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Stephen Delaney

@stephendelaney.bsky.social
632 followers 557 following 42 posts

Writer, editor, human. Words in New World Writing, Bending Genres, South Florida Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. Author of the chapbook OUR PLACE IS IN BETWEEN. 💙 #foreignlit #frogs bottlecap.press/products/ourpsd stephen-delaney.com

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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
“I think the writing of fiction involves enormous anxiety and enormous risk. And I want fiction always to situate us in the psychic and literal spot where life is most difficult, most dangerous, most beautiful.” — John Hawkes #writing #fiction
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The Epilogue @theepilogue.net · 03/09/2026
Thanks to @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social for taking time to visit and talk about writing the uncanny, nature, and his fantastic writing craft book, Wonderbook. #writing #podcast #writincommunity #writingadvice #writingtips #scifi #booksky #writers #authors #writesky #writersky
theepilogue.net
Writing the Uncanny: Writing Advice from Jeff VanderMeer - The Epilogue...
In this episode of our podcast for writers (who take craft too seriously), take a journey into the uncanny with award-winning author Jeff VanderMeer where […]
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Stone Circle Review @stonecirclereview.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I often think of poetry not just as a craft, but as a kind of ritual technology—one that allows me to commune with what's been lost, obscured, or erased. -- Nina C. Peláez
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Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Three Ted Chiang stories, very different in structure, but all explore the theme of free will in ways that inspire an intense emotional response. Let's unpack the works that writer @looseleafellie.bsky.social calls Chiang's "Free Will Holy Trinity":
reactormag.com
Three Ted Chiang Stories That Broke My Brain - Reactor
Exploring the "Free Will Holy Trinity" — three of the most perfect speculative stories ever written.
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
“The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.” — James Baldwin #author #quote
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
“We now have accepted a brutal, capitalist model of time that represents passing moments as close-packed detonations of panic.” Some great thoughts by Dan Chiasson on AI’s supposed help: www.nybooks.com/articles/202... #booksky #writing
nybooks.com
Think for Yourself | Dan Chiasson
One of the most dehumanizing effects of AI is the short cuts it offers through the gaps and impasses intrinsic to the act of writing.
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Just a reminder that my chapbook OUR PLACE IS IN BETWEEN is available both in print and as a PDF. You can read about it here: bottlecap.press/products/our... #flashfiction #chapbook
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Ursula K. Le Guin Bot @leguinbot.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
We all have forests on our minds. Forests unexplored, unending. Each one of us gets lost in the forest, every night, alone.
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
“No, it’s not easy to write. It’s as hard as breaking rocks. But sparks and splinters fly like flashing steel.” — Clarice Lispector #writing #quote
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Los Angeles Review of Books @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
"'The Illuminated Man' seeks to trace out the roots of Ballard’s visionary fiction in his life, without reducing the former to the latter." Steven Shaviro on "The Illuminated Man": lareviewofbooks.org/article/jg-ball…
lareviewofbooks.org
The Estranged Worlds of J. G. Ballard | Los Angeles Review of Books
An incisive and moving new critical biography of one of the nuclear age’s greatest visionaries.
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Here are two pieces from my new chapbook--a ghost story and a cat story. I write these whenever I can. #chapbook #booksky
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Jo Lloyd but jolly 🌍🐎 @jolloyds.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Refreshing, generous post on POV, with lots of good examples to read or reread
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
“Literature is always trying to show other parts of this immense universe in which we live. It’s endless. I’m sure there will be other writers who will discover new worlds.” — Nathalie Sarraute #reading #writing
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Joseph Dante @josephdante.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Spent some time with words by @stephendelaney.bsky.social. His new chapbook includes a collab between us! A curious collection of defamiliarizing, semi-fabulist flashes and prose poems. You can get a copy here: bottlecap.press/products/our...
