Kiyash Monsef
@kiyash.bsky.social
NY Times bestseller • Morris Award finalist • BIRD OF A THOUSAND STORIES • ONCE THERE WAS • kiyash.com • https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Kiyash-Monsef/194209060
Reposted by Kiyash Monsef
Reposted by Kiyash Monsef
This Norwegian stabbur, ca 1700, one of the oldest buildings in the region. Used to store foods & other things off of the ground, away from animals.
I'm not OK, for all the Crone reasons.
We know where her house came from! Its origins, most likely!
imma go get my evil mortar and pestle now brb
I'm not OK, for all the Crone reasons.
We know where her house came from! Its origins, most likely!
imma go get my evil mortar and pestle now brb
November 6, 2025 at 4:35 PM
This Norwegian stabbur, ca 1700, one of the oldest buildings in the region. Used to store foods & other things off of the ground, away from animals.
I'm not OK, for all the Crone reasons.
We know where her house came from! Its origins, most likely!
imma go get my evil mortar and pestle now brb
I'm not OK, for all the Crone reasons.
We know where her house came from! Its origins, most likely!
imma go get my evil mortar and pestle now brb
Tied with "horaltic" for best bird-related word
“Zugunruhe: the term for the innate restlessness that birds feel which eventually spurs on migration”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zugunruhe
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zugunruhe
November 6, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Tied with "horaltic" for best bird-related word
I Saw the TV Glow is one of the most haunting and haunted movies I've ever seen. This series sounds bananas.
“I Saw the TV Glow” writer-director Jane Schoenbrun is doing a series at Netflix based on Charles Burns’ “Black Hole” comics (which also have a long on-off history with movie adaptations). Details here.
Netflix Lands ‘Black Hole’ Series From ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ Filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun
Co-produced by New Regency, the drama is based on a graphic novel by Charles Burns.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
October 23, 2025 at 5:24 PM
I Saw the TV Glow is one of the most haunting and haunted movies I've ever seen. This series sounds bananas.
How have I never seen this painting before?
October 23, 2025 at 5:22 PM
How have I never seen this painting before?
So I'm writing at a cafe in an unfamiliar city, and this little kid, maybe 9 or 10, came up to me with a pen and a stack of post-it notes and asked me if I wanted his autograph, and so of course I said that yes, I absolutely did.
This is what he gave me
This is what he gave me
October 19, 2025 at 5:10 PM
So I'm writing at a cafe in an unfamiliar city, and this little kid, maybe 9 or 10, came up to me with a pen and a stack of post-it notes and asked me if I wanted his autograph, and so of course I said that yes, I absolutely did.
This is what he gave me
This is what he gave me
Reposted by Kiyash Monsef
My hot take is that none of these are structure. These are all recipes that describe structure.
Structure is the Salt, Fat, Acid Heat of writing.
3-Act/Hero's Journey etc are recipes.
You can make great meals without using a recipe if you understand the principles of structure.
Structure is the Salt, Fat, Acid Heat of writing.
3-Act/Hero's Journey etc are recipes.
You can make great meals without using a recipe if you understand the principles of structure.
So #WritingCommunity how do we feel about structure?
Do you use the 3 act structure? The 5 act?
Hero's Journey? Save the Cat? Super Structure Method? Story Genius Method?
Something else?
What have you got?
Do you use the 3 act structure? The 5 act?
Hero's Journey? Save the Cat? Super Structure Method? Story Genius Method?
Something else?
What have you got?
October 13, 2025 at 6:14 PM
My hot take is that none of these are structure. These are all recipes that describe structure.
Structure is the Salt, Fat, Acid Heat of writing.
3-Act/Hero's Journey etc are recipes.
You can make great meals without using a recipe if you understand the principles of structure.
Structure is the Salt, Fat, Acid Heat of writing.
3-Act/Hero's Journey etc are recipes.
You can make great meals without using a recipe if you understand the principles of structure.
Kids had an interesting choice for our next bedtime read aloud, but I'm always game for a challenge.
