Nichole L. Lightner
banner
nicholeon.bsky.social
Nichole L. Lightner
@nicholeon.bsky.social
weird writer and managing editor at Violet Lichen

https://nichole-l-lightner.neocities.org/
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
So what is weird fiction, anyway? It's when you read weird fiction.
February 9, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
A WARRIOR FEARS NOTHING, NOT EVEN ASKING FOR HELP.
February 9, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
The aurora last night in Beaver, Alaska was just incredible. This is a real-time video (not sped up) of the crazy motion I saw. Also, look how BRIGHT it is, wow!
February 7, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
excited that "möbius loop"—my @khoreo.bsky.social short story about hard-won healing in a retrofuturist time travel nightmare—is on this list! i'm happy that one of my thorniest pieces of 2025 is apparently resonating with people
February 1, 2026 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
Job offer!!
I’m helping a PBS series look for a social media manager/content creator for an upcoming promotional campaign. The start date is ASAP, and a project timeline that currently goes to July.

This is for a series on American Muslim history, so candidates with cultural familiarity preferred!
February 7, 2026 at 2:10 AM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
Epigraph from James Baldwin
February 6, 2026 at 11:12 AM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
OMG! Something very special has been put up for auction: Original art by Kev Walker from the Mercadian Masques comic series from 1996! Depicts the entire weatherlight crew!

The sale of this goes to Trans Lifeline! You can follow the auction here: mtgart.auction/MasquesTCC

#MagicTheGathering
February 5, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
Never a dull day in the studio 🪡🪆

get ready to meet your new favorite character from @ivygrimes.bsky.social's upcoming folk horror THE CELLAR BELOW THE CELLAR, creeping up behind you soon!

(tbh we don't have a studio and the scissors are very dull. We ARE making a giant spooky ragdoll though!)
February 4, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
and the forthcoming Cellar below the cellar—I do recommend everything Grimes!
"The novella weaves together folktales in a modern setting, and though this leads to some odd occurrences, they’re equally charming [...]." 💜🌌 Wonderful review from @historyneverwas.bsky.social!

Preorder your new favorite folk horror THE CELLAR BELOW THE CELLAR by @ivygrimes.bsky.social below ⬇️
February 5, 2026 at 1:19 AM
This is Nichole's pothos, I do crave this. 🍽️
February 5, 2026 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
Please preorder my book...it's $13.27, and it's got the taste plants crave:

www.apexbookcompany.com/products/the...
The Cellar Below the Cellar
Preorder and save 30%! Release Date 3/25/26 A playfully dark folk horror inspired by the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful" and the mythology around Frau Perchta, set under the blazing sky of endless...
www.apexbookcompany.com
February 5, 2026 at 1:34 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
surprise: it's pre-order time! 🥩✨️ seeing this collection emerge into the world makes me feel so loved. a lot of passion & effort from multiple people went into creating this. i hope that you're all as excited for it as i am
COVER REVEAL AND PREORDER ANNOUNCEMENT!

Gore Poetics by @spicycloaca.bsky.social is coming April 14th. It's strange, transgressive, and visceral--just like its cover by @sloppjockey.bsky.social with typography by @alandistro.bsky.social!

See more in our newsletter:
buttondown.com/cursedmorsel...
January 27, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
Just preordered GORE POETICS from @cursedmorsels.bsky.social because Samir Sirk Morató is one of the most sublime writers out there and I cannot wait to read this beautiful horrible delight. And for an extra treat, the interior art is by Samir as well!!🖤🖤
Grab it here>
buttondown.com/cursedmorsel...
January 27, 2026 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
This is an excellent analogy, because my recollection from grade school is that the pen on the right looks fun and exciting, and then you play with it for a few minutes and realize it's not actually useful for anything and in fact makes some tasks more cumbersome, and never think about it again.
yeah, just out of interest, how many people choose the pen on the right for real work or art? See a lot of them in professional workplaces, do you?
January 22, 2026 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
coyote’s chase ended abruptly, having fallen victim to the “culvert painted onto the hillside” charade one too many times.
January 22, 2026 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
I was trying to give them a chance to respond, but it's been 15 hrs and nothing so: LA WorldCon is using genAI "art" on their website and promo materials. Given everything that went down last year (and with SWFA recently), it's pretty disheartening to see this.
January 21, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
10/10 no noots
Italian voice actor Carlo Bononi was the voice of all of the characters on Pingu. A trained clown by trade, he used a theater technique called grammelot, which consists of "speaking" in a mix of babbled gibberish noises. He improvised all the voices live and unscripted.
January 21, 2026 at 9:56 AM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
"The neighborhood is in chaos. People are nailing plywood over their windows to keep out the babies."

This time last year, we published @sashabrown.bsky.social's flash piece CATCHING BABIES. Find it in the archives! buff.ly/D54gP1Y
January 20, 2026 at 12:15 AM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
New entry coming soon(ish), perfect time to read the old ones and see how many times I used the words weird or liminal or unsettling
I've been threatening for a while to start a column on collections of weird fiction, and so: Profane Illuminations, a quarterly series where I'll look at a few in tandem and see what threads I can draw out about their stories and the genre at large. Quick intro here, first full entry next week.
Profane Illuminations: An Initiation
Zachary Gillan Everyone knows that the short story is the ideal form for weird fiction. But why? What is it about the form and the genre that makes them so symbiotic? What might we learn by explori…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
January 18, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
Red Wizard Team: Goblin
January 5, 2026 at 9:24 AM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
Whether it's horror, scifi, or fantasy, we're always in our element at Apex 🌌🌊🌍

We're thrilled to share our current list of upcoming 2026 titles by @ivygrimes.bsky.social, @reasie.bsky.social, and @marissavu.bsky.social, with more announcements to come! Which one is going on YOUR TBR this year? 📚🔮
January 8, 2026 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:

"My Stalagmite" for the Literary Nasties. This is a 1k story I wrote about butt plugs and body horror. Here's how it works:

1) read story: www.twinpiesliterary.com/fuck-us-up/m...
2) vote for story: filthyloot.com/literary-nas...

Thank you for your support!
Literary Nasties - filthy loot press
Click Here To Vote! It’s time for the FOURTH Annual Literary Nasties Awards!  Presented by Filthy Loot and Rebecca Rowland, the Literary Nasties exist to honor groundbreaking “misfit,” “cult,” and gen...
filthyloot.com
December 27, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
details! bone white and silver tones against midnight blues. Oil pastel plus digital colour.

#art
January 14, 2026 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
Dr. @chesyaburke.bsky.social and I are editing an anthology surveying the evolution of Black literary horror. Tentatively titled Black Horror, Then & Next: We Have Always Dreamed in Darkness (FlameTree Press), here are the guidelines…
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 19, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Reposted by Nichole L. Lightner
Critics want subtlety. Traumatized kids need clarity. Stranger Things doesn't win because it's subtle. It wins because it's not afraid to say the truth out loud to the people who need to hear it most. www.kameronhurley.com/we-are-the-s...
We Are the Stranger Things - Kameron Hurley
CONTENT CAUTION: Contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 5 and discusses childhood emotional and physical abuse.          When I was a child, I lived with a monster. He slept in the big room at t...
www.kameronhurley.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:26 PM