Spencer Orey
spencerorey.bsky.social
Spencer Orey
@spencerorey.bsky.social
Writer | PhD anthropology | Odyssey '21 | Taos Toolbox '24 | Codexian | mostly SFFH things | Denmark | he/him

find my stories here:
https://spencerorey.com
Reposted by Spencer Orey
Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House.

Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity.

They are not the same.
October 30, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
For many folks, money is tight and about to get tighter with the manufactured SNAP benefits crisis. As such, between now and the end of the month, I'm donating all Cursed Morsels store proceeds to @supplydepotmpls.bsky.social. Buy a book and support unhoused folks:
www.cursedmorselspress.com
Home | Cursed Morsels Press
www.cursedmorselspress.com
October 27, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Check out this amazing interview with my incredible musician friend Khatch! It came out so good, with clips of his beautiful music and voice. It is wonderful

www.kqed.org/news/1206090...
Meet the Duduk Whisperer: A Bay Area Armenian Folk Musician Revives Centuries of Soul | KQED
Bay Area musician Khatchadour Khatchadourian's soulful voice and breath bring the ancient Armenian duduk to life, blending grief and beauty in every note.
www.kqed.org
October 24, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
Support the 2026 @apexmag.bsky.social Kickstarter! Apex publishes amazing SF, dark fantasy, and horror and we need their stories now more than ever.

I'll give an Apex gift subscription and dedication to one random person who promotes this Kickstarter! 1/
www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...
Apex Magazine 2026
An award-winning digital literary magazine of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror.
www.kickstarter.com
October 20, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
For those deleting our Academia dot edu accounts (due to their new exploitative TOC) make sure to follow the instructions quoted below or they'll force you to accept the TOC before you can get to the "delete my account" button.

See you all on the open-source alternative hcommons Humanities Commons!
Click on the link to the ToC text, go to your Account - top right (as In sure you know), scroll down and delete away
September 19, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
My Genre Grapevine analysis of the Anthropic AI settlement with authors. Overall, most authors got screwed with the settlement payments barely covering 7% of the books Anthropic pirated to train their generative AI system. 1/
www.patreon.com/posts/138349...
Genre Grapevine on the Anthropic AI Settlement | Jason Sanford
Get more from Jason Sanford on Patreon
www.patreon.com
September 7, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
If you're a newer writer considering signing a predatory contract because you feel like it will help your career long term to publish in a "prestige" market and "It's only a short story," I beg you to reconsider.
September 4, 2025 at 7:28 PM
I'm happy to say my story "Chasing the Sky Whale" is in this issue! I wrote the story when I was grieving for my grandma, so it is full of grief. I'm glad it found such good company here
We can't believe we've published 50 issues already! Here is our 50th issue for your reading enjoyment! factorfourmag.com/category/iss...
September 3, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
“Birds of Fortune” by @KelHuttonAuthor from @zooscape_zine, “Diary of a High School Necromancer” by @spencerorey (<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5e2sf7uxzgobiani5spnsaee" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@spencerorey.bsky.social) from Worlds of Possibility, and more short fic recs from @cypayseur.bsky.social -
Diabolical Plots, Zooscape, and Worlds of Possibility, Version One: Reviews by Charles Payseur
Diabolical Plots 4/25 Zooscape 4/25 Worlds of Possibility, Version One 4/25 The April Diabolical Plots closes with Hannah Yang’s “The Octopus Dreams of Personhood”, in which Shun is dealing with be…
locusmag.com
August 14, 2025 at 1:00 AM
wow wow check it out! my "Diary of a High School Necromancer" story got an incredible review by @cypayseur.bsky.social in @locusmag.bsky.social

this is so wonderful! thank you!