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Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
How Primo Levi saw himself in Kafka after Auschwitz.
buff.ly
A New Language: On Primo Levi’s Translation of Kafka
Not only did Kafka create a new language to describe the world, he also invented a new punctuation: he put question marks where there had never been any before. “Why” is the word that k…
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
This might be my favorite Lydia Davis story. #reading #fiction
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Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
@rabihalameddine.bsky.social and John Freeman consider their new anthology and the appeal of the international short story.
buff.ly
The International Short Story is Booming
In 2002, a friend asked if I would join him for a San Francisco Symphony concert with David Robinson as guest conductor. They were to play Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphonie. I was a bit ambi…
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Apologies to the authors, who put a lot of thought into their order.
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
When I read story collections, I always read the shortest ones first, leaving the longer ones for later. Does anyone else do this? #booksky
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
My chapbook OUR PLACE IS IN BETWEEN is now available from Bottlecap Press. The pieces explore marginal life and have magical or fantastical elements. They're sad but I hope you enjoy them. #booksky #fiction #bottlecappress bottlecap.press/products/ourpsd
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 26/02/2026
The right book can “make a subject that’s never crossed my mind, or that strikes me as aggressively boring, into something incantatory,” Deb Olin Unferth writes:
bit.ly
Nine Books to Reset Your View of the World
Each of these titles will widen your perspective, offering you original insight and vision.
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Brevity / Dinty W. Moore @dintywmoore.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
“You’re never going to kill storytelling, because it’s built into the human plan. We come with it.” ~ Margaret Atwood
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
“We have been taught to be ashamed of not being 'outgoing.' But a writer's job is ingoing.” — Ursula K. Le Guin #writing #quote
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Daunt Books Publishing @dauntbookspub.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Thrilled to announce that in July 2026, we are publishing the magical EARTH 7 by Deb Olin Unferth. A love story set against both a love letter to planet Earth, and a portrait of its slow demise, EARTH 7 is a novel for our times, and for all times dauntbookspublishing.co.uk/book/earth-7/
Deb Olin Unferth's EARTH 7 cover: on the horizon of a desert, two figures hold hands. Around them is the vastness and beauty of outer space.
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
“Description is hard. Remember that all description is an opinion about the world. Find a place to stand.” — Anne Enright #writing #fiction
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Jacqueline Doyle @jacqdoyle.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Love this New Year's poem by Naomi Shihab Nye (recommended on the @matchbooklitmag.bsky.social Substack): www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48597/...
poetryfoundation.org
Burning the Old Year
Notes friends tied to the doorknob, transparent scarlet paper, sizzle like moth wings, marry the air.
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Joseph Dante @josephdante.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
“Whether we are happy or unhappy leads us to write one way or another. When we are happy our imagination is stronger; when we are unhappy our memory works with greater vitality.” —Natalia Ginzburg
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
My favorite books this year: INTO THE WEEDS - Lydia Davis THE PELICAN CHILD - Joy Williams MAN IN THE HOLOCENE - Max Frisch SHORT: AN INTERNATIONAL ANTHOLOGY MOON SONGS - Carol Emshwiller CATASTROPHE - Dino Buzzati #booksky
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Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Hwang Bo-Reum recommends little ways to cultivate your reading (and writing) life.
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3 Ways to Become a Better Reader
Always Have a Book With You I read somewhere that authors are voracious readers. I would imagine so. When I read, I also feel the urge to create something of my own. Likewise, I don’t think I’ve ev…
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
“A story happens when two equally appealing forces, or characters, or ideas try to occupy the same place at the same time, and they’re both right.” — Amy Hempel #amwriting #fiction
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Book Post @bookpostusa.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Happy pub day to The Pelican Child by Joy Williams! To celebrate, we’ve unlocked her Book Post Diary: Hemingway and His Houses. Read here → books.substack.com/p/diary-joy-... @aaknopf.bsky.social #EduSky #Books
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
“The whole language of writing for me is finding out what you don’t want to know, what you don’t want to find out. But something forces you to anyway.” — James Baldwin #writing #fiction
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New Door Books @newdoorbooks.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
In @literaryhub.bsky.social, @devintoshea.bsky.social describes how movies are popularizing the classic #Pynchon theme: "The war between the powerful and the powerless." lithub.com/thomas-pynch...
lithub.com
Thomas Pynchon Has Been Warning Us About American Fascism the Whole Time
Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptations of Thomas Pynchon’s novels—first Inherent Vice in 2014, and now One Battle After Another in 2025—may be tipping the scales, with more first-time Pynchon readers f…
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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Read Charles Baxter on the literature and politics of charisma. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/f...
laphamsquarterly.org
The Flag of Ahab | Charles Baxter
On the literature and politics of charisma.
