iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

@ancaszilagyi.bsky.social is my favorite foodie writer and she strikes again here with a fitting tribute to garlic. I love garlic, and now I am hungry.

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Bopping along in my quick and dirty translation of an Old English text and come across “sceat.” Turn to my trusty Bosworth-Toller online dictionary to discover it means: a corner, a projection, a region, a bosom, a bay, a garment, a cloth napkin, a lap, a fold in a cloak. That clears it up!

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

“We’d hunch forward on that pink sofa, plastic plates in our laps, forlornly cutting beef sausage with inadequate plastic knives. Oh, that sausage, seemingly squat, never seemed to end!” No one writes food like @ancaszilagyi.bsky.social - what a great little trio of micros!

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Anca L. Szilágyi @ancaszilagyi.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

"At Mars Cheese Castle in Wisconsin, beef summer sausage is the purchase I always feel compelled to buy yet immediately regret." ICYMI, I'm happy to have three micro nonfiction pieces in Bluestem's summer issue. bluestemmagazine.com/s26/anca-szi... #foodwriting #amwritingmemoir

bluestemmagazine.com

Three Micros: Soup Baths, Children's Food, Beef Sausage on a Pink Leather Couch — Bluestem Magazine

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I saw Coyote vs. Acme yesterday and it’s fantastic. Very funny, unrelenting in its critique of monopolies and the systems that enable them, and full of intriguing stylistic and craft choices. I found myself strongly identifying with Coyote - well worth dragging yourself out of the house to see!

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Sara Crowley @saracrowley.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Just a reminder - we truly want to be a litmag anyone who wants to can sub to, but if the same names get in first every time that doesn’t work.

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Liz Rosen @thewritelifeliz.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

“My name is ancient, like my magic, like the core of the earth, like faith.” How @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social finds these extraordinary Saints to write about so gorgeously. Find a copy of @blackwarriorreview.bsky.social and check this story out.

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Dr. Thing Learner @drthinglearner.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I wrote an article about atomic grapefruits for @popsci.com and you can read it here: www.popsci.com/health/radia... Learn what red grapefruits and the Incredible Hulk have in common! #scicomm #atomic #science #food #fruit

popsci.com

Radiation fruit: How 1950s 'gamma gardens' created today's grapefruit

But don't worry: Grapefruits can't hurt you.

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

"Pete, always the doctor, wheeled Cathy into her bedroom’s en suite to brush her teeth after dinner. She let him. If dying taught her anything it was that kindness was often a selfish act." So excited to bring you Cheyenne Mann's story this week - a painful and funny work about modern dying.

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

I’ve read, loved, and admired @blackwarriorreview.bsky.social for a very long time, and it’s a tremendous honor to be included in their latest issue. Many thanks to all the wonderful people behind the scenes who brought this beautiful magazine to life!

Photo of a copy of Black Warrior Review, a literary magazine, resting on a table. The cover art is delightfully bizarre, an artistic representation that combines an infant human with that of an infant elephant in alternating stripes. It makes one whole. The human parts are in color, the elephant bits in grayscale.

Text reads:

Sarah Starr Murphy

A Medieval Saint Addresses Their Children Through the Centuries

How do you speak to someone you don't know?
First you weave a flower into your hair. Any sort of flower, a damp violet, a tissue-paper tulip, an imaginary hibiscus. Any kind of hair, short and textured, long and tangled, none at all.
You must then walk, climb, roll, or otherwise hoist yourself to the highest point you can see. The branches of a white pine, swaying dangerously in the breeze as nuthatches chatter. The swift steel and glass penthouse of a skyscraper, easily accessible by elevator. The second floor of your childhood home, standing on the bed where you lost your virginity. A snow-capped mountain.
Then you call my name.
My name is ancient, like my magic, like the core of the earth, like faith itself.
My name has been stricken from the list of saints, erased by the Brothers Grimm from their second edition of fairy tales, suppressed and ignored through the centuries.
In your high place with your flower, wish for someone to see you in a way that other saints cannot, and my name will come to you. Two names, actually.
St Wilgefortis, St Uncumber.
Let me unencumber you, my darling.

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Friday’s mail excitement!! Going to read this beautiful little chapbook by @thewritelifeliz.bsky.social so fast it won’t know what hit it!

Photo of the chapbook Survival Skills by Elizabeth Rosen, propped up on brick steps with jungly greenery behind.

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

This was a great event with so many talented writers and it’s cool to see some of our writing collected here! Thanks @turnandwork.com and especially thanks to @thewritelifeliz.bsky.social - go buy her book it’s amazing!!

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

It’s July and @theforge.bsky.social is open to submissions! As we gear up to read, I thought I’d share some quick, hopefully helpful tips for submitters. 🧵 - You don’t need to pitch us or summarize your story in the cover letter - we won’t see it anyway! Your work speaks for itself.

