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Atara Blake

@strangeisthenight.bsky.social
256 followers 646 following 120 posts

Artist, PhD in cancer biology, and writer of weird fiction and poetry. Seeking the strange and wondrous in a dying world. She/Her 🌈. Portland, OR. Work appearing or forthcoming in Marrow Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Gavagai. www.atarablake.com

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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 12h
I decided to undertake a delusional project to write a piece of weird media criticism every day for the month of October! Disregarding that I'm already a day behind, I hope you'll follow along with me as I explore some great works of weird media across various formats!
strangeisthenight.substack.com
31-ish Days of Weird Criticism
An ink drawing or horror movie a day was too easy. Instead, I’m kicking off a delusional attempt to write about a piece of weird media every day for the month of October.
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 17h
Don’t use AI for your cover, hire an artist! Lots of cool premade options from @addi.social!
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Eric Raglin @ericraglin1992.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The course is half full! Interested? Reach out ASAP! Multiple free scholarship slots are still available.
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Three-Lobed Burning Eye magazine @3lobedmag.com · 18/09/2026
We won’t get any funds if we don’t reach our goal in the next 12 days. For the love of horror, fantasy, and science fiction—back us so we can bring you more stories in 2027! kck.st/4x4r1oz
A bar chart showing 42%, along with the 3LBE masthead
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Darker Times @darkertimes.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Backrooms, Walter Benjamin, AND Freud?! @emilyhughes.bsky.social covers the magic of liminality, memory, and capitalism in her latest piece, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Hallucination: www.darkertimes.com/walter-benja...
darkertimes.com
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Hallucination
Or, why I stopped worrying and learned to love Walter Benjamin in the Backrooms.
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Beautiful and bittersweet flash, a perfect way to end the evening. Lovely short Gothic piece from @rjaurand.bsky.social!
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Since I saw some folks discussing it recently, I've been pretty pleased with the web building tool on Canva. For the same price I'd pay on other web hosts I get hosting and full use of Canva too. Consequently, I spent way too much time making a new, over-complicated author website. atarablake.com
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Gabino Iglesias @gabino.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Your monthly reminder: Keep writing. When no one cares, persist. When things appear to be crumbling, keep at it. When it's difficult, push through. When you feel alone, listen to the stories in your blood. Just write. The world needs your stories.
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
My latest story, “Blue Ribbons for Barbara” is out today at @gavagai.com! This is a quiet retro horror tale about the expectations society places on women and the cost of giving too much. gavagai.com/posts/6611
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
My latest story is live on @gavagai.com! In this quiet horror tale about a society that demands everything from women, a homemaker offers up an unforgettable gift that can’t be returned. Featuring disturbing breakfasts, unrealized dreams, frenzied pie contests, and the dulcet tunes of Nat King Cole.
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Just finished this collection and man what an incredible but deeply upsetting read. 🥲
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Shveta Thakrar @shvetathakrar.com · 20/08/2026
We've let capitalism fool us into believing that every part of life must be efficient. That's not true. Automate my laundry, sure. Wash the dishes for me--yes, please. But dreaming and thinking and learning and just BEING are meant to be slow and meandering. That's where the treasures are found.
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The Deadlands @thedeadlands.com · 19/08/2026
"Emptiness is its own language, but you and I, we have learned to speak it. " TODAY beloveds this poem this poem this poem!!! There are lonely things in the forest by @rukman.bsky.social read it here: psychopomp.com/deadlands/is...
psychopomp.com
There are lonely things in the forest / Rukman Ragas / Psychopomp
Read There are lonely things in the forest, by Rukman Ragas, a poem from Issue 43 of The Deadlands, summer, 2026.
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J.B. Kish @jbkish.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I wish this had been the HWA newsletter instead
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Erik Grove @erikgrove.com · 05/08/2026
Too many people feel ashamed when they make something the best they know how and fall short of perfection or when they ask others for help. Gen AI protects from that shame and vulnerability. But trying & failing IS HOW YOU IMPROVE and learning from others is GOOD ACTUALLY. Shame & Gen AI are liars.
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I am over the moon to share that over the past two weeks I have made my first pro fiction sale to Gavagai and my first pro poetry sale to Strange Horizons. This has been a year filled with tremendous ups and downs, but I'm so grateful for the chance to share my work with you all.
