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surelymag.bsky.social
surely magazine
@surelymag.bsky.social
280 followers 240 following 160 posts
surelymag.com
formerly Shirley Magazine; still publishing bold, weird fiction writing three times a year; still edited by Colleen Burner and Lauren Perez.
Current submission window: 11/17/25 to 1/20/26
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surelymag.bsky.social
surely magazine @surelymag.bsky.social · 20d
issue 33 is out today, with stories from Kimberly Potthast, Veith Coleman, Judy Slitt, Saher Iqbal, and Courtney Ebert that explore the bounds of bodies both human and not. Dig in with us at surelymag.com 〰️
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surelymag.com
surelymag.bsky.social
our next submission window opens March 29, and it will be for a themed issue—"big slime falls down stairs"!
guidelines and more are at surelymag.com/about
Issue 34 will be a themed issue! Inspired by some search terms that showed up in our site analytics, the theme for our next issue is "big slime falls down stairs"—this is wide open to interpretation, but we want your prime slime, your sentient blobs, your gooey pratfalls, your fun fiction that leaves us gooped.
February 15, 2026 at 5:09 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
Another few glimpses into issue 33 for your weekend—
Courtney Ebert's "Every Town," Judy Slitt's "Martin P," Veith Coleman's "Slaughter Day"...
surelymag.com
dark brown text on an avocado green-colored background reads: On nights she could not sleep she sat on the back screened porch and listened to the waves. They carried with them empty plastic bottles and cans, lost sunglasses and tarnished jewelry, the living and the dead. — Courtney Ebert, "Every Town" dark brown text on an avocado green-colored background reads: It was an expanse of gray scales with a pinprick hole in the middle. Like a gray wintry day, a barren field, a desert. Empty. — Judy Slitt, "Martin P" dark brown text on an avocado green-colored background reads: So we slaughtered the quail there. They sat in a cardboard box on the floor behind us. The sink caught their heads. — Veith Coleman, "Slaughter Day"
January 31, 2026 at 9:58 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
issue 33 contains many creatures, from Judy Slitt's martian...
surelymag.com
dark brown text on an avocado green-colored background reads: She grabbed the sides of her face with her hands and gaped, her mouth wide open, no teeth. I broke out in goosebumps. Then I realized she was imitating Macaulay Culkin. — Judy Slitt, "Martin P"
January 30, 2026 at 1:42 AM
surelymag.bsky.social
a few glimpses into issue 33: things get extraterrestrial with Kimberly Potthast AND Judy Slitt, it's slaughter day with Veith Coleman...
dark brown text on an avocado green-colored background reads: Number 4 passed me her napkin to sop up the mess, but didn't stop talking; she was explaining the extraterrestrials to me. Look, she was saying, we were right, we really don't belong here. — Kimberly Potthast, "Speed Dating for Cowboys and Aliens" dark brown text on an avocado green-colored background reads: You snip their skin at the soft part before the throat so you can take it off like a suit jacket on a doll. — Veith Coleman, "Slaughter Day" dark brown text on an avocado green-colored background reads: She was naked apart from sequin pasties on her flat chest where her nipples would've been, had she been a human. She must've been eight feet tall. I was used to always being the tallest woman in the room, but she peered down at me with her gray oval eyes. — Judy Slitt, "Martin P"
January 27, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by surely magazine
surelymag.bsky.social
issue 33 is out today, with stories from Kimberly Potthast, Veith Coleman, Judy Slitt, Saher Iqbal, and Courtney Ebert that explore the bounds of bodies both human and not. Dig in with us at surelymag.com 〰️
surely
surelymag.com
January 26, 2026 at 3:34 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
issue 33 is out today, with stories from Kimberly Potthast, Veith Coleman, Judy Slitt, Saher Iqbal, and Courtney Ebert that explore the bounds of bodies both human and not. Dig in with us at surelymag.com 〰️
surely
surelymag.com
January 26, 2026 at 3:34 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
issue 30 has been moved to the archive (issue 33 is coming soon...!)
surelymag.com/archive
a cream-colored background with cobalt blue text reading: issue 30 january 2025 surely Lucas Simone*Martha Hipley*Malory Antony*Kevin B
January 24, 2026 at 5:56 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
Our last look-back post for the year brings us to the present—in 2025, we published 16 brilliant stories:
Issue 30 was took us to new territories, with stories from Lucas Simone, Martha Hipley, Malory Antony...