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Liz Rosen @thewritelifeliz.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

“Perhaps Amen lies in the hillside with all the waiting cicadas, their hushed breaths rasping through tiny spiracles.” @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social writing and ideas take my breath away. www.thimblelitmag.com/2026/04/18/m...

thimblelitmag.com

Mislaid

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Happy to have a very very short flash in the lovely Thimble today! Big thanks to @thimblelitmag.bsky.social for publishing it - the whole issue is full of beautiful art and poetry and worth a read on a summer morning!

thimblelitmag.com

Mislaid

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Late to post this due to vacation, but absolutely drop everything you’re doing and read Kellan Jensen’s story!! It will go in a whole bunch of directions you won’t anticipate and, even more impressive, it might just make you feel a little better about our world and the magic in it.

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The Forge Literary Magazine @theforge.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Our story of the week is The Great Glue Whale by Kellan Jensen. forgelitmag.com/2026/06/22/t...

forgelitmag.com

The Great Glue Whale - The Forge Literary Magazine

Great Glue Whale, a short fiction by Kellan Jensen

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Liz Rosen @thewritelifeliz.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Mark your calendars! You are cordially invited to the Zoom reading for my chapbook Survival Skills on July 2nd. There will be some kickass writers reading for it. Info 👇 www.sandandgravelpress.com/liz-rosen-ch...

sandandgravelpress.com

Elizabeth Rosen Chapbook Release — SAND AND GRAVEL PRESS

Sand and Gravel is a small but mighty press dedicated to the miniature. We publish pocket-sized collections of flash fiction, standalone stories, and poetry.

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Reposting this flash essay today in memory of my grandmother, a paramedic who once ran out the door for an emergency call and forgot about a chicken roasting in the oven. She never got to read this version, but I think she’d approve.

picturajournal.com

Sarah Starr Murphy - Pictura Journal

Sarah Starr Murphy’s work has appeared in several journals, and has been listed as a special mention in the 2025 Pushcart Anthology.

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

“Gary used to bring his solitude home with him. I could feel it whishing in behind him. It was like a gentle autumn draught.” I love everything about this funny, sad, little-bit-nutty story about grief and false teeth - can’t recommend it enough! Jan makes it all look effortless, as always.

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emma burnett @slashnburnett.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Love seeing Ex Partum out in the wild. Look how lovely it is, sitting there in the sunshine. Right before it rips out your faith in the system. Order yours! emmaburnett.carrd.co

Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

What a lovely Sunday to read @slashnburnett.bsky.social’s new novel!! I love her work and I’m flying through this already. Unsettling stories of motherhood are my jam!

Photo of the novel Ex Partum by Emma Burnett. The book is propped up against a planter full of herbs in the bright sunlight. The cover of the book appears to be a photo of a building mostly made of glass. It has an uneasy, intriguing SFF vibe.

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Will Willoughby @willwilloughby.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Excited to report I just signed a contract with Littoral Books to publish a short story collection! Scheduled for spring 2027 release. 🎉 If you’d like to know more, sign up for my newsletter, where I reflect on the writing process and give updates on my work, at www.willwilloughby.com. #AmWriting

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

“But a person cannot have a thousand hands, especially Mahdokht, who loved the winter and took daily afternoon walks during the season. It would take five hours or so to put one thousand gloves on one thousand hands.” - Shahrnush Parsipur, Women Without Men

Photo of the novel Women Without Men (A Novel of Modern Iran) by Shahrnush Parsipur. It has a badge on it that says “The International Booker Prize 2026 Longlisted.” The cover features a photo of a young woman looking directly into the camera as if it is a mirror. She appears to be plucking her eyebrows.

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Sara Crowley @saracrowley.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

My second editor's pick is up @theforge.bsky.social It's an excellent flash by Bethany Holmstrom: We're Not Monsters And so we didn't wish anything terrible on the boy. Only...

forgelitmag.com

We're Not Monsters - The Forge Literary Magazine

We're Not Monsters, a flash fiction by Bethany Holmstrom

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Kelli Dianne Rule @kdiannerule.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Working with @theforge.bsky.social was a delight. I'd recommend them to any author. They have a free submission window (put it on your calendar) and they pay contributors. Their editors closely read submissions and provide meaningful editorial services to accepted authors. forgelitmag.com/submit/

forgelitmag.com

Submit - The Forge Literary Magazine

Submit your prose to The Forge Literary Magazine

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Sarah Starr Murphy @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

So excited to finally get to this!!!Lauren’s such a fantastic short story writer and this is just what my Sunday needs. @ladiwoods.bsky.social

Photo of the short story collection The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe by Lauren D. Woods. Book is placed on a windowsill and the pink on the cover matches the pink of an azalea just visible in the background. The cover has black silhouettes of a cityscape and some birds.

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emma burnett @slashnburnett.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Do you like dystopian speculative fiction? Stories about food? A focus on parenting? Raging against the predatory capitalist machine? Awesome because I have a book for you! Pre-order your copy here: emmaburnett.carrd.co #scifi #stories #booksky 📚🪐 #parenting #food #agroecology