Francesco Levato

Hello! I'm a #poet, #professor, #translator, #artist, and #fiction writer. I work in experimental #poetry & #eliterature (including #film, #videogames, #glitch, and #erasure) and #FlashFiction, #Horror, #Fantasy, #SciFi, #WritingCommunity

Super excited to have my #flashfiction , "A Thin Whistle Instead of a Scream" on Tales to Terrify! The voice acting is amazing, and I highly recommend checking the podcast out.

I'm not saying my anthology, THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU, is listed in 2026 Horror Book Releases: CinemaChords’ Most Anticipated Anthologies for the Second Half of the Year, but I'm not NOT saying it either. cinemachords.com/2026-most-an...

It’s #FridayReads time! Let’s share books and boost all signals. Repost this and let us know what to repost for you. I’m rewriting the next one with no contract or editor waiting, so every copy counts. Also, gorgeous hardcover is only $13! Come get haunted. www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316...

Very happy to have my #microfiction “Once More into the Light” in the new issue of SciFanSat!

Super excited to have my drabble, "The Story of a Girl with Turquoise Hair and Skin as Pale as Wax,” published in #ScapegoatReview. You can read it here: www.scapegoatreview.org/summer-2026/... #flashfiction #darkfantasy #fairytale

Very happy to have my urban fantasy/cosmic horror drabble, “This Ain’t No Faerie Tale” in the awesome Trembling with Fear! 🩸📚

We start our April 2026 “numbers” issue with a countdown—“The Last Eleven Seconds” by David Farrow. Turning 11 seconds into a 5-min read perfectly mimics time lengthening during a scary event. 🚀 #flashfiction #sciencefiction @davidfarrow5734.bsky.social flashfictiononline.com/issues/april...

I’m so excited to have my Weird Western flash piece, “A Bone Deep Ache,” in FFO!

Our March 2026 "Transformations" issue is a milestone for us! This is our 150th issue!! 😃 To celebrate all the growth and changes we've made over the years, we've assembled stories that feature visceral transformations. #flashfiction #writingcommunity www.flashfictiononline.com/product/flas...

After many months of planning and designing course materials, I can’t wait to kick off the first semester of my new class this week! The 10-week speculative fiction course for beginners is online at the University of California San Diego Extended Studies.

As far as I'm concerned, @levato.bsky.social kicked it down. Hard. Kudos--I loved it.

Excited to see “A Shotgun Named Regret” in Villain Era!

With only 10 days left, this year's Kickstarter is not trending in a hopeful direction... This funding is what keeps us online. If you can, we would deeply appreciate your support. www.kickstarter.com/projects/fla...

Today!! Hope to see you at this fun event! Horror writers will be at Barnes & Noble in Mira Mesa to chat with readers and discuss the latest in horror, including holiday horror 🦃🎄 Time: Sat Nov 22, from 4-6pm #barnesandnoble #books #horrorbooks #horror #SoCal #SanDiego

I'm really happy to have my #horror #flashfiction "A Thin Whistle Instead of a Scream" reprinted in metastellar.bsky.social. If you're looking for some bloody arboreal horror, check it out at: www.metastellar.com/fiction/a-th... #booksky #horrorsky #WritingCommunity #HorrorWriters 📚😱 🩸📚

Excited to have my #horror #flashfiction "Branches Like Bones" in the new issue of #FlashPhantoms. If you're looking for some bite-sized arboreal horror, check it out at: www.flashphantoms.net/september-mi... #booksky #horrorsky #WritingCommunity #HorrorWriters 📚😱 🩸📚

10 signed copies left. Kind of the last chance to get The Barre Incidents first edition signed by @renbolger.bsky.social with an original bookmark, copy of Hellarkey 4, and secret spinach pie recipe. malarkeybooks.com/store/barre-...

Have put a lot of books in the mail in the last week, but also zines. First batch of Hellarkey is out and over 100 copies of King Ludd’s Rag, featuring stories by Tori Rego and @jedwardgregal.bsky.social, have gone out, many just as a bonus with another book that sold. Buy a book, get a zine too!

Well, I’m not getting anything done today #cats #caturday

Come down to the Bizarro booth this weekend at Printers Row Lit Fest. @malarkeybooks.bsky.social titles come with a copy of Hellarkey, Malarkey’s annual Halloween zine!

If you’re in Chicago go see us at the Bizarro table at Printers Row!

The first issue of Hot Flash Literary is live--featuring phenomenal work by Mikki Aronoff, @csquareh.bsky.social Christine H. Chen, @kathyfish.bsky.social, @dianegotauthor.bsky.social, Stella Reed, @chelseastickle.bsky.social, Nancy Stohlman, and Huina Zheng! hotflashliterary.com/current-issue/

We have 42 t-shirts left and we need to turn them into money. Get a t-shirt and two books for $50 bucks right here. Free shipping with code POSTOFFICE. malarkeybooks.com/store/twoboo...