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Marrow Magazine is now available in print! What an incredible feeling to see my fiction on paper for the first time! Get a copy here! bookshop.org/p/books/marr...
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Received some fantastic news this week that a poem I’ve been submitting for about a year was accepted! It will be my poetry debut and my first pro sale! Also my first acceptance of the year at long last. Can’t wait to share more with you all soon.
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Joe Koch @horrorsong.blog · 18/07/2026
Not all art has to be good. What matters is it's true. Or playful. Or energetic. Or striving. That's why sometimes we love things labeled bad. And maybe we encounter them at just the right intersection of time & growth where something ridiculous is made profound only in the privacy of our heart.
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Erik Grove @erikgrove.com · 18/07/2026
Who wants to see something cool? 😎 🐕 ✨ Releasing March 2, 2027. Preorders coming soon. thelongredtomorrow.com for updates!
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Taco Bell Quarterly @tacobellquarterly.org · 17/07/2026
The Taco Bell finger pointing is a psyop to redirect attention from the real culprit, the deregulation and lack of oversight in our food supply
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Michael Cisco @michaelcisco.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
by the one and only joseph mugnaini -- a sketch for one of his bradbury illustrations --
a figure silhouetted against a wall by a headlight, in a very pointy di chirico style b&w moonlit city street
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Kym Deyn @kymdeyn.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Rough day, so have a poem about the Jar of Moles in the Grant Zoology Museum in London that everyone has regarded as too thoroughly batshit to publish
Jar of Moles (Grant Zoology Museum, London)
crittery dozened things each pink snout snootling
formaldehyde up it's bamboozler which poor fuck
had to collect them out in the dirt with a shovel
here moley moley  	BONK . I’m only gonna
put you in a jar and let tourists go eww at you
for the next two hundred years god look at me
for two hundred years I’d do anything look 
mummy, one of them’s licking the glass—
honey it's dead  velvety sweet sardined hope
their ghosts are friends teeming in a molish
afterlife dark and circular everything worm-
flavoured tasty buggy snackerels what if 
you smashed the mole jar? vinegared
moles spilling out flaccid & swimming
everyone screaming someone saying Freddy
you gotta get us a new jar of moles—
—goddammit boss I  never asked for any of this
A jar of wet preserved moles, the jar is very full and all the little hands, feet and snoots mark it as both upsetting and fascinating
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Jordan Kurella @jordankurella.com · 14/07/2026
"I'm Writing With AI" lmao, what a joke. all you're doing is mining someone else's soul for profit.
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
I guess what I’m trying to say is that weird fiction will save us. 🤘
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Great essay that nails what I was trying to communicate about this over the weekend. I have faith that there’s a path forward for genre fiction— it means embracing work that is innovative, boundary pushing, bold, and unquestionably human over what ticks all the boxes of a “good story”
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
In this thread nobody asked for, my semi-coherent solution (perhaps not practically, but spiritually) to The AI Problem. AI is tempting because it offers a bridge across the intolerable "gap" between skill and taste. To subvert it, we need to 'get weird with it' and celebrate "bad" art. (0/)
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Incredible news from Chiroptera Press this morning about a new Ligotti collection next year! Also today is Ligotti’s birthday but it feels deeply unfitting to wish him a “happy” birthday (maybe condolences are more appropriate 🤔).
Post from Chiroptera press on Instagram about Thomas Ligotti’s birthday and the release of a new collection next year
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Chuck Tingle @chucktingle.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
ive seen some folks lately talkin on NEGATIVE REVIEWS and how to deal with them as authors or artists. personally i have not cared about reviews for several decades. negative reviews do not bother me in the slightest and buds often ask me HOW. ill explain a bit here and why this applies to everyone
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Carson Winter @carsonwinter.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
If you're interesting in indie publishing with real numbers, charts, and a bit of a marketing breakdown, check out my article on my first 3 months of selling THE CORPSE PRIEST. carsonwinter.com/on-selling-b...
carsonwinter.com
On Selling Books: 3 months of THE CORPSE PRIEST - The Official Page of Author Carson Winter
Writing the book is the easy part. What comes after is much harder—at least for me. All of us authors are always fighting for attention in a saturated market. It’s one of the most difficult things abo...