A black background with two thin white outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, white text reads: "I'm working so I can't ask you. But you can ask me, he says. It's a rule he has. He gets off at 4pm, will I wait around? — Lucas Simone, '1987 Obituaries' (Issue 30, 2025)” A white background with two thin black outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, black text reads: "'How old are you?' the man asked the girl. It was the first thing he had ever said to her after a year of working the same hours in different sections of the same department store. — Martha Hipley, 'Soon Parted' (Issue 30, 2025)” A black background with two thin white outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, white text reads: "Jackson Stentham sits at the edge of the bed. He's one week into the world, and he's spent it working out. — Malory Antony, 'Slipskin' (Issue 30, 2025)”
December 29, 2025 at 3:04 AM
surelymag.bsky.social
issue 29 featured 5 stories that peer into unfamiliar mirrors and corridors, considering life and myth from unexpected places—by Zeke Jarvis, Joseph Clegg, Jennifer Walker...
A white background with two thin black outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, black text reads: "He screams and blah, blah blah. Do you know what it's like to be the instrument of someone else's torture? It's not fun. — Zeke Jarvis, 'Liver' (Issue 29, 2024)” A black background with two thin white outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, white text reads: "There's a puddle on every tarpaulin, a frown on every face, and strong demand for the compactor. A queue backs out to the road, impatient folk with belongings to crush. — Joseph Clegg, 'Leverage' (Issue 29, 2024)” A white background with two thin black outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, black text reads: "She'd made a mistake that day, one of those asinine errors that are so stupidly inconceivable their discovery is like finding half a worm in your just bitten apple. — Jennifer Walker, 'The Scratch' (Issue 29, 2024)”
December 15, 2025 at 2:12 AM
surelymag.bsky.social
mid-reading window reminder that surely mag is open for submissions through January 10! send us the beautiful & unsettling short fiction you've been conjuring up 🌝

guidelines & more can be found at surelymag.com/about
about — surely
surelymag.com
December 13, 2025 at 8:35 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
the stories in issue 28 explored what it is to navigate the world in a body and the nuanced ways it may change (or decay) over time—revisit writing from Brendan Todt, Jordan Dilley, Rory Say, and Mario Moussa with us at surelymag.com/archive
A black background with two thin white outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, white text reads: "Her GP asks her about a trauma, which Sarah learns means a traumatic impact to the foot or body, not any of the other traumas of which Sarah sometimes talks in classrooms or other rooms. — Brendan Todt, '[Sarah has attached a bandage to her heel]' (Issue 28, 2024)” A white background with two thin black outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, black text reads: "You're a good patient. You keep all your hurts inside. You cover the scars on your belly with the hospital gown, the ones in your amygdala with a smile. — Jordan Dilley, 'Corpus Proelium' (Issue 28, 2024)” A black background with two thin white outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, white text reads: "Both twins regarded her as though she spoke some strange language, their tired faces hauntedly pale. They looked like a pair of children starved of light and water. — Rory Say, 'Play Dead' (Issue 28, 2024)” A white background with two thin black outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, black text reads: "To check the connection, he yanks at the patient's ear and the bulb illuminates the inside of the head. Jack pulls back the sheet covering the patient's face and sees beams shining through the eyes like headlights. — Mario Moussa, 'Handyman' (Issue 28, 2024)”
November 23, 2025 at 4:56 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
the window is open!
surelymag.bsky.social surely magazine @surelymag.bsky.social · Nov 1
because time collapses over the next couple months, we're opening our reading window a little early—send us your best strange fiction between November 17th and January 10th!
our guidelines and more about what we want can be found at surelymag.com/about
surely will be open for submissions on november 17! surelymag.com/about
November 17, 2025 at 7:28 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
issue 27 of surely brought us stories of uncanny loneliness within one's own body or environment, with characters searching for ways out via connection—by Noémi Kiss-Deáki, Kara Crawford, Billie Chang, and Sarah Terez Rosenblum.