Summer and fall we must be busy selling books to carry us through the lean mean winter. Maybe you need two books and a shirt? malarkeybooks.com/store/twoboo...

This is a fun issue! The writers get $30, which is not much, but if we sell 60 copies we can bump it to $50. malarkeybooks.com/store/hellar...

HWA Website Outage & Security Alert. Horror org & Bram Stoker Awards websites are offline. If you attempt to visit either site, you may notice the site prompts you to download a file. DO NOT DOWNLOAD, OPEN OR RUN THAT FILE. It may contain harmful software. We'll advise you when sites are up.

Feel free to order pre, so you can read my hellish story and others in this fine volume

Surprise! I’ve got a story in this year’s Hellarkey, vol. IV! Hellarkey is one of my favorite annual releases. The variety of voices is top notch. Preorder a copy and see what I and others have cooked up this season!

Excited to have my story "A Thin Whistle Instead of a Scream" in @malarkeybooks.bsky.social Hellarkey vol. IV! Find it at: malarkeybooks.com/store/hellar..., or get a free copy with @renbolger.bsky.social new book, "The Barre Incidents," malarkeybooks.com/store/barre-...

Two days left! Get those stories in! #weirdwest #flashfiction

can we do spooky tattoo show & tell?

Reminder: One more week to submit your weird west flash fic! I can’t wait to read the entries 🤠 Grand prize winner of the “Weird West Quick Draw” gets their story in Apex Magazine and $100 🎉 reachyourapex.com/weird-west-q... #weirdwest #shortstory #flashfiction

Ahem… treats?! #cats #caturday (early)

If you support and love #AfroFuturism #Afrofuturist stories, please consider reviewing FABRICATED. The story is set in futuristic DC after the fall of the U.S. Cybil is a PI in The District investigating cases of her choosing. Cover Art by @natania.bsky.social www.netgalley.com/catalog/book... 📚💙

We survived the night. The dead were stacked in piles, according to recognizable features—those with limbs attached, or ones whose lips hadn’t been torn off, or eyes gouged out. I could see them—bathed in the fire of sunrise—through the tangled limbs of the bodies on top of me. #HorrorWritersChat

www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7822JG...

It’s #FridayReads time! Let’s boost all signals. Repost this and lets us know what to repost for you. I’m sharing the novel that started my career. The first barrio noir! Dark magic. Violence. Santa Muerte. Dogs with human eyes… www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316... bookshop.org/p/books/zero...

tomorrow night! an above/ground press zoom reading w Sandra Doller, Meredith Quartermain, Orchid Tierney, Tom Jenks, Brook Houglum + me too! / @orchidtierney.bsky.social @tomjenksuk.bsky.social ; abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2025/05/abov...

Very happy to have my #scifi #horror #flashfiction "Bloodfall" published by @365tomorrows.bsky.social. If you're looking for some postapocalyptic cooking tips, check it out. #booksky #horrorsky #WritingCommunity 📚😱 🪐📚 🩸📚

It’s too late. They’ve surrounded the cabin, breaking windows, clawing for me—howling a madness in no human language. I crawl backwards, push my back against the far wall, hands bloodied from broken glass. I clutch the note to my chest, hoping next time I find it sooner. #HorrorWritersChat

Something watching from the woods, splintering, groaning, smelling like raw meat. Asthma crushing my lungs, dropping me to my knees as I try to run. #HorrorWritersChat

The sour rot on my tongue, the sensation of maggots crawling through my brain the closer I get to the locked closet at the back of my room. #HorrorWritersChat

Hello! I'm originally from Chicago, now living and writing in Southern California. I usually write horror, but the sub-genre lines tend to blur between weird, supernatural, folk, gothic, sci-fi, dark fantasy, and weird western (all horror centered). #HorrorWritersChat

Excited to be in NECKSNAP Magazine, Issue One, with a host of great writers! #booksky #horrorsky #WritingCommunity 📚😱🩸📚

A great start to our Horror Writers starter pack! There’s still lots of room so please let me know if you’d like to be added 🫶🏽

Just wanted to give a shout out to the @victoriannightmare.bsky.social podcast. I found it while doing research for my #WIP, a gothic fantasy, and was immediately hooked. If you're looking for a lovely bit of Victorian darkness, check it out.

My #horror #flashfiction "Some Would Stuff Them with Rags and Cotton" was just published by the awesome #FlashPhantoms. If you're looking for a quick creepy read, check it out: www.flashphantoms.net/may-flash-fi... #booksky #horrorsky #WritingCommunity 📚😱 🪐📚 🩸📚

This afternoon I have the honour & pleasure of facilitating a visual poetry workshop with non-binary and women makers of visual poems. Their poems are full of heart. If you'd like to take part in a group or individual customized visual poetry live editing session, please contact me.

Just realized the only chain mail I own is for scrubbing my cast iron pans #GrownUpSads 😭 #dnd