vanished into the vacuum surrounding that suspended violence." #FlashInTheFeed by @thewritelifeliz.bsky.social in @turnandwork.com www.turnandwork.com/guest-post/w...

turnandwork.com

When You Are Mugged in a Boston Tube Station on Your Way Home from Your Night Shift - Turn and Work

A sudden act of violence contracts the entire universe into a single, breathless vacuum.

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

"and she says, I’m not a little girl, you know, and I say I know, but that sometimes I get scared you don’t need me anymore" #FlashInTheFeed by the wonderful @emilyrinkema.bsky.social in @turnandwork.com www.turnandwork.com/guest-post/v...

turnandwork.com

Vestigial - Turn and Work

Two sisters meet to share shocking secrets over unlimited breadsticks.

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I have two pieces on this list: one that was fun to write, and one that hurt. #FlashInTheFeed

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Mark me down for a pre-order!!!

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'm debating whether I want to read it! I struggle to read fiction in French though, so it might not be worth the effort. So many books in English I still haven't read...

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Dad would let us eat cake with our hands for a change, icing streaked on cheeks. Mom would tell him, “They’ll remember this when we’re gone,” her voice a little too bright for such a gloomy turn of phrase. @sarpsozdinler.bsky.social revolutionjohnjournal.wordpress.com/2026/09/17/s...

revolutionjohnjournal.wordpress.com

September 17, 2026: Fiction by Sarp Sozdinler

He asks me if I ever think about moving back home, like the house is still there, waiting for us to open the front door and step in dripping wet from the rain. He asks me: “What do you really do wi…

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

"Mama’s eyes are empty. I remember one time after Daddy’d been gone for months, I asked if she was lonely. She said nah, more like sad. She said sad was when you miss yourself and she’d been sad long before she ever met Daddy." #FlashInTheFeed by @tracieadams.bsky.social !

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

"One might debate my style, but treating its techniques as evidence of artificial intelligence has nothing to do with literary criticism," he said. Interesting to note the accusations of racism for the people pointing their fingers at this Canadian-Haitian writer.

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

AI controversy hits the French publishing world: "I come from a Haitian and Caribbean literary tradition in which poetry, imagery, repetition, and rhythm carry a living voice," Orélien said in the statement written in French and released by Éditions du Boréal. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

cbc.ca

Was this award-winning book written by AI? Scandal deepens skepticism in literary world | CBC News

A Quebec-based author is at the centre of an artificial intelligence scandal shaking the French literary world and raising questions around how the industry should be using AI — and its detection tool...

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

...by all the writers who have come before me. I'm at the point now where I'm second-guessing my own writing even as I'm drafting: Is this too common? Will this look like AI? I think the only way we can defend ourselves now is to keep all our notes, drafts, and comments from beta readers. Sad, eh?

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

When I've checked my own work in Pangram, it's come up as 100% human. But I know I have a lot of "tics" that come up again and again in my writing style. Repetition for the sake of rhythm, for example, and lots of em dashes. And I've been reading greedily for 50 years, so I'm heavily influenced...

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I think this is a really important point. If I think somebody used AI to write their story, I'm not going to say so in public for the same reason I don't believe in the death penalty: what if I'm wrong? What if the writer is not guilty as charged? Is it worth ruining that writer for good?

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Yes! This story blows me away every time I read it.

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Have you read Saltburn by @drewgum.bsky.social yet, MG? It's the gayest book I've ever read, and utterly filled with joy.

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

A story about a potato has no right to be this sad. Or this human. Amazing #FlashInTheFeed by @rachelmhollis.bsky.social in @fictivedream.bsky.social today.

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Reposted by Linda M. Bayley

Tade "Will Eat Your Heart in the Marketplace" Thompson @tadethompson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The best thing about being someone who loves reading is you want to read everything, everywhere, all at once. The worst thing about being someone who loves reading is you want to read everything, everywhere, all at once.

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Since readers are allowed to make nominations for the @genrepunkmag.bsky.social Haunting Award, I'm nominating @emilyrinkema.bsky.social 's piece Eunice Bobs Her Head and @tracieadams.bsky.social 's piece i met god in a bookstore. Both are still haunting me, after several months.

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"All the cookies in the world won't fill that hole, kid," she says. - @finnwritesstuff.bsky.social , "Free Cookies Taste Better," The Price of Cookies What a brilliant, beautiful, devastating #novellainflash , out from @offtopicpublishing.bsky.social

Cover of The Price of Cookies by Finnian Burnett shows a cartoon orange cookie with a bite taken out of it against a navy blue background.

He’s waiting for the flash of anger, for the punishment he came here for.
Instead, the clerk steps around the counter and puts both hands on his forearm. Kelvin can’t pull away, can’t stop looking at her face. “All the cookies in the world won’t fill that hole, kid,” she says.
Crying now, Kelvin looks down at the clerk’s hands, gently holding his arm. “What will?”
“I don’t know,” she whispers.

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Reposted by Linda M. Bayley

Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · 26/09/2026

This is a periodic reaffirmation that I do not, and will never, use genAI in the idea generation, conceptualisation, drafting, writing, editing or publicising of my stories and books, and will never use or commission genAI "art" for covers or illustrations. Avoid prompt jockeys and sloperators.

The letters "AI" with a red circle around, and line through.
Surrounded by the text "Say no to generative AI use in publishing"

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Reposted by Linda M. Bayley

Ani King (they/them) @aniking.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

@marioaliberto3.bsky.social is one of the most supportive people I know In the flash lit scene and I think we should all listen to Mario. 😌❤️ Grab a copy of Family Night from @masonjarpress.bsky.social here: masonjarpress.com/chapbooks-1/...

Bright red-pink ground has the cover image for Family Night on the left side and the following quote:

"FAMILY NIGHT is a lyrical gut-punch, like being kicked below the belt by a prima ballerina. Ani King invites you to have a seat at the table and engage with a cast of outcasts and upstarts, misfits and outsiders, as they share their stories of broken hearts and broken dreams. Exploring themes of identity, connection, and vulnerability with an unmatched urgency, from magic rabbit daughters to wasp mothers to coyote girls, King's collection renders the human condition bare in undeniable poetic prose." --Mario Aliberto III, author of All the Dead We Have Yet to Bury

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"And god forbid we unknowingly stumble on an AI-generated piece and genuinely enjoy reading it. How does one atone for this? Is it even possible to unlike prose after the identity of its non-human is brought to light?" I am so far down this effing rabbit hole... lithub.com/everyone-is-...

lithub.com

Everyone is an AI Cop Now: What Happens When an AI-Generated Story Wins a Prestigious Prize

In the early hours of Sunday, May 17th 2026, I stumbled on a tweet by Nigerian literary critic and essayist, Chimezie Chike, accusing Jamir Nazir, the newly minted 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Pri…

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

As I struggle more and more with the question of whether a story written by AI can still be a good story, I find this piece by Mike Monteiro really speaks to me. buttondown.com/monteiro/arc...

buttondown.com

How to write it like you told it

What do you say to someone who wants to write but struggles with writing and is tempted to use an LLM-based chatbot?

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

These readers were AMAZING. I could listen to Lindy Newns, @marionlougheed.bsky.social and @finnwritesstuff.bsky.social for hours, and I got to hear Ian Coldicott read for the first time! We're doing it all again Thursday, December 17. Hope to see you there! #WritersReading

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Linda M. Bayley @lmbayley.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I learned about this too late to attend, Lisa, but CONGRATULATIONS! I hope the launch party was wonderful for you.

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