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Beautiful and slightly alarming flash from @nightshadesmag.bsky.social out today. This feels particularly timely because my entire critique group has become obsessed with horses lately. Weird westerns, weird fantasy, give me all the weird horses! 🐎
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Stop what you’re doing and buy this book. @thomasha.bsky.social has done something really remarkable with this collection!
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Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 04/05/2026
My preferred AI metaphor is actually Asbestos. - Seemingly magical properties - Developed and experimented with to make endless products - Poisoned countless communities in it's creation - Everything it was used for eventually becomes a toxic hazard to mitigate & it's in the fucking walls now
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Really enjoyed seeing Hokum tonight. Damian McCarthy is proving himself a master of weird cinema by not overexplaining his scares and letting the unsettling atmosphere of his setting speak for itself. The weird elements don’t all cohere neatly, but they rhyme in such a satisfying way!
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Great resource for reading free stories, including several from the master @lairdbarron.bsky.social
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Love this mash up of science and fantasy from fellow Portlander @bugthewriter.bsky.social!
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Michael Cisco @michaelcisco.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
art by francisco fonseca -- just luscious colors plus magical lighting
a tall house set against the sky, a bit eerie but inviting, with a lively colorful twilight sky
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Tenebrous Press @tenebrouspress.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
It's Friday the 13th!🩸🔪💀 Uhh...preorder some Weird horror books? Or maybe stock up on some of our titles that your bookshelves are desperately missing? I dunno, we didn't really think this one out ahead of time. Link, BOOM: store.tenebrouspress.com (nailed it🖤☠️)
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Boze Herrington, Library Owl @sketchesbyboze.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
I get yelled at for saying this but for many hundreds of years people went to university not to get diplomas or be employable but because immersion in the humanities was considered foundational to a good life, and school must return to its original purpose: the joy of learning.
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Undertow Publications 🇨🇦 @undertow.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Happy Women in Horror Month! I urge you to read books by women not only this month, but every month. Let's celebrate and spotlight the many incredibly gifted authors that grace our libraries and bookstores, and shelves. (I've read the top two, here, and am reading the other two.) What you got? WiHM
4 books: Weird Women Vol. 2, edited by Lisa Morton & Leslie S. Klinger; Women's Weird, edited by Melissa Edmundson; The Organization is Here To Support You, by Charlene Elsby; The Other Side, by Rebecca Campbell.
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Letters of Note @lettersofnote.com · 12/02/2026
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
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Michael Cisco @michaelcisco.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
art by marina ho
a figure sitting at a table in the dark, papers and books in front of them, very subuded
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🔥💀LA MANTIA!💀🔥 @lamantia.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
night
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Undertow Publications 🇨🇦 @undertow.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Also, ICYMI, our 2 main 2025 titles on sale as a bundle. Both on the Locus Recommended Reading List. And @thomasha.bsky.social 's UNCERTAIN SONS is a Philip K. Dick Award Nominee, and NYPL 'Best Of' 2025. undertowpublications.com/shop/uncerta...
undertowpublications.com
Uncertain Sons + Best Weird — Undertow Publications
A trade paperback copy each of Thomas Ha’s stunning debut collection UNCERTAIN SONS AND OTHER STORIES, and Vol. 1 of THE BEST WEIRD FICTION OF THE YEAR.
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Thousands of peaceful protestors including families, kids, and elders were tear gassed in Portland today. Abolish ICE isn’t enough, ICE must be prosecuted.
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
I write fiction about contagions, but there's nothing fictional about the reemergence of dangerous, near-eradicated diseases in the US. Protection from childhood vaccines can wane. I had my titers run last year and found out I'd lost my antibodies against measles. Go get tested and boosted!
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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
This is a huge crisis that we must do our part on by rejecting generative AI. The more it infiltrates our systems, the more fucked we are over time.
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Fabulous essay from @megapolisomancy.bsky.social in @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org on weird fiction as a metaphor and tool for confronting received ideologies and envisioning a better world.
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
Reading Weird Fiction in an Age of Fascism
Zachary Gillan I have been thinking, for obvious reasons, about living in a world of reactionary politics, and about the political valences of the irreal, and about ARB’s insistence upon the radica…
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Atara Blake @strangeisthenight.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
The world is on fire but I got a rare piece of good news last week. Found out that I placed first in my group of ~40 entries in the first round of the @nycmidnight.bsky.social Scary Story flash contest! I had a great time this weekend writing another piece for round 2. Hoping to share these later!
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