Rachel Abbey McCafferty
@ramccafferty.bsky.social
Pinned
Ghosts of the Mundane by Rachel Abbey McCafferty
The office bathroom
Picture this: you’re in the bathroom, trying to rinse off your hands, but the automatic faucet won’t acknowledge your existence.
Can you imagine being stuck in a public bathr...
www.havehashad.com
“… when you were young, you were just always bumping up against all the ghosts of people you used to be, and the ghosts of people you wished you were, and what no one tells you is that life is about figuring out just how to live with all those different ghosts.” www.havehashad.com/hadposts/gho...
Reposted by Rachel Abbey McCafferty
always so funny to me when people are like “how am I supposed to explain Gay to my kids?” my kid asks me way harder shit all the time. “why did they build the road this way? why are some people bad?” I don’t know. please ask me about Gay
February 10, 2026 at 2:51 AM
always so funny to me when people are like “how am I supposed to explain Gay to my kids?” my kid asks me way harder shit all the time. “why did they build the road this way? why are some people bad?” I don’t know. please ask me about Gay
My main take is that Bad Bunny and Kendrick both gave us intentional, story-driven performances about a specific part of America and I want more of that next year.
February 9, 2026 at 3:14 PM
My main take is that Bad Bunny and Kendrick both gave us intentional, story-driven performances about a specific part of America and I want more of that next year.
Did not get around to pitching an essay but am ready to make this bracket my personality next month. Elliott Smith to go all the way.
March Sadness 90s Edition Bracket is Live: marchxness.com
February 8, 2026 at 6:06 PM
Did not get around to pitching an essay but am ready to make this bracket my personality next month. Elliott Smith to go all the way.
Hello, it is I, the person who took a month to finally finish Stranger Things, avoided spoilers and actually enjoyed it. Thank you.
February 8, 2026 at 5:13 PM
Hello, it is I, the person who took a month to finally finish Stranger Things, avoided spoilers and actually enjoyed it. Thank you.
ICYMI — an angry little fairy tale from me.
I have a new girlhood as werewolf story out in @maudlinhouse.bsky.social today. Give it a read? maudlinhouse.net/when-we-haun...
When we h(a)unted
We stalked the halls of dead malls, ghosts before our time. We lived by sense, taste and smell and sight, by instinct, lust and desire and rage. We were not quiet. We were not neat. The world is a hun...
maudlinhouse.net
February 8, 2026 at 1:48 PM
ICYMI — an angry little fairy tale from me.
Reminding myself that I can do hard things (trimming the baby’s fingernails)
February 6, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Reminding myself that I can do hard things (trimming the baby’s fingernails)
The older I get, the more I realize it’s all about community — the internet age means part of that can be on here (there’s only so many people into horror fiction or flash in my corner of Ohio), but you’ve got to find your people and take care of them, online, in-person and everywhere in between.
“Screw the platforms. Ignore the stuff that you think sucks. Find books and art you love. Share them. Review them. Recommend them to friends. Make your own art. Share it. Hope it finds people who love it. What else can we do?” — @thelincoln.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/counterc...
open.substack.com/pub/counterc...
Why Literature Needs a Punk Rock Mindset
The Washington Post shutting down its books coverage is a reminder that we have to do it ourselves
open.substack.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:08 PM
The older I get, the more I realize it’s all about community — the internet age means part of that can be on here (there’s only so many people into horror fiction or flash in my corner of Ohio), but you’ve got to find your people and take care of them, online, in-person and everywhere in between.
“Screw the platforms. Ignore the stuff that you think sucks. Find books and art you love. Share them. Review them. Recommend them to friends. Make your own art. Share it. Hope it finds people who love it. What else can we do?” — @thelincoln.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/counterc...
open.substack.com/pub/counterc...
Why Literature Needs a Punk Rock Mindset
The Washington Post shutting down its books coverage is a reminder that we have to do it ourselves
open.substack.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:04 PM
“Screw the platforms. Ignore the stuff that you think sucks. Find books and art you love. Share them. Review them. Recommend them to friends. Make your own art. Share it. Hope it finds people who love it. What else can we do?” — @thelincoln.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/counterc...
open.substack.com/pub/counterc...
Reposted by Rachel Abbey McCafferty
Thank you for contacting the void. How may we direct your scream?
February 5, 2026 at 7:31 AM
Thank you for contacting the void. How may we direct your scream?
