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Richard Leis

@richardleis.com
651 followers 415 following 462 posts

Writing speculative and horror poetry and fiction while working on an active Mars mission. "Curious Cat" in WEIRD FICTION QUARTERLY: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. "La fantasmas en Su Boca" nominated for the 2026 Rhysling Award. richardleis.com

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Richard Leis @richardleis.com · 13m
20 years of @uahirise.bsky.social images of Mars. What a ride it has been! www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report...
tucsonsentinel.com
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Niyyah Ruscher-Haqq @niyyahwrites.bsky.social · 13h
Hi Portland! Here's a Friday thing.
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Wendy N. Wagner 🎃 @wnwagner.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Portlanders! Next Friday (10/2, 7 pm) come help me launch the new novella THE VEIL by @niyyahwrites.bsky.social at Rose City Book Pub! Twin Peaks vibes, costumes, cherry pie PLUS a fabulous spooky read. It's going to be so fun! www.rosecitybookpub.com/events-1/202...
rosecitybookpub.com
Reading: The Veil by Niyyah Ruscher-Haqq — Rose City Book Pub
Niyyah writes middle grade and adult speculative fiction, fantasy and horror, with an emphasis on Muslim American and multicultural characters. She has several stories published in anthologies, and he...
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Amelinda Bérubé @metuiteme.bsky.social · 20h
***cackling*** Are you guys ready for this??? I have a poem in @strangehorizons.bsky.social and it is called - ahem - "Why you fucked Mothman" strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...
strangehorizons.com
Why you fucked Mothman
his wildfire eyes saw the world burning and he could do nothing but tell you
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Jacy Morris @jacymorris.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Cool anthology over here, which has one of my stories in it! Get you a copy now!
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Jacy Morris @jacymorris.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Stoked to be in here!
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Keith Rosson @keithrosson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This interview’s been picked up in a lot of places, pretty neat: www.hastingstribune.com/ap/entertain...
hastingstribune.com
Stephen King-praised horror novelist Keith Rosson returns with ‘Crone’
There’s a new monster hunter prowling the shelves.
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K. Sigler @ksigler.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I'm getting annoyed by supposed progressives who seem to believe trans women are a threat to women's sports. Stop swallowing MAGA bigotry and spitting it back up. You look gross. Here are some facts: www.sf.gov/trans-women-... I'll summarize them in this thread.
sf.gov
Trans Women in Sports: Facts Over Fear | SF.gov
Resources to combat misinformation around trans women's participation in sports.
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Gwynne Garfinkle @gwynnega.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In one week!
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tommyspoon @tommyspoon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I received a bit of news this week. I sum it all up here: www.tommyspoon.net/post/septemb...
tommyspoon.net
September 2026 News!
Yeah, I got a lot of news this week! Some bad, some good. We’ll get to how I’m feeling about all of it in a minute, but let’s get this week’s headlines out of the way: • I was laid off from my company...
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Adam Bolivar @adambolivar.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Portlanders! On the sacred night of Halloween, a never-before seen spectacle will take place: a PUPPET EDDA, the world’s first alliterative-verse marionette show, preceded by spooky poetry readings from legendary author John Shirley and myself. At the Rose City Book Pub, Portland on Oct. 31st, 8 pm.
Puppet show poster
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Richard Leis @richardleis.com · 25/09/2026
I wrote up a few details about next week's "Get Speculative! Poetry Night" reading, featuring @bugthewriter.bsky.social, Katherine Quevedo, and me! richardleis.com/2026/09/25/r...
richardleis.com
Richard Leis reading at "Get Speculative! Poetry Night" on Oct 2, 2026
Richard Leis joins his poet friends Brian U. Garrison and Katherine Quevedo for a night of speculative poetry on Friday, October 2, 2026.
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Chris J. Karr @chris.omgwars.com.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026
In addition to radio randomness, software screeds, and Transformer thoughts, I occaisionally moonlight as a weird fiction writer (and publisher). My tale "Loading Screen" is included in the latest @weirdfictionquarterly issue focused on liminal spaces and beings. It's a love letter to the NES […]
omgwars.com
Original post on omgwars.com
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Cynthia Pelayo @cynthiapelayo.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
SOMETHING FOLLOWED US HOME is included in the Chicago Review of Books 12 Must Read Books of September. Thank you! chireviewofbooks.com/2026/09/01/1...
chireviewofbooks.com
12 Must Read Books of September 2026 - Chicago Review of Books
It’s been fun, summer! But come September, there immediately comes a hint of fall in the air (and I don’t just mean from all the Halloween candy that’s already on the shelves). Fall in the book world ...
