Mallory Smart
banner
mallorysmart.bsky.social
Mallory Smart
@mallorysmart.bsky.social
Neurotic Chicago-based writer, editor-in-chief of Maudlin House, podcaster, and doer of many odd things.

https://mallorysmart.com/
Pinned
BONFIRE GOSPEL is coming this December from Bone Machine.

A little book of Midwest rot, dead faith, and people who break in strange ways.

Feels feral. Feels like me.🔥
Saturday’s Off the Record has Alex Moreno reading from Sticky Time and dropping the track that nails the vibe.

It’s a good one…🎧
November 18, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Therapy quote of the whatever…
November 17, 2025 at 6:53 PM
There’s a piece in BONFIRE GOSPEL where two people argue about whose small-town serial killer had better lore.

If you’re curious, good.

Out for 72 hours starting Dec 6 🔥
November 17, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Watched 15 minutes of Freakier Friday and then panic-switched to Gilmore Girls. Fight or flight is real…
November 17, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Tonight I interviewed Mike Corrao about his new book, Being Towards Death, at Comfort Station. Chicago showed up.

The vibes were immaculate and strange in the best way…
November 16, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Damn right, it’s Dan Wright…

open.spotify.com/episode/5TW4...
November 16, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Update: survived the literary event. Rewarding myself with Gene & Jude’s like a normal Chicago gremlin.
November 16, 2025 at 2:56 AM
The blank that hits me when someone asks what it’s like to run a press belongs in the DSM…
November 16, 2025 at 1:22 AM
A candlelit beach reading in late-October Chicago sounded poetic until everyone’s candles died and the mic gave up.

Still somehow the most on-brand night poets could have.

Wrote about it for ZONA 🐐

open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
November 15, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Tomorrow night I’m at Comfort Station talking with Mike Corrao about Being Towards Death.

Expect weirdness, philosophy, and whatever else happens when we’re in a room together.

Chicago, pull up…🖤
November 15, 2025 at 4:55 AM
New Textual Healing Saturday. Dan Wright brought the heat. I just tried to keep up…🎧
November 14, 2025 at 6:25 AM
After an argument, I instantly turn into this version of myself who refuses to re-engage until I’m dramatically invited back.

It’s a flaw. I’m aware…
November 14, 2025 at 4:26 AM
The fear isn't being vulnerable; it's giving people the exact blueprint for your anxiety. When you write something too real, you don’t fear judgment. You fear the silence that means they understood everything.
November 14, 2025 at 3:32 AM
“Maybe the dream isn’t about getting anywhere at all.”

Black Hills (Travel Log 02)

open.substack.com/pub/malsmart...
November 13, 2025 at 7:26 PM
My toxic trait is thinking I’ll have a productive night and then pacing around my house eating Aldi’s sea salt caramel chocolate like that counts as progress.
November 13, 2025 at 6:24 AM
BONFIRE GOSPEL is coming this December from Bone Machine.

A little book of Midwest rot, dead faith, and people who break in strange ways.

Feels feral. Feels like me.🔥
November 13, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Found a few of my books in the basement.

$15 each or $25 for both.

Comes with a personalized typewritten letter from me.

Could be profound. Could be unhinged. You won’t know till it arrives…🖤

DM me which one you want + your address.
November 12, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Dan Wright, on his brief career as Harry Potter…

Listen to the full episode Saturday for context 🎧
November 12, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Tonite at The Midnight Realm…
November 12, 2025 at 3:51 AM
If you’ve ever trauma bonded over a book at 2am, you live here now 🎧

open.spotify.com/show/5wO60jF...
November 11, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Damn right, it’s Dan Wright.

Next Saturday on Textual Healing…🎧
November 10, 2025 at 6:42 AM
I like starting the day like I’m already in the third act…
November 9, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by Mallory Smart
The text stays untouched. The experience changes.

A new visual edition of Winesburg, Ohio designed by Dmitry Samarov, with an intro by Kevin Maloney.

Maudlin Classics, 2026.
November 9, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Lake Markham closed out the Lo Siento tour at Hammy Wammy.

Chili, poems, Chicago weird warmth.

Julián Martinez covered the night on Zona Motel 🐐

open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
November 9, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Being a writer is wild because I’ll go from “this is the worst thing ever written” to “actually this might be brilliant” and back again in the same hour.
November 9, 2025 at 4:48 AM