It only took until "hval" before they realized they'd made a mistake.
It only took until "hval" before they realized they'd made a mistake.
September 27, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Kids had an interesting choice for our next bedtime read aloud, but I'm always game for a challenge.
It only took until "hval" before they realized they'd made a mistake.
It only took until "hval" before they realized they'd made a mistake.
Reposted by Kiyash Monsef
Happy Winsor McCay's birthday!
September 26, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Happy Winsor McCay's birthday!
This thread was inspiring.
I've never run anything more ambitious than short creative workshops for middle school kids, but even those can be electric. We're wired to be creative. Too often I think that circuitry gets bypassed by everyday life.
But it's still there.
I've never run anything more ambitious than short creative workshops for middle school kids, but even those can be electric. We're wired to be creative. Too often I think that circuitry gets bypassed by everyday life.
But it's still there.
Notes from university teaching, 2025 - if you need a little joy. I'm teaching at App State right now, a visiting writer spot, and it is...magical? They're all juniors and seniors, and I had them write a story made of the components of their first literary/media inspiration...
September 9, 2025 at 11:12 PM
This thread was inspiring.
I've never run anything more ambitious than short creative workshops for middle school kids, but even those can be electric. We're wired to be creative. Too often I think that circuitry gets bypassed by everyday life.
But it's still there.
I've never run anything more ambitious than short creative workshops for middle school kids, but even those can be electric. We're wired to be creative. Too often I think that circuitry gets bypassed by everyday life.
But it's still there.
Reposted by Kiyash Monsef
'Country House at Negishi' - Takahashi Hiroaki, ca. 1936.
#JapaneseArt
#JapaneseArt
July 18, 2025 at 1:13 AM
'Country House at Negishi' - Takahashi Hiroaki, ca. 1936.
#JapaneseArt
#JapaneseArt
LEO NARD BERN STEIN
September 1, 2025 at 11:13 PM
LEO NARD BERN STEIN
Reposted by Kiyash Monsef
Hand-painted celestial escape in the Méliès fantasy THE KINGDOM OF THE FAIRIES.
The film was available as an entire presentation or as separate sequences. Fairy extravaganzas were big business on the stage but the movies made them available to all.
The film was available as an entire presentation or as separate sequences. Fairy extravaganzas were big business on the stage but the movies made them available to all.
September 1, 2025 at 4:59 AM
Hand-painted celestial escape in the Méliès fantasy THE KINGDOM OF THE FAIRIES.
The film was available as an entire presentation or as separate sequences. Fairy extravaganzas were big business on the stage but the movies made them available to all.
The film was available as an entire presentation or as separate sequences. Fairy extravaganzas were big business on the stage but the movies made them available to all.
I prefer to think of it as "being earnest" but it's probably cringe to say that.
August 31, 2025 at 11:13 PM
I prefer to think of it as "being earnest" but it's probably cringe to say that.
Weapons is a helluva good time. The atmosphere is relentlessly creepy, the acting is excellent, the story is expertly told. Unsettling, funny, gross, and hugely satisfying. Reminded me of seeing Misery on the big screen.
August 24, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Weapons is a helluva good time. The atmosphere is relentlessly creepy, the acting is excellent, the story is expertly told. Unsettling, funny, gross, and hugely satisfying. Reminded me of seeing Misery on the big screen.
Just here to say The Limey is a really really good movie and Terence Stamp was perfect in it.
Lots of moments that have stayed with me from this film but this one is the one I think about most often
youtu.be/tJLdaKUBGzo?...
Lots of moments that have stayed with me from this film but this one is the one I think about most often
youtu.be/tJLdaKUBGzo?...
The Limey (11/11) Movie CLIP - Colours (1999) HD
YouTube video by Movieclips
youtu.be
August 17, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Just here to say The Limey is a really really good movie and Terence Stamp was perfect in it.
Lots of moments that have stayed with me from this film but this one is the one I think about most often
youtu.be/tJLdaKUBGzo?...