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Shortwave Publishing @shortwavebooks.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Cover reveal day for @clashbooks.bsky.social's Christoph Paul's COSPLAY TO DEATH! Cover design by @alandistro.bsky.social. In COSPLAY TO DEATH, a deranged killer believes that killing cosplayers while they are in costume allows him to absorb the powers of the character they're cosplaying... (1/2)
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Gennifer Hutchison @gennhutchison.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Seems like everyone is having a rough go of it these days, so here's a periodic reminder that you're not alone, it's okay if you're not handling everything even remotely well, and I'm glad you're here.
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Weird Fiction Quarterly @weirdfictionquarterly.com · 24/09/2026
"Liminal Spaces & Beings" is NOW out. Get our latest release before that amorphous being growling behind you beats you to it. #LiminalSpaces #WeirdFictionQuarterly #FlashFiction #WeirdFiction #Shapeshifters
weirdfictionquarterly.com
NOCLIP through our new Liminal Spaces & Beings issue
Our new issue on liminal spaces and beings has escaped containment and is now available for anyone to order and read.
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Angry Gable Press @angrygablepress.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Cover reveal for Cozy in the Apocalypse! angrygablepress.com/2026/09/23/c...
angrygablepress.com
Cozy in the Apocalypse: Front Cover Reveal
***
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Erik Grove @erikgrove.com · 23/09/2026
I've been very slowly rewatching Deep Space Nine for months and I'm savoring the 6th season now, which I think is the show at its peak. Just had Far Beyond the Stars on and dammit, we didn't appreciate Avery Brooks as an actor and director enough. He did a remarkable job at both in this episode.
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UArizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory @uarizonalpl.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
LPL welcomes NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman to campus today! 🚀
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Brian U. Garrison @bugthewriter.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Where to find me October 2 and October 6 (in bookstores, of course)! Excited to share the stage with @talkinghyphae.bsky.social, @richardleis.com, and Katherine Quevedo!
Two book events in Portland Oregon: Friday October 2, 6:30pm at BOLD Coffee & Books, and Tuesday October 6, 6:30pm at Parallel Worlds Bookshop
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Cat Rambo @catrambo.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
For newer F&SF writers, here's a resource you may not be aware of, the Submission Grinder. It helps you find markets and track your submissions - and even publishes some fiction. Free to use, but if you use it a lot, consider supporting their Patreon. #booksky thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com
thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com
The Submission Grinder
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Richard Leis @richardleis.com · 23/09/2026
"Star Business," my new flash fiction story in WEIRD FICTION QUARTERLY: LIMINAL SPACES & BEINGS, finds a reanimated cryonics patient awakening to their second life with impossible memories and a quiet dread. www.amazon.com/dp/B0HKP1P1L...
amazon.com
Weird Fiction Quarterly: Liminal Spaces & Beings 2026
Weird Fiction Quarterly: Liminal Spaces & Beings 2026 [Weird Fiction Quarterly, Murray, Will, Piedmont, Gevera Bert, Wiswell, TL, Phan, Cindy, Gorman, Matthew Aaron, Braun, Daniel, Moore, Andrew, Dumars, Lisa Morton, Gucker, Nick The Hat ] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Weird Fiction Quarterly: Liminal Spaces & Beings 2026
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Brian U. Garrison @bugthewriter.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Ask the questions that have no answers. Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest. —Wendell Berry
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Susan Kaye Quinn is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱 @susankayequinn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
excellent video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pauB... Conover has been doing a consistently good job of calling out AI since early on (I was sharing his videos early in 2023 susankayequinn.com/2023/05/the-... )
youtube.com
"AI Existential Risk" Was Invented to Distract Us
YouTube video by Adam Conover
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Keith Rosson @keithrosson.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Big news day. CRONE's pub day, COFFIN MOON is out in paperback, and then there's this: deadline.com/2026/09/jess...
deadline.com
Jessica Biel & Paramount TV Studios Adapting 'Coffin Moon' For TV
Paramount TV Studios is adapting Keith Rosson's horror novel Coffin Moon for TV with Jessica Biel's Iron Ocean, Micah Fitzerman-Blue, & Noah Harpster.