locusmag.com/2025/08/diab...
Diabolical Plots, Zooscape, and Worlds of Possibility, Version One: Reviews by Charles Payseur
Diabolical Plots 4/25 Zooscape 4/25 Worlds of Possibility, Version One 4/25 The April Diabolical Plots closes with Hannah Yang’s “The Octopus Dreams of Personhood”, in which Shun is dealing with be…
locusmag.com
August 13, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
The second Worlds of Possibility Anthology is alllllll poetry, and you can get the ebook free through August 20th! www.juliarios.com/worlds-of-po...
Worlds of Possibility —Poetry is free until the 20th of August!
Get your free ebook before August 21st!
www.juliarios.com
August 13, 2025 at 11:29 AM
I'm glad the museum isn't too badly damaged! It's such a treasure of a place
When the magical Museum of Jurassic Technology caught fire, curator David Wilson fought the flames.
lacmaonfire.blogspot.com/2025/07/jura...
Initial LAFD report is suspicious (mail slot). www.audacy.com/knxnews/news...
Learn how you can help restore: lawrenceweschler.substack.com/p/july-17-20...
July 21, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
–BUT I have also vowed to resist the devaluation of art with every fiber of my being. So. Please support your favorite human creators, and support nonprofits that support the arts, including @reckoningmag.bsky.social, @bcsmagazine.bsky.social and @strangehorizons.bsky.social
July 7, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
It came to my attention that a very prestigious magazine posted my collection, Different Kinds of Defiance, as an example of having used AI for its cover art. First of all, any tools that point this are not foolproof and have a lot of false positives, as any illustrator can check with their own art.
July 6, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
Got a novella under 30,000 words? I'll offer detailed developmental edits on it for a flat $300 if you book with me today.
Oof, my car AC fix is going to cost $750. If anyone wants to help offset the cost, consider snagging something from the Cursed Morsels store or booking me for freelance fiction editing.

Store: www.cursedmorselspress.com
Editing: ericraglin.com/editing-serv...
Home | Cursed Morsels Press
www.cursedmorselspress.com
June 30, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
Where are my #zine freaks at? We now have the ZINE FREAK BUNDLE in our store. It's $3 cheaper than buying all of our bundles separately, and you get all 15 of our horror and Weird fiction zines shipped to you. Tons of great stuff in here. Check it out!
www.cursedmorselspress.com/product/zine...
June 24, 2025 at 4:55 PM
My evil mermaid story "A Poison of Bodies Beneath the Water" is back! It's in the latest episode of the Flame Tree Myth and Fiction podcast "Strange Stories of the Sea"

It was my first published story! Now it's also my first story in audio. It's really cool to hear something of mine narrated. wow
June 17, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
BCS is dropping opening lines to their stories in a thread (and links to the stories) if you wanna see some top tier openers and read some cool tales

And when i say "if" i mean get in there and read!!
That's why I don't like the word "hook". Your opening needs to compel reader w *something.* Whatever works for that story/character/voice/etc. "Call me Ishmael." 'The sky was the color of TV tuned to a dead channel.' 'It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a fortune' Etc.
June 13, 2025 at 3:27 PM
my "Diary of a High School Necromancer" story is part of this amazing double issue! I'm so excited
for all these stories and poems. And the covers are gorgeous
May 12, 2025 at 4:45 PM
my story "Diary of a High School Necromancer" is out today in Worlds of Possibility! this is a story ripped from my heart, a voicey epistolary YA heartbroken necromancer story with many bones and jokes and goo and heartbreak and also many more bones! link below, followed by more grateful gushing
May 12, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Found your book in Copenhagen @mhayinde.bsky.social! Yay!
April 28, 2025 at 1:50 PM
my latest story "When You Lose the Race, Death Takes Your Bones" is out in the April issue of Sally Port Magazine! It's about skeletons who drive cars made out of their own bones in high stakes downhill races against Death. It is ridiculous and emotional and one of my favorite stories. Link below
April 6, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
Curious what our previous zine bundles have looked like? Want to nail down my editorial preferences before you write something? Or just want to read some damn good stories?

Snag a free digital copy of our second zine bundle here and see what it's all about: dl.bookfunnel.com/mk8nnv897b
February 24, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Spencer Orey
Seems like a good day for anti-fascist fiction. Snag a free ebook: dl.bookfunnel.com/rtl56fi074
Nazi-punching horror.
Fascism didn't die in 1945. Its grave was only temporary. Rising again, this undead ideology shambles into the present, gathering power and spreading destruction wherever it goes.This monster stalks t...
dl.bookfunnel.com
January 20, 2025 at 2:28 PM
I had 5 stories published in 2024. My best year ever so far. Here they are:

"A Self-Guided Manual for the Despondent Necromancer," December 2024, The Archive

"Gig-Heroes for Hire," November 2024, Tech Bro Terrors, Cursed Morsels
December 31, 2024 at 2:58 PM