Amber Sparks
@ambersparks.bsky.social
Your garbage mom; writer; she/her; I ♥️ unions; essayist on film, books, fairy tales, and horror; wrote AND I DO NOT FORGIVE YOU; HAPPY PEOPLE DON’T LIVE HERE in October; rep’d by Kent Wolf; I just want you to be happy, honey
linktr.ee/ambernoellesparks
linktr.ee/ambernoellesparks
Between MST3K in Minnesota and The Onion in Wisconsin I’m confident I’m from the two funniest places in the country and they taught me never to take anything seriously
Today in 1988 Mystery Science Theater 3000 premiered on KTMA in St. Paul Minnesota. #MST3K
November 25, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Between MST3K in Minnesota and The Onion in Wisconsin I’m confident I’m from the two funniest places in the country and they taught me never to take anything seriously
Reposted by Amber Sparks
"My own little doll family has no memories, no past, no future. They are perpetually unperturbed."
Contributor @ambersparks.bsky.social published an article in @literaryhub.bsky.social! buff.ly/HG3KQvb
Contributor @ambersparks.bsky.social published an article in @literaryhub.bsky.social! buff.ly/HG3KQvb
November 24, 2025 at 4:30 PM
"My own little doll family has no memories, no past, no future. They are perpetually unperturbed."
Contributor @ambersparks.bsky.social published an article in @literaryhub.bsky.social! buff.ly/HG3KQvb
Contributor @ambersparks.bsky.social published an article in @literaryhub.bsky.social! buff.ly/HG3KQvb
Love to be on this list with such an incredible group of writers!
November 24, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Love to be on this list with such an incredible group of writers!
Reposted by Amber Sparks
I just finished "Happy People Don't Live Here" by @ambersparks.bsky.social and I LOVED IT! Fern rules. Read it, folks. Hide in the bathroom with it over Thanksgiving if you need to.
November 24, 2025 at 3:57 PM
I just finished "Happy People Don't Live Here" by @ambersparks.bsky.social and I LOVED IT! Fern rules. Read it, folks. Hide in the bathroom with it over Thanksgiving if you need to.
This was such a fun conversation - give it a listen this week if you need an excuse to get away from your family!
Here's Episode 12: "Amber Sparks and 'We Love You, Bunny'". (@ambersparks.bsky.social y.social) www.thirdpersonlimited.com/episodes/epi...
November 24, 2025 at 3:13 PM
This was such a fun conversation - give it a listen this week if you need an excuse to get away from your family!
A movie that takes place where you’re from
November 23, 2025 at 5:35 PM
A movie that takes place where you’re from
Does anyone else still make a long list of things they want for Christmas every year even though you’re a grown adult and you don’t get presents anymore
November 23, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Does anyone else still make a long list of things they want for Christmas every year even though you’re a grown adult and you don’t get presents anymore
Winter reading projects:
Rereading The Dark is Rising (with my daughter)
Rereading The Golden Compass (with my daughter)
Rereading Once and Future King
Sylvia Townsend Warner’s biography of T.H. White
The Gormenghast trilogy
Paradise Lost
Vendler’s Dickinson anthology
Wolf Hall books
You?
Rereading The Dark is Rising (with my daughter)
Rereading The Golden Compass (with my daughter)
Rereading Once and Future King
Sylvia Townsend Warner’s biography of T.H. White
The Gormenghast trilogy
Paradise Lost
Vendler’s Dickinson anthology
Wolf Hall books
You?
November 22, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Winter reading projects:
Rereading The Dark is Rising (with my daughter)
Rereading The Golden Compass (with my daughter)
Rereading Once and Future King
Sylvia Townsend Warner’s biography of T.H. White
The Gormenghast trilogy
Paradise Lost
Vendler’s Dickinson anthology
Wolf Hall books
You?
Rereading The Dark is Rising (with my daughter)
Rereading The Golden Compass (with my daughter)
Rereading Once and Future King
Sylvia Townsend Warner’s biography of T.H. White
The Gormenghast trilogy
Paradise Lost
Vendler’s Dickinson anthology
Wolf Hall books
You?