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Richard Leis @richardleis.com · 22/09/2026
I just backed Three-Lobed Burning Eye magazine 2027 on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/asf...
kickstarter.com
Three-Lobed Burning Eye magazine 2027
Publishing original horror, fantasy, and science fiction since 1999. Let’s create another year of strange and wondrous tales!
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Jacy Morris @jacymorris.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Added 2k to This Rotten World 13. Now up to 103k words. Figure I'll probably be done near 120k. Updated the old substack... where you can read 103k words of zombie goodness right now, and 75k of the weirdest fantasy you've ever read in The Bardtender. Onto my slasher story.
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Andrew S. Fuller @andrewsfuller.com · 21/09/2026
I know that we said this before but this is the most important election ever. Please remember to check that you're registered, plan ahead to make it to the polls or mail your ballot early. Help family and friends get ready. Get our voice out strong!
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Luca @lucagalletti.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
So glad he never apologized!
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Juleigh Howard-Hobson @juleigh.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
My dark sci-fi sonnet is up in Kismet. (It was accepted over a year ago, please excuse the old bio. ) thekismetmagazine.com/2026/08/28/p...
thekismetmagazine.com
Penultimate Engagement
I don’t sleep now.
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Shortwave Publishing @shortwavebooks.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
New title announcement! Our first YA horror novel! And the first title coming from our Shortwave Teen imprint... ABANDONED HOPE by @tanyapell.bsky.social will release in 2028! We're so excited to get to work with Tanya again!
Publishers Marketplace Deal Report which reads, in part: ABANDONED HOPE by Tanya Pell, in which a group of high school friends go urban exploring in an abandoned youth detention center hoping to go viral by filming a fake ghost hunting show, only to discover the ghosts may be real.
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Mark Marley @markmarley.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
arizonadailystar-az.newsmemory.com?publink=206b...
arizonadailystar-az.newsmemory.com
UA grad helped name asteroid after Weird Al Yankovic
HENRY BREANArizona Daily Star Is it weird for a rock star to have his
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Mark Marley @markmarley.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
LPL alum honors Weird Al.
Newspaper screen shot of article, headline “UA grad helped name asteroid after Weird Al' Yankovic”
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Richard Leis @richardleis.com · 19/09/2026
Tomorrow! I'm bringing lots of books and pride.
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Adam Bolivar @adambolivar.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I'm pleased to have a poem, "The Twilit Land," in the Liminal Spaces issue of Weird Fiction Quarterly alongside such a cavalcade of amazing writers. weirdfictionquarterly.com/coming-soon-...
weirdfictionquarterly.com
Coming Soon: Liminal Spaces & Beings
We found the "Liminal Spaces & Beings" manuscript and are publishing it before it disappears between dimensions again!
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Richard Leis @richardleis.com · 18/09/2026
Duncan Sheik's "Barely Breathing" would definitely be on the soundtrack of my young adulthood. His music for Spring Awakenings also evolved my appreciation for the musical. RIP. youtu.be/A-oh-tP6RvA?...
youtu.be
Duncan Sheik - Barely Breathing (Official Video)
YouTube video by Atlantic Records
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Richard Leis @richardleis.com · 17/09/2026
I have YouTube Premium and pay for ad-free streaming services, so I don't generally see ads. Imagine my shock when I discovered my 75-year-old mom's YouTube feed is full of A.I.-generated videos and ads. It's a nightmare. I am truly disturbed and upset to see what she's been subjected to.
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Gabino Iglesias @gabino.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Here’s your morning mood, courtesy of plastiboo.
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Weird Fiction Quarterly @weirdfictionquarterly.com · 16/09/2026
Don't let your publisher take your latest issue's manuscript into non-Euclidean reading nooks, no matter how strongly he insists that it won't disappear on its own accord.
weirdfictionquarterly.com
Coming Soon: Liminal Spaces & Beings
We found the "Liminal Spaces & Beings" manuscript and are publishing it before it disappears between dimensions again!