Lots of moments that have stayed with me from this film but this one is the one I think about most often
youtu.be/tJLdaKUBGzo?...
One of the loveliest things anyone's ever said about my books, and a more perfect description of the thing I try to do with stories than any I would have come up with. 🙏 🙏 🙏
Just devoured "Once there was" and this. Beautiful and has a way of getting in your heart and just sitting there like a purring cat who's also clawing your lap at the same time
"If I lost my stories, I wouldn’t be anyone" ✨🥰
"If I lost my stories, I wouldn’t be anyone" ✨🥰
Here's a nice juicy excerpt from BIRD OF A THOUSAND STORIES and a fun little interview with me: thenerddaily.com/kiyash-monse...
August 15, 2025 at 4:44 PM
One of the loveliest things anyone's ever said about my books, and a more perfect description of the thing I try to do with stories than any I would have come up with. 🙏 🙏 🙏
Post one of the most haunting shots in movie history from a film made before the year 2000
August 12, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Post one of the most haunting shots in movie history from a film made before the year 2000
Incredible. Obscenity-free, absolutely devastating, and just at a first, non-Romanian-speaking effort, it rolls smoothly off the tongue.
One of the most brutal curses I’ve ever heard in Romanian (or any language) is uscami-aș chiloții pe crucea mă-tii. It means “I’ll leave my underwear out to dry on your mother’s cross.”
August 5, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Incredible. Obscenity-free, absolutely devastating, and just at a first, non-Romanian-speaking effort, it rolls smoothly off the tongue.
Love this.
Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai was a Japanese storytelling game popular during the Edo period. These gatherings were held on summer nights and to begin 100 candles or lamps were lit. Participants then took turns to tell 100 ghost stories (kaidan). After each story, a candle was...
#MythologyMonday
1/3
#MythologyMonday
1/3
August 4, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Love this.
That fretless, nylon (or is it gut)-strung baritone banjo with the fiddlehead stock, ALL BY ITSELF, feels like it's from a forgotten branch of the past. But the way she plays it, and the way she sings? I don't think I've ever heard a modern performance that sounded like this.
You ever hear a song that's so different but so fully developed that it sounds like it's from a genre you never heard? There's this version of an old song, done by Nora Brown that makes me feel this way. Like she's from a forgotten branch of the past: youtu.be/Ox4YJsGm8mY?...
"East Virginia" / "John Brown's Dream" | Nora Brown
YouTube video by TED
youtu.be
July 17, 2025 at 3:25 PM
That fretless, nylon (or is it gut)-strung baritone banjo with the fiddlehead stock, ALL BY ITSELF, feels like it's from a forgotten branch of the past. But the way she plays it, and the way she sings? I don't think I've ever heard a modern performance that sounded like this.
Reposted by Kiyash Monsef
They finally made the milk from that hotel
July 6, 2025 at 3:42 PM
They finally made the milk from that hotel
Reposted by Kiyash Monsef
The other night I took a late night taxi from the airport & my driver was from Sudan. We got to talking, & he asked what I do - he is a sports journalist who writes about soccer & has been to many World Cups - so I explained what I write...
June 5, 2025 at 12:06 PM
The other night I took a late night taxi from the airport & my driver was from Sudan. We got to talking, & he asked what I do - he is a sports journalist who writes about soccer & has been to many World Cups - so I explained what I write...
Reposted by Kiyash Monsef
A worthy follow-up to Morris Honor Book Once There Was, by Kiyash Monsef, Bird of a Thousand Stories is about a modern girl who can speak with and help magical creatures. Like the original, it's interwoven with magical tales from across the world.
Read my review:
www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fi...
Read my review:
www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fi...
May 29, 2025 at 1:50 AM
A worthy follow-up to Morris Honor Book Once There Was, by Kiyash Monsef, Bird of a Thousand Stories is about a modern girl who can speak with and help magical creatures. Like the original, it's interwoven with magical tales from across the world.
Read my review:
www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fi...
Read my review:
www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fi...