This story is great & I love how Strange Pilgrims pairs pieces with a short interview. I deeply identify with @thelincoln.bsky.social’s answer to a writing routine question: “I think most writers have to be time thieves in this way. You learn to smuggle away time for the art when no one is looking.”
Excited to have a flash fiction piece in a really lovely new magazine called Strange Pilgrims!
If you want to read some Greek mythology related fiction while you drink your coffee:
www.strangepilgrims.com/p/consider-t...
If you want to read some Greek mythology related fiction while you drink your coffee:
www.strangepilgrims.com/p/consider-t...
Consider the Eagle by Lincoln Michel
At first things went well enough... | Flash Fiction #2
www.strangepilgrims.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:49 PM
This story is great & I love how Strange Pilgrims pairs pieces with a short interview. I deeply identify with @thelincoln.bsky.social’s answer to a writing routine question: “I think most writers have to be time thieves in this way. You learn to smuggle away time for the art when no one is looking.”
Reposted by Rachel Abbey McCafferty
“We fed, feral, and, for once, we were not the ones disappearing. We grew strong.”
Talk about a story landing at the right time. Live the dream in this new flash by @ramccafferty.bsky.social
Talk about a story landing at the right time. Live the dream in this new flash by @ramccafferty.bsky.social
I have a new girlhood as werewolf story out in @maudlinhouse.bsky.social today. Give it a read? maudlinhouse.net/when-we-haun...
When we h(a)unted
We stalked the halls of dead malls, ghosts before our time. We lived by sense, taste and smell and sight, by instinct, lust and desire and rage. We were not quiet. We were not neat. The world is a hun...
maudlinhouse.net
February 5, 2026 at 2:29 PM
“We fed, feral, and, for once, we were not the ones disappearing. We grew strong.”
Talk about a story landing at the right time. Live the dream in this new flash by @ramccafferty.bsky.social
Talk about a story landing at the right time. Live the dream in this new flash by @ramccafferty.bsky.social
“The world is a hunter of the monsters of girls, bent on filing sharp edges and shattering teeth and silencing wants and stifling impulses.” maudlinhouse.net/when-we-haun...
When we h(a)unted
We stalked the halls of dead malls, ghosts before our time. We lived by sense, taste and smell and sight, by instinct, lust and desire and rage. We were not quiet. We were not neat. The world is a hun...
maudlinhouse.net
February 5, 2026 at 2:26 PM
“The world is a hunter of the monsters of girls, bent on filing sharp edges and shattering teeth and silencing wants and stifling impulses.” maudlinhouse.net/when-we-haun...
Reposted by Rachel Abbey McCafferty
whoever figures out a way to bundle independent journalism subscriptions will be a hero
i know that this is an unpopular take, but everyone starting their own newsletter as a revenue stream is not a sustainable model for writing and reporting or for people who love and want to pay for media.
A lot of people cannot just start a paid newsletter or become freelancers to sustain their careers. The sports, metro, and international desks did work that requires *team* resources, like legal checks, documents, access to archives, and long-term beat experience.
February 4, 2026 at 8:05 PM
whoever figures out a way to bundle independent journalism subscriptions will be a hero
I have a new girlhood as werewolf story out in @maudlinhouse.bsky.social today. Give it a read? maudlinhouse.net/when-we-haun...
When we h(a)unted
We stalked the halls of dead malls, ghosts before our time. We lived by sense, taste and smell and sight, by instinct, lust and desire and rage. We were not quiet. We were not neat. The world is a hun...
maudlinhouse.net
February 4, 2026 at 7:51 PM
I have a new girlhood as werewolf story out in @maudlinhouse.bsky.social today. Give it a read? maudlinhouse.net/when-we-haun...
Reposted by Rachel Abbey McCafferty
February 4, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Rachel Abbey McCafferty
A combination of capitalism, corporate media failures, and anti-journalism propaganda has convinced a lot of people that journalists exist to turn a profit. They no longer seem to realize that the purpose of journalism is for them, the people.
February 4, 2026 at 3:36 PM
A combination of capitalism, corporate media failures, and anti-journalism propaganda has convinced a lot of people that journalists exist to turn a profit. They no longer seem to realize that the purpose of journalism is for them, the people.
“What if we’d all spent our time like this, like now, instead of looking out and up toward the heavens, for something higher, something better?”
New Short Story, Long story day!
Another that just totally hypnotized me on first read, as a submission, and only has all the more so with ever revisit since!
Another that just totally hypnotized me on first read, as a submission, and only has all the more so with ever revisit since!
