ayida shonibar
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ayidashonibar.bsky.social
ayida shonibar
@ayidashonibar.bsky.social
writer of dark & wistful speculative fiction

words in SILK & SINEW (Bad Hand Books), HEARTLINES SPEC, WILTED PAGES (Shortwave Publishing), NIGHT OF THE LIVING QUEERS (Wednesday Books), NATURE FUTURES, & more

🌈 she/they

ayidashonibar.com
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I'm really thankful to learn and create as a Lambda Literary fellow this year, through the Speculative Fiction cohort taught by Nisi Shawl.

I'm struggling with reality these days, like many people; I hope community and art will help us build collective hope and direction for the future. ❤️‍🩹
Welcome to the 2025 Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices fellows! We can't wait to host you. Less than a month away!

Check out the press release and our website to see all of the fellows and scholarship recipients.

lambdaliterary.org/2025/06/pres...
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Lift up your voices and sing so even the stones join in. "Songbook for the Jovian Resistance" by @prioryruins.bsky.social is a shout into the darkness for dark times
Songbook for the Jovian Resistance - Small Wonders
That first night, after the massacre of the helium-3 miners’ union at Mare Placidus, there were only a dozen of us.
smallwondersmag.com
January 5, 2026 at 5:12 PM
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For people that feel helpless, this period is so tough but there's ways to help for anyone. Go out there support Venezuelan ppl and artists living in it as they prepare for unpredictable times

Here is a starter pack of artists with commissions or donations open as well:
go.bsky.app/8daQmpX
January 4, 2026 at 1:01 PM
Can't think of a more fitting transition out of one year and into the next than with a story that transcends the barrier between personhood and bird-of-prey; I'm so honoured to be included in this issue of Baffling Magazine!

Happy new year—and may you achieve the transformations you seek in life. ✨️
Whew, here it is, the last 🪶 @bafflingmag.bsky.social 🪶 issue of the year! A DOUBLE ISSUE on the theme of STRANGE FORMS.

Cover by the incomparable @gnarlyghost.bsky.social

Check it out here:
www.bafflingmag.com/issue-twenty...
January 1, 2026 at 9:04 PM
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Excited. Honored. And absolutely delighted to be part of @fromthemixedupdesk.bsky.social 's Boozhoo Books at Bindery. So very proud to announce CRACKS IN AN OCEAN OF GLASS has found a wonderful home!!!
The news is out!! I fell in love with Bram Stoker Award nominated author @garnetonwinter.bsky.social ‘s hauntingly beautiful horror story and I can’t wait to share it with the world! To keep up date and get a behind the scenes look at pub, join my bindery! boozhoo.binderybooks.com
December 23, 2025 at 6:00 PM
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Fam heads up on a call for submissions: please share with a Black Horror writer who you know would eat this up. Look at that dream editing duo: @mauricebroaddus.bsky.social and @chesyaburke.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥 Deadline January 14th, 2026...!
blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-goth...
Black Horror | Call for Submissions
We are very excited to announce a new call for submissions which is now open!
blog.flametreepublishing.com
December 21, 2025 at 12:01 AM
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oh 🥹
December 10, 2025 at 2:13 AM
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📣 📣The Open Call for submissions to Vol 2 of Between Worlds: The IF Anthology of New Indian SFF is live. 📣📣

Details and submission link in the posts below! 👇🏼
December 5, 2025 at 1:48 PM
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Sri Lanka is hit hard by Cyclone Ditwah with severe flooding across the island. Over a hundred and fifty are dead, and tens of thousands are displaced. Some ways you can help:
vajra.me/2025/11/29/c...
Cyclone Ditwah Flood Relief Sri Lanka
How to donate to Sri Lankan flood relief initiatives in the wake of Cyclone Ditwah.
vajra.me
November 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
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I woke up to see that my story “Two Sizes Too Small” is up on @gavagai.com !! I loved writing this one, as it’s inspired by my day to day experience with OCD. I really hope you’ll give it a read, and let me know what you think!

www.gavagai.com/posts/333
November 22, 2025 at 3:08 PM
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A weekend wedding, a scenic estate, a wife a little too enchanted by the sea. What could possibly go wrong? It's Ayida Shonibar's The Depth Where Light Fades. Read it for free on gavagai.com!
November 20, 2025 at 10:56 PM
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My horror story, "The Depth Where Light Fades," is a Gavagai Editor Pick today!