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SF & F Poetry Assn @sfpoetry.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
NEW on the SFPA Blog: Remembering David C. Kopaska-Merkel (1957-2026) sfpoetry.org/wp/2026/09/1...
sfpoetry.org
Remembering David C. Kopaska-Merkel (1957-2026) – Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association
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Susan Kaye Quinn is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱 @susankayequinn.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
my plan needs to involve more grasshoppers (and poetry)
The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
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Paul F. Tompkins @pftompkins.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
In light of everything that’s going on
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Millicent Borges Accardi @topangahippie.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Congrats 2026 National Book Award longlisters for POETRY! Victoria Chang, Carolina Ebeid!!!! Brenda Hillman, Richie Hofmann, Fady Joudah, Layli Long Soldier, Jonah Mixon-Webster, Jake Rose, Jake Skeets, and Susan Stewart www.nationalbook.org/longlist-for...
nationalbook.org
Longlist for the 2026 National Book Award for Poetry - National Book Foundation
The ten contenders for the National Book Award for Poetry Find the New Yorker announcement here. The National Book Foundation today announced the Longlist for the 2026 National Book Award for Poetry with The New Yorker. The Finalists in all five categories will be revealed on Tuesday, October 6 with the New York Times; Winners will be announced live at the 77th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner on Wednesday, November 18, 2026. For more information and to register to watch the livestream, please visit nationalbook.org/awards. Four of the ten poets are past honorees for the National Book Award for Poetry: Victoria Chang was Longlisted in 2020 for Obit, Brenda Hillman was Longlisted in 2013 for Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire, Fady Joudah was a Finalist in 2024 for […], and Layli Long Soldier was a Finalist in 2017 for WHEREAS. Four of this year’s Longlisted titles come from … Continue reading "Longlist for the 2026 National Book Award for Poetry"
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Richard Leis @richardleis.com · 16/09/2026
I'm preparing for the internet to be overrun by A.I. agents in 6–12 months by remembering how I lived in the fall of 1991 as a teenager when I moved from Oregon to New York to attend college. Pre-web, pre-cellphone, no computer, no credit cards, on my own for the first time, I think I did well.
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Cindy Phan @cindyphanauthor.com · 16/09/2026
Do you Backrooms? Because "The Father, The Son and the Hungry Ghosts" will appear in @weirdfictionquarterly.com's "Liminal Spaces & Beings" issue Available SOON and with a STACKED TOC ✨ How do you fight a ghost and who gave you the right and do you think that makes you, like, what...special? 👻💀🍖
weirdfictionquarterly.com
Coming Soon: Liminal Spaces & Beings
We found the "Liminal Spaces & Beings" manuscript and are publishing it before it disappears between dimensions again!
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Captain Mark Kelly @captmarkkelly.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Donald Trump's trades: 28,700 All of Congress's trades: 22,200 My trades: 0 Ban stock trading in Washington.
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Chris J. Karr @chris.omgwars.com.ap.brid.gy · 15/09/2026
RE: beige.party/@Lana/117276524156626186 Are we in Black Mirror? This feels like we're in Black Mirror. #TheNationalAnthem #BlackMirror
beige.party
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SF & F Poetry Assn @sfpoetry.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Voting for both the Rhysling and Elgin Awards closes TODAY SFPA Members! The vote is often quite close, so get yours in 🚀 And THANK YOU for reading and voting and helping us to celebrate the best in speculative poetry 🌟
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Lightspeed Magazine @lightspeedmagazine.com · 15/09/2026
The 2026 LIGHTSPEED + NIGHTMARE Kickstarter is NOW LIVE! Check out our star-studded lineup of authors & peruse our rewards: subscriptions, signed books, rare magazine collectibles, t-shirts, mugs, and other fun stuff. Thank you in advance if you're able to offer your support.💖 bit.ly/LS-NM-26
LIGHTSPEED & NIGHTMARE Kickstarter graphic. Left side: Bright light blue background with rays (as of light) bursting out from the center. Central image is an open book with a rocket blasting up out of it. Below the book is the LIGHTSPEED magazine wordmark; the word lightspeed is rendered in a orange-to-yellow gradient, with a white outline around it and dropshadow underneath it.
Right side: Bright light yellow background with rays (as of light) bursting out from the center. Central image is an open book with a haunted house emerging from it. Below the book is the NIGHTMARE magazine wordmark; the word nightmare is rendered in a dark red to lighter red gradient, with a white outline around it and dropshadow underneath it.
Top: the words "LIVE on Kickstarter"
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