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Mitch James

@mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social
133 followers 146 following 55 posts

First-gen PhD, professor of writing, author of the novel Seldom Seen, a Miner's Tale. Writer of tales short and shorter, poems, CNF, scholarship. Facilitator of therapeutic and expressive writing workshops. Crafter and consumer of cocktails.

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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Yes! Another banger from @emilyrinkema.bsky.social Damn... www.whaleroadreview.com/rinkema/
whaleroadreview.com
A Story about God
I tell John I’m tired of writing what I know, of writing about grief and loss. I want to write a story about something I know nothing about, I tell him. He brings me coffee in bed every morning, an…
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Christ, this one. Damn.
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
I have a new piece out at the venerable Flash Fiction Magazine *crowd goes wild*. Thanks to everyone at FFM, who spends their time and energy for the love of the form. Respect.
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Laura Besley @laurabesley.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
'Our son Brody admired his father for the ships when he was little. He never learned how Leon got them into the bottles.' #fiction #flashfiction #writingcommunity Phenomenal piece: Ships by @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social flashfictionmagazine.com/blog/2026/04...
flashfictionmagazine.com
Ships
Our son Brody admired his father for the ships when he was little. He never learned how Leon got them into the bottles. It wasn’t like everybody else, who folded the masts then tugged the stays onc…
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
A big thanks to Amy Mitchell and her crew at @thetemzreview.bsky.social for publishing "The Mighty." Prepare to feel real weird reading it. I hope you'll join me in experiencing the issue. Share with those who read and those who might and, especially, those who should. shorturl.at/KTp4L
shorturl.at
James 34
By Mitch James
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Love this place! Let's Gooooo!
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Have you read @sfreligh.bsky.social short story collection Other Emergencies? If not, let me tell you why you should! shorturl.at/dh04I
shorturl.at
Such Madness. Such Damage. A Review of Sarah Freligh’s Other Emergencies
This collection follows the hardscrabble lives of the working class and working poor as they lumber through the bleak, unending grit and wet gray ash of their lives. Even though some rise above the…
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Excited to see my name on this list. Big thanks to @alliumjournal.bsky.social for accepting then nominating my work. Best of luck, everybody!
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Love this! Gonna to read 'em all!
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Just discovered this little slice of the microsphere! Can't wait to dive into @claudineliterary.bsky.social
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
I'm behind on promoting a rare piece of published nonfiction. A huge thanks to @alliumjournal.bsky.social for publishing this frantic, plaintive experience. tinyurl.com/ya7na9as
tinyurl.com
Mitch James — Allium, A Journal of Poetry & Prose
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
“Uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, cervix,” Dr. Doris Day says. “I say we take them all.” “That’s a lot of me,” I say. “Oh, you’d be surprised how little it is!" Awesome story by @kathyfish.bsky.social in Hot Flash Literary tinyurl.com/3ubv7uv2
tinyurl.com
Wyoming - Hot Flash Literary
It’s the time of the Great Evacuation. That’s what my friend Jess calls it. I’ve been bleeding all over the place. My body is emptying itself out. It’s undignified. And painful.  Out for coffee with J...
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
"The men are dying . . . beautiful boys ugly-cry too." On-point rendering by @jamesmontgomery.bsky.social in his story "Boys in Boxes," Published in @fracturedlit.bsky.social fracturedlit.com/boys-in-boxes/
fracturedlit.com
Boys in Boxes - Fractured
The men are dying. We’re the boys who see them. In tabloids, on news bulletins. Faces pocked with purple lesions, bodies ravaged by weight loss. Their abandoned eyes, their hollowed-out stares, hold u...
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Super excited (and a little proud) to have new micro published with such a preeminent supporter of the super short form. Thanks to everyone @lostballoon.bsky.social !!
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
A masterclass example of precision dialogue used to reveal the story not told. Admired the subtleties in awareness of marriage, sacrifice, taking and being taken advantage of, rebirth, and failure. A good study of the flash fiction by Gaurav Bhalla, published in Journal of Compressed Creative arts
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Bookshelfie ⭐️ @bookshelfie.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
#booksky
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Matt Kendrick @mattkendrick.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
"I had to wrestle Patricia into isolation again. I’ve never had a senior like her. This is why Gary thinks it’s work causing the miscarriages" Such a fascinating piece that braids together different elements and character focuses, and leaves so much for a reader to discover on second / third reads
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Big thanks to @bendinggenres.bsky.social for publishing my braided micro piece that uses Leviticus, the epistolary form, and a little bit Minecraft. Originally drafted in an @sfreligh.bsky.social workshop. Can't wait to read through the issue! bendinggenres.com/prophecy/
bendinggenres.com
Prophecy
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Stoked to be a finalist for this contest! Thanks to all the editors @flashfrog.bsky.social and Guest Judge Gina Chung for your time and commitment 🤟
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
"If Leo Tolstoy could have ten kids and famously forget some of their names, then I could get pregnant and keep creating everyday." Fuck yes. Megan Mizanty's "Hillers" in @bendinggenres.bsky.social tinyurl.com/7edhwaet
tinyurl.com
Hillers
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Though I'm from the rural Midwest and not South, much of this piece from @raniqualee.bsky.social in @barrenmagazine.bsky.social felt like home. And that ending. C'mon, ya'll. tinyurl.com/2hj3wwmu