“Humankind” by Maria Poulatha
"We really do drink filtered urine in space. But only our own."
ashortstorylong.substack.com
February 4, 2026 at 2:42 PM
“What if we’d all spent our time like this, like now, instead of looking out and up toward the heavens, for something higher, something better?”
Reposted by Rachel Abbey McCafferty
three wonderful new poems Rachel Becker poems today!
from "In Each Day, There Are Three Days":
"At the end of the second day in the day
I squeeze in a workout to make sure my heart
beats 170 times per minute for long enough
to keep it from breaking..."
https://www.havehashad.com/enm8z
from "In Each Day, There Are Three Days":
"At the end of the second day in the day
I squeeze in a workout to make sure my heart
beats 170 times per minute for long enough
to keep it from breaking..."
https://www.havehashad.com/enm8z
Three Poems by Rachel Becker
Plumbing Emergency in America like when our pipes burst and shit-water soaked boxes of photos, ruining our old bicycles, we are living through a flood, a deluge of filth, atop the water we fouled…
www.havehashad.com
February 3, 2026 at 4:52 PM
three wonderful new poems Rachel Becker poems today!
from "In Each Day, There Are Three Days":
"At the end of the second day in the day
I squeeze in a workout to make sure my heart
beats 170 times per minute for long enough
to keep it from breaking..."
https://www.havehashad.com/enm8z
from "In Each Day, There Are Three Days":
"At the end of the second day in the day
I squeeze in a workout to make sure my heart
beats 170 times per minute for long enough
to keep it from breaking..."
https://www.havehashad.com/enm8z
A really good (not at all redundant or lukewarm) thread on art and artists and morality.
this is my maybe extremely redundant and lukewarm? take, but this stems from holding art up to some expression of personal morality and then art consumption as a performance of personal morality. either way, art isn't seen as a job. bad people can still be good at their job!
"actually his stuff was very Derivative and not Original" like, you don't have to do this. it is good for us all to sit with the cognitive dissonance that a very bad person can make very good art. it is good for us to work through the moral ramifications of that.
February 4, 2026 at 12:35 AM
A really good (not at all redundant or lukewarm) thread on art and artists and morality.
Reposted by Rachel Abbey McCafferty
Elizabeth is a Columbia Heights fourth-grader who loves volleyball, learning English and giggling in the halls with her friends. She's been held in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center for nearly a month, and she and her mom have both fallen ill. sahanjournal.com/education/co...
Sick fourth-grader among 4 Columbia Heights students held by ICE
Columbia Heights Public Schools says four students remain detained by ICE after Liam’s return, including 10-year-old Elizabeth, who has fallen ill.
sahanjournal.com
February 3, 2026 at 11:54 PM
Elizabeth is a Columbia Heights fourth-grader who loves volleyball, learning English and giggling in the halls with her friends. She's been held in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center for nearly a month, and she and her mom have both fallen ill. sahanjournal.com/education/co...
The snow is beginning to feel personal.
February 3, 2026 at 4:26 PM
The snow is beginning to feel personal.
That feeling when the baby is taking an unexpectedly long nap so you start trying to get everything done at once because you know you aren’t getting another nap today.
February 2, 2026 at 4:41 PM
That feeling when the baby is taking an unexpectedly long nap so you start trying to get everything done at once because you know you aren’t getting another nap today.
Reposted by Rachel Abbey McCafferty
I’m hearing reports out of Pennsylvania that Punxsutawney Phil has been consumed by his own shadow, which is now threatening to swallow the world.
February 2, 2026 at 1:08 PM
I’m hearing reports out of Pennsylvania that Punxsutawney Phil has been consumed by his own shadow, which is now threatening to swallow the world.
Reposted by Rachel Abbey McCafferty
One thing you will never think after reading a great book or listening to a great album or seeing a great piece of art is, “I’m really glad this person remained cautious while they were making this and guarded against being perceived as weird.”
February 2, 2026 at 8:01 AM
One thing you will never think after reading a great book or listening to a great album or seeing a great piece of art is, “I’m really glad this person remained cautious while they were making this and guarded against being perceived as weird.”
Reposted by Rachel Abbey McCafferty
one of the greatest musical minds of any generation, hands down
Kendrick Lamar breaks Jay-Z’s record and officially becomes the most awarded rapper in #GRAMMYs history.
February 2, 2026 at 4:11 AM
one of the greatest musical minds of any generation, hands down