Adrian Ward

Got my fourth acceptance for the year, neatly surpassing last year's total. It's for a story that I wrote fairly early in my career, but was only able to tell properly on recent revision. It has been, in many ways, a challenging year, but I'll take this at least as a sign of growth.

Happy to say that my story "Perfect Statues and Their Broken Shapers" is out from Cast of Wonders! It's a more classic fantasy story about a glass-shaper and his adopted son. Also available in audio!

Happy to say that my story "Perfect Statues and Their Broken Shapers" is out from Cast of Wonders! It's a more classic fantasy story about a glass-shaper and his adopted son. Also available in audio!

Went to my first literary festival today! Pretty cool experience. Went to a signing for the writer whose work brought me to short fiction, had some incredible food, saw the city for the first time in years. Good time.

Couple tidbits about this one: -It started as a homework assignment for a creative writing class (as did my BCS story "My Sincere Apologies For the Demon") -The original title was "The City Which Lies [DIRECTION] From [A PLACE UNNAMED] -It was originally second person, but that didn't work well

"At first I thought it a mirage. On leaving, I wished it had been." My story "The Unnamed City, As Seen at Three Points" is out in Adventitious! It's a bit Calvino and a lot my fear of dying towns, and it is now free to read! www.adventitious.net/stories/the-...

PLEASE SHARE! Writers! Uncanny Magazine will be open for short story submissions from August 24 to September 7! WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOUR AMAZING, HUMAN-WRITTEN STORIES! www.uncannymagazine.com/submissions/

"In the hospital, they say my brain is melting out my nose. They don’t say it like that. They say I’m dying of a prion disease." 🦠🦌🧫 New fiction today by @anjbaker.bsky.social: "Cervidae, New and Sharp" Read it here: www.apexbookcompany.com/blogs/apex-m...

@adventitiouswords.bsky.social Issue Four is available to subscribers today, including my flash piece "The Unnamed City, As Seen at Three Points"! Lots of very talented people doing cool stuff in this issue, so check it out! Cover by Kevin McKie.

Joining our Patreon today gets you access to Issue Four early + a bunch of cool goodies and potentially the chance of naming our lost astronaut mascot. We'll see. www.patreon.com/Adventitious...

Leaky MindFluid™ reservoir in your MindVats® Brain Storage Vat™? No problem! Just this handy troubleshooting guide and problem solved! www.patreon.com/Adventitious...

IT'S HERE IT'S HERE! My new story is up!! I'm proud to be in Clarkesworld again after a few years absence. I'm proud to be in the anniversary issue of the magazine's conception. I'm proud of taking ellipses back from AI 😉. Read it here: clarkesworldmagazine.com/garcia_07_26/

Introducing...the astounding cover for Issue Four (out Aug 1) by artist Kevin McKie! I've never seen anything like it. 😍📸 It's part of a larger graphic novel project Kevin is creating, which you can see on Insta. www.instagram.com/mckie.illust... He also sells prints! www.etsy.com/listing/4522...

The first line of "As You Were" by Adrian Ward grabs hold and doesn't let go. The rest of the story is just as gripping:

Happy to say that I have a story coming in next month's Adventitious! It's a quiet little piece. I hope it disquiets. (Also, that is one heck of a ToC. Very excited to be in such talented company.)

Wanted to work on an older unfinished piece but couldn't find the outline. Taking it as the universe telling me I need to finish the current WIPs, which is a very sensible suggestion that I am choosing to ignore.

A little cyclops never hurt Nobody

Our Kickstarter is live! Help support another year of speculative fiction by immigrant & diaspora writers over at @Kickstarter. 🧡 With your help, we can keep funding our work, expand to regular author interviews, raise our artist pay, & more! Support us at: www.kickstarter.com/projects/kho...

Very happy to say that as of today, I'm up to three acceptances and four holds this year, which is as many acceptances and one hold more than I had in 2025. I have now jinxed myself by mentioning them, but it feels pretty good.

Between now and October (our 20th anniversary issue), we're running a subscription drive and dedicating all new revenue toward improving pay for our staff, writers, artists, and contractors. Details on how to subscribe can be found here: clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/

The Strange Horizons Kickstarter to fund 2027 will begin on Sunday, 7 June, 2026! This is a critical time for SFF publications when the existence of venues publishing short speculative fiction, poetry and non-fiction is sometimes uncertain. We hope that you will keep us publishing for another year!

We call pre-cut bread pre-cut because it is post cut The beauty of English

Many thanks to @apexmag.bsky.social for this copy of Marie Vibbert's "Multitude" (and neat keychain!) Looking forward to reading!

The cover art for FF#28 by @carlydraws.bsky.social has arrived! FF#28 will have work by @estrubbe.bsky.social @awritingwall.bsky.social @sophiecasarico.bsky.social @coreyfarrenkopf.bsky.social @clairejiawen.bsky.social @audreyzhou.bsky.social @tuesdaywrites.bsky.social and Francis Van Ganson!

THE DEADLINE IS ALMOST HERE! Vote on or by April 1 in the annual Locus Awards Poll & Survey to determine the winners of the 2026 awards (tickets available now)! You can vote at poll.voting.locusmag... or via the link in our bio!