tinyurl.com
F-150, Carry Me Over
Barren Magazine - F-150, Carry Me Over -
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Admire the nuance of mother/daughter & mother/son here, as well the promising ending and chance at redemption and growth: Read @rachellaverdiere.bsky.social in @okaydonkey.bsky.social tinyurl.com/4sbpxvhy
tinyurl.com
Almost Plea to My Ex-Therapist by Rachel Laverdiere
Things may have gotten too serious too quickly, but I gather up the long skirt of my dress and step out of Steve’s vintage yellow bug—a car I’ve dreamed of owning since I was little— one of Steve’s…
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
This is the first time I've read flash about a serial killer. There's no showing off here. Just the power and precision of a well-told story. "In The Chips" @ tinyurl.com/ye7pd59b
tinyurl.com
In The Chips – Free Flash Fiction
Aunt Gertie was stronger than she looked. As we would learn. Surviving alone all those years after Uncle Dan just up and left.   Actually, she had buried Dan in the backyard herself long ago after his...
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
Nearly two years behind on this brilliant piece of flash @flashfrog.bsky.social, but with what just happened in New Orleans and what will undoubtedly happen again soon, the story, sadly, still resonates. tinyurl.com/4pyajt65
tinyurl.com
No Dead Bodies in the Dining Room by Kathryn LeMon
*THE BLUE FROG 1st PLACE WINNER* Introduction by Guest Judge AIMEE BENDER: Last year I was so taken by Elisa Gabbert’s close reading of Auden’s poem “Musee des Beaux Arts” and how she considered th…
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Fractured Lit @fracturedlit.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
We're just thrilled to be recognized this way! Thank you to everyone that voted for us!
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
The thinning of the animals; the self-alienation of humans; the world returning without them; the hospitals beginning to fill--a vivid display of the Malthusian Cycle, balanced on deft prose. tinyurl.com/4cmmxjcy in @nffr.bsky.social
tinyurl.com
The End of Mammals by Erin Ruble | Issue #35
It began with the pigs. As one factory farm after another succumbed, animal rights activists proclaimed it proof of the system’s failure.
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 26/12/2024
“I began to have this dream where instead of being signed we just went missing,” says a young model in a state of mental decline, not realizing that her and her friend’s abundant visibility as models is the ultimate invisibility. Beautiful work. tinyurl.com/muzr84p9
tinyurl.com
As a 90s Supermodel - SmokeLong Quarterly
Karina and I didn’t like the work. And we didn’t like our bosses. And we didn’t like to talk about love unless there was pain involved, otherwise we found it so uninteresting. She liked to say things ...
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
I admire the dichotomy in education highlighted by @sammatin.bsky.social in this interview. Best read alongside the story, "People of Color Monologue," which to me is a politically charged piece that suggests that with love there's hope. tinyurl.com/yvddv6dc
tinyurl.com
Smoke & Mirrors with Sam Matin - SmokeLong Quarterly
Nadiya is from Detroit while Ali is Arab and Persian and Areeba is Bangladeshi. How important was it for you to choose characters who might not come from the same geographic area or ethnicity but shar...
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
The voice of this piece, the sense of place, the staying silent in life and not speaking ill of the dead (just like in the American Midwest), and the way the living stand fragmented around the deceased. Fucking beautiful. Let’s just someone say it already. Hot damn. shorturl.at/Kzi41
smokelong.com
These Things We Not Saying - SmokeLong Quarterly
At the church’s gate, until the town people surrounded them, the women not spoke the horrible truth. They not talked about the man’s wives who, when they saw him, dropped on the ground at his feet lik...
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Excited to see the new issue out. Check out my story "Obit," written in an @sfreligh.bsky.social workshop, and the accompanying interview with the sagacious Chey Dugan. Can wait to read through it all. Congrats, everyone!🤘
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
If you can't put on headphones and have an outer body experience listening to the Interstellar soundtrack, then we're made of different star dust.
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Congrats to all the longlisters. Best of luck to yinz!
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SmokeLong Quarterly @smokelong.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
⭐THE FINALISTS OF THE SMOKELONG GRAND MICRO CONTEST⭐ These six micros will appear in the December issue of SmokeLong alongside four stories chosen from 3000 submissions in the general queue. Congratulations to everyone on this list; you’ve done something remarkable. www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
smokey grey text on black background. The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest Finalists
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
I'm floored, shocked, proud--all of it--to know I'm one of the six finalist for this most prestigious writing award. No matter how it pans out, I'm straight chuffed! Best of luck, everyone! Can't wait to read your work and interviews.
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
It's been a minute since I've lost myself in her work, but with winter break on the horizon, about to dip into @catherinelacey.bsky.social's Biography of X. Favorite Quotes to come.
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
This from @yourimpossiblevoice.com www.yourimpossiblevoice.com/basket-filler/
yourimpossiblevoice.com
Basket Filler • Issue 31
By Linda Wojtowick — It’s like when someone fills a basket. It looks / good. It looks like the right thing. But that’s / how it happens. You won’t know the road. / Sometimes the largest fillers are th...
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Mitch James @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Following the lead of many writer friends, I just liberated myself from the cesspool that is X. I'm proud to say that my first post ever on BSKY is that I made the longlist for the Mikey @smokelong.bsky.social. Congrats to the others and for those still in the running for the top spot. Best of luck!
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