I don’t have any grand theories about whether MTG is playing chess or checkers but also, I don’t care
November 22, 2025 at 2:12 AM
I don’t have any grand theories about whether MTG is playing chess or checkers but also, I don’t care
I love Bob Dylan so much, he is the antidote to everything dumb about culture, like the Kardashians exist? No they don’t because listen to “When I Paint My Masterpiece” ChatGPT wrote a novel? No it didn’t because I married Isis on the 5th day of May
November 22, 2025 at 12:35 AM
I love Bob Dylan so much, he is the antidote to everything dumb about culture, like the Kardashians exist? No they don’t because listen to “When I Paint My Masterpiece” ChatGPT wrote a novel? No it didn’t because I married Isis on the 5th day of May
Friends! I am teaching a workshop in December that I am so excited about! I’ve been writing and writing about domestic fabulism forever, but I’ve never actually fashioned a workshop around it before. I think this is going to be so much fun - I hope you’ll join!
No Place Like Home: Writing Domestic Fabulism with Amber Sparks
Learn to write domestic fabulism with author Amber Sparks. Transform ordinary home and family stories with fantastical elements in this online seminar.
writingworkshops.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Friends! I am teaching a workshop in December that I am so excited about! I’ve been writing and writing about domestic fabulism forever, but I’ve never actually fashioned a workshop around it before. I think this is going to be so much fun - I hope you’ll join!
This absolute obsession with Dorian Greying your face is so depressing to me, generations of women passing up the opportunity to pass into their powerful crone years
November 19, 2025 at 9:50 PM
This absolute obsession with Dorian Greying your face is so depressing to me, generations of women passing up the opportunity to pass into their powerful crone years
Same and I think it’s because it’s not only incredibly misogynistic and mean, it’s also so deeply embarrassing and horrifying that the person who is the president of the United States is a cruel child
I don't know why the "Piggy" thing is bothering me so much. It's one more unforgivable thing in a list of 20,000 unforgivable things, but I've been mad about it for like 12 straight hours.
November 19, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Same and I think it’s because it’s not only incredibly misogynistic and mean, it’s also so deeply embarrassing and horrifying that the person who is the president of the United States is a cruel child
Reposted by Amber Sparks
haven't shared one of these for a minute. here's a rave from a submitter for @ambersparks.bsky.social's amazing story on SSL.
haven't read it? you should:
ashortstorylong.substack.com/p/your-life-...
haven't read it? you should:
ashortstorylong.substack.com/p/your-life-...
November 18, 2025 at 11:34 PM
haven't shared one of these for a minute. here's a rave from a submitter for @ambersparks.bsky.social's amazing story on SSL.
haven't read it? you should:
ashortstorylong.substack.com/p/your-life-...
haven't read it? you should:
ashortstorylong.substack.com/p/your-life-...
Top 5 movie genres:
Guy who’s a pathetic piece of shit
Woman falling apart and it’s hard to watch but goddamn
Theater production/movie production falling apart and it’s so fun to watch
Detective but sad
Period film where they just said fuck it
Guy who’s a pathetic piece of shit
Woman falling apart and it’s hard to watch but goddamn
Theater production/movie production falling apart and it’s so fun to watch
Detective but sad
Period film where they just said fuck it
Top 5 movie genres are:
heist
intelligence/espionage thriller
pitch perfect
cerebral ensemble oscar fodder drama
heist some more
heist
intelligence/espionage thriller
pitch perfect
cerebral ensemble oscar fodder drama
heist some more
Top 5 movie genres are:
People being shits at a dinner party
Rotting mansion, faded starlet/society beauty, high-camp fuckdown
Either nothing or everything happened, glacially slowly & visually stunningly
Woman is being haunted or maybe there’s actually a gross guy
Tilda Swinton hears a weird noise
People being shits at a dinner party
Rotting mansion, faded starlet/society beauty, high-camp fuckdown
Either nothing or everything happened, glacially slowly & visually stunningly
Woman is being haunted or maybe there’s actually a gross guy
Tilda Swinton hears a weird noise
November 17, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Top 5 movie genres:
Guy who’s a pathetic piece of shit
Woman falling apart and it’s hard to watch but goddamn
Theater production/movie production falling apart and it’s so fun to watch
Detective but sad
Period film where they just said fuck it
Guy who’s a pathetic piece of shit
Woman falling apart and it’s hard to watch but goddamn
Theater production/movie production falling apart and it’s so fun to watch
Detective but sad
Period film where they just said fuck it
One thing I love about being a person who is extremely nearsighted (with GOOD insurance) is how every year insurance is like: do you want to see during the day (contacts) or do you want to see at night (glasses), you can’t have both
November 16, 2025 at 3:42 PM
One thing I love about being a person who is extremely nearsighted (with GOOD insurance) is how every year insurance is like: do you want to see during the day (contacts) or do you want to see at night (glasses), you can’t have both
So bored of memes about type A gifted and talented kids who are neurotic now - what about the memes for my people, the type B kids who just sat in class drawing pictures of ghosts all day and are now depressed but in a goth way, not a sweatpants way
November 14, 2025 at 3:49 AM
So bored of memes about type A gifted and talented kids who are neurotic now - what about the memes for my people, the type B kids who just sat in class drawing pictures of ghosts all day and are now depressed but in a goth way, not a sweatpants way
Reposted by Amber Sparks
So HAPPY for @keithdonohue.bsky.social's take on @ambersparks.bsky.social's new HAPPY PEOPLE DON'T LIVE HERE. "a run-down apartment in a converted sanitorium. A handful of zany tenants...the adjacent graveyard." Yes! @wirobooks.bsky.social
www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/h...