When the ocean calls to his wife, a "respectable" husband believes he must save her from it...

www.gavagai.com/posts/746
November 20, 2025 at 5:16 PM
My horror story, "The Depth Where Light Fades," is a Gavagai Editor Pick today!

When the ocean calls to his wife, a "respectable" husband believes he must save her from it...

www.gavagai.com/posts/746
November 20, 2025 at 5:16 PM
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LP is working hard to complete their BFA at the Art Institute of Chicago, but financial hurdles are making it tough. Every donation helps cover tuition. Please consider contributing or sharing this campaign to support their journey. Every bit counts!

www.gofundme.com/f/keep-lp-in...
Donate to Keep LP in School Spring 2026, organized by LP Kindred
Hey y'all, I'm LP Kindred, a Chicagoan-Angeleno writer/editor/teaching artist/culture work… LP Kindred needs your support for Keep LP in School Spring 2026
www.gofundme.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:37 PM
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Sssssooooo... yeah. (Wow!) 😳🤗
✨ Please join SFWA in celebrating the announcement of our latest Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award: N. K. Jemisin. ✨

Learn more here about @nkjemisin.bsky.social, the Grand Master Award, and how the work goes on after the accolades for all we've already done:
www.sfwa.org/2025/11/16/p...
November 16, 2025 at 11:04 PM
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reminded of eric williams's observation about britain's relationship to its history with slavery. "British historians wrote almost as if Britain had introduced Negro slavery solely for the satisfaction of abolishing it."
holy shit: “Among the 2,000 UK adults surveyed, 85% were unaware that Britain forcibly transported more than 3 million Africans to the Caribbean, 89% did not know that Britain enslaved people in the Caribbean for more than 300 years” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Caribbean reparations leaders in ‘historic’ first UK visit to press for justice
CRC mission will seek to deepen public understanding of Britain’s colonial legacy and its lasting impact
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 11:11 PM
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As we near the end of the year, the last thing you might want is a big, chunky fantasy or science fiction book to drag into the new year. Good thing @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social's got 5 underrated novellas to recommend instead!
Backlist Bonanza: 5 Underrated Novellas - Reactor
It's time to add something short and sweet to your TBR stack...
reactormag.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:05 PM
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A very timely ask. I’m extending the submission period for The Apocryphal, the sequel to the award winning Thyme Travellers: An Anthology of Palestinian Speculative Fiction. I’ll have the details soon. But if you’re Palestinian and want to write horror, get in touch with me.
I'm looking for Palestinian horror writing, and have gotten some good recommendations, but there aren't a lot and now I'm curious about that. If there is a necessary distance from lived horror to being able to write horror,
November 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
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The USDA is the fail safe for SNAP.

They have a contingency fund to ensure it’s covered in the event of a shutdown.

They’re refusing.

Grocery stores stepped up to try and help by offering discounts to any SNAP recipients and the USDA told them they had to stop.

Starvation as a policy choice.
November 3, 2025 at 8:08 AM
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This is dope. I want to highly light this part. This is what government is for. Wealth redistribution. Take money from companies who are hoarding it. Use that money to help ease the burden on everyone else. The details matter, but it's not more complicated than that.
November 3, 2025 at 6:56 PM
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October 31, 2025 at 1:46 PM
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This is also still ongoing, to fund English translations of African novels written in non-colonial languages! (which do not get translated very frequently!)
October 29, 2025 at 1:27 AM
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Sharing for awareness: For those able and willing to help, the Embassy of Jamaica in DC is coordinating disaster relief in the U.S.

They have asked folks to reach out to them at disasterresponse@jamaicaembassy.org to coordinate support.

The government has info on donations supportjamaica.gov.jm
Support Jamaica
supportjamaica.gov.jm
October 28, 2025 at 5:17 PM