revisit it with us at surelymag.com/archive
A white background with two thin black outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, black text reads: "As he did, to his relief, he heard the cries had changed, there were no sounds of despair or pain coming from the chamber anymore, instead it was as if a bull or cow had taken over the room, nay, something feral; a great feral force was at work in that room. — Noémi Kiss-Deáki, 'The Cuckold' (Issue 27, 2024)” A black background with two thin white outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, white text reads: "You tell yourself you'll start practicing unscrewing the crank, just in case something like this happens again, but you get too wrapped up in your classes to really think about it. It stays tightened. There is safety in constriction. The danger is letting loose, is opening yourself up to something trying to burrow and shove its way inside you. — Kara Crawford, 'Chastity Crank' (Issue 27, 2024)” A white background with two thin black outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, black text reads: "When he stills, Denise uses two fingers to push his belly and out comes Miss Aquamarine Boom, still whole, her gills fluttering, as if inviting a slice of lemon or stick of herb inside. As if to say, I'm still here, and I hope you're hungry. — Billie Chang, 'You're a Werewolf' (Issue 27, 2024)” A black background with two thin white outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, white text reads: "By Monday morning, most of the plant's leaves looked deflated, like someone had pricked them with pins as she slept. She rummaged her purse for her Swiss Army knife. Maybe if she sliced off the dead parts, the plant would revive. — Sarah Terez Rosenblum, 'Hopscotch' (Issue 27, 2024)”
November 16, 2025 at 7:28 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
the window opens soon—just on the other side of this weekend!
surelymag.bsky.social surely magazine @surelymag.bsky.social · Nov 1
because time collapses over the next couple months, we're opening our reading window a little early—send us your best strange fiction between November 17th and January 10th!
our guidelines and more about what we want can be found at surelymag.com/about
surely will be open for submissions on november 17! surelymag.com/about
November 14, 2025 at 5:16 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
issue 26 was made up of three stories with a mischievous take on ubiquitous life from Laura Wolf Benziker, Suzy Eynon, and Avitus B. Carle—read it at surelymag.com/archive 〰️
A black background with two thin white outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, white text reads: "The icy wind stings her skin, in a good way. Ah, the blankness of freedom! A shrill cry splits the air. A small girl stands on the walkway by the store, caterwauling at the van that has just driven away without her. — Laura Wolf Benziker, 'Pickup / Drop off' (Issue 26, 2023)” A white background with two thin black outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, black text reads: "The surrender of consciousness is what troubles her, this feeling of slipping from the waking world to the dark, and that she is expected to trust this shift each night, no questions asked. Everyone is complicit in the propaganda of sleep. — Suzy Eynon, 'Gerbil Girl' (Issue 26, 2023)” A black background with two thin white outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, white text reads: "'Girl,' the weakest of my orgasms grabs the pillow from my bed and holds it between her legs. The others run out of my bedroom, all laughing, all excited and smelling like Cucumber Melon or Warm Vanilla Sugar. — Avitus B. Carle, 'I Keep My Orgasms to Myself' (Issue 26, 2023)”
November 2, 2025 at 6:38 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
because time collapses over the next couple months, we're opening our reading window a little early—send us your best strange fiction between November 17th and January 10th!
our guidelines and more about what we want can be found at surelymag.com/about
surely will be open for submissions on november 17! surelymag.com/about
November 1, 2025 at 5:04 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
our 25th issue was our 1st issue of surely, and it was a little creepy and a lot strange, thanks to Robert Long Foreman, Sophie Campbell, Kerry Anderson...
A white background with two thin black outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, black text reads: "Karen winced. "You might not want to dive right into Danzig sex. You could try Danzig IV, but even then I'm not sure. Making love to Danzig is for couples who are a little farther along than you two." — Robert Long Foreman, 'Mercy Mercy Mercy Mercy Mercy Mercy Me' (Issue 25, 2023)” A black background with two thin white outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, white text reads: "Isla never told me what the spaewife said to her, what she promised, what she planned to do to Elsie. I still don't know how much of the stories about her are true. Eventually, I stopped asking Isla about it at all. — Sophie Campbell, 'Many Moons Will Fall' (Issue 25, 2023)” A white background with two thin black outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, black text reads: "I cleared the table, his bowl still full, the pan-fried tilapia surrounded by congealed patches of garlic butter, untouched. A trio of ants floundered in the fibrous soup spill. I scooped spill and ants up in a paper towel. I threw everything away. — Kerry Anderson, 'Desire' (Issue 25, 2023)”
October 26, 2025 at 3:45 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
issue 24 was our last issue of Shirley Magazine—and we couldn't have ended that chapter with a better issue—with four surreal stories from Liz Rosen, James Pate, Benjamin Henry DeVries, and Nicole Chrenek. 〰️
Shirley Magazine lives forever, at surelymag.com/archive
A black background with two thin white outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, white text reads: "She turned the heart over, examined every part of it. Even through the gloves she could tell the texture was a weird mixture of fibrous muscle and slick innard, the opposite in every way to the flat, defined little emoji they used every day in their 'likes.' — Liz Rosen, 'Ghost Heart' (Issue 24, 2022)” A white background with two thin black outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, black text reads: "He had no hair and the ice cream that he had been made from had started to drip into his eyes and run off his nose like sweat. "I'm here, children," he said in a voice that sounded as if he were tired but trying so hard to sound enthused. — James Pate, 'Mister Ice Cream' (Issue 24, 2022)” A black background with two thin white outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, white text reads: "Legends die in the spaces between ranches. There are not so many places to commune. The itinerants are charged with passing along legends. They do not always serve. They sometimes stay tight-lipped. — Benjamin Henry DeVries, 'The Angel of Teeth' (Issue 24, 2022)” A white background with two thin black outlines of circles overlapping. Inside the circles, black text reads: "I wanted to crawl into her skin and be her, be with her, be the hybrid we were slowly becoming. She kissed me back with the same urgency, as if sensing my panic and realising, yes, we needed to act quickly. — Nicole Chrenek, 'Double, Double' (Issue 24, 2022)”
October 12, 2025 at 5:15 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
one more look into our latest issue for your mid-week reading: with Fractures by Amy DeBellis...
blue text on a cream-colored background reads: My heart does its own little relevé into my throat. I almost rise, but there's nowhere to go—the seats are full on both sides of me, and in order to get out I'd have to fight my way through, wielding my cane in front of me. — Amy DeBellis, "Fractures"
October 8, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by surely magazine
amykdebellis.bsky.social
New story "Fractures" out in @surelymag.bsky.social - about a ballet dancer after a career-ending injury. 🩰https://surelymag.com/fractures
Fractures by Amy DeBellis — surely
surelymag.com
October 4, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by surely magazine
salenacasha.bsky.social
Another feature from @surelymag.bsky.social. do not sleep on this issue surelymag.com/a-story-abou...
October 4, 2025 at 10:11 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
read Walking Tom by Robert Long Foreman: surelymag.com/walking-tom
blue text on a cream-colored background reads: "I'm talking about walking corpses," said Carol. "But it's not so much a thing as an activity. Like, there's no walking corpse. It's not a kind of corpse. It's what you do. Walk the corpse." — Robert Long Foreman, "Walking Tom"
October 2, 2025 at 2:55 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
issue 32 starts with the cozily surreal A Story About a Fire by Salena Casha
surelymag.com/a-story-about-a-fire
blue text on a cream-colored background reads: The screen is haunted by an emerald field or a bouquet of healed coral set somewhere none of us can afford to fly to and subsequently ruin (or maybe, maybe, what I see on the screen isn't even real, but I can't contend with that on a Monday. — Salena Casha, "A Story About a Fire"
September 30, 2025 at 4:26 PM
surelymag.bsky.social
issue 29 has been moved to the archive
surelymag.com/archive 🚪
the cover page of issue 29 of surely magazine, september 2024. author names listed: zeke jarvis, joseph clegg, jennifer walker, nora ray, suzanne miller. all text is a muted sea green over a light clinical green background
September 30, 2025 at 1:33 AM
surelymag.bsky.social
issue 32 is up today, with gleefully disorienting stories from Salena Casha, R.K. West, Robert Long Foreman, and Amy DeBellis 〰️
enjoy, at surelymag.com
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surelymag.com
September 29, 2025 at 3:26 PM