Hell Itself Magazine

New from Hell Itself: Martin L. Small brings us a Halloween story that's not for children.

Plus! Catherine Tavares @cjtavares.bsky.social in @hellitself.bsky.social Kiana M. Cauwels in @maudlinhouse.bsky.social Kim Magowan @kimmagowan.bsky.social in @fracturedlit.bsky.social Robert Pagano and LaVern Spencer McCarthy in @metastellar.bsky.social Mark Ifanson in @rfpress.bsky.social

"In the Time of Tenebrae" in @hellitself.bsky.social. Becoming a vampire can lead to a lot of things...including a spiritual crisis.

There's another publication that calls these "chestnut stories"—vampires, werewolves and zombies—and says they're hard sells. They are. We see a lot of them. But when they do something fresh, as @cjtavares.bsky.social does, we still love them. You'll love this one, too.

New from Hell Itself, @cjtavares.bsky.social brings us a spiritual take on vampires: "In the Time of Tenebrae" hellitself.com/in-the-time-...

It's a new story day!!! 🎉 "In the Time of Tenebrae" is out now with @hellitself.bsky.social. Come for the vampires. Stay for the spiritual crisis! 🧛

Slush update: Everything submitted prior to September 29 has been cleared from the slush. If you submitted before 9/29/26 and do not have a response, please query.

New from Hell Itself, @rachiea.bsky.social brings us "Lilting at Windmills," a bittersweet story of finding your way home. hellitself.com/lilting-at-w...

Day 267! I read Transition Period by @sljohnson.bsky.social published in @hellitself.bsky.social. This is what happens when you ignore your symptoms. Read my review here: mickstaniforth.wordpress.com/2026/09/24/s...

Writers, if you have a hard-to-sell speculative Christmas / Winter Holiday story (more speculative than simply "Santa exists," please), we're love to consider it. hellitself.com/submission-g...

I'm back again to remind you that @flightsoffoundry.bsky.social is coming up soon, and next Sunday I will be hanging out with the most awesome of folks talking all things Disability Futurisms: @risawolf.bsky.social, @ruesparks.bsky.social, @ravenoak.bsky.social, and @howsweetthewords.bsky.social.

This is a challenging piece for me. As a reader, I don't like the choices Sam makes. As a person, I recognize that I (like all of us) have made those same choices. Good fiction makes us think, even when it's uncomfortable. And this is good fiction.

Today from Hell Itself, a story about finding your hero's flaws. "The Super Man's Burden" by Eric J. Juneau hellitself.com/the-super-ma...

5. “Float” | WYSR Review @hellitself.bsky.social A water-breather leaves to help colonize Mars. inkfoundry.net/review/why-y...

Today from Hell Itself, a lighthearted take on working together: "No Pie" by Floyd Largent. hellitself.com/no-pie/

New from Hell Itself, when the gates of Hell opened, some people got new coworkers. "Hell is Open for Business" by Sarah Skinner:

7. “Gumba Cuddles” | WYSR Review @hellitself.bsky.social The narrator just wants to help their grandfather cuddle babies and help them get better. With fire. inkfoundry.net/review/why-y...

New, from Hell Itself, @zacharytbranch.bsky.social brings us a sweeping tale of "Kamistones and Keeps"

Happy Disability Pride Month! My body decided to be on theme this year, and I have been in a massive flare all month long, so this post is only *checks notes* 24 days later than I intended. Welcome to the disabled life. 1/🧵

“On the Rainy Side of the Mountain They Grow Columbine, Nightshade, and Stinging Nettle” receives a lovely review from @emmiechristie33.bsky.social

I wrote the original draft of this story almost exactly three years ago, and it was the first thing I ever got shortlisted. Glad to see it has a home finally. Give it a read, won't you?

Our editor's statement on the current AI bouhaha. 🧵

Today, from Hell Itself, @helenfrench.bsky.social with an unusual take on a common theme: "The Space Between the Dust Motes."

I have a story up on Hell Itself today - you can find it here. For what it's worth, this story was rejected at least 35 times over the years... and I still like it! hellitself.com/the-space-be... thanks to @hellitself.bsky.social

New from Hell Itself, @pbarmby.bsky.social brings us a story of good intentions in "Daylight Savings Time.' hellitself.com/daylight-sav...

Appropriately for the imminent solstice, my story “Daylight Savings Time” asks, “what if we just had a few more hours in the day?” Published by @hellitself.bsky.social, find it here: hellitself.com/daylight-sav...

I could say many things about Patricia Court's stories, but "they lack complex characters" will never be one of them. This heartbreaking piece is, I think, a magnificent character piece, and it makes me long for the never-published anthology it was written for.

New, from Hell Itself, "Sentinels" by Patricia Court

Currently on the schedule for the first Friday in July. (Said with the caveat that @arttracy.bsky.social plays fast and loose with our schedule.)

A great many people dismiss origin stories, but secondary-world stories about how something came about truly highlight the differences between that world and ours, which makes us reconsider our own. Whether they're connected to a franchise or standalone, I love them when done well. And this one is.

New, from Hell Itself, @danielausema.bsky.social brings us an origin story in "Grey Eytel and His Band of Birds." hellitself.com/grey-eytel-a...

Now presenting on Hell Itself: “A Tennis Match with a Queen Ant” hellitself.com/a-tennis-mat...

Now from Hell Itself, "A Tennis Match with a Queen Ant" by @reggiekwok.bsky.social

I have made a couple of changes to the @hellitself.bsky.social guidelines. First, I've decided to set a minimum word count of 1,000 words. Second, I've created a two-tier minimum number of rejections so longer stories require fewer to be eligible.

this was supposed to be in a collection that would have had illustrations with each one so this was the concept that i sent along with it lol

Now, from Hell Itself, @chasej.xyz brings us a story of dinosaurs and mass extinction events, "Thalassophobia in the Late Cretaceous"

I got a story accepted! You'll be able to see "Requiem for Neuroscience in G Minor" published through @hellitself.bsky.social in the coming months. Been wanting to sell this story for almost three years now, and it's finally happened.

Some unsolicited advice from an editor: In short fiction, especially on the internet, you've only got a couple of sentences to convince a reader to keep reading. Those first sentences are what the theorists call "the promise to the reader," letting them know if this is a story they want to read.

Today from Hell Itself: What happens when the wrong people travel and the right people stay at home. "Pearl Anniversary" by Deneffew Gordon

We just have to say that it's hilarious watching the facebook algorithm try to figure out whether it should be feeding us horror content or Christian nationalist content. Writers, please read the guidelines.

New from Hell Itself, J.R. Blanes put a new spin on classic adventure horror in "Mouth of the Cave" Hell itself is moving to an every-other-week format, so you can enjoy this as our lead story for two weeks! hellitself.com/mouth-of-the...

Remember as you wrap up your Hugo nominations that we published some excellent stories in 2025!

Hell Itself is going to be shifting to a new schedule. We will be posting one story every two weeks following our March 27 post. The rate of submissions has slowed down, and we want to keep the quality of the stories high. We'll pick it back up again if we find ourselves with another backlog.

This week from Hell Itself, @badwriter.bsky.social brings us a tale of the pure of heart. (Sort of.)

One week left to nominate for @thehugoawards.bsky.social Don't forget these great short stories: hellitself.com/awards-eligi...

Congratulations to all the @sfwa.org Nebula Award finalists, and a particular shout-out to @davidanaxagoras.com, whose most recent story, "Gumba Cuddles" is this week's Hell Itself story. hellitself.com/gumba-cuddles/