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
“Always, where there is darkness, there must be a hint of light, and where there is brightness, some shadow play. Without this tonal range of mood orchestration, tension and artistic effect are lost.” — Aimee Parkison #writing #fiction
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Public Books @publicbooks.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
In a new review, Caterina Domeneghini studies a surge in translation to English of the work of Dino Buzzati. “This new translation project doesn’t just revive Buzzati,” she argues, “it reframes him.”
publicbooks.org
Betwixt or Bewitched? Rethinking the “Middlebrow” with Dino Buzzati
Reframed as a “bewitched middlebrow,” Buzzati’s fiction re-enters literary history not as a comforting escape, but as a sharp tool for existential inquiry.
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Kathy Fish @kathyfish.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
My free September newsletter... open.substack.com/pub/artoffla...
open.substack.com
the weight of stillness, the power of white space
Photo by Filip Kominik on Unsplash
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
This probably can't be bottled, but some books definitely lower blood pressure and help one breathe. #booksky
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Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
“She became fascinated with how human beings—especially those who didn’t have much power—could empower themselves and others and change the world.” What Octavia Butler’s early writings reveal about her trajectory as a literary icon.
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Exploring Octavia Butler’s Beginnings as a Sci-Fi Trailblazer
It was Octavia Margaret who gave her daughter the spark to even consider a writing career. She saw her quiet, bookish ten-year-old daughter writing, saw the delight on her face as she created, and …
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
“We sleep in language, if language doesn’t come to wake us with its strangeness.” — Robert Kelly #reading #writing
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
“I hate judgments that only crush and don’t transform.” — Elias Canetti #booksky
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Nicole Tallman @natallman.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
How to respond to disgruntled readers.
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The Authors Guild @authorsguild.org · 10/07/2025
Heavy Feather Review's Where to Submit resource (updated for July 2025) is invaluable and full of presses, journals, and sites open for submissions. heavyfeatherreview.org/calls/
heavyfeatherreview.org
Where to Submit
Presses | Chapbooks | Journals + Anthologies | Fellowships + Other Opportunities Last updated July 3, 2025 If you are an editor or publisher and would like your journal, press, or literary organiza…
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
“Habitualization devours objects, clothes, furniture, one’s wife, and the fear of war … Art exists to help us recover the sensation of life; it exists to make us feel things, to make the stone stony.” ― Victor Shklovsky #writing #art
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Jacob Wren @jacobwren.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
“One of the strangest things about writing well is that it requires two different zones in the brain - rigor and recklessness - simultaneously.” - Carole Maso
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Canongate @canongate.co.uk · 19/06/2025
Thrilled to announce Canongate will be publishing WORDS ARE MY MATTER by Pulitzer Prize winner by Ursula K. Le Guin. A manual investigating the depth, breadth and importance of contemporary fiction. canongate.co.uk/news/canonga...
canongate.co.uk
CANONGATE TO PUBLISH URSULA K. LE GUIN’S SELECTED WRITING ON LITERATURE
CANONGATE TO PUBLISH URSULA K. LE GUIN’S SELECTED WRITING ON LITERATURE
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Lydia Davis's INTO THE WEEDS (on how and why she writes) is due out September 16! #booksky #writing
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
I like to keep an open book by my sink every morning. (Poetry and flash fiction work best.) It puts me in a better mood and keeps the world at bay. #booksky
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Stephen Delaney @stephendelaney.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
“The mysterious does not spell itself out in capital letters, as many writers believe, but is always between, an interstice.” — Julio Cortázar #writing #fiction
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Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
After 20 years, Kazuo Ishiguro reflects on the decades-long process behind Never Let Me Go.
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Kazuo Ishiguro Reflects on Never Let Me Go, 20 Years Later
While I’d been busy writing my fourth and fifth novels, my study had mysteriously transformed itself around me into a kind of miniature indoor jungle. Everywhere were dusty mountains of scribbled-o…
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