www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/h...
Happy People Don’t Live Here: A Novel | Washington Independent Review of Books
The Independent is an important voice in the community of readers and writers dedicated to book reviews and writing about the world of books.
www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:29 PM
So HAPPY for @keithdonohue.bsky.social's take on @ambersparks.bsky.social's new HAPPY PEOPLE DON'T LIVE HERE. "a run-down apartment in a converted sanitorium. A handful of zany tenants...the adjacent graveyard." Yes! @wirobooks.bsky.social
www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/h...
www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/h...
Lol to the residency rejection I got telling me in detail I didn’t even advance to round 2. All you needed to say was “sorry not this year” lmao
November 13, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Lol to the residency rejection I got telling me in detail I didn’t even advance to round 2. All you needed to say was “sorry not this year” lmao
This is misogyny and don’t tell me it’s not
JD Vance calls ibuprofen "useless medication" and implies it's not "necessary, safe and effective."
November 12, 2025 at 11:26 PM
This is misogyny and don’t tell me it’s not
My husband is reading The Haunting of Hill House for the first time and it’s a good thing I’m away on book tour because otherwise I’d just be standing there in front of him the whole time trying to gauge his level of enjoyment
November 11, 2025 at 6:34 PM
My husband is reading The Haunting of Hill House for the first time and it’s a good thing I’m away on book tour because otherwise I’d just be standing there in front of him the whole time trying to gauge his level of enjoyment
Reposted by Amber Sparks
![Joyce Carol Oates quoting a tweet that says “wherever he [Elon Musk] goes, he wants to leave”:
"wherever he goes, he wants to leave"-- that's because when he gets there, he has brought his own self along; & whatever club he's invited to join has been devalued by the invitation.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:buy3qvqcj3o76leo6ap7pn2p/bafkreifilfbsxemfsambf4kqwolr24ld2ekqcrz4ybgv3bv7kzi5e6kppm@jpeg)
This review! “Happy people really don’t live here. Sorrow floats above them like the cemetery ghosts, unmoored and occasionally angry, everything framed within a madcap murder mystery…Sparks is a clever writer who has, by melding conventions from several genres, created a perfect hybrid”
The bighearted ghost story you didn’t know you needed. www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/h... @liveright.bsky.social @ambersparks.bsky.social @keithdonohue.bsky.social #booksky
Happy People Don’t Live Here: A Novel | Washington Independent Review of Books
The Independent is an important voice in the community of readers and writers dedicated to book reviews and writing about the world of books.
www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:28 PM
This review! “Happy people really don’t live here. Sorrow floats above them like the cemetery ghosts, unmoored and occasionally angry, everything framed within a madcap murder mystery…Sparks is a clever writer who has, by melding conventions from several genres, created a perfect hybrid”
THANK YOU, @andizeisler.bsky.social
Last week, the New York Times’ “Interesting Times” podcast asked, “Did women ruin the workplace?” The headline changed twice — but the real issue wasn’t the wording. It was the premise.
Women didn’t ruin the workplace. Capitalism did
When your debate centers on whether women should exist in public, you’ve already lost.
www.salon.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:35 AM
THANK YOU, @andizeisler.bsky.social
Reposted by Amber Sparks
Need a dose of humor to kick off the week? Contributor @ambersparks.bsky.social published an article in @writersdigest.bsky.social on her love of dark humor! buff.ly/N4yiQuO
November 10, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Need a dose of humor to kick off the week? Contributor @ambersparks.bsky.social published an article in @writersdigest.bsky.social on her love of dark humor! buff.ly